…JonWBedard: What I suggest is that each of us commands his or her army independently and then work together as independents....so we wouldn't have a formal "commander"

lmccormick: Are we not one army?

bsaddik: Hmm...that's an interesting idea.

lmccormick: Or we could be allies

bsaddik: Exactly.

mnalavadi: yeah that sounds pretty good

lmccormick: Got it.

bsaddik: We would be allies, so that would take out the antagonistic aspect

…JonWBedard: Ok. So, if we want to model our game after risk (and this is an if) then the basic idea is the 6 of us (the allied armies) need to take over the territories.

bsaddik: So, the tasks are the territories?

JonWBedard: Well, here’s where we need to make a decision.

Either the tasks are territories, or the tasks give us armies and bonuses.

So which do we want?

mnalavadi: the first one makes more sense to me

bsaddik: The concern I have with the first option is that it is by nature antagonistic.

lmccormick: I like the tasks being territories and we conquer them

bsaddik: How do we adapt to make this collaborative?

…lmccormick: And based on how well we get it done/how quickly, etc determines how many collaboration bonuses we get.

… bsaddik: OK, so we've decided on a basic structure.

Next, figuring out how adding armies fits in.

JonWBedard: I think I've got it. We need to fill territories (or tasks) based on their difficulties with enemy armies

bsaddik: Fill them with what?

lmccormick: Could adding armies be like a way to see if you have completed a task, and then once everyone has x number of armies, we are able to take over a territory and move on to the next level/territory?

bsaddik: So armies are like a rubric?

JonWBedard: I think Lauren explained it well

and yes

lmccormick: Yes

mnalavadi: so everyone is moving as a group rather than indivisually?

bsaddik: Yes.

JonWBedard: we could also string together tasked linked in adjacent territories (IE, you can’t edit an essay until it’s been written) so the edit essay would be in a territory you couldn't get to until writing the essay

lmccormick: Yes, once we all have the right number of armies, we are all suited to conquer a territory.

JonWBedard: And you get armies based on completing sub tasks

bsaddik: To defeat a territory, we all need to place the agreed upon armies (or finish the rubric strands)

lmccormick: Just like how you can't skip from one country to one half way across the world, we would have to get through a certain territory or task to get to the next

bsaddik: Great idea! Perhaps we can design it such that we need bonuses to be able to defeat a territory.

…lmccormick: Like by collaborating with each other to complete tasks (like editing, etc) we get collaboration bonuses to help us move on

…mnalavadi: I like that

bsaddik: Yep! Say, for instance a task has 7 armies. If each of us has 1 army to contribute, then we need to collaborate at least 2 times to defeat it.

…mechaniz: Sorry, just so I understand the basic framework of the game: So there are two armies, us as a whole and a simulated enemy team. That enemy team controls territories that are tasks that we have to accomplish. Those tasks are for example, rewrite essay 3.2, upload all LROs to Taskstream, etc. Those territories are laid out in a way where some of the territories must be conquered in a specific direction. For example, we must proofread Essay 3.2, before we rewrite Essay 3.2. To conquer a territory, each of us must do that task. However, for some territories, simply each of us doing the task won't be enough, and we will have to collaborate to conquer that territory. For us as a whole to win the game, we must conquer the entire map. Is this all right?

JonWBedard: Yes!

lmccormick: Good way to put it.

bsaddik: Sounds good!

JonWBedard: So, I think we have the framework of the soldier distribution and attacking figured out

We now need secret missions and collaberation bonuses

…lmccormick: To clarify: sub tasks are the things we complete on our own (proof read/rewriting). The completion of those with bonuses allows us to complete a goal?

bsaddik: Yes

JonWBedard: Yes

lmccormick: Beautiful.

JonWBedard: Everyone like those 6?

bsaddik: Sounds good!

jbhullar: yes

…mechaniz: I know that we've already decided on a lot, but just as another idea, maybe there could be 7 continents, 6 which have identical task territories that we all have to complete on our own, and one continent which we have to collaborate on to conquer territories. The seventh continent would be bigger than the others.