Vote up a Space Opera

[samd6]

I've been playing some SAIS lately, so that might affect my answers.

FTL
Warp (3) for simplicity
Hyperspace (2) is a scary place
Near instant jump (1)

Most should have Warp drives, but a few aliens should have jump drives, and it's quite possible to have different kinds of jump drives. In SAIS, there are three kinds of jump drive: one that had unlimited range, but a recharge time of months, one that has a range of about 5 parsecs but takes only two weeks to recharge, and one that is unlimited and instant, but requires a beacon in the target system.

Humanity:
Humans are minor/upstart power (2)
Humans only (1)
I like settings where humans are prevalent, but not super powerful.

Habitable worlds:
Days to weeks

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by ericthered

wait, I thought in lensman you had "the gods" who manipulated things, but the humans themselves ran everything and where under a different impression.

No, that's not how things were in the Lensman series.

Humanity was probably first among many in Cvilization but only a (very common) third tier flunky race in Boskone.

The Boskone hierarchy went from the ancient and powerful Eddorians (amoebas from another dimension) to the metamorphic Ploorans to the frigid-blooded and poison-breathing Onlonians and Eich and only then down to various evil humans among others. The serpentoid Overlords of Delgon probably ranked above humans too.

So the Eddorians ran the evil side through layers of proxies whioel the Arisians (benevolent beings of pure thought) worked behind the scenes to fight the Eddorians and advance the less developed races. Humans were prominent on the Arisian side but so were many non-human races.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

No, that's not how things were in the Lensman series.

Humanity was probably first among many in Cvilization but only a (very common) third tier flunky race in Boskone.

....

ok.... its been removed from that status. And there also seems to be a "humans only" category that has been added.

[vicky_molokh]

I think it would be more productive to vote on new issues (and for more people to vote on the existing issues) than to figure out the specifics of existing settings. In this thread, that is. (Not that I oppose setting discussion, I just really like the vote-up project.)

[nondescript handle]

Not quite sure if the goal is to get the "most generic" Space Opera, or the one best liked by the polled. These are my preferences without regards to their general genericness ;-)

FTL travel: Blink Warp (3), Space Highways (2), WormGate Network (1)
Dominance of Humanity: Humanity is a minor or junior power (2), Humanity is alone (1)
Time to habitable Planets: Weeks to closest, Days to closest

I don't think I understand the intended difference between "... to closest" and "... to several Planets", so take these with a grain of salt.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ericthered

FTL travel:
for this each person will receive 3 votes: one worth 3, one worth 2, and one worth 1. You cannot place two votes on one item. The highest one wins. Yes, these come from G:Space.

Also please vote how many of these options we want to use.

options:

Hyper Drive:
Tachyon Drive:
Hyper Sail:
Warp Drive:
Inertialess Drive:
Blink Warp Drive:
Space Highways:
Wormhole Drive:
Jump Drive:
Probability Drive:
WormGate Network:

my vote is HyperDrive (3), Space Highways (2), HyperSail (1) with 1 option chosen.

I like the multilevel HyperSpace from GURPS: Uplift. The basics are simple, but there's plenty of room for the GM to throw in surprises.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Dominance of Humanity

This is how Powerful humanity is, not how prevalent. I will give examples of settings that I think are at the level given. These aren't neccessarily space opera, but they are sci-fi.

2 votes each, one at 2 points, and one at 1.

Options:

Humanity is alone:
Humanity owns the stars( road not taken):
Humanity is dominant in space (star wars):
Humanity is the first among several competitive powers:
Humanity is equal to many others (star trek, old man's war)
Humanity is a minor or junior power (Mass effect):
Humanity is a set of upstarts (early SG, Uplift universe):
Humanity is irrelevant: (UFO sightings, Hitchhiker universe):

I vote minor power (2) and equal to others (1)

Somewhere between "first among several competitive powers" and "equal to many others" gets the first vote. Humanity is alone gets a distant second.

[Astromancer]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Time to habitable Planets

2 votes of equal strength.

This is not the time between planets, but the time between habitable planets, and this choice will have a major effect:

options:

Months to closest :
Weeks to closest :
Days to closest :
24 hours to several Planets:
6 hours to several Planets:
1 hour to several Planets:

I vote for Days to closest and 6 hours to several planets

I prefer the travel times to be somewhat unpredictable, like a late 16th century transoceanic voyage.

[CraigR]

Originally Posted by ericthered

FTL travel:
for this each person will receive 3 votes: one worth 3, one worth 2, and one worth 1. You cannot place two votes on one item. The highest one wins. Yes, these come from G:Space.

Also please vote how many of these options we want to use.

options:

Hyper Drive:
Tachyon Drive:
Hyper Sail:
Warp Drive:
Inertialess Drive:
Blink Warp Drive:
Space Highways:
Wormhole Drive:
Jump Drive:
Probability Drive:
WormGate Network:

My vote is Warp Drive (3), Space Highways (2), Hyper drive (1). I like the idea of a literal space expressway: Large constructed markers, possibly only visible at warp, that catapult warp-capable ships at much higher speeds, allowing far-flung worlds to be connected by a path of markers. Entire empires can exist between two markers, unaware of the dispersed empire that utilizes the expressway, their normal-warp ships limiting their size.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by nondescript handle

Not quite sure if the goal is to get the "most generic" Space Opera, or the one best liked by the polled. These are my preferences without regards to their general genericness ;-)

The goal is not so much to get a "most generic" Space Opera as to get one that is really GURPS-y and easy to work with. Go ahead and give personal preferences though.

Also, while it is generic, I do want to avoid a "kitchen sink" feel. Yes, the setting should be flexible, but I want it do have a definite feel. Exactly what that feel is is up to the voters.

It looks like we have a couple of strong contenders showing up:

Hyperdrive is thoroughly dominating, though some people (led by mr. moloh) want to vote Hypersail and call it a hyperdrive. We have lots of change flying at roads in space as well (which works well with hypersails and hyperdrives that behave similarly)

Humanity among equals is doing well, with a division on whether or not its a junior team member. There is a noticable "no humanity" second opinion.

Time to travel is mostly landing in the days to weeks range. In fact, everyone is phrasing it that way.

I want to wait a little longer before moving on, perhaps until this evening, as the next questions I want to ask will be influenced by the answers we get here.