[Space/Thaumatology] Stargate: Fantasy - Worldbuilding thread

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by TGLS

How can we expect these options to compare to other polities?

My current intention is that the results will help to inform roughly how powerful a minor System Lord is, on average.

[TGLS]

Well then 2 or 3

[Varyon]

I'll throw in my vote for #2.

[Prince Charon]

I'm seeing a pretty clear trend toward 2, but the poll remains open for now, just in case... and because continuing RL issues mean that I don't have the next Question ready, yet. Currently thinking that it'll be another essay-ish one, as that's easier for me, and the one after that will either be on whose idea to go with, or how to integrate two or more workable ideas.

[Prince Charon]

Frolechi Question VI

This is going to be another question with answers in a short-essay format:

Describe the composition of the Frolechi space forces.

Please remember, you're talking about a peer opponent of minor Goa'Uld System Lords.

*******

Answer: .

[adm]

Largely in system defenses, producing reliable star drives are their primary limitation. Putting star drives on destroyers are their primary long range military craft, however they acquire them.

Around key planets, both population centers they significant large combat space platforms, as well as mines, gunboats, torpedo boat equivalents and maybe fighters.

To patrol the system they have destroyer and frigate equivalents, along with supporting cruisers, Al of this is backed up by a core of heavy fleet units ala Battlecruisers and battleships. If they have fighter type craft, they will have aircraft carrier proxies as well.


EDIT 4/4/2023 I am still good on this.

[ericthered]

A lot depends on if these planets are properly settled, or if there's just a lot of settlement around the gate. Or if there is more than a single gate on each world.



That said, here's a spitball, assuming a single gate and most of the civilization built around that:

• Around 50 small fighter craft, but those can be hard to account for: their owners are notorious for being off somewhere inconvenient when you need them. This is less than most peer powers have.
• Around 50 medium-sized craft, capable of housing up to 20 people and acting as a combination bomber/troop transport/destroyer: you know, the perfect size for an adventuring party. These are kept close by their owning clans and are almost always available. This is more than most peer powers have.
• Three Light Capital ships, whose maintenance and benefits are enough to warp the daily life of the powerful tribes who run them. Each has a household name and a tale of how the Frolechi acquired it. This is slightly less than most peer powers.
• One Behemoth of a capital ship, won in a legendary battle, that is barely kept running by its (stationary) owners and is essentially a bluff. This is more than the peers of the Frolechi have... at least on paper.

I'm not really sold on these numbers, it depends on the factors above, but I feel that this gives some nice character to their forces. The numbers on the fighters and medium ships may need to be tweaked.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by ericthered

A lot depends on if these planets are properly settled, or if there's just a lot of settlement around the gate. Or if there is more than a single gate on each world.

So, you think I should do the planetary system question(s) and then come back to the space forces question? I'm willing to do that if no-one objects, but the system question isn't ready for posting, so it may be a few days (longer or shorter depending partly on RL stuff).

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Frolechi Question VI

On parchment, the Frolechi do not appear to be peer rivals for minor system lords, as their space navy is small, and mostly composed of small-to-medium craft (fighters and boarding craft, rather than capital ships). They close the gap through a combination of highly-skilled pilots, stealth, and nigh-unparalleled infantry. Space combat involving the Frolechi is less about winnowing broadsides and revolves more around stealthy boarding craft depositing crack infantry onto enemy ships, overwhelming the crew and either capturing the enemy craft (typically to break down for parts*) or, more frequently, to sabotage it and escape before it destroys itself in spectacular fashion. Their planets are difficult to capture, as most Jaffa are no match for the Frolechi infantry on the ground - particularly with the latter knowing the terrain intimately and being very skilled at exploiting this.

This all does mean that the Frolechi are largely stuck playing defense. They can hold a much larger region of space than their forces "should" be capable of, but they can't readily weaponize their advantages to assault other system lords.

*Their stealth magitech can't really be retrofitted into existing ships, so they'll typically break down those they capture and incorporate materials/magitech from them into their own ships. The exceptions are jumpships, where they prioritize capture over destruction whenever possible, and which they can't really mix with their stealth magitech (they haven't figured out how to isolate the jump capabilities into a module they could incorporate into one of their own ships, so typically need to use the jumpships more-or-less as-is, although they'll sometimes retrofit more weapons, armor, and/or maneuver drives onto such to improve their capabilities).

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

So, you think I should do the planetary system question(s) and then come back to the space forces question? I'm willing to do that if no-one objects, but the system question isn't ready for posting, so it may be a few days (longer or shorter depending partly on RL stuff).

I mean, it depends if we're focusing on absolute numbers or if we're focusing on comparatives. Varyon's answer is all comparative. It might be best to just focus on relative numbers rather than absolute.