Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

This is my vote too.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, so far the lead vote is 'a single, multi-species alliance of time travelers, that does not include uplifted races,' if I'm not misunderstanding. I'm leaving the vote open for now, but will probably close it on Monday.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The good and bad thing about time travelers is that it allows you to retcon things occasionally with an in setting plausible manner.
Of course for RPGs it's best, IMO, to keep it to a minimum and out of reach for PCs. Though one or a few instances of ancient tech being "misused" is just too cool to take completely off the table.

I vote time traveler ancients as well.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, vote remains open still, but a point on the matter of time travel: If we assume that this is a setting where time travel exists, then the Guardian of Forever should exist in some form in this setting, even if he(?) isn't exactly like the one from the episode. Maybe closer to Harlan Ellison's teleplay, maybe not.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I don't know the specific differences. But I liked how uncontrollable the TV version was. The time periods shown were nearly random and rapid along with an opening only allowing a couple people to leap through at a time.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, vote is closed. I'll have another vote ready some time soonish, but for now, have a look at a template that I've been working on:

Preliminary Tellarite Template, help wanted

Attributes

ST +? [?]; HT 11 [10]

Secondary Characteristics

Per +1 [5]

Social Background

Languages: Tellarite (Native) [0].

TL: 10^

Cultural Familiarity: Modern Tellarite [0].

Subtotal:


Advantages

Aura Reading 2 [7]
Biokinesis Talent 2 [10]
Damage Control 1 [8]
Resistant to Disease +8 (Biokinesis, -10%) [5]

Perks

Pharmaceutical Probe. [1]

Subtotal:


Disadvantages

Bad Grip
Bad Sight

Quirks

Argumentative. [-1]

Subtotal: -


Features


Skills

Aura Reading [IQ/H] [1] IQ-2
Damage Control [HT/H] [4] HT

Techniques

Subtotal:

Total:

Notes

This assumes a Tellarite of approximately the era of First Contact with humanity.

Tellarites often have a Healing Bond perk with each of their children, and sometimes with other loved ones.


EDIT: To clarify, 'Biokinesis' in this setting covers not only the Biokinesis power from the book (GURPS Psionic Powers pp72-73), but also Psychometabolism (pp75-76) and Psychic Healing (pp46-49).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

How many important conflicts was the Solar Cooperative in before the Romulan War?

The war with the still-mysterious 'Romulans' (a reporting name assigned by Solar Intelligence, because they had to call them something) took place about a hundred years after the Genetics Wars, and about fourty to fifty years after the Solar Cooperative's first contact with the Vulcanians. That's plenty of time for Terran humanity to get involved in a few wars, police actions, and such, whether as a direct participant or as a bystander.

Please include the number when you vote.

1. The first half of the 22nd century was fairly peaceful in this part of the galaxy, so the Solar Cooperative's Space Patrol had little in the way of military action beyond pirates and small skirmishes before the war began (e. g. trouble with the Nausicaans and/or the Orions, but nothing big).

2. There was at least one significant war in that period (e. g. a war between the Vulcans and the Andorians), which the Solar Cooperative was peripherally involved in, and may have served as a venue for diplomacy between the belligerant parties.

3. There was at least one significant war in that period, which the Solar Cooperative participated in as one of the belligerant parties (a bad First Contact with the Kaa from GURPS Aliens could do this, but is far from the only option).

4. The Solar Cooperative was involved in several wars during the period (perhaps something like the four Human-Kzin Wars occurred in this timeline, as suggested in the cartoon).

5. Something that I haven't thought of (please specify).

EDIT: Option 4 wins via a tie breaker.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

That is ~140 years between the Genetics Wars and the Romulan War. 140 years is a long time for pacifists to remain in power. Even if the Solar Cooperative stayed pacifistic, other powers may drag them into the war.

So my vote is for option 4.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'll use the following roughish timeline:

2030: Earth on a high of biotech and space colonization.
2060: Genetics Wars, colonies cut off.
2090: Solar Cooperative on Earth, Post-Atomic Horror ends, Solar Cooperative on a High
2110: First Contact with Vulcanians
????: Extra-Solar Colonies, more contacts
2160: War with Romulans
2170?: War over, United Space Authority on a high?

Right now, we're fitting a 80 year or so crisis, and there are less than 50 years to squeeze in a second war. Any war between Sol and aliens would probably need to be relatively small. A separate war between two aliens is plausible too.

I think I'll take 3, provided the war is relatively small or butts up against the Romulan War (perhaps the "your enemy's your new ally" scenario).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'm confused as to where you're getting 140 years, rather than 40 to 50.

EDIT: Did you maybe skim the question, and accidentally add the mention of a hundred years to the mention of fourty years?

Later EDIT, Reply to TGLS: Most wars are fairly short, even with the relatively slow FTL speeds of this era. Sure, an interstellar war where both sides are limited to STL speeds could last decades, if it happened at all, but I'm imagining FTL in this era being fast enough that an interstellar war needing to last more than a decade would be odd (unless it's a cold war, which is another matter).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

On the off chance that there was any confusion, I'm not objecting to either vote, I was just giving clarifying information.

Current count is one vote for 3, and one vote for 4. Voting remains open, probably until Sunday or Monday, unless no-one else votes before Saturday, at which point I guess I'll use my vote as a tie-breaker.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

On my first reading, I though that the 40 years were being used consecutively to the 100 years with the Genetics Wars being the starting reference. In any case, humanity is stated to be a member of the galactic community for decades years before meeting the Romulans. Therefore, I stand by my vote for option 4.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Well here's the way I see it. In order for a war to make sense, Solar Cooperative (SC) needs to expand to the point where a border conflict or some other Casus Belli arises. This probably takes at least 10-20 years. There is also probably some period of build-up before the war (the tense, interesting period adventures can be set in). Then after the war ends, both sides are probably tired enough for there to be a pause in hostilities. Even assuming a short shooty period, we're looking at 30 year period before the SC gets in a fight.

On the other hand, it could also have the case of a sudden attack on Earth that starts the war (easily skipping the 10-20 year expansion period). This would probably be the a very significant shift from Star Trek.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, I said I'd do a tie-breaker today, if we still had only two votes, and here we are with only two votes still.

While TGLS's logic is sound, the argument does ignore the fact that while the SC is expanding in a literal vacuum, they are not expanding in a political vacuum, and may be dragged into existing wars (e.g. traders from the Cooperative refuse to stop trading with one party or another when a war breaks out, and one of those parties decides that the humans are no-longer neutral), and he did list a variable expansion period. After due consideration, I'm breaking the tie in favor of Option 4. I don't currently have a followup question ready, but I ask that anyone who feels like chiming in suggest what wars might have occurred that the SC became involved in. 'Just the Man-Kzin Wars' is an option, though the exact number is not a requirement, and the last one might happen during or after the Romulan War.

'Short shooty periods interspersed with longer periods of high tension' will probably be on the list also, but that kind of overlaps with other options.

EDIT: To clarify, my current thinking is that there's a period of peaceful expansion and prosperity in the 2110s and the early 2120s, with very little political tension directed against the Solar Cooperative during the 2110s, and not much more in the early 2120s, though the tensions affecting the SC rise in the middle and late 2120s. The first war (with whomever) would probably happen in the late 2120s or early 2130s. The Romulan War happens in roughly the 2150s or 2160s, possibly something like 2155-2160, or 2151-2153, or something like that.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Who did the Solar Cooperative have wars with before the Romulan War?

This will be a two-question post, each in a different format, for ease of counting.

First question:

As mentioned, the Romulan War happens in roughly the 2150s or 2160s, while first contact with the Vulcanians happened in the 2110s. The latest I'd want to set the Romulan War is somewhere around 2166-2169 or so. Below is a list of races and alliances that the SC might have fought wars with. I'm including the Xindi, since they did commit acts of war against Earth in Star Trek: Enterprise, and some of you may actually want to help adapt that plot to this setting. The options that don't have links are from GURPS Aliens.

Please include the number when you vote. You may vote for more than one race/group. I will be totaling up the votes for each, and if there's a tie or anything close to a tie, the SC had wars with two or more races/groups in the period before the Romulan War.

1. Kzin

2. Tellarites

3. Andorians

4. Kaa

5. Orions

6. Gormelites

7. Nausicaans

8. Xindi

9. Crystal Computers


Second question:

Did these early wars consist basically of 'short shooty periods interspersed with longer periods of high tension?' That would be fairly consistent with Star Trek, as both TOS and DS9 were clearly set during periods of political tension, and TNG was effectively retconned into also being set in a period of high political tension, though we saw little of this in the early seasons. Please vote either YES in all caps or NO in all caps.


EDIT: The results are that there were wars with the Kzin and Crystal Computers (who have two votes each) before the Romulan War.

The Kaa, Xindi, Andorians, and Orions have one vote each, so while the SC won't have gone to war with any of them in that period, there were political tensions, spying, smuggling, skirmishes, piracy, 'deniable operations,' and other things that adventures are made of.

There also seems to be a YES on 'short shooty periods interspersed with longer periods of high tension.'

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Some thoughts then a vote:

1) Change the name to cut the tie to Known Space.

2/3) On one hand it would be interesting to see enemies become friends (assuming this is just an enemies list), but on the other hand it might be too big a stumbling block.

4) A little over lap with the traditional Romulan niche (deceit), though with an extra helping of brutality.

4/6) I'd favor de-emphasizing the mental disadvantages a tad, so it comes off less as hard-wired and more as culture, so a Worf type is more practical.

6/7) They seem to share the same niche big mean tough guys who are primarily mercenaries and thugs.

9) Would probably need some rework, so they're not just giant rocks holding delightful conversations about how all organics should die.


My vote:
1489 YES

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Crystal computers
Kzin
Andorians
Orion

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think Qoltar the resident Klingon could help here.

IIRC there was an episode when Spock was blinded and he regained his sight (S1 E29). That would indicate Regrowth, possibly only for extremities. They could also endure a lot of pain that may qualify for High Pain Threshold.

The Vulcan neck pinch could be either a special pressure point attack or just an innate attack.

Mind Meld could be Telepathy via touch only.

Given all their abilities I wouldn't be surprised the Vulcan template is around 200pts.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Needing to think about the others, but for the Kzin, the name is canon to Star Trek, although I did shorten it (should be 'Kzinti,' which can be confused with 'Xindi'). I should say that I almost included the Cidi on the list.

Was planning on that, since the book was kind of vague, IIRC, on how they had a war, exactly (they could attack, once they had a vector, and be attacked, but calling it a war implies things that don't quite fit).

AFAICT, that was due to Spock not knowing how to open his nictitating membrane, which had closed reflexively when he was exposed to intense UV light. You're right that High Pain Threshold should be on the list, though.

I picked Sleep because it was an already-written ability that did pretty much what I needed. If I were to build it from the ground up, I'd use Affliction rather than Innate Attack.

Um, yes, but I was thinking about specific abilities. We may be having different conversations on this sentence, though.

I suspect so.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Just replace Kzin with Caitians (M'Ress from ST:TAS)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd consider using both Kromms "knowing your own ST" rules from Pyramid 83 and the rules from Power ups 9 for ST and high tech.

3 times the ST under KYOS is ST 15. Cost for ST under PU9 page 4 is

TL
8 = 6/Level
9 = 5/Level
10 = 4/Level
11 = 3/Level
12 = 2/Level

If the base TL is 10, then ST +5 would cost 20 points.

'Extended Lifespan (Early Maturation) 1.5' would mean they would live 3 times as long? Meaning 360 would be the equivalent of 120. Given that it's just possible for real world humans with Longevity to make to 122 and these Vulcans probably have access to huge HT bonuses to aging rolls from tech, maybe consider dropping Longevity from the racial template.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The vote is still open, if anyone wants to chime in. I'm thinking that I'll close it on Sunday night, or on Monday.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, the vote remains open right now, but I should be back in a few hours (Monday afternoon or evening, probably) to close it. If no one votes before then, the results will be that there were wars with the Kzin and Crystal Computers (who have two votes each, if I'm counting correctly) before the Romulan War.

The Kaa, Xindi, Andorians, and Orions have one vote each, so while the SC won't have gone to war with any of them in that period, there were political tensions, spying, smuggling, skirmishes, piracy, 'deniable operations,' and other things that adventures are made of. If you want to add to or otherwise alter this, feel free to chime in soon.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, vote is officially closed. I am working on posts relating to the Kzin and the Crystal Computers. In the specific case of the latter, consider the implications of hacking on the Internet of Things, when the devices being hacked are psychotronic (EDIT: and so are the hackers, in this context, though the CC are also alive).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

On the War with the Crystal Computers in the Psi Trek setting.

In 2151, war was beginning. The Crystal Computers, silicon-based lifeforms native to the planet 1110100100001011 (called 'Von Berg' by the Solar Cooperative, which had a few small colonies there, mostly for mining and research), were violently hostile to organic life, and had powerful psychic abilities, but were unable to affect non-Crystal life without a vector: Their telepathy and organic minds operated on what might be called different frequencies, so that no communication was possible. However, the psychotronic technology that the colonists brought with them served as a bridge. Once the Crystal Computers understood the communication protocols that the human colonists' equipment used, they hacked into the Internet of Things. As they subverted the various systems, they found several with telepathic interfaces, which served as the key they needed to attack the humans' minds directly. Within hours, nearly the entire human population of Von Berg was 'mind-blasted into oblivion,' most dying, and many others rendered comatose. Those who remained conscious were attacked by their own equipment, save for a few that were not near anything that was both 'net-enabled, and capable of attacking; the latter survived longer, but in many cases died of starvation, thirst, or suffocation before help would arrive. A small number of colonists escaped on alien vessels that used different network protocols, or on military spacecraft that kept all the important systems air-gapped, and in most cases had telepathic shielding. Likewise, those already in orbit were out of range of the Crystals.

Von Berg was quarantined while the various affected nations tried to decide what to do. Meanwhile, the Crystals used the colonists' service robots and such to modify the spacecraft that remained on the planet, and to build more robots, space vehicles, and weapons, using the information in the bases' own computers; this construction is simplified by the much more limited life-support needed by the Crystal Computers (sunlight, and a nutrient bath around the Crystals' roots). A few of the Crystals were carefully cut out of the rock that supported them, and transferred to the jury-rigged attack vessels. The war entered it's second phase when the Crystals launched several vessels into space, immediately destroying the orbiting stations, and destroying or damaging those spacecraft that did not retreat fast enough. They then set about repairing the damaged spacecraft using parts from those that were destroyed, and recycled the rest of the spacecraft and station remains to build more, generally cruder, vehicles, often in rough geometric shapes.

The active and clear hostility of the Crystals merited a military responce, though there were other attempts to communicate. The limits of fleet size and the need to keep assets available for trouble elsewhere meant that an overwhelming force could not be sent, but a significant number of Space Patrol vessels, supplemented by Vulcanian, Pachekki, and Tellarite vehicles (along with observers from several other local races), arrived at Von Berg in less than a month. This large task force was able to defeat the Crystals, albeit not as fast as they might prefer. Towards the end, some of the Crystals took to assimilating the organics on the few vessels they managed to capture from the combined fleet, absorbing their knowledge and overwriting their minds with the Crystals' network; many other Von Berg Crystals objected to this, in a few cases violently enough to be noticed by the organics (though the reason was and is unknown). In 2152, a small Andorian task force and a second Solar task force arrived, and the remaining vehicles and surface installations controlled by the Crystals were destroyed. The planet was bombarded with precise munitions, and further attempts were made to convince the surviving Crystals to surrender. These offers were refused. Eventually, the bombardment was stopped, but Von Berg remains quarantined to this day. Few attempts have been made to establish communications since then.

Analysis of the after-action reports and debris fields determined that several vessels controlled by the Crystals, including a few with assimilated humans and other organic sophonts on them, are missing. Since the missing vessels appear to have all been either FTL-capable, or able to be carried by warp-equipped vehicles, this is a serious concern.


(OOC: The planet that the Crystal Computers are from being called Von Berg is in the article in GURPS Aliens (pp122-123), I didn't make it up. Given how long it takes to get a book published and when it came out, it's clearly a coincidence, but it's a sufficiently amusing one that I couldn't ignore it.)

Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Made a small edit to the above for purposes of clarity:

'Towards the end, some of the Crystals took to assimilating the organics on the few vessels they managed to capture from the combined fleet, absorbing their knowledge and overwriting their minds with the Crystals' network; many other Von Berg Crystals objected to this, in a few cases violently enough to be noticed by the organics (though the reason was and is unknown).'

Also, trying to work out what attack or attacks the Crystal Computers were using against the organic life on their world. Currently thinking either an Area Effect Mental Blow with an unusual Neurological Damage option ('Stroke,' maybe?), an Area Effect Mental Stab, or a new power, probably called Mind Blast. Also, thinking that they'd be using Brute Force Attacks (Psionic Powers p65 text box) once they encountered Mind Shields.

Still working in the Kzin Wars.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The Kzin Wars writeup is taking longer than I'd like, but it occurred to me that there's a question that I should ask at some point, so it may as well be now:

TGLS pointed out that the Gormelites and the Nausicaans fit the same narrative niche, so I'm wondering if they should both be in this setting, or only one of them. If both, some work is needed to distinguish them, like the Gormelites maybe still being stuck on their own planet, and/or perhaps being a subject race of the Kzin, or a 'client' race of the Orions or Kaa. What do you think?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Well, if your going to have three (surely there will be Klingons) big mean tough guy (BMTG) races, then your going to need to niche them out. In Trek off the top of my head, we have:

1) Klingons, Imperial BMTGs
2) Naussicans, Freelance BMTGs
3) Jem'Hadar, Janisarry BMTGs
4) Kazon, Squabbling BMTGs
5) Hirogen, Hunting BMTGs

Keep in mind 4 and 5 are isolated relative to the rest and can get away with stepping on their toes. Copying one of the others niches is certainly doable. Other niches:

Primitive BMTGs
Ex-Slave BMTGs
Ultraviolent BMTGs
Ritualistic BMTGs
Bipolar (as in switches from Docility to Aggression unpredictably) BMTGs

Obviously, most of these have some overlap. Primitive and Socially Unstable niches make sense together, along with Freelance type. Klingons mix/trade Imperial with/for Ritualistic.If the niches overlap, I think the trick is to ensure that the niches can share some room. For example, if Naussicans are Freelance BMTGs and Gormelites are Ultraviolent BMTGs, then Gormelite Mercs are used as shock troops. Of course, it would be probably better to make a cleaner split.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

We can safely ignore the Jem'Hadar as well, for 'now,' as the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant isn't opening for centuries, and is still about a hundred years after when I'd be planning to run a game if I found a group for this setting.

Hmm. Gormelites starting out as Primitive BMTGs who get effectively enslaved by one of the other races (currently thinking Kzin, Kaa, or Orions, but possibly more than one), thus being Janissary BMTGs for a while, and then becoming Ex-Slave BMTGs once they're free could work. I'd considered mentioning them in one of the Kzin Wars on that basis.

Thoughts?

Sorry the Kzin Wars are taking so long to write.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, I guess we can come back to the Gormelites later. Meanwhile, since the Human-Kzin Wars article is being very frustrating, here's something else that's in need of review:

Ranks and Organization of the Solar Cooperative Space Patrol

Ranks

(See also Ranks and insignia of NATO.)

Ranks with greater responsibility, and/or greater social influence than the number of personnel normally under their command would indicate, are listed with levels of Courtesy Rank appended.

Commissioned Officers

Rank 8 [40]

OF-9 Commissioner

Rank 7 [35]

OF-8 Deputy Commissioner
OF-7 Lieutenant Commissioner

Rank 6 [30]

OF-6 Chief Superintendent
OF-5 Superintendent

Rank 5 [25]

OF-4 Lieutenant Superintendent

Rank 4 [20]

OF-3 Chief Inspector

Rank 3 [15]

OF-2 Inspector
OF-1 Lieutenant Inspector


Officers in Training

Courtesy Rank 3 [3]

OF(D) Space Cadet


Non-Commissioned Officers & Enlisted Personnel

Rank 2 [10]

OR-7 Senior Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2])
OR-6 Staff Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
OR-5 Sergeant

Rank 1 [5]

OR-3 Corporal
OR-2 Space Constable first class

Rank 0 [0]

OR-1 Space Constable
OR-1 Space Recruit

Recruits and Cadets have no Legal Enforcement Powers.


Organization

The Space Patrol is organized into directorates, which tend to be more paramilitary in structure, and bureaus, which generally appear more civilian and bureaucratic. Few bureaus have their own dedicated spacecraft. Members of most of these branches have Legal Enforcement Powers [5]; significant exceptions are noted.

Depending on size, a directorate or bureau may be headed by a Deputy Commissioner or a Lieutenant Commissioner, a sub-directorate or division would be headed by a Lieutenant Commissioner or Chief Superintendent, and a field office might be lead by a Superintendent, Lieutenant Superintendent, or Chief Inspector (on rare occasions, an Inspector might be granted the title of Acting Chief Inspector to fill the position while paperwork for a promotion goes through, or a higher-ranking officer is assigned).


*System Patrol Directorates
Each system that has a human colony has its own System Patrol Directorate, sub-directorate, or field office, of a size commensurate with the needs of the colony (mainly population, economy, general crime rate, and presence and disposition of other polities in the area). The largest is the Solar Patrol Directorate (originally just the 'Patrol Directorate'), which is responsible for the Sol system, and has sub-directorates for the orbitals of each planet in the system (and several large asteroids and moons) with significant human presence. Although many space vehicles assigned to a SPD are equipped with warp drive, few are designed for interstellar journeys. Most personnel from most of the other directorates and the various bureaus are attached to a specific SPD or SPsd, though some are unattached, traveling to where-ever they are needed, or are assigned to Patrol Headquarters on Capital Station.

*Interstellar Patrol Directorate
The branch that most humans in the pre-USA era think of when someone says 'Space Patrol,' this directorate is responsible for escorting interstellar freighters, pursuing suspects who flee beyond the effective range of the local SPD, hunting down space pirates, performing spot inspections of freighters between systems for smuggled goods, and so forth. Their vessels are often the largest in the patrol, intended to be away from their home bases for months or possibly years at a time. Some IPD vessels are not even capable of planetary landings. SCSPIPD personnel have LEP (national/international jurisdiction) [10].

*Emergency Services Directorate
Primarily called in for search and rescue, the SCSPESD serves to supplement existing emergency services, and to provide them where none exist. Though they have few dedicated interstellar spacecraft, those they do have are a welcome sight at disasters across known space, even coming in to assist worlds with little or no existing human presence. Some ESD personnel have LEP (national/international jurisdiction) [10]. Most will at least have a Courtesy Legal Enforcement Powers perk.

*Special Weapons and Tactics Directorate
The most overtly military branch of the Space Patrol, SWAT personnel are trained and equipped to deal with more heavily armed criminals than would be the norm. IPD vessels often have a few SWAT teams and shuttles for serious boarding actions, and to repel same when dealing with the more well-funded pirates. Since First Contact, this directorate has been expanded to include a number of fairly large, fast, and well-armed FTL spacecraft, though they are not designed to spend as long away from home as IPD vessels; for both that reason and a need to reduce target profile, SWAT spacecraft tend to be smaller than IPD vehicles of comparable roles and crew numbers. The creation of a dedicated military service separate from the Patrol was discussed, but the idea was unable to get much traction. The member-states that had their own military services still did expand them somewhat, however. Some SWAT personnel have LEP (national/international jurisdiction) [10].

*Criminal Investigation Bureau
The detective branch of the Space Patrol. Most detectives have some form of LEP [10], usually 'free to engage in covert investigations;' some may have 'national/international jurisdiction;' having both is worth [12].

*Intelligence Bureau
The espionage and counter-espionage branch, also known as the Space Security Service. The IB is divided up into thirty Sections, by specialty or area of responsibility; there are rumours of another, far more secret section, responsible for truly black operations, but Section 31 is probably a myth. Many agents have LEP (free to engage in covert investigations) [10] or LEP (national/international jurisdiction, and free to engage in covert investigations) [12]. Some agents effectively have LEP [15], though a license to kill is a rare achievement.

*Research and Exploration Bureau
REB serves as a liaison between the Space Patrol (primarily the IPD) and the SC Survey Service's Exploration Division (see also GURPS Space pp204-205), as well as various SC-member state scientific & exploration programs, universities, and private concerns. The REB has no spacecraft of its own, though REB personnel often serve as science officers or similar on IPD vessels, or are assigned to Survey vehicles or the frontier stations which they operate out of. Relatively few people in this branch have LEP at all, beyond the Courtesy LEP perk.

*Supply Bureau
In charge of making sure food, ammunition, new uniforms, and so on get to where they need to go. The SCSPSB has a number of warp-capable armed cargo vehicles, some with quite long operation ranges. Relatively few people in this branch have LEP at all, beyond the Courtesy LEP perk, though officers and crew on armed freighters will have LEP [5] (jurisdiction being the freighter's operational area, or location in deep space when dealing with pirates).


Is this acceptable? If not, what changes or additions would you suggest?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Wait a minute, this is the RCMP in space! I was going to compare, but it's so close the differences are basically invisible. I do find the military and the police folded together a little unusual, but I suppose it makes sense, the apocalypse was literally less than a century ago.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Well, I wasn't intending it to be exactly that, but 'RCMP Iiin Spaaaaace' is close enough to the concept. Someone less familiar with the RCMP than you are might match it to a different semi-military police force, though, like the French gendarmerie. I was actually taking inspiration from the London Metropolitan Police Service and NYPD and LAPD.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

On the Kzin, and their wars with the Solar Cooperative.

The Kzin are a particularly aggressive branch of the felinoid species commonly known as 'Caitians.' 'Kzin' is a transliteration of their actual name for themselves, which is both difficult to spell properly with Roman letters, and unpronouncible for most hominid races. Their ancestors were one of several groups taken from the planet Cait by the Preservers (who had settled the Caitians' ancestors on Cait millennia earlier), during the Caitians only full nuclear conflict; it is believed that the first generation of Kzin-Caitians arrived on the planet as children, forced to raise themselves or die trying, which may help to explain the culture which they developed. Kzin are stronger on average than other Caitian subspecies, but have poorer hearing and night vision, closer to the senses of humans. One of the native plants on their world produces an addictive substance which induces telepathic abilities in members of many feline species. Most or all of the Caitians who were settled on the planet that came to be called Kzin suffered from a sex-linked genetic disease which caused reduced intelligence in females. This disease is extinct in other Caitian populations. For this reason, the government of the Kzin culture's empire is generally called the 'Kzin Patriarchy' in English, and their autocratic leader the 'Patriarch of Kzin.'

Once interstellar travel became minimally available, interstellar conquest and colonization became both a means of distracting the population from internal problems, and a vital safety valve: young warriors who thought that they might make a better Patriarch of Kzin than the current Patriarch or his heirs, or who otherwise might advocate for reforms that the Patriarch wasn't prepared to grant, could be sent off into space to bother someone else. The fact that their travel speeds at the time were limited to high sub-light by the gravitic (psychokinetic) drives that they used was a bonus in this case, since while they could communicate with some difficulty, they couldn't come back to make trouble.


* The First Human-Kzin War, and Terran humanity's first contact with the Kzin race, began without warning in early 2131, when a Kzin conquest fleet invaded the planet New California, an extrasolar colony of the Solar Cooperative (for this, it is also called the New California Incident or New California Conflict by those who do not wish to classify it as a war). The Kzin in the fleet had no experience fighting an opponent capable of FTL travel, but still did well initially due to their numbers. However, they could not hope for reinforcements, while the Terran colonists could. Political tensions with the Andorian Star Empire (due to the SC's alliance with the Vulcanians) and the Orion Union (due to piracy and other criminal activities by the Orion Syndicate, a criminal organization which is strongly suspected to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Orion government) lead to the Solar Cooperative Space Patrol developing a rather large interstellar defence force, primarily under the previously small SCSP Special Weapons and Tactics Directorate.

By the time Task Force New California arrived, the Kzin Seventh Conquest Fleet was in control of the orbitals, and the Kzin troops on the ground were discovering that they really hated guerilla warfare (which they subsequently called 'ape warfare' or 'monkey warfare' in their own language, comparing it to the behavior of troops of primates on their homeworld); the effectiveness of improvised explosive devices was especially unnerving for them. In space, the portion of the Seventh Conquest Fleet still in orbit was unprepared for attack, and badly outnumbered, while those on the ground needed time to gather their crews and take off. Task Force New California was thus able to obtain orbital superiority with minimal losses, and begin landing ground troops (primarily drawn from the Lunar Commonwealth Militia (formerly the Lunar Colonial Militia) and the surviving or reconstituted military forces of Earth) within days. The war lasted several months, as the Seventh, typical of conquest fleets of that era, had numerous strong personalities in the officer corps, who didn't agree with each other on a lot of things, and certainly weren't going to accept a surrender order just because someone they didn't like had 'turned coward.'

Once all the surviving Kzin were captured (less a few crazy or stubborn ones who made their way far enough from the few settled parts of the planet that they weren't detected), the question was what to do with them. After much consideration, the surviving spacecraft of the Kzin Seventh Conquest Fleet were demilitarized, the surviving Kzin were loaded on to them, and a mixed fleet of Space Patrol, SC civilian-owned freighters, and various alien military and cargo vessels, dragged the Kzin sphereships into warp, and delivered them back to the Kzin homeworld (located using the Kzin vessels' own computers). This failed to go over well with the Patriarch of Kzin, but there was little he could do about it against prepared opponents with spacetime warp stardrives... not that he didn't try, as he couldn't lose face by just accepting this 'invasion,' but Patriarch Kilrargh-Riit was intelligent enough to grasp the implications better than many of his subordinates. This resulted in a lot of deaths, most of them Kzin.

Once the fighting was done, information about other problems came out: the Patriarch had limited influence over the Kzin interstellar colonies, who might make trouble eventually, the Fourth Conquest Fleet was missing (the Fifth had been sent to the same system, and found no evidence of them), and an Eighth Conquest Fleet was recently sent out. Also, the Patriarch of Kzin really didn't want the prisoners back.

The peace treaty included a trade agreement favorable to the Solar Cooperative's interests, signing over of ownership rights to the Solar Cooperative of the Kzin vessels that the SCSP had already captured, the Kzin giving up all claim on New California (a sticking point that they eventually gave in on, despite having launched the Seventh Conquest Fleet some years before the first SC colonists arrived on the planet), an agreement not to attack the Solar Cooperative if not attacked first, and an agreement that the Space Patrol would transport the prisoners to the existing Kzin colonies when they went to inform the colonists of the treaty, and convince said colonists of its validity. This lead to the final phase of the war, as the colonists needed a lot of convincing, in many cases.

The war was effectively over, and the troops back home, by Christmas, 2132.

(OOC: The Fourth and Eighth Conquest Fleets are left as adventure seeds; what happens with them is up to the individual GM.)


* The Second Human-Kzin War took place a decade later, from late 2141 to early 2143, when trade with the various FTL-capable civilizations had allowed the Kzin to develop spacetime warping technology of their own, and equip it on what became the Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh Conquest Fleets. All three fleets were sent to the Sol system, the Ninth to Earth and Luna, the Tenth to Mars, and the Eleventh, which was already the most fractious, to deal with habitats in the rest of the system; the official casus belli was a bar fight on Tellar, in which a human who served as a guard at the Solar Cooperative's embassy threw the first punch at a Kzin telepath who was part of the Kzin embassy. Due to the Kzin Patriarchy's limited experience with espionage and counterintelligence, the coming invasion was by no means a surprise, though due to limited intelligence assets and general arrogance in the Intelligence Bureau at the time (and the Kzin not being completely incompetent at counterintelligence), the total number of vessels was badly underestimated.

The first two battles occurred in deep space on the way to Sol, and were tactical victories for the Kzin, in that the SC fleets were driven off without the Kzin needing to significantly alter course, but strategic losses, as several vessels were disabled or destroyed, and unit cohesion was reduced in the Ninth and Tenth Conquest Fleets, as the flagships were specifically targeted, and were destroyed.

The invasion of the Sol System did not go terribly well for the Kzin, both due to the initial losses in deep space, and the fact that the Kzin were playing catch-up with a technologically-superior opponent. Indeed, they wouldn't have done as well as they did, if the Intelligence Bureau had registered how big the fleets were going to be. As it was, the Conquest Fleets had been forced to surrender by June, save for a few couriers that were assigned to bring news to the Patriarch, and a small group of vessels that were taken over by telepaths, and fled to Orion territory.

In August, 2142, a large punitive expedition was launched to the Kzin system, along with smaller expeditions to keep the Kzin colonies (now reluctantly under closer supervision by the Kzin homeworld) from getting ideas. This lead to several battles, before the Kzin were eventually brought to the negotiating table. The new treaty required the Kzin to pay significant war reparations, and had a much clearer definition of what constitutes an attack sufficient to justify a war.


(Continued next post.)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

* For the rest of the 2140s and the early 2150s, relations between the Cooperative and the Patriarchy were tense, but generally not violent. That didn't mean that the Patriarchy itself was at peace, though, nor that the SC had no problems during that period. The First Contact with the Kaa in 2144 did not go brilliantly, but did not quite result in military action. The formation of the Solar Cooperative's colonies in the Alpha Centauri systems into the independent Alpha Centauri Concordium of Planets in 2149 was handled diplomatically, but did lead to some tensions, and reforms (both good and bad) of the Solar Cooperative's dealings with their extrasolar colonies. The war with the Crystal Computers beginning in 2151 was fairly limited, but serious, and the disastrous first contact with the Xindi in 2153 only failed to lead to a war by sheer luck, diplomatic acumen, and mutual antipathy toward the Kaa. The Kzin, meanwhile, sent a significant number of 'mercenaries' (mainly Kzin officers and NCOs with Gormelite soldier-slaves as enlisted) to help the Orions in their war with the Andorians in the late 2140s (though they did not formally join the war); a war that the Kaa would have joined in on the Kzin/Orion side if the Solars and Xindi hadn't threatened to join in on the Andorian side.

In 2154, scouts from a civilization the SCSPIB designated 'Romulans' began to be reported, though communication did not occur, and contact was sparse. On January 11, 2156, Romulan vessels attacked and destroyed Space Station Salem One without warning, beginning the Romulan War (though the station did fairly well defensively, due to numerous 'surprise attack' drills; several couriers and other warp-vehicles were able to escape). An Andorian colony was attacked later the same month. On learning of this, suspiciously well-equipped Kzin 'pirates' began opportunistic attacks on nearby SC colonies and trade routes. The SC threatened to declare war on the Kzin if the attacks continued, as relatively few bought their excuse (they weren't nearly as good at making their deniability plausible as the Orions were). By the time there were enough votes to declare war on the Kzin, however, this was pre-empted, as a fleet of Kzin 'armed freighters' suspected of piracy were attacked by a Romulan force that were preparing to attack the same colony. This lead to the Kzin Patriarchy declaring war on the Romulans in 2157. Despite the lack of an official declaration, some historians refer to the attacks (and unofficial reprisals by civilian-owned Solar Cooperative armed freighters) as the Third Human-Kzin War. When the Romulan War ended in 2160, the Kzin were at the negotiating table alongside the other Coalition powers, though they received fairly little from it, and in 2161, they were one of the first star-nations to be granted Observer status in the newly-formed United Space Authority.


* The Fourth (or Third) Human-Kzin War began in 2179, and was the first real test of the Authority. Throughout the 2170s, agents of the Kaa and Orions (and by coincidence, the Xindi) attempted to drive wedges between the various powers of the infant USA, and especially between the more warlike powers and the more pacifistic powers. This was varyingly effective, at least enough that they believed by 2179 that they could implement Phase Two: The Kaa declared war on the Andorian Star Empire, whose military forces were the least recovered from the Romulan War. Shortly thereafter, the Kzin declared that the Treaty of 2143 was an unequal treaty imposed by blackmail and accepted by a dishonourable leadership, and thus was invalid, and began attacks on the Solar Cooperative. Finally, the Orions provoked the United Planets of Tellar into declaring war on them. All three anti-USA powers (the Xindi stayed out of it) carefully avoided attacking the other members of United Space, and made attempts to avoid appearing to be allied - though the Kzin and Orions did both use Gormelite soldier-slaves, the Orions were already known for using them, so this was not a clear connection. The Kaa did not use Gormelites at all, preferring Nausicaan and Cidi mercenaries. It was hoped that the Vulcanians, Pachekki, Centaurans, and the Betazoids - who had recently become Observers in the USA legislature - would stay out of it, and thus with that trust destroyed, the Authority would break up, and cease to be such a threat.

This failed for multiple reasons: Firstly, the intelligence services of the various members were not idle, and were at least somewhat aware of this plan, even if they were uncertain of the exact details beforehand. Secondly, the less warlike star-nations were fully aware of the benefits they gained from being part of the Authority, and had no intention of giving that up. Thirdly, the anti-USA powers underestimated the strength of the bonds that they were trying to break (and were completely confused as to why pro-war posters in the Concorduim often read 'Gondor Calls For Aid!'), or perhaps overestimated their own political skills. Finally, they were not expecting the Xindi Alliance to just watch as they did, but to opportunistically attack (they would have, if the war had lasted longer, or had looked like it might be successful). The Kaa were the first to bow out, establishing a separate peace in 2183. The Orions reluctantly withdrew from the war in early 2185, with the Kzin holding on until the end of 2187.

The war had a variety of results:

The Kaa, having bowed out early, suffered minimal consequences, only needing to pay war reparations that were only slightly larger than they had budgeted for the rest of the war.

The Orions were forced to give up all non-Orion slaves, and agree not to take more, in perpetuity, as well as paying war reparations (the Tellarites and Solars wanted to force the Orions to give up slavery completely, but the other member-states were against that, as it would prolong the war, and significantly increase loss of life). This lead to the fall of the Orion Union's government, and was replaced with a new constitution and government, the Orion Free States (or Orion Commercial States, depending on the translation).

The Kzin suffered worst, as they hadn't wanted to give up, and had dearly wated to avenge the 'humiliation' of the last two or three wars; thus, they lost too much of their fleet to have any real negotiating power. The Kzin were made a protectorate of the United Space Authority (primarily a mandate of the Solar Cooperative), lost several colonies, and were forced to accept severe restrictions, including having no armed space vessels beyond lightly-armed patrol craft, that they had to buy from the SC.

The small Kzin population on the Gormelite homeworld was mostly removed to the remaining Kzin colonies, or to the Kzin homeworld, and the Gormelites were given sovereignty over themselves again, and Observer status in the USA, with an offer of membership if they qualified in twenty years.

The USA was changed as well by the war, with the member-nations growing closer, and the original, relatively ad hoc Authority Space Forces becoming a more formal organization, with dedicated vessels, stations, and personnel, rather than everything being very clearly on loan from the members. Likewise, whilst the member states retained their own intelligence services, the Authority established a centralized intelligence agency, as well.


Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, so, the Views counter suggests that people are reading this, but that doesn't tell me whether the above is good worldbuilding, or if it needs changing, and if it does need changing, what needs to be changed. I'd like to know, please.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Two thoughts:

1) Is the Earth-Romulan War going to be renamed the Human-Romulan War to be consistent with the Human-Kzin Wars?

2) Human-Kzin War IV appears to be relatively short, which makes some sense, but I'm not sure that the results are consistent with its length. The Kaa result makes the most sense. The Orion result forbidding xeno slaves seems a little off, though if there are no other sources the demand could be academic, and the Orion Free State could plausibly ignore the restriction and claim it only applied to the Orion Union. The Kzin result seems slightly less likely; a total rollback seems like it would need a longer war that had a degree of occupation. Disarmament is plausible as written, but the protectorate status is questionable.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'm fine with that, as long as the rest of whomever is reading this doesn't mind.

Hmm. Good point. I was going with the idea of 'short shooty periods and longer periods of political tension,' but I may have gone too far.

So, the question is:
Should I make the war that started in 2179 longer (which also helps with the Orions), or should I reduce the penalties that the Kzin are under?

EDIT: OK, I'll make the war longer.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, another short timeline:

2110: Contact with Vulcans, Humans enter Galactic Community
2131: HK (Human-Kzin) I Begins
2132: HK I Ends
2141: HK II Begins
2143: HK II Ends
2144: First Contact with Kaa
2147: Orion-Andorian War Begins, Kzin send Volunteers
2149: Orion-Andorian War Ends
2149: ACCP Established
2151: Crystal Computer War Begins
2152: Crystal Computer War Ends
2153: Xindi Affair
2154: First Contact with Romulans
2156: Romulan War Begins, Kzin Piracy (HK III)
2157: Kzin Enter Romulan War
2160: Romulan War Ends
2161: United Space Authority (USA) Established
2179: HK IV, Andorian-Kaa War, Orion-Tellarite War Begin (The Unification Wars?)

Looking at just Human-Kzin relations to this point, there have been two costly wars and an out of context war (i.e. Enemy appearing out of nowhere, like the conquistadors or the Mongols). The Romulan War has given Humans and Kzin little to bond over, and tensions have been accumulating for about half a century. A twenty year break since the last big war helps.

To play devil's advocate against lengthening the war, the USA doesn't seem to have the political wherewithal to engage in wars to unconditional surrender at this point, and even "Victory or Valhalla" forces (such as the Axis forces in WW2) were sued for peace eventually (though they were ignored).

I'll go with lengthening the war.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, that's one vote. Your timeline looks right, too.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, if no one has a contradictory vote in the next day or two, I'll call it at 'lengthen the war.'

My current thinking is that the Kaa bow out in 2182 or 2183, the Orions surrender in 2184 to 2186, and depending on when the Orions surrender, the Kzin hold out until somewhere between 2186 and 2189, basically trying to fight to the bitter end to avenge the 'humiliations' of previous wars, and losing faster once the USA has no distractions. They only last as long as they do because they had a long time to build up a fleet.

Whenever it is, the terms are harsh because the humans are well and truly done with the Kzins' collective attitude (and their habitual revanchism and irredentism).

Thoughts?

EDIT: I'm not sure that 'revanchism and irredentism' are the right words, as the Solars hold very little territory prior to the Third/Fourth War that the Kzin had any sort of historical claim on (just New California, really, and then only on a technicality), but they're the nearest equivalent: The Solars have no problem with the Kzin being expansionist, most of the USA members are, but the Kzin want specifically to expand into the territory that the Solar Cooperative already occupies, partly because they strongly wish to punish Terran humanity for their past defeats.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, with one vote, the decision has been made, and I've made the war longer. I only needed to change two sentences at the end of one paragraph:

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

T'Kon Curse Ray

Probability Alteration weapon

When people hear the phrase "T'Kon energy weapons," they don't think of the lasers, electron dampeners, or anti-proton accelerators that were made by that ancient empire. They think of the infamous Curse Ray. It was not the most common weapon used by the T'Kon Empire before its fall, but due to a quirk of design, more Curse Rays survived to the modern era in functional states (or states that could be made functional) than most other T'Kon equipment. Likewise, a 'bad luck gun' is so unexpected among the modern races that the fact that so many of them were made by the T'Kon tends to stick in one's mind.

At the lowest levels of effect, machines will malfunction, shut down, or need to reboot, and biological organisms are left stunned, and often dizzy and nauseous. At higher levels or closer ranges, this is accompanied by the ability that gives the Curse Ray its name, as the target becomes unlucky, sometimes extremely so, for some time after the ray hits.

(Affliction: Cursed or Unluckiness (both with Affects Machines) out to 1/2D. Affliction: Stun (with Affects Machines and sometimes Dizziness or Nausea) out to Max, still affecting those within 1/2D range in addition to the main Affliction.)

There is no 'standard' Curse Ray, as the surviving examples come in too many different versions. Thus, the template below is vague:

Beam Weapons (<type>)
Damage: HT-X aff; out to Max; Power: Probability Alteration
linked Damage: Will-X aff; out to 1/2D; Power: Probability Alteration
Cost: Often Not Available for Sale, or extremely expensive (varied widely in the T'Kon's era); LC: Varies.

In some cases, the Curse affliction will be based on Will, and the Stunning affliction will be based on HT. In others, both will be based on the same attribute; no known examples are resisted by traits other than either Will or HT. (EDIT: A possible malfunction of a Curse Ray would be to give the target good luck, or strange luck.)

The smallest working example was part of a Probability Alteration-based multitool built into a signet-style finger-ring, but the item was stolen from the dig site by unknown parties, before a full analysis could be made. The largest working example masses more than a tonne, and appears to be part of a ground-based defensive emplacement, able to disable large spacecraft out to nearly a light-second. The largest non-working example masses nearly twelve tonnes, and had a range and strength that xenoarchaeological engineers have yet to determine.


T'Kon Probability Shield

The other common survivor of T'Kon military technology, these devices grant those within their defensive radius Resistance to hostile Probability Alteration effects (or all Probability Alteration effects, if the device malfunctions in a specific way). How much Resistance varies, but large vehicle-mounted shields (Decade scale (Basic Set p470 text box) or bigger) effectively grant Immunity to personal-scale Probability weapons. As with the Curse Ray, these are rarely available for sale, and of great cost if they are available at all.

The smallest working example was part of the same multitool as above. The largest known example, which started working once power was applied to it during testing, masses over thirty tonnes; it provides effective Immunity (when at full power, which has not been done) to Probability Alteration effects of Decade scale or less, and +12 to resist PA effects at Century scale.


Attempts to reverse engineer this technology are ongoing. How successful this has been should probably be up to individual GMs, but I suggest that newly-built examples should be experimental tech that the PCs are assigned to field-test.



Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Ranks of the Space Forces question

I've been working on this for a while, and I'm wondering if this version is acceptable:

(See also Ranks and insignia of NATO.)

Ranks with greater responsibility and/or social influence than the number of personnel normally under their command, are listed with levels of Courtesy Rank appended.

Commissioned Officers

Rank 9 [45]

OF-10 Commissioner of the Space Forces

Rank 8 [40]

OF-9 Commissioner

Rank 7 [35]

OF-8 Deputy Commissioner
OF-7 Lieutenant Commissioner

Rank 6 [30]

OF-6 Commander
OF-5 Chief Superintendent

Rank 5 [25]

OF-4 Superintendent

Rank 4 [20]

OF-3 Chief Inspector

Rank 3 [15]

OF-2 Inspector
OF-1 Lieutenant Inspector


Officers in Training

Courtesy Rank 3 [3]

OF(D) Space Cadet


Warrant Officers

Rank 3 [15]

WO4/WO5 Master Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 3 [3])
WO3 Chief Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2])
WO2 Senior Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
WO1 Warrant Officer


Non-Commissioned Officers & Enlisted Personnel

Rank 2 [10]

OR-9 Sergeant Major (w/Courtesy Rank 4 [4])
OR-8 Master Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 3 [3])
OR-7 Senior Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2])
OR-6 Staff Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
OR-5 Sergeant

Rank 1 [5]

OR-3 Staff Corporal (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
OR-3 Corporal
OR-2 Space Constable first class

Rank 0 [0]

OR-1 Space Constable
OR-1 Space Recruit


As you can see, the current version is based on the SC Space Patrol ranks, with additional ranks added due to having significantly more personnel. That's not the only possible option, but it's what I have right now. So, the question is:

Is the above table of ranks acceptable, or should it be changed?

*1: Yes, use it as is.

*2: Yes, with a small change or changes (please specify).

*3: No, it should be more overtly military.

*4: No, it should be more alien/eccentric.

*5: No, something that I haven't thought of (please specify).


Clearly, some of these will trigger another vote if they win.

I'll warn you now that I'm rather opposed to using a lot of Navy-style ranks for this, as space is not an ocean. Using a few Navy ranks, or using positional titles that sound like Navy ranks (e.g. the commanding officer of a vessel being called 'Captain,' while not having a specific rank called 'captain'), would be acceptable.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

2

From smallest to largest:

- Move up OR-3 Staff Corporal to OR-4

- A rank above Sergeant Major; doesn't need to be common at all

- Warrant officers as distinct from enlisted personnel seems to be anomalous to the US forces. Maybe it should be eliminated or merged with the top end of enlisted?

- Maybe even out enlisted ranks a little? Right now, the ranks go:
Rank 0: OR1
Rank 1: OR2-4
Rank 2: OR5-9

Surely they could be banded together in groups of three or so? Maybe:

Rank 0 [0]
OR1: Constable
OR2: Constable, Second Class
OR3: Constable, First Class (Courtesy Rank 1)

Rank 1 [5]
OR4: Corporal
OR5: Sergeant (Courtesy Rank 1)
OR6: Staff Sergeant (Courtesy Rank 1)

Rank 2 [10]
OR7: Senior Sergeant
OR8: Master Sergeant (Courtesy Rank 1)
OR9: Sergeant Major (Courtesy Rank 2)
...
OR9: Sergeant Major of the Space Force (Courtesy Rank 7)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I vote 2 and 3.

The lower ranks for the Commissioned Officers sound like they were designed for a police department. That would be fine for customs enforcement, but doesn't make sense for a military organization. I'd change OF1 thru OF3 to Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, and Senior Colonel, respectively. This makes the officer ranks sound militaristic but non-naval.

I second TLGS's comment that the enlisted ranks need to be evened out. It seems weird that there are so many subdivisions for Rank 2. I think his scheme works pretty well.

However, it still has the problem of having 5 nominal ranks in a row all being variations on Sergeant. This is a little hard to keep track of for game purposes. I'd make OR8 and OR9 distinct ranks such as "Field Marshal" and "Marshal". Or make the Sergeants 1- thru 5- star Sergeants.

Finally, I'd make OF10 "Secretary of the Space Forces" or similar. That prevents confusion between the head of the Space Forces and their immediate subordinate.

I would definitely use "Captain" as a positional title for the Star Trek feel. "Commodore" and "Admiral" might be used as positional titles for captains in charge of task forces.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I've rearranged the quotes to fit the best places for my responses. I hope that it isn't annoying. Sorry if it is.

Warrant Officers being something other than senior enlisted/NCOs was originally somewhat common, as they were created to give professionals greater authority situational, without giving them the broad authority of commissioned officers. I might drop them, though.

Hmm. That looks pretty good aesthetically, but given that these are GURPS ranks (which means that in the absence of Courtesy Rank, they are based on how many people are under your direct command, and only theoretically connected to your pay grade), I would want to check the size of the normal command for that rank. I thought that what I had was how it would usually work. This wikipedia article may help.

Technically, you could say that NCO and commissioned ranks (and warrant ranks where those are separate) are parallel systems (hence levels of Courtesy Rank). I think someone did a post on that, but I can't recall who or where.

I based that on RL militaries, where the higher NCO ranks (in English) do very often tend to be variations on 'Sergeant' or 'Petty Officer.' Examples (again, from wikipedia): US Army, US Navy.

You may have a point about it being difficult for gaming purposes. I've never seen that, but I'm just me, and can't be sure how far the experiences of others differ.

...Colonel (which is normally the highest or second-highest senior officer rank, just below field officers) as a junior officer and Marshal as senior NCO? Um, that's a bit strange. Like, to my mind, that would be heading toward option 4. Using stars to rank the Sergeants isn't as bad, that's a minor change, but it seems odd with your objection to those ranks all being variants of Sergeant.

Here's the British Army officer ranks, for comparison.

I really would prefer to use something other than Secretary, as that is a civilian position, and OF-10 would be the professional head, who would answer to the Secretary or Minister. OF-10 is where 'Field Marshal' (or 'Air Marshal,' or perhaps 'Space Marshal') would normally go.

In real life, the US Army's equivalent of OF-10 is the five-star rank 'General of the Army,' which outranks the four-star rank of 'General' (though there hasn't been a promotion to five-star rank in the US in decades).

I get the feeling that you don't geek out on military ranks and trivia as hard as I do (or if you do, it's for a country other than the US or UK).

OK, this part I have no problem with. I was basically thinking that the size and/or threat level of the task force would determine the positional title:

Small force, or a force of smaller or lightly-armed vessels: Fleet Captain.

Medium-strength force: Commodore.

Large, heavily-armed force: Admiral.

Seriously huge task force that might only be gathered together once in a lifetime, if then: Fleet Admiral.


I hope that this is coherent, as I'm fairly tired, again.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Here's the thread that talks about Doug Cole's old Pyramid article about it http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=39412

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Part of my objection was that the Sergeant ranks don't do a very good job of showing hierarchy. That works in a real world military, where enlistees would be immersed in the military culture and have the ranks memorized. But for a game it is cumbersome to require players to memorize the relative positions of the ranks or the GM explaining that detail of the setting whenever it comes up.

Using a five-star sergeant scheme solves that particular problem.

OK, I can see that argument for not making the Secretary a commissioned officer. I'm torn on whether to represent their de facto control over the military with Status or Rank.

You hit the nail on the head there. I'm more concerned with getting a Rank system that is playable than one that is based on real world militaries.

These all work for me.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd use both: Status for the social status that comes with being the Secretary/Minister of Defense (and Undersecretaries/Deputy Ministers for the Army, Starfleet, Marine Corps, Starfighter Corps, etc., or whatever branches you go with), Political Rank for their positions in the political hierarchy, and Military Rank 10 (or whatever level you top out at) for their ability to give orders to whatever passes for your Joint Chiefs of Staff (the 5-star generals/admirals in charge of their branches of the military).

My own Rank and Status Tables gives my thoughts on Administrative/Political, Merchant, Military and Police Ranks. I'd put Star Trek's United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Empire, and similar sized entities at "Large Interstellar Nation-State" and smaller sector-sized entities such as the Breen as "Typical Interstellar Nation-State"; folks like the Bajorans would be "star system".


With the military ranks, I don't give E-1, E-4, O-6, W-3, etc. breakdowns; likewise, police pay grades and titles are all over the place!

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Too tired to give a more detailed reply, but I don't want people to think that I'm ignoring this: I would say that anyone above the professional head of the service (the one I listed as 'Commissioner of the Space Forces,' above) would be a civilian, and would fall into the territory of an article or articles on the civilian administration of the USA. The Head of State or Head of Government of the Authority would be the Commander-in-Chief of the Space Forces, unless we want to have a collective HoC/HoG with split responsibilities (so one is the Commander-in-Chief, another is the leader of the legislature, and so on). If we go there, we'll also have to work out how the responsibilities are split.

As for that professional head, if it's generally agreed that 'Commissioner of the Space Forces' isn't wanted, would 'Space Marshal' or 'Marshal of the Space Forces' work better?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I like the idea of ranks in a Star Trek-inspired world sounding more police and less military, since Starfleet and the UFP are usually more of a police/diplomatic organization in intent, even if they have to form huge fleets and go blow up the Other Guys sometimes.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Maybe 'Sergeant second class, Sergeant first class' et cetra, followed by Sergeants Major named for the unit type that they are Sergeant Major of (Battalion Sergeant Major, Regimental Sergeant Major, and so on up to Sergeant Major of the Space Forces)?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, something I meant to go into earlier, but forgot: GURPS Social Engineering has a handy text box on p14 called 'The Arithmetic of Rank,' which goes into how to determine how high of a rank advantage someone should have based on the number of people under their command. Someone with Rank 1 has command of up to five people, Rank 2 commands up to twenty, and Rank 3 commands up to 100. So, while not aesthetically pleasing, having more NCO ranks in Rank 2 or above than in Rank 1 is correct to the rules as written.

I'm sort of wondering, though, of the higher NCO ranks should be full ranks with a limitation like 'NCO, -20%,' to represent the fact that they don't have independent command, instead of Rank 2 with increasing level of Courtesy Rank. So, a Regimental Sergeant Major should have 'Rank 6 (NCO, -20%) [24],' the Sergeant Major of the Space Forces should have 'Rank 9 (NCO, -20%) [36],' et cetra. Something similar would be the case with Warrant Officers, if I don't just drop them or merge them with the senior NCO ranks.

Thoughts?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Well, the only problem I have with that is that OR-1 through OR-3 is still really low ranking and don't command anyone. This squeezes the enlisted ranks to:

Rank 0: OR1-3
Rank 1: OR4
Rank 2: OR5-9

With regard to the limitation idea for NCOs, I don't think it works terribly well to represent high ranking NCOs, who have a lot more soft-power than real power.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Ranks of the Space Forces answer

Here's a hopefully-improved version:

(See also Ranks and insignia of NATO.)

Ranks with greater responsibility and/or social influence than the number of personnel normally under their command, are listed with levels of Courtesy Rank appended.

Commissioned Officers

Rank 9 [45]

OF-10 Marshal of the Space Forces

Rank 8 [40]

OF-9 Commissioner

Rank 7 [35]

OF-8 Deputy Commissioner
OF-7 Lieutenant Commissioner

Rank 6 [30]

OF-6 Commander
OF-5 Chief Superintendent

Rank 5 [25]

OF-4 Superintendent

Rank 4 [20]

OF-3 Chief Inspector

Rank 3 [15]

OF-2 Inspector
OF-1 Lieutenant Inspector


Officers in Training

Courtesy Rank 3 [3]

OF(D) Space Cadet


Warrant Officers

Rank 3 [15]

WO4/WO5 Master Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 3 [3])
WO3 Chief Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2])
WO2 Senior Warrant Officer (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
WO1 Warrant Officer


Non-Commissioned Officers & Enlisted Personnel

Rank 2 [10]

OR-9 Sergeant Major of the Space Forces (w/Courtesy Rank 7 [7])
OR-9 Corps/Force Sergeant Major (w/Courtesy Rank 6 [6])
OR-9 Brigade/Division Sergeant Major (w/Courtesy Rank 5 [5])
OR-9 Regimental Sergeant Major (w/Courtesy Rank 4 [4])
OR-8 Battalion Sergeant (w/Courtesy Rank 3 [3])

OR-7 Sergeant first class (w/Courtesy Rank 2 [2])
OR-6 Sergeant second class (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
OR-5 Sergeant third class

Rank 1 [5]

OR-4 Staff Corporal (w/Courtesy Rank 1 [1])
OR-3 Corporal

Rank 0 [0]

OR-2 Space Constable first class
OR-1 Space Constable
OR-1 Space Recruit


The term 'Captain' is a positional title, not a rank, given to the commanding officer of a vessel with a significant crew size, and capable of interstellar travel. The commanding officer of a shuttlecraft or other lesser space vehicle is sometimes given the poisitional title of 'coxwain.'

The size and/or threat level of a task force would determine the positional title of the officer in command:

Small and/or lightly-armed force: Fleet Captain.

Medium-strength force: Commodore; may have one or more Fleet Captains as subordinates.

Large, heavily-armed force: Admiral; likely to have one or more Commodores and/or Fleet Captains as subordinates.

Any taskforce large enough to have multiple Admirals: Fleet Admiral.


Thoughts? If this is acceptable, I'll add it to the Table of Contents.

(EDIT: OK, moved OR-2 down to Rank 0.)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I have three comments:

1) Charging five points for being the leading member of a battle pair or trio seems like excessively nickel and diming. From the Wikipedia article:
Given that the two may agree on which should lead (depending on the army) it seems that the relationship is a lot more equal than soldier and officer.

2) Using Arithmetic of Rank to decide how to place organizational ranks within the framework of Rank seems like a bad idea. This eliminates the relation between ranks and Rank. To use a Trek example, both Picard and Sisko are both Rank 5 because they both command between 500 and 2000 people. The ranks don't exist, only the Authority is represented by Rank.

3) Staff Corporal really should be OR-4 or you should add an OR-4 rank.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Re: 3), I think Staff Corporal being OR-3 may have been a typo (there are other possibilities, but I don't recall making the decision), so I've corrected it, and thank you for spotting it.

Need to get back to you for the other two, but I think Rank advantage being divorced from organizational ranks was intentional on the part of the GURPS dev team. Kind of want to see how others weigh in.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I made another small edit, moving 'Space Constable first class' down to Rank 0. Can we consider this an acceptable compromise?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Works more or less well enough. Now would it be Staff Corporal or Sergeant O'Brien?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Depends on when in the series you're talking about. When he's the helmsman on the Battle Bridge in the pilot, he's probably a Staff Corporal or Sergeant third class, but by the time he's on DS9, he might be a Battalion Sergeant.

EDIT: OK, added the answer to the table of contents.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The post that I wanted to do next isn't ready yet, but this one is:

Cloaking devices

Should cloaking devices exist in this setting, and if so, how common should they be? Please include the number of your preferred option in your vote.

*1. There Is No Stealth In Space (No cloaking devices at all).

*2. No cloaking devices, but less complete forms of sensor countermeasures do exist, leading to combat ranges generally being shorter when SCM is more effective, and longer when sensor counter-countermeasures are more effective.

*3. Cloaking devices are very rare and expensive, and generally experimental in any polity that uses them, never standard issue.

*4. The Romulans are the only polity that uses them, and they're rare even then.

*5. The Romulans are the only polity that uses them, but they're relatively common among the Romulan fleet.

*6. Two or three polities use cloaking devices.

*7. Lots of polities use cloaking devices.

*8. Small Cloaking Devices exist (i.e. man-portable), but the Romulans are the only ones with ship cloaks.

*9. Something that I haven't considered (please specify).

EDIT: OK, the consensus appears to be that while only the Romulans have proper vehicular-scale cloaking devices, personal scale cloaks are available in other polities, and advanced sensor countermeasures are, as well.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, let's call this 8: Small Cloaking Devices Exist (i.e. man-portable), but only the Romulans are the only ones with ship cloaks.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, that was interesting enough that I edited it in and renumbered the end of the list.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

My preferred option is 5. Cloaking is too iconic for the Romulans to not be common in their fleet.

For everyone else, I'm going to suggest option 2. I'd also make FTL sensors more susceptible to countermeasures than STL sensors. Countermeasures to passive thermal and visual sensors strains my suspension of disbelief too much. On the other hand, unlike with Trek's FTL sensors, that won't be a problem until the light has had a chance to propagate.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

In a psychotronics-based setting like this one, countermeasures to both passive visual and passive infrared detection are a bit more plausible than in a more 'hard science' setting.

It's still a fair vote though.


In case anyone is wondering, I currently plan to leave the vote open until at least April 25th.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'm hoping to see more than just the two votes before Saturday. On the bright side, they aren't really contradictory, so if that's all I have by then, I should be able to come up with an answer that satisfies both.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Alright, the Cloaking device post has been edited with the answer, now here's a new question:

On fighters, missiles, and probes

A 'fighter,' in this context, is any small space or aerospace vehicle which is, compared to other vehicles of its size, heavily armed, well-shielded, highly manoeuverable, and lightly crewed. They are normally organized in something like traditional 'air force' fashion, and frequently are not intended for long journeys without some sort of tender or carrier. Most aerospace fighters are around the size that someone from late twentieth or early twenty-first century Earth might expect, while most starfighters are larger than that, and mostly have more crewmembers. Smaller fighters often have the control room and most or all of the other habitable sections (if any) in an ejectable cockpit-style escape pod (mechanically, an Upper Stage), with the the vehicle saving space by having little or no room for people in the other sections, just big reactors, big engines, weapons, et cetra. In particular, the fighter would need to have storage room and launch systems for missiles, because most space fighters in this setting are basically manned, reusable missile buses.

The main reason for this is that a lot of psychotronic technology works best (or at all) in the environment of the psionic fields created by sapient or nearly sapient life, and responds to same. While it is possible to create more robust psychotronics that will continue operating for hours or even days outside of such a psionic field, this does require something of a balancing act. In many cases, this has lead to star nations deciding to build fighters for missions where a larger vessel is not required, or where multiple smaller targets to split the enemy's fire would be beneficial. An alternative is to build missiles with few or no psychotronic components, which leaves the question of what you leave out: a missile with no shields and no defences against direct psionic attack is far easier to defend against, one with no inertial control is limited by g-forces and is less manoeuverable, one without a warp drive is nearly useless against a target that has a working warp drive, et cetra. Generally, the decision has been to design the missile components to 'run hot,' burning themselves out on the (usually correct) assumption they they will hit something and explode before they enter any other failure mode, and not plan on having them in flight for long periods.

Probes hit this problem in a different way, as they are most useful if they last a long time, but do not generally need to move fast or defend themselves. Probes with no psychotronic components at all are far more common than missiles without such components. For probes that need or would especially benefit from psychtronic components, but also are intended to be stationed away from inhabited planets, two strategies have evolved: Firstly, designing the probe with the most robust psi-tech possible, able to be outside of any psionic field for long periods, and then regularly sending warp-shuttles or warp-fighters to maintain them. Secondly, building the probe's components so that they can handle a weak psionic field, and adding a life-support system and a small life-form or group of life-forms (such as the more psychically-active guinea pig or rabbit breeds) - this greatly increases the size of the probe, however, and is nearly pointless for missiles. Civilizations that do not have animal rights laws (or have very different ones) sometimes solve the problem by removing the animal's brain and keeping it alive in a jar (see also 'Psiborgs,' GURPS Psi-Tech pp39-40), though this still requires a good life-support system, and does create a small risk of the animal finding a way to rebel, or entering a vegetative state that weakens the psionic field below viability. Adding something like either of these to a missile is certainly possible, but most USA members consider it even less ethical than doing it for a probe, and it requires a stronger inertial dampening field than that used for missiles without organic components.

(The following links are not directly canon to Psi Trek, but can be taken as inspiration for fighters and carriers in this setting: To use Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as an example, the Federation attack fighters are around the size of a typical aerospace fighter, the Danube-class runabouts are roughly the size of the smallest dedicated space fighters, and the Defiant-class 'escort vessels' are somewhat bigger than the largest. Further inspiration: The Yorktown-class carrier and Minotaur fighter (the equivalent of Minotaur fighters in this setting would be among the vehicles with ejectable cockpits); Archer & Curran classes (primarily system-patrol vessels, but in many cases effectively large fighters; see also Discarded variant deck plans 1 and 2 in the Yorktown page); 23rd century carriers and fighters. Missiles and probes that look like coffins may or may not exist in-setting.)




So, does this work as is? If not, what do you think should be changes, or what am I missing?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

No. Fighters aren't at all prominent in Trek and shouldn't be made prominent if you want to keep a Trek-like feel. Trek is dominated by big ships pounding on each other until one blows up or runs away. Sometimes one faction uses a bunch of tiny ships and dog piles a big ship. But usually just big ships.

If you feel torpedoes don't work because your phlebotium requires lifeforms to work, redefine torpedoes to directed psionic energy orbs or something.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Um, 'not prominent' is not the same as 'non-existent,' though. They do have fighters in canon, and vessels that might as well be fighters (the runabouts are used that way several times, Maquis fighters & raiders appeared a lot, I think there were one or two Bajoran fighters in an episode, Jem'hadar fighters were most effective as manned missiles but also served as fighters, et cetra), mostly in DS9. That should be addressed, and this seems like a way to both have fighters exist, and not need fighters to be a big thing.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I think what happens is that most people who didn't religiously sit through the Starfleet Academy court-martial episode or the Dominion War in DS9 automatically assume that small, one-manned craft don't exist in the Star Trek Universe, because they're not a big part of the setting they way they are in, for example, Star Wars or Battlestar Galactica. Fighters in some form exist, but they're not the backbone of any galactic power's military force, as those prefer large 300 to 1000-man crew starships duking it out at what amounts to point-blank range at sublight and warp speeds.

So the big question is not "do they exist?" but "what factors prevent them from being the backbone of the force?" They exist - Starfleet Academy uses them as single-person trainers, Data flew one early on in Insurrection, and as noted they're all over the place during the actual combat sequences of the DS9 Dominion War.

Star Trek often has that "Age of Sail IN SPACE!" feel to it with cruisers and frigates giving each other phaser and disruptor broadsides, as opposed to Star Wars's "WWII IN SPACE!" feel with fighters in every major operation that's not planet-side (and some that are!). Neither feel is "wrong", just different. Be sure which you're going for.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'm confused. Don't upper stages take up a third of the ship? How does that save space? Devoting a slot or two to life support makes more sense.

Being able to eject is reasonable if the fighters are not straying far from friendly craft that can give them a lift. But I think using an ejectable control room makes more sense.

The more callous societies won't bother with ejection systems. While that makes the crafts cheaper, it means you have to replace the entire crew when a ship is destroyed. Loss of experienced fighter pilots could significantly reduce the effectiveness of the fighters.

Munition storage rooms make sense for the larger fighters. But I'd use missile pods for the small fighters. That saves room for other components.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The concept in my head is that fighters are 'niche' vessels, and some of them are rather like torpedo boats IN SPACE. There are missions that they are more useful for than other options, enough for the Space Forces to have some, and there are a lot of missions where they would be rather less useful, so they aren't nearly as ubiquitous as they are in Star Wars, nor as vital as they were in WWII.

It should also be noted than the majority of battles in Star Trek are spontaneous, when the Enterprise or other Hero Ship encounters someone who would rather fight than talk. Since the Hero Ships don't tend to be carriers, naturally we don't see many fighters before DS9, which was a somewhat different sort of show.

Upper stages can take up a third of the vehicle. That's not the same as absolutely needing to. I mentioned Upper Stages in the context of game mechanics, because that's what they basically are, unless there's a separate 'ejectable control room' option in the GURPS Spaceships series that I haven't noticed (it's been a while since I looked over those books in detail, so if you know of one, please point me to the book and page number). The rules are an abstraction, after all.

Well, the more callous but less practical societies, anyway. A callous-but-practical society would still have good escape systems, for exactly that reason.

Probably depends on the design, but external missile pods might be a good option, especially for faster reloading (use them up, go back to the tender/carrier; the techs swap the empty rollbar or whatever - some runabouts had those - for a full one, and then you're out in the battle again).

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

Well to the examples of fighter-like craft I can think of:
1) The Maquis/Bajoran small craft are explainable by the groups fielding the craft being broke and not being able to afford/steal anything larger.
2) The Jem'Hadar do kamikaze attacks as doctrine.
3) The Mars Defense Perimeter seems to be unable to have a fixed position.

I will note that many of these have crew complements comparable to patrol ships. It's really small two or three man fighters I object to, especially if they're deployed en masse from larger ships

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I'd think that small light craft are either the equivalent of torpedo/fast attack craft or patrol craft. They're certainly useful to have around, even if only in roles outside of the main battle. navies have been using warships that don't serve to win major engagements for centuries.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

A few items from Memory Alpha:

The one-person mission scoutship piloted by Data in Star Trek: Insurrection,

The Academy flight trainer, from TNG: "The First Duty",

The one- or two-person Federation Attack Fighter from the Dominion war, basically an armed version of the flight trainer.

The Cardassians appear to use 3-5 person patrol- or torpedo boats about the size of runabouts, but which are often called "attack fighters". Small fighters also appear in the Delta Quadrant a lot, apparently. (And apparently fighters were used in Discovery, but that has so many visual differences it might as well be a different timeline altogether.)



So small one-person craft are in use during the time of TNG and DS9, which in times of war are pressed into service as fighters - or are used by colonies that can't field larger craft of their own. As noted, they're not the backbone of Starfleet's exploration, diplomacy, and research days, as shuttlecraft and runabouts serve their needs better. It would seem as though the fighters are held in reserve and churned out to complement and support the larger ships in the big wars. Perhaps it was a change in thought after the Borg War, giving the Borg smaller targets with less to assimilate at a time.

If going by the TOS/TAS era, all I can think of are some novels (Dreadnought is the one that comes to mind) which have some small craft called "attack sleds", two of which were carried in the Enterprise's shuttle bay, but IIRC they have little effect on things besides being small enough to slip past someone's sensors using regular real-space cold engine drift. But it's been 25 years, I could be misremembering the novel's details. Suffice to say, they're not really used in the TOS/TAS era.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

The really small ones, IMHO, would be aerospace fighters, designed mainly to fight in atmosphere, in low orbit, and the transition between them, mainly for the purpose of protecting ground forces once space superiority has been established. Outside of an actual war, they wouldn't be used much beyond training and rare edge cases.

I've also read Dreadnought, and the sequel thereof. It's been a while, but Memory Beta has an article. Annoyingly, it doesn't include much information on the attack sleds (the two-person version was called an Arco, and I think I recall them being able to carry/deliver photon torpedoes, the one-person fighter was called a Tycho and looks more like an atmospheric fighter than the Arco does). Unfortunately, I don't know exactly where the copy I have is, just that it's probably still in the house. Might be able to check it tomorrow.

OK, the problem is that it's more accurate to say that they're not seen much in the TOS/TAS era. There are lots of things that probably exist in that era that weren't seen often or at all, like Federation elections, or dedicated medical ships. It seems likely that they could exist in Star Trek's setting, and that they could exist in Psi Trek's setting, as well.

I've been trying to work out how best to edit the article to make this more clear (modifying the first paragraph):

"A 'fighter,' in this context, is any small space or aerospace vehicle which is, compared to other vehicles of its size, heavily armed, well-shielded, highly manoeuverable, and lightly crewed. They are normally organized in something like traditional 'air force' fashion, and frequently are not intended for long journeys without some sort of tender or carrier. Fighters and fighter-like vessels are a niche technology in the Authority Space Forces and most other space militaries, rarely seen outside of training, wartime, and a few police actions. There are a range of missions that they are more useful for than other designs (enough that they exist and have pilots and crews trained for them), and a wider range that they are not good for, and thus are not used for outside of emergencies. Far more 'carrier' or 'tender' vessels in Authority service carry and tend to shuttlecraft and small scientific, medical, and police vessels, than have fighters at all.

Most aerospace fighters are around the size that someone from late twentieth or early twenty-first century Earth might expect, while most starfighters are larger than that, and mostly have more crewmembers. Smaller fighters often have the control room and most or all of the other habitable sections (if any) in an ejectable cockpit-style escape pod (mechanically, an Upper Stage), with the the vehicle saving space by having little or no room for people in the other sections, just big reactors, big engines, weapons, et cetra. In particular, the fighter would need to have storage room and launch systems for missiles, because most space fighters in this setting are basically manned, reusable missile buses."

Does that work better?

EDIT: Something else that I should find a way to put in, due to the results of the Cloaking Device question: Fighters and other small vessels have an advantage in that they're harder to spot, making SCM more effective.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

OK, here is the revised version. Is this better?

On fighters, missiles, and probes

A 'fighter,' in this context, is any small space or aerospace vehicle which is, compared to other vehicles of its size, heavily armed, well-shielded, highly manoeuverable, and lightly crewed. They are normally organized in something like traditional 'air force' fashion, and frequently are not intended for long journeys without some sort of tender or carrier. Fighters and fighter-like vessels are a niche technology in the Authority Space Forces and most other space militaries, rarely seen outside of training, wartime, and a few police actions. There are a range of missions that they are more useful for than other designs (enough that they exist and have pilots and crews trained for them), and a wider range that they are not good for, and thus are not used for outside of emergencies. Far more 'carrier' or 'tender' vessels in Authority service carry and tend to shuttlecraft and small scientific, medical, and police vessels, than have fighters at all.

Most aerospace fighters are around the size that someone from late twentieth or early twenty-first century Earth might expect, while most starfighters are larger than that, and mostly have more crewmembers. Smaller fighters often have the control room and most or all of the other habitable sections (if any) in an ejectable cockpit-style escape pod (potentially an Upper Stage, if it has significant manoeuvering capability), with the vehicle saving space by having little or no room for people in the other sections, just big reactors, big engines, weapons, et cetra. In particular, the fighter would need to have storage room and launch systems for missiles, because most space fighters in this setting are basically manned, reusable missile buses.

The main reason for this is that a lot of psychotronic technology works best (or at all) in the environment of the psionic fields created by sapient or nearly sapient life, and responds to same. While it is possible to create more robust psychotronics that will continue operating for hours or even days outside of such a psionic field, this does require something of a balancing act. In many cases, this has lead to star nations deciding to build fighters for missions where a larger vessel is not required, or where multiple smaller targets to split the enemy's fire would be beneficial. An alternative is to build missiles with few or no psychotronic components, which leaves the question of what you leave out: a missile with no shields and no defences against direct psionic attack is far easier to defend against, one with no inertial control is limited by g-forces and is less manoeuverable, one without a warp drive is nearly useless against a target that has a working warp drive, et cetra. Generally, the decision has been to design the missile components to 'run hot,' burning themselves out on the (usually correct) assumption they they will hit something and explode before they enter any other failure mode, and not plan on having them in flight for long periods. Using a fighter or shuttlecraft as a missile-delivery system also has the advantage that smaller objects are more easily concealed by sensor countermeasures.

Probes hit this problem in a different way, as they are most useful if they last a long time, but do not generally need to move fast or defend themselves. Probes with no psychotronic components at all are far more common than missiles without such components. For probes that need or would especially benefit from psychtronic components, but also are intended to be stationed away from inhabited planets, two strategies have evolved: Firstly, designing the probe with the most robust psi-tech possible, able to be outside of any psionic field for long periods, and then regularly sending warp-shuttles or warp-fighters to maintain them. Secondly, building the probe's components so that they can handle a weak psionic field, and adding a life-support system and a small life-form or group of life-forms (such as the more psychically-active guinea pig or rabbit breeds) - this greatly increases the size of the probe, however, and is nearly pointless for missiles. Civilizations that do not have animal rights laws (or have very different ones) sometimes solve the problem by removing the animal's brain and keeping it alive in a jar (see also 'Psiborgs,' GURPS Psi-Tech pp39-40), though this still requires a good life-support system, and does create a small risk of the animal finding a way to rebel, or entering a vegetative state that weakens the psionic field below viability. Adding something like either of these to a missile is certainly possible, but most USA members consider it even less ethical than doing it for a probe, and it requires a stronger inertial dampening field than that used for missiles without organic components.

Note that exactly how common and important fighters are, and how exactly carriers and tenders are used, is a setting switch that GMs can adjust as necessary for their specific campaigns.

(The following links are not directly canon to Psi Trek, but can be taken as inspiration for fighters and carriers in this setting: To use Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as an example, the Federation attack fighters are around the size of a typical aerospace fighter, the Danube-class runabouts are roughly the size of the smallest dedicated space fighters, and the Defiant-class 'escort vessels' are somewhat bigger than the largest. Further inspiration: The Yorktown-class carrier and Minotaur fighter (the equivalent of Minotaur fighters in this setting would be among the vehicles with ejectable cockpits); Archer & Curran classes (primarily system-patrol vessels, but in many cases effectively large fighters; see also Discarded variant deck plans 1 and 2 in the Yorktown page); 23rd century carriers and fighters. Missiles and probes that look like coffins may or may not exist in-setting.)

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I don't like it, but it seems easily scrapheaped.

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

What part don't you like? That "fighters" exist?

Re: [Psionics] [Space] Psi Trek - Worldbuilding
 

I don't like fighters in Trek, but at least it seems practical to cut these fighters from the setting without causing it to implode. I'm probably being overly harsh; I have little problem with Runabouts, really just carrier tactics. Just doesn't feel right.