[Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable? - Page 10

vicky_molokh · 12-01-2010, 02:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

The thing that bothers me about a lot of Sci Fi with poeple being in space for long periods is that atmosphear is happily vented here and there. If you think about atmosphear is a valueble resource to a space based society and losing it would be very troublesome if it's not easy to replace.

Which is another reason to have the mining and refinery systems.

Crakkerjakk · 12-01-2010, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dangerious P. Cats

The thing that bothers me about a lot of Sci Fi with poeple being in space for long periods is that atmosphear is happily vented here and there. If you think about atmosphear is a valueble resource to a space based society and losing it would be very troublesome if it's not easy to replace.

When is it vented? Every airlock I've seen cycles the air back into the ship, it doesn't vent it. The only "venting" I know of is maneuvering thrusters, and well, that's what water ice is for. Crack it for Hydrogen and O2. If you have completely closed systems, you never need new resources at all.

sir_pudding · 12-01-2010, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Crakkerjakk

When is it vented?

In skiffy movies.

Quote:

Every airlock I've seen cycles the air back into the ship, it doesn't vent it.

Yeah, that's kind of why they are called "airlocks". :)

vicky_molokh · 12-05-2010, 05:34 PM

OK, it's hard to believe, but I'll actually try to use this idea as the main campaign for the time being (with COC frozen again). The setting I picked is based heavily on Star Control (set after the events of SC2, with the campaign resembling the SC3 setup in many ways) - I'm modifying it for playability. Ship TLs are bumped to 10 (to get most of the neat systems), but personal-scale items will be kept closer to TL9.

Information for those who have no idea what SC is like (synopsis):

Spoiler:

Races that will be involved in the campaign (with spoilers for those who don't know SC):
Earthling/Human (meh)
Chmmr

Spoiler:

Yehat

Spoiler:

Ur-Quan Kzer-Za (Green) and Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah (Black); size downplayed for purposes of playability to SM+0 to SM+2.

Spoiler:

Syreen

Spoiler:

Arilou exiles

Spoiler:

Androsynth (yes, Androsynth)

Spoiler:

The campaign is set during the events of SC3's introduction, specifically:

The war is over, the Ur-Quan are defeated, and are in a situation somewhat resembling that of the Germans between WWII and now. All would be well, but in some sort of galaxy-spanning phenomenon, Hyperspace becomes inaccessible. Communication between the various homeworlds and colonies is broken.
(This is where the exact events of SC3 are interrupted, but the theme/storyline stays pretty much the same.)

Turns out that he Androsynth weren't destroyed, but rather were displaced into another dimensional 'pocket'; the 'collapse' of Hyperspace had the side effect of letting them escape their 'prison'. And time spent there was not wasted. They discovered no less than three other forms of hyperspace-like phenomena: subspatial wormholes, pockets, and a Hyperspace-like dimension they called W-Space (no relation to Quasi Space of SC2, but something different).

This whole set of discoveries were not without exactly new - much of this was gained through the research of a giant precursor vessel found in the pocket dimension. Upon return to their devastated colony world, and realizing that rebuilding it, given their reduced population and limited resources, would a problematic and slow process, the Androsynth decided to contact the other races of their faction. Their first contact, to the big surprise of everyone involved, was a mixed fleet of Arilou and stranded Ur-Quan in an uninhabited system. It took quite a while for them to fill each other in on all the news. In fact, the Arilou captains decided that the situation was such that they decided to reveal some of their hidden knowledge about the nature of space in the hopes of overcoming the current hyperspace crisis.

Together, they travel to the only naturally occurring portal to Quasi Space, where, in a spatial pocket the Arilou homeworld is located. The Arilou captains were the only ones allowed to approach the planet. As they later explained, the council decided that the captains in question created a risk for the Arilou, and thus they were exiled - allowed interact with other races with no limits, but deprived of hidden knowledge and technologies.

The Androsynth proceed to fly through several more races' systems in the hopes of strengthening the fleet before its journey in search for the source of the hyperspatial anomalies. They attempt to gather as many ships as they can carry with them with crews that are reasonably capable in diplomacy, research, unusual situation, and tend to ask questions before shooting.

Thus, the flagship, along with one typical ship from each of the eight races, jumps through a seasonal wormhole that the scientists believed leads to the source of the anomaly.

vicky_molokh · 12-05-2010, 05:42 PM

I'm intending to adjust production speeds so that new ships aren't made trivially fast, yet their construction and repair is reasonable on the campaign scale (say, couple months). I'm currently trying to construct SC2 ships using SS rules as close to the spirit of the original as possible, and expecting to put them between SM+6 and SM+10 or 12. Flagship probably larger, and fighters SM+4.

I'm intending the PCs to take positions of moderate to high rank. Some prime roles I'm thinking of (with a hope to make different players take different roles):

CAG (for the Ur-Quan fighter squadron, preferably an Ur-Quan too)
Chief of scientific research and/or engineering (may or may not be a single person)
Diplomatic representatives (no more than one per race)
Flagship XO and/or other ship captain.
Landing party and/or infantry commander of some sort.

Comments? Suggestions?

12-05-2010, 05:34 PM	#94
vicky_molokh GURPS FAQ Keeper Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kyïv, Ukraine	Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable? OK, it's hard to believe, but I'll actually try to use this idea as the main campaign for the time being (with COC frozen again). The setting I picked is based heavily on Star Control (set after the events of SC2, with the campaign resembling the SC3 setup in many ways) - I'm modifying it for playability. Ship TLs are bumped to 10 (to get most of the neat systems), but personal-scale items will be kept closer to TL9. Information for those who have no idea what SC is like (synopsis): Spoiler: There are many races, both Forehead Aliens and Really Alien Aliens. There was also a Precursor race, never personally met by anyone, whose technologies are sometimes found and reverse-engineered. FTL is achieved by Hyperspace (and requires fuel per distance travelled). There was a very large-scale war (or one could say series of wars) between two factions (one a dictatorship, the other a confederation of sorts), won by the 'good guys'. After that, an unexpected, somewhat uneasy peace emerged. The original bad guys, surprisingly, joined the new alliance of sentient species. Races that will be involved in the campaign (with spoilers for those who don't know SC): Earthling/Human (meh) Chmmr Spoiler: Non-organic race communicating primarily by radio. It was artificially created by a crystalline race and a group of sentient machines of unclear origin. While its 'parents' were philosophical intellectuals, this race is a bit too impulsive, despite often being pidgeonholed into the role of a leader. They fought on the side of the good guys. Yehat Spoiler: Somewhat warlike pterodactyle-like race. Not quite Proud Warrior Race Guys, but pretty close, as far as pilots go. Obligatory 3D Spatial Sense. These guys fought on both sides for complicated reasons, and had an internal civil war before they finally joined the good guys in the final battle. Ur-Quan Kzer-Za (Green) and Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah (Black); size downplayed for purposes of playability to SM+0 to SM+2. Spoiler: Large caterpillars. Evolved from solitary predators, so they have Loner (6) and the black ones have Callous and Bloodlust. They used to be the top bad guys, but due to certain events, made a heel face turn. Not goody-guys by any means, but still. Syreen Spoiler: Blue-skinned mildly Telepathic humanoids (with mind disruptor tech on their ships). While in-universe humans like of think of them as hot amazons of the Venus Needs Men sort, this is rather far from how things really are. Yes, they have something like a 20:1 female:male ratio, but they get by just fine. Arilou exiles Spoiler: Little green men of a sort. They're one of the more advanced and enigmatic race, one that knows dimensions more alien than hyperspace. However, the ones joining the fleet will have much of their knowledge and memory wiped, and much of the technologies taken away. Androsynth (yes, Androsynth) Spoiler: Bioroids (clones in the original SC, I feel bioroids would fit the role better) that escaped a slave-like status under humanity. Were conquered by the Ur-Quan and used to fight on their side later, until they were believed to be destroyed by another enigmatic, almost Lovecraftian race. The campaign is set during the events of SC3's introduction, specifically: The war is over, the Ur-Quan are defeated, and are in a situation somewhat resembling that of the Germans between WWII and now. All would be well, but in some sort of galaxy-spanning phenomenon, Hyperspace becomes inaccessible. Communication between the various homeworlds and colonies is broken. (This is where the exact events of SC3 are interrupted, but the theme/storyline stays pretty much the same.) Turns out that he Androsynth weren't destroyed, but rather were displaced into another dimensional 'pocket'; the 'collapse' of Hyperspace had the side effect of letting them escape their 'prison'. And time spent there was not wasted. They discovered no less than three other forms of hyperspace-like phenomena: subspatial wormholes, pockets, and a Hyperspace-like dimension they called W-Space (no relation to Quasi Space of SC2, but something different). This whole set of discoveries were not without exactly new - much of this was gained through the research of a giant precursor vessel found in the pocket dimension. Upon return to their devastated colony world, and realizing that rebuilding it, given their reduced population and limited resources, would a problematic and slow process, the Androsynth decided to contact the other races of their faction. Their first contact, to the big surprise of everyone involved, was a mixed fleet of Arilou and stranded Ur-Quan in an uninhabited system. It took quite a while for them to fill each other in on all the news. In fact, the Arilou captains decided that the situation was such that they decided to reveal some of their hidden knowledge about the nature of space in the hopes of overcoming the current hyperspace crisis. Together, they travel to the only naturally occurring portal to Quasi Space, where, in a spatial pocket the Arilou homeworld is located. The Arilou captains were the only ones allowed to approach the planet. As they later explained, the council decided that the captains in question created a risk for the Arilou, and thus they were exiled - allowed interact with other races with no limits, but deprived of hidden knowledge and technologies. The Androsynth proceed to fly through several more races' systems in the hopes of strengthening the fleet before its journey in search for the source of the hyperspatial anomalies. They attempt to gather as many ships as they can carry with them with crews that are reasonably capable in diplomacy, research, unusual situation, and tend to ask questions before shooting. Thus, the flagship, along with one typical ship from each of the eight races, jumps through a seasonal wormhole that the scientists believed leads to the source of the anomaly. __________________ Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper

12-05-2010, 05:42 PM	#95
vicky_molokh GURPS FAQ Keeper Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kyïv, Ukraine	Re: [Space/Spaceships] TL9 nomad fleet - playable? I'm intending to adjust production speeds so that new ships aren't made trivially fast, yet their construction and repair is reasonable on the campaign scale (say, couple months). I'm currently trying to construct SC2 ships using SS rules as close to the spirit of the original as possible, and expecting to put them between SM+6 and SM+10 or 12. Flagship probably larger, and fighters SM+4. I'm intending the PCs to take positions of moderate to high rank. Some prime roles I'm thinking of (with a hope to make different players take different roles): CAG (for the Ur-Quan fighter squadron, preferably an Ur-Quan too) Chief of scientific research and/or engineering (may or may not be a single person) Diplomatic representatives (no more than one per race) Flagship XO and/or other ship captain. Landing party and/or infantry commander of some sort. Comments? Suggestions? __________________ Vicky 'Molokh', GURPS FAQ and uFAQ Keeper Last edited by vicky_molokh; 12-05-2010 at 06:01 PM.