11-02-2009, 05:54 PM | #51 | ||
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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11-02-2009, 05:58 PM | #52 | |
Join Date: Jan 2008
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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...The Cybernetic Consciousness under Aki Zeta-5? |
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11-02-2009, 09:22 PM | #53 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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For equipment, I think you can pretty much use Ultra-Tech with some name changes. Shredders are Gauss pistols, basic lasers are high-energy lasers, flamers are flamers, and impact weapons, of course, are conventional small arms. You have to fiddle a little with the TLs on the pistol-size lasers, and Gauss weapons are technically TL 10, but you can handwave them, since the book explicitly describes shredders as being a bit beyond the colonists`s resources to easily build at Planetfall. |
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11-02-2009, 09:28 PM | #54 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
Well, yes, of course. This sort of thing is a spectrum, not a binary "this is communicating/this isn't." Cave paintings convey more information than blank rock. But they also convey less information than actual writing would.
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11-03-2009, 07:02 AM | #55 |
Banned
Join Date: May 2008
Location: TIE pilot aboard the ISD Butterball
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
Speaking in-universe, the Hive intentionally rejects oldworld morality ("if you refuse to use a technology merely because it reminds you uncomfortably of your own mortality, then you have needlessly and uselessly crippled yourself"). This strikes me as being very similar to the University, which likewise values technological advance higher than moral issues.
If the Hive and the University are to be allies, then you have a fearsome geopolitical situation. The Hive takes care of defense, and although it doesn't have much energy to give to the University, it can definitely churn out supply crawlers and "gift" those to the University in their territory to help them out with secret projects etc. |
11-03-2009, 09:03 PM | #56 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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They can ally, but if both remain true to their ideologies as written it won't be a stable alliance, and it'll be easily 'wedged' by canny rivals. |
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11-03-2009, 09:59 PM | #57 | ||
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Mainz, Germany
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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As for the higher-tech weapons, well, we're still MY 2108, so it might take a while for that *coughs* As for the Hive discussion: I really think that making the Hive likeable is rather a tricky thing to do, to say the least. The Hive can be understandable and logical, yes - heck, I feel like quoting Shen-Ji Yang every time I go to work; but the kind of nihilism that the higher Hive echelons use is far beyond the evils that Stalinist Russia could have ever come up with. Communism is a good idea with a bad sales rep. Yang-style nihilism is just pure evil, because the individual means nothing whatsoever to the self-styled overmen at the top of the food chain (at least the communists tried to make it look like they were being philanthropist), and is abused, mistreated and used as a gratuitously expendable commodity. In a campaign where the Hive no longer had that kind of thinking, they would cease to be what gives them their name, n'est-ce pas? Anyway, that's just my opinion... |
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11-03-2009, 10:02 PM | #58 | |
Join Date: Jul 2007
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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I'm curious, has anyone run a more simulationist version of this setting? One where players play as, say, the leaders themselves? |
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11-03-2009, 10:02 PM | #59 | |
Banned
Join Date: May 2008
Location: TIE pilot aboard the ISD Butterball
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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The University may not care about repression of information in the Hive, as long as they get the manpower, free labor, and protection they need. Bear in mind the University also has drone problems too, above and beyond most other factions (+1 drone in every base) so they may have a far greater degree of sympathy for the Hive than, say, the Peacekeepers (+1 talent in each base: effectively minus 1 drone). Your points are perfectly valid but you're talking about a hypothetical setting, and many different interpretations are possible. |
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11-03-2009, 10:08 PM | #60 | |
Banned
Join Date: May 2008
Location: TIE pilot aboard the ISD Butterball
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Re: How is GURPS Alpha Centauri.
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Then again, Lucasarts managed to somehow make the Evil Galactic Empire look actually pretty decent and sympathetic in the 1995 game TIE Fighter. That game had some inspired writing and I can imagine the job is not one for the faint-hearted! But definitely doable, if your players are willing to buy into the conceit and view the faction through a different lens altogether. Edit: I guess my avatar may be a slight giveaway, huh? :) |
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alpha centauri, sci-fi |
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