STGOD: A Dead Art?

[HSRTG]

Order of Battle thread up, my own Order of Battle coming some time today. I figured if someone has to make it I might as well, since it lets me think of a silly title.

For those of us with terminal blindness, where is the OOB thread? I can't see it.

[Academia Nut]

I think MRDOD deleted it when he realized he had no idea what to put in the OOB thread.

[Rawtooth]

"We shall span the universe, as countless as the stars!" - National Motto

[Crossroads Inc.]

"We shall have Peace, When all are One" - UISC Motto

[Academia Nut]

I'm thinking "Perfection through transcendence, transcendence through experience."

[rhoenix]

I have very little in the way of artistic skills - however, my faction is a forgotten long-range colony on Gliese. We of the Golden Sky remember our human ancestors, and offer them our goodwill. Grab our hand in goodwill, or your sword for war - we are quite prepared for either.

I've been working with my OOB a bit, and with the new point totals I'll likely post it later on today, should there be a thread for it.

[Dahak]

I think my nation will go under "Hegemony of Heavens". Run from the city of Bejing and home to the Emperor. It's colonies include the moons of Jupiter and a few solar systems close by.
National motto is (until further notice ) "Eternal be the Empire!"

[Thirdfain]

Alright, here's my inital plan for the game.

You get 1500 points to spend. Points are pretty much just a way to quantify how much "effort" you put into an attack or defense- they are nonspecific, a 50-point capital ship could be designed almost entirely to fend off fighters, or it could be designe as a straight-up gunship, or it could be some weird alien space monster which wraps other vessels in horrible tendrils of pulsing evil- points are only a rough approximation, designed to make it clear who outguns who in any given confrontation.

Your average capital ship of the wall costs 30 points, but you can scale that up if it pleases you. An average cruiser costs 10 points, and an average destroyer costs 2 points. People ought to keep in mind that a degree of discretion is involved in fleet design- Fielding, say, 4 300-point monsters would be sort of pushing outside the range of "Average." A handful of uberships scattered around isn't the worst thing that could happen, though.

Average number of planets for a nation is 10 major worlds, with a considable number of small colonies and outposts allowed on the side.

Ground troops and fortifications are assumed to automatically exist to a degree on all major worlds and bases. For precise numbers, I won't go further than pointing out that the United States, a nation of roughly 300 million and currently on a peacetime footing, while spending a significant portion of GDP on military spending, has 1 million men and women in uniform. Applied to a nation of 50 billion, this leads to a total of around 166 million men and women in uniform, which gives a good estimation of how many troops your average power would be able to field without a general mobilization; the number could increase by tenfold in the event of a protracted national struggle in which the nation goes on a full war footing for a long period of time.

Any thoughts on all this?

[rhoenix]

So far, that sounds workable. I'll work more on my OOB later tonight.

Oh, which reminds me - should we include prominent tech (i.e. guns, power armor, ship power generation, technobabble for fun, etc.) for flavor?

Also, is there room for tech improvement after the game begins, to account for more points into new designs of ships and such, or is that getting a bit lost in the minutiae?

[Thirdfain]

If the game lasts a long time in-game, then perhaps tech advances will be part of it. Otherwise, probably not in any significant way- even a 160-page STGOD only covered about a year and a half of in-game action (though it was a VERY interesting year and a half )

And any description you like is fine- or almost none at all, if that pleases you as well

[rhoenix]

Alright, thank you again, Thirdfain. The Golden Sky Combine will have intelligence data later tonight.

[Crossroads Inc.]

SO, lets Experiment with this

"UISC Worlds."
Homeworlds
Quatonia, Kol System.
Octona, Andar System.
Conerazra, Cona System.
Trathala, Shand System.
Tajlan, Telos System.

Secondary Worlds
Jahlin, Telos System
Galacticus, Outer Edge of Shand System.
Zenar Minor. Zena System.
Zena Major. Zena System.


UISC Star Ships
Studibaker Class Command Ship - 100 point Super Battleship
Edselon Class Battleship - 40 Points
Tuckra Class Cruiser - 20 Points
Winebego Class Destroyer - 10 Points
Durendal Class Corvette -5 Points

Star Fleets
Homeworld Defense Force x 5
Battleship x 1
Cruiser x 2
Destroyer x 6
Corvette x 18
(230 Points per Fleet)

Exploratory Defense Force x 1
Cruiser x 4
Destroyer x 8
Corvette x 20
(260 Points per fleet)

Planetary Defense Force x 4
Destroyer x 2
Corvette x 4
(40 Points per Fleet)

1490 Points Spent
================

That sounds ok?

[Thirdfain]

Sounds perfect, though your ships are quite large and powerful, with that destroyer reachin Cruiseer proportions- though, of course, such distincitons are blurred in real life as well (just look at US DDGs and CGs...)

[SirNitram]

Is there any objection to a very low tech, high magic power? If there is, I have a backup choice I've been equally eager to try, though I have to bring it down to Star Trek level narratively.

[Academia Nut]

Are we just posting our OOBs in here, or is someone going to make another OOB thread since the last one disappeared? Either way, I should be ready within a few hours.

[Thirdfain]

Is there any objection to a very low tech, high magic power? If there is, I have a backup choice I've been equally eager to try, though I have to bring it down to Star Trek level narratively.

I think it's been established that everything from magic to psionics to pastamancy is acceptable.

[SirNitram]

Is there any objection to a very low tech, high magic power? If there is, I have a backup choice I've been equally eager to try, though I have to bring it down to Star Trek level narratively.

I think it's been established that everything from magic to psionics to pastamancy is acceptable.

If the new guys would rather not deal with that, I'm willing to go with another. That's what I'm saying.

Though to be honest, if Earth is included, the second option makes more logical sense.

[Starglider]

Excellent. I will definitely be playing the Alien Space Bats then, who will confuse all opponents to death with their power to bend Space and Time.

[Beowulf]

Sounds perfect, though your ships are quite large and powerful, with that destroyer reachin Cruiseer proportions- though, of course, such distincitons are blurred in real life as well (just look at US DDGs and CGs...)

Of course, DDs have gone from <500 tons displacement to 14,000 tons displacement...

[Thirdfain]

Are we just posting our OOBs in here, or is someone going to make another OOB thread since the last one disappeared? Either way, I should be ready within a few hours.

I figure there'll be another OOB thread soon, but it's OK to post stuff here, get everyone involved and all that fun stuff.

[Starglider]

For stationary planet defences such as orbital platforms and ground ion cannons, I'd suggest that they're equivalent to a fleet of twice their own points strength, to compensate for the fact that they're static and inflexible. That ratio should still be low enough to prevent turtling, your won't have the points to significantly fortify more than a handful of your planets after all.

[Covenant]

Is there any objection to a very low tech, high magic power? If there is, I have a backup choice I've been equally eager to try, though I have to bring it down to Star Trek level narratively.

I think it's been established that everything from magic to psionics to pastamancy is acceptable.

If the new guys would rather not deal with that, I'm willing to go with another. That's what I'm saying.

Though to be honest, if Earth is included, the second option makes more logical sense.

Which second option? I wouldn't be worried about magic if Nitram is around, as he is the Archmage of Quantifiable Magic, and I'm pretty sure he'll keep everyone honest about making sure it's kept within a reasonable, practical limitation. If we limit the power level to Star Trek type levels then I don't see a reason why we can't have the SOURCE of that power differ between the sides.

I have a question though. If I made a 50 point ship that attacked you by launching jets of high-powered water, even if that is in strict violation of the laws of everything, does it work within the context of the game? This is not my idea, just an example. I'm wondering how much I want to ground my tech in reality. I wouldn't want to suddenly realize that my forces are incapable of dealing damage because someone could justify RPing around them. IE, the degree to which RP dictactes the amount of damage done is, to me, not clear.

[SirNitram]

Ground your tech in reality as much as Star Trek or Stargate. Remember, both series have utterly impossible moments, but that's OK.

The first option is the Netherese Empire from D&D, grown up and spacefaring. Major narrative problem: Why is Alber-Toril so close to Earth?

The second is my fictional group the Enclave, specifically, an isolated exploratory fleet that's stumbled onto Earth and it's local area. No meaningful resupply, but they'd be an extremely high-tech, low-pop group. If there's going to be lots of 'A few very nasty ships' groups, I don't want to do that, though.

[consequences]

Them

Foulness. Evil Incarnate. God's Final Vengeance on His Creation. The Corruptors. All of these names and more have been applied to Them, but usually very briefly. They, for Their part, care not for such petty labels. They only know who They are, and that everyone else who is not They, is both a threat, and potential fuel to further Their propagation.

If you are lucky, when They come, you die. At least then, as simple nutrient mass, the last fragment of your helpless soul is spared watching your body being turned to destroy the souls of everyone nearby, usually your closest friends and family. If you are not lucky, then you exist as a breeding factory as well as a worker drone, and eventually when you are of no further use, as a conveniently self-portable larder.

The one race that was able to make an extended stand theorised that the same racial memory that permeates Them and melds them into a cohesive whole might carry personality fragments and memory forward to the descendants of Their victims, making them potentially recoverable. This race even was able to begin work on a technique to excise Them from an individual host. Unfortunately, they fought and died before any others even learned of them, as Their first victims.

[UCBooties]

I'd actually like to start with less planets because of the whole pirate thing. I was also going to have only one fleet with a massive flag ship and support craft. Maybe to keep things from getting out of hand I should just start with fewer points? I realize that if I'm cruising around with a 700 point battleship I'll be the target of every ad-hoc alliance on the map but the small fleet, single base thing just fits a lot better with what I want to do narratively. Any suggestions?