STGOD 2k8 Planning thread

[Covenant]

Each point of +D lowers the damage your fleet takes by .25 [...] +N points of D soaks N x .25 points of damage per turn, allowing you to ignore it entirely.

It take that to mean that damage done is (N x .25) flat, not (N x .25) per each ship in a fleet. Am I correct?

Yes, damage reduction is done fleet-wide. You take the damage off the top, and then allocate the rest.

[Hawkwings]

I volunteer my nation for a group of Syndicalist sympathizers. Of course, that may or may not be a smart move, but the offer is there.

[Thirdfain]

Syndicalism is always a smart move

-edit- Hawkwings, do you have any detailed race info? Politics, national organization, that sort of thing? I wouldn't want to write up syndicalists who didn't fit the bill...

[Tanasinn]

Couple things, Shinn:

1.) When I mentioned the Union Guard being "marine analogs" in my OOB, I was being pretty literal: they make up the bulk of the security troops aboard a naval vessels (with the crew serving as auxiliaries). Standard Union troopers are "army" more than anything. It would be Union Guard ("marines") responding to any boarding parties, with crew elements joining in only out of necessity.

2.) I don't know if I'm buying the boarding at all. A bunch of vulnerable boarding boats got through the screening fire of 7 destroyers, 2 heavy cruisers, 3 cruisers, a battlecruiser, and their targets? Really? Maybe I'm being stingy here, but that seems a stretch. I'm also not too keen on you deciding how my ships' defenders responded to the boarders. Either way, I'd like to actually RP any boardings and immediate responses: it's not like trained posthuman marines are going to stand around like yokels and wait for you to burn through the hull. Tell me what you think.

[Thirdfain]

I'm with Tanasinn here. Boarding is not the kind of thing which you can do against armed and firing warships.

[Academia Nut]

As someone who will get a lot of utility out of boarding, I agree with Thirdfain and Tannasin here in that boarding should not be easy, and all but impossible against warships not reduced to 0hp or caught in dock or something like that.

The only way I would consider allowing in game boarding would be if you explicitly made that a form of weaponry that worked like beam cannons or psychic amps or missiles or whatever, but even then I would expect such a proposal to be smacked down quite quickly.

[Hawkwings]

Sorry Thirdfain: I've got the concept for my nation in my head, but I really haven't written anything down yet

The basics are...

Democratic system of government

Two major groups of people:
Rugged frontier-types, practical, descendants of original settlers
Refugees, mainly the rich and famous from the Inner Empire, fleeing from the war.

Strong martial tradition, from being on the border and having to fend off occasional barbarian attacks.

Tension from the two classes of people competing for power and influence. Current president is a native, and a lot of credit goes to him for smoothing out relations.

Recent events (Earth blowing up, etc) have unified the public (for the most part) towards defending themselves and preparing for the worst. Cooperation in the face of greater threats, in other words. This may develop into a strong unified society, who knows?

[Beowulf]

Boarding an opposing warship, while still in combat? Hell no. You've got shields you have to get through as well as the previously mentioned factors.

[Thirdfain]

Ooooh, thanks, Hawkwings. I'll be PMing you.

[Tanasinn]

I rather expect Syndicalism would crop up in the Humanist Union: it's a nation born from a violent revolution against corrupt rich in the interest of giving everyone a fair chance, is vehemently anti-Old Empire, and openly professes ideals of uniting and advancing the human race. Obviously, there are some parallels of ideology.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Couple things, Shinn:

1.) When I mentioned the Union Guard being "marine analogs" in my OOB, I was being pretty literal: they make up the bulk of the security troops aboard a naval vessels (with the crew serving as auxiliaries). Standard Union troopers are "army" more than anything. It would be Union Guard ("marines") responding to any boarding parties, with crew elements joining in only out of necessity.

2.) I don't know if I'm buying the boarding at all. A bunch of vulnerable boarding boats got through the screening fire of 7 destroyers, 2 heavy cruisers, 3 cruisers, a battlecruiser, and their targets? Really? Maybe I'm being stingy here, but that seems a stretch. I'm also not too keen on you deciding how my ships' defenders responded to the boarders. Either way, I'd like to actually RP any boardings and immediate responses: it's not like trained posthuman marines are going to stand around like yokels and wait for you to burn through the hull. Tell me what you think.

*repeated gonking*

I just keep on cocking things up in our little skirmish, aren't I? Then again, this is the first TGOD wherein I'm actually taking part in heavy combat. Best that I make one mistake now and have it pointed out to me so I can correct it rather than I commit the same offenses over and over and end up with rocks falling and everyone in my faction dying. Such are the joys of collaborative writing.

Consider the offensive passage struck from the record. Looks like I've learned yet another lesson.

[Academia Nut]

Eh, don't be so hard on yourself, I think that boarding actions are going to be second only to ground combat for the purposes of frustration and problems. Case in point, me and Thirdfain's little spat a few days ago.

[Thirdfain]

Advice du jour: The very best combat scenes in SDnet STGODs have been, at least to a degree, negotiated and worked out in advance between the posters beforehand. Hell, I've been involved in a to-the-knife war of genocide in which my opponent and I duscussed every battle before and during actual posting. It keeps things from getting messy in the game thread, and establishes a degree of trust even between mortal enemies.

[Covenant]

Advice du jour: The very best combat scenes in SDnet STGODs have been, at least to a degree, negotiated and worked out in advance between the posters beforehand. Hell, I've been involved in a to-the-knife war of genocide in which my opponent and I duscussed every battle before and during actual posting. It keeps things from getting messy in the game thread, and establishes a degree of trust even between mortal enemies.

I agree. Even in my tiny scene with Hawkings, where the fleets in question were stupidly outbalanced, I PM'd him to get his reaction. The more agreement-based decisions we have, the better. You never know, a hated foe might end up being (gulp) a fellow player who'll let his favorite rival sneak off like a Batman villian to menace him another day. It's hard to 'win' a STGOD without causing everyone else to drop out in protest of you being a total dick, so it behooves people to spare (at some level) the types of enemies they enjoy fighting and only mercilessly destroy the ones they find lame.

Think of it as meme war.

[Rogue 9]

Another question: Realspace engine specialization.

Determining the value: First, determine the base speed of a ship, which is equal to the base weight of the ship while it is undamaged. For every two points of R, the base speed value of a ship is reduced by 1. A 10+10R ship would have a base speed of 10-(10/5) = 5. A 1+10R ship would have a base speed of -9.

So if you have more R, you go slower?

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Another question: Realspace engine specialization.

Determining the value: First, determine the base speed of a ship, which is equal to the base weight of the ship while it is undamaged. For every two points of R, the base speed value of a ship is reduced by 1. A 10+10R ship would have a base speed of 10-(10/5) = 5. A 1+10R ship would have a base speed of -9.

So if you have more R, you go slower?

Actually, the way I understand it, it's like golf scoring: the lower your realspace rating, the better. As counter-intuitive as it may be, it works.

[Rogue 9]

Ah. Okay.

Anyway, I've tentatively spent my planetary points; the writeup is in my OOB. Let me know if there are any problems; the fleet and racial attributes will be up before long.

[Covenant]

I'm not even going to touch that R stuff. I still think the whole system needs overhauling and such, and that's my project for NEXT game.

[Rogue 9]

The mechanical part of my Order of Battle is complete. Work on the fluff is ongoing, but a review for mistakes would be appreciated before I just jump into the game.

[Nephtys]

As I see it, Speed can be a substitute for the other two main attributes of a warship: Weapons, and Defense. A fast ship can maneuver to the most advantageous positions to use it's weapons, or deny the enemy effective use of their weapons.

So I figure the easiest use of speed is as a 'variable' buff to +O or +D. A 10 speed ship can at any time make any two points equal to one point of O or D. So if I'm flying defensively or evasively with the 10 pointer, I get +5D. If I'm flying aggressively, I get +5O. While not as overtly effective as pure +O or +D, it allows flexibility and adapts to new situations.

[Covenant]

The +R stat is listed on the wiki as only being useful for escaping interdiction fields, which seems kinda retarded if you ask me, but I don't care too much--nobody seems to be dabbling in too much.

[Darkevilme]

When i can buy hyperspeed instead of realspeed of course i'm not gonna dabble in it. Fear my strategic mobility puny huuman cattle!

[Rogue 9]

I will fear it the instant you decide you'd rather come way the hell over to me rather than the half a dozen or so other powers who are closer to you. :p

[Beowulf]

When i can buy hyperspeed instead of realspeed of course i'm not gonna dabble in it. Fear my strategic mobility puny huuman cattle!

*Interdict* Fabricati diem, punc.

I'm not even going to touch that R stuff. I still think the whole system needs overhauling and such, and that's my project for NEXT game.

Agreed. As it stands right now, R is fairly worthless.

[Rogue 9]

"Build the day?" I mean, I know what it's probably supposed to mean, but it actually doesn't.

Anyway, I'm certainly not touching R. All my specializations are O, D, C3, I, and S, and I don't fuck around with any of 'em.