Lara White

I suggest we take any further conversation that doesn't have anything directly to do with improving Starscape itself to PM, until the RPG is posted in its own topic. Speaking of which, I might be able to whip up a banner for Starscape--it'll be simple, but I think it'll look rather nice. Interested?

That'd be a nice callback.

Possibly a +1 to Industry for certain planets? Of course, we already have Burnspace for no-man's-land and to restrict travel routes. As for profiles, mine is chugging along nicely. Compiling all of my ship types and weapons...it's a little nuts.

A map that is made with hexagons for spaces instead of squares. (When can we expect Humva to respond with a map?)

Not as of yet. When will we see a map? (I reiterate my offer to make a hex map if you have no plans for a map ATM.)

Loud minority, EW.

I agree. With massive games like this, you need a bit of book-keeping. That being said, I am assuming that we're not gonna have any ridiculous soft science fiction weapons like hard light (unless someone justifies it). IMO, a lot of stuff you can find in modern science fiction is the equivalent of saying "The sky tastes igenous this Decemberween, don't you think?"

I will be co-GMing with Captain. This is going to be very interesting.

I also suggest that if you want to keep the complexity level down, keep your weapons systems simple and limit the classes of ships you have.

If you want gravity, you could mimic it with centripetal/fugal force or magnetizing your boots to the deck. Personally I'm gonna go with most of the ship being stationary and only part of it spinning (crew quarters) to keep the crew in shape. Also, hard science for the win.

I'm not quite sure what you mean, Necro. It looks good to me, and if players take things overboard, that's what GM fiat is for.

Good grief, that's amazing.

I agree. Interesting, but too much potential for mess-ups.

@ The colonization thing: sounds like a plan, go for it. Mind if I slap together a profile? I'd like to work out the kinks of race creation before everything gets rolling.

*shrug* I guess there have to be some breaks from reality. Anyway, I'm looking forward to this. I've got some contingencies in case the quality of game play goes south, but I doubt that'll happen. When can we expect to see this in the approval topic?

It's an NPC. The Matoran captured Tesara.

It's not so much politics as it is part of the mechanics of the game, but okay. Not a problem with me.

...Uh, you do realize that one of the reasons Cyrus the Great was so loved by his subjects (and built an empire to rival Rome) was because he didn't evict the people who lived in places he conquered? I'd love to have people from other races in my empire.

So if you invade a planet, you need to colonize it yourself? *shrug*, okay, not a problem.

Oh, okay. Good to know, 'cause I have a few ideas as to how to defend my planets. I was sort of hoping to learn how to make artificial Burnspace, but looks like that's shot. I assume you don't need a Colony ship to take over an already-colonized planet?

Alright, you've answered most of my questions, aside from the Burnspace one and the capturing planets one. I should probably rephrase the one on Burnspace. If our races investigate it, we'd find out what causes it, yes? (This is what I'm talking about with stealing other races' tech ideas OOC.) EDIT: Almost forgot. Earth is, IIRC, in the Orion Arm. As far as I can tell, an alternate name for the Arm is the Orion Spur, and all the maps I've seen put Earth square in there. hence my question. EDIT: As for Forederpers (lol!) and GM races, I'd call your race a GMPC, or GMPR in this case. I like to draw a distinction.

I have yet to see a hint of any Forerunners or Protheans or Ancients or anything not written by the players. This makes me happy.

While I wasn't terribly impressed with the last one (soft science ahoy!), this one seems to have promise from what I've seen of it. EDIT: almost forgot. If you want, I can make a hex-map of the Orion Arm. I've got a hex-map maker I can use, plus GIMP should work out pretty well. My comments in Blue.

Starscape: The Orion Arm Isolated from the rest of the galaxy by a vast gulf of burnspace, the Orion Arm is thick with life. All sorts of species thrive on these worlds, growing, rising, and falling. And when life is present, thought follows soon after. Sentient worlds are arising, turning their factories towards starships and launching those starships towards the stars. Space is a deadly and unforgiving place; will you master it through manipulation and knowledge, or through the might of your mighty battleships? For you are the leader of your race. Lead it well. --- Starscape is set in the Orion Arm of a galaxy known as Starscape. Thousands of stars abound, but only a select few hold planets suitable for life, and all of them are hotly contested by other races. [Maps] You begin with a single planet, your species' Homeworld. For the sake of simplicity, each star system contains at least one habitable world for your species to live on, and the resources needed to begin space travel. Interacting With An Entire Universe Controlling an entire species may seem hard at first, but it's simple to get the hang of. Here's a quick example IC: Alarms sounded aboard the Skelvan Battleship as radar signatures from the edge of the radar's range came in; four ships, Alansik by their configuration, had appeared some two million miles away. Knowing that was far outside missile range, the Skelvan Captain gave the order to sight in with his Frigate's laser. A kill at this range would be the wildest stroke of luck, but he had to try, knowing reinforcements would be arriving as soon as they could, since the planet's warning system sent out the alert the moment the radar signatures came in. IC: “Transition successful, all systems nominal, wait.” A lieutenant on the Alansik lead cruiser reported. “Laser damage to the outer skin of the ship. Looks like they're hitting us already. Minimal damage, but that means they've found us.” The Alansik Captain sighed, and gave the order to move at full burn towards the Skelvan planet. One nitpick here--anything in space has effectively infinite range. To quote/paraphrase the Gunny from Mass Effect, "If you pull this trigger, you are ruining someone's day, somewhere, somewhen." Assuming enough delta V is loaded into the missile, it could chase the ship across the system until it went FTL. Now, the important part here is that the player controlling the Alansik let the Skelvan player have the hit; if he'd just declared the Laser was an outright miss, it wouldn't be fair. But by ensuring the Skelvan's laser didn't do much damage, and it wouldn't at that range, he kept it fair for both sides but still sensible. And that's the most important part, keep it fair but sensible. Don't go breaking any laws of physics. Faster Than Light Travel: The ability to travel faster than light, without the relativistic consequences that entails, is utterly critical to a spacefaring empire. Without it, worlds can only be reached by generations of slow rocket travel. The Jump Drive is a possibility realized late in any race's existence, long after they've usually begun exploring their own solar system. The mathematics of the jump drive are beyond most people, so instead you get a practical explanation. A Jump Drive cannot operate deep in a gravity well. In orbit of a planet, the gravity becomes so strong that any ships trying to do so are torn apart by the brief moment of transition, where the laws of physics remake themselves in new and exciting ways. Thus, a distance of two million kilometers from any terrestrial planet is advised, though you could risk it at one million. Remember that larger gravity wells, like gas giants, stars, and black holes, require longer distances away. This also applies to jumping into space near a gravity well, which as an early warning system for the planet's defenders. In addition, Jumps, while taking less than a milisecond, do not have infinite range. One can direct the Jump Drive in a certain direction, but the Jump Drive will go towards the most powerful gravity well in that direction. This almost always means the closest, as well, so ships can only jump from one system to the nearest. In addition, a Jump Drive requires roughly an hour after jumping to vent excess radiation before it can be used again. There are also so called “Burnspace Zones” These areas are small pockets of space where it is impossible to make a jump into or out of. A massive spherical shell of burnspace surrounds the Orion Arm, locking ships inside. Burnspace Zones also make good places to hide something you want to keep secret. Their origin and nature are not well known. The inverse of Burnspace Zones, “Sweet Spots” are areas where an entire solar system's gravitational pull is equal in every direction, created only occasionally by the differing speeds of planets orbiting their star(s). These allow for ships to jump away or from their destinations far, far closer than normal. You may only use a Sweet Spot in an area you control or in an area you have detailed astronomical data on. For combat, these must be used with GM approval, but once a sweet spot is used, if the ships using it were seen by another party, that sweet spot can be used by anyone until it disappears, which a GM will decide when it happens. Communication: Faster than Light Communication sends electromagnetic waves, not mass, and is not limited by the above. You can communicate with all your worlds, and with any race who gives you their contact information. Since there's no science governing FTL at this time, I have no problems here, and it works nicely. Rather generic, but there's nothing wrong with that. Just one question--what causes Burnspace? Industry Now, the amount and size of spaceships you can field depends on how many worlds you control, and how industrialized those worlds are. Each world is classed by its industrial output on a rating of -2 through 5, 5 being the highest a planet can reasonably reach. Each level has a “maturing time” which is the length of real world time it takes to grow to the next level. -2: Colony: This world is dependent on the rest of the empire for resources and population. 1 Week Growth -1: Protectorate: The world is beginning to establish its own industry and farming, but is still dependent on the rest of the empire. It may produce one resource and ship it out in exchange for the goods it imports. 1 Week Growth 0: Self-sustaining: With a zero sum survival based economy, this world can support its own population with everything they require, but its industrial output is negligible. 1 Week Growth. 1: Outer World: This world can support a very small space-navy, and has minor interstellar shipping and transport. 2 Weeks Growth. 2: Inner World: This world can support a good sized navy, and is possibly exports a good amount of goods. 3 Weeks Growth 3: Core World: This world has an excellent industrial output and can export several different resources in addition to supporting a navy. 4 Weeks Growth 4: Forge World: Massive industrial output; supports a good portion of the local navy and exports manufactured goods throughout the region. 5 Weeks Growth. 5: Homeworld: This planet is the only classification capable of producing Colonizers and putting out the population required. Valued as much for their status as centers of trade and government as for their massive industrial output. Your first planet starts at this level. A planet contributes a number of “Industry Points” equal to its level number(above) to an empire's total industry. For example, an empire consisting of a Homeworld, an Inner Worlds, a Core World, and a Colony would have a total Industry of 8(5+2+3-2=8) Thus, this empire can field 8 points worth of ships. This represents everything that it takes to field a ship, from paying and feeding the crew, replacing those members who die, upgrading and refitting the ship occasionally, repairs after a battle, and, most expensively, fueling the ship.I like this system. One of the weaknesses of IL was that it didn't have any way to monitor who big someone's fleet was, which led to quite a few problems, if I recall correctly. While this does require some math, it's something everyone will put up with, I think, for the sake of fairness. Ships Each ship is divided into one of several classes, according to their size and upkeep. Actual roles within these classes can vary wildly, but it is mainly the size of a ship that determines how much industry must be devoted to maintaining it. Fighter: Small, one to five man ships with minimal armor and weapons, mainly used to attack larger ships and defend large ships from other fighters. Not capable of FTL travel, so they must be moved by Carriers or stationed on Starbases. Industry Cost: 0 Small: Frigates and Gunboats, crew sizes range depending on the race. Small ships are usually employed either as Fighter hunters, Scout ships, Stealth craft, and the like, and can be fielded in large numbers.Industry Cost: 1 for 4 Small ShipsCouldn't you just say .25? Medium: Cruisers, destroyers, and the like are classed as Medium ships; they can be fielded in numbers and they are useful for force projection as well as defense, making them an ideal ship of the line; these should make up the majority of any self-respecting fleet. Industry Cost: 1 Large: Battleships and Dreadnoughts are the ships that capture the hearts and minds of the masses; great, powerful ships with enormous weapon batteries, blasting holes in enemy fleets and destroying entire cities with a few barrages. Even the rumor of a large ship being present can change the tide of war. In addition, battleships can mount your Racial Superweapon; what this weapon does is up to you, but make it powerful and creative. Despite their use as an intimidation weapon and morale booster, Large ships are rather impractical, given their upkeep cost. Industry Cost: 3 Colonizers: Not necessarily one ship, perhaps a whole fleet, a colonizer is part transport, part mass-terraforming system. Colonizers are warp capable, and used to expand your empire. Only Homeworlds may build them. They are expensive to keep up, but are usually a temporary measure. The entire colonizer is recycled by the newly landed colonists, and thus cannot be re-used. Industry Cost: 4 Carriers: A modification to an existing ship, any ship that is made into a carrier has its Industry cost increased by 1, but can carry and support 10 fighters.Plugging a loophole with my Rules Lawyer powers: No getting cheap carriers by making fighters into carriers. Use your head. Starbases: Usually placed orbiting a planet, Starbases are large defensive measures used to protect a planet with orbital guns in addition to providing a docking harbor for ships which cannot land. Immobile, anchored over a planet. Carries twenty Fighters. Can make battlefield repairs on ships during a battle. Industry Cost: 1 for 3 StarbasesJust say .3 for 1. Build Times: Each ship is a massive industrial undertaking by the world it was built by; think what the International Space Station has taken Earth; twenty years of work and it's a flimsy station that would be annihilated with a single missile. Better materials and industrial methods cut that down, but it's still a huge undertaking. Each ship class takes a certain amount of real world time to produce. Fighters: 3 Days for 10 Small: 1 Week for 2 Medium: 1 Week Large: 2 Weeks Colonizers: 2 Weeks Starbases: 1 Week Technology Ban List Time TravelEnergy ShieldsLightsabersBlack Hole GunsSpacetime-Fabric ProjectorsTeleportationEverything Sensors Define "everything" sensor. Could I have a large number of different kinds of sensors all plugged into the same suite?Artificial Gravity(besides spinning sections on ships) Rules 1: BZP Rules Apply2: Use IC, OOC, and OICwhatudidthar3: No godmoding, auto-hitting, or auto dodging4: Yarn5: Be respectful. These are other people's thoughts, work, and in a lot of cases, opinions out in text, so be nice.6: Laws of Physics usually apply. Warning System: Be good to the Game Masters, or this sort of thing will happen to you. 1: Warning2: Warning3: A Sweet Spot opens up on one of your border worlds, well inside your defenses. Enjoy dealing with the invasion.4: One of your planets is lost to calamity. Perhaps a nanobot uprising, or perhaps a viral plague. Whatever happens, one planet's worth of your species extinct5: That Calamity from earlier? It spreads. Start over with a new species.6: Banned. Species Profile(PM this to me) Username: (Obvious)Species Name: (Make it interesting!)Description: (Physical appearance, psychological details, government system, etc.) Can I call dibs on humans?History: (Why are they in space? Why do they use the government they do? Details like that)Homeworld Name: (Humans call our planet Earth for a reason. Why do these people call their world what they do?)Homeworld Location: (Try for one that's not taken.) Ship Class Profile:(Like in the real world, ships will usually be built follow the blueprints of an earlier one. This becomes known as a Class. Also, be creative with your ship naming. Maybe a neat theme, or something.) Class Name: (Generally, a ship is named, and members of its class follow the theme, like how American Aircraft Carriers are named after Admirals or Presidents.) Also, typically the first ship in a class shares its name with the class itself, but then again we're talking about aliens here.Class Size: (Fighter, Small, Medium, Large)Class Function And Description: (Some ships are generalists, others are specialists for one role. Give us a quick explanation here.)Class Weapons: (Keep it realistic, can't put three hundred guns on a fighter.) I suspect you should put some sort of point limit on how much stuff you can put on each size of ship. For example, theoretically right now a Dreadnought could pack its hull with guns and still have absurd armor and powerful engines. Either you're going to ahve to automate it with a points system like you did with Industry, or make judgement calls on it.

Will there be a rule to keep people from stealing tech ideas OOC? Note, I kept it so you can mostly copy and paste your old stuff from IL.

Overall, I like it. It has promise, and it's a sandbox so there's no pesky overarching story to get in the way of galactic politics. I'd like to be able to use humans, if possible (I saw no rule against it) because I'm not so good with alien races, but I'm sure I can muck one together if need be. One question I forgot to ask and wasn't addressed: how do you capture a planet?

OOC: Explanation, I guess. He was swinging down, and Skakdi have a hunchback. IC: Atiel lifted his hammer and stepped back, breathing somewhat heavily. It wasn't the hardest fight he'd been in--that had to go to the Nui Jaga nest--but swinging a hammer did take its toll. Hopefully the Skakdi would see fit to stay down.

Atiel will show up because retcon powers means he knew about it already and was heading to join in Ta when he bumped into this whole business with stubborn Skakdi.