Bellum Stellarum (Working Title)

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Professor Fenway
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Re: Bellum Stellarum (Working Title)

Post by Professor Fenway » Mon Jan 05, 2015 12:10 am

Ok, preliminary outline. Based on the events from Valios and such, i'm also adding a bit of a timeline.

2814- GUARDIAN Program conceived and headed by the NR Dominion, assisted primarily by the NCSD and the Orion Confederation. Stellar Commonwealth at its height.

2816- First GUARDIAN prototypes created, but deemed insufficient. Olympos first identified but extremely insignificant, and little attention is paid to it.

2820- GUARDIAN Alpha, a behemoth of a ship over 5 km long, launched with AI routines but not a truly sentient AI, with 10 more just behind it. Alpha is also designed to be able to replicate more GUARDIAN ships. Program declared a resounding success. Meanwhile, Olympos has begun infiltrating the many governments, slowly, and is becoming more pronounced.

2825- At this point, over 500 GUARDIAN units have been constructed by the initial 11, and continuously patrol space. Olympos is now classified as an extremely high threat, but the empire's efforts are poorly coordinated to strike against it (perhaps intentionally). An unknown avian-like empire, sporting angular ships, has discovered the Stellar Commonwealth and has launched several attacks, repelled but unreported by the GUARDIAN system. Empire is preparing a full-scale invasion.

2826- Olympos begins wide-scale attacks against the Stellar Commonwealth. Every nation- The Batiss Combine, the Novan Commonwealth, the NR Dominion- suffers attacks. The SC is unable to organize an effective military response, leading to highly escalating feelings against the central authority, lead by the Tiens. At the same time, a truly sentient AI is under development by the NR Dominion, which is expected to replace the more primitive routines in the GUARDIAN system.

2827- The NR Dominion capital is bombarded and attacked by Olympos forces, wiping out the government completely in one fell swoop. Within a few hours, all contact with the GUARDIAN system is lost, and control is similarly lost. Multiple empires secede from the SC due to a complete lack of faith in the Authority. NR Dominion becomes embroiled in an extremely deadly, bitter civil war as the entire empire falls apart. Batiss Combine suffers a similar fate. GUARDIAN established as being rogue, and hope is soon lost in regaining control. Meanwhile, the unknown empire is preparing for an invasion now that they've identified the rogue status of the GUARDIAN system.

2830- SC has completely fell apart into war and destruction. GUARDIAN system status unknown, but ships have occasionally attacked various empires, being nigh-unstoppable. Multiple empires pitted against each other due to government decisions, military incidents, and disinformation spread by Olympos. It's purpose complete, the organization begins to fade away.

2831- The Avis war begins. In the middle of a massive conflict, a massive fleet from an unknown, external empire appears and annihilates the opposing ships. Multiple other fleets are reported across the sector, coordinated attacks with devestating results. Multiple empires surrender to the invaders outright. Impossibly, the remainder unites against the invaders, momentarily putting their differences aside for a greater threat.

2832- The Avis war is not going well for the sector, but hope seems to arise after a GUARDIAN unit is observed engaging and completely destroying a stronghold held by the invaders. Remaining scientists of the GUARDIAN program speculate that not all of the network may be rogue, and a large effort is immediately undertaken to locate the GUARDIAN observed destroying the stronghold and regain control.

2833- Control is reestablished of GUARDIAN, and fearing an imminent defeat the invaders make one final push, hoping for a quick victory. GUARDIAN units engage the offensive alongside the remaining sector military and destroy the final offensive, even pushing back into the invader's space. The Avis war is declared over, but at a great cost. Hundreds of worlds destroyed, old empires nearly stagnant and destroyed. An entire quadrant is believed to be completely desolated and dangerous to traverse, and communication is nonexistent. The sector begins to rebuild under a new government, ACCORD.

This is a basic idea. I will expand more later. And after 2833, the rest of the alliances are established.

cats
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Hondacus Accordicus

Post by cats » Mon Jan 05, 2015 2:28 am

I, surprisingly, don't have much to say about that timeline. Solid concept for a game, relatively comprehensive "lore"-wise. I will say that all the jumbling up of factions will be confusing to anyone who doesn't study the histories. Designing a style to fit each playable alliance is also be a lot less easy now. I suppose we could keep each faction within an alliance separate; that would make styling easier but result in more work overall. I'm sure we could handle the extra load if we can get past this... whatever stage and, maybe, set up a more structured system of development rather than free-for-all thread posting.

Or we could jump right in and get the game set up with some factions and put lore on the back burner until later. That would still require some organization.

Organization is pretty important, really, whichever way we go. Might make another thread to handle that.

Last thing: "ACCORD" is kind of meh and reminds me of a Japanese sedan. That's another downside of using alliances, you have to use a diplomatic word like "pact" or "alliance" instead of a simple name like "Klingon" or "Argentina."
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Re: Bellum Stellarum (Working Title)

Post by cannonfodder » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:50 am

What I had thought is that each alliance would take ships from the member factions in particular roles. Last time we did it on a per-faction basis but none of the owners had enough of a vested interest to actually assist. Combining means there's a higher probability that designs will surface for one side or another. The alternative is 'masochistic humans vs giant cats vs giant owls...IN SPACE' as you're the only ones that seem to give half a damn.

I've really imposed too much though; feel free to figure something out as I'm not going to be able to do much of anything for the next week or so. I wish I had something to show for it but that will have to wait.

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