Standard Faction/Race Information Sheet Format

[ACH0225]

I was more meaning grammar, as in I had and still have no idea what you are saying.

As for middle ground, I'd like to keep my shields, as well as each faction to keep its individual specialization(Darkstar has stealth, whatever). However, there would be obvious reductions in the application of these devices; I can see Strigiforme shield ships being unreliable, or requiring a small fleet dedicated to their upkeep and protection. The best thing about the super shields is the planetary protection. They prevent Strigiforme planets from being novalith'd, enabling Strigiforme aggression.

[Error]

The main issue I see here is limiting technology forces everybody from reasonably-unique to factionus genericus.

Which, really, is just bland.

[cats]

If you're hell-bent on at least partial realism, care to explain your sublight engines? FTL? Plasma weapons? Artificial gravity?

Yes. Everyone will have to, but most use plasma weapons, engines, and artificial gravity that function about the same. I've explained my FTL more than a few times; the sublight engines I use are large-scale magnetoplasma rockets (in the first half of the 3rd millennium), or repulse engines (later); a coagulated plasma torpedo emitter uses EM fields and field castors to contain a large quantity of energized ions and propel them through space; artificial gravity is acceleration of the ship, centripetal force, or passive, contained graviton emission. Active graviton emission is the method behind the repulse engines, pulling the ship along by effecting the matter around you. I'd allow some amount of asspulling for artificial gravity because it is absolutely necessary and usually can't be explained too well with "magnets!"

Because the RPs are a fusion of gameplay and storywriting. And the lore should serve the storywriting aspect more, unlessmyou prefer we go to a play-by-forum turn-based 4x. Becausr that's what your obsession witu detail is starting to look like.

What? I said that ERPs have elements of game and writing, the reason behind the stats and forms are to make sure no one is being completely stupid before we start and to have the information in case it is needed, not to use it as a constant reference for math. It can't be thought of as purely a game. That would take too much logistic.

//
You may hate ignorant arguments, but it wouln't kill you - it really wouldn't - to at least be polite.

If someone doesn't think the topic deserves a little research before they argue about it, then they don't deserve politeness. It would have been different if Ivan wasn't being so matter-of-fact about it.

@Solar: If you don't have anything to say, don't say anything.

@Ach: That's an aspect that bothers me. I'm not saying that it should be gone, but a few thousand years is a long time for expansion and advancement. Your technology and power would be literal and figurative lightyears beyond everyone else's. Maybe some civil wars or a disease or something to tone that down a little.

[Error]

Actually, cats artificial gravity isn't an absolute must. 'Cause, you know, spin part of your ship and blam, realistic, explainable pseudo-gravity.

And why research a topic if you believe you're already correct about it or part of it?

And politeness isn't difficult to do. It really, really isn't.

[cats]

The main issue I see here is limiting technology forces everybody from reasonably-unique to factionus genericus.

Which, really, is just bland.

It limits technology to what is theoretically feasible. That hardly forces all factions to be cookie-cutter, it just means that they actually have to think about how they will make their their technology unique instead of just saying that it is.

Actually, cats artificial gravity isn't an absolute must. 'Cause, you know, spin part of your ship and blam, realistic, explainable pseudo-gravity.

That's a form of artificial gravity. The whole ship has to spin for centripetal force to work, and it would have to be designed around that. I'm pretty sure everyone here wants artificial gravity that doesn't require the entire ship to spin. Graviton _____ is the only explanation that fits as far as I know. It's a little ass-pullish but it's the only thing that really works.

And why research a topic if you believe you're already correct about it or part of it?

Always check a source, especially before trying to be a smartass about it. You just don't not do it.

And politeness isn't difficult to do. It really, really isn't.

I never said it was, but it is something that should be used sparingly.

[Error]

Politeness should be used always. It's not like there's only a limited amount of it.

And you've seen Babylon 5's Omega destroyers, right? Nexus: The Jupiter Incident? And pseudo-realstic sci-fi? Spin-gravity is common and doesn't require the entire ship.

As for people not liking that, I get the impression they don't like the sudden lack of effective shields, so, if I may ask, why do you care? If you're going for explainable, that's about the only thing I can think of offhand for gravity.

And I gently remind you that we may not have canon at the moment, but the RPers do get to vote yay or nay on any rules, requirements, and such you want to implement.

[Ivan2006]

So basically, what you are saying, is that I am supposed to make ships that can withstand heavy fire for a feasible ammount of time without shields (as according to cats those would be relatively useless), while making at least parts of my ship spin in order to have some kind of artificial gravity?
You know what?
Imma wait for Fenway's opinion on this, since so far it is a tie between two board members. I for one do not wish to participate in a roleplay that runs on a Reynolds-ruleset.

[Error]

I actually got this from a friend of mine when we were discussing. Something about shields being unrealistic and unfeasable.

The idea was it gives you armor, without reducing your ship to "bit for crew in the center, then three meters of armour" type thing.

Given the realtive velocities involved with kinetics, there isn't enough armor to defend against attacks and still be able to do anything. So if you drop the armor, you die from, well, anything, which doesn't really work.

It's a handwave, but it's a handwave to allow a bit more freedom in writing and gameplay, instead of being massively armored or totally unarmored.

[cats]

Politeness should be used always. It's not like there's only a limited amount of it.

I don't use it where it's not deserved. Frankness is often more productive.

And you've seen Babylon 5's Omega destroyers, right? Nexus: The Jupiter Incident? And pseudo-realstic sci-fi? Spin-gravity is common and doesn't require the entire ship.

As for people not liking that, I get the impression they don't like the sudden lack of effective shields, so, if I may ask, why do you care? If you're going for explainable, that's about the only thing I can think of offhand for gravity.

There are more than a few universes that use graviton-based artificial gravity. Just because this method is used in those few examples you've given doesn't mean we want to use it. We're trying not to rip anything off.

The parts that have gravity have to spin. If you want centripetal force throughout the whole ship, you have to spin the whole ship. That alone is much more restricting than limiting any other technology, it means that any ship design would have to follow the same fundamental rules. It only restricts, it doesn't open any more paths. Limiting shields restricts the shield ability, but it allows people to be more creative with their defenses. Overall, it gets rid of more implied constraints than it adds rule constraints. And I'm not saying get rid of sheilds entirely, I'm just saying don't be incredibly stupid with it's power and keep the mechanism behind it in mind. It should have about as much power as the ship's armor if it is the kind that can be compared to armor. There are many kinds of shields, I say again, you're being too closed-minded about the definition of shield.

Oh, and without graviton-based artificial gravity, there won't be any inertial dampening, repulse engines, tractor beams, repulsor beams, warp engines, etc., which means that it would be a very bland universe, indeed.

And I gently remind you that we may not have canon at the moment, but the RPers do get to vote yay or nay on any rules, requirements, and such you want to implement.

Where'd you get that idea?


@Ivan: Ach hasn't said anything lately, I doubt Fenway will be on any time soon. not that any of the other board members have been too much help in the past month.

[ACH0225]

@Ach: That's an aspect that bothers me. I'm not saying that it should be gone, but a few thousand years is a long time for expansion and advancement. Your technology and power would be literal and figurative lightyears beyond everyone else's. Maybe some civil wars or a disease or something to tone that down a little.

They are most definitely more advanced than everyone else. The problem is that they have a big empire, and have to tie up a lot of ships to protect them. They also were in major recession prior to the RP(circa 10,000 BC) resulting in major planetary losses and large rebellions and civil wars. This was coupled with a rise in Strigiforme technophobic feelings. The Strigiforme, for all their advancements, have no AIs or particularly advanced computer systems, with most things being done by the vast masses of dedicated owls.

[Error]

Cats, it's like an old-school tabletop RPG.

If you decide something, your players might decide "screw it, outta here", and suddenly, you're not much of a GM anymore.

/ / /
Yeah, without the handwavium, suddenly, things get real boring. Frankly, shields are everywhere in sci-fi (Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, EvE, SoaSE, etc.), so we'd hardly be going out of the ordinary to have them.

And if you want realism, space combat eventually gets down to "attach engines to big rock(s), deorbit rock(s) into your planet". Which, really, is not fun, not fair, end ends thing right quick. So... realism should be taken in measured doses.

EDIT - and I note Solar offered to do the math for realistic shielding and weaponry, yet you refused? Hm?

[cats]

@Ach: That's an aspect that bothers me. I'm not saying that it should be gone, but a few thousand years is a long time for expansion and advancement. Your technology and power would be literal and figurative lightyears beyond everyone else's. Maybe some civil wars or a disease or something to tone that down a little.

They are most definitely more advanced than everyone else. The problem is that they have a big empire, and have to tie up a lot of ships to protect them. They also were in major recession prior to the RP(circa 10,000 BC) resulting in major planetary losses and large rebellions and civil wars. This was coupled with a rise in Strigiforme technophobic feelings. The Strigiforme, for all their advancements, have no AIs or particularly advanced computer systems, with most things being done by the vast masses of dedicated owls.

I was thinking something a little closer to the now, ten thousand years is a long time to rebuild. You should still be more advanced, but most of your tech should be lostech.

@Error: Have you not been listening to anything that I've been saying?

[Error]

Yes, cats, I do, in fact, read your posts. Feel free to elaborate some.

[ACH0225]

@Ach: That's an aspect that bothers me. I'm not saying that it should be gone, but a few thousand years is a long time for expansion and advancement. Your technology and power would be literal and figurative lightyears beyond everyone else's. Maybe some civil wars or a disease or something to tone that down a little.

They are most definitely more advanced than everyone else. The problem is that they have a big empire, and have to tie up a lot of ships to protect them. They also were in major recession prior to the RP(circa 10,000 BC) resulting in major planetary losses and large rebellions and civil wars. This was coupled with a rise in Strigiforme technophobic feelings. The Strigiforme, for all their advancements, have no AIs or particularly advanced computer systems, with most things being done by the vast masses of dedicated owls.

I was thinking something a little closer to the now, ten thousand years is a long time to rebuild. You should still be more advanced, but most of your tech should be lostech.

@Error: Have you not been listening to anything that I've been saying?

The Strigiforme have been around for at least a hundred thousand years, I'm pretty sure this was covered in the canon preliminary timeline. They just * around for a lot of it, fighting a lot of pointless civil wars and one major war in another galaxy. At the end of that war, they essentially said "fuck it", and destroyed the way to get to and from that galaxy on both ends. They then became mildly Luddite, using the same ships for ages.

[cats]

Yes, cats, I do, in fact, read your posts. Feel free to elaborate some.

Because it sounds like you're missing 100% of what I'm saying. Your last post doesn't make any sense in the context.

@Ach: Even if you did a minimal amount of work, you'd be a tier 0 civilization by now.