Shepard Quest Mk VI, Technological Revolution

I think I'd be best if plans blocks had their production and credit cost totals noted on the outside.
Noted... and fixed.

That reminds me, can someone with Windows do a tally under @Kinematics's latest tally program (el-cheapo Linux Mint user here, or I'd do it myself) and see where we're at? From what I understand we have exactly two competing plans (that are 80% similar), but three different voting paradigms; we might need to tag everyone who's voted so far and persuade them to fix their votes, as well as poke everyone who voted in the last poll and try to whip them into voting this go-around too.

Two questions: About how big is one? How big is the shielded area?
Well it's a 3-Reactor drone rather than a 1-Reactor one, so bigger than a Lesser Accipiter. @UberJJK am I right in assuming a Lesser Accipiter is roughly the size of a human head, about 1 ft (30cm) cubed? If so, the Aspidai would be more like the size of a torso, about 1.5 ft (50cm) cubed, with four articulating 60-cm guns pointing out of it in sort of a tetrahedral shape, and be able to project a bubble shield in say a 9 ft (3m) diameter? That should be big enough to cover 3 Legionaries if they stand close together, while the articulation on the guns means that it can fit anywhere a human can, with a little fuss.

The way I see it is you want our enemies to hit us with a huge game changing problem at the start of an narrative arc. Something that we have absolutely no answer for, then you want to slowly expand the scope and depth of this problem as we make progress on solving it. Then once we are on the cusp of solving one problem decisively hit us with the next one. etc. Occasionally you will want to give us a break to catch our breath though, usually at the end of each major arc.
Well, keep in mind this is a hybrid character/civ quest, which means more frequent "breaks" or you'll spend all your time in mini-updates and never get to the quarterly updates where you make actual progress. I for one want to get a move on with the quarters, so we can get our Cabira factories up by late 2175, just in time for the Skylian Blitz which in canon was in 2176 and IMO is the earliest an interplanetary government could possibly throw together a mass invasion. Then we get to throw out stealthed GRASER-frigates against a "pirate" army and see how they shake up the status quo.
 
Well, keep in mind this is a hybrid character/civ quest, which means more frequent "breaks" or you'll spend all your time in mini-updates and never get to the quarterly updates where you make actual progress. I for one want to get a move on with the quarters, so we can get our Cabira factories up by late 2175, just in time for the Skylian Blitz which in canon was in 2176 and IMO is the earliest an interplanetary government could possibly throw together a mass invasion. Then we get to throw out stealthed GRASER-frigates against a "pirate" army and see how they shake up the status quo.
I guess it depends on how you want the game to play out, yea. Personally I would like to see a full narrative arc between each quarter then we can use the quarters as time skips for each chapter of the story.
 
I guess it depends on how you want the game to play out, yea. Personally I would like to see a full narrative arc between each quarter then we can use the quarters as time skips for each chapter of the story.
Sounds like the big thing is conflicting interests of the players themselves in this case.

I actually prefer the standard model myself for instance, mass effect has always been most interesting for me when you look at the wider scale of things, it's one of the reasons I love those little news blurbs the GM has been including lately.

Also thank you GM that was the best.
 
Sounds like the big thing is conflicting interests of the players themselves in this case.

I actually prefer the standard model myself for instance, mass effect has always been most interesting for me when you look at the wider scale of things, it's one of the reasons I love those little news blurbs the GM has been including lately.

Also thank you GM that was the best.

I agree as well. I don't want this to be one of those games where you have a 15 update mini-turn, have one regular turn, then another super long mini-turn right after.
 
I guess I disagree. I like having a nice long story arc between each turn.
Like I said earlier it's a difference of opinions in the players tasts.

Some of the things you like for instance would probably make more then a few players agitated, and the type of game I like isn't the same as one someone else will, even if we all happen to like doing quests. I guess in the end it just comes down to what the GM feels the best writing, he is the one taking the time out of his own life to write these quests after all.
 
I guess I disagree. I like having a nice long story arc between each turn.
Well, I am fine with long narrative arcs in a personal quest, but not so much in a civ quests After all, if it is mostly narrative instead of civ, why run a civ quest in the first place?

I guess we just have differing opinions.
 
I guess it depends on how you want the game to play out, yea. Personally I would like to see a full narrative arc between each quarter then we can use the quarters as time skips for each chapter of the story.

Then vote to use the personal action to go out and do things. It's one of their uses. Galaxy isn't going to conveniently drop an adventure on your lap every three months

I actually prefer the standard model myself for instance, mass effect has always been most interesting for me when you look at the wider scale of things, it's one of the reasons I love those little news blurbs the GM has been including lately.

Also thank you GM that was the best.

You're welcome it was something I found missing in the game before.

That reminds me, can someone with Windows do a tally under @Kinematics's latest tally program (el-cheapo Linux Mint user here, or I'd do it myself) and see where we're at? From what I understand we have exactly two competing plans (that are 80% similar), but three different voting paradigms; we might need to tag everyone who's voted so far and persuade them to fix their votes, as well as poke everyone who voted in the last poll and try to whip them into voting this go-around too.

Here purged of the sexuality stuff:

Vote Tally : Shepard Quest Mk VI, Technological Revolution | Page 274 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.1.13

[x] Train
-[x] Biotic Techniques (Sustained Barrier & Throw)
No. of Votes: 10

[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 1/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] More trying to be a social ghost in the machine. Maybe set up an online gaming account under a pseudonym?
No. of Votes: 9

[X] Construct 400 Legionary Suits for ParSec - 285m + 1,200 production
[X] Construct 50 Tigers for ParSec - 400m + 1,350 production
[X] Construct 5,000 Accipiter "Atmospheric Edition" Drones for ParSec - 1,000m + 5,000 production
[X] Construct 7,000 Accipiter "Atmospheric Edition" Drones for PI spread evenly across all 7 current PI sites- 1,400m + 7,000 production
[X] Construct 60 Gladius Fighter (Type B) with Arcane Blur for ParSec - 13,780.8m + 49,564.8 production
[X] Construct 1 Appia (non-Repulsor version) - 11m + 90 production
[X] Construct 1 Virgo (non-Repulsor version) - 45m + 350 production
[X] Construct 10 Dormus (small portable hyper-modular building) - 350k + 4 production
[X] Construct 10 Cenaculum (small portable hyper-modular building) - 650k + 7 production
[X] Construct 10 Insula (non-Repulsor version) - 1.5m + 16 production
[X] Construct 50 Vicinale (per 10m corridor or airlock) - 20k + 0.2 production
[X] Build 3 Factory IIIs and a Barracks with Assault Grade Campus Shielding in both of Benning's non-capital cities - 8,020m
[X] Build 3 Factory IIIs, a Barracks, and a Biotic Academy with Bombardment Grade Campus Shielding in Benning's capital city - 8,210m
[X] Build 3 Factory IIIs and a Barracks with Assault Grade Campus Shielding in four of Demeter's cities, including it's capital - 16,040m
[X] Build an Admin building in Benning's capital city - 10m
[X] Build an Admin building in Demeter's capital city - 10m
[X] Build an Extra-Large (20x) Vehicle Garage at the ParSec HQ - 200m
[X] Hire 240 Pilots at 37,500cr each per quarter - 9m
[X] Hire 60 Fighter Support Teams at 1,250k each per quarter - 75m
[X] Search for skilled and experienced commanders interested in commanding fighter squadrons (20 Fighters) for ParSec
[X] Hire 90 Security Teams for our new facilities on Benning and Demeter; 9 teams for Demeter's capital, 17 teams for Benning's capital, and 8 teams for the other cities - 31.5m
[X] Continue the search for skilled and experienced commanders interested in managing ParSec
[X] Look into mining/mineral survey companies to buy out for our New Gold Rush strategy
No. of Votes: 6

[X] See who we can outsource production to for the following:
-[X] Waterloo Class Frigate Block 3 Upgrade
-[X] Huai-Hai Class Frigate Block 6 Upgrade
-[X] Anti-starship missiles - try to get non-exclusive licenses for production by several different munitions manufacturers, since the Alliance is going to want to get every missile in the fleet replaced/upgraded eventually.
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Investigate the subject of a land/colony-for-ships swap deal with the Alliance foreign affairs committee and/or other appropriate groups. The Quarians don't seem to be eager to set up shop in the hostile Terminus, but maybe a welcoming gesture from a friendly, up-and-coming race might be more appealing. Alternatively, see what it would take to set up Alliance colony worlds, starting with Mindoir, as "safe" places for Quarian pilgrimages.
[X] Investigate interest in an upgrade to military Omni-tools utilizing a military version of the Dark Energy Shear Blade uncovered.
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Begin drumming up interest in our new line of portable, modular, colony/space stations in a box
-[X] Show the demonstration models off at trade shows and the like.
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Get people interested in Hyper-modular buildings for convention halls, stadiums and the like.
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Shift Repulsor lobbying away from any mention of exporting to other nations and focus on sale to humans, specifically those within the Alliance.
-[X] Counter arguments as to it's capability as a weapon with strict controls designed to ensure starship engine repulsors remain starship engine repulsors.
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Obtain a secret military patent for our Anti-starship missiles. Make it clear we intend to non-elusively license them to other human companies to produce.
[X] Reverse engineer and start selling "genuine prothean dark energy blades" (with installed safeties) - hanar at least would surely buy those en-mass
[X] Superalloys [800] - 90d10+365 (98.69% chance of completion)
[X] Flawless Blackboxing/FRM [761.2/3200] - 125d10+535 + (30d10+110)*15/100 (95.25% of 1971.2/3200)
No. of Votes: 6

[X] Giving Teeth to ParSec (missiles + warp barriers version)
[X] Drones for PI Security
[X] MCS Demonstration
[X] Benning Expansion
[X] Project Systems Alliance Jedi Academy
[X] Project Diced Calimari
[X] Investigate Outsourcing Opportunities
[X] An Arsenal for Humanity
[X] Energy Blade Commercialization
[X] Research Plan UberJJK 2174-Q2
No. of Votes: 3

[X] Rapid Peak human treatment (Requires both spare time slots and removes research dice for a quarter, full upgrade done in a quarter)
No. of Votes: 1

[X] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 1/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
-[X] Spend some time doing some relaxing like playing video games, messing around in a VR world, remotely accessing computer monitors across the facility to act like some kind of ghost in the machine. That sort of thing.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] Spend Time With [Person(s)]
-[X] Liara
--[X] Learn more about her. Few dinners at city, perhaps teaching her to fly Legionary.
No. of Votes: 1

[x] Continue Peak Human Treatment (Full Captain America Upgrade, Part 1/5 Done), maybe chosen twice
No. of Votes: 1

[x] Multi-core Eezo Systems [800] 90d10+305 + (30d10+110)/5
[x] Flawless Blackboxing/FRM [3200] 130d10+395
No. of Votes: 1

[X] Rapid Peak human treatment (Requires both spare time slots and removes research dice for a quarter, full upgrade done in a quarter)
No. of Votes: 1



———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Task: Construction

[X][Construction] Build 3 Factory IIIs and a Barracks with Assault Grade Campus Shielding in both of Benning's non-capital cities - 8,020m
[X] Build 3 Factory IIIs, a Barracks, and a Biotic Academy with Bombardment Grade Campus Shielding in Benning's capital city - 8,210m
[X] Build an Admin building in Benning's capital city - 10m
[X] Build an Extra-Large (20x) Vehicle Garage at the ParSec HQ - 200m, space for 200 vehicles/starfighters
[X][Human Resources] Hire 33 Security Teams for our new facilities on Benning; 17 teams for Benning's capital, and 8 teams for the other cities - 11.55m
[X] Use contacts--take recommendations from Liara, Gaver Dor, and Rahna--to hire some of the top experts in biotics training from around the galaxy, as well as experts in education and human psychology. - 40m
-[X] Get them working on a biotic academy curriculum for humans, temporarily housed on Mindoir until Academy buildings are finished building.
-[X] Bring in Rahna to explain how Revy uses her Magi and ANI to great effect.
-[X] Announce an Association of Biotic Educators trade group, with an academic conference on Issues in Biotic Education at the beginning of 2175-Q3.
No. of Votes: 3

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Task: Investigation

[X][Investigation] Investigate the subject of a land/colony-for-ships swap deal with the Alliance foreign affairs committee and/or other appropriate groups. The Quarians don't seem to be eager to set up shop in the hostile Terminus, but maybe a welcoming gesture from a friendly, up-and-coming race might be more appealing. Alternatively, see what it would take to set up Alliance colony worlds, starting with Mindoir, as "safe" places for Quarian pilgrimages.
No. of Votes: 3

[X][Investigation] Look into mining/mineral survey companies to buy out for our New Gold Rush strategy
No. of Votes: 3

[X][Investigation] Invest in a data mining project on Mars Archive, to look for more information on these space cuttlefish; offer up to 1 billion for now.
-[X] Emphasize to the people who discovered the "secret room" in the Archives that we are not interested in rights to any of the technology discovered inside, merely to increase the pace of the data analysis in hopes of more quickly discovering the nature of the possible extinction-level threat.
No. of Votes: 3

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Task: Lobbying

[X][Lobbying] Shift Repulsor lobbying away from any mention of exporting to other nations and focus on sale to humans, specifically those within the Alliance.
-[X] Counter arguments as to it's capability as a weapon with strict controls designed to ensure starship engine repulsors remain starship engine repulsors.
No. of Votes: 3

[X][Lobbying] Obtain a secret military patent for our Anti-starship missiles. Make it clear we intend to non-elusively license them to other human companies to produce.
[X][Investigation] See who we can outsource production to for the following:
-[X] Waterloo Class Frigate Block 3 Upgrade
-[X] Huai-Hai Class Frigate Block 6 Upgrade
-[X] Anti-starship missiles - try to get non-exclusive licenses for production by several different munitions manufacturers, since the Alliance is going to want to get every missile in the fleet replaced/upgraded eventually.
No. of Votes: 3

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Task: Manufacturing

[X][Manufacturing] Construct 400 Legionary Suits for ParSec - 285m + 1,200 production
[X] Construct 50 Tigers for ParSec - 400m + 1,350 production
[X] Construct 5,000 Accipiter "Atmospheric Edition" Drones for ParSec - 1,000m + 5,000 production
[X] Construct 7,000 Accipiter "Atmospheric Edition" Drones for PI spread evenly across all 7 PI sites- 1,400m + 7,000 production
[X] Construct 60 Gladius Fighter (Type C) for ParSec - 15,847.92 m + 57,000 production
[X] Construct 120 Small Anti-ship missiles, 24 Standard Anti-ship missiles, and 8 Large Anti-ship missiles for ParSec - 6,300 m + 18,000 production
[X] Construct 400 Hydra cluster missiles for ParSec - 1,600 m + 6,800 production
[X][Human Resources] Hire 240 Pilots at 37,500cr each per quarter - 9m
[X] Hire 60 Fighter Support Teams at 1,250k each per quarter - 75m
[X] Search for skilled and experienced commanders interested in commanding fighter squadrons (20 Fighters) for ParSec
[X] Continue the search for skilled and experienced commanders interested in managing ParSec
No. of Votes: 3

[X][Manufacturing] Construct 1 Appia (non-Repulsor version) - 11m + 90 production
[X] Construct 1 Virgo (non-Repulsor version) - 45m + 350 production
[X] Construct 10 Dormus (small portable hyper-modular building) - 350k + 4 production
[X] Construct 10 Cenaculum (small portable hyper-modular building) - 650k + 7 production
[X] Construct 10 Insula (non-Repulsor version) - 1.5m + 16 production
[X] Construct 50 Vicinale (per 10m corridor or airlock) - 20k + 0.2 production
[X][Marketing] Begin drumming up interest in our new line of portable, modular, colony/space stations in a box
-[X] Show the demonstration models off at trade shows and the like.
No. of Votes: 3

———————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Task: Marketing

[X][Marketing] Get people interested in Hyper-modular buildings for convention halls, stadiums and the like.
[X] Plan Superalloys/Gigawatt lasers/Flawless Blackboxing
No. of Votes: 3

[X][Marketing] Reverse engineer and start selling "genuine prothean dark energy blades" (with installed safeties) - hanar at least would surely buy those en-mass
[X][Investigation] Investigate interest in an upgrade to military Omni-tools utilizing a military version of the Dark Energy Shear Blade uncovered.
No. of Votes: 3
 
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Like I said earlier it's a difference of opinions in the players tasts.

Some of the things you like for instance would probably make more then a few players agitated, and the type of game I like isn't the same as one someone else will, even if we all happen to like doing quests. I guess in the end it just comes down to what the GM feels the best writing, he is the one taking the time out of his own life to write these quests after all.
Well I have often had people tell me in very clear terms that the things I say agitate them so that is true. I do think I have a good handle on how to tell stories though seeing as I am pretty obsessive at analyzing them. I spent virtually all my time indulging and analyzing some form of story or reading information on how to make stories by experts. Hehe.

Well, I am fine with long narrative arcs in a personal quest, but not so much in a civ quests After all, if it is mostly narrative instead of civ, why run a civ quest in the first place?
I think mixing character story with the world building of a civilization quest does produce a fun mixture.

Then vote to use the personal action to go out and do things. It's one of their uses. Galaxy isn't going to conveniently drop an adventure on your lap every three months
Why shouldn't it? Typically protagonists in stories are reactive so having an adventure dropped in their lap is what happens.
 
I do think I have a good handle on how to tell stories though seeing as I am pretty obsessive at analyzing them. I spent virtually all my time indulging and analyzing some form of story or reading information on how to make stories by experts. Hehe.
Which is fine, but remember that this is as much a game as it is a story, and each GM runs things differently.

The type of story you want for instance, might go against the GM specific skills, or make the whole thing irritable from a gameplay perspective.
Also, trying to convince the players that getting out of the lab to do things is not a task a particularly want. There is a pretty solid trend of players having super high risk aversion and never doing anything that could put their character in danger. :p
In my experience quest players tend to hang themselves more often then not at some points, especially with social rolls. If you want to see a BAM! surprise action it'll probably happen at some point, and often because of the players own actions.

................you' probably won't able to tell unless it was something really stupid, but I'll probably be having a small panic attack. :(
 
Sounds like the big thing is conflicting interests of the players themselves in this case.

I actually prefer the standard model myself for instance, mass effect has always been most interesting for me when you look at the wider scale of things, it's one of the reasons I love those little news blurbs the GM has been including lately.

Also thank you GM that was the best.
Agree 100%. It's good to get an outside perspective on PI and how Revy is affecting the galaxy as a whole. I do rather hope that the Batarians don't somehow manage to up their timetable and catch us before we can build enough Cabiras to get out there and contribute, though; that would kind of suck.

I agree as well. I don't want this to be one of those games where you have a 15 update mini-turn, have one regular turn, then another super long mini-turn right after.
I guess I disagree. I like having a nice long story arc between each turn.
Eh; I like the sort of hybrid approach we've got going; every two quarters we get hit with something... interesting, while on the off-turns we have more run of the mill events like this quarter's Spectre visit. It sort of reminds me of BtVS, and for that matter most other good TV dramas, with its semi-annual apocalypse season (which oh-so-coincidentally happened to arrive on ratings week.)
Here purged of the sexuality stuff:

Vote Tally : Shepard Quest Mk VI, Technological Revolution | Page 274 | Sufficient Velocity
Well, huh. Yeah, like I said, we kind of screwed up the vote by switching voting styles twice. Also, I've seen the tally formatted in different ways in other quests, some of them more readable; are there different output formats baked into the tally program?
@avatar11792, @Amberion, @Datakim, @Cassiemouse, @UberJJK, @Alanek, @Daniel14541, @Jun-Sa, @megrisvernin, @tyaty1 mind looking over your votes?

@Nix, @Aeondrac, @HanEmpire are probably fine, but @Hoyr mentioned he preferred a that sub-votes have a cost listing:
I think I'd be best if plans blocks had their production and credit cost totals noted on the outside.
so that might be something to consider.

Also, trying to convince the players that getting out of the lab to do things is not a task a particularly want. There is a pretty solid trend of players having super high risk aversion and never doing anything that could put their character in danger. :p
This is very true, though to be fair we were almost killed by a random piece of junk space-AK47 less than a year ago, so staying out of space for now just makes sense.
 
In my experience quest players tend to hang themselves more often then not at some points, especially with social rolls. If you want to see a BAM! surprise action it'll probably happen at some point, and often because of the players own actions.
I could think of all sorts of cool things Revy could be doing but I am sure that the minute I start talk about them someone will get scared and attack me. :(
 
This is very true, though to be fair we were almost killed by a random piece of junk space-AK47 less than a year ago, so staying out of space for now just makes sense.
This is exactly what I am talking about when I say risk aversion. We could take steps to prevent being ambushed again that don't require we build a huge space fortress to travel around in. ;)
 
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Well, huh. Yeah, like I said, we kind of screwed up the vote by switching voting styles twice. Also, I've seen the tally formatted in different ways in other quests, some of them more readable; are there different output formats baked into the tally program?
There are only a handful of output formats available in the tally program. I'm not sure what other output formats you're referring to, to compare to.

I am, however, considering a variant where base plans are not expanded in-place. [] Plan Outsourcing Research would remain as-is in the user vote, while also (as usual) being listed as its own separate plan instance (with all the people who voted for any plan that included this base plan included). That would help keep the length of the overall output down, since you wouldn't be repeating each base plan each time it's included in a vote.

I'll have to play with it some. If anyone has thoughts on whether it sounds like an improvement, let me know.
 
Let's see here. We could catch a ride on a passing military vessel, we could hire some mercenary ships, we could hide our flight plan so it would be harder to ambush us. We could join a trade convoy and use safety in numbers. There are plenty of things we could do to make a fairly safe space journey.
 
This is exactly what I am talking about when I say risk aversion. We could take steps to prevent being ambushed again that don't require we build a huge space fortress to travel around in. ;)
Not... build a huge space fortress? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying here; it's like you've completely left the space of where individual words can be combined into meaningful phrases. :D
There are only a handful of output formats available in the tally program. I'm not sure what other output formats you're referring to, to compare to.
Like this one. That was put together manually?
 
Not... build a huge space fortress? I'm afraid I don't understand what you're saying here; it's like you've completely left the space of where individual words can be combined into meaningful phrases. :D
I am not against building it eventually but I see no reason that we can't use other methods of travel I outlined above until we can build it. :)
 
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