Exodus WHITE

[DarthThrawn]

Orbital scanning, in a chaotic scenario like this, will give... unsatisfactioning levels of information. It will give something, but we will definitely want more. Can't even count hidden\sheltered people properly, and there will be plenty of those.

We will certainly want ground recon missions in major population centers and in some samples of other areas in addition to that.
At least i'll be doing that. Dunno about you.
So, who is going to take care of what regions?

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Orbital scans will more than suffice to tell us where the greatest concentrations of people and functioning infrastructure are, which is really all we need to get things started.

Anyone who's somehow managed to hide themselves from the combined sensor arrays of a fleet of dozens of Tech C warships is going to have to deal with being left behind. We don't have the transport capacity to save more than a very small fraction of humanity, and we don't even have the lifting ability to fill our transports in the amount of time that we have, so we need to focus on those who we can most easily reach rather than having to drag them out of underground bunkers or whatever.

 

[Marduk]

Orbital scans will more than suffice to tell us where the greatest concentrations of people and functioning infrastructure are, which is really all we need to get things started.

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Yes, it's enough to get things started. Barely. Withc chances of fuckups. Would be very good to know more though.
I for one would prefer to know before that we have to expect infiltrators\alien diseases\magic crap or such.

Anyone who's somehow managed to hide themselves from the combined sensor arrays of a fleet of dozens of Tech C warships is going to have to deal with being left behind. We don't have the transport capacity to save more than a very small fraction of humanity, and we don't even have the lifting ability to fill our transports in the amount of time that we have, so we need to focus on those who we can most easily reach rather than having to drag them out of underground bunkers or whatever.

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Welp, if i can grab the sort of people who have underground bunkers to hide in, i sure will. More of them for me i guess.

 

[DarthThrawn]

Yes, it's enough to get things started. Barely. Withc chances of fuckups. Would be very good to know more though.
I for one would prefer to know before that we have to expect infiltrators\alien diseases\magic crap or such.

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I think we have very different expectations of what our ships are and are not capable of seeing from space.

 

[UbeOne]

I would think that orbital scans are good enough for an overall picture. Anything specific will require getting closer though.

 

[samdamandias]

So, Spain is less fucked up than rest of Europe, while USA and UK are several people down their line of leadership succession?

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"Irrati Europa Aske" is Basque, which if you know anything about Spanish politics, tells you exactly how fucked Spain is.

I for one would prefer to know before that we have to expect infiltrators\alien diseases\magic crap or such.

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Until the Doom Timer runs out, you don't need to worry about any of that. No hidden catches, no alien traps, no surprise cthulahoop*, just the entirely human dangers of paranoia, hubris, and itchy tirgger fingers.

*You know it's showing up with Team BLACK, so it doesn't count as a surprise.

I'm waiting on more people to either post IC or go "give initial scans, plox" before I post the more detailed initial scans from the L1 point.

 

[UbeOne]

entirely human dangers of paranoia, hubris, and itchy tirgger fingers.

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Lots of drama can already be had with this.

 

[Marduk]

"Irrati Europa Aske" is Basque, which if you know anything about Spanish politics, tells you exactly how fucked Spain is.

Until the Doom Timer runs out, you don't need to worry about any of that. No hidden catches, no alien traps, no surprise cthulahoop*, just the entirely human dangers of paranoia, hubris, and itchy tirgger fingers.

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Still a fair reason to have more intel, though as Darth said, a lot depends on how much can we expect from our hi tech toys.

I'm waiting on more people to either post IC or go "give initial scans, plox" before I post the more detailed initial scans from the L1 point.

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Ok, on it then.

EDIT:
And massive IC post that's mostly orders and is bigger than people's fluff posts is in.

 

[DarthThrawn]

Our current map, gentlemen. My orbital scans are marked in red, Marduk's atmospheric flights are in blue.

Assuming nothing interrupts us before we reach Earth, at least.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Wait a minute:

Did Marduk just send orbital craft to Moscow unannounced, in what's likely a tense international situation?

Orbital craft, to Moscow, unannounced.

Moscow, the city with fully operational Nuclear ABM systems.

 

[UbeOne]

"Gentlemen, we face a threat to our very existence. We will not go quietly. Activate Perimeter."

 

[Marduk]

Wait a minute:

Did Marduk just send orbital craft to Moscow unannounced, in what's likely a tense international situation?

Orbital craft, to Moscow, unannounced.

Moscow, the city with fully operational Nuclear ABM systems.

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Implying that with such apparent damage to civilization there is anything "international" left...

If they still function, they will at least hail them before detonating nukes over their own city out of all places.
Considering the odd "civilization is a century or two behind judging by light" factor, would be great if anyone who still cares about such things as airspace feels interested in protesting about such thing because that means radio contact, which i am looking for.

I would not expect them to be like "oh, look, might be orbital trash, a small space rock, alien visitors, whatever, just fire off the irreplaceable radioactive fireworks now!"
Its not like they are trying to be stealthy or avoid radio contact.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Yeah, they'll hail the incoming nuclear missiles that they have only seconds to react to and is probably automated anyway. Because they wouldn't want to waste their Nuclear ABM defending their city when they could... what, strip out the warheads and put them on offensive missiles?

Good luck with that.

 

[Marduk]

Yeah, they'll hail the incoming nuclear missiles that they have only seconds to react to and is probably automated anyway.

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No, it's the offensive nukes that are automated.
And nuclear launch tracking is more sophisticated than "it comes from orbit, its a nuke".
ICBMs also launch from Earth and have a certain type of orbit.

Because they wouldn't want to waste their Nuclear ABM defending their city when they could... what, strip out the warheads and put them on offensive missiles?

Good luck with that.

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If what we think happened happened, then Moscow is gone, or well out of ABM missiles.
If something else happened, they probably have bigger problems than ensuring such an advanced system functions properly, because without a feed to massive sensor network that requires lots of staffing and electricity to function, which is more than such a wrecked world we see could afford, this thing is more dangerous than its worth. Because its kind of worthless without it.

In the unlikely scenario it does function, my squadrons will notice powerful active radars spotting them long before. The stationary, apartment block sized kind.
If there is no huge ass active radars blasting them with EM waves for quite some time, then the risk of nuclear ABM or any other ABM is zero.

Note that we are close enough to notice lights of human settlements, but our ships are not detecting radio traffic spam any semi advanced military air defense\missile tracking system would produce. That's what you should worry about.

Judging by what we have seen and what we have noticeably did not see, i would expect to see something around Fallout city level of civilization, minus the fusion tech, robotics, energy weapons and all that fancy stuff. As such, i would be impressed by escorted by a fighter jet. And genuinely surprised to see more than few of them in the air and in one country.

Also, if whatever happened did so more than a month or two ago, we might even have trouble filling our ships not because of shuttle capacity, but because of not enough people being alive enough.

 

[Pewter]

I know these rarely get that far, but how would you guys proceed with settling(if you know, the game survived long enough to do it)?

Like would you attempt to try building just a few centeralized one with you practically controlling the economy and how everything is set up? Or would you establish a central city and give some groups of colonists 'Homesteader' packages depending on their aptitudes/willingness to work a certain type of job, and maybe give prefab business packages for those who'll work in the city?


Let's go with a semi-conservative average of 1 Million saved per player.

This may or may not be for some silly game idea bunny I've got bouncing about.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

We're limited on resources, our technology makes people replaceable beyond the bare minimum.

We also have AI, so the idea of a free market on anything we care about is absurd.

Both of those lead to a very strong government being easy, with no real need to decentralize.

 

[Marduk]

I know these rarely get that far, but how would you guys proceed with settling(if you know, the game survived long enough to do it)?

Like would you attempt to try building just a few centeralized one with you practically controlling the economy and how everything is set up? Or would you establish a central city and give some groups of colonists 'Homesteader' packages depending on their aptitudes/willingness to work a certain type of job, and maybe give prefab business packages for those who'll work in the city?


Let's go with a semi-conservative average of 1 Million saved per player.

This may or may not be for some silly game idea bunny I've got bouncing about.

Click to shrink...

Depends on territory available, security concerns, what we are settling on and so on.
For example, in highly habitable world\optimistic situation, definitely extansive settlement, building wide rather than high, exploit as much territory as possible as cheaply (both in manpower and infrastructure) as possible.
That's the natural, tried and true way of settling places. With 6 million, we might grab a mid sized continent this way.

OTOH if we have to live in bunkers, welp, build the fucking bunkers.
And so on, tailor the strategy to the conditions.

 

[samdamandias]

I know these rarely get that far, but how would you guys proceed with settling(if you know, the game survived long enough to do it)?

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Well, also it's more dramatic this way and lets me give the BLACK players a feel for what they have. I did consider just having you guys spawn in the black with your loaded transports and a small headstart over certain other things.

Scanner post up probably later tonight.

 

[Pewter]

Well, also it's more dramatic this way and lets me give the BLACK players a feel for what they have. I did consider just having you guys spawn in the black with your loaded transports and a small headstart over certain other things.

Scanner post up probably later tonight.

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I didn't mean anything against you, but the average Exodus game doesn't always get that far.

Depends on territory available, security concerns, what we are settling on and so on.
For example, in highly habitable world\optimistic situation, definitely extansive settlement, building wide rather than high, exploit as much territory as possible as cheaply (both in manpower and infrastructure) as possible.
That's the natural, tried and true way of settling places. With 6 million, we might grab a mid sized continent this way.

OTOH if we have to live in bunkers, welp, build the fucking bunkers.
And so on, tailor the strategy to the conditions.

Click to shrink...

Well I was going kinda optimistic with the 1Million per player thing. I was assuming a middling final destination scenario where it's not exactly earth's twin, but not a death world.

We're limited on resources, our technology makes people replaceable beyond the bare minimum.

We also have AI, so the idea of a free market on anything we care about is absurd.

Both of those lead to a very strong government being easy, with no real need to decentralize.

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Aren't you a killjoy.

 

[Marduk]

Well I was going kinda optimistic with the 1Million per player thing. I was assuming a middling final destination scenario where it's not exactly earth's twin, but not a death world.

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We will see how it pans out.
As for middling destination, there could be various ways in which it could be middling. Average at everything? Mineral rich but inhospitable?
Biologically rich but most things are poison? Garden world with hard access to vital resources? Nice moon but small and low G?

With more pessimistic colonist grabbing scenarios, even an intermediate stage with orbital settlement and just some operations groundside might be optimal, especially if we have to do terraforming down there.
Or run out of time to find a habitable world and need to start working on food sources regardless.

Aren't you a killjoy.

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Well, yeah, he might be a better bounty hunter than he is an economist.

 

[samdamandias]

I didn't mean anything against you, but the average Exodus game doesn't always get that far.

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Damnit. Now I have an idea for a third Exodus game in case these two die.

Build your fleet like normal, get issued loaded ships, and then in your sheet say how many rolls on the Table o' Shinies you want, but you pay for them with rolls on the Table o' Bad Stuff. Writing the scanning post now.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Damnit. Now I have an idea for a third Exodus game in case these two die.

Build your fleet like normal, get issued loaded ships, and then in your sheet say how many rolls on the Table o' Shinies you want, but you pay for them with rolls on the Table o' Bad Stuff. Writing the scanning post now.

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There was one Exodus game where we did that I think.

I remember licensing Battlestar designs to a Goa'uld and then...

I don't remember.

 

[DarthThrawn]

I know these rarely get that far, but how would you guys proceed with settling(if you know, the game survived long enough to do it)?

Like would you attempt to try building just a few centeralized one with you practically controlling the economy and how everything is set up? Or would you establish a central city and give some groups of colonists 'Homesteader' packages depending on their aptitudes/willingness to work a certain type of job, and maybe give prefab business packages for those who'll work in the city?


Let's go with a semi-conservative average of 1 Million saved per player.

This may or may not be for some silly game idea bunny I've got bouncing about.

Click to shrink...

My ideal setup would be to tell the planetbound lifestyle to go fuck itself and instead go full Space Nomad. It's probably one of the best ways to keep humanity at large safe and free, since you can just turn around and nope the hell out at FTL speeds if something comes along trying to kill you.

In the short term this probably just means mooching off InsaneCat and his giant mobile colony ship so that I don't have to worry about housing my own people, but eventually I'd want to start building my own, smaller, self-sufficient hab-ships.

Maybe a kilometer or two long each, with enough replicators and comfortable living space for a couple tens of thousands of people, either their own PDA or a few PDA-equipped parasite craft to munch on asteroids whenever they need to resupply, and enough modularity that the inhabitants can add or remove sections of their ship to suit their own needs in case they decide they really need a science module or a wide open grassy park or whatever.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Planets are a stupid idea anyway, it makes you WMD bait.

WMDs do nothing more to a station swarm than a regular weapon thanks to the bigness in space.

Which means my station swarm civ is free to WMD other civs and be immune to counter - WMD attack!

 

[Marduk]

My ideal setup would be to tell the planetbound lifestyle to go fuck itself and instead go full Space Nomad. It's probably one of the best ways to keep humanity at large safe and free, since you can just turn around and nope the hell out at FTL speeds if something comes along trying to kill you.

In the short term this probably just means mooching off InsaneCat and his giant mobile colony ship so that I don't have to worry about housing my own people, but eventually I'd want to start building my own, smaller, self-sufficient hab-ships.

Maybe a kilometer or two long each, with enough replicators and comfortable living space for a couple tens of thousands of people, either their own PDA or a few PDA-equipped parasite craft to munch on asteroids whenever they need to resupply, and enough modularity that the inhabitants can add or remove sections of their ship to suit their own needs in case they decide they really need a science module or a wide open grassy park or whatever.

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I would consider it a temporary measure. Or a sideshow. But as the main, long term policy, it's just so damn limiting. Growth is very hard, morale might get low, and there are lots of points for failure.
But carrying all your crap with you is a massive limitation, and we can hardly afford to suffer it.

Planets are a stupid idea anyway, it makes you WMD bait.

WMDs do nothing more to a station swarm than a regular weapon thanks to the bigness in space.

Which means my station swarm civ is free to WMD other civs and be immune to counter - WMD attack!

Click to shrink...

Yes, go on and pretend you are in hard sci fi of one particular type, that will work out great for you.
Except that we are obviously not in hard sci fi, we obviously do not have the kind of industry and AI you imagine common and we are far beyond inventing guided weapons.

What you are effectively saying is that you want the space nomad thingy, except unlike DarthThrawn you would rather pretend that your swarm of nomad spaceships, with all the limitations that come with that, are a swarm of space stations, and they have all the bonuses of planets *and* spaceships with none of the limitations of either. Which of course makes them look absolutely great. If only it worked like that...

 

[DarthThrawn]

I would consider it a temporary measure. Or a sideshow. But as the main, long term policy, it's just so damn limiting. Growth is very hard, morale might get low, and there are lots of points for failure.
But carrying all your crap with you is a massive limitation, and we can hardly afford to suffer it.

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It's less of a limitation than being locked down to a single location, especially since the majority of our starting industry is already going to be in space to begin with.

Taking what we already have and building upon it sounds more workable to me than sitting down on a rock somewhere and building something entirely new.