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Starship Chaotica

Ignore this poll, its presence is unintended.

  • KITTENS!

    Votes: 12 25.5%

  • HATS!

    Votes: 2 4.3%

  • DOGGY!

    Votes: 3 6.4%

  • JINGLE ALL THE WAY!

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • ONE AT SUFFICIENT VELOCITY!

    Votes: 16 34.0%

  • WHEN IN DOUBT, GIANT ROBOTS!

    Votes: 13 27.7%

  • Don't Care

    Votes: 1 2.1%
  • Total voters
    47
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I just write said:
No matter your backstory, you originated in the Interface.
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??? That isn't too specific considering the the entire provided map was labeled The Interface. I was wondering what key locations/ dangers/ opportunities we can guess we might run into. It is still early and not much of plot yet but we are making rather important decision on what actions to take on the journey without much to go on.:sad:. We already talking about taking up grading actions/ setting travel pace before we even knowing what dangers we are even facing or urgently we need to go.:confused: It is up to total guess work at this stage of the game.

[] Archaeology Is Hard: The Replicators are part of history, and what's left of them should be preserved for future generations to learn from. You were trying to jump the ship back to your home system where it could be mothballed and turned into a museum, but you screwed up the jump co-ordinates and wound up accidentally jumping into hostile space. (TL;DR Space!Indiana Jones gone horribly wrong)

I just write said:
General Map

LIST OF SYSTEMS THAT HAVE BEEN VISITED
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ABalloonyChaos said:
??? That isn't too specific considering the the entire provided map was labeled The Interface. I was wondering what key locations/ dangers/ opportunities we can guess we might run into. It is still early and not much of plot yet but we are making rather important decision on what actions to take on the journey without much to go on.:sad:. We already talking about taking up grading actions/ setting travel pace before we even knowing what dangers we are even facing or urgently we need to go.:confused: It is up to total guess work at this stage of the game.

[] Archaeology Is Hard: The Replicators are part of history, and what's left of them should be preserved for future generations to learn from. You were trying to jump the ship back to your home system where it could be mothballed and turned into a museum, but you screwed up the jump co-ordinates and wound up accidentally jumping into hostile space. (TL;DR Space!Indiana Jones gone horribly wrong)
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:facepalm: Perhaps I should have said "trying to start the process of taking the ship to your home system."

In case it wasn't clear, I've been making this up as I went.

Also, I don't want you going home just yet, because then we'd have a very short Quest.
 
I just write said:
Also, I don't want you going home just yet, because then we'd have a very short Quest.
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Perfectly understandable. I would expect our home system to be half way to the opposite end of the galaxy /star cluster/whatever. I also expect to get dragged into just about every local problem along the way and get mixed up with big threats. I also have a suspicion that unless our home system is a major power(and even then maybe) we are going to find it completely destroyed by either pirates, an invading superpower, an oncoming apocalyptic tide or something. We could even can find out well before we get there or possibly discover some other reason that our character and crew don't want to return home. Who knows? But i still feel that there too much we don't really know about this quest's "world" to make quite a few informed decisions right now. Even who main character and what he/she knows hasn't been finalized yet. I would feel more sure making investments when we know to be good on smaller scale/ short term. Thoughts and details larger galaxy and deviating from our career path of Archaeology could happen gradually or later in the quest. Can maybe make a pun/comparison make of going headlong in unknowns space to discover what is out there or something but I don't know if you are trying to go for that effect.
 
I was thinking that we were a long way from home already, in unfamiliar territory, and due to a freak accident of luck we were sling-shotted even further than our jump drive would normally allow. Thus we are completely and utterly lost as our navigational computer got wiped in the process.
 
ABalloonyChaos said:
Perfectly understandable. I would expect our home system to be half way to the opposite end of the galaxy /star cluster/whatever. I also expect to get dragged into just about every local problem along the way and get mixed up with big threats. I also have a suspicion that unless our home system is a major power(and even then maybe) we are going to find it completely destroyed by either pirates, an invading superpower, an oncoming apocalyptic tide or something. We could even can find out well before we get there or possibly discover some other reason that our character and crew don't want to return home. Who knows? But i still feel that there too much we don't really know about this quest's "world" to make quite a few informed decisions right now. Even who main character and what he/she knows hasn't been finalized yet. I would feel more sure making investments when we know to be good on smaller scale/ short term. Thoughts and details larger galaxy and deviating from our career path of Archaeology could happen gradually or later in the quest. Can maybe make a pun/comparison make of going headlong in unknowns space to discover what is out there or something but I don't know if you are trying to go for that effect.
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I can give you some extra info if you want.

You are currently in Chaos Space, a term for chunks of space with little to no unified authority to enforce order. All manner of unscrupulous sorts operate with more-or-less impunity here, ranging from pirates, to mercenaries, to raiders, to smugglers. Whatever governments there are, are by definition unable to keep more than a handful of systems orderly at most, or you wouldn't be in Chaos Space. In addition, while most of Chaos Space isn't an active warzone, the preponderance of various ne'er do wells means that tensions are high, trust between neighboring powers is low, and anyone who suddenly shows up near an inhabited object without giving prior notice is likely to be shot as a pre-emptive measure.
 
ATTENTION!: If this Quest does not receive votes within 24 hours, it will be considered dead on account of lack of interest.
 
i dont know if this had a plan name but i vote for ConfusedPotato plan
[X] your service during the War.
[X] Pull up to one of the asteroids out here and start mining it (costs Delta V, but you'll be refining more fuel when you get there so the point is moot)
-[X] Build Something (Raw Materials Processable Per Turn: 256)
--[X] Upgrade Chaotica (My Design)
Sorry, I was unable to make a better forge ship design during character creation as I was busy.
Features of this version:
14 new fuel tanks - so we don't get stranded
7 new hangers (to be filled) and 3 new hanger doors - I have no idea what we want to put in here so I will leave it up to you, also we can't put anything in here this turn as we are out of production... oops.
4 new missile pods and 8 new missile racks (filled) - I want this filled with swarm missiles for point defence, we can have these filled this turn.
19 new thrusters - to escape battle alive with
8 new jump drives - to compensate for our new size
18 new shield generators - To deal with all the things that shoot at us.
10 new reactors - To power of our new things
Reinforced Command Pod - I don't want to die damn it.
New reinforced armor - See above line
36 spare materials - unfortunately wasted as our cargo bins are full
I didn't do the exact math for this so if anyone can do that for me I would be grateful.
If you have any suggestions please tell me.
 
I'm vaguely interested in where this is going but don't really feel I have the time to try to figure out mechanics- this applies even to a lot of quests I participate in, or participated, at least.

But really, this is on a very short list of quest threads I currently follow without voting, on account of looking interesting but me not feeling like I understand the mechanics well enough.
 
Terrabrand said:
I'm vaguely interested in where this is going but don't really feel I have the time to try to figure out mechanics- this applies even to a lot of quests I participate in, or participated, at least.

But really, this is on a very short list of quest threads I currently follow without voting, on account of looking interesting but me not feeling like I understand the mechanics well enough.
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Ah. Maybe I can poach some players from Tacit Ronin Vs The World, then?
 
Well, it's pretty clear to me that unless I update, nobody else is going to join. So I guess I'll just work with what we've got.
Adhoc vote count started by I just write on May 15, 2017 at 6:37 AM, finished with 38 posts and 5 votes.
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[X] your service during the War.
[X] Pull up to one of the asteroids out here and start mining it (costs Delta V, but you'll be refining more fuel when you get there so the point is moot)
-[X] Build Something (Raw Materials Processable Per Turn: 256)
--[X] Upgrade Chaotica (My Design)
 
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Strategic Turn 2
  • Threadmarks
    • After several deliberations with your inner circle, you tell your second in command Malkin "Tell the crew we'll be giving this ship an overhaul; we'll be pulling up to an asteroid to mine it for materials and hydrogen, and we'll be using what we extract to add functionality to Chaotica."

    Malkin nods, before he asks "Shura, are you certain that's wise? wouldn't it make more sense to devote all our efforts to repairing the Jump Drive?"

    To this, you reply "Yes, I'm sure of it. Think for a moment; we're cruising around in a Replicator ship. Anyone who realizes this fact is highly likely to take offense to our presence, and I'd rather be able to survive when that happens."

    Malkin uneasily nods, before he asks "Couldn't we just stick to the outer reaches of various systems on the way back to the Federation? Surely, that would do much to help us avoid detection."

    You shake your head, before replying "Pretty much any power able to keep even a single system under their control will have listening posts equipped with courier pods to detect anyone attempting that sort of trickery, either as a leftover of the war when they were critical to ferret out where the Replicators were reproducing, or new posts established to keep pirates and hostile neighbors from doing the same. We might be able to get away with it in Chaos Space, but I'm honestly a bit surprised we haven't been greeted by a heavily armed welcoming party already. If I had to guess, the situation further in-system is pretty fractious."

    With that, Malkin nods, before he replies "l'll relay the order to the crew."
    A few days later, you're on a spacewalk as you help fix the new armor for the Command Pod into place. Chaotica's hull has been opened in several places to allow the Command Pod to be accessed, and you're supervising one of the Construction Drones as it moves a section of armor plating into position.

    The final weld before the hull can be closed back up is about to happen, when you get a call on your helmet's radio asking "Captain Fyrest, is the drone properly in position for welding?"

    You reply "Double-check looks good to me; start the weld."

    The person on the other end replies "Affirmative, starting weld."

    As the drone begins fusing the piece of reinforcement plating into place, you note "I'm at the green line for oxygen; pull me back in please."

    With that, the tether you're attached to begins gently tugging you back to the airlock, your EVA coming to an end as one of the other vac-rated personnel aboard suits up. You remark to the Spacer about to go on drone double-check duty "Here's hoping Murphy will be merciful with you."

    The young man nods, replying "I certainly hope so, Captain." as he puts his helmet on.
    It's about a week after your spacewalk when Malkin, your Scarat second in command pulls you aside and informs you "Captain, I've got some bad news."

    You ask "What's the issue?"

    To this, Malkin quite bluntly states "We're under-crewed. Currently, there are 174 people aboard Chaotica. While this is more than enough to handle normal maintenance, it's insufficient for performing normal maintenance while also maintaining this level of industrial output. This is an issue requiring a direct decision from the captain regarding what course of action we're going to take."

    You consider the problem; a short-staffed crew means that you'll need to scale back your production so as to avoid critical systems going without maintenance. You dearly wish you could just print out some more crew to help deal with these sorts of things, but... wait, this is a Replicator ship. You actually can just print out more crew. The question is, is it worth the risk of igniting the War all over again?
    [] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogue Replicators)
    [] Make new crew (allows full production, each new crew-member has a 1/12,317 chance of going rogue)
    The end of the month (and the maintenance cycle for your Jump Drive) is quickly approaching when a pair of mid-size ships jump in about 50,000 km sunwards of you and begin adjusting their vectors to put them within 100 km of you in a bit less than an hour. Looking at the sensor readout, Malkin comments "I do believe that would be the heavily armed welcoming party you mentioned. What do you think we should do?"

    You think about this for a moment, before saying

    [] "We fight them; with the new active defenses we've installed we should be able to withstand anything they try to do to us." ('welcoming party' consists of a size 85-100 ship, accompanying a size 110-150 ship. Approach velocity 14 km/s)

    [] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."

    [] "We're at 28 days since the maintenance cycle on our Drive was started; chance of Jump Failure is minimal. I say we leave the system." (chance of Jump failure is 0.14%)
    -[] Select direction of jump, and distance
    --[] Aim to arrive significantly in-system
    ---[] "And send a Courier Pod ahead of us; maybe if people know we're coming they'll be less likely to shoot at us."
    --[] Aim to arrive on the fringes of a system
    --[] Aim to arrive in deep space
    Current starmap position: Square 23, 12 (outskirts of a system in Chaos Space)

    Blueprint
    Stats
    -Size: 382
    -Mass: 439
    -Power Output: 150
    -Maximum Usage: 163
    -Acceleration: 4.6
    -Jump Range: 6.8 parsecs
    -Shield Thickness: 9
    -Detection Factor: 12
    -Max Fuel: 1,030
    -Current Fuel: 1,030
    -Usage (Power): 15
    -Usage (Acceleration): 1.25
    -Delta V: 3,790.4
    -Crew Production: 75
    -Current Crew: Either 174 or 240, depending on option picked
    -Maximum Crew: 240
    -Required Crew (basic): 75
    -Required Crew (industrial): 235
    -Raw Materials: 94
    -Cost: 898

    Weaponry
    *4 8:6 Lasers (89.9 range, 6 nonrandom damage)
    4:8 Missiles (4 missiles launchable, 24 units missile ammo)
    28/35 Smallcraft (4 Courier Pods, 14 Mining Drones, 10 Construction Drones)
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • [X] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogueReplicators)

    [X] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."
     
    [X] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogueReplicators)

    [X] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."
     
    [X] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogueReplicators)

    [X] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."
     
    [X] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogue Replicators)

    [X] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."
    -[X] make due perpetration for plan B if not otherwise happening.

    Plan B - there is no real reason not to plan a bit if diplomacy fails.
    [] "We're at 28 days since the maintenance cycle on our Drive was started; chance of Jump Failure is minimal. I say we leave the system." (chance of Jump failure is 0.14%)
    -[] Select direction of jump, and distance - closer to home/ friendly sector, as far as optimal for the Drive.
    (Drive mechanic has been vague except it can be used in emergency) Why not bee line to some place better than Chaos Space?
    --[] Aim to arrive in deep space

    Still never stated where Home or who potential allies might be. I amuse our character knows while we don't. I will also assume that every one in Chaos Space has their own agenda, will little hesitate to kill us, lure us into trusting them doing work then a back-stab, lure us into traps, sacrifice us to the blood gods, or some other/ combination thing. Even people in trading and civilian ships are not trust worthy, until the story information comes up.
     
    ABalloonyChaos said:
    [X] Don't make new crew (halves production rate until more crew can be recruited, no chance of rogue Replicators)

    [X] "We're within real-time comm range. Open a channel, and let's see if we can resolve this without violence."
    -[X] make due perpetration for plan B if not otherwise happening.

    Plan B - there is no real reason not to plan a bit if diplomacy fails.
    [] "We're at 28 days since the maintenance cycle on our Drive was started; chance of Jump Failure is minimal. I say we leave the system." (chance of Jump failure is 0.14%)
    -[] Select direction of jump, and distance - closer to home/ friendly sector, as far as optimal for the Drive.
    (Drive mechanic has been vague except it can be used in emergency) Why not bee line to some place better than Chaos Space?
    --[] Aim to arrive in deep space

    Still never stated where Home or who potential allies might be. I amuse our character knows while we don't. I will also assume that every one in Chaos Space has their own agenda, will little hesitate to kill us, lure us into trusting them doing work then a back-stab, lure us into traps, sacrifice us to the blood gods, or some other/ combination thing. Even people in trading and civilian ships are not trust worthy, until the story information comes up.
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    Now that you've picked a backstory, I can confidently say your home system is in the Federation, pretty close to its rimwards (northern) edge.

    As for Chaos Space, the general amount of paranoia is probably warranted, but you take it a bit far. Even in the worst places Chaos Space is only around 15% untrustworthy, with the rest being more violently paranoid than anything else. In some of the slightly more stable chunks of Chaos Space, things are usually pretty safe, though local defense forces are liable to shoot on sight if you don't let them know you're coming before-hand via courier pod. Because people who jump in unannounced are usually up to no good.
     
    I just write said:
    Now that you've picked a backstory, I can confidently say your home system is in the Federation, pretty close to its rimwards (northern) edge.

    As for Chaos Space, the general amount of paranoia is probably warranted, but you take it a bit far. Even in the worst places Chaos Space is only around 15% untrustworthy, with the rest being more violently paranoid than anything else. In some of the slightly more stable chunks of Chaos Space, things are usually pretty safe, though local defense forces are liable to shoot on sight if you don't let them know you're coming before-hand via courier pod. Because people who jump in unannounced are usually up to no good.
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    OK thanks, knowing the importance of some locations helps with with seeing the direction what pace we can expect. I felt weird to have the options "[] Jump (Current Chance Of Jump Failure: 70%) & [] Put yourself on a trajectory in-system. Maybe they'll think you're a trade ship with a damaged Jump Drive? (-250 Delta V)" without having any idea if our first goal was more like running a marathon or dangerous but short sprint.

    As for Chaos Space, really 15% untrustworthy? I expected odds more like 25-45% with it being place organized crimes, possibly corrupt local law, cut throat mercenary to flourish and where it has to be specifically stated it is not in an active warzone . Are the numbers skewed to actual civilians on the planets, people not in authority, and other people we probably won't have any reason to deal directly with. I don't care how trust worthy a random engineer or food chef is when an less than trustworthy ship captain is plotting on how to deal us. 15% chance of danger seems down right friendly for the most chaotic space in the sector. I would feel a bit bad if we ruined a piece of history over undue paranoia (PSD syndrome/ old military training?).

    If it is not like that than sorry. I have personally been trying to apply the game FTL logic in place of the unknowns. In FTL you have to scrape every scrap together just to have a chance to survive also it doesn't always pay to be the nice guy. I may have over exaggerated my paranoia but i'm going to be suspicious of trading and civilians trying to rip us off after helping them. Space can be a cold place and I have yet to hear of or see any thing to the contrary. If encounters are going to be a more Star Trek formula then I'm fine with that as well.
     
    ABalloonyChaos said:
    OK thanks, knowing the importance of some locations helps with with seeing the direction what pace we can expect. I felt weird to have the options "[] Jump (Current Chance Of Jump Failure: 70%) & [] Put yourself on a trajectory in-system. Maybe they'll think you're a trade ship with a damaged Jump Drive? (-250 Delta V)" without having any idea if our first goal was more like running a marathon or dangerous but short sprint.

    As for Chaos Space, really 15% untrustworthy? I expected odds more like 25-45% with it being place organized crimes, possibly corrupt local law, cut throat mercenary to flourish and where it has to be specifically stated it is not in an active warzone . Are the numbers skewed to actual civilians on the planets, people not in authority, and other people we probably won't have any reason to deal directly with. I don't care how trust worthy a random engineer or food chef is when an less than trustworthy ship captain is plotting on how to deal us. 15% chance of danger seems down right friendly for the most chaotic space in the sector. I would feel a bit bad if we ruined a piece of history over undue paranoia (PSD syndrome/ old military training?).

    If it is not like that than sorry. I have personally been trying to apply the game FTL logic in place of the unknowns. In FTL you have to scrape every scrap together just to have a chance to survive also it doesn't always pay to be the nice guy. I may have over exaggerated my paranoia but i'm going to be suspicious of trading and civilians trying to rip us off after helping them. Space can be a cold place and I have yet to hear of or see any thing to the contrary. If encounters are going to be a more Star Trek formula then I'm fine with that as well.
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    I understand where you're coming from, and I'm not upset. In this game, wariness is wise, but it doesn't necessarily pay to be a (complete) paranoid nutjob because news via courier pod travels faster than ships.

    Anyway, 15% untrustworthy is still really bad. For reference, in a more-or-less civilized region that still has crimes that require policing, you'll maybe see up to around 1% untrustworthy at most. This means that in Chaos Space, various ne'er-do-wells such as pirates have a much easier time getting away with their activities, and can thus accumulate large amounts of experience and wealth.

    More of the people you're likely to meet in Chaos Space will be trustworthy than not, but chances are you'll have to deal with pirates sooner or later.
     
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