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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)

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To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest) Starfleet Ship Design Bureau, Refit ("To Boldly Go...")
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Simon_Jester said:
See, my problem is that I like "ships have souls" and the anthropomorphic portrayal of same as a way of making jokes and telling dramatic stories via allegory. It's a compelling thing.
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k9thefirst has a thread on SB like that. IIRC it's called 'where no man (or ship) has gone before' the premise is that every ship ever constructed has a personification that reflects the ship itself. this personification is limited to existing on the ship or a dingy ride to the nearest port. The condition of the ship is reflected in the personification, IE after Lucky E gets her deck shot off in WW2, the personification had her arms and a fair chunk of her face blown off too. Titanic began bleeding out when she struck an iceberg, etc. 'where no man (or ship) has gone before' is like that, but set in star trek.

Edit: here's the star trek sea queens link To Boldly Go, Where No Man-Or Ship-Has Gone Before (Sea Queens/Star Trek Discussion)
however, the thread last updated 7 months ago
 
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Personally, I've rather deliberately stuck to the premise that the spirits of ships exist either not at all (and are the product of some kind of wonky consensus hallucination), or exist in a purely spiritual sense. There's a reason the recurring title of all those omakes has been Dreams.

You can interact with the spirit of a ship. But you meet them under "vision quest" rules, the same ones that lead drug users to think they've encountered flying coyotes that dispense mystical wisdom. Not under "material existence" rules. Because if the soul of a ship exists, it exists in a sense that has nothing to do with the reality we know of atoms, warp fields, and plasma phase inversion tubes.

And for me, the part that makes this fun is bringing in the numinous side of things, the idea that the ship really is about what people feel and subjectively experience on some level. Enterprise has a spirit because (and only because) the USS Enterprise means something, in a fundamental sense of the phrase 'means something.' There are people who care about her and what she represents.

A Connie built from scratch with an M-5 for a brain wouldn't have a spirit. An M-5 might have a soul, or not, I don't presume to say- but the ship herself wouldn't have one.

A Borg cube wouldn't have a soul- plenty of 'crew' but no one who cares.
 
Leila Hann said:
Arrival: "The megatortoise strides forth!"
Selected 1: "Bigger is better."
Selected 2: "Yagad-Tich."
Selected 3: "Megatortoise awaiting command."
Move 1: "Make way."
Move 2: "Clear out."
Move 3: "Advance."
Attack 1: "All deflectors to full!"
Attack 2: "They can't stop us."
Attack 3: "We'll see how long they last."
Losing Shields: "They've cracked the shell!"
Disabled: "Ejecting primary core, we need to pull back!"

Arrival: "We are ready for battle!"
Selected 1: "Send us forth!"
Selected 2: "Where is the target?"
Selected 3: "Just get us close!"
Move 1: "Forward!"
Move 2: "Onward to glory!"
Move 3: "You heard the commander, full impulse!"
Attack 1: "Chaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarge!!!!"
Attack 2: "Its a good day for THEM to die!"
Attack 3: "Let's share some torpedoes!"
Losing Shields: "We're still not done yet!"
Disabled: "We'll make 'em...regret...this..."

Still thinking about Corvette and Takaaki quotes, and whether the latter would have different lines for each variant.
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Seeing this makes me so giddy!
I always love Red Alert series, they're always so quirky and full of offbeat humor.
This quest its more along the line of Civilization or Empire Earth game.
 
so I wonder how things are going to shake out with the syndrixan collapse. On one hand, the government made war with us a center point of its political stance, so it's likely most factions won't want to continue that war. on the other hand, the reason that war became an embarrassment was because they spent years failing to bring us to battle only to lose most of the fleet in weeks after managing to force us to fight. So it's possible a lot of factions will have variations to the tune of "we are the ones to make the federation pay!" This is, of course, assuming the truth behind the original cause of the feud didn't come out.

Finding out it was a Cardassian ploy when the issue first started may not have done much because they were about as mad as our reaction to the mess as they were to the initial issue. But after years of humiliation topped off with a sudden mountain of dead with nothing to show for it finding out it was a ploy by their so-called allies would be kind of a big deal.
 
For the first time in a while I'm looking forward to describing something that happened in our game as a mock-review of To Boldly Go. Although that's mostly because I have a perfect reason to bring aboard an intesely popular Star Trek actor... for a role entirely unrelated to the one that made him popular!

:D
 
Simon_Jester said:
For the first time in a while I'm looking forward to describing something that happened in our game as a mock-review of To Boldly Go. Although that's mostly because I have a perfect reason to bring aboard an intesely popular Star Trek actor... for a role entirely unrelated to the one that made him popular!

:D
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I was wondering when your "season" reviews were coming back. Those have been really enjoyable to read, looking forward to it.
 
Uh... something like that?



He would, in a sense, be reprising a role. Just not the one most of us think of him in. :D

Thebigpieman said:
I was wondering when your "season" reviews were coming back. Those have been really enjoyable to read, looking forward to it.
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It'll be a while. It's just that I know exactly how the reviewer will talk about the episodes revolving around the Ixaria campaign now.
 
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Simon_Jester said:
Uh... something like that?



He would, in a sense, be reprising a role. Just not the one most of us think of him in. :D
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I'm not sure if the Licori War works in the context of your TBG show, though. Unlike the Homeworld games, Dune is a very old and very well known IP that Paramount would not just be able to run a crossover with willy nilly. Even if the fans were okay with it, the lawyers would not be.
 
Leila, you're entirely correct but this is a very easy problem to fix. Simply, all the TBG show has to do is de-Dunify the Licori. It's not that hard.

"Mentats" become any of a dozen possible words that aren't specifically Brian Herbert's intellectual property, any one of which connote exceptional mental ability.

There are Houses, because it's not like Brian Herbert's estate has the IP rights to "feudalism" or "noble houses jockeying for position." The House names aren't obvious Dune expies, but you still have about four of them, and they can even have the same 'hats:' nobility, exotic mad-genius science, ruthlessness, and political artistry/whatever.

So no, they don't dress Sir Patrick Stewart up in a near-clone of his uniform from David Lynch's Dune.

But that doesn't mean that Stewart won't infuse a bit of Gurney Halleck into the character, especially after someone quietly takes him aside and explains to him where the writers got the basic ideas for the Licori from before they had to turn around and remake them as something that wouldn't get their asses sued off.

...

Likewise, the giant moon cannon on Anoxa is fine- it just doesn't get called a superlaser. :p

While we're at it, I'm pretty sure the Honiani ships TBG's computer graphics team has whipped up don't look very much like Imperium of Man ships, though I have no doubt that they're still magnificent jewels of the void. Just in a somewhat different way.

The Yan-Ros can get away clean because, well, RWBY doesn't exist, it's 2007 or so. If anything, the danger is that Monty Oum will have to worry about Paramount suing him. :(
 
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Simon_Jester said:
Leila, you're entirely correct but this is a very easy problem to fix. Simply, all the TBG show has to do is de-Dunify the Licori. It's not that hard.

"Mentats" become any of a dozen possible words that aren't specifically Brian Herbert's intellectual property, any one of which connote exceptional mental ability.

There are Houses, because it's not like Brian Herbert's estate has the IP rights to "feudalism" or "noble houses jockeying for position." The House names aren't obvious Dune expies, but you still have about four of them, and they can even have the same 'hats:' nobility, exotic mad-genius science, ruthlessness, and political artistry/whatever.

So no, they don't dress Sir Patrick Stewart up in a near-clone of his uniform from David Lynch's Dune.

But that doesn't mean that Stewart won't infuse a bit of Gurney Halleck into the character, especially after someone quietly takes him aside and explains to him where the writers got the basic ideas for the Licori from before they had to turn around and remake them as something that wouldn't get their asses sued off.

...

Likewise, the giant moon cannon on Anoxa is fine- it just doesn't get called a superlaser. :p

While we're at it, I'm pretty sure the Honiani ships TBG's computer graphics team has whipped up don't look very much like Imperium of Man ships, though I have no doubt that they're still magnificent jewels of the void. Just in a somewhat different way.

The Yan-Ros can get away clean because, well, RWBY doesn't exist, it's 2007 or so. If anything, the danger is that Monty Oum will have to worry about Paramount suing him. :(
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Fair. As long as you un-dunify it enough.

Assuming that the Honiani ships look like the ones I've drawn, they wouldn't be actionable. I mean, GW would probably try to sue anyway because they sue everyone for everything, but I doubt much would come of it.


WIP. Trying to decide which characters to put on this cover.


 
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I like it.

Characters. Hm. Nash, Thuir, possibly one of {McAdams, Eaton, or T'Lorel}, the Licori Emperor, and a terrifyingly crazed-looking mentat? If there's room for a third Licori you could have some valorous but disheveled looking Tartresis type.
 
Simon_Jester said:
I like it.

Characters. Hm. Nash, Thuir, possibly one of {McAdams, Eaton, or T'Lorel}, the Licori Emperor, and a terrifyingly crazed-looking mentat? If there's room for a third Licori you could have some valorous but disheveled looking Tartresis type.
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Or I could just have Baron Kortennon chasing a herd of screaming children across the cover with a lascivious grin on his face. We'll see.
 
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Leila Hann said:
Fair enough. As long as you un-dunify it enough.

Assuming that the Honiani ships look like the ones I've drawn, they wouldn't be actionable. I mean, GW would probably try to sue anyway because they sue everyone for everything, but I doubt much would come of it.


WIP. Trying to decide which characters to put on this cover.


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Nash, Rosalee (It was her ship that ate that sun), Dikhed, the Licori Emperor... Wolfe or some other random poor bastard commando, Thuir, probably Thuir's opposite number in the Ked Paddah, Samyr and/or Zaardmani if you need more Starfleet.
 
AKuz said:
Nash, Rosalee (It was her ship that ate that sun), Dikhed, the Licori Emperor... Wolfe or some other random poor bastard commando, Thuir, probably Thuir's opposite number in the Ked Paddah, Samyr and/or Zaardmani if you need more Starfleet.
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That's about twice as many people as I can fit, unless I shrink the sun/Courageous image. Which, to be fair, I might.
 
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Hm, that's fair, McAdams gets in over Thuir.

If there's room for six, I'd say add some brave-looking Licori on one side and Thuir on the other. But that's me.
 
Phase 1 of rolling...
Shuttle approaches - Med DC pass
Shuttle nape of earth fly - pass
Office 24 has landed in the frontier zones - shuttles left with explosives set
Team Sunshine infiltrate from north - Hard DC - pass
Team Songbird infiltrate from south - Hard DC - pass
Asset recruitment - 16 -
Ked Paddah has a team to reinforce Team Sunshine - Team Rose - (C4 S3 P7 H3 N12)
Songbird recruits inside agent - Inner Perimeter access now Med Dc test
Sunshine preparing to assault outer power plant with Rose - blend-in Prs-T - Hard Dc - pass
Songbird infiltrating Inner complex - Sci-T Med Dc - pass
Follow-on by Slipper, Seabed, Rainfall, Ripple - pass
Songbird system hack - Sci-T - Med Dc - pass
 
OneirosTheWriter said:
Phase 1 of rolling...
Shuttle approaches - Med DC pass
Shuttle nape of earth fly - pass
Office 24 has landed in the frontier zones - shuttles left with explosives set
Team Sunshine infiltrate from north - Hard DC - pass
Team Songbird infiltrate from south - Hard DC - pass
Asset recruitment - 16 -
Ked Paddah has a team to reinforce Team Sunshine - Team Rose - (C4 S3 P7 H3 N12)
Songbird recruits inside agent - Inner Perimeter access now Med Dc test
Sunshine preparing to assault outer power plant with Rose - blend-in Prs-T - Hard Dc - pass
Songbird infiltrating Inner complex - Sci-T Med Dc - pass
Follow-on by Slipper, Seabed, Rainfall, Ripple - pass
Songbird system hack - Sci-T - Med Dc - pass
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Thank goodness they got in without being detected. I was a little bit concerned.
Derek58 said:
I have the perfect music for this! :D
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That song definitely fits with the mission.

Goat said:
Reads stage one.

Sees pass, pass, pass.

Fears what happens when something rolls fail ....
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Agreed. And the last part was the easy part btw. Its only going to get harder from here on out. Or as the saying goes among the spec ops forces. The only easy day is yesterday.
 
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