- Location
- Patriarchova
Sure, but I think such stories work better when the author at least knows the truth. Otherwise its just a fake mystery.
Last edited:
To Boldly Go... (a Starfleet quest)
- Thread starter OneirosTheWriter
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
-
- Tags
- star trek exploration fully automated luxury gay space communism top level canon #hashtagcontent all-encompassing space amoeba cardassian boy bands cardassian magical girls darkest bureaucracy debate makes the qm cackle like palpatine hoh is an empire quest it has to be foreign infiltrators more ships ship happens singers delenda est starfleet this is not an empire quest ur waifu is collective?
Sure, but I think such stories work better when the author at least knows the truth. Otherwise its just a fake mystery.
Worth noting that the canon species most likely to live in this general region is the Zakdorn.
This is something that they might be capable of, even if I'd characterize them closer to Creed or other memetic tactical geniuses.
I'm hoping it isn't them because they'd actually make good future Federation members.
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Spectral spaghetti. Supernatural sedanini. Phantasmal penne. Mystical macaroni. Ghastly girandole. Frightening fusilli.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This could easily lead to the best possible outcome. If both the Federation and the Cardassians have noteworthy influence, then Bajor is effectively denied to both parties, nullifying the threat she presents in the hands of a major power.
ClawClawBite
Mad Engineering!
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Bajor at the center of a Federation/cardassian neutral zone could be a lot of fun with cultural attachés spying on each other under the glare of the bajorans. Lacarre's version of Risa.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Bonus hilarity if they discover the wormhole themselves after fifty years of building up their polity.
Well if you must know:
Many thousands of years ago Vergara Hydri IV used to be the homeworld of a high advanced scientific culture. Research into the deeper levels of subspace eventually allowed them to access a pocket universe inhabited by highly advanced psionic energy beings.
Merely coming into contact with these extra-universal creatures warped the minds of the Vergarans, causing them to worship the Outsiders as gods. Their planet was converted into a temple world, and billions worshiped the entities. Though the Outsiders did not initially care about our universe, the psionic effect of being worshiped by so many minds, changed them as well, they became addicted to the adoration and demanded more.
There was only so much the Vergarans could give, and so the high priests of the new religion decided that the only solution was to expand and bring other species to worship their gods. By force if necessary. Assembling their knowledge of esoteric subspace phenomena into formidable weapons mounted on a mighty warfleet the Vergarans went on a crusade across a large part of their neighboring space, subjugating all they encountered and forcing them to worship to subspace entangled icons that connected to the main portal on Vergara Hydi IV.
Eventually these exploits caught the attention of a major power in this area of galaxy, possibly the Iconians, who promptly acted to squash that nonsense. They routed the Vergaran fleet in battle, exterminated every mind slaved worshipper of the Outsiders, and then bombed the Vergaran homeworld flat.
Loath to lose their supply of worshippers, the Outsiders raptured large portions of the Vergaran population into their subspace dimension, so that they could go on being adored for all eternity.
Though the portal itself was destroyed, a single subspace anchor remained in the last serving temple on Vergara Hydri IV. It was this artifact that the Excalibur recovered. It allowed the Outsiders to somewhat influence the minds of the Exalibur's crew, and also served as an anchor allowing Vergaran warships and soldiers to temporarily phase in from the pocket universe, and attack.
As to what happened to the Excalibur, the crew was abducted to the Outsider's dimension to become fresh adorants. The ship was left to drift empty through the Gulf, the artifact still on board..
Merely coming into contact with these extra-universal creatures warped the minds of the Vergarans, causing them to worship the Outsiders as gods. Their planet was converted into a temple world, and billions worshiped the entities. Though the Outsiders did not initially care about our universe, the psionic effect of being worshiped by so many minds, changed them as well, they became addicted to the adoration and demanded more.
There was only so much the Vergarans could give, and so the high priests of the new religion decided that the only solution was to expand and bring other species to worship their gods. By force if necessary. Assembling their knowledge of esoteric subspace phenomena into formidable weapons mounted on a mighty warfleet the Vergarans went on a crusade across a large part of their neighboring space, subjugating all they encountered and forcing them to worship to subspace entangled icons that connected to the main portal on Vergara Hydi IV.
Eventually these exploits caught the attention of a major power in this area of galaxy, possibly the Iconians, who promptly acted to squash that nonsense. They routed the Vergaran fleet in battle, exterminated every mind slaved worshipper of the Outsiders, and then bombed the Vergaran homeworld flat.
Loath to lose their supply of worshippers, the Outsiders raptured large portions of the Vergaran population into their subspace dimension, so that they could go on being adored for all eternity.
Though the portal itself was destroyed, a single subspace anchor remained in the last serving temple on Vergara Hydri IV. It was this artifact that the Excalibur recovered. It allowed the Outsiders to somewhat influence the minds of the Exalibur's crew, and also served as an anchor allowing Vergaran warships and soldiers to temporarily phase in from the pocket universe, and attack.
As to what happened to the Excalibur, the crew was abducted to the Outsider's dimension to become fresh adorants. The ship was left to drift empty through the Gulf, the artifact still on board..
Last edited:
- Location
- Patriarchova
You didn't have to actually tell me. A simple yes or no would have sufficed.
Pretty cool, though.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
@Ato:
The backstory did in fact make it better, for me at least.
My inner Eddie Leslie was grumbling by half way through that log:
"You know, Mendoza really should have had a pair of Vulcans grab that artifact. While being covered by about six guys with phasers on heavy stun in case Vulcans turn out to be extra susceptible to this particular brand of psychic bullshit, instead of extra resistant like usual, because once in a while the gods of space just love to screw with you like that. Then the whole posse should have taken the thing to the nearest torpedo tube, and fired it straight into the nearest sun."
Would that have solved the problem?
The problem is, Bajor presents very little threat to us in Cardassian hands- the Seyek and the Indorions won't be happy that the Cardassians can base out of there, but the Federation at large is hardly affected. The great majority of our current and prospective member species live a lot farther from Bajor than the majority of Cardassians do.
Conversely, Bajor presents a more significant threat to Cardassia in our hands. Both because it deprives them of mineral resources (canonically their main reason for desiring the planet), and because of the position issue I just mentioned.
However, a symmetrical situation where Bajor remains permanently neutral is totally fine by me. The problem is that the Cardassians are very likely to force the issue with, well... force.
The backstory did in fact make it better, for me at least.
My inner Eddie Leslie was grumbling by half way through that log:
"You know, Mendoza really should have had a pair of Vulcans grab that artifact. While being covered by about six guys with phasers on heavy stun in case Vulcans turn out to be extra susceptible to this particular brand of psychic bullshit, instead of extra resistant like usual, because once in a while the gods of space just love to screw with you like that. Then the whole posse should have taken the thing to the nearest torpedo tube, and fired it straight into the nearest sun."
Would that have solved the problem?
We could go with "Take Back the Space!" instead...
If the situation were that symmetrical I'd agree.
The problem is, Bajor presents very little threat to us in Cardassian hands- the Seyek and the Indorions won't be happy that the Cardassians can base out of there, but the Federation at large is hardly affected. The great majority of our current and prospective member species live a lot farther from Bajor than the majority of Cardassians do.
Conversely, Bajor presents a more significant threat to Cardassia in our hands. Both because it deprives them of mineral resources (canonically their main reason for desiring the planet), and because of the position issue I just mentioned.
However, a symmetrical situation where Bajor remains permanently neutral is totally fine by me. The problem is that the Cardassians are very likely to force the issue with, well... force.
Last edited:
Lt Wolfe has uncovered evidence that the Cardassians may have sabotaged the Federation's communications taps have been actively feeding Starfleet Intelligence misinformation. But who in the circus of intelligence operatives on the planet could be the double-agent who leaked the information? And is it possible they already know he's onto them?
Meanwhile, Glinn Kusov has been assigned to hunt down a Bajoran resistance cell. But can he pull the trigger when one of them threatens to steal his heart?
Find out next week on Phasers and Piety!
- Location
- Patriarchova
Also, the Lecurre broke into both of their hotel rooms and stole all the breath mints.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
In which case, the Federation gets the last laugh - enjoy the ongoing insurgency, Cardassia!
Thoughts on Excelsior Refit
So for those of you who don't peek at the Ship Design thread, @OneirosTheWriter previewed what the Excelsior refit is likely to give us: +1S +1H +1P. New cost: 230 br/165 sr
It'll make them a little tougher and a little better as all-rounders with science and presence finally equal to combat. Per the most recent Snakepit this will become available "in the next couple of years". I expect we'll want to jump on that immediately, as we are continuing to build Excelsiors and we might as well build them as Excelsior-As to begin with.
If we assume the it becomes available in the 2313 snakepit and takes 6 turns (as most other refits have) then we can begin doing refits/building Excelsior-As around 2314 Q4.
I would like to have a new Excelsior berth open by then or soon after that we can devote solely to refits of our existing Excelsiors. We could expand UP again in just 4 turns for 40pp or even start a new shipyard at Ferasa for 35 pp and 12 turns (3 years). It's not the most pp efficient, but I do like the idea of starting a new shipyard at one of the new member worlds.
Thoughts?
So for those of you who don't peek at the Ship Design thread, @OneirosTheWriter previewed what the Excelsior refit is likely to give us: +1S +1H +1P. New cost: 230 br/165 sr
It'll make them a little tougher and a little better as all-rounders with science and presence finally equal to combat. Per the most recent Snakepit this will become available "in the next couple of years". I expect we'll want to jump on that immediately, as we are continuing to build Excelsiors and we might as well build them as Excelsior-As to begin with.
If we assume the it becomes available in the 2313 snakepit and takes 6 turns (as most other refits have) then we can begin doing refits/building Excelsior-As around 2314 Q4.
I would like to have a new Excelsior berth open by then or soon after that we can devote solely to refits of our existing Excelsiors. We could expand UP again in just 4 turns for 40pp or even start a new shipyard at Ferasa for 35 pp and 12 turns (3 years). It's not the most pp efficient, but I do like the idea of starting a new shipyard at one of the new member worlds.
Thoughts?
So much is happening in changing ship design that I don't think we should commit to an Excelsior refit until we understand better where we could go.
@Ato:
The backstory did in fact make it better, for me at least.
My inner Eddie Leslie was grumbling by half way through that log:
"You know, Mendoza really should have had a pair of Vulcans grab that artifact. While being covered by about six guys with phasers on heavy stun in case Vulcans turn out to be extra susceptible to this particular brand of psychic bullshit, instead of extra resistant like usual, because once in a while the gods of space just love to screw with you like that. Then the whole posse should have taken the thing to the nearest torpedo tube, and fired it straight into the nearest sun."
Would that have solved the problem?
Given how poor Commander Pavik was affected, probably not. The Excalibur crew also did not really understand that the artifact was reponsible for their woes seeing as the most pressing threat was coming from without.
- Location
- Patriarchova
It seemed obvious to me, but then I've read "The Temple."
- Pronouns
- He/Him
This. Setting up Starfleet operations and shipyards all across the Federation is something we should be doing as a matter of course, as this gives us more infrastructure to support operations near, frankly, everything. In the future, I'd recommend alternating back and forth between expanding Utopia Planitia and a yard in some other sector, especially since we can let member governments use excess slipways for fielding additional explorer-weight vessels.
Plentiful 2.5-3mt yards will also be useful when our ship designers decide it's time to build bigger cruisers.
Then we should seriously consider doing it at next Snakepit. With a three year lead time, we need to start the build well before we need it. Yes, Briefvoice is going to start pounding the "shipyard expansion' drum again. I was content to let it go for a few years, but it's starting to look necessary to have more big berths. If nothing else, having an empty one open for repairs would be preferable to having to beg member world yards. That's just embarrassing.
If we assume that each yard presented has the same expansion options that most of our existing yards do*, I think that's actually the least efficient yard to choose. Betazoid – with it's 2 for 30 PP, or eventually 3 for 40PP – appears to be the most efficient, since it currently costs us 15PP for a one 1m t berth anywhere else. Amarkia, assuming costs haven't changed from the other shipyard we just put there, is then effectively Ferasa with a PP discount, since it starts with an extra 1 m t berth. To show what I mean:
| Number of Berths | PP at Ferasa | PP at Amarkia |
| one 3m t berth | 35 | N/A |
| 1x3m t berth, 1x1m t berth | 45 | 45 |
| 1x3m t berth, 2x1m t berth | 60 | 55 |
| 1x3m t berth, 3x1m t berth | 80 | 70 |
*Namely 10 PP, then 15 PP then 20 PP each for a 1m t berth.
- Location
- Nova Scotia, Canada
- Request Excelsior berth at a shipyard, 40pp (6 turns, gain new 3m t berth) [+5 for every extra 3mt berth present at shipyard past the first]
- Request expansion of Utopia Planitia, 40pp, (4 turns, gain 1 3mt, 1 1mt berth)
- Request new Shipyard at Amarkia, 45pp (12 turns, 1 3mt Berth, 1 1mt Berth)
- Request new Shipyard at Ferasa, 35pp, (12 turns, 1 3mt Berth)
- Location
- Central Standard Time
We should try to stack two of these some year to maximise efficiency.
- Location
- USA
I heartily approve building yards at the various federation members even if Utopia is our main yard. Also it would be a good idea to start one next snakepit so that it can be ready for the refit more so with building a new yard.
When the time comes that we need 2 MT berths for Cruisers, do you think it will be expansion projects on existing 1 MT berths, or do we have to build new?
If we have to build new, what is going to happen to all the old 1 MT berths, unless we also have a massive Escort building spree going?
If we have to build new, what is going to happen to all the old 1 MT berths, unless we also have a massive Escort building spree going?