We're reaching the post limit so I'm creating a new one.

First! Thanks for all the extra information on the Hegemony... it'll be useful intel...

You're welcome! Don't worry...


YOU'RE NEXT

I've added some new threads for the Horus where some of you will be shortly. Begin posting there in the relevant threads.

I've got a feeling Apollyon will be seeing you Hegemony folks on the other side of the line here before too long.

You've promises to keep and many miles before you sleep.

Haha, that's actually one of my favorite pieces of poetry.

Isn't it lovely?

SWN's founder/creator is a big fan of poetry, actually.

That latest book is "Starvation Cheap" in reference to Kipling.

"Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit."

Hey, Void. Permission to produce a deus ex machina? If I say something that isn't allowed over in the Bridge thread, tell me? Please? I want to make sure I'm staying within the bounds of your universe as much as possible.

Can you PM me about it first?

Sure. The full post should already be there. Take a look and tell me if I need to change things, or if it's downright stupid.

Hello folks.  New Gareshi Mercenary/Raider on deck.  o/

Nice to be with you.

Just responded, Marcia.

Good post, just had to go over a couple things with the rules so you know what you're in for.

Oh my, these Gareshi fellows seem to be quite popular!

I am fond of mine so far!

I suppose that depends on whether or not you live in the Hegemony or the Brotherhood.

:D Indeed.

Welcome aboard, Ragnar!  I hope you’re settling in well.

Sorry I’ve been so quiet lately, June was kind of a crazy month for me, then July was a mix of family matters and writer’s block.  I’m glad to be marching forward again though.
Heh, I'm probably biased, but I always thought they were pretty cool.

Just to say, I'll be mostly out of contact from thursday until next monday or so, and intermittent until next thursday - going to the Cambridge Folk Festival. :)

No problem! I'll just have you remove the primary buffer coil on the gravitic conversion emitter!

I appreciate the Gareshi.

Their misplaced faith in their false war god makes them near-worthy foes.

Given that your own god condones the use of conscripts, nuclear bombardment, and grotesque waste of resources as matters of course, I would question whose god is false.

Worship should uplift the faithful, not excuse their bad habits while wrapping them in a shroud of self importance.

Too tired. Will post tomorrow.

Purification by nuclear fire is a mercy.

You mistake the faults of the most misguided of his flock as traits of the whole. There will come a day when the truth is laid bare for you blood witch.

I have returned after a long couple of days. Time to wreak havoc.

Love the Huginn picture.

Kidney stones suck. That is all. I don't recommend getting them.

Sometimes having the right ambient sounds really helps with writing.

Check these out:

http://imgur.com/gallery/txCDo

http://imgur.com/gallery/OAZLz2p
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:59, Sun 02 Aug 2015.

Hey folks, sorry I'm still going slow.  We had someone quit without notice during a stretch where a lot of our staff are going on vacations.  As a result my schedule is a mess, I'm still trying to post, it's just a trick of finding the time right now.

No problem!

Cambridge was awesome. :D Really recommend checking out Shooglenifty and the Treacherous Orchestra.

Should be back to normal posting by tomorrow evening.

The huginn looks cool, but with that big shoulder rig it has terrible posture :D
This message was last edited by the player at 08:55, Tue 04 Aug 2015.

So I think Crawford made a mistake when he designed the melee weapons.

Look at the TL0/1 melee weapons,

Knife
Club
Sword
Greatsword
Spear

All have different damage, ranges, required attributes and so on.

However, once you get to TL4 it's all "Monoblade" or go home.

What should be changed is that there is a TL4 version of each of those weapons (and maybe even a TL4 bow with mono-tipped arrows?) that does their respective damage +1 and can affect targets with advanced armor. Add 30 credits to the cost to account for the mono "system"  All other stats remain the same.

Also, I think Assault Armor and Powered Armor should be able to fire man-portable gunnery weapons without needing to brace.

What say you, players? Shall we add it to house rules?

I like and endorse all of the above.

Sounds good to me.

I'll probably leave out club though. Monoclubs don't exactly make sense and they're not better than knives except for fact that they're free.

Well, a mace that uses gravitic technology could make sense.  To amplify blunt force by augmenting gravity fields etc.

Yes but I'd have to redesign it to make more sense. It wouldn't just be a straight swap. I really like home-brewing stuff for this system though.

Traditionally, I think the shock batons are the go-to tech upgrade for clubs.  If one carries a club around professionally, it's generally for it's non-lethal properties.

Otherwise (barring straight up kinetic amplification which is probably pre-tech) you're looking at things like maceheads whose studs are shaped explosive heads for penetrating heavy armor.  If you're the kind of crazy person who wants to swing a bomb at someone and hold onto it.

I'm sure you've seen this before...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rXt8L1Vu8A

I considered that, but shock batons are only TL3 technology. Some sort of gravity mace intended to smash through armor isn't a bad idea. I'll have to think about that one.

My only problem with gravity-maces is that, as a technology, it only helps with an overhead swing.  At that point you may as well use a full maul, because any kind of finesse it out the window.

Well, that, and you have to consider the ramifications of the tech curve being able to build a hardened gravity generator that's less than a foot long.  That opens the door to all *kinds* of tech.

To be fair, TL4 has gravtanks. (Yes, they retconned that in Engines of Babylon)
They also have portable ultralight grav flitters. Artificial gravity. And grav chutes. And cutter rifles and a host of other grav-tech.

At TL5 it becomes perfect control, with shear rifles and so forth.

In my quest to make things realistic, I realized that Crawford had already done a lot of the work for me. TL4 has abundant grav control. They never come right out and say it, but even the starships are probably using gravitic drives to get around and spike-drives are probably utilizing gravity manipulation to tear open metaspace.

One more week of the grind.  We've got new staff, but they need training.  Sorry again for being on the outs.

No worries. I'm AWOL myself as I get settled into my new job. I fully intend to continue this game, but it might take a bit to get back into the swing of it.

On a side note, I think we've reach a point where we can speed the Horus time-line forward through the trip through metaspace (a generally uneventful week or so of travel) unless you need time to do anything specific or you want a random event to occur during transit?

I have to echo the same sentiments. I just moved to a new location (though in the same general region), so I'm dealing with relocation at the moment.

I think Maire, Selana and I need to have a conversation... waiting on them to post.

I'm waiting on Selena, but I can go ahead and post ahead of her if we don't want to wait too long.

Sorry everyone. Been a rough week. I'll get up a post beefier the end of today.

How's everyone doing? Do we time-jump?

Best option I think

Eh, car problem.  My parking brake siezed up on me, and the new brake line didn't show up until today.  Going to take the car out to the shop tomorrow, been trying to post all week so far ^_^;

Have we just lost Maire?

No, sorry. I didn't notice people responded. >.>

Alright, I think I'm going to move the time-line along. If any of you want to interact with NPCs and do anything/explore the Horus/pursue agendas, go ahead and start posting in the relevant parts of the ship.

Ping.

Anyone interested in continuing?

I think that we should definitely consider a full reset, at this point. If you have another story-arc idea, that is. We can re-run this one too, if we get a mostly new cast. But as it stands, this game feels like it's carrying around a lot of dead weight.

Kinda have that feeling too. Wouldn't mind a hard reset. Loved playing Annabel... but there's a lot of clutter in here right now.

I'd be happy to do a full reset. Should I start a new game page?

Could just clear or archive the threads here. Creating a new game seems unnecessary.

I'll start archiving, cleaning things up and so on.

Sounds like we need to do a time-jump to clean things up. How far would everyone like to go? 1 year? 5?

Not sure how much of that would be necessary for me/my character, but I'm fine with whatever facilitates things for the rest that it concerns more.

Fair enough. We can continue with your story as needed, I suppose, Ragnar.

Well, I think part of the problem is the decentralisation of the player base. We had something going for a while on the bridge, but then it kind of... failed. not sure if it was my fault or what though.

Pretty sure it was mostly my slowness to respond, not you.

I mean, jeez, 16 days. >.> What the hell was I even doing?

I'm torn.

I'd like to put you all in a group thread, but then, if people don't respond, we'll get lagged to death.

Wait, are we starting up again? It's been so long since anyone posted I just stopped checking the site.

There are a few people still interested, so yes.

I was in the same boat.
Didn't seem to be any progress, so I stopped checking.

New threads should be up by Friday night/Saturday morning

Ping.

Ping.

Pong.

Have you looked at Starfinder? That game looks amazing.

I have, but SWN 2nd ed is coming soon too so :D

Pang.

Would've been sooner, but I had family over for the Eclipse yesterday.

I didn't even know that they were working on a second edition SWN. I also completely forgot what this game was for a few minutes. It showed up in my game feed and I was slightly confused for a moment.

Yeah, you can read the beta stuff over on the SWN reddit. It looks pretty good. He made a lot of changes, but for the most part, I think they're good changes.

Anyone want to continue their story here?

Certainly.

I'll have a look at the reddit, one of my partners recently fell in love with SWN.

I'm a little busy right now, but I'd make time.

I believe it's your go, Proven Hargrieve.

You want me to keep going as we were?  I thought I missed a timeskip which was centered around getting everyone back on the same vessel, so I wasn't sure.

Also, apparently I goofed somewhere along the line.  My character sheet is still set for Lvl 4, but I've got a PM saying I should be 6.  Haven't found any of my notes for what I raised over the course of those two levels yet.

Meh, I wanted to do a timeskip but I figure I might as well just run this game as a series of related solo adventures at this point.

I'm fine either way, honestly. The time-skip or the solo adventures, that is. I'll wait for annabelle to decide, since she was in the scene with me.

I'm good with both myself. I'll re familiarise myself with where we were in any case.

Alright, sorry for the gap.  I needed a little time to refresh myself on events and thumb through the rulebook again.

I think I'll skip Dizzy's address to the unit.  While it would give her "Command Voice" a little airing out, it's really just regurgitating data we've already established.  Fun, but dead air.

Sure thing. Good post!

It's been close to two years (four since we were really going). I'm sorry I never continued this, but know that you were all great and I occasionally do think about this game and your contributions.

Thank you,
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:27, Fri 26 Apr 2019.

o7

I just want to tell y'all before this gets shut down that the ARKANGELOS troopers are sufficiently cool that they've influenced my sci-fi writing extensively. The Void Rangers in my current project are described as being very similar in equipment.

In reply to Marcia Duval (msg # 90):

Thank Apollyon

He pretty much came up with most of it and I ran with whatever he had in mind.

I enjoyed the design/setup for my character for this and in particular really liked the way you wrote his stealth insertion onto the planet he was infiltrating.  I thought it all was pretty nifty and made for an interesting scenario.

Honestly looking back at my writing is embarrassing, but I still greatly enjoyed the game and I appreciate the experience it gave me.

In reply to Maire Doiteain (msg # 93):

I'm embarrassed by a lot of mine too, but there were some moments I'm surprisingly proud of too.

Yeah, this was one of my favorite archives, I'll be a little sad to see it go.  It's good to have a touchstone to where you used to be as a writer.

No matter how you cut it though, thanks to Void for introducing me to Stars Without Number.

I'd like to start another chapter in this game. If you'd like to continue what you were doing, post here and let me know.

We can discuss the details in PM.

I'll probably be inviting in some new players to start another plotline.

Bones, blood, and fury!

I mean ... I'm available.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:15, Wed 18 Dec 2019.

I'd be interested, just not playing as this character.

In reply to Dizzy Hargrieve (msg # 97):
Good to have you.

In reply to Marcia Duval (msg # 98):
That's quite alright. I was going to allow anyone to change characters if they want.

I'm available and definitely interested. All the other Stars Without Numbers games I've tried joining here died very early in their lives, sadly, so having the chance at another one would be nice.

Would you want to continue as Maire or do you want a new character? I'm okay with either. I'm going to open up the enrollment again tonight and put out the ad for new players, and what I'm offering is a "squadron" scenario in which I'm expecting the new players to adopt roles inside a single military unit. This unit could be as small and personal as an infantry squad or as large as being captains of their own ships with potentially anything in between. I'll put that out there and see who wants to join. (I'm thinking I probably want from 3-5 people for this.)

As for the veterans of this game, I am happy to integrate them into that plot-line, to continue your stories solo or to perhaps form a veteran 'party' of the older players.

I'm flexible and happy to work with you to meet the kind of game you want to play. I have an powerful itch to tell more stories in this universe.

Depending on the level of interest, I can expand my original vision for this next chapter. Please PM me if you haven't already and tell me more about what you would like to do and what character you want to do it with.

I will put out the formal advert for more players after xmas to get maximum exposure.

Hey folks, I'm putting out an ad for players.

Invite your friends.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:45, Mon 06 Jan 2020.

Just noticed the new activity here.  I'd be interested in continuing play as well.

Great. PM me about what you were thinking.

Also, welcome two new players to the game who are both interested in joining the Squadron.

*waves*

Hello!

Glad to be here.

I really like vehicle-based games, whether that's small ships like an interdiction/anti-pirate frigate or mecha or space fighters/bombers or orbital-insertion dropships/gunships.

Cheers

Get talking about what you'd like to do. I'm okay with any thing, and though I'm not going to state any particular preference, a warship squadron would be pretty cool. So would mecha or even tanks/ground vehicles.

For me, the first question is how autonomous we want to be? I'm keen on a starship focused campaign and can see a few interesting options:

• Squadron of Frigate-class vessels, ie a straight-up warship squadron of similar vessels
• Likewise, but a strike force of mixed types (i.e. pick from any of the Frigate class) and capabilities
• Each of us commanding a Dropship (bear in mind this can function as a Gravtank too) attached to a Cruiser
• Likewise, commanding Fighters attached to a Carrier (or even Cruiser)
• Each of us commanding Fighters, but without the bigger vessel supporting us
• Free for all, with each of us picking whatever a GM-assigned budget - say 6m - will permit

Of these, I'm keenest on the first, second or last, but happy with any

And I could be persuaded for a ground vehicle campaign. Less so mecha, probably
This message was last edited by the player at 11:27, Sat 11 Jan 2020.

I think being captains of various frigate-sized vessels would be pretty interesting. I'd enjoy running that. There would be possibility for promotion, advancement and new postings as well.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:45, Sat 11 Jan 2020.

A squadron of frigates, with say, some/all of us having a character on at least one other ship would be my pref.

So I’d have Wally, the cap on Frigate A, but Xerxes, the pilot on Frig B and Yoni, the gunner on Frig C and Zelda, the engineer on Frig D.

So no matter what was happening to whom, many of us have a PC involved.

That way, we’re all captains, but we’re also all players in the game.

And if Frigate E explodes, then the Player still has pc’s in the game.

I also like the dropship and fighter/bomber pilots on a carrier.

What kind of Frigate squadron? Patrollers? Troubleshooters? Ragtag mercs?

I like the multiple characters idea in theory, but we'd have to be careful to keep the focus on the captains so it doesn't get bogged down too much.

As far as what type of squadron, I'd be leaning towards some newly minted Commanders on their first real assignment. Given that you'd be new skippers and equipped with probably somewhat older frigates, your role would likely be escort, anti-piracy, picket duty or gunboat diplomacy in a low-med conflict zone. There's an opportunity for anti-shipping wolf-pack tactics as well as you become more experienced and needs demand an aggressive stance against the new enemy (who will be revealed soon.) More than likely, at first, your actions would be part of a larger fleet transfer where your ships would be rotated in to replace weary vessels in need of repair, refit and R&R for the crews.

I have some ideas for how that sort of story would look. Since FTL communications are impossible and FTL travel in SWN is relatively slow, there's a bit of an Age of Sail feel to things and you're given more leeway with your orders since radioing back to get updates while out of a friendly system is basically impossible.

Honor Harrington, At Basilisk Station?

I confess I've never read the series, though it might be similar since I've read a great deal of C. S. Forester.

Edit: Though, admittedly it's gonna include a modern naval feel as well. It should be interesting. You can see how I've handled military matters in previous threads which I think well reflect this setting.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:07, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

Awesome, I’m stoked!

Also, depending on how well this has staying power, my plan would be for promotions to lead to larger ships. There is some room for solo missions as well. You can see I have no problem running those.

I'd like to have three captains before we start and then if we lose someone, we can continue with two while we wait for reinforcements.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:12, Sun 12 Jan 2020.

Liking the broad feel you’re establishing

PM me your alternate character ideas. XOs or engineering heads, that kind of thing. No need to stay them out, just ideas.

Welcome: Oscar Hargrave and Arne Karsen (Recruit Primus) to the squadron.

Hi everyone.  I look forward to sailing with you all.

*waves*

Hello! Looking forward to the adventure!

So for your second and third level (for you new captains) Could you also post something along the lines of when you gained your skills and what you were doing in your career at that point? You can PM it to me. Mr. Takagara has graciously offered his entry as an example of what I'd like to see.

Tour: Watch Pilot and Instructor on the IHF-Chagatai

During his first tour as a newly minted Master on the cruiser IHF-Chagatai, Volsung served as a pilot-instructor to her combat shuttle crew in addition to his regular astrogation duties on the dog watch. Duties of the IHF-Chagatai were primarily anti-piracy and combat SAR support.

Served with Voidmaster Xan Faber (prior to their promotion to Master), including overseeing award of his wings.

Earned the ire of Star Commander Galen Triune for damage sustained to the ship by one of his trainees.

Skills:
1 Instructor -> 0
2 Vehicle/Space 0 -> 1

20:34, Today: Secret Roll: Volsung Takagara rolled 8 using 2d6.  Hit Points @ Level 2.

Tour: XO on the IHF-Franklin

Served under Star Commander Omi Valiant as her XO on the IHF-Franklin, a newly refitted Patrol Boat on a shakedown cruise in the core worlds. Plagued with teething issues, it was an opportunity for Volsung to test his mettle in the engineering spaces and with Fleet Logistics. Towards the end of the shakedown, they were badly holed in an engagement with raiders which saw the Star Commander and several crew killed.

Gained the grudging respect from Astra Karl Fontaine of Logistics, from whom he acquired a passing familiarity with their function.

Earned the friendship of the engineering crew, Astraling Ren Barnard and Astraling Denny Sankin, through long shifts with temperamental systems - though Denny was invalided out because of injuries sustained in the battle

Exonerated in the fleet after-action report of the raider engagement, Volsung nonetheless found himself with the emnity of Knight Commander Alastair Maris, whose son was killed whilst under his command

Skills:
1 Bureaucracy -> 0
1 Tech/Astronautic -> 0
1 Leadership -> 0

20:34, Today: Secret Roll: Volsung Takagara rolled 10 using 3d6.  Hit Points @ Level 3.

Final Hit Points 10

so it's kinda like Original Traveller?  Where do we find the charts for the experience, or the ships that are in the Navy now?  Arne is a Navy man, academy, and so now...? Lt. Commander?  idk.

I made up the ships but the ranks I took from here: link to a message in this game
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:30, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

Feel free to make stuff up as you go. There's plenty of room for pretty much anything. Unless you go crazy overboard, I'll allow it.

SWN owes a lot of Traveller, but Mr. Takagara here just added this for some flavor. It helps me when working on plothooks and background material. You can see that I did that for a lot of the previous characters, their threads started out with their service records. Most of that is throwaway material I came up with on the spot, but it's useful if you want to have something to reference.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:32, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

I hadn't spotted the service records before; nice!

Are we all defacto military then? I wasn't quite sure. I am loving getting into all the threads and lore!

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 129):

Yes, you'll be officers of the Indari Hegemony Astral Forces. How you got there is a question left up to you.

EDIT: I'd highly recommend reading or at least skimming through the Skyward Steel supplement. It's very useful for space navy campaigns and it has some extra stuff for ships and ship's crew.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:24, Mon 13 Jan 2020.

If you're curious, Haven (and thus the rest of the Hegemony) observes 12 months, a hold over from their ancient Terran heritage. However, the months have different names and the number of days is different (somewhat shorter) to accommodate the shorter year (255 days) on Haven (and administratively throughout the Hegemony)


Roughly corresponding:

Havenfall (beginning of Spring and the first Month, which corresponds with the original arrival of the colonists)
Stormcall
Kareshearth

Heartstorm (The beginning of Summer and traditionally the month of New Foundations.)
Darkstorm
Sunreach

Moonsmeet (The beginning of Autumn and when the three moons are the closest in the sky)
Shadow
Evensky

Watershed (The beginning of Winter and typically the start of the wet season for the Capitol)
Firstfrost
Godsgift (A month of festival and celebration, commemorating the first year of survival on Haven.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:31, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

Please welcome Zazan Mysh to the squadron.

Hello hello looking forward to playing with you all

Welcome!

Sidenote: Are we using the revised rules or original? Both are free on DTRPG.

We're using the original. Revised isn't really revised,  it's a second edition. Quite different.

Another captain joins us from the world of Bothislia. Welcome Diana Hersson!

I think we're going to close the invites now and work on our ships.

Did you come to a decision on the squadron make-up and how much, if any, customisation we’re likely to have on ships?

I think what I'm going to do is come up with a couple of roughly equivalent options to offer you and then we'll discuss "modifications" after that.

I'll be working on that today.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:23, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

Welcome Diana! I am from Bothislia too!

As am I. This is going to be a little silly.

It's not entirely unreasonable. Living in those conditions means that a larger percentage than normal of the population leaves to become spacers.

Not to mention they're the only ones that look at cramped crew quarters and go "Oh wow, look at all the space we have!" and not be sarcastic.

That’s a fair point. The legal system is not the friendliest in addition to the living conditions.

Welcome Bothans! I'm from the core system, specifically the Volaris fortress and factory world :)

Just a thought but would anybody like to double up on a ship? I’m looking through the source material and my concept, but I think Oscar might be better suited as an XO or Operation Officer than CO of a Ranger frigate.

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 144):

Volaris is like... imagine Mustafar except the entire North Pole has been turned into Himeji Castle.


Oscar, I'm specifically interested in captains with their own ships. Also, don't worry about the Ranger thing. You guys aren't Rangers. That was for the previous batch of characters. You guys are Fleet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:05, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

Oh Himeji. It's honestly in my top 10 favorite places I have visited.

So with so many Boths, should we have the discussion about toxic character roleplay now or later?

I'm half-kidding.

In reply to The Void (msg # 146):

No worries then. Captain it is!

Fairly new on the job myself, don't worry about it.

I'd reckon we're mostly a training fleet of some kind, designed to let new captains gain experience before throwing them at the front.

In reply to The Void (msg # 146):

O-3 Lieutenants or O-4 Lt. Commanders?  US Navy Lt. Cmd usually have 9-11 years after the academy.

Also also, can you give us an idea of how large the Navy is? Like how many ships of each type?
This message was last edited by the player at 23:50, Tue 14 Jan 2020.

If the ships are small enough, they could be captained by an O-3. Patrol boats in the US Navy and Coast Guard cutters can have O-3 skippers.

I did find similar time frames for naval promotions but I figure that relates to peacetime.

Perhaps we're in a region with no naval hiarchy so some promotions are fast tracked or some low level conflict has resulted field promotions. Food for thought.

Makes sense, they're not going to give us a cruiser apiece so this would be a way of us gaining a command without the accompanying promotion to see if we could handle it in the field.

The Hegemony has just essentially wrapped up the lengthy war with the Unified Brotherhood (several years) and is rapidly expanding their forces to cover both their new territory prepare for a new threat.

Rushing out new war materiel and trying to find new officers and enlisted men has lead to some less that orthodox promotions and commissions.

(In other words, don't worry about it too much.) You're going to be Ship Masters, which is generally equal to an O-3 rank in the US navy.

As for the total size... it's quite large. I'm not going to dig myself in by giving specific numbers yet, but the Hegemony now operates roughly half a dozen fleet carriers and about twice that number in battleships. In SWN terms, this is absurdly large, but the Hegemony is growing and I'm trying to tell big space opera stories.

This is technically not including dedicated House forces who have their own individual (but smaller fleets and armies)

The Hegemonic fleet and army is contributed to by each House in proportion and administered by the High Command, and in theory is controlled primarily by the Indari Hegemony and thus House Indaris, though in practice, it is a military made up of Lords and other Nobles ruling over their troops and fleets. Imagine trying to force a bunch of feudalistic people into a modern military organization when you don't really have the time or leverage to force them to develop modern discipline and structure.

Oscar is an Officer Candidate School graduate. Who is going to be academy or other recruitment?

As for promotion, a large Fleet, especially across several systems and worlds might have different promotion rates, like Zazan was saying.

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 155):

*raises hand*

Ward of the Empire, so basically permanent on-campus student here.

Zazan was originally a wet works combat engineer on Bothislia. His path to command of a frigate is going to be a bit of a journey so I could see him being 5-10 years older than those coming straight from Academy.

Yeah, Diana is pretty much the opposite. Lot of theoretical knowledge, but not practical experience, so she's working mostly by the book.

As a result, she's around the age of a fresh grad, so early 20s. As a Ward of the Empire she's more likely to get fast tracked (good PR and such) so i'm guessing 21 or 22 or so after hitting O-1 Ensign.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-...-in-the-US-military#

That's the closest comparison i could find, so O-3s would be on the high end of 25-34. During wartime though, promotions would be relatively faster (more attrition) so, all things considered, i think i'll narrow myself down to 23 or 24, with about a year as XO.

But yeah, at 5 ft 4 and 93 pounds, i'm not exactly imposing.

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 158):

You don't need to be that imposing in person when you have 20,000 tons of warship behind you.

Oh, about that i am not worried, but it does provide some difficulties chewing out a crew member when they're half a foot taller than you on average :P

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 160):

You're the captain! That's not your job, that's your XO's job!

That's why you have a good XO ;)

Oscar would be a little older than most. He earned a living as a Deep Space Salvager and has been perforing those duties for the Navy.

In reply to The Void (msg # 161):

Until recently, i WAS the XO. Give me some time to shake the habit! :P

Edit: Did some research, apparently captaining O-3s were generally combat craft, and O-4 Lieutenant Commanders have coastal craft such as patrol boats. Corvettes, Destroyers and Frigates require Commanders, Cruisers have either senior Commanders or Captains, and whatever the equivalent of Aircraft Carriers is was also captained by a Captain, but was required to have a flag officer (O-7 to O-10) on board.

Of course, exceptions did happen, so...
This message was last edited by the player at 02:48, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

For my own background Volsung is a distant scion of House Takagara and served as a militarised courier in their own fleet, before serving as a hunter and troubleshooter for them. He was transferred into Fleet as part of the call up, hence his background further up the thread

Edit: And therefore, potentially, served during or on the sidelines of the war with the Brotherhood?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:36, Wed 15 Jan 2020.

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 164):

Yes, probably all of you had some service time during that conflict.

We're all level 1?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 166):

For players joining the game as warship captains, build your character at level 1 and then level up to level 3 following the rules in the core book and using the example I posted above as a guide. You should also have 5000 extra credits by level 3.

Ah, speaking of purchases, since we're all in the military, what is being provided to us as part of our assigned gear?

I should probably add Officer gear to the Quartermaster thread.

Hmm... And if we requisition gear, would we just put in a request form and have time pass for the bureaucracy to process it (with a bureaucracy roll to determine how long it takes), pay the difference for the upgrade or buy the thing we want entirely and have it be considered personal property?

The packages we can assume to be in common enough supply to 'top them off' every time we return to the ship or base or resupply point, though would there be something in place in case of loss of the more expensive items (say, a weapon left behind, or an armor broken beyond repair) that has us be fined for manhandling imperial property (not that uncommon)? And if requisitioning would allow us to customize our assigned gear packages, would that count for refills also?
This message was last edited by the player at 12:37, Thu 16 Jan 2020.

Is there going to be a ship assignment party IC for all the players? Might be a good way to get to know each other if we are in the same squadron or flotilla. :)

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 171):

I had an idea about that for the opening scene.

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 170):

Don't worry about those details yet.

So 7 skills at rank 1 sounds about right? This is my first SWN game, but Ive played a fair bit of Traveller & MegaTraveller back in the day.

Broadly equivalent to what I came out with, though I went for a broader mix of adequate skills

& one at rank 0; having rank 0 & that’s ok is something to wrap your head around, that’s for sure.

Aye, I hope so - most of mine are!
This message was last edited by the player at 23:13, Thu 16 Jan 2020.

I should have ships up tonight.

Does anyone have any interest in operating a support ship? That's an option for one crew.

As a second PC, 100%

I think I'd be ok doing support ship.

Let's stick to one PC per player for now.

I'll include that in the options.

Oscar is a salvager from experience, so a support ship would be right up his alley.

What kind of ships will we end up commanding, btw? Pretty small i reckon with our O-3 ranks, but with Space Navies one never knows...

Ships are up. Please make your selections with me via PM. In Universe, you have been assigned this ship without any real input on your character's part, so keep that in mind.

Also, if everyone could roll 1d100 twice for me in the dice roller (don't add) and send me the results along with your pick.

+++++INCOMING TRANSMISSION+++++++


Ship Mistress Diana Hersson assigned to the INS-Valdar Snekkja-class Interceptor Corvette
Ship Master Zazan Mysh assigned to the INS-Randver Karvi-class Assault Corvette
Ship Master Volsung Takagara assigned to the INS-Angantyr Karvi-class Assault Corvette
Ship Master Oscar Hargrave assigned to the INS-Harald Wartooth Knarr-class Corvette Tender
Ship Master Arne Karsen assigned to the INS-Sigfred Langskip-class Skirmish Corvette


All captains, report to the ready room on Hallus Station...
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:50, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

Excellent! Can I presume we’re ok posting in the Hallas Station thread too?

Do you need final equipment, ship or crew input from us?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:50, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 186):

We'll sort out equipment in a bit. Right now you're wearing your duty uniforms and probably not lugging a bunch of stuff with you. (Remember your encumbrance limits!)

As far as ships go, you can petition to have the ships name changed if you don't like it, but remember you are being assigned to ships that have seen service and have crews on them. Their previous captains have moved on for one reason or another and you've been promoted.

Go ahead and post, get to know each other a bit before the MSC shows up and delivers orders from High Command.

Fantastic! Can't wait to post!

Reminder: If you haven't put your updated sheet into your character sheet section in character details, please do so. It makes it a lot easier to reference your skills and stats at a glance.


Edit: please also update your character description.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:36, Fri 17 Jan 2020.

Aiming to post tomorrow early!

You can continue to talk without Volsung. He's just not there yet.

I'm imagining more isolated portions of Bothislia having strong accents. I imagine Zazan's speech kind of sounds like this.



I'm assuming for clarity I probably shouldnt post like that.

Yeah, it makes sense. Close knit communities would have strong ties with language. Oscar got out relatively early, so his is very mild, if you can hear it at all.

What is a Cova?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 194):

It's from the Cultures thread:



The three of us are from Bothislia so we'd know about those, so if your character isn't there's no harm asking about it ICly ;)

https://lagooncompany.fandom.com/wiki/Balalaika

Is who comes to mind with that entrance

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 196):

Would you believe me if I told you I'd never seen that anime before?

Oh definitely, not a very mainstream series. Kind of a brutal wild west meets Oceania meets mafia story. It's all speedboats and bullets.

That sounds like fun actually.

Also, check the ships entry again. I've added some lore.

Edit: the only way you don't recognize her is if you never watched VidFeed in your life. Her pale face in a hospital bed and service photos were all over the Feed for months. Some uncharitable individuals might say that she was used as propaganda to forment support for war against the Brotherhood.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:12, Sat 18 Jan 2020.

Gotcha gotcha, adjusted

Oh, i recognize the game, she's from Black Lagoon, right?

Oh balls didn't know about the no saluting indoors :P. But how does that work in space when everything is indoors?

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 202):

You're wearing your non-combat cover (hat), you're saluting, indoors or not. But yes, in space, you salute indoors because in practical terms there's no "outdoors" (In fact, saluting while in a void suit in microgravity is impractical and not something you'd do typically.)

The US Navy ceased to exist centuries ago. ;)
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:44, Sat 18 Jan 2020.

You actually only salute indoors when reporting to an officer, as in you're told to go to their office, or during ceremonies.

Main reason it isn't done indoors is because the salute would need to be maintained until it is returned, and indoors just has a much bigger concentration of officers and crew -- they wouldn't get any work done.

Full disclosure, i may be misremembering. Was in a Robotech game where 80% of the players were from the same Army unit, and they did that as naturally as breathing (though, lucky for me, we had agreed our characters would be assumed to follow proper protocol as long as the intent was there).

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 204):

From what I understand that is true in the branches of the US armed forces, but not in other nations. It seems to be a peculiarity of the Americans. In either case, it makes no sense in a space force since there would never be a circumstance in which you would salute and other navies don't seem to have a problem with it. (I also can't expect players to know the intricacies of US military regulations.)

It’s a fictional space force that spans multiple systems, I can only imagine the bureaucratic nightmare that would be that military. Makes sense that we are all confused on what the proper procedure is!

Do we know how long the war lasted?

Four years. It's currently 317.

Re: Saluting. It's not a big deal, however I did indicate in the post that you were supposed to salute (fitting my vision of this fictional officer corps) so as to make it clear to anyone who might not be certain either way.

Yep. Totally missed the last line. That’s what I get for reading on my phone. I’ll post my reply in the next hour. Just have to get home first.

In the lore for the Karvi-class ships, it mentions assault pods - I presume that is mechanically the same as Boarding Tubes rather than errata?

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 210):

Yes, sorry, I should have specified that they're modular pods that launch the boarding tubes.

No worries, I just wanted to be sure they weren't Drop Pods!

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 212):

Those are thing, but not on this ship!

In reply to The Void (msg # 213):

If you've got escape pods, you've got drop pods.

Just gotta be creative about aiming them :P

Sorry for the delay. Today has been one interruption after another.

Do we know what the deadzone is? I didn't see it in the pinned threads.

Sorry, it's the region of space that the various powers of the Hegemony lost contact with before the unification. There used to be human colonies all over the place and then during various unrest and wars, (Referred to as the Blood Wars, sometimes.) the planets on the outer rim (including Haven and other colonized worlds that later joined) lost all contact with the inner planets. So it became known as the Dead Zone. No one knows how far it goes or if anyone is still alive there. It's unmapped and thus treacherous.

Gotcha, so it looks like we're losing comm bouys coreward of Hegemony space

In case this helps, I imagine Zazan has very similar mannerisms to Ashford from the Expanse.

Hey folks. Feeling under the weather the last couple of days. I’ll try to post in the next few hours.

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 219):

I was picking that up actually.

If you don't go to the lounge pm me with what you are doing instead.

At close comm range, you can essentially project holographic representations of each other for a conference/meeting.

In reply to The Void (msg # 223):

Can we do that while jumping to another system?

Not during the actual Drill phase. (Technically you're in another dimension, so you can't really send or receive broadcasts.)

But you'll have time before and after. What I'm getting at is that during normal operations, you can communicate with each other as if you were in the same room. (This will change if you split up.)

Yeah, Diana just has a preference for face to face. How long would it take for us to get in formation and travel to the edge of the system where we can 'Drill out'?

Figured it was a couple of hours so it should be more than enough time for taking a shuttle up and down and having a chat.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:33, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 226):

Have you read the SWN core book rules on starship travel (Pg 65)? That should answer your question. I can help clarify it though, if you're uncertain. Tell me how it looks to you and then I'll follow that up.

Edit: As a rule of thumb, it takes roughly four hours for light to travel from a star to the outer edge of a star system. This also means that radio communication between the center of a system and the outer edge takes four hours one way, and eight hours two ways.

Just for fun, who can tell me the answer to this: with TL4 technology, what is the fastest a message can be passed between two adjacent systems using a message drone?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:44, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

I was thinking 8 On/16 Off based on what I've read about modern submarine crews.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:12, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

8-16 aye.

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 229):

That's a little more laborous than 6/18 but I'm no sailor. What do you think? Doable? I would guess that in general, most military ships keep the same watches to keep crew transfers as smooth as possible.

8 is really the most that a person can stand at a time; usually when you're on watch you're actively working the ship; no rest, no breaks, no food.  Eyes on the screens or the horizon.

Usually the first part of your 'off-watch' is food, then sleep, then you wake about 2 hrs before your watch begins and you do paperwork, maintenance, or both.

Are we on the Haven 34-hr day?  Are human's circadian rhythms still 23-25 hours?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 231):

The idea I had for that was that Spacer time is basically 24 hours because evolution and practicality. Adjusting down to a 24 hour day from a 34 hour day is probably easier than going the other way and such things are certainly doable on Earth near the poles. Some of this will likely be managed by TL4 drugs.

In reply to The Void (msg # 227):

Oh, it's not that, i was just wondering where the station was. I know it's 6 hours base for a region, so with a Drive-2 that should be down to 3 hours. But that's mechanics, and i was wondering if in the narrative Hallus Station was located closer to the edge, or we'd need to drill out on the opposite side of the system, or if that system (with multiple inhabitable planets) was simply bigger than the average. Otherwise, i could not have narrowed it down more than 'a few hours'.

Comm speed: No clue. Searched through two books twice and i can't even find mention of it :/

Comm speed is slow. Even at the fastest, it would take about a day for a ship to get to an close system. Assuming a Spike Drive-4.

Our Spike Drive-2, a drill to an adjacent star system would be about 3 days. Call it 4 days with intersystem spiking to get where you need to go.

Did I do the math right?

Comm speed: The fastest TL4 drive is the Spike-3. That's 2 days of drill from system edge to system edge and then 4 hours to receive the message at the origin point and 4 hours to broadcast it to the central planets. So at absolute fastest, 32 hours. Add 4-8 hours if the origin and/or destination is on the far side of the system rather than the center. This is however, only the fastest if you are not trimming for speed, so in critical cases, manned courier ships could theoretically do it faster at some risk. (Both drones that could be intercepted and hacked and manned couriers delivering critical news provide interesting narrative and dramatic options to the setting and the game.)

In cases where systems (typically core systems or during wartime, logistically critical systems connecting to the front) are effectively networked with commbuoys and constant messengers/couriers, the interval in which data propagates might be faster (imagine drones as packets between core worlds, launching every X hours with whatever the current state of the Net/Feed/Cortex is and updating the next system over which then does the same thing.)

As far as the location of Hallus station, it's in orbit over the primary inhabited planet in the system: "Anatoli" formerly known as "Nergal" before the Unified Brotherhood occupation in 313. Given the amount of damage done and the rebuilding efforts as well as the mass of UB colonists still on planet (and now under House Liandri Corporate Rulership) the new name has stuck, even if the older generations still refer to it as Nergal.

You are closer to to the edge you need to jump from currently, but regardless, you'll spend about 24 hours in transit at Spike-2 speeds to reach the outer edge unless you trim your course for speed. You could likely get away with trimming your course by 1 and halving your time both to reach the outer edge region and to jump to the Ultima Black system. (Someone aboard your ship has Navigation-1 even if you don't.)

Base Travel Time
Within a region 6 hours (e.g. From a planet to moon, or within the same asteroid belt)
From one region to another 48 hours (e.g. From one planet to another, from a planet to the outer edge of the system or the star.)
Interstellar travel 6 days per hex (Assume systems are one hex apart from their neighbors unless otherwise specified.)
(Divide base time by effective Spike rating)

Drill Check Modifiers
Uncharted course -4
Charts more than five years old -2
Charts from one to five years old -1
Charts less than a year old +0
Distance drilled, per two full hexes -1
Course trimming, per level -1
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:51, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

Damn. So we are going to be on the move for awhile. Looking at the book, does the fuel bunker module has enough for the whole squadron to have an extra jump or just my ship?

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 237):

Just your ship. It's sort of an insurance policy should you get stuck somewhere without return fuel. Your refueling options are generally a fueling station, a fueling ship/drone or because you have atmospheric configuration, you can actually descend onto a planet with water and process the water into fuel in an emergency. That might take a while, but it beats being stuck in any empty star system with no way to call for help or get back home. If you also had fueling scoops you could just dip into a gas giant or a solar corona to refuel.

Most of the in-game time we're going to skip unless something interesting comes up, just keep in mind that voyages may take a while and most of that time is going to be occupied with your duties, getting to know your men and perhaps some sort of hobby in your free time.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:05, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

Gotcha. Might be worth a look in the future to get those fuel scoops so that our little force can try to be fuel independent if need be.

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 239):

You're looking at 2 power and 2 mass and 50k credits for that and your ships are already at or near max power/mass capacity pretty much. A retrofit is possible, but you'd have to cut something. You could cut the atmospheric configuration on the Karvi or Snekkja classes and replace it with the scoops, but the Langskip-class would have to drop one of the weapons to get the requisite power needed.

As long as you're not making jumps to uninhabited/uncharted systems, you don't really need fuel scoops.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:20, Wed 22 Jan 2020.

Nope.  I need more guns, not less.

In reply to The Void (msg # 236):

Oof.

Still, that's base, and we've got Spike-2's equipped, so that should halve travel time, right?

Fair enough. Now we just need to get good enough to qualify for cruiser command! Then we won’t have to worry about it!

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 242):

Right. So for you, the default time is 3 hours in region and 24 interregion. 3 days per hex. You can also take a -1 on the nav check to halve again as if you were spike 3.

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 243):

More ships, MORE!

(meanwhile, in Legends of Galactic Heroes)

- "Their left flank is just 20,000 ships. Why haven't we annihilated them yet?"

Definitely a +1 on beginning to understand the crew dynamics. Depending on the more detailed mission parameters and the status quo aboard, there's a potential to want to be running drills, inspections and training too.

In terms of crew, how close to minimum or maximum are we? Watches will be different if we're running with five to twenty, for instance, and some of my crew I'm hoping are boarding marines rather than necessarily regular enlisted

As a reminder, we still need to know what the Officer Package is going to be in the Quartermaster thread, and whether we'd pay difference or the whole thing for upgrades, so we can get our purchases done ^^;

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 247):

There's an image of a uniform, with the 'extra-snug' modification in the 'You Role' thread. ;)

link to a message in this game

I kinda like the Honor Harringtons:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=...ust=1579879165073370

And these:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=...ust=1579877944494913

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 248):

Yeah, got my eyes on a set of armor myself (picture wise), just looking to know what gear we get so i can buy the rest ;)

Are you on one of the Karvi’s?

I’m am and will definitely be after some boarding gear

100%

In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 247):

I'll get that up today. You won't be able to swap anything out, so if you want extra gear or better gear, you will have to pay for it.


In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 248):

I like those too. Black and Red IS the color of the Astral Forces after all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:48, Thu 23 Jan 2020.

I didn’t notice the second link was pintrest.  Can you see it?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 254):

Yes, at least well enough. Those capes/mantles are quite dashing.

Right? I also like the two types of duty uniforms & call me crazy, but I like a coverall.

Those are great, yes. I'm happy imagining them like that.

Quasi inactive for a few days. Out in the boonies with the Mrs.

No problem. Send me a PM with what you did want to get accomplished and I'll send you the results.

Equipment in the Quartermaster & Armory section is updated.

Do we take the base Naval package plus any one of the extras? Or should we presume the Command extras?

- What's the AC and Enc on the EVA suit? Is it a Combat Field Uniform or an Assault Suit?

- What's a Shivai Skana? Same thing as the monosword or is it a two-handed greatsword model?

- Does 'monoblading' a weapon give it +1 damage (the difference between a sword and a monoblade) and +30 cost over its base model, or is it 1d8+1 across the board regardless of whether you've got a dagger or a greatsword?

(obligatory disclaimer: no, i'm not getting a greatsword :P )

- Just to confirm: Why does the Assault Package have a Suit Ripper, when according to the books possession of it is considered a capital offense? Different in this setting?

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 261):

Yes. The other options are there for people who don't want to be a "traditional" captain. Also, keep in mind your encumbrance limits. This is stuff you are issued, not necessarily that you can carry all of it all of the time.


In reply to Diana (msg # 262):

1. It's a Vacc suit as listed, that's just the flavor text you're reading

2. It's a special monosword with +2 damage

3. It's the original weapon profile, +1 damage (monoblade rules) +30 credit cost

4. It's not different in this setting. If the government issues you C4, you're not going to go to jail for it. Same thing with a suitripper. You definitely can't own one as a civvie, but if the military gives you one, who's gonna argue?

I'm much more concerned with how my uniform looks, how many variations of uniform I can have, that cape (We need a formal dress uniform, esp. if it has a cape.) and I want to add in personal stuff, like my tunes, man!

;)

But kinda on that same path, the European Space Agency is developing a special space suit for longer term space station personnel to prevent back problems and bone loss from the zero gravity.

Are our frigates zero-g or are they equipped with 'gravity' tech?

ESA suits here: https://www.esa.int/Science_Ex...Suit_up_for_Skinsuit
This message was last edited by the player at 19:08, Fri 24 Jan 2020.

In reply to The Void (msg # 263):

Thanks, the description threw me off :)

When our crew says 5/20, do we have 20 crew and need at least 5 of them to keep the ship running, or do we have 5 and room for 20 at full capacity?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 264):

Artifical gravity is a staple of TL4 technology. In fact, so are anti-gravity vehicles and Spike-drives are basically gravitic drives themselves. (You may have to purchase additional uniforms from your own pay.)


In reply to Diana Hersson (msg # 265):

We'll get to that, when you meet your crews in the morning. (You'll have a full complement though.)

It's been a busy day. I'll have posts for everyone up by tonight.

Hello, folks! I'm Sabine from the diplomatic corps! I'm going to be essentially playing on my own as far as I can tell, at least for the first little while, but I'll enjoy following along with your adventures regardless.

Sounds fun, and unless i miss my guess you're a Telepath?

Looking forward to meeting you ingame ^^

No, I'm almost certainly going to be playing an Expert.

Huh, i wonder what the campus thread's about then...

Oh well, Experts are equally welcome ;)

The campus thread is for me. I'm one of the original players from way back when the game started.  Psychic from Bothislia, went on a few top secret missions for the hegemony, now I get the cushy job of teaching younglings.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:31, Sun 26 Jan 2020.

If no one is opposed, let's wrap up this scene and move on to casting off with your new ships and crews.

Works for me

In reply to Maire Doiteain (msg # 272):

Ooh shiny, another Bothislian!

Nice to know we're not in any danger of losing the majority here :P

Am I missing something about Bothi?

Nothing other than it being a fascinating setting.

Though I just realized this morning that there appear to be at least a few parallels to Helghan from Killzone.

Not much, aside from that four of five Captains are from Bothislia, and now Maire is also :P

Cova Kids!

Also, I’m good to move forward whenever. I also realized that with only 6 max crew, we are going to be pulling some long shifts. 😬

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 279):

Two crew is more than enough to operate your vessel, so with 8 on/16 off that should still work.

I guess I’m in charge of a military version of the Nostromo?

I think Zazan would kick his engineering ratings over to the Wartooth for some cross training once the squadron is actually deployed.
This message was last edited by the player at 20:53, Sun 26 Jan 2020.

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 281):

It's not quite that huge, but yeah, it's basically a cargo ship that's been converted to serve as a mobile workshop and logistics ship.

In reply to The Void (msg # 283):

Good to know.

As for cross training, it would only be for short stints. The Harald Wartooth might work best like an autoshop where it is mostly self service for daily parts and whatnot.

In reply to Oscar Hargrave (msg # 284):

Great analogy. If you all get promoted and get better commands, your ships are going to increase as well.

I am curious about these spike capable communications drones abd how finite of a resource they are.

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 286):

As finite as the story requires them to be.

But seriously, they're just a little world building/dressing to explain how you can still have feasible feudalism in the future and to help emphasize the vastness of space. I could have just assumed that FTL communications was a thing, but then this would end up feeling more like Star Trek or Star Wars and less like Battlestar Galactica or The Expanse. Communications delays favor smaller parties as well, which works out well in an RPG based around player characters. If you do something in a universe where everyone has ansibles, there's no reason why everyone shouldn't know about it almost immediately, which makes getting away with stuff a lot harder. Your squadron of ships can effectly harass enemy vessels and carry out missions without being spotted and hunted down by a superior force. If they do send someone after you, they've got to play it carefully. Ultimately, it's just more interesting in my opinion.

In general, assume that established worlds, even frontier worlds, are on the communications network and there are drones moving to and from them as regularly as possible.

Outside of settled systems though, that's where communication starts to break down and you end up on your own for the most part. Ultima Black for example, probably sees a ship once a month or even longer regularly, coming through with new supplies and an update to their network (though given that it's an outpost, it's probably 'limited' information that would prove less valuable to invaders looking for information about their enemy.)

In the event of an enemy attack, they would have enough time to launch a message probe back towards the next system to report what happened. By the time anyone gets this though, it's too late to rush to the defense of Ultima Black, the battle almost certainly being over by the time anyone arrives, which is why you are being sent there to patrol.

The other cool thing about message ships/drones, is that it creates potential drama for the story. Imagine if you knew someone was trying to send a message to another system to reveal your presence. Depending on the situation, you might be able to try and intercept that drone before it drills out or cut it off at the arrival point before it can broadcast. Likewise, a courier ship could be run down and boarded or destroyed before it can be allowed to spread the message.

In reply to The Void (msg # 287):

+100 for this approach

Agreed, I definitely love the concept!

I've always been incredibly interested in the sociological implications of interstellar travel without FTL communications. The cultural and linguistic drift alone would cause massive rifts between the human populations separated by lightyears of distance.

Aye, and think of the juxtaposition of spacers on top of that isolation as well. Spacers would be in the best position to see that drift and might be most immune from it.

Spacers and spacer culture might be the closest thing to those original pioneers from before the blood wars.

Those effects would be especially pronounced in a setting where FTL travel is relatively slow and risky like it is in this setting. That encourages local economies to develop in what is essentially isolation. Historically, an insular economy most often leads to technological stagnation and declining living standards after a brief period of rapid innovation.

In absolute isolation, I think that is true. Considering this is the Age of Sail 2.0, we have to deal with the notion of the Other in an exaggerated way. The idea that there could be something out there focuses attention on progress to solve that particular problem.

Agreed, you'd need some form of competition that goes beyond everything just catering to each specific niche and having their bases covered.

A lot of it can be mitigated by encouraging study, experimentation and innovation at the school level, but unfortunately the opposite is often true where they are encouraged to 'not make waves' and grow up to be obedient little cogs in the machine. To be content with 'that's the way things are'.

It's the Five Monkeys Experiment, really.

Your getting at what the Hegemony actually is, and that is the engineering of conflict and competition to prevent stagnation. Given their history of warfare, aggressive expansion and colonization, it might seem a little strange that they're able to keep that pace up over so long, but that's the genius of House Indaris and their Plan for the Hegemony.

Never let anyone get too comfortable.

Did we ever decide on a captain's meeting pre-cast off or post?  And did we decide on the schedule for the cast off?

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 296):

You've already had a bit of a meeting in the Lounge and you're now meeting your crews and preparing to cast off and get under way. It's currently 0600 Ship Standard Time (a 24 hour cycle)

I imagine after we get underway we'd have some time before we get clear of the system. I imagine a lot of the unpacking and acclimating would happen once we spike and we're incommunicado.

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 298):

The absolute fastest you can reach the edge of the system is 12 hours, so yes, you have plenty of time to talk en route.

Yeah, since the crew meeting was pretty fast we ended up agreeing on taking a shuttle to one of the ships for a face to face before we'd end up at the edge of the system.

Might I suggest you convene on the INS-Angantyr as that's now the lead ship for your squadron.

What's wrong with meeting next to the fuel bunkers on the Wartooth?? </sarc>

In reply to The Void (msg # 301):

Fine with me, though we'd likely remain at our ships until at least the point where our respective ships start formation flying to the edge of the system.

To answer your question, yes. Astro, Comms, Weapons, Engineering and Deck departments.

1 Captain (you)
1 Executive Officer (An Ensign you will come to know well)
1 Voidmaster Prime and 4 Voidmasters (Department heads)
10 Startypes spread throughout the departments as needs
3 Astralings

wow, Diana, sniper much? lololo

Yeah, was typing at the same time you were, apparently. :P

Does that crew complement make sense to you guys? You all have extended stores so you're good for 4 weeks of operation without resupply even at full crew capacity. You can resupply at Ultima Black IV.

And an Astraling is... What again?

Midshipmen I’m guessing

Astraling is a recruit so a rating rather than a ranking

Also, I for one am super comfortable retconning and massaging formalities and ceremonies. I'm usually posting in between tasks at work so trying research naval traditions before even thinking of posting is not something I would be interested in.

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 310):

As long as you make it feel like you're a military crew following some sort of procedure, I'm not concerned about the details. The feeling is more important than getting it exactly right.

If you play it as super relaxed and casual, I might start asking questions why the skipper is so lax and what this does to crew discipline.

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 310):

Thanks.

And yeah, i'm all for handwaving characters following correct procedures whenever and wherever they apply unless they're specifically posting they aren't. It's about the RP after all.

If it makes you feel better, i know nothing about naval traditions either, so most of everything i'm posting is just me fast talking my way around naval protocol as if i actually know more than 'top rank goes first, except when saluting'. Don't worry too much about it :D
This message was last edited by the player at 20:48, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

I think that compliment makes sense.  A WWII PT-type boat in the US carried 3 O/14 E, a Brit Boat Vosper 1 was 2 O/11 E, and a German boat was ~5 O/18 E;

I think 2 O, 5 WO and 13 E makes sense; as good as any.

One fun thing to think on: in any given military, even without their uniforms, you can tell what rank somebody is based on where they stand in a parade, inspection formation or rehearsed maneuver.

For instance, some militaries have officers board aircraft first, some have them board last. Sometimes the highest-ranked officer is the first to embark and last to disembark. Whatever the case, it's always consistent within any given organization. They never just board whenever they feel like it unless they're in an emergency situation where there is literally no time for protocol. Even then, they'll usually fall back on protocol to ensure that all pre-launch procedures are properly followed.

Part of this is for the sake of efficiency and predictability, the rigidness of the orders of operation making it very difficult to forget a crucial step. Mostly, though, it's for the sake of presentation and tradition.

Agree, compliment seem pretty reasonable. One question: on the ships with boarding pods, are there marine equivalents or enlisted with combat duty in Weapons? I figure it will affect the interpersonal squabbles



I'm happy to host; keen not for my IC rank to be an issue OOC so intending to keep it as light or heavy as folks prefer

I actually like the idea of a designated party leader to be honest. It's an interesting dynamic.

In reply to Volsung Takagara (msg # 315):
No designated Marines onboard, but assume you have about 5 crew members cross-trained in security. The assault pod/boarding tube, basically just allows you to quickly access a disabled or surrendered ship with personnel. You don't want to rely on boarding assaults to carry the day.


In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 316):
I did this for a narrative reason and I'm sure some of you can guess what that is. (Obviously, this is not license to bully other players OOC, but you knew that.)
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:16, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

Aren't we all Ship Masters? I read senior officer as lowercase; more time-in-grade & Takagara, as opposed to a higher Rank.  But I've been wrong before.

In reply to Arne Karsen (msg # 318):

Yes. You're all Masters in Rank, and specifically Ship Masters because you have command. There's no difference aside from the fact that while on board your ship, other officers of the Master Rank would have to defer to you.

Clarifying: On larger ships, there might be Masters who are department heads for example, or fighter pilot.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:18, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

Within the same rank, seniority determines order of boarding in many real world cases. If highest rank boards first, a captain who has had his rank for three years boards before somebody who has only been a captain for a month. This is, however, not always the case.

Believe me, I'm happy with lower case seniority and for squadron orders to be relayed through me on that basis and the Takagara link. If folks want a party leader, happy to step up too ... but I suspect there will be plenty of independent action and patrols

In reply to Sabine NicDhirhom (msg # 320):

That's probably a detail we can omit in our game.

Oh yeah, for sure. Just a thing that I find useful to keep in mind, even when not playing it out. These sorts of things are going on in the background, but for most trained military personnel, following procedure becomes second nature.

However, differences in such procedures might cause some difficulties if (for example) somebody made a transfer from one military to another as part of a loan program.

Just a thought.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:51, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

In reply to Sabine NicDhirhom (msg # 323):

Oh, you're going to have a much more interesting time of it in that regard, haha

I'm sure. Just a bit of flavor. We don't even have to play it, I just like to know that such things are going on behind the scenes.

Little mundane things, y'know? For my own immersion, if nothing else.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:56, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

Sorry for the delay in getting the squadron thread. Busy day of work and I am on my phone right now.

Good posts. I'll have follow ups soon (tomorrow late morning probably.) and Volsung, we'll continue your thread asynchronously.

In reply to The Void (msg # 327):

No mad rush, just trying to flesh him out a bit

I think Maire has successfully stressed me out.

I'm mentally exhausted just picturing all the plates those students have to spin. I think it hit too close to home!

It stressed me out writing it, honestly. But as I see it, it's better to push young psychics to (and potentially past) the breaking point before they're released into an environment where  breaking down could result in killing people or being killed.

Give Maire a hand for making psychics really sound like the badasses they are. (And she's one of the most badass of them.)

It caused me to sweat just thinking about their capabilities.

Well, Psychics are pretty impressive in the setting....

They did literally facilitate the mass transit of the prescream Terran mandate through the jump Gates and almost singlehandedly caused the collapse of a multitude of major civilizations because of their reliance on that. So yeah, impressive is a good way of putting it.

But do you have enough Flair? ;)
This message was last edited by the player at 02:06, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

On the world I come from, the psionically gifted form the ruling class, because a group of psychics were the only ones with enough personal power to drag together all of the various warring planetary factions after the Scream and stitch them together into something approximating a functioning nation state.

What can i say, sometimes you need an adult in the room to get the kids back in line.

I should have replies soon. I'm going to set up a thread for each ship which will be for when you're interacting with NPCs or something is taking place on a specific ship, that thread will also keep track of your ship stats and anything that comes up there as well as tracking your crew. (You didn't think you rolled those dice for nothing, did you?)

I'm also going to put up a King Squadron thread for communications between ships as well as events that happen to the squadron. I also need all of you to roll a leadership check to reflect your speeches to your crews and give me a word to describe what you consider your initial Leadership Style.

Do we add int or chr to the roll?

In reply to Zazan Mysh (msg # 339):

Charisma. It's a first impression after all.

Style: “Trust, But Verify”

08:50, Today: Volsung Takagara rolled 9 using 2d6+1 ((2,6)).

My leadership style is: Familial



06:44, Today: Oscar Hargrave rolled 10 using 2d6 with rolls of 5,5.  Speech check (Leadership). - [roll=1580384680.67776.338540]

13:21, Today: Diana Hersson rolled 8 using 2d6.  Charisma + Leadership.

Style: Assured and determined.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:24, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

07:02, Today: Zazan Mysh rolled 6 using 2d6 ((5,1)).

Measured, assessing.

On second thought let's go with unifying "we're all in this together"
This message was last edited by the player at 13:44, Thu 30 Jan 2020.

09:33, Today: Arne Karsen rolled 6 using 2d6+1 with rolls of 2,3.  Leadership Check.

Excellence through Teamwork

Sorry folks, I've been busy with work. I'll have replies tonight or tomorrow.

Apologies to all - Not only has work been busy but I've been sick on top of that. I'm not abandoning this game, I'm just a little bit delayed with life.

No worries, we knew traveling to the edge of the system was going to take a while :P

I am also indisposed. Father is in the hospital and he's not gonna make it. Light posting for a day or so.

Zazan, I’m sorry to hear that.

Games should always come 2nd to RL

^ This. You don't want to force yourself to post when you've got a million things going on, all that winds up doing in the long run is create a feeling of resentment through association, and that's the last thing you'd want doing something that's supposed to be enjoyable.

Take all the time you need. We'll be here.

My condolences, Zazan. Take care of yourself, and take all the time you need.

Thanks, I appreciate it.

I'm very sorry to hear that Zazan. I'm starting to feel better and I think I should have some posts hammered out by this weekend.

Look forward to continuing this!

Sorry for my absence. I am back. Let's continue!

Glad you’re back!