SDNW5 Preliminary Discussion Thread

[KhorneFlakes]

Good idea. I'll reserve it for later, when more people pop up.

[Simon_Jester]

Do remember that there is a tangible advantage to having a number of trade routes- two, three, four, whatever, as long as you can get your trading partner to reciprocate.

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The Technocracy of Umeria

There is extensive information on the Technocracy throughout the SDNW4 material and the wiki. I'm going to redact some of it, but it's close enough to accurate that reading it gives a representative sample. Therefore, I don't feel like writing up a huge description at this time.
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25+2d6 roll came up "7," for 32 NCPs. To break down that budget:

7 NCPs: 1 Home Sector
10 NCPs: 2 Core Sectors
6 NCPs: 2 Midrange Sectors
5 NCPs: 5 Colony Sectors
2 NCPs: 2 Warp Gates
2 NCPs: Budgeted for trade routes; trading partners to be determined when I know who my neighbors will be.

GDP: 1(14000)+2(10000)+2(6000)+5(2000)+2(1000)+2(2000)+??? $/year

Trade routes other people point my way may slightly increase my GDP, but I won't plan on the basis of that at this time. So, adding up only what I can count on, I get...

GDP: 62000 $/year, plus a small fudge factor.

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Now to work out the military...

I want the majority of the budget to go to starships, and I'm going to begin by deciding what kinds of ships I want, and what kind of force structure I imagine for them, then figure out how much of those forces I can afford.

Within each category of ship, I may have multiple classes and make fluffwise distinctions among them, but for practical purposes they're interchangeable- I don't want to worry about whether I have 2X 60-point cruisers or X 63-point cruisers and X 57-point ones.

20-pt Cutter Tender
• Wildly multirole
• 0-pt hull plus 20-pt FTL cutter squadron: mothership for FTL cutter squadrons
• AGP-3700 and earlier series

30-pt Frigate
• Patrol, sensor picket, operations-other-than-war, antipiracy and light planetary bombardment
• FF-6700 through FF-7000 series)

40-pt Destroyer
• Pure fleet escort platform
• Emilie du Chatelet, Karl Wilhelm Scheele, and Renata Fields classes

60-pt Light Cruiser
• 'Destroyer leader' role, screen coordination and C3I for small craft operations.
• Province, Conductor, Empress, and Hero classes

80-pt Strike Cruiser
• Planetary assault ships
• 40-pt warship hull plus 20-pt FTL cutter force plus 20-pt Strike troop ground force

100-pt Axial Cruiser
• Mid-range naval combat, counter to light planetary fortifications
• Patriot and Bombardier classes

175-pt Battlecruiser
• Based off dreadnoughts: more lightly armed, with lighter bow armor and higher agility. Still intended as a line combatant.
• Tornado, Explorer, and Haruna classes

200-pt Fleet Carrier
• Battleline support carrier
• 50-pt carrier hull plus 150-pt STL drone fighter swarm
• Aviary-class, other class names undetermined

250-pt Ion Battlecruiser
• Design variant based off Vindicator-class ion dreadnought.
• Hulls are structurally complete but currently undergoing modification on the building slips)
• Aurora-class

400-pt Dreadnought
• Primary line combatant
• Myrmidon and Titan classes

650-pt Ion Dreadnought
• Next generation line combatant, deliberately intended to match or overpower most probable opponents' largest capital units one on one
• Vindicator-class

I'll worry about how to jigsaw-puzzle that together into a complete fleet later.

[Akhlut]

The Hegemony of the Gray Kritarchy shall be part of this galaxy. Tremble, lesser races, before our clear and utter supremacy.

[Simon_Jester]

You get a 5 on the die roll.

[Akhlut]

Our empire is old, and on the wane, but our glory, though dulled, still outshines that of the lesser and younger races of the galaxy. Simple GDP or guns are not what makes one superior. Only when you see the true superiority of what you have long known as the "Gray aliens" shall you realize your mistakes.

[Simon_Jester]

I like you guys already.

[Akhlut]

As you must, when in the presence of ones who so clearly exemplify the apex of life.

[Esquire]

Our empire is old, and on the wane, but our glory, though dulled, still outshines that of the lesser and younger races of the galaxy. Simple GDP or guns are not what makes one superior. Only when you see the true superiority of what you have long known as the "Gray aliens" shall you realize your mistakes.

"Bah! Truly, Philomockomeno, the arrogance of the extrasolar barbarians knows no bounds! Yea, verily, one day their children's children will cry out in understanding "It's all Greek to me!" for we shall have surpassed even the greatest dreams of Zeus and spread the wisdom of the Hellenes across the galaxy - nay, across the multiverse!"

"May that day come soon, Smiteocrates. I shall go now to the Temple of Zeus Who Is In Particle Cannon and offer hecatombs of the finest albino vat-bull, that the victory of mighty Hellas shall be as swift as the arrows of Apollo the Xenoplague Giver."

[Akhlut]

These humans were still living upon their cradle-world and bleating like animals when we gave them understanding and science. They are still our playthings, though they think themselves anything than the bipedal apes they are.

[Simon_Jester]

Our empire is old, and on the wane, but our glory, though dulled, still outshines that of the lesser and younger races of the galaxy. Simple GDP or guns are not what makes one superior. Only when you see the true superiority of what you have long known as the "Gray aliens" shall you realize your mistakes.

"Bah! Truly, Philomockomeno, the arrogance of the extrasolar barbarians knows no bounds! Yea, verily, one day their children's children will cry out in understanding "It's all Greek to me!" for we shall have surpassed even the greatest dreams of Zeus and spread the wisdom of the Hellenes across the galaxy - nay, across the multiverse!"

"May that day come soon, Smiteocrates. I shall go now to the Temple of Zeus Who Is In Particle Cannon and offer hecatombs of the finest albino vat-bull, that the victory of mighty Hellas shall be as swift as the arrows of Apollo the Xenoplague Giver."

From across the cosmos:

"Row, row, row your boat, gently down the streeeeam..."

[Esquire]

"Science cannot explain the First Cause of the cosmos, nor the creator of this galaxocentric universe of ours! These gifts the barbarians claim to have given us were poison intended to keep us blind to the essential nature of the universal order, but we rose above them! We discovered philosophy through the exercise of reason, and we spread it through the galaxy to those willing to listen. And to those unwilling to listen, we spread the teachings of Zeus Who Is In Particle Cannon that they may at least know the divine before their end."


Also, surely the Muses are on good terms with Zeus Who Shakes the Heavens for song to travel through the luminiferous aether with such alacrity.

[Simon_Jester]

"Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dreeeam..."

[sound of bombdiscuses being checked and prepped]

[Esquire]

I see your exploding sports equipment and raise you powered hoplite armor. Then I raise myself battlemechs with red cloaks the size of football fields and helmet crests made from the tails of a thousand stallions!

[KhorneFlakes]

Fools! The color grue is superior! In our post-alien wisdom, we have determined that if everything was painted the mixture of green, red and blue, everything would be 500% more interesting, and priests would be married to doorknobs!

[Simon_Jester]

I see your exploding sports equipment and raise you powered hoplite armor. Then I raise myself battlemechs with red cloaks the size of football fields and helmet crests made from the tails of a thousand stallions!

...

BRING IT.

[Esquire]

Seriously though, what's the singing in reference to? I gotta know before I can come up with more ridiculousness!

[Simon_Jester]

You will know, in time. Until then, let it be kept secret from those who know not of the libraries of paleohistory.

[KhorneFlakes]

Paint your children grue! Paint your house grue! Paint your PLANET grue! Grue is the most glorious colour to have ever been! There is no other like it, hunams!

Now paint yourself grue, and you will realize why we offer our praise to this mighty color!

[Force Lord]

The Centrality

The Centrality won't go through serious changes in its main characteristics, and will only undergo a bit of minor tweaking. The info on the wiki is close enough to give you an idea of what the Centrality is. Don't expect a big wall of text here.

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25+2d6 roll came up "7", for a total of 32 NCPs. Tentative budget breakdown:

7 NCPs: 1 Home Sector - GDP Total $14,000
10 NCPs: 2 Core Sectors - GDP Total $20,000
9 NCPs: 3 Midrange Sectors - GDP Total $18,000
4 NCPs: 4 Colony Sectors - GDP Total $8,000
1 NCP: Trade Route - +$2,000 ($500 extra due to trade partner)
1 NCP: Warp Gate - +1,000

Total GDP for Centrality: $63,000+$500

As for military ships, can we still use up to 10% of our GDP for our military?

Kierger: "Wazzup, folks? I'm baaaaaaack! My days as a sugar daddy are still on! And there will be no more crazy women to hold me back! Ooyah! And please, we all know black is the coolest. There is no new black, just classic black! Even though I'm white.... Bah! Plenty of multiraciality in the Centrality! The State always fills its racial quotas! That's the power of the central side! And to all you Centrality haters out there, we'll blow your planet up! ...Even though we lack such superweapons.... But BDZ sure sounds scary! And we can still fuck up your embassies! And now, if you'll excuse me, I see ladies on the horizon! They will now know the power of the pimp side! Smell ya later suckers!"

EDIT: Changed GDP Boost for a Trade Route.

[Panzersharkcat]

(The Kryptonian Empire) as a Mini-nation.

Something tells me I am going to have one nutjob with a vested interest in trying to blow up Krypton. Anyway, I'd like to throw in with the Bastian Star Empire as a sort of monarchical Switzerland.

[TimothyC]

(The Kryptonian Empire) as a Mini-nation.

Something tells me I am going to have one nutjob with a vested interest in trying to blow up Krypton. Anyway, I'd like to throw in with the Bastian Star Empire as a sort of monarchical Switzerland.

Simon already has a Lex Luthor Analog.

[Simon_Jester]

There's always room in the rogues' gallery, Tim.

Total GDP for Centrality: $63,000

As for military ships, can we still use up to 10% of our GDP for our military?

If everything goes as planned, your starting military budget will still be 100% of your annual GDP- so 63000 points of craft. Annual peacetime military construction is capped at 10% of GDP.

In your case, your order of battle may interact strangely with whatever we work out for the carrier rules, so you may want to hold off on it. I advise drawing up a preliminary order of battle based on the assumption that the SDNW4 rules still apply, then figuring out how to modify it if necessary. That's what I'm doing.

Also, no trade routes budgeted? Your call- maybe you can switch that GDP boost into a trading partner once we work out who's got who for a neighbor. Remember, bilateral trade routes are the most cost-effective way to get GDP out of NCP.
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Do bear in mind that events of SDNW4 may or may not have happened in the past of an SDNW5 nation, and most likely didn't happen in the same form unless we deliberately try to fit them in. The whole MEH/Eye of Sasha thing most certainly did NOT happen, at least not in this dimension.

Things like the Outlands crisis may... not have happened, but get split up and rearranged in some pastiche-like form as needed to suit the new game.

[Esquire]

You will know, in time. Until then, let it be kept secret from those who know not of the libraries of paleohistory.

Well isn't that just ominous? I respect a man who can scare me with the term 'paleohistory.'

[FaxModem1]

I'll give this a shot.

The Empire of Tweed

Once coming from a secret society of British Vampire hunters, the secret society eventually moved into space and converts entire worlds to libraries. Their main goal is to read most of the time, be stuffy, and to wipe out any and all bloodsuckers and general undead. After that, the rest of the universe can burn for all they care as long as they get regular shipments of tea.

[Panzersharkcat]

(The Kryptonian Empire) as a Mini-nation.

Something tells me I am going to have one nutjob with a vested interest in trying to blow up Krypton. Anyway, I'd like to throw in with the Bastian Star Empire as a sort of monarchical Switzerland.

Simon already has a Lex Luthor Analog.

I'm perfectly happy having a guy as a Brainiac analog, provided you don't mind Brainiac being a squid-spider thing.

EDIT: Actually, I probably shouldn't. I suck too much at real science to write believable technobabble. That or I'll just never explain anything about the tech.