SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread III

[Simon_Jester]

Remember those pirate ships? The dinosaurs were operating those the whole time.

Hmm. I wonder what you'd get if you tried to make Space Marines out of Strike troops, doctrine and personality-wise...

[PeZook]

What do you mean you don't se them every day? There's an entire star nation full of them...

[Simon_Jester]

Two, actually.

But neither of them posts every day, now do they?

[Force Lord]

Well, maybe that was too much of a brain-fart on my part.

[Shroom Man 777]

No biggie. This is the first time we've seen dinobonoids in actual combat, IIRC, compared to those two dinosaur nations' dinosaur nationals' acts of dinosaurian nationality that haven't had much face-eating.

[Force Lord]

Zebes learns about the fate of Hawk's Nest, readies its defense.

A little history lesson:

Weavel and Frugus come from Urtraghus, where centuries of genetic experimentation created different variations of the race that lived on that planet. Weavel has opposable thumbs, while Frugus has crab-like claws. So both come from the same species, but are physically and genetically different. Urtraghus was once a prosperous world with territories in space, but civil war ruined its civilization (creating high regional piracy) and it was still rebuilding when Boskone arrived and offered help. The Urtraghian pirates and the allies under their command are one of Boskone's more powerful forces. They were a relatively recent arrival at the interstellar stage, but quickly gained a reputation for ruthlessness. Their brutal attacks on regional shipping is what caused the current campaign to stamp them out.

Think that's good?

[Simon_Jester]

Works for me, though any given force of them is still liable to be treated as, shall we say...

Expendable assets.



EDIT: I find the prospect of Helmuth being in a "good mood" particularly amusing. The closest Helmuth comes to "good mood" is "It would be inefficient and pointless to punish you for your stupidity and insolence, and therefore I choose to be lenient."

How about I work up a reply?

[Agent Sorchus]

The only problem I have with the dinosaurs being an independent species is that you parked them right on top of one of hte two dinosauriod players already. The Irdurans are a bunch of dinosaurs, and it could simply work better if they were Irdurans, also some of what dave was working on for the pirates in his space really doesn't work with what Simon has going on. And yes I know that Dave hasn't been around for a little while but still, it wasn't all that nice to take over completely from dave.

[Force Lord]

Maybe the Gorn are an offshoot race?

EDIT: Ack. It should read Gron.

[Simon_Jester]

Ahem. Gron.

I had honestly imagined the Gron evolving independently. We have humanoid species evolving independently in close proximity to each other; Steve has his Trill and Dorei, for instance, and their homeworlds are both within Anglian space. I don't think it's unreasonable to posit multiple saurian species evolving independently on planets a few sector-widths apart, either.

One thing I'm trying to do is increase the amount of diversity in the game, by creating the implication that there are a lot more minor alien nations out there than would be expected from the fact that nearly all the major nations are human. That's an attempt to compensate for the overwhelmingly human galaxy that we see when we look at the major powers alone.

That said, it's plausible that the Gron are the product of some extensively gene-tailored bunch of Idurans who ran off from the Confederacy a long time ago and settled a planet in the middle of nowhere in the shoals where no one would bother them. I would also like to note that Keldrog and his merry band of pirates weren't necessarily representative members of the species in their overall outlook and attitudes, any more than Blackbeard was a representative member of humanity.

---

Aside from that, I honestly don't know what to do about the concern that I'm taking the pirate problem off in a new direction. I just PMed Dave and am hoping to work something out; I simply don't know what he had in mind, and I'm not sure how to fit it together.

I do distinctly remember the Idurans having problems breaking up the pirates because said pirates were fairly well equipped (for pirates) while the Idurans themselves were rather disorganized and lacking in heavy units; that would seem to fit together with what I'm putting out. As we've seen, attacks on a competently defended base can be a daunting prospect for a force lacking in heavy combatants, and even if they win they're liable to get banged up.

[Force Lord]

Here's Dave's OOB.

So he has about 53 heavy-hull ships.

[Simon_Jester]

True, but you will note:

For one, the Idurans have no true "battleships" by the standards of the game; there's nothing in their order of battle that can take on cruiser-weight opponents or groups of frigate-weight opponents and hammer them flat easily, without fear of being seriously damaged in return. They can and would win such fights, yes, but the risk forces a certain amount of strategic caution on them.

On top of that, the nature of the Iduran government (Dave's choice of the word "Confederation" was wise) makes it difficult for them to organize major offensives; control of assets is decentralized and any operation liable to be expensive in blood and treasure may not happen at all.

I'm sure the Idurans have handily defeated attempts by the pirates to penetrate into their space, and have deterred many more simply by the strength of their own forces. I for one would not want to take Keldrog's command on a raid against an Iduran planet, because I'd be worried about those roving Lancer-class 'destroyers' showing up and CareBearStaring me to itty bitty little pieces. I might be able to sting them, but the pirates have to be even more cautious going up against national navies than the national navies have to be going up against the pirates.

But I don't think it all that unreasonable that a powerful force might build up in portions of H-12 (or the rest of those shoals) gradually without the Idurans being well placed to handle them.

[Mayabird]

Sorry for not writing much these past few days. I've been a bit stressed and that makes it hard for me to write.
[line 2]

[Simon_Jester]

The only problem I have with the dinosaurs being an independent species is that you parked them right on top of one of hte two dinosauriod players already. The Irdurans are a bunch of dinosaurs, and it could simply work better if they were Irdurans, also some of what dave was working on for the pirates in his space really doesn't work with what Simon has going on. And yes I know that Dave hasn't been around for a little while but still, it wasn't all that nice to take over completely from dave.

I've been exchanging PMs with him today; he seems OK with what I've been doing. May make some mention of Iduran activity, with and only with his permission.

[Agent Sorchus]

That is good. I just feared that what was going down was going to make it hard for him to continue when he gets more free time.

[Dave]

That is good. I just feared that what was going down was going to make it hard for him to continue when he gets more free time.

Hey, there's always room for more pirates. I'm not tied to the pirate stories either -- I just made them a problem for me so that I'd have something to write about. If you want to smash the pirates in and around H:12, well, I have Orks to the south of me, and I'm sure the Centrality or someone could spin a reason to pick a fight with me. Or I could do Iduran internal politics...

Thanks for your patience everyone. I'm still probably going to be busy until Thanksgiving. After that hopefully things will clear up so I can catch up on what you crazy bastards have done write.

[Simon_Jester]

MANIUS!

Wow. You do really intense ground combat, Shroom.

EDIT: Posted an update on the bad guys' reaction to the Battle of Hawk's Nest. I needed someone for Admiral Zokolova, and the best candidate I could think of... well, from her battle record I'm not at all sure Daala is fit to polish Zokolova's jackboots, but she at least looks right.

[Shroom Man 777]

Nice schemey schemeys Simons! And Force Lords too!

God I need to figure out something to write!

[Master_Baerne]

Suicide Police shenanigans, mang!

[Simon_Jester]

Well, this is not Suicide Police. This is Bragulan diplomacy.

Now, if you want more Suicide Police, I'll see what I can do...

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Hmmm...

I wonder what happens if I tried that with a Warlord Titan...

[Ryan Thunder]

Jaunt's Ghosts

Nice.

[Mayabird]

Dr. Susie is not going to be pleased with the Bragulans.
[line 2]

[Simon_Jester]

Dr. Susie is not going to be pleased with the Bragulans.
[line 2]

I know, and already planned a short scene. The internal politics at work there within the Technocracy were complicated, and you may be assured that the Second for Ecology will find appropriate ways to make her displeasure known.

EDIT: I would just like to note that this is the arrival of an official diplomatic consulate, not some crazy thing the Bragulans did at random in the same spirit that they ransacked a Byzantine church in Shepistan.

[Steve]

Dr. Susie is not going to be pleased with the Bragulans.
[line 2]

Would she expect anything less from a species that actually seems to like the Kadahuli?