Alien Civilizations - OOC / Applications

[Oscalantine]

Scifi as in ALL scifi, including well-established franchises like Startrek, Starwars, Warhammer 40k, Halo, etc?

Sci-fi including everything Sci-fi. Just keep in mind one important thing:
Your species Evolved ON THE PLANET!

Right. Thanks, Hark, that helps clear A TON of stuff.

... so it would actually be possible to explain Feylin's energy field with Gellar Fields of WH40K. Whelp, that's one thing that I may actually need to research and see if that makes sense.

[Ralnis]

I am guessing that the Myr Xan are in the ice sheets?

You'll be playing with special rules. You'll start with Cold blooded trait and your starting region will have +3 Food and +1 Raw materials. You cannot build gardens in ice sheet regions. Each piece of ice sheet south of a Coldlands or Treelands region counts as a separate region. You should choose one region to be south of.

Shoot, looks like I don't need to make my boats to start going over seas. I will be near the Coldlands since I have an establish ally in that region.

[Prusslandia]

Gellar field won't work. IIRC, a gellar field is merely a vanguard against the daemons of the warp. Like a mind barrier.

[Harkback Union]

You'll be playing with special rules. You'll start with Cold blooded trait and your starting region will have +3 Food and +1 Raw materials. You cannot build gardens in ice sheet regions. Each piece of ice sheet south of a Coldlands or Treelands region counts as a separate region. You should choose one region to be south of.

Shoot, looks like I don't need to make my boats to start going over seas. I will be near the Coldlands since I have an establish ally in that region.

Yes but... you may run into difficulties (firelands!).

[G-Tech Corporation]

Heh. Calling the Force scifi is like calling Tolkien historical fiction.

You and me both. That is not what I am saying. I was just making a reference so that it looks like a complete list instead of something offscope... plus, if George Lucas comes here, I don't want to be force-choked from comfort of my own home.

About your other post... yes, you do have a point. But does one REALLY have to explain that in science? I feel like that is where I would leave things there. Personally, I like approaching the RPCs with a grain of salt that they won't abuse the flexibility that is allowed. If they do, I will personally take responsibility as co-OP who actually allowed this to happen and annoy the said perpetrator to the ends of the Earth to fix this said wrongs. Unless that happens, though... I feel like asking why Ents walk is too much science... no offense.

Well, it seems like a legitimate question to establish the extent of their 'walking'.

Let me put it this way- if we didn't call them Ents, and they were bushes instead of trees, would we be so quick to accept them walking as a matter of course? Ents are an established trope in our collective cultural psyche- but one entrenched purely by fantastical universes, not ones aiming for believably like this one.

Plants simply don't walk- they have no muscles, and specimens that use turgor pressure to move even a part of their bodies are far and few between. A tree in motion is a tree breaking its rigid wood, and its bark- as such, it doesn't seem unreasonable for us to try and figure out how trees move without snapping in half every time they do so, and how they can create a motion impetus in the first place. I'm not asking for a scientific thesis on the topic- just something that makes sense, or if not, to modify the civ so it does make sense. Thinking trees? Fine, that's pretty cool, so I'll suspend a bit of my disbelief. But don't make thinking flying trees that shoot lightening from their branches- Rule of Cool only goes so far.

[In Gentem Et De Libris Scientiam]

I'm just going with symbiotic relationships...

[The Flame Dawn]

Sorry I was gone for a while. Fantasy night = Go to MTG Prerelease and play Pathfinder until 2:00 AM. What have I missed?

[Harkback Union]

The monster is 95% ready:

The Mechanics:


ERAS AND CYCLES

Each Era consists of cycles. Cycles are the smallest measures of time. During each cycle, Events will happen in this order:

1. Population growth. (so you can use population the same cycle they are produced. (child labor much?))
2. Warbands with move orders move between regions.
3. Manpower generation based on population (also machine power later). Use of manpower in production, construction and so on. Resource harvesting (you can use up resources the same cycle they are produced!). Warband training.
4. Battles occur. (warbands trained this turn can participate, provided that they were commissioned in the same region)
5. Thought and Culture Generated.
6. Research and social evolution taking place.
7. Health and order penalties applied.

Health and order, along with other bonuses take place when its most relevant (manpower bonuses apply when manpower is generated, thought bonus when thought and so on...).

There is intended to be 7 eras in total. The length of each era depends on rate of tech advance. By default, Each RL day should be 1 Cycle.

GENETIC EVOLUTION

Genetic traits determine your species capabilities.
Everyone starts with Repro I. Constitution I. Cognition I., Free special trait, Free survival trait. At the end of each era, Everyone gets 3 evo points to upgrade their species! (except for autotrophs, they get only 2 each era.) Evolution will stop at the end of the 4th Era but may resume later. Evolution points are spent at end of each era to buy new traits. There are 3 kinds of traits:

Survival

Survival Traits allow your species to thrive in different parts of the world. You should start out with at least one survival gene(that fits your starting region you want). It costs 2 evolution points to gain survival traits. The traits are:
-Heat resistance: Allows survival in deserts sandlands
-Water filtration: Allows survival in Swamps
-Neuro-Toxin resistance: Allows survival in Treelands
-Strong Insulation: Allows survival in Tundras, Windlands and Highlands
-Moisture resistance: Allows survival in Rainlands
-Cold Blood: Allows survival in Icelands.


Note: Technology may also help your aquire new land.

Power

Power Traits determine the overall strengths of your species. You can spend evolution points on increasing these. The maximum level for each kind of trait is 7. The Sum total of your power traits cannot be more then 16. You start with level one in each of these!

Constitution - Determines phisical strength and speed. (Free population generates manpower equal to Constitution divided by 2, rounded up. For every 3 constitution your species has, All Pre-gunpowder Warbands gain +1 Strength)
Reproduction - Determines the rate at which you get more population. (Add 1 population each cycle For every Reproduction you have.) Also speeds up genetic evolution (+1 Evo point (not each cycle, just one time boos) when your get to reproduction lvl 4 and +1 at 7).
Cognition - Determines Intelligence. (+1 Thought and +1 Knowledge capacity for each cognition.)

More about what these traits are good for later

Special

Special Traits give special bonuses. You start out with 1 free trait in the first era and you can add a second trait for free at the start of the 2nd era. After that, It will cost 1 evolution points (except for species with Responsive to change) to change one of your special traits to something else. You can never have more then 2 ST in total!

-Survivalist: Costs of survival traits reduced to 1.
-Deadly: +1 Power to all Pre-Gunpowder Warbands.
-Responsive to change: Your species can't go higher then level 5 in each type of power trait. Change your special traits each era for free.
-Powerful senses: Grants you +1 Cognition (you lose the bonus if you abandon the trait)
-Effective communication: Allows you to share knowledge with other races of the same trait from the start.
-Hive mind: Grants your civilization +2 Order each turn. Grants immunity to all penalties related to 0 order.
-Symbiosis: Limits you to 2 survival traits. Gives you the ability to join up with another race (during any part of the game. You must both have symbiosis and at least 1 common survival trait). Races in symbiosis will "share" their power traits to their partner race. What I mean is that if you have a reproduction 2 and your partner has reproduction 4, For the duration of the symbiosis, your reproduction will count as 4. If the symbiosis ends, you will stop sharing and your reproduction will be reduced back to 2. If you add a reproduction during the symbiosis, your species reproduction will raise to 3 but you will still get level 4 from symbiosis.)
-Plant tissue digestion: +1 base food from All regions, except for Sandlands, Firelands and Icelands.
-Autotrophy: Your species needs 50% less food to survive and reproduces at twice rate. Can only be gained at start. You get -1 evo points each era.
-Tunneling claws: +1 base Raw materials from each region until the discovery of Steam power.
-Cryosleep: Allows your population to go into cryosleep. While in cryosleep, they can't work and they don't eat. You cannot increase your population while you have some in cryosleep.

SOCIAL EVOLUTION

The minds and souls of your race also evolves over time, along with the Culture and social structure of their civilizations Initially, you will have to choose between the following 2 options for social structure:

Hierarchy: +1 Starting Militia camp! + 1 Order each cycle!
Anarchy: 0 starting Order. Immune to order penalties.

These give starting benefits/penalties and will unlock different paths in social evolution. New traits will be purchasable with Thought or Culture.

CIVILIZATION

This is the most important part. Has sub sections:

What to keep track of:

Building up your civilization consist of the following:

-Expanding your territory with new regions.
-Expanding your infrastructure with new constructions.
-Expanding your forces with new warbands.
-Expanding your knowledge with new technologies.
-Expanding your culture with new Social traits.

You start with 1 region and that's about it (unless you went with hierarchy, in which case you get 1 warband).

You will also have to manage your civilization. There are some things to keep track of:

Order - How powerful your civ's leaders are and how obedient their population. Reaching 0 in most cases mean your society falls apart ( By default that means -5 Knowledge Cap. Lose 1 Tech each cycle if your KC is lower then the No. of techs you have). Max order is 30. For Every 3 order you have, Gain a free manpower each cycle. Some Warbands and some constructions produce order each turn. Each Region you control aside from your starting region consumes 3 order per turn. Surplus and deficit order has no effects.
Health - How safe, healthy and happy your people are. Low health typically translates to a dystopia while high health (20+) is a utopia. For every 6 health your society has, gain 1 thought per cycle. Your civ can't have more then 30 Health by default but you can turn in excess health for Manpower. If you run out of health, you must pay the deficit in thought. For each unit of Population you lose to starvation and For each warband you lose in battle, lose 1 health. For every cycle during which some your population is left without living space, lose 1 health. Some constructions and social traits modify health rules.
Population - The Sum total of your population.
Living space - The amount of space for your population to live in. If you don't have enough living space for your population at the end of a cycle, Lose 1 health and 1 population.
Culture and thought accumulated - You should keep track of how many you produced over time. There is no limit for this.
Stored food, resources and goods - How much stuff you have stored. Remember that you have to build storehouses first.

Each of these scores can go from 0 to... whatever your societies limits are. Keep in mind that all the rules above can be changed by social evolution.
There are also some other things that are sometimes of qualitative nature:

Constructions, Warbands, Regions, Technologies and Social Traits - What you have built and invented.

Resources and goods are counted in units. Each unit amount for... some of the stuff. They may get accumulated if you have storage capacity and can be traded if you have trade routes.

Common Resources, you will need a lot of these!

Food - Feeds your population. Each pupulation consumes 1 Food every cycle. Each Region produces some food for your race regardless of the infrastructure there. Gardens, Farms, Fishing wharfs (for non herbivores) and Industrial farms can produce additional food.

Raw Materials - The foundation of your economy. Wood, Metals, Bricks and the likes. Consumed by construction sites, workshops and factories. Raw materials can be produced from many kind of constructions but each region also has a base output you get each cycle as long as you control the place.

Fuels and Energy (has the mostly the same uses but energy cannot be stockpiled) - Powers machines. You won't be needing much of this until the 5th era.

Less common resources and goods:

Spice - Found in deserts. Spice makes your warbands stronger! Give one warband one spice to make them stronger for one cycle!

Spice can also be refined into fuel with the right tech can also make your people happy with space markets.

Fiber - A Color- and powerful fabric that grows in rainlands. Used to make pretty clothes.

Dust - Rare substance used to make gunpowder and explosives. Found mostly in firelands. Discovered in era 3.

Red Iron - A rare metal, very good at conducting energy. Discovered in Era 5.

Thorium - Another Rare metal. Used to generate energy. Discovered in Era 6.

Warband weapons and equipment - All sorts of Weapons used in warbands. You can trade them with other civs. They are specific for each warband type (for instance, Pikeband weapons, Swordband weapons, Musketband weapons and so on!). These are built in workshops and Factories.

Supplies - Consumed by advanced Warbands during battles. Pre-gunpowder warbands don't consume supplies.

Vehicles, Ships and Machines - Works similarly to warband weapons. Different construction projects and warbands use different machines and ships. (Factory machines, mine machines, Farm machines, ships, Landships, airships). Also built in workshops and Factories.

Civilian Goods - Clothing, Furniture, Home appliances, Books... Helps your society's health.

Culture - In its Physical form. Can be used in many ways, primarily to evolve your society.

Thought - Unlocks technologies... but can also be spent in some special ways.

Relics - ???

The Regions, Expansion Population growth, Manpower, Thought, Culture, Construction and Research:

Each region has room for 10 constructions at the start, more room can be unlocked with technology. You start with one region. To claim a region, you must invest manpower. It takes 20 manpower to claim another region for your people. If multiple civs try to claim the same region, then they will have to split up the land there based on the manpower they invested. The region's base income also get split. You can only claim regions next to regions you already own until the discovery of sailing.

Each Race has 0 knowledge capacity (room for technology) at the start. More can be unlocked with construction and cognition traits.

Each unit of population can either fill a role (farmer, librarian, fisherman) in some constructions or they can be used to produce a number of manpower equal to your race's constitution Divided by 2, rounded up. If at the start of a cycle you have a population of 3 that is not assigned to a role and a constitution of 3 or 4: You'll get 6 Manpower! If you have constitution 5 or 6, with the same pop: 9 manpower! MAkes sense, no?

Your population growth depends on your reproduction trait. Each level in reproduction means one more population to add each cycle. If your race's reproduction score is 2, you may increase your population by 2 at the start of each cycle! However, If you don't have enough food to feed your people by the end of a cycle, You'll lose the excess population and 1 Health for each pop lost this way.

Constructing:

Constructions do not require the costs to materialize at once. You can commit resources to a construction over several cycles and when you invested 100% of what's needed, the construction is complete! However, there are rules regarding this. Whenever you commit manpower to a construction, you must always commit equal number of resources. You can't, for instance invest 10 manpower in a project one cycle and then invest 10 raw materials in the next to complete a construction that costs 100 of each. It can be the other way around however.

The Constructions buildable from the start are:

-Village.
Cost: 2 Raw Materials 2 Manpower. Takes up 1 space. Provides Living space for 3 population. You start with a free village.

-Warband Camp.
Costs: 2 Raw Materials, 2 manpower. Takes up 1 space. Allows you to train 1 population into 1 pre-gunpowder warband each cycle. Supports up to 3 pre-gunpowder warbands. Can always train Militia warbands that need no warband weapons (they are free).

-Cave.
Costs: 2 Manpower. Takes up 1 space. The cave stores 5 anything.


Warbands.

Warbands are parts of your population commited to the military. Warbands always combine 1 population with 1, 2 or 3 units of Warband Gear/equipment, except for militias, they cost 0 equipment. Warbands consume food and in most cases take up living space in your villages like regular people (depends on Social traits). They may also consume supplies (if they are built after discovery of gunpowder) and fuel (If they are mechanized) during battles. There is also a maximum number of Warbands you can field, Depending on the number of military buildings.

The Warbands trainable from the start are:

-Militia:
Costs: None (just 1 population)
Trained in: Warband Camp
Strength: Your race's constitution + 1 Power.
Speed: 1 Region per cycle.
Special: none.


Technology and Thought:

Technologies costs thought to unlock. Once you have enough thought, you can simply purchase the tech you need. You gain thought equal to your cognition trait at the start.


You can never have more techs then your knowledge capacity. You get 1 For every 10 population you have, 1 knowledge capacity for each cognition trait, 1 for every 6 health your society has and you can also get more with constructions. You may also get free knowledge capacity as eras pass by. Knowledge can be also shared between civs with Paper technology or civs between civs with efficient communication.

The Technologies for the first era and what they do:

Metal Working (2 T) - Unlocks workshops (costs 5 Manpower and 3 Raw Materials. Takes up 1 space). Workshops allow you to produce All sorts of things with your population, provided that you have any techs that unlocked something useful to produce. Only one Population can work here at once to produce 1 product each cycle.

Mining (2 T) - Unlocks Mines (8 Manpower, 1 Raw Material, 1 space). Mines allow you to extract 1 Raw material for 2 Manpower or 2 Raw Materials for 4 Manpower each cycle.

Weapons (3 T) - Unlocks production of spearman Warband Equipment (2 Raw Materials) in workshops. Spearman have base 2 Strength + 1 Strength against cavalry. They may move 1 region each cycle and are trained in Warband Camps.
SPEARMAN ARE NOT THE SAME AS PIKEMAN!

Agriculture (2 T) - Unlocks Gardens (3 Manpower, 1 Raw Materials, 1 Space). You can assign 2 Population to each garden. These populations won't generate manpower. There, They will produce 1 food each + 1 more food (for a total of 3) if you have all 2 slots filled.

Artisans (2 T) - Unlocks civilian goods production in workshops. Each "civilian goods" takes 2 Raw materials to make. Your society gains one health for each civilian product it recieves.

Writing (4 T) - Unlocks Scriptoriums (costs 10 Manpower, 3 Raw Materials, 1 Space each.). + 3 Knowledge capacity. Requires 1 population to run the place (again, pop assigned to buildings won't generate manpower).

Sailing (5 T) - Unlocks ship production in workshops (2 Raw material each) and Port construction (10 manpower, 4 raw material). Ships and Ports can only be built in coastal regions of any climate and swamp regions. Ports allow you to combine 3 ships and to form an "Early Transport fleet". Early Transport fleets can establish 1 water trade route (or colony route) or transport 2 warbands 2 Regions along shorelines. Early transports can never go more then 4 Regions away from their home port.

Fishing (2 T) - Unlocks Fishing Wharf construction (6 Manpower, 2 Raw Material, 1 Ship). At the Wharf, 1 unit of population can work to harvest 2 food! Can only be built on coastal regions.

Animal Housbandry (3 T) - Unlocks Cavalry Warbands (1 cavalry equipment) and production of cavalry equipment in workshops (2 Food, 2 Raw Materials). Cavalry has 3 Strength and can choose to abandon battles even if it moved during the cycle in which the battle takes place. Has 2 moves each cycle.

Battle!

Battle occurs when warbands of opposing sides end up in the same region. Only one battle takes place in each region each cycle.

Battles go like this:
1. Before the battle startrs, you may order each of your warbands to Get the hell out of there (only works on warbands that haven't moved this cycle. Allows you to move the warbands to a nearby friendly region for free!). This is also the part where you move units in and out of forts.
2. Order each of your remaining troops to Attack a specific an enemy Warband.
3. Warbands deal and recieve damage based on their strength and the strength of warbands attacking. If a warband is dealt tamage equal to its strength, it dies. Injuries are carried over to future battles.

If at the end of a battle, there are troops remaining on both sides, the battle goes on for another cycle. The battle ends when one side is destroyed.

Regional Modifiers:
In Highlands, Up to 3 non-aerial warbands from each side can deal damage to other non-aerial warbands in one battle (and an unlimited number of air and anti-air warbands).
In Swamps and rainlands, sea (ships can move into swamp regions and therefore fight land warbands there) and Mechanized land warbands deal halved damage.
Archer, Musketeer, Dragoon, Rifleman and horse archer warbands have +1 Strength in Deserts, Coldlands, Highlands, and Firelands.

Special modifiers:
Some warbands may have defensive capabilities that make them harder to defeat. For instance, Machine gun Warbands recieve 75% less damage from non-mechanized warbands. There are also some constructions that modify battle results, they usually have another kind of strength. Defensive strength. Defensive strength does not deal damage but warbands and constructions with extra defensive strength won't die until they are dealt damage equal to their defensive strength + their regular strength. Defensive strength is always lost before regular strength.

Example battle, The Battle of Fort Brotherhood in Rainlands.

The opposing sides are the federation and the alliance. The Alliance is attacking a federation region with a fort.

Federation warbands and Constructions:

4 Pikeman Warbands (2 S +1 Vs Cavalry. Takes only 1 damage from melee cavalry)
2 Archer Warbands ( 1 S, +1 DS, Resurrects after the battle with 0 DS in a nearby friendly region if defeated by melee infantry.)
1 Fort (30 DS, Shields up to 5 units from all attacks. Shielded Melee units cannot attack)

Alliance Warbands and Constructions:

2 Cavalry (3 S)
4 Archers (1 S, +1 DS, resurrects with 0 DS if defeated by melee in a nearby region),
1 Catapults (1 S, + 9 S VS constructions. +2 DS)
4 Swordsman (4 S)

First Battle orders:
-Alliance Cavalry Retreats
-3 Federation pikeman and 2 archers stay inside fort. 1 Pikeman remains outside.

-Alliance Orders 1 of its swordsman to attack the federation pikeman left outside. Everyone else attacks the fort.
-Federation orders the 1 pikeman outside and the 2 archers to attack 1 Alliance Swordsman.

Results:
Fort recieves 4+10+12=26 Damage. 4 DS remaining.
Federation Pikeman recieves 4 damage, Dies.
Alliance Swordsman recieves 2+1+1 damage, Dies.

A Cycle passes, The Alliance cavalry did not return, Alliance withdraws its archers and catapults for another battle but they also send 2 more swordsman before the battle phase begins.

2nd battle

No Withdrawal.
Federation troops remain in fort.

2 Federation archers are ordered to deal damage to a swordsmen.
Alliance swordsman are ordered to destroy the fort.

An alliance Swordsman is injured and loses 2 S.
Federation Fort destroyed. No more protection for Federation troops.

A Cycle Passes. Federation moves in 3 archers and 2 Cavalry, The Cavalry has arrived!

Nobody retreats

1 Federation PIkeman targets the injured swordsman, 1 Federation Cavalry and 1 archer target a healthy swordsman. 4 Federation archers target another Alliance swordsman. 2 Fed pikeman attack the 4th swordsman. 1 Federation cavalry attacks the last alliance soldier.
The 4 healthy Alliance Swordsman's orders:
1st, target 1st fed pikeman
2nd, target 2nd fed pikeman
3rd, target 1st fed cavalry
4th, Target 2nd fed cavalry
The Injured Swordsman attacks the 3rd fed pikeman (The injured swordsman only has 2 Strength, that's just enough to kill the pikeman).

Results:
All alliance soldiers successfully kill their targets.
Federation troops kill 4 alliance warbands but one Alliance warband was only dealt 3 damage, it remains alive with 1 Strength.

In the following cycle, The alliance retreats, The Federation won!
Owners of destroyed warbands lose health. Fort was destroyed. Regain remained in federation control. For the duration of the battle, The region was able to continue production.

TRADE!

After the discovery of commerce, You can use transport ships and caravans to exchange resources and goods with other civilizations. Each Transport and caravan can ship 2 resources or goods both ways between 2 civs, though each civ must have at least 1 port (in case of sea trade) or a chain of ports and roads connecting the 2 civs (for caravans) CAPITALS! Caravans cannot cover more then 3 regions but several caravans and ships can be combined to create long routes.

Knowledge can be traded freely after linguistics is discovered (Era 3), as long as there is enough knowledge capacity on the recieving side.

Collaborators:
Jute, Scientiam,

[Harkback Union]

If you find some broken sentences in it, lemme know.

[Jute]

Scifi as in ALL scifi, including well-established franchises like Startrek, Starwars, Warhammer 40k, Halo, etc?

Heh. Calling the Force scifi is like calling Tolkien historical fiction.

And I got some flak roughly two years ago when I tried to argue that Star Wars is not science fiction, but more fantasy set in space...

[Denmark-Hanover and Skaneland]

Rainlands III

[Ralnis]

Shoot, looks like I don't need to make my boats to start going over seas. I will be near the Coldlands since I have an establish ally in that region.

Yes but... you may run into difficulties (firelands!).

I will cross that flaming bridge when I get to it.

[The Orson Empire]

I think I will back out of this. The mechanics seem unnecessarily complicated.

[Jute]

Heh. Calling the Force scifi is like calling Tolkien historical fiction.

You and me both. That is not what I am saying. I was just making a reference so that it looks like a complete list instead of something offscope... plus, if George Lucas comes here, I don't want to be force-choked from comfort of my own home.

About your other post... yes, you do have a point. But does one REALLY have to explain that in science? I feel like that is where I would leave things there. Personally, I like approaching the RPCs with a grain of salt that they won't abuse the flexibility that is allowed. If they do, I will personally take responsibility as co-OP who actually allowed this to happen and annoy the said perpetrator to the ends of the Earth to fix this said wrongs. Unless that happens, though... I feel like asking why Ents walk is too much science... no offense.

They walk by removing their and replanting their roots, maybe? This is why it takes them so long to move, but it would have been a beneficial evolutionary trait, since you can find a better place to live that way and aren't bound to it. Especially helpful in cases of dryness, darkness etc.

[Oscalantine]

Gellar field won't work. IIRC, a gellar field is merely a vanguard against the daemons of the warp. Like a mind barrier.

Thanks for ruining my happy-time,

You and me both. That is not what I am saying. I was just making a reference so that it looks like a complete list instead of something offscope... plus, if George Lucas comes here, I don't want to be force-choked from comfort of my own home.

About your other post... yes, you do have a point. But does one REALLY have to explain that in science? I feel like that is where I would leave things there. Personally, I like approaching the RPCs with a grain of salt that they won't abuse the flexibility that is allowed. If they do, I will personally take responsibility as co-OP who actually allowed this to happen and annoy the said perpetrator to the ends of the Earth to fix this said wrongs. Unless that happens, though... I feel like asking why Ents walk is too much science... no offense.

Well, it seems like a legitimate question to establish the extent of their 'walking'.

Let me put it this way- if we didn't call them Ents, and they were bushes instead of trees, would we be so quick to accept them walking as a matter of course? Ents are an established trope in our collective cultural psyche- but one entrenched purely by fantastical universes, not ones aiming for believably like this one.

Plants simply don't walk- they have no muscles, and specimens that use turgor pressure to move even a part of their bodies are far and few between. A tree in motion is a tree breaking its rigid wood, and its bark- as such, it doesn't seem unreasonable for us to try and figure out how trees move without snapping in half every time they do so, and how they can create a motion impetus in the first place. I'm not asking for a scientific thesis on the topic- just something that makes sense, or if not, to modify the civ so it does make sense. Thinking trees? Fine, that's pretty cool, so I'll suspend a bit of my disbelief. But don't make thinking flying trees that shoot lightening from their branches- Rule of Cool only goes so far.

I really feel like we are sincerely burning our braincells for all the wrong things.
I wonder if this will cull your thoughts: couldn't we meet at half-ground if we said that "Ents" can "move" by a unique system of aerial roots, where extending and retracting roots in peculiar fashion can facilitate... while not walking through snapping barks and fibers... movement around the forest that will make it seem like to other species that "Ents" are actually "walking"? In that sense, I guess same aerial roots can be used as a primary means of interaction, holding onto particular artifacts of need.

[G-Tech Corporation]

You and me both. That is not what I am saying. I was just making a reference so that it looks like a complete list instead of something offscope... plus, if George Lucas comes here, I don't want to be force-choked from comfort of my own home.

About your other post... yes, you do have a point. But does one REALLY have to explain that in science? I feel like that is where I would leave things there. Personally, I like approaching the RPCs with a grain of salt that they won't abuse the flexibility that is allowed. If they do, I will personally take responsibility as co-OP who actually allowed this to happen and annoy the said perpetrator to the ends of the Earth to fix this said wrongs. Unless that happens, though... I feel like asking why Ents walk is too much science... no offense.

They walk by removing their and replanting their roots, maybe? This is why it takes them so long to move, but it would have been a beneficial evolutionary trait, since you can find a better place to live that way and aren't bound to it. Especially helpful in cases of dryness, darkness etc.

Which makes sense- subtle turgor pressures often move trees over time anyway, and a stronger presence as well as actively detaching roots would allow a tree to move over time from place to place. They'd have a very hard time moving anywhere near a speed we would think of as walking though.

[Jute]

Do we have to list what traits we choose here, in the IC thread, or not at all?

[Aidannadia]

I'm tagging this so I can read through the IC.

[G-Tech Corporation]

I wonder if this will cull your thoughts: couldn't we meet at half-ground if we said that "Ents" can "move" by a unique system of aerial roots, where extending and retracting roots in peculiar fashion can facilitate... while not walking through snapping barks and fibers... movement around the forest that will make it seem like to other species that "Ents" are actually "walking"? In that sense, I guess same aerial roots can be used as a primary means of interaction, holding onto particular artifacts of need.

So the aerial roots attach to other objects and pull the entire tree along? That might work for younger trees, but the fluid pressure required to move a full-fledged tree will be quite impressive.

[Prusslandia]

Gellar field won't work. IIRC, a gellar field is merely a vanguard against the daemons of the warp. Like a mind barrier.

Thanks for ruining my happy-time,

Well, it seems like a legitimate question to establish the extent of their 'walking'.

Let me put it this way- if we didn't call them Ents, and they were bushes instead of trees, would we be so quick to accept them walking as a matter of course? Ents are an established trope in our collective cultural psyche- but one entrenched purely by fantastical universes, not ones aiming for believably like this one.

Plants simply don't walk- they have no muscles, and specimens that use turgor pressure to move even a part of their bodies are far and few between. A tree in motion is a tree breaking its rigid wood, and its bark- as such, it doesn't seem unreasonable for us to try and figure out how trees move without snapping in half every time they do so, and how they can create a motion impetus in the first place. I'm not asking for a scientific thesis on the topic- just something that makes sense, or if not, to modify the civ so it does make sense. Thinking trees? Fine, that's pretty cool, so I'll suspend a bit of my disbelief. But don't make thinking flying trees that shoot lightening from their branches- Rule of Cool only goes so far.

I really feel like we are sincerely burning our braincells for all the wrong things.
I wonder if this will cull your thoughts: couldn't we meet at half-ground if we said that "Ents" can "move" by a unique system of aerial roots, where extending and retracting roots in peculiar fashion can facilitate... while not walking through snapping barks and fibers... movement around the forest that will make it seem like to other species that "Ents" are actually "walking"? In that sense, I guess same aerial roots can be used as a primary means of interaction, holding onto particular artifacts of need.

Just roll with sonic resonance.

[The Flame Dawn]

-snip-

Looks awesome!
Also, have I missed anything recently. I was away from my computer.

[Denmark-Hanover and Skaneland]

Gellar field won't work. IIRC, a gellar field is merely a vanguard against the daemons of the warp. Like a mind barrier.

Thanks for ruining my happy-time,

Well, it seems like a legitimate question to establish the extent of their 'walking'.

Let me put it this way- if we didn't call them Ents, and they were bushes instead of trees, would we be so quick to accept them walking as a matter of course? Ents are an established trope in our collective cultural psyche- but one entrenched purely by fantastical universes, not ones aiming for believably like this one.

Plants simply don't walk- they have no muscles, and specimens that use turgor pressure to move even a part of their bodies are far and few between. A tree in motion is a tree breaking its rigid wood, and its bark- as such, it doesn't seem unreasonable for us to try and figure out how trees move without snapping in half every time they do so, and how they can create a motion impetus in the first place. I'm not asking for a scientific thesis on the topic- just something that makes sense, or if not, to modify the civ so it does make sense. Thinking trees? Fine, that's pretty cool, so I'll suspend a bit of my disbelief. But don't make thinking flying trees that shoot lightening from their branches- Rule of Cool only goes so far.

I really feel like we are sincerely burning our braincells for all the wrong things.
I wonder if this will cull your thoughts: couldn't we meet at half-ground if we said that "Ents" can "move" by a unique system of aerial roots, where extending and retracting roots in peculiar fashion can facilitate... while not walking through snapping barks and fibers... movement around the forest that will make it seem like to other species that "Ents" are actually "walking"? In that sense, I guess same aerial roots can be used as a primary means of interaction, holding onto particular artifacts of need.

Don't Ents have legs?

[Oscalantine]

I wonder if this will cull your thoughts: couldn't we meet at half-ground if we said that "Ents" can "move" by a unique system of aerial roots, where extending and retracting roots in peculiar fashion can facilitate... while not walking through snapping barks and fibers... movement around the forest that will make it seem like to other species that "Ents" are actually "walking"? In that sense, I guess same aerial roots can be used as a primary means of interaction, holding onto particular artifacts of need.

So the aerial roots attach to other objects and pull the entire tree along? That might work for younger trees, but the fluid pressure required to move a full-fledged tree will be quite impressive.

The point is: are you buying this or do I have to make another excuse? Please cut me some slack. It is 2am and I am in no place to crack my skull for biology which I haven't revisited since high school.

Anyhow, if enough can sprout from "Ents" fast and often enough, it could facilitate as movement. Now, that would be extremely slow... since you literally are growing a new set of roots to push the trees along. However, I feel like it would be fast enough to justify the movement notion while maintaining your logical reasoning that trees tend to be rigid and will break if you move the barks often enough.

[Oscalantine]

Just roll with sonic resonance.

Neva!!! [/joke]

In all honestly, I got tired of battling uphill battle with Feylins. I am creating a new species based on Firelands. Complete re-application. That sounds better than wrestling with myself on what will save this species.

[Denmark-Hanover and Skaneland]

So the aerial roots attach to other objects and pull the entire tree along? That might work for younger trees, but the fluid pressure required to move a full-fledged tree will be quite impressive.

The point is: are you buying this or do I have to make another excuse? Please cut me some slack. It is 2am and I am in no place to crack my skull for biology which I haven't revisited since high school.

Anyhow, if enough can sprout from "Ents" fast and often enough, it could facilitate as movement. Now, that would be extremely slow... since you literally are growing a new set of roots to push the trees along. However, I feel like it would be fast enough to justify the movement notion while maintaining your logical reasoning that trees tend to be rigid and will break if you move the barks often enough.

Where I am it's 2 pm. I venture you live in either China, Korea, Vietnam, or that general area of Asia.