Future Tech Advice and Assistance Thread [O.O.C.]

[The Voidborne]

Anyone willing to give my factbooks a once over? I could use some opinions/advice.






Also... TAG.

[Stormwrath]

Anyone willing to give my factbooks a once over? I could use some opinions/advice.

I like it. What could be added to your current worldbuilding may be your nation's society, beliefs, astrography (which is your worlds and such), and government.

[The Voidborne]

I know... I just haven't had time to add things like that in yet. I'm more concerned with parts of it being taken as OP or power gaming despite the fact that I've taken steps to limit such things.

[Stormwrath]

I know... I just haven't had time to add things like that in yet. I'm more concerned with parts of it being taken as OP or power gaming despite the fact that I've taken steps to limit such things.

You mean like coming from a galactic empire that went poof? Aye, there are some. If you think that this is OP, you just have to ask us here. We're happy to help. Imo, I don't think they are, and you can do what you want with it, but always expect people to react.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Is selling ships in FT basically worthless because of the vast tech and aesthetic differences between different nations?

[Stormwrath]

Is selling ships in FT basically worthless because of the vast tech and aesthetic differences between different nations?

Depends. It would be pretty easy for human nations to sell ships to other human nations because, well, they kind of have the same tastes with one another. Of course there are some exceptions. Selling to xeno nations on the other hand becomes more problematic since you're dealing with a pretty diverse range of anatomical structures that have their own functions, which will reflect how their ships would be constructed.

[The Voidborne]

Is selling ships in FT basically worthless because of the vast tech and aesthetic differences between different nations?

Unless its an IC transaction for RP purposes I was under the impression that everyone simply made their own ships in FT...

[Singaporean Transhumans]

Is selling ships in FT basically worthless because of the vast tech and aesthetic differences between different nations?

Unless its an IC transaction for RP purposes I was under the impression that everyone simply made their own ships in FT...

oh well

i had the idea of selling highly customizable 'template ships' to nations that just got their heads in space and has no efficient ftl or ship designs

not like there are any tho

[Lubyak]

You could definitely do it and have it as an IC business. You probably won't get a lot of actual purchases, but having it as an IC entity seems fair enough.

[Allanea]

If there were more GE&T storefronts I'd definitely shop in them. I love storefronts!

[System-Lord Baal]

oh well

i had the idea of selling highly customizable 'template ships' to nations that just got their heads in space and has no efficient ftl or ship designs

not like there are any tho

For those nations that are more free market, you can always pander to civilians and small business owners. Cheap ships for interplanetary runs? Private yachts?

I think the appeal of a customizable template ship would be more private sector.

[Vocenae]

FT storefronts are pretty hard to pull off correctly. For me, I wanted to do my own shipyard with custom ship models that I've built in DOGA, but the lack of interest in storefronts for the FT community (plus my own great dislike of stats and numbers) put me off from it. What others have suggested is the better way to go, just construct your own IC corporations and businesses that you can use as part of your civilization's setting and can move the plot forward.

[Telros]

As the others have said, FT Storefronts don't work well if you made them in similar fashion to the MT and other storefronts. Money is kinda ephemeral here, with people either assuming the economy is doing well, or dealing with a disaster or downturn due to !PLOT! or as a result of a thread. The idea and story of selling ships, weapons, civilian models, supplies, etc to other nations is still definitely viable, and they could be used as background for that. As Vocenae said, you could do a 'storefront' where you detail what they are about, what they sell, and so forth. So that way if someone makes a deal with you in-character, they can mention the Naharak Corporation did a deal with them to sell them Assault Cruisers or build their merchant marine ships for them, and so forth, and you can mention the contract and how it's bringing in all dat sweet dough.

So, in short, it's an extra addition you can make to give a name and definition to your vessels as well as your major corporations. But it's not necessary if you don't want to or you run into problems making it.

[Dreadful Sagittarius]

As someone who did run an FT storefront, albeit on another account, I'd go with what Voc and Telros said. The way GE&T users interact with each other and the storefronts doesn't lend itself well to the story-driven focus of FT. You can't make a story posting 'I'll buy one hundred battleships, signed, finance minister of this nation'. You can make a story out of how say, the Phanite cartel Stavridis-Hwang is making a profit selling advanced laserhead missiles to the Phanite Nautikon that they acquired from the Raumreich, and how they're trying to prevent their competitors at Wei-Xia Global Defence from learning about the missile's source, since Wei-Xia provide the main ship-borne guns used by the Nautikon.

It's just a handy way to set up intrigue and backstory, too, and I feel downheartened that a lot of times in FT, we discount something happening because it's not a military struggle between states, or racial genocide, when we've got the arena of economic and mercantile struggles to use as another tool in our kit.

[Red Talons]

As someone who did run an FT storefront, albeit on another account, I'd go with what Voc and Telros said. The way GE&T users interact with each other and the storefronts doesn't lend itself well to the story-driven focus of FT. You can't make a story posting 'I'll buy one hundred battleships, signed, finance minister of this nation'. You can make a story out of how say, the Phanite cartel Stavridis-Hwang is making a profit selling advanced laserhead missiles to the Phanite Nautikon that they acquired from the Raumreich, and how they're trying to prevent their competitors at Wei-Xia Global Defence from learning about the missile's source, since Wei-Xia provide the main ship-borne guns used by the Nautikon.

It's just a handy way to set up intrigue and backstory, too, and I feel downheartened that a lot of times in FT, we discount something happening because it's not a military struggle between states, or racial genocide, when we've got the arena of economic and mercantile struggles to use as another tool in our kit.

Because I can't upvote or like this.

I also want to add; I successfully ran a series of trade station threads for a while, and there is one such thread still going with my IC alliance. Having a set place such as a merchant station or dirt-side port like Mos Eisley or the FT analog to Tortuga are settings that focus on characters. Normal 'average' joes/janes having wacky adventures up to top level representatives making deals with secret meetings, maybe even spies, etc. Fleet engagements are fun and all that, but that's expected in any large scale sci-fi setting to the point where it's almost better as a backdrop. A good example is something like this. The fleet is slugging it out, we got to see it and it's awesome, but that's not what's really important to the plot, everyone's on the edge of their seat waiting to see what Luke's going to do when he's outnumbered and alone.

[The Nuclear Fist]

So I've read over the guide to creating a factbook, and I wanted to see if there was a template or something I could use to help me write it? Or failing that, if someone had a particularly well written one as a basis?

[Sunset]

So I've read over the guide to creating a factbook, and I wanted to see if there was a template or something I could use to help me write it? Or failing that, if someone had a particularly well written one as a basis?

Mine is okay. If you see a particularly well-written one you like, you can copy/paste by opening the following;

http://www.nationstates.net/page=create ... dit=XXXXXX

But replace XXXXXX with the factbook ID number of the one you want. You can't actually edit it, but you can see the raw code. Ideally you should ask, though there are plenty of factbooks out there as 'templates'. If you like mine, feel free. Goes for anyone really. Internet is for sharing.

[The Nuclear Fist]

So I've read over the guide to creating a factbook, and I wanted to see if there was a template or something I could use to help me write it? Or failing that, if someone had a particularly well written one as a basis?

Mine is okay. If you see a particularly well-written one you like, you can copy/paste by opening the following;

http://www.nationstates.net/page=create ... dit=XXXXXX

But replace XXXXXX with the factbook ID number of the one you want. You can't actually edit it, but you can see the raw code. Ideally you should ask, though there are plenty of factbooks out there as 'templates'. If you like mine, feel free. Goes for anyone really. Internet is for sharing.

Thanks.

[Nyte]

Feel free to borrow from mine too... Its not the most complete mind you but...

[Stormwrath]

If there were more GE&T storefronts I'd definitely shop in them. I love storefronts!

You and me both.

@Everyone: I have once run an FT storefront (don't have as much energy to keep it going as of now), and I can tell that there is an appeal for those kind of things. However, the others do have a point that running it the way MT nations run it will get you nowhere in a community that has a fundamentally different culture in regards to RPing. When we talk about how FT works, plot is king. It is encouraged that you should have your storefront be a plot device of sorts and help your storytelling with others, but of course you're free to do what you want with it.

For one I am planning to set up an FT shipping company, like a Space!Maersk or something similar with my puppet account. It's going to combine elements of having detailed descriptions of my products and the usual buy-and-sell vibe of MT storefronts, with the IC thread vibe of FT threads in general.

Also, is it me or am I getting tired of the "plot is king" maxim being rubbed in my face a lot in this thread? No offense, but it is assumed that NSFT encourages building stories with others and going at it gradually to come up with something interesting. However I think that answering "players are supposed to adhere to the 4Cs" is starting to make me think that is in effect dodging the question they pose. Please correct me or forever hold your peace.

[Singaporean Transhumans]

For one I am planning to set up an FT shipping company, like a Space!Maersk or something similar with my puppet account. It's going to combine elements of having detailed descriptions of my products and the usual buy-and-sell vibe of MT storefronts, with the IC thread vibe of FT threads in general.

was going to do one of those too

i suppose i'll cater more towards the F7 group of 'FT'

[The Uthani Imperium]

-Snip-

Simply speaking: Yes, the 4Cs are brought up a lot in this thread. At the very core of things, the 4Cs are the backbone and foundation of all other standards that the NSFT community holds itself to. Because of such, they tend to come up a lot, especially since a large portion of this thread involves introducing new players to the community as a whole. It can get repetitive, but it's so easy to overlook the basics when you get really excited about an idea that it warrants being said. At the end of the day the 4Cs really make or break the validity (in the context of broader NSFT roleplay) of an idea, and it's so crucial to make sure players do understand this fundamental part of the community.

From a personal level: Yeah it can really get repetitive sometimes. I know that when I write just about any of my advice thread posts, I very generally start with "In the context of the 4Cs" or "Remember that your strength is directly proportional to story necessity." I always try to answer the actual question, to the best of my abilities and understanding of the subject at hand, but no you're right my fallback answer is most certainly "4Cs, Plot is King." Especially when questions involve technologies or strategies that are, in my experience, directly tied to plot necessity. There's a reason for that though.

Most of the time if you've been around the FT A&AT for more than a couple of days you're familiar with these ideas and community standards. But this is a public forum. Regardless of who my post is directed at, any other player can come along, read it (out of context and without prior knowledge if they so choose) and take what they will from it. Because of such, I personally find it very important to not only answer the question, but also provide a community-centric answer in support of such. Most of the time this isn't solely for the benefit of the player I'm conversing with, but for the benefit of anyone else who reads the post. So yes, it can get repetitive, and yes I understand that it can sometimes feel frustrating or "cop-outish," but at the end of the day this core concept is so important to NSFT that I personally feel it needs to be stated. I can only speak for myself, but when I incorporate the 4Cs into my posts (as I often do), I'm not trying to patronize you nor am I assuming you don't know that these standards exist; but someone else might not be aware of them.

If I say "Your super weapon is totally cool and scientifically feasible and awesome etc etc." Knowing full-well that you intend to use it as a plot device. Out of context, someone not familiar with the community can just as easily come along and say "Well [x] said it was totally cool so I can employ this wide scale without incorporating the 4Cs."

So yes, I'll happily answer your question to the best of my ability, but if I'm being honest there's gonna be a blurb on the 4Cs and Plot King-liness in there.

I hope that clears up why I personally state it so much, and I hope you find this a satisfactory answer.

[Michael Kenmore]

Hello, I actually need some opinions and advice... because I think I've managed to wedge my whole nation into a dead end both OOCly and ICly...

Originally, this wasn't even my nation. It belonged to someone I knew IRL and they eventually got tired of NS and left. I picked it up pretty young though. Originally, this nation was lifted pretty directly from the Stargate: Atlantis storyline just with the AU premise the Wraith moved a faction to the Milky Way. The Wraith were a predatory species that evolved from contact with humanoid species to feed specifically on human lifeforce. That alone made it difficult to interact except on the basis "the Wraith are starving, they attack ___ nation".

So, most of the RPs 4 or 5 years ago started on that premise, and finally ( a now defunct account, but integrally important to this nation ) Morningstar Coalition took pity and set up some trade agreements with the Wraith and gave them a power generator which vastly improved their technology, as that was the primary weakness previously.

However, that set up a new host of problems. Previously, the biggest ships the Wraith used were the hiveships. They were about 10 km long, unshielded, organic monstrosities which they nomadically lived in, as they were predators that roamed from planet to planet. Hiveships were like cities, basically giant meat-tunnels where they spawned their young and brought captured humans to feed on later. Hiveships also grew in size over the course of their lives based on how much energy they got. And hiveships tended to be fairly weak under weapons fire, their strength being in launching Zerg rushes of fighters and having hull-regeneration properties.

Because of all those reasons, on multiple RP occasions the normal tactic for RPers dealing with an enemy hiveship was to do a boarding action: pierce the organic, unshielded hull, fight their way through the sparsely-inhabited tunnels while avoiding prisoner sections, and then kill the Hive Queen. That typically disoriented the hive long enough for them to do a few rescues on would-be-food, and then the hive would flee. I LIKED that approach, because boarding actions tend to be more character-heavy RPing. Good stuff right there. Good stuff. Board my hives any time.

But with the Morningstar singularity generators, that changed. Mainly, because lifting the power restrictions meant that hiveships can grow faster and indefinitely, and regenerate quicker. It made them a closer match for a lot of FT nations, and suddenly hulking 25 km hiveships with a hull of about 20 feet of bone, chitin, and muscle seemed a lot scarier to tackle than their lumbering whale cousins. Populations didn't change... these hiveships were even more barren than ever before. And the slaughter of Hive Queens previously did insure most of the current hives were fairly disorganized. Fleet engagements tended to be similar at first, with the smaller hives being eaten up by opposing ships, then one out of four Morningstar-enhanced super-hives would jump in and mostly just show off and thus protect its younglings. Not a bad tactic, but still, less savory to RP.

Then there was finally the fact that the current leader, a Wraith Queen that goes by the name "Mitchelle", was originally passed off to the Ta'Nar for safekeeping considering all my Queens were being slaughtered and Wraith culture didn't mind because the current Queens only maintained a stronger power base. In the interest of saving the species, I let the Ta'Nar raise the Wraith they originally named Michelle.

So now, post-a giant civil war that decimated the Wraith and took two uncompleted threads to at least halfway tell, power has been seized by a returning Mitchelle, who is all for Uplifting the Wraith and speeding their evolution away a la the legendary Ta'Nar. ( Actually I don't know the current state of Ta'Nar things right now, this all happened 4-5 years ago. ) To do that, she has decided the Wraith dependence on humans is a dead-end, and she wants to re-engineer them to be able to feed on all beings and find a more evolutionarily-advanced source to speed them on their way.

I just returned to this account after a long hiatus. I'm looking at everything that happened thus far, and thinking it just all led up to being an FT pariah. I don't know where I can take this and still find interesting, character-driven RP plots. The Wraith are honestly fairly low-FT, but definitely made themselves a real stinker to all other nations now. They eat people, have ridiculously-sized ships, and now a leader that takes a strong cue from the Ta'Nar.

Is there any way I can turn this into an interesting RP arc? I'd love to keep taking the story forward, but not if it costs good interaction and RP partners. PERSONALLY, I'd prefer to see a route where the Wraith don't have to feed on other species anymore and can interact on a better social level with other FT nations. But... that's probably not going to happen anymore. Thanks Balrogga. What do I do with this great power of being a leper in the community.

EDIT: I just want to clarify the specific parts I feel are the problem areas:

1. I've just returned after years away, and most of my RP partners have ceased to exist.
2. My current leader was raised by a species of legend that nobody likes, and I have to think back to stuff from 5 years ago to get her backstory.
3. It's hard to find new partners that aren't just going to be in a shooting-on-sight relationship.
4. It's hard to find new partners when you have 25 km hiveships, and the little ones are more in the 8-12 km range.
5. Honestly it's hard to find partners at all when your race eats humans. Where do you even go with that.

[Vocenae]

I'd honestly just recommend that you start over with something different, though with enough work (and willingness to retcon and discard things that didn't work/existed in a different time for the community nearly anything can be saved). Pure aggressor nations are no longer accepted by the community and are typically ignored due to they're just not that interesting. Same goes for being what we'd call a 'cookie cutter' nation, a nation that is essentially a species/faction from existing science fiction franchise and superimposed onto NS (not that using things from franchises for inspiration is bad, but copying them wholesale without your own take on them is generally considered poor form now due to the emphasis we place on creativity) and thus are not really designed to operate outside of their own universes.

But to address your problems in order...

1. Join The Local Cluster and become active both there and on the community's IRC channel to make new friends and RP partners.
2. Acknowledge the fact that everything that happened in the past may not be something worth keeping, especially in a community that has changed significantly since you were last active.
3. Again, aggressor nations are basically ignore on sight now, due to them being rather one dimensional and shallow, and that most players in the past have tried to use them to 'win' at FT, something the community does not look kindly on.
4. Above all else, save for rare plot ships, you should tone down your ship sizes to fit with the community standards of having ships that fall within the 1 to 5km scale that the community operates on.
5. Again, be open to changing and diverting from the source material that demands they feed on humans or other sentient species.

But at the end of all this, again, I think you'd just be far better off dropping what you have and developing something else that meshes better with the community that exists today. Yes, it will be hard to let go, and yes, it'll be hard work, but you'll end up better off for it. Again I suggest joining The Local Cluster region if you have not already and just taking the time to read all the guides written by members of FT (all of which are linked at the bottom of this thread's opening post), and just be open to advice and criticism. As always we want everyone to succeed in FT, but we can only help you if you're willing to learn.

[Michael Kenmore]

I agree, I don't especially love RPing as an aggressor nation either. It feels silly (especially with my tendency to play as low-FT, I'm just ASKING to get butt-kicked) and I prefer the space opera-esque theatre of FT personally anyway. There were a few nations that managed to turn out some interesting interactions, but at this point I'm thinking it'd be better to shutter this account for good and just remember the fun times.

Honestly, looking through all my old accounts, most of them were rather 'cookie cutter' nations. I'll probably keep a couple active just for the reasons that they were non-hostile and did have significant work put into developing them.

But thanks for the Local Cluster pointer, I really do need to find out what the community's like now and wasn't sure of where to put feelers out. I prefer character-driven RPs and definitely want to create something more receptive to that field.

A parting question though... is the softer, "space opera" variant of sci-fi an active community? Again, I'm all here for character-driven RPs and prefer to seek out interesting social and political work more than data tables and hypothetical engines.