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

[Lubyak]

-snip-

I have a few questions here:

1) Does the FT community as a whole accept the possibility of interdimensional and cross-universal travel?

I have no idea.

2) Does your star state have the ability to access all times and places at one point?

Nope.

3) What happens to those whom hold an omnipresent approach to the NSFT-verse overall?

Explain what you mean by this, as I don't fully understand what you're asking.

Overall, I don't understand the relevance of these questions, but there you go.

Look, the idea of a big-bad isn't something bad here. I can understand the concern with this being considered a looming 'big-bad', but making it something like the Replicators actually isn't bad.

You're stating that once one becomes aware of these replicators they must drop absolutely everything because it must take absolute precedence... but it doesn't. This was an issue that even Stargate dealt with well... we learned of the looming threat the Asgard were dealing with in some remote spot outside the current scope of existing problems. Did Humanity immediately go 'welp, looks like we need to support the Asgard now'?

No, of course not! the writers put it in as a potential other storyline and then when the time came touched on it a little, but didn't really start picking up on it until previous issues had been dealt with. The Go'auld are a huge threat in the Milky Way and as such were relevant to the story more so than the 'big-bad' in the Stargate universe. Just because they exist doesn't make the Tolan, or the Nox, or any other of the advanced or primitive races and the hundreds if not thousands of stories they oft experienced any less meaningful because they had purpose.

You've misunderstood what I said. I didn't mean that everyone has to drop everything to deal with this threat. My response was much more that if this were a thing, it does cast a shadow on everything else. The whole idea has been some kind of Open Source Big Bad, which implies to me that this is something that can threaten everyone. It's not that everyone has to rush to help stop it, but rather now every RP has to happen in an environment wherein there is this nebulous, poorly defined threat out there.

I also fundamentally don't think we need a big bad. No one has--as of yet--answered my initial question: why? Why do we need this? What value does it add? I just don't see what the need is for us to create some kind of grand community spanning force. If you want to make your own NPCs that exist somewhere, go ahead! But I just don't see the value some kind of Big Bad has for FT in general. It's not like we're all telling one story that's going to end up with a face off with the Big Bad. I haven't watched Stargate, but doesn't the story eventually come around to dealing with the threat of the whatever's? Just as how Mass Effect's eventually comes around to the threat of the Reapers? I don't feel like the NSFT Community as a whole needs that kind of threat. We draw our stories from elsewhere; from the interactions of our states and characters with one another.

There's nothing a Big Bad would add to that, in my opinion.

I find it almost hypocritical that here, in the NSFT advice thread... the very mentors would be stating that something in the community, developed to unite it would deprive them of story-value. I'm sorry, do not the writers give their own stories value? I'd like to think that my bit of the fighting against the Helghan and the Basementees in my home region would be way more important than a technological nuisance known to be more like mosquitoes than anything else.

We're not making an eldritch abomination with the idea of this community-shared big-bad, we're making a common foe, pest, or rather cannon-fodder. We're making the warf for us to beat up with our own big-bads if need be... the nuisance for star states to justify the retention of defense forces for... the life or death struggle the last vestiges of a powerful race in an ultimately doomed galaxy, if not universe, are facing.

We're making mosquitoes.

If there's some sort of canonical issue with not knowing about absolutely every threat that ever existed in the community, I'd like to ask why being omnipotent is accepted for some then? I doubt I'd like to write a story with a player whom has an omnipotent race, wouldn't you? There's no justification for [i]being against[i] a singular big-bad other than simply worrying it makes you and your story-line look bad. If you want to deal with it, acknowledge it and that's fine. If ever you start to run low on ideas, accept it in, squash some mosquitoes, and then end when you got something better to do.

> We're making mosquitoes.

I want to point out that if a nuisance is what being suggested, then the situation has changed. People have suggested omnipresent Empire's that threaten everyone and present an ever changing ever adapting threat, but you're saying that this isn't the case, and it's just some minor annoyances that the community builds up. The idea was initially proposed as "Open Source Big Bad". That doesn't sound to me like a 'mosquito' threat. A Big Bad implies something or someone that serves as the long run antagonist or opponent in the story. That is not what 'mosquito' implies to me. A 'Big Bad' isn't supposed to be a nuisance or a minor threat that exists on the fringes.

If what you're proposing is some kind of NPC nation that just exists there that anyone can use...well ok then! Go ahead. As UD pointed out there's a thread for exactly that. Go ahead and add them there. However, that's not how this idea was initially pitched.

As I said, the initial idea was that there be some kind of Big Bad that threatens everyone, but can simultaneously be whatever it needs to be with no defined form. That is what I was responding to. And if there was some kind of major entity then of course I'd imagine everyone would know about it. However, as I said before, I feel like the nature of what's being proposed has changed dramatically. No, of course I don't know every threat that exists in the galaxy. That'd be a level of wank that I'd expect most players to ignore me if I tried to claim.

However, what was originally proposed was a 'Big Bad', and all the use of that trope implies.

I'm not against this idea because it makes me look bad, and I find it disingenuous that you're implying my only reason for opposing this is that I'm worried about my own image. I've listed several reasons throughout this discussion as for why I disagree with this idea--in its original incarnation. If the proposal has changed to something else, and it's no longer a 'Big Bad' but rather just another species at exists and is an annoyance, than go ahead and add it to the Species Index as an option for people to use. I've always assumed there were pirates and NPC species/planets scattered all over the galaxy, so giving some detail to a few of them is nice.

Yet, if the idea is that his be a Big Bad, and all that implies, than my opposition remains. As I said, the question that remains is: why do we need a Big Bad? What value does a Big Bad add to a community where stories are built on interaction, not outside threats. What does a Big Bad add?

[Kassaran]

I use the term mosquito to imply their degrees of severity and how they affect various different nations within the multiverse.

The more primitive you are, the more dangerous they are, much like Mosquitoes and impoverished countries. You need more rare and more expensive treatments than the environment might be able to properly afford to deal with this threat. The more developed or advanced the society, the less of a need it may need to be for you, rather relegating it to annoyance or a territorial nuisance for large enough space empires. There is however the other aspect of this nebulous space entity of unknown size and origin: it's open-source.

I actually really like the open-source species design board that was linked. That's actually a really cool resource I didn't know that the NSFT community had and I don't know if many others do either. I would like to point out though the purpose behind the creation of this is to build up a single source of united threats that anyone can fight against in their own way. It's not supposed to take over galaxies or even planets if you don't want it to, your interactions with it could be as minute as a simple Alien encounter on a lone mining asteroid millions of miles from habitation.

I'm not saying every RP has to happen in an environment with these mosquitoes, it's simple enough to simply say 'they never came here, we never worried about them, we never knew they existed and thus would never and will never be a threat to us'. The initial answer to the reason why was to provide a means to keep long-standing RPs running, even in the absence of the OP, due to the usage of this 'standard' enemy. Of course this wouldn't be the answer for some of the more big-time names in NSFT and the communities that surround many of the players, but perhaps it can also serve as a means of getting people crossed-over into other's spheres of influence to create some awesome one-offs.

The point behind making them unknowable in origin is to ensure no one ever has the ability to know where they came from. No one can say they have singular ownership over how they operate and thus can act on it. For all we know they exist in a pocket dimension or some decrepit cesspool in null-space, but regardless of origin they operate seemingly alone, yet to one singular goal. They can adapt to make their goal easier or harder on themselves to achieve, but no matter what they're always pushing for that goal.

You're not wrong in saying there was eventually a face-off with the Replicators, as there was with the Empire and the Reavers and the Reapers and every other looming big-bad in most Sci-fi stories. Of course everyone would eventually come to have such final showdowns with their particular chapter of this enemy at one point or another, if not recurring stories involving them, but they work well to be the singular force for ensuring an inter-community standard for everything from introductions to feuds.

You have some sort of lifepod or derelict hull you want to have someone escape, but have no handy-dandy enemy on mind to have caused it? Boom, mosquito. You want to create a suddenly dire situation involving a distant mining colony and the fate of the planetary system in which it lies? Pow, mosquito. There's no for-certain origin one can target for these things, so there's no ever final showdown in he truest sense of the word... it all just comes down to the story and what you want to do with it. A Big-bad that can be scaled to the story provides a medium for interaction, regardless of whether or not you have anything on hand for the situation or not. They're the hand-wavium of bad-guys... able to be explained as being a major threat to some, while being almost laughable to others. Mosquitoes.

[Allanea]

If it doesn’t add anything to your story, you’re free not to interact with it.

There’s no consistent NS canon that every single player has.

I’d like to add a historical comment here, not to try to argue with either side:

In the past there were several players who roleplayed as evil entities. We’ve had Melkor Unchained, who organized a whole alliance of evil nations, and later we had various groups and individuals who filled the slot narratively. I’m not sure which of them are still active and which ones are not, but there were a bunch of nations and a bunch of RPs that centered around this basic premise.

In no way does the existence of a large evil entity make your state ‘incompetent’ for not knowing about it, just ais t would not make your state IC incompetent because large evil nations exist in NS right now and you’ve not done anything about them.

[Neornith]

My point is not that there's some tyrannical grip some people are holding, it's the idea that an idea is being pursued for the first time that I've seen to establish a single-source for a united evil front that can be adapted and used by any and all. My questions regarding interdimensional travel were to justify the wide-reaching spread of these mechanical mosquitoes while the other two were pointed specifically at why certain established nations needed to have prior knowledge as to the existence of this looming threat. I'm not trying to introduce a galactic-scale threat, this is simply to most perhaps an inter-dimensional nuisance to be dealt with... among with other things.

I'm basically trying to put it in the simplest possible terms: we want to make mosquitoes for everyone to be able to use as a common enemy in larger over-arching role-plays. We want to help create threats that can be persistent for some without affecting everyone... we can only do that by selective acknowledgement of the threat, yes, but how do we create such a selective enemy? Coincidence? These mosquitoes are to be something for everyone to fight, but something so decentralized so as to be foiled through the killing of the right mosquitoes or compounded in problematic nature in the killing of the right ones. Story dictates their actions and motivations. They can mutate through what they assimilate and develop in one story, to be unlike those of their same base-race in another. For those wanting simply to face the base model they can... nothing can be discounted as all variants and mutations can be accepted with one particular exception... they cannot be controlled and have only a single series of rules or limits to which they must strictly adhere.

It's not the first time, if that helps any. If you want to create threats that anyone can use, might I suggest using the Free Use Species Index and adding them in there for people to use as they will? That is what it was for. Anyone can build something and toss it in there for anyone's else's use.

So... we kinda already have the infrastructure for this built and I guess I don't see what the big deal is? Go ahead and make some NPCs. Literally no one is standing in your way.

Personally, I am unlikely to participate in the specific ideas put forth so far here and on Discord, but that should hardly matter re. you creating something you want to enjoy with your friends.

I would like to assure people that even though it seems dead I do still maintain the Free Use Species Index for the community to freely use and utilize

[Kyrusia]

It's true, you can do as you please; no one can stop you. Just as well, you can't force people to recognize your creations simply by existing.

So if you want to do it, if it's your jam, feel free. But just know that if other people don't want to acknowledge it then you cannot force them to acknowledge it.

I think this is the take-away everyone should take a moment to breath and comprehend. By that same token: if a topic is brought up for discussion, that doesn't just mean discussion in favor of the idea, it also means constructive criticism from those who are not a fan as well.

I'm seeing a lot of very considerate discussion, both for and against any given idea - as this thread is wont to do on occasion - which is good. At the end of the day, this is freeform; if people want to try a project, they're free to do so. Equally, people are free to ignore it, as is a basic right granted by the rules (it's why "Friend/Foe Lists," "Blocked Sender" lists, thread ownership on the RP boards, etc. exists).

Now... I need to get back to designing new flavors for SPRAT and whether or not the sunfleas need more ganglia...

[Friedrichlanda]

What are some good power sources for someone trying to be on the more simple side of things, fission doesn't seem advanced enough, antimatter seems to dangerous and fusion just don't seem like it fits for me. Any suggestions?

Sure; Make something up! You can either techno-babble it or name-babble it (or something-else-babble it). Techno-babble would be to take something that sounds technical and apply it like so...

'The HyperCore is the primary source of energy within the Friedrichlanda Constellation. It provides clean, self-sustaining energy from the surrounding universe though, in order to avoid depletion of the necessary energies, the HyperCubes must be moved on a regular basis to allow for a natural regeneration of breeder structures.'

Name-babble would be...

'The Karl-Klienberg Reactor is the primary source of energy within the Friedrichlanda Empire. Created by the worthy scientists Joseph Karl and Symione Klienberg under the direction of the Emperor himself, it is a stunning example of the technological triumphs available to the Empire; Blessed be the Emperor!'

Outside that you could also go with some manner of FT hyper-efficient version of existing power systems; Amazing solar cloth that is used both for everyday clothing and to power - wirelessly! - the world around them. A tiny wind turbine that everyone wears on their head and... Well, maybe not a FT propeller beanie. But then again, maybe?

Well I was more thinking a source grounded in a touch of realism. I'm leaning towards the hard end of sci-fi and I'm thinking of something that has a touch of believability in it.

[Brahuistan]

Sure; Make something up! You can either techno-babble it or name-babble it (or something-else-babble it). Techno-babble would be to take something that sounds technical and apply it like so...

'The HyperCore is the primary source of energy within the Friedrichlanda Constellation. It provides clean, self-sustaining energy from the surrounding universe though, in order to avoid depletion of the necessary energies, the HyperCubes must be moved on a regular basis to allow for a natural regeneration of breeder structures.'

Name-babble would be...

'The Karl-Klienberg Reactor is the primary source of energy within the Friedrichlanda Empire. Created by the worthy scientists Joseph Karl and Symione Klienberg under the direction of the Emperor himself, it is a stunning example of the technological triumphs available to the Empire; Blessed be the Emperor!'

Outside that you could also go with some manner of FT hyper-efficient version of existing power systems; Amazing solar cloth that is used both for everyday clothing and to power - wirelessly! - the world around them. A tiny wind turbine that everyone wears on their head and... Well, maybe not a FT propeller beanie. But then again, maybe?

Well I was more thinking a source grounded in a touch of realism. I'm leaning towards the hard end of sci-fi and I'm thinking of something that has a touch of believability in it.

This would help me too. I haven't had time to visit the discord but I have been thinking about possibilities while at work (retail is superboring) and I'm not sure how real I want to be but I think maybe a bit more real than not maybe?

[Torsiedelle]

I like the idea of a shared bad guy, but do add to Kass's mosquito example, I'd choose The Borg.

The Borg attacked neutral zone outposts, which affected both The Federation and The Romulans. The Federation eventually learned it was The Borg, and fighting them became a big deal for The Federation. Meanwhile, The Romulans couldn't care less, and continued to squabble with Klingons and run their empire, even while The Federation and Borg battled. The Romulans knew of The Borg, but didn't bother with them.

And as a second example, The Dominion. The Romulans DID eventually join against The Dominion. Both The Borg and Dominion were big baddies, but in one case The Romulans chose to ignore it all and carry on, and another time they took action.

The way I see it, a sort of shared enemy would be fun, and while you might like to play with them once, you don't have to do it again, or ever. At best, it would be an aspect shared among a group of players that is just used as a filler or sort of royalty-free nation, like Maxtopia or something. It doesn't ever need to actually become a big canon thing or affect players who want no part of it.

That's just my opinion though. I think it's a neat idea, though one that may need a bit of work and cooperation to work.

It's like a meme, kept alive through the acknowledgement of players who choose to use it.

That said, it shouldn't overshadow more organic and original RP threads.

Also, cool engine names are cool. I'm thinking "Yeager Drive" for not-warp on my ships, or something more Chinese.

[Tierra Prime]

It's not the first time, if that helps any. If you want to create threats that anyone can use, might I suggest using the Free Use Species Index and adding them in there for people to use as they will? That is what it was for. Anyone can build something and toss it in there for anyone's else's use.

So... we kinda already have the infrastructure for this built and I guess I don't see what the big deal is? Go ahead and make some NPCs. Literally no one is standing in your way.

Personally, I am unlikely to participate in the specific ideas put forth so far here and on Discord, but that should hardly matter re. you creating something you want to enjoy with your friends.

I would like to assure people that even though it seems dead I do still maintain the Free Use Species Index for the community to freely use and utilize

I'll be posting an insectoid race I've been working on internally for a few months hopefully tomorrow.

[Kyrusia]

Well I was more thinking a source grounded in a touch of realism. I'm leaning towards the hard end of sci-fi and I'm thinking of something that has a touch of believability in it.

This would help me too. I haven't had time to visit the discord but I have been thinking about possibilities while at work (retail is superboring) and I'm not sure how real I want to be but I think maybe a bit more real than not maybe?

If y'all are looking for a bit more "grounded" drivetain design for your sub-light engines, Atomic Rockets really is your best bet as a starting point for research. It can be a bit technicals-heavy at times, and while I wouldn't (personally) recommend following AR hardcore, it has a deluge of exceptionally useful and pertinent information if you want a bit more grounding for some things. If for FTL engines, while it sometimes gets a bad reputation as being "silly," the Alcubierre drive can be a go-to for folks who want a sup-c drive that at least has a theoretical grounding in real physics - wonky and criticized as they may be; it also, in general, is very receptive to modification in fiction (I believe Elite: Dangerous uses a modified Alcubierre?). So, even with just a bit of research, you can tweak it and modify its description (and even exact [theoretical] mechanism) if you are so inclined.

Again for sublight, something like an advanced drivetrain working on similar principles found in the VASIMIR isn't unheard of; I also know some players who have a fondness for modifying/using beam- or laser-based propulsion. If it being a bit... "dirty" is not a concern, nuclear pulse propulsion is on the table; supe-up with antimatter "catalyzed" NPP if you don't mind (and are capable of) the industrial expenditure.

These are, of course, just going off things that, either as a proof of concept work or are theoretically possible. You can still go outside of the box while being "grounded" by working-out from, again, the principles found in the Alcubierre drive. Gravity walls, for example, where spacetime is contorted for sub-light propulsion is also still a possibility, if that fits your flair. I also believe these are found - in some form - in a couple of pre-existing franchises as well.

Still thinking on the topic, so I might update with some other bits of interest I run across. (I'm doing some engine design myself, so. )

[Faelanic Quietude]

Well I was more thinking a source grounded in a touch of realism. I'm leaning towards the hard end of sci-fi and I'm thinking of something that has a touch of believability in it.

This would help me too. I haven't had time to visit the discord but I have been thinking about possibilities while at work (retail is superboring) and I'm not sure how real I want to be but I think maybe a bit more real than not maybe?

Well, there are numerous real-life theories on the development of future power sources that have been passed around the academic community - although none of them are yet realised obviously- ranging from simple fusion drives to zero point energy reactors. Looking them up shouldn't be too hard - many have for instance wikipedia pages and the like - so you can pick and choose the one that you think fits your nation best. My nation, the Quietude for instance use a real life theory of the "Kugelblitz drive" which harnesses the power of an energy based black hole to provide power their star ships.

There are naturally benefits to this "realistic" approach as well, as you don't have to think up your own say, weaknesses to your energy sources, as these issues are already provided - Kugelblitz for instance requires immense amounts of energy to form the black hole, so must require on large energy capacitors to recreate it every two years or so when it begins to dissipate. Furthermore the energy output can't really be "turned off" so it requires you to constantly use said energy or otherwise find a means of venting it. Overall science does provide interesting concepts, so feel free to dig into it, or go on the FT discord and ask around! (there are people more knowledgeable about hard sci-fi than me available on there, so you may be able to get an answer quicker than waiting here).

Still, don't feel you need to stick hard and fast with the limitations of the science if you don't want to, this is a pretty relaxed community, so you do things in whatever manner you feel suits the nation your trying to build best.

Hope that helps!

[Friedrichlanda]

This would help me too. I haven't had time to visit the discord but I have been thinking about possibilities while at work (retail is superboring) and I'm not sure how real I want to be but I think maybe a bit more real than not maybe?

Well, there are numerous real-life theories on the development of future power sources that have been passed around the academic community - although none of them are yet realised obviously- ranging from simple fusion drives to zero point energy reactors. Looking them up shouldn't be too hard - many have for instance wikipedia pages and the like - so you can pick and choose the one that you think fits your nation best. My nation, the Quietude for instance use a real life theory of the "Kugelblitz drive" which harnesses the power of an energy based black hole to provide power their star ships.

There are naturally benefits to this "realistic" approach as well, as you don't have to think up your own say, weaknesses to your energy sources, as these issues are already provided - Kugelblitz for instance requires immense amounts of energy to form the black hole, so must require on large energy capacitors to recreate it every two years or so when it begins to dissipate. Furthermore the energy output can't really be "turned off" so it requires you to constantly use said energy or otherwise find a means of venting it. Overall science does provide interesting concepts, so feel free to dig into it, or go on the FT discord and ask around! (there are people more knowledgeable about hard sci-fi than me available on there, so you may be able to get an answer quicker than waiting here).

Still, don't feel you need to stick hard and fast with the limitations of the science if you don't want to, this is a pretty relaxed community, so you do things in whatever manner you feel suits the nation your trying to build best.

Hope that helps!

Ooh I like both yours and Kyrusia's ideas.

I'm assuming there's some sort of containment field for the black holes, what happens if it falls, does the whole ship get sucked in.

[Faelanic Quietude]

Well, there are numerous real-life theories on the development of future power sources that have been passed around the academic community - although none of them are yet realised obviously- ranging from simple fusion drives to zero point energy reactors. Looking them up shouldn't be too hard - many have for instance wikipedia pages and the like - so you can pick and choose the one that you think fits your nation best. My nation, the Quietude for instance use a real life theory of the "Kugelblitz drive" which harnesses the power of an energy based black hole to provide power their star ships.

There are naturally benefits to this "realistic" approach as well, as you don't have to think up your own say, weaknesses to your energy sources, as these issues are already provided - Kugelblitz for instance requires immense amounts of energy to form the black hole, so must require on large energy capacitors to recreate it every two years or so when it begins to dissipate. Furthermore the energy output can't really be "turned off" so it requires you to constantly use said energy or otherwise find a means of venting it. Overall science does provide interesting concepts, so feel free to dig into it, or go on the FT discord and ask around! (there are people more knowledgeable about hard sci-fi than me available on there, so you may be able to get an answer quicker than waiting here).

Still, don't feel you need to stick hard and fast with the limitations of the science if you don't want to, this is a pretty relaxed community, so you do things in whatever manner you feel suits the nation your trying to build best.

Hope that helps!

Ooh I like both yours and Kyrusia's ideas.

I'm assuming there's some sort of containment field for the black holes, what happens if it falls, does the whole ship get sucked in.

There is indeed a containment field around it, and the entire reactor of the ship is probably one of the most heavily armoured and protected areas of the ship due to the danger of a containment failure - a kinetic barrage getting to it would be dangerous- with numerous backups and failsafes ect. As for if it fails, I've been lead to believe the reactor would actually do the opposite, with it destabilizing and exploding spectacularly due to the difference in composition compared to normal black holes - energy based rather than matter based - effectively roasting everything around it. This actually necessitated a reworking of Faelanii escape pods due to that, as the blast radius would be massive, so they are fitted with single jump FTL devices to clear them of the danger.

[Souzara]

Not to change the topic, but I have an unrelated question.

What's the deal with psychers and mind powers in FT? What are they/how do they work/what are their accepted limits?

Some examples of accepted psychers/explanations of psychic powers can be accepted in lieu of a direct response. Its...suprisingly hard to find psycher civs afoot.

[Kyrusia]

Not to change the topic, but I have an unrelated question.

What's the deal with psychers and mind powers in FT? What are they/how do they work/what are their accepted limits?

Some examples of accepted psychers/explanations of psychic powers can be accepted in lieu of a direct response. Its...suprisingly hard to find psycher civs afoot.

They can be done, obviously, it just depends on how.

For example: it is generally accepted to, say, read another character's mind (much less control them), that you need the other player's permission, else this would be blatant godmodding. Similar things apply to stuff like "remote viewing," something that could - if used improperly - be a way to metagame (in this case, otherwise knowing IC information you have no reasonable way to know IC) or powergame, which is never good. General litmus: If unsure, ask your roleplay partner first. Never assume they are just fine with it.

For things like telekinesis or, more broadly, stuff that isn't interacting with another player's character(s), other player's intellectual property, or generally influencing the same, you have greater leeway - assuming, of course, it's executed in a manner other people find enjoyable to interact with (but that's always a caveat). And, of course, assuming it is your thread. Psionics (and similar preternatural abilities given a sci-fi packaging, despite all broadly being "space magic" - see: Clarke's Third Law), in my personal experience, seem to have a broader degree of general acceptance than, say, casting a proverbial "Magic Missile," but there is still a possibility that some players simply won't want it in their threads; that's a risk with anything, but it's always is worthy of a simple reminder. It may not be anything against you or even your personal execution of the idea, they just may not like the idea itself for whatever reason.

Beyond that... Well, the rest is window dressing, but given the nature of preternatural abilities such as this, it's quite important window dressing. Deciding how to portray your psionics, how (or even if) the effects are visible to others (nothing being visible versus, say, the air around an object a character is moving with their mind getting hazy), how it works (even if, as I'd personally recommend, it's packaged in handwavium), etc. can make or break the concept as a whole. Similarly: engineering the limitations and balance of the ability/abilities can make or break them. Is it a learned ability, or an inherent talent? Does it cause a strain on the user, and if so: how much and how does that manifest (bleeding eyes and nostrils, headaches, etc.)? If it does, does this scale with strain and/or innate talent or their relative level of mastery, or is it inverse (the heavier an object is, the more strain it puts on the body regardless of skill/talent vs. the greater skill/talent, the less physically apparent strain)?

Also something that doesn't necessarily always get mentioned in terms of psionics and psychic abilities... What happens if you aren't given permission, or run across a species that has an innate resistance to psionic influence? How you portray that can have an exceptionally big impact on how others view your concept, and whether that be favorable or not. This goes into the limitations and balance of what has the potential to otherwise be an exceptionally "potent" character ability, and is something that should be considered early-on in the development process for your particular brand of psionic powers, in my opinion.

As for some examples, just off the top of my head, though not all are directly "psychic," they fit within the same "class" of abilities, in my opinion: biotics from Mass Effect, the stasis module from the Dead Space franchise, "psykers" from the Warhammer 40k franchise, the prescience ability/abilities of various characters from Dune, the Precognitives from Minority Report, the... stuff from Akira, Starcraft, the "Force" of Star Wars, variously broad "empathic abilities" in many sci-fi franchises, etc.

Hope that helps.

[Souzara]

-snip-
Hope that helps.

It does!

Thankfully, I have a convenient IC reason to sidestep the element of other players not wanting the mind powers of mine involved, and that is that the Myriad considers my psycher race dangerous and keeps them in containment on their home planet in the Plexakoya system (which is also an exellent explanation for why a colonial system is so heavily militarized as to be called "the Shield of the Myriad", the military presence being initially built up there to ensure the psychers obey their space house arrest). That mjeans that psionic powers are only at play when OOC the group is cool with it and I would find it interesting to bring them into play, which is explained IC by just saying "in this circumstance, the Myriad decided to bring something akin to a sanctioned psycher for tactical reasons" (which is not to imply military use, the Saihan say 'tactical reasons' for any kind of reason for anything at all). So that gives me a nice and neat IC explanation for why psionic powers would be at play in one story and not in another.

[Souzara]

Pre-note: I've been calling myself the Myriad cause that was my name, Souzara Myraid, but now I changed it to Synchrony so now I'mma call myself the Souzara Synchrony. Yes, I make small annoying adjustments a lot, get off my back.

You're not my real space dad.

So I have an interesting dilemma in my fleet design.

I have my FTL system made already, works with superspace (more or less warp/hyperspace) and you use a sling drive to fly through it, but slings come in two types, slings and superslings, the latter is exponentially faster and long ranged but is also much larger and has higher power demands, making it so only like a Cruiser or above can use one.

The issue is this: small ships, like escorts and the sort of small vessel you might use as a fast scout, are actually significantly slower than large capital ships (in FTL, although I suspect in sublight this might still be the case). So the question arises: reconnaissance, how does do? Also, how's a complete well rounded fleet supposed to move when the main battle ships are faster in FTL than their supports by orders of magnitude?

For combat escorts, my solution was perhaps the most direct: attach the capital ship's cohorts to the capital ship and have it bring them with. Upon deployment, the array of frigates and corvettes detach and spread out into formation. The disparity in size between Saihan frigates and what are termed cruisers and battlecruisers (capital ships, in effect) is pretty staggering, meaning its not really that hard for a capital to bring along about a half dozen small ships pretty comfortably. The deployment does present a problem though, and in attack jumps, I had another similar idea. Because superspace slings work in a bubble around the ship, not just the ship itself, I think it could be viable to have a modified bubble that is wide enough to encompass all the supports for one ship in tight formation, so when they all drop out they're all deployed already and can immedeatly move to position and attack/do whatever they wanted to do.

The other solution is to be lazy and just move supports way ahead of capital ships, but I feel that is just messy. For starters, that seperates your actual combat backbone from your light support vessels, when the two are supposed to work in tandem, which I think is a horrible idea. Either one could be intercepted in transit and find themselves handicapped.

For recon, I think the solution is just to abandon the concept of a light scout ship altogether, and just use a compressed light cruiser with a supersling and cut down design to focus just on the sling and the sensor array. Anyway, what do you guys think of these solutions? Viable? Yay? Nay? Also, see below if you feel like delving into the stupid details I made when I am very bored at work.

Put in a spoiler because its totally pointless to the question, but I was thinking about this question here and I ended up accidentally making this all, so...

For capital ships, I came up with the basic template. First of all, the design principle that is universal across all capital ships is modularity. To be sure, there are different templates of capital ship with different roles and different body ships, and its not like all the modules of all the ships are interchangeable, because that would be going too far I feel. However, much like every vertebrate animal that ever existed ever in the history of animals with spines, all Saihan capital ships have the same exact basic components and the same body plan, which goes as follows: A vaguely cylindrical central column, with a snout attached to the front and two wings on the sides. All together, all Saihan capital ships are vaguely triangular. I'm pretty much fielding an armada of equilateral triangles with different sizes and specialized parts to suit their particular roles.

The central columb is just a tube of metal that is slightly tapered, with the back end wrapped in a much thicker band of hull. This columb basically has all or most of the following components, in this exact order from front end to back end: control module (bridge) primary barracks (armory, military operations command, etc etc), habitat (all dem crew quarters and social areas of both Saihan and Cuicatl crew members, other aliens sometimes also but normally not), supply nodes (food, medical supplies, munitions, etc etc), optional secondary barracks (staging area for deployments through teleporter) optional teleportation module, fuel store and reactor section, supersling drive device, regular drive and thruster array.

Wings are just swept back big right triangles, usually thicker on the long leg where they attach to the central column and tapering out towards the hypotenuse and short leg (aka the leading edge and back edge of the wing). These wings of course have no actual functional value as wings, and serve primarily as just space to put non-essential systems, like extensive weapon batteries, shielding arrays, hangars and clamps to carry small ships through superspace (see below). The idea is a) ships with wings look cool, and I like the death triangle aesthetic, I just do, and b) more functionally, I think it makes sense to try and space out your weapons and other systems on a wide area rather than cram them all up on a small hull surface. Especially for weapons, a heavy weapon battery way out on the surface of the wing would have a much better field of fire than if it was mounted right on the surface of the central column, with all the other batteries and sensors and projectors and protruding crap in their way, crowding the hull surface. It would improve a 180 degree (or more like 140ish if the gun is cluttered on a built up hull) horizontal arc to more of a 300ish degree arc, basically.

The snout kind of serves a similar purpose, just an extra place to mount things that need ot should face forward, but this basically serves more to Saihan combat doctrine of focusing down opponents with hard frontal firepower. While the batteries on the wings are there to be able to throw lots of fire in tons of different directions without moving the ship, the snout is there to hold a bunch of weapons that mostly shoot in a forward cone.

Wings and snouts vary a lot in size and shape from class to class, because like a carrier class would have fattened wings serving as hangars, and for battleships they'd be sleeker to make a smaller forward silouette while also being covered in guns in different areas to do the above mentioned fields of fire thing that can turn a capital ship into a spaceborne bastion firing in all directions.

Sensor devices are usually concentrated in clusters that vary in location from class to class. Usually, they are found mostly on the wingtips and nose (basically the points of the triangle) to provide maximum coverage, but they're also sometimes mounted right on the central column on the top and bottom.

The thing with the modularity is a ship with a wing blown off can just get a new wing, and of course wings can be modified to carry different armaments in different places to better serve mission requirements.

So...yeah. Das what Saihan capital ships are like.

[Kyrusia]

The issue is this: small ships, like escorts and the sort of small vessel you might use as a fast scout, are actually significantly slower than large capital ships (in FTL, although I suspect in sublight this might still be the case). So the question arises: reconnaissance, how does do? Also, how's a complete well rounded fleet supposed to move when the main battle ships are faster in FTL than their supports by orders of magnitude?

If you integrate it into your FTL design, "linked jumps" ("slings") are a possibility, at least for the latter question. It should be balanced, of course, but it's a possibility: the aggregate mass of a naval group is jumped through the interlinking of your FTL drivetrains; the "wibbly-wobbly, space-timey" magic is done on the aggregate mass, not on the mass of any one ship.

As for the first question...

The other solution is to be lazy and just move supports way ahead of capital ships, but I feel that is just messy. For starters, that seperates your actual combat backbone from your light support vessels, when the two are supposed to work in tandem, which I think is a horrible idea. Either one could be intercepted in transit and find themselves handicapped.

For recon, I think the solution is just to abandon the concept of a light scout ship altogether, and just use a compressed light cruiser with a supersling and cut down design to focus just on the sling and the sensor array. Anyway, what do you guys think of these solutions? Viable? Yay? Nay? Also, see below if you feel like delving into the stupid details I made when I am very bored at work.

Strictly speaking, your reconnaissance vessels are whatever you want to call them, and whatever mass you want them to be - relatively speaking. The idea of gutting one of your vessels down to a recon/ECM suite could very well work, I feel. By similar tangent: drone carrier. Drones, individually, might have "slower" FTL, but the drone carrier could jump into relative proximity, and allow the drones (or other parasite craft) to jump the remainder.

[Souzara]

The other solution is to be lazy and just move supports way ahead of capital ships, but I feel that is just messy. For starters, that seperates your actual combat backbone from your light support vessels, when the two are supposed to work in tandem, which I think is a horrible idea. Either one could be intercepted in transit and find themselves handicapped.

For recon, I think the solution is just to abandon the concept of a light scout ship altogether, and just use a compressed light cruiser with a supersling and cut down design to focus just on the sling and the sensor array. Anyway, what do you guys think of these solutions? Viable? Yay? Nay? Also, see below if you feel like delving into the stupid details I made when I am very bored at work.

Strictly speaking, your reconnaissance vessels are whatever you want to call them, and whatever mass you want them to be - relatively speaking. The idea of gutting one of your vessels down to a recon/ECM suite could very well work, I feel. By similar tangent: drone carrier. Drones, individually, might have "slower" FTL, but the drone carrier could jump into relative proximity, and allow the drones (or other parasite craft) to jump the remainder.

I was also toying with the idea of doubling up roles, for scout and light combat support, and just have like an ultralight-cruiser do the reconnaissance and then have it circle back and serve a combat role, so as not to waste a ship in a manner of speaking. I can see how this would have a detrimental effect of the ship's effectiveness in either combat or recon, which is why I'm only toying with the idea, but it has the benefits of needing to bring along a few less ships because you don't need a reconnaissance wing because your own combat supports *are* the reconnaissance wing. It would also solve the problem of the recon wing basically having to park somewhere else during battles, because naturally any well rounded task force with pretty much any space combat mission would bring with it a recon wing wherever it went, but with recon ships being just a stripped down supersling with a sensor suite strapped to it, they would be very vulnerable in a battle and so they would likely have to just be sent somewhere else while the combat ships engage the enemy, which is a bit awkward.

The separate recon wing does kind of lend itself to more central command, which has its pros and cons. If the recon wing is separate, its basically acting more or less indenpendenly of what a battlegroup is doing, to where its more of a combined operation between recon branch and combat branch, which I think has the potential to be pretty inflexible, making it a needlessly flawed system. I do greatly prefer the integrated recon model, because I generally lean on the side of autonomy for subordinate units, because I think it greatly improves flexibility for one group to deal with a variety of distinct situations and adapt quickly to new conditions. (This kind of jives with some old Wehrmacht doctrine for infantry, where all the units inside an infantry division have the same layout as whole division, with their own support guns and whatnot, even if the division itself already has its own artillery group, and that exists basically so that if the smaller subordinate group comes across some pill boxes or whatever else that needs artillery use, they don't have to keep calling the HQ unit of the division for help, and can just deal with the problem themselves and move on, which is the exact flexibility I was talking about. In this scenario, it would mean the individual fleet squadrons of like 3 or 4 capital ships with their supports can just deal with whatever various problems they encounter on their own, without having to call the larger battlegroup to come direct the recon wing to help them, they already have their own recon wing to do that, and then on the higher level the whole battlegroup would have its own recon wing which is seperate from the recon wings of squadrons, so every subordinate unit can operate independently of HQ and of one another when needed)

I had not considered this EW idea though, that would be a neat double feature. An ultralight cruiser trimmed down for reconassaince I think could pretty easily serve as a battlefield electronic warfare specialist, perhaps also an anti-strike shield (more or less an oversized point defense platform to gun down enemy bombers, fighters and incoming projectile attacks, especially torpedoes/missiles/bombs/FT nomenclature for whatever this thing is called is not well defined). Doing the anti-strike shield thing would also afford a recon/EW combo ship a degree of protection without investing too much in excessive armor and shielding that would impede its scout role. This way I don't just have non-combatant ships lying around doing nothing during a battle.

[The Abraski]

I had not considered this EW idea though, that would be a neat double feature. An ultralight cruiser trimmed down for reconassaince I think could pretty easily serve as a battlefield electronic warfare specialist, perhaps also an anti-strike shield (more or less an oversized point defense platform to gun down enemy bombers, fighters and incoming projectile attacks, especially torpedoes/missiles/bombs/FT nomenclature for whatever this thing is called is not well defined). Doing the anti-strike shield thing would also afford a recon/EW combo ship a degree of protection without investing too much in excessive armor and shielding that would impede its scout role. This way I don't just have non-combatant ships lying around doing nothing during a battle.

I think the idea of a lighter, same-role EW line ship is a pretty good idea. If it was outfitted as an anti-light and anti-medium, it could serve much the same purpose as a destroyer but against lighter targets, as well as filling the famous anti-fighter/projectile role of a cruiser. I think speed and agility against the more heavily combat orientated vessels is it's own benefit and armour, especially as it'd likely have additional space for more powerful shielding or weapon arrays.

[Auman]

If I were to design a ship like that, I'd base it around a cruiser concept. If the goal is scouting and reconnaissance, it would have to be capable of long distance endurance and working by itself. Lots of food and ergonomic living arrangements, well armed and protected, equipped with effective sensing systems and drones, etc.

To use Star Trek as an example, the Enterprise was classed as a cruiser and did that exact job... It explored the galaxy, collected information and fought bad guys. Usually all by itself. If I'm not wrong, Enterprise was the flagship of a few fleets in its time as well.

There are other ways to go about It, of course.

[Tierra Prime]

If I were to design a ship like that, I'd base it around a cruiser concept. If the goal is scouting and reconnaissance, it would have to be capable of long distance endurance and working by itself. Lots of food and ergonomic living arrangements, well armed and protected, equipped with effective sensing systems and drones, etc.

To use Star Trek as an example, the Enterprise was classed as a cruiser and did that exact job... It explored the galaxy, collected information and fought bad guys. Usually all by itself. If I'm not wrong, Enterprise was the flagship of a few fleets in its time as well.

There are other ways to go about It, of course.

There's always the concept of the fast battleship. Exploration and communication through superior firepower.

[Auman]

Yeah, that'll do it too. A bigger ship would have a greater capacity for storage of food, water, drones, probes, ammunition, complex intelligence gathering systems and reaction mass... Probably even larger engines which could dump a lot of thrust compared to the mass of the ship, making it faster. Battlecruisers are a fine way to get the job done.

[Tierra Prime]

It's weird that Star Wars generally goes the other way with ship sizes and FTL speed. It took the Millennium Falcon a few hours to cross the galaxy, at most a day, while the Death Star took at least three days to travel from Alderaan to Yavin.

[Kassaran]

Star Wars also discounts the range of guided missile weapons... the effectiveness of star fighters (which in reality is null) and totes the Force. Storry generally supercedes reason and science in FT...