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

[Kyrusia]

As... colorful as that was, let's remember this thread isn't about Halo or Mass Effect as a franchise; comparisons are obviously helpful, but please let's not devolve into a "Franchise A" versus "Franchise B" sort of argument. We've got a pretty good record of keeping things on-topic; let's not get too terribly distracted. ...Even if it is over Jack Black.

[Sar Rithril]

If anyone be looking for a good place to create short stories or other non-roleplay type content for your nations or Future Tech ideas, there's a new repository in International Incidents called The Compendium to meet your needs. Here's a Link...

[SquareDisc City]

Hi, I'm a fairly experienced MT player and I want to try FT. Just a couple of questions:

(a) How hard-science/detail-oriented are players on average with regards to tech?

It varies widely. Incidentally I'm hardly po-faced hard SF myself; I do like to work out the details of tech but I also have strong fantasy elements. The virtual-necessity of FTL travel in FT limits how hard you can be; if you want to do sublight only stuff you'll probably have to find a group specialising in that.

(b) Are there any fictional universes whose tech is considered rather unbalanced or gamebreaking (e.g. would I be able to use post-2003 Honorverse materiel, for instance)?

The majority of technology is acceptable, largely thanks to the principle of not being dickish. There was discussion earlier in this thread regarding time travel and the view was expressed by many that that is unacceptable due to the overwhelmingly bad record of past efforts to RP it.

(c) Which FT groups are relatively sane and reasonable with regards to empire size, tech levels etc.?

Reasonable is in the eye of the beholder. Mainstream NSFT tends to run relatively small, because having a gazillion ships and planets doesn't really benefit the stories.

How do people usually explain the tech behind shields?

They usually don't, and when they do it's usually dubious technobabble. I worked on figuring out the performance of my own from simple physics, but even that amounts only to a description of how a "black box" behaves and not an explanation of what makes it work.

Also, what's the logic behind ground combat? If you control the orbit (and thus in a position to KE anything on the surface), isn't the other side rather screwed either way?

It's easy to assume this, but note that in the real world it's been shown air power alone won't win a war. Futuristic supersensors might make it easier, but then who's to say the enemy doesn't have equally futuristic countermeasures to them. If you merely want to destroy indiscriminately you can do that from orbit, but not every nation considers indiscriminate total war desirable.

It's fine to play with inferior-to-modern technology, so long as the inferiority is RPed out.

In a well-defined setting with respected staff who can settle disputes, this would work. NSFT is neither of those things. People have a natural tendency to want to RP powerful nations, and without the idea that the claimed sophistication and/or destructiveness of one's nation and technology doesn't actually matter much, we end up with ships the size of stars, fleets in the tens of millions, people throwing actual stars around, planets being blown up left-right-centre, and so on. And while such crazy overpoweredness can be fun it's unsustainable and, based on a sample of one, will just lead to the community tearing itself apart.

In short, "Code of Bro" is unrealistic but necessary.

[Vernii]

One thing I always found rather curious in fictional FT universes like ME, Halo and Battlestar is the lack of long range precision guided weapons, compared to even MT militaries. Does this apply in NS? Would an Honorverse-style missile spam be considered overpowered, for instance?

HH is pretty much fine. I started off basically as a carbon-copy of it, and then over the years branched out considerably but kept the general theme (ie, missile bombardments and doctrine focused on capital ships). The first thing that I changed was communications since relying on courier boats for interstellar communications became increasingly hard to justify IC. Next to go was the impeller wedge, which got retconned into an Alcubierre-esque drive field, which also allowed for more freedom in designing ships.

Established sci-fi universes make a good template, but definitely branch out and give your own flavor to them.

[Imperial Nalydya]

...ships the size of stars, fleets in the tens of millions, people throwing actual stars around...

Good times, good times.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

...ships the size of stars, fleets in the tens of millions, people throwing actual stars around...

Good times, good times.

Which is why all of the people who RP'd with ships twice the size of VY Canis Majoris, claiming fleets with herpaderp numbers and Lensman level star-chucking technology now post on PttM. Or not at all.

[Salus Maior]

I have a question: How does one make an ORBAT?

[Thrashia]

I have a question: How does one make an ORBAT?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_battle

[The Fedral Union]

If anyone be looking for a good place to create short stories or other non-roleplay type content for your nations or Future Tech ideas, there's a new repository in International Incidents called The Compendium to meet your needs. Here's a Link...

Great concept in all, one should just make sure people can be trusted to make impartial judgements on content put in there, NSFT is a big spectrum, no one should dare speak as if they speak for the whole community. Anyway thumbs up, as for whats reasonable in FT.. Well anything goes as long as you don't use it to shlong slap people..

And aside from that why would you want to rp with god like abilities in general, its a bit boring.

[Simbanchi]

If anyone be looking for a good place to create short stories or other non-roleplay type content for your nations or Future Tech ideas, there's a new repository in International Incidents called The Compendium to meet your needs. Here's a Link...

Hey this thing looks pretty cool, anyone can post in it right?

[-The Unified Earth Governments-]

Good times, good times.

Which is why all of the people who RP'd with ships twice the size of VY Canis Majoris, claiming fleets with herpaderp numbers and Lensman level star-chucking technology now post on PttM. Or not at all.

Holy Shit....

Those people exist?

Since my initial setting doesn't have much for nation building and all that, I going to expand my factbook soon and I was wondering.

How does everyone here handle colonization, and how do they defend planets if they do at all?

[The Rhustarim Hegemony]

Which is why all of the people who RP'd with ships twice the size of VY Canis Majoris, claiming fleets with herpaderp numbers and Lensman level star-chucking technology now post on PttM. Or not at all.

Holy Shit....

Those people exist?

Since my initial setting doesn't have much for nation building and all that, I going to expand my factbook soon and I was wondering.

How does everyone here handle colonization, and how do they defend planets if they do at all?

The Hegemony's stance on colonisation is a bit odd. Colonies are considered their own separate states for most purposes - the Rhustarim think having one law set for an empire that might span vastly different environs (and thanks to their extensive gene mod and cybernetic markets, might span vastly different biologies as well) is a ridiculous idea. Once founded and self-sustaining, colonies can choose to become independent from the Hierarchy (the ruling and most powerful state in the Hegemony) and in doing so gets their own form of government and is allowed set their own laws. Excepting a few basic rights all citizens must be granted (and the Hierarchy enforces this quite heavily. Unwilling slavery is bound to earn your colony/space station one hell of a smack down), these colonies are wholly independent.

Except for that little hiccup where all SIs are (mostly) loyal citizens of the Hierarchy, and these same SIs are largely needed to manage the colonies and technologies in Hegemonic space which forces these "new nations" to be incredibly dependent on the Hierarchy to simply get by. That tends not to get mentioned in the contracts.

Defence is equally decentralised. There are two tiers of defence in Hegemonic space: the local fleets which each state maintains on their own initiative (for smaller communities that might only have a few hundred people and cannot maintain a defensive force of their own, they must rely solely on the second tier of defence). These tend to be largely based on old Hierarchical vessel designs and usually follow similar strategies and designs across all of Hegemonic space. Local fleets defend their own turf to the best of their ability. In truth, they're there to delay any aggressors until the Hierarchy can mobilise the "Hegemonic Military Directorate" - a fleet of ships which is substantially more powerful than all the local fleets combined and acts as the second tier of defence. The local fleets (and ground forces) are the anvil. The HMD is the colossal hammer to finish the job.

[SquareDisc City]

I've tended not to colonise much, but that's more for OOC reasons.

A major consideration though is the balance between planets and space habitats. There's advantages and drawbacks to both, and it's easy to see a nation building loads of space stations, mining asteroids and comets, and scarcely bothering with the ground apart from their homeworld.

[The Rhustarim Hegemony]

I've tended not to colonise much, but that's more for OOC reasons.

A major consideration though is the balance between planets and space habitats. There's advantages and drawbacks to both, and it's easy to see a nation building loads of space stations, mining asteroids and comets, and scarcely bothering with the ground apart from their homeworld.

This is kind of the case in the Hegemony. The majority of its population lives on McKendree and O'Neill cylinders. I don't remember the exact figure that lives on planet surfaces, but it's not high in comparison.

[Nyte]

Which is why all of the people who RP'd with ships twice the size of VY Canis Majoris, claiming fleets with herpaderp numbers and Lensman level star-chucking technology now post on PttM. Or not at all.

Holy Shit....

Those people exist?

Since my initial setting doesn't have much for nation building and all that, I going to expand my factbook soon and I was wondering.

How does everyone here handle colonization, and how do they defend planets if they do at all?

The Nyteborne go about matters of colonization in a fairly straight forward manner. In the early phase of planning, a scout fleet is formed to scout out a specified region of space. Their job is primarily to scout out potential hazards or threats to the following colonization effort and to find a likely planet for a colony. This fleet will also lay out automated beacons to notify other races that the territory is already claimed… While this is happening, the government begins the process of screening potential colonists for the best candidates from a pool of volunteers. This pool is usually reasonably large as the colonization efforts have been well received by the general populace, and have thus far proven to be quite successful. After the colonists are selected, they will undergo a governmentally funded training program to prepare them for what is to come. Once this training is complete, the government tasks the military with forming a colonization fleet to escort the colony ships to their destination. This fleet will also form the beginning of the new colonies defenses while other defenses are constructed in overlapping layers. The entire process can take anywhere from several years to a decade from start to finish.

Mind you, such efforts are actually rare for several reasons. The first being that more space simply isn't needed at this time. The second being that defending more territory would be an unnecessary strain on the economy.

As for defending planets, I've adopted a multi-layered approach involving static defenses such as orbital stations, weapon satellites, mine fields, and sensor networks. I've coupled these with mobile defenses (fleets of ships), and various ground based systems such as missile batteries, cannons, and ground based aerospace craft.

Mind you this is just my own approach (I'm not suggesting that you follow it), and I'm sure some one will attempt to tear it apart and/or start an argument with me over it (as always seems to happen when ever I post here ) but...

[Lubyak]

Yay for FT line infantry.

Since my initial setting doesn't have much for nation building and all that, I going to expand my factbook soon and I was wondering.

How does everyone here handle colonization, and how do they defend planets if they do at all?

In the Imperial & Federal Union, after discover, the initial exploration and analysis of a potentially colonisable planet is under the care of the R.u.B Colony Bureau, part of the Ministry of the Interior. Once a planet has been deemed a suitable target for colonisation, it is placed into the ownership of the Colony Bureau, and colonisation rights are made available for acquisition by the Imperial Crown, a member state of the Union, a private individual or organisation, etc. Once colonisation rights have been established, the nature of the colonies future depends on who acquired the rights. If the rights are held by the Imperial Crown, the new colony will count as a new Imperial Crownland, and thus be settled and developed by the Imperial Crown in whatever manner the Crown sees fit. If the planet is granted to an existing member state--or multiple member states--then the world will legally be seen as a continuation of said member state, and development and colonisation will fall to the member states. The most interesting situations come when colonisation rights are provided to private individuals and organisations, and the world is perceived as private property. Although subject to Imperial Law, the world is otherwise exempt from the Imperial & Federal Charter, however, as no full scale planetary colonisation rights have ever been acquired by a private individual or organisation, the full legal repercussions of such an action have not been brought to light.

The provision for defense of the new colony is also determined by who acquired the colonisation rights. However, under the Imperial & Federal Charter, all Imperial & Federal Settlements have the right to call upon the Kaiserliche Wehrmacht for defensive purposes when placed under threat from an outside force. However, if it were taken as an Imperial Crownworld, it would also be required to be subject to conscription of its citizens into the Wehrmacht for the purpouses of defending the Union as a whole, but would also likely gain the direct presence of Kaiserliche Wehrmacht units. Were the world granted to a member state, that member state would gain the responsibly for its defense. While the member state is entitled to call upon the Kaiserliche Wehrmacht when faced with overwhelming threat, the member state is expected to raise its own Landwehr/Home Guard forces for local defense and law enforcement missions. As with all member states, it is likely that the colony will be requested to raise Federal regiments and other units for the Kaiserliche Wehrmacht, but will generally be left free of direct conscription by the Imperial & Federal government. A privately owned world raises further questions, and many of these questions have not been satisfactorily answered by Imperial & Federal legal scholars.

[OMGeverynameistaken]

Yay for FT line infantry.

I approve of the two-headed eagle, but there is a disturbing lack of green here. Green, and possibly red or blue, is the only proper color for an infantry uniform.

[Lubyak]

Yay for FT line infantry.

I approve of the two-headed eagle, but there is a disturbing lack of green here. Green, and possibly red or blue, is the only proper color for an infantry uniform.

Oh, we have red uniforms. I'll start working in the green ones once Russia is properly brought into the fold of the glorious Imperial & Federal Union

[Salus Maior]

What do you guys think of the practicality of Star Wars military walkers? Specifically the AT-AT http://brian.hoover.net.au/blog/wp-cont ... r-1441.jpg and the AT-TE http://www.fbtb.net/wp-content/uploads/ ... TE_TCW.jpg , compared to wheeled or hover vehicles?

[Feazanthia]

Oh dear god not the mech talk.

Short version - in a realistic setting, ludicrously impractical and outperformed in almost every way by equivalent tracked vehicles. However this is not a realistic setting so go nuts.

[Imperial Nalydya]

What do you guys think of the practicality of Star Wars military walkers? Specifically the AT-AT http://brian.hoover.net.au/blog/wp-cont ... r-1441.jpg and the AT-TE http://www.fbtb.net/wp-content/uploads/ ... TE_TCW.jpg , compared to wheeled or hover vehicles?

Rule of Cool: Great
Practicality: Trash

[New Tsavon]

What do you guys think of the practicality of Star Wars military walkers? Specifically the AT-AT http://brian.hoover.net.au/blog/wp-cont ... r-1441.jpg and the AT-TE http://www.fbtb.net/wp-content/uploads/ ... TE_TCW.jpg , compared to wheeled or hover vehicles?

From a realistic perspective? This is probably a good guide as any.

Otherwise, just follow the "code of bro" and what have you.

[Neornith]

What do you guys think of the practicality of Star Wars military walkers? Specifically the AT-AT http://brian.hoover.net.au/blog/wp-cont ... r-1441.jpg and the AT-TE http://www.fbtb.net/wp-content/uploads/ ... TE_TCW.jpg , compared to wheeled or hover vehicles?

Mech talk is a particularly hot topic issue from what I've seen. From a realist stand point one should try to shy away from things like your two examples due them being a mech which itself has a whole slew of problems vs. a wheeled vehicle, but also their size issue as well. The link from New Tsavon is probably one of the best explanations why.

From an RP standpoint though as long as you don't try to claim that mechs are more powerful than tanks because they're mechs and you talk to and cooperate with others you're trying to RP with mechs can be used as part of your armed forces so long as you're trying to make a story and not "win" an RP

[The Fedral Union]

This debate IIRC has been covered, as for "code of bro" its just common sense, don't be a dick and have fun IIRC.. Its nothing mystical, and it should said this way. Not everyone will know what this "code of bro is"

I like tanks, I am a tank guy; I do not think mechs would work well in most situations, depending on size ofc. That said, there is always air suppourt, then you got rule of cool so in the end do what you want. We must remember realism has and is used to stifle some creativity in some ways, honestly when everyone is bleating on a guy for doing something technically unrealistic even if its cool, it discourages free form. At the same time one does come for advice, realism is ambiguous when you have FTL.

[-The Unified Earth Governments-]

What do you guys think of the practicality of Star Wars military walkers? Specifically the AT-AT http://brian.hoover.net.au/blog/wp-cont ... r-1441.jpg and the AT-TE http://www.fbtb.net/wp-content/uploads/ ... TE_TCW.jpg , compared to wheeled or hover vehicles?

Logs and wires.

You want a mech?

Use a Mantis, or if you like overkill then use something from Warhammer, just beware, the thing might fuck you over more than the enemy somehow.