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

[Hurlik]

This aint the age of wooden ships.

Tell that to my tricorne wearing space line infanty with their lasbolt muskets and power bayonets.

This sentence is full of win.

[Rhoderberg]

You can do anything you want, but always remember that everyone else can do the same, and thus have the ability to say 'That sounds wanky. I don't want to RP with you.' Boarding craft can be fun, because boarding actions are always fun, but be sure to keep up internal consistency.

I'm well aware, thanks.

Tell that to my tricorne wearing space line infanty with their lasbolt muskets and power bayonets.

For what it's worth, Tsavon is comprised mainly of imperialist Middle European/ Boer death cultists who haven't quite gotten over the Cold War.

Or the 1900's, for that matter.

[The Martian Hegemony]

-snip-

Sorry for the extremely late reply (I was in an area with no internet service), but I wasn't actually seeking advice. I was just interested in seeing other nations' responses.

[Kyrusia]

Sorry for the extremely late reply (I was in an area with no internet service), but I wasn't actually seeking advice. I was just interested in seeing other nations' responses.

Glad to hear you have gotten Internet service back, but as shown in the original post:

" In short, this is an advice and assistance thread, not an argument thread or a simple "chat" thread (such as found on other boards). If you would like to argue the merits of a given technology, that is more than acceptable - but not here. This is different from giving different advice/assistance or different interpretations of what is "best"; this can be done without argument or conflict. If it devolves into conflict, you may be asked to "cool your proverbial jets" or, in extreme cases, asked to leave the thread - officially or unofficially.

Furthermore, this thread, while capable of providing advice for all walks-of-life within the NationStates Future Technology community and assistance in regards to many different styles of roleplaying, is primarily concerned with the general community outside of individual groups or closed roleplaying regions, communities, organizations, groups, or canons. Such is to say that this thread's advice and assistance is primarily concerned with the standards, conventions, and agreed-upon norms of FT-Prime (Future Tech outside of closed communities and Future Tech with historical continuity dating back at least a decade); as such, any advice given comes, by default, with the caveat of "within the general Future Tech community/FT-Prime." Advice given will always have this caveat; players seeking advice on a specific canon or closed roleplaying group may be pointed to their respective threads for further advice and more pertinent and relevant assistance."

In general, if it is posted in this thread, it is with the assumption that advice and assistance - including constructive criticism - will be given. As noted, however, this is not a "chat thread," which extends to this is not a "show and tell" thread, either. If you wish to simply post information about your star-state without receiving advice, assistance, or constructive criticism regarding said information, then it is - more or less - beyond the purview of this thread. You should consider posting such in a factbook either in Factbooks & National Information or through the gameside factbook/dispatch system.

Thank you; hope that helps.

[Lubyak]

So I've gone and put all the ships I've put together in one album. Feel free to voice your critiques and opinions.

[Rhoderberg]

So I've gone and put all the ships I've put together in one album. Feel free to voice your critiques and opinions.

They could use a bit more detail, and I'm not quite sure you need that many communications masts.

[The Ben Boys]

So I've gone and put all the ships I've put together in one album. Feel free to voice your critiques and opinions.

Wow, those look incredible! I'm jealous of your lineart talent, I'm still practicing but haven't got that good yet. I like your aesthetic and variety whilst still maintaining design continuity.

The only thing I could say is maybe a larger carrier, since the Polaris looks like it can only fit 20-30 fighters (unless that's all you want).

Also "Jane's Fighting Ships of the Imperial and Federal Navy" was a good touch.

[Themiclesia]

Questionnaire
How big is your nation?: Since nation size cannot be determined in terms of geography in FT, this question seems a little pointless. Adding up the total area of each planet inhabited inevitably, incorrectly leads to the idea that the territory is contiguous, as in MT countries in most cases. Counting by planets is also futile, since planets aren't identical in geometric size or topography.
What are your nation's (individual) stats for the Civilization Index?: III
How fast do your FTL ships go (if you have any)?: ICly, they appear instantly. OoCly, they appear whenever the other side is comfortable or when the moment is patently agreeable.
Your thoughts on Time Travel: Best not tampered with.
Hard FT or Soft FT?: I need a recap on this one.
What is your method of FTL/Interstellar Travel (window dressing or not)?: Digitization of the universe and using co-ordinates and space rifts.
What is your population?: 2³²*10¹⁸... or about 10 characters that are actually relevant.
Your opinion on AI: not possible.
Favorite energy source (window dressing or not): nuclear fusion and dark energy.
And, finally, who would win in a fight- The Borg, The Empire, or The Imperium of Man? (optional): Imperium of Man would win, if only its Latin grammar is a bit better than it currently is.

[The Ben Boys]

Hey Kyrusia, I didn't see an "Interdiction/FTL" entry in the "terms" section in the OP. Might I suggest adding one? After reading Lubyak's ship descriptions and remembering how many people have FTL Interdiction-type vessels (sort of a staple of many in NSFT) I remebered I struggled as a beginner with that term, as I didn't fully comprehend it.

[FThemiclesia]

For the record, I've decided to split Themiclesia into two halves, so that I can have more space for my factbooks that concern FT RPing. Everything I said about Themiclesia regarding FT will remain valid on this nation, which is why it is called FThemiclesia.

Happy RPing!

[Kyrusia]

Hey Kyrusia, I didn't see an "Interdiction/FTL" entry in the "terms" section in the OP. Might I suggest adding one? After reading Lubyak's ship descriptions and remembering how many people have FTL Interdiction-type vessels (sort of a staple of many in NSFT) I remebered I struggled as a beginner with that term, as I didn't fully comprehend it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll consider adding it. The issue with FTL interdiction/inhibition, however, is it has a rather sordid history of rampant abuse and is very much an "ask first" type of technology - a plot device, if nothing else. Regardless, I'll think on a potentially appropriate definition (or definitions); I've got a few more on my list to add as well.

[The Ben Boys]

Hey Kyrusia, I didn't see an "Interdiction/FTL" entry in the "terms" section in the OP. Might I suggest adding one? After reading Lubyak's ship descriptions and remembering how many people have FTL Interdiction-type vessels (sort of a staple of many in NSFT) I remebered I struggled as a beginner with that term, as I didn't fully comprehend it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll consider adding it. The issue with FTL interdiction/inhibition, however, is it has a rather sordid history of rampant abuse and is very much an "ask first" type of technology - a plot device, if nothing else. Regardless, I'll think on a potentially appropriate definition (or definitions); I've got a few more on my list to add as well.

Ok, thanks for considering it. You've done a great job keeping up the thread and I definitely appreciate the work you continue to do on it.

[FThemiclesia]

I've got a question about judicature in FT. Is it still in the interest of a FT nation to have a uniform body of laws applied throughout the nation?

For larger FT nations, would appellate process be a significant problem as the levels of court are necessarily many, presuming the existence of an apex court?

[The Uthani Imperium]

I've got a question about judicature in FT. Is it still in the interest of a FT nation to have a uniform body of laws applied throughout the nation?

For larger FT nations, would appellate process be a significant problem as the levels of court are necessarily many, presuming the existence of an apex court?

Generally speaking, it isn't necessarily not in the interest of an FT government to have a uniform body of laws applied throughout the nation, though it does exacerbate problems found in real life examples. Generally speaking legal codes can be divided into two broad sects; Common law, in which the case precedence generally decides the outcome of the case (at its most basic level) and Civil law wherein the core principals of the legal system are codified as opposed to relying on descisonal law as the primary framework. Really, neither is necessarily superior to the other, they both come with advantages and disadvantages, so more or less it's your decision. That being said, applying Civil law on an FT scale (which for the record, I do ICly) does have some very interesting challenges. Specifically, the nature of planets and their inhabitants often vary widely, and holding them all to a uniform code that most likely didn't originate from their planet, nor take into consideration their qualities of life, can be unpopular and at times even unfair.

So to sum it all up, my suggestion would be to build your legal system so that it is consistent with the rest of your nation. For example, if you already have a Federal state with significant devolution, it makes sense for your legal system to reflect that. However, if you have a unitary state, or little devolution of power to the lower levels of your government, it'd make more sense to impose a civil law code.

In response to your last question, yeah if you have devolution of courts there's gonna be a lot of bureaucracy and your apex court is probably going to be both overworked and ignoring a lot of cases thrown there way. But hey, the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't view every case that comes their way and they only preside over 300 million people.

Hope that was helpful.

[FThemiclesia]

I've got a question about judicature in FT. Is it still in the interest of a FT nation to have a uniform body of laws applied throughout the nation?

For larger FT nations, would appellate process be a significant problem as the levels of court are necessarily many, presuming the existence of an apex court?

Generally speaking, it isn't necessarily not in the interest of an FT government to have a uniform body of laws applied throughout the nation, though it does exacerbate problems found in real life examples. Generally speaking legal codes can be divided into two broad sects; Common law, in which the case precedence generally decides the outcome of the case (at its most basic level) and Civil law wherein the core principals of the legal system are codified as opposed to relying on descisonal law as the primary framework. Really, neither is necessarily superior to the other, they both come with advantages and disadvantages, so more or less it's your decision. That being said, applying Civil law on an FT scale (which for the record, I do ICly) does have some very interesting challenges. Specifically, the nature of planets and their inhabitants often vary widely, and holding them all to a uniform code that most likely didn't originate from their planet, nor take into consideration their qualities of life, can be unpopular and at times even unfair.

So to sum it all up, my suggestion would be to build your legal system so that it is consistent with the rest of your nation. For example, if you already have a Federal state with significant devolution, it makes sense for your legal system to reflect that. However, if you have a unitary state, or little devolution of power to the lower levels of your government, it'd make more sense to impose a civil law code.

In response to your last question, yeah if you have devolution of courts there's gonna be a lot of bureaucracy and your apex court is probably going to be both overworked and ignoring a lot of cases thrown there way. But hey, the Supreme Court of the United States doesn't view every case that comes their way and they only preside over 300 million people.

Hope that was helpful.

Well, our legal system is based on common law, which is, as you state, case law based on precedent. In this legal system I think a unified body of laws universally interpreted is very important to the unit of the country, especially when significant executive and legislative powers have already devolved to local authorities.

The question is more aimed at FT's impact on judicial systems, though as I see this is an underdeveloped aspect of NSFT.

[Northwest Slobovia]

The question is more aimed at FT's impact on judicial systems, though as I see this is an underdeveloped aspect of NSFT.

That's a really broad question. Which aspect(s) of FT are you most interested in their effects on judicial systems? AI? FTL? Imortality?

[FThemiclesia]

The question is more aimed at FT's impact on judicial systems, though as I see this is an underdeveloped aspect of NSFT.

That's a really broad question. Which aspect(s) of FT are you most interested in their effects on judicial systems? AI? FTL? Imortality?

More or less, size and population, and information technology. Using AIs is sort of too iffy for our culture, especially for judicial decisions.

[Northwest Slobovia]

That's a really broad question. Which aspect(s) of FT are you most interested in their effects on judicial systems? AI? FTL? Imortality?

More or less, size and population, and information technology.

I think Uthani mentioned some good ideas about population. I'm not sure a unitary legal system would scale well for extremely large populations, even if federalized. The number of possible interactions between N people goes up as N-squared. If we take of the fraction of those interactions that are hostile -- criminal or civil cases in civil society -- as constant with N, a unitary legal system may collapse under the load. A society ten times larger than a RL one would have 100x the legal cases. Or one might end up with a parody civilization, where half the people are lawyers and judges, hearing cases filed by the other half.

I tend to think about "size" of nations in terms of travel and communications times between typical locations in the nation. The faster and more frequent they are, the easier I think centralized rule or legal systems become, and vice versa. Historical RL empires have sometimes decentralized -- appointed local, sometimes nearly-autonomous satraps -- because long travel/communications times made rule from the center too difficult. Large FT nations may face the same pressures.

In terms of a legal system, that might mean that while there's formally a single legal system, local interpretations of it are more important. If it takes a "long time" (whatever the culture views as too long to wait) just to file an appeal with a higher level court, much less have the case heard and an answer returned, people may take local courts' rulings as final, even when the results might differ from what the apex court would say.

[FThemiclesia]

More or less, size and population, and information technology.

I think Uthani mentioned some good ideas about population. I'm not sure a unitary legal system would scale well for extremely large populations, even if federalized. The number of possible interactions between N people goes up as N-squared. If we take of the fraction of those interactions that are hostile -- criminal or civil cases in civil society -- as constant with N, a unitary legal system may collapse under the load. A society ten times larger than a RL one would have 100x the legal cases. Or one might end up with a parody civilization, where half the people are lawyers and judges, hearing cases filed by the other half.

I tend to think about "size" of nations in terms of travel and communications times between typical locations in the nation. The faster and more frequent they are, the easier I think centralized rule or legal systems become, and vice versa. Historical RL empires have sometimes decentralized -- appointed local, sometimes nearly-autonomous satraps -- because long travel/communications times made rule from the center too difficult. Large FT nations may face the same pressures.

In terms of a legal system, that might mean that while there's formally a single legal system, local interpretations of it are more important. If it takes a "long time" (whatever the culture views as too long to wait) just to file an appeal with a higher level court, much less have the case heard and an answer returned, people may take local courts' rulings as final, even when the results might differ from what the apex court would say.

I think that's the state I'll leave things at, since a perfect nation is no fun to RP. I'll just let my citizens wait for too long, since they're very litigious.

Just an endless series of courts of errors and appeals, until you reach a stage where costs of litigation will outweight benefits obtained. This way, cases naturally end where they need to.

[Northwest Slobovia]

Hey Kyrusia, I didn't see an "Interdiction/FTL" entry in the "terms" section in the OP. Might I suggest adding one? After reading Lubyak's ship descriptions and remembering how many people have FTL Interdiction-type vessels (sort of a staple of many in NSFT) I remebered I struggled as a beginner with that term, as I didn't fully comprehend it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll consider adding it. The issue with FTL interdiction/inhibition, however, is it has a rather sordid history of rampant abuse and is very much an "ask first" type of technology - a plot device, if nothing else. Regardless, I'll think on a potentially appropriate definition (or definitions); I've got a few more on my list to add as well.

Upthread, we discussed FTL weapons as also potentially problematic. What are other ones that have wretched histories of scum and villiany? If there's a well-known set among veteran FT RPers, might it be worth listing them so that newer people are forewarned that other players may not like those weapons/technologies?

[FThemiclesia]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll consider adding it. The issue with FTL interdiction/inhibition, however, is it has a rather sordid history of rampant abuse and is very much an "ask first" type of technology - a plot device, if nothing else. Regardless, I'll think on a potentially appropriate definition (or definitions); I've got a few more on my list to add as well.

Upthread, we discussed FTL weapons as also potentially problematic. What are other ones that have wretched histories of scum and villiany? If there's a well-known set among veteran FT RPers, might it be worth listing them so that newer people are forewarned that other players may not like those weapons/technologies?

My stated dislike of military RPs in MT will probably also extend into FT -- which would severely restrict my ability to RP.

Or, on the other hand, I can be the professional loser in an RP. That would make me very popular.

[Tierra Prime]

Upthread, we discussed FTL weapons as also potentially problematic. What are other ones that have wretched histories of scum and villiany? If there's a well-known set among veteran FT RPers, might it be worth listing them so that newer people are forewarned that other players may not like those weapons/technologies?

My stated dislike of military RPs in MT will probably also extend into FT -- which would severely restrict my ability to RP.

Or, on the other hand, I can be the professional loser in an RP. That would make me very popular.

There's always fun to be had in destroying everything you've built up.

I watched a lot of Roman documentaries when I was younger, so my favourite scenario is the collapse of a once-great empire.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... gialEmpire

[Sunset]

My stated dislike of military RPs in MT will probably also extend into FT -- which would severely restrict my ability to RP.

Or, on the other hand, I can be the professional loser in an RP. That would make me very popular.

There's always fun to be had in destroying everything you've built up.

I watched a lot of Roman documentaries when I was younger, so my favourite scenario is the collapse of a once-great empire.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... gialEmpire

The collapse of what came before seems to be, from both IRC and here, an almost essential element of most newly-borne FT nations. To redirect (Your Honor), my question then becomes; Is that an element of the age of the average FT starting RPer? Simply a common trope pushed to special prominence? Que Kyrusia Lecture Mode...

Why is the question important? And, for those who have done exactly that, your answer as to why you went down that path important? Well, it may help us who mentor try to understand where those individuals come from and provide appropriate guidance to something that may be outside of our own life experience.

[Tierra Prime]

There's always fun to be had in destroying everything you've built up.

I watched a lot of Roman documentaries when I was younger, so my favourite scenario is the collapse of a once-great empire.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... gialEmpire

The collapse of what came before seems to be, from both IRC and here, an almost essential element of most newly-borne FT nations. To redirect (Your Honor), my question then becomes; Is that an element of the age of the average FT starting RPer? Simply a common trope pushed to special prominence? Que Kyrusia Lecture Mode...

Why is the question important? And, for those who have done exactly that, your answer as to why you went down that path important? Well, it may help us who mentor try to understand where those individuals come from and provide appropriate guidance to something that may be outside of our own life experience.

It provides a blank slate and a goal to work towards. You're essentially starting off as a splinter state that wants to regain its predecessor's power. Whether or not you do is dependant on how you want to RP your nation, some like to build massive empires, while others like to have their nation slowly decline Byzantine-style (Which is a personal favourite of mine). A common scenario is a general or governor declaring themselves emperor over a small province or the remnants of a garrison force.

[Northwest Slobovia]

There's always fun to be had in destroying everything you've built up.

I watched a lot of Roman documentaries when I was younger, so my favourite scenario is the collapse of a once-great empire.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... gialEmpire

The collapse of what came before seems to be, from both IRC and here, an almost essential element of most newly-borne FT nations.

Hm. The three FT nations I'm working on are:

1) Humans who developed FTL and colonized nearby planets.
2) Humans who were conquered long ago by aliens and are (relatively) newly-independent.
3) A non-human hegemonistic nation.

Apparently I'm doing it rong!