Advice Thread OOC Future Tech Only

[Balrogga]

My Argument Thread has worked wonders but it also has become a central point for advice which often has sidetracked the reason for the Thread.

As an experiment, I am starting a Thread to act as the central point for advice. New players can come here and ask questions and hopefully older or more experienced players can help them.

I do not want arguments here, take it to the Argument Thread.

Now, let us all play nice. Listen to the advice people give you and choose what you wish to keep.

[Thrashia]

A glorious *TAG* and first post after the OP.

[Hyperspatial Travel]

Taggeriffic.

[Enzo Turga]

taggidy tag

[Hyperspatial Travel]

I'd just kick this off with a tidbit of knowledge I've seen to be useful over the years.

If you're a new player - you've never touched FT before, and you're deciding to jump in, remember to tag your intro thread with "No huge invasions/megafleets/dick-measuring in space" in an OOC line before you begin your post proper. That way, when someone feels the need to eat your little empire that's just achieved faster-than-light travel, you can politely point them to that line before you point them to the door.

[Thrashia]

I'd just kick this off with a tidbit of knowledge I've seen to be useful over the years.

If you're a new player - you've never touched FT before, and you're deciding to jump in, remember to tag your intro thread with "No huge invasions/megafleets/dick-measuring in space" in an OOC line before you begin your post proper. That way, when someone feels the need to eat your little empire that's just achieved faster-than-light travel, you can politely point them to that line before you point them to the door.

I second this. It's a shame, but many new players who start their first intro threads end up getting (we use the word) "dog-piled" by a mass of...well, let's just say the lesser forms of life that exist within the FT community. It spoils the fun for everyone and the newbie trying to make his mark get's his thread ruined. No fun for anyone that way.

If such a situation does happen the mods can help to remove such posts out of your thread, if you ask nicely.

[Solar Communes]

Just one more. Ideally, you should strive to build an original concept. That does not mean you shouldn't have Space Marines that are able to wield "The Force" inside spaceships that look like Babylon 5 ones. Simply that it is almost always better to discretely take a few elements from several other sources instead of making a straight copy out of canon x or y. Also, the more known the canon x or y is, the greater the likelihood there is already an active FT RPer doing it. On the same matter, always check when possible if there is someone already doing a certain trope like for example "x IN SPACE!" where x could be Tsarist Russia. When you just end being a shadow of an older player, it doesn't really help much at drawing interest.

[Lhazastan]

I'd just kick this off with a tidbit of knowledge I've seen to be useful over the years.

If you're a new player - you've never touched FT before, and you're deciding to jump in, remember to tag your intro thread with "No huge invasions/megafleets/dick-measuring in space" in an OOC line before you begin your post proper. That way, when someone feels the need to eat your little empire that's just achieved faster-than-light travel, you can politely point them to that line before you point them to the door.

I second this. It's a shame, but many new players who start their first intro threads end up getting (we use the word) "dog-piled" by a mass of...well, let's just say the lesser forms of life that exist within the FT community. It spoils the fun for everyone and the newbie trying to make his mark get's his thread ruined. No fun for anyone that way.

If such a situation does happen the mods can help to remove such posts out of your thread, if you ask nicely.

alternatively, people could take responsibility for their actions, not be jackasses, and learn to GTFO when told to

I think that's a good approach, myself, being a newbie

[Dead Snow]

herpaTAG

[Morningstar Coalition]

Just one more. Ideally, you should strive to build an original concept. That does not mean you shouldn't have Space Marines that are able to wield "The Force" inside spaceships that look like Babylon 5 ones. Simply that it is almost always better to discretely take a few elements from several other sources instead of making a straight copy out of canon x or y. Also, the more known the canon x or y is, the greater the likelihood there is already an active FT RPer doing it. On the same matter, always check when possible if there is someone already doing a certain trope like for example "x IN SPACE!" where x could be Tsarist Russia. When you just end being a shadow of an older player, it doesn't really help much at drawing interest.

I'd just like to add a quick response to this.
Personally, I don't think there is anything at all wrong with even straight up copying an existing canon, as a starting point. What is however a massive cliche is when you copy a canon whole cloth, including known characters!
If you're going to do a Trek-themed nation, use the technology, the ships, even the worlds... But don't use the characters. Don't copy the exact history of the NCC-1701-D. Don't use James T. Kirk as your premier starship captain.
Be the Federation, but be a different Federation. Have a different history. Maybe your nation is an expedition force sent through a wormhole by the UFP, and suddenly finds themselves in the NS-verse, cut off from contact with home.

If you're going to pattern your nation after Stargate Atlantis, by all means use Atlantis as your base of operations; but please for the love of Pete, leave Commander Sheppard out of the picture.

If you're going to be the Imperium of Man, go ahead. Just keep in mind, yours will not be the only "Holy Terra" in the NS-verse, nor will you control the greater portion of the galaxy. Also, you won't have the One True Emperor in your nation, because there may well be half a dozen copies of him elsewhere.

Bottom line? Use the setting of an existing canon as a starting point for your own stories, don't just copy someone else's story.

[The Union of Tetrika]

NM

[Orthodox Gnosticism]

Just one more. Ideally, you should strive to build an original concept. That does not mean you shouldn't have Space Marines that are able to wield "The Force" inside spaceships that look like Babylon 5 ones. Simply that it is almost always better to discretely take a few elements from several other sources instead of making a straight copy out of canon x or y. Also, the more known the canon x or y is, the greater the likelihood there is already an active FT RPer doing it. On the same matter, always check when possible if there is someone already doing a certain trope like for example "x IN SPACE!" where x could be Tsarist Russia. When you just end being a shadow of an older player, it doesn't really help much at drawing interest.

I'd just like to add a quick response to this.
Personally, I don't think there is anything at all wrong with even straight up copying an existing canon, as a starting point. What is however a massive cliche is when you copy a canon whole cloth, including known characters!
If you're going to do a Trek-themed nation, use the technology, the ships, even the worlds... But don't use the characters. Don't copy the exact history of the NCC-1701-D. Don't use James T. Kirk as your premier starship captain.
Be the Federation, but be a different Federation. Have a different history. Maybe your nation is an expedition force sent through a wormhole by the UFP, and suddenly finds themselves in the NS-verse, cut off from contact with home.

If you're going to pattern your nation after Stargate Atlantis, by all means use Atlantis as your base of operations; but please for the love of Pete, leave Commander Sheppard out of the picture.

If you're going to be the Imperium of Man, go ahead. Just keep in mind, yours will not be the only "Holy Terra" in the NS-verse, nor will you control the greater portion of the galaxy. Also, you won't have the One True Emperor in your nation, because there may well be half a dozen copies of him elsewhere.

Bottom line? Use the setting of an existing canon as a starting point for your own stories, don't just copy someone else's story.

I concur with this. Using a show or other source as a starting point is fine, but also remember that once you begin to write on Nationstates II, that you are immediately an alternate version. Your history begins with each passing post, and soon enough the starting concept becomes your own.

Don't be afraid to evolve from that point. For Instance, I started off as a canon version of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol, starting with the cylon attack on the 12 colonies. NS players came in and saved me from the cylons, and from there, I ended up joining with another player who claimed to be the thirteenth colony of Kobol. I have gotten new tech, and through my history on NS, I vaguely resemble anything on the show(s) now. The most important thing to remember is to have fun, and watch as your version of whatever clone you are copying takes a life of it's own.

[Hyperspatial Travel]

alternatively, people could take responsibility for their actions, not be jackasses, and learn to GTFO when told to

I think that's a good approach, myself, being a newbie

Yeah, but those people generally don't listen. Part of giving advice is having it be useful advice - this might help newbies. Telling jerks to shape up won't do much, if anything.

[Umbagar]

I have a question that may not be future tech related, but what does "AMW" on the thread titles mean?

[Unified Human Colonies]

New Player here. What would be a good way to introduce myself to FT and the community IC?

I'm playing as an emerging FT nation that’s as yet undiscovered by other FT nations. We have access to FTL travel and all that jazz. Based loosely on the idea of a democratic republic (Think perfect USA/UK deal) IN SPACE comprised of predominantly western culture peoples who live in a series of colonies which have been abandoned by their Earth owners (still working on backstory).

[Czardas]

I have a question that may not be future tech related, but what does "AMW" on the thread titles mean?

AMW is "A Modern World" -- a modern-tech RP group, unrelated to FT.

New Player here. What would be a good way to introduce myself to FT and the community IC?

I'm playing as an emerging FT nation that’s as yet undiscovered by other FT nations. We have access to FTL travel and all that jazz. Based loosely on the idea of a democratic republic (Think perfect USA/UK deal) IN SPACE comprised of predominantly western culture peoples who live in a series of colonies which have been abandoned by their Earth owners (still working on backstory).

Well, there are traditional options ("We send out a probe to seek contact with aliens", "Our nation has a crisis and requires international aid", and one or two more you could do if you were Evil™ e.g. genocide or planet looting). There are also more creative ways to get introduced; use your imagination. The one thing I'd recommend not doing is starting off with a war or conflict -- give yourself some time to work out a military and a style of play for your nation before attacking someone/being attacked.

[Rethan]

New Player here. What would be a good way to introduce myself to FT and the community IC?

I'm playing as an emerging FT nation that’s as yet undiscovered by other FT nations. We have access to FTL travel and all that jazz. Based loosely on the idea of a democratic republic (Think perfect USA/UK deal) IN SPACE comprised of predominantly western culture peoples who live in a series of colonies which have been abandoned by their Earth owners (still working on backstory).

As Czardas said, there's a lot of ways to get into FT. Might I suggest one of the more inventive ones?

Use me. kinky

Rather, we could roleplay an infection of one of your ships or worlds. I know that a fair few nations are keeping tabs on Rethast infections, so it would be a way to draw attention without the usual "Ohai, we new. Come play pls?" or "olololol genocide tyme".

[Underium]

One more bit of advice... never go I has a ship that can destroy youre planet in five seconds, you can have planet destroyers but you should maybe in all have five at most, and it should have some bad part, either a long charge time or a long re-charge time... nevber just do this...

My ship fires its lazar! your planet is destroyed and within five minutes all planets in your system are destroyed!!!

[Northern Emirates]

hey all

I've tried to jump into FT before, but I always ended up with my fleet being gangraped by a massively more powerful race of sentient machines or whatnot...
Anything I can do about this?

My FT backstory is that we're a long-lost colony that was untouched by a plague that destroyed the rest of our species. Said species is descended from humans, but mutations gave them feathers for hair. We didn't necessarily 'discover' FTL, it was already there, invented by our former rulers on the motherworld. After a century or so of chaos following the destruction of the motherworld, we got our act together and are reunited under the banner of an Islamic Republic that is comprised of every nation on the planet. Our government functions by theocratic democracy, meaning only church leaders can run for office.
Just wondering if this seems feasible.

[Rethan]

Best way to avoid gangrape? Keep your intro RP closed. Or, make it open and set down very obvious rules and kick everyone who brings in lolhueg fleets. Try organising things with people before starting your roleplay, intro RPs always seem to be the worst for having n00bs join the fray and generally ruin everything.

[Enzo Turga]

DON'T ASK RETHAN TO JOIN, YOU'LL REGRET IT.

[Vocenae]

Don't spam, Enzo.

Basically, what Rethan said. Never do open threads because you'll just get swarmed by the scrubs and the people who think it's cool to have their Trek ships show up in every corner of the galaxy and then ignore you because you don't type five second posts and the thread ends up being about the two ships that came to meet you and met each other.

Another very important aspect of successfully b reaking into FT is the fact that the core group of veterans and non-scrub players have good Out Of Character (OOC) relations with one another, or at least sit down and try to mesh out problems with any RP that might be going on. FT is built on a much better form of Bromanship, don't be an idiot and don't be a jerk, and typically you'll find yourself accepted by the core group.

Also, longer posts = better. I would suggest that most of your posts and ESPECIALLY your intro post, be no less than twenty lines of text. Not twenty sentences, but twenty lines of text. Having good grammar is also a plus, but you should already be checking your posts for mistakes before you let it fly into the eternal expanse of the Internet.

Oh, and type your posts in something other than the forum new thread/reply boxes. It's safer if you use an external program that you can save your progress, in case your browser crashes or the forum throws another tantrum.

[The Union of Tetrika]

Ok, I've got a question for you, regarding Weapons.

Are Laser Weapons inherintly a weak weapon, or are they acceptable.

Or would making some sort of stronger version of them be a better weapon?

For Example, Should I keep my primary ship weapon as laser Cannon, or a stronger version called the Heavy Pulse Laser Cannon

[Balrogga]

In my opinion, the type of weapon you use is only cosmetic. Weapons are just that, weapons that cause damage somehow and they are all comparable by their effects. When I use my weapons, I try to describe their effects and not their strength. As a matter of fact, I have never assigned any sort of power yield to my weapons, that only opens the door to something called Number Wanking. This is when you see people bragging about peta-joules or google-watt strength weapons which are honestly beyond silly, the numbers mean nothing and many players just overlook (or ignore) the number anyways.

Remember, this is a story and very few stories I have read dwell on weapon yields, instead they describe the effects of the weapon. The type of weapon you use is the type you feel fits best with your "national mindset". Avoid numbers unless describing the count and not yield of your stuff.

Here is an example how you could describe your effect:

The three torpedo ships were firing seven torpedoes each at the enemy ship. If the torpedoes would hit the ship, they would release an ion blast which could short out electronics and shut down systems in that area allowing the shields to fail. The swarm of fighters escorting the three torpedo boats tried to distract the point defense systems of the target by firing their own ship to ship weapons hopefully causing the defensive systems to reclassify the dozens of incoming missiles as a priority target allowing some of the torpedoes to slip through and crack open a window in their defense.

In that example I not only used numbers only to describe the count of the ships/torpedoes/missiles but I also made sure to only describe he intended effects of the attack without stating what happened leaving the option for the owner of the target ship to decide what his systems would do. I never stated what would happen, but instead stated what could happen.

If you do this and your fellow players are cooperative, you will enjoy your stay here. The true key is to find some players that will work with you OOCly like stated in a post above. Once you find yourself your own core group you can stick with them and branch out with others to find more players. Communication is the key and using TGs or even MSN or some other form of instant messenger will vastly help improve your RP experience.

[The Union of Tetrika]

Thanks,

I assume the same would be true for all tactical systems, shields ect?