Morningstar Discussion Thread (OOC)

[Morningstar Coalition]

I've decided to just to a single, central OOC discussion and chatter thread for all of my Morningstar RP.

I'll try and keep this OP updated on my active threads, including others threads I'm involved in. If I do not have a dedicated OOC thread for one of my storylines, then please post any OOC here.

Capsule, Feazanthia. Regarding the gate, I figured the Keflek system would have been among the first ones to receive a gate, due to it's seeming important strategic location following the Galactic Assembly meeting. As for fluid time, I've been running under the guideline of one IC month to every RL week, and fudging things here and there to fit timelines when needed. As such, for me it's been a few months since Arcturus and the GA meeting. I did make an assumption that in that time things would have progressed on the Feazanthian slipgates being distributed and brought online.

RL being the sometimes bitch she is, I know how sometimes there isn't enough time to properly RP out all these important events in separate threads, and it ends up just being either glossed over, mentioned in passing, or RP'd after the fact.

[-Raysia-]

As for time, I go with RP time, not any sort of code time. Go ahead and do whatever you want, but if I have an RP that takes 2 months to complete, and it all takes place in the space of a couple of days, we have an issue.

It's really hard, this whole IRON thing, because we've been seeing so little of IRON on the boards.

Mine and Bryn's biggest problem with the IRON slipgate network is that there has been NO mention of it on THESE boards until magically it showed up... thus my IC response: "We have one?!"

I mean, I, for one, know of the development thread on the boards of IRON, but there's been nothing about it here on NS... back in the day we needed Development Threads before showing up with some new uber-handy thing... give the enemy time to make guerrilla strikes, give some sort of IC timeline to completion...

That's why I don't consider anything that happens on IRON, ESUS, or via telegram, to have any affect on any other nation outside of those alliances. If someone were to build some superhugeuberbattlestationofdeath without even giving us the OOC advanced warning of a research thread, I wouldn't be the only one to raise a few objections.

[Morningstar Coalition]

Well folks, I finally finished one of my side-projects!
For a week and a half I have been trying to figure out what technologies Morningstar inherited from TRIAD, which due to a lack of specific materials, Morningstar can no longer produce/manufacture on their own.

I finally have my shopping list, now I just need to figure out what nations would have suitable replacement technologies and arrange to RP trade with them. Hehe.

First off, a quick reference. TRIAD had access to an exotic matter material called Tractite. Tractite's exotic properties allowed temporary alterations to local spacetime geometry, for very little energy cost. One of the possible effects was the temporary creation of artificial gravity fields of arbitrary volume and intensity. This was used for everything from artificial gravity aboard spacecraft, but it was used in the creation of "Singularity Barriers" instead of shields, and extreme gravity environments were used to manufacture certain materials.
With the Exodus of TRIAD, Morningstar now no longer has access to any supply of Tractite, so any technology which is based on it, must be totally replaced. Any technology which was augmented by Tractite (high-gravity materials manufacture for one), must be redesigned.

Here is my shopping list. If your nation can replicate the effects of anything on this list, and you'd be interested in some RP to negotiate the trade of technology, lemme know.

Tractite Based Tech:
Grav Tech
Gravity Generators - This system wasn't simply a way to make things easier on the crew. The internal gravity also served to over-write inertial effects outside the ship from translating to any interior volume where the gravity generators were in use. A combination gravity deckplating and inertial damper in one.

Combat Barriers - Described as a small, two-dimensional, singularity-strength event horizon. The trick was the Tractite allowed TRIAD to generate an event horizon without any corresponding mass, and without any residual tidal forces beyond the event horizon itself. In essence, Combat Barriers created unusual black-hole like effects to block/deflect/vaporize incoming attacks. These are not full-enclosure "bubble" shields, but instead a ship used multiple small barriers which could be moved around the ship's perimeter to intercept attacks.

Gravitic Sensors - Simply a sensor system able to detect changes in mass, gravity wells, and "mass shadows" of objects in Otherspaces (Subspace, hyperspace, higher dimensions). Note here that in my writing I subscribe to the theory that gravity field changes translate at FTL velocities, making a Grav-Sensor a form of FTL-Sensor.

Mass Reduction - I've lifted the application and basic functions of this technology both from the TV show "Andromeda", and the game "Mass Effect". The device allows the "inertial mass" of an object to be reduced, allowing normal reaction propulsion to operate much more efficiently. TRIAD mass reduction systems could operate at a peak of 60% reduction of an object's mass, with power requirements scaling in proportion to the amount of both total mass and reduction ratio.

Impacters - An off-shoot of being able to create temporary gravity fields of arbitrary intensities. Creating a very narrow "beam-shaped" field of gravity well in excess of that found near the surface of Jupiter, I proposed a sort of "gravity laser". The weapon produced kinetic impacts on targets, without actually needing to fire a solid mass. I've never actually used Impacters in NS RP, since there's some rather wank-tastic side effects: Unless the target possesses artificial gravity, or gravity-like shielding, the Impacter ignores energy shielding and armor; the beam is also FTL delivery, again assuming that gravity translates instantly across it's effective volume. This is not a high-priority technology, mainly because it's too prone to abuse and tech-wank.

Marduk Core Shell - The Marduk species used Tractite to create meta-stable degenerate matter solids. From these they were able to create outer casings for their "brain" Cores which could survive almost any punishment short of being at ground-zero of an atomic detonation. TRIAD used the technology for the creation of computer cores for all mechanical and digital sapients. This is more or less just another "Adamantium" material that's so expensive to manufacture, it's only used in certain applications.
Dimension Tech

Resonance Comms - A variation on Quantum Entanglement/Ansible comms technology. Yes, I know IRL QE cannot overcome relativity or causality, so can't really be used as FTL communicaiton. However, I did find a theory which if proven right, could allow for something similar. Cosmic superstrings (part of superstring symmetry theory) can become entangled just like particles can, and they are capable of being "resonated"/vibrated by external stimulus. Resonance comms take advantage of this, where two transceiver units entangle the same superstring. Once separated by distance, the string remains connected to both units, and when one "transmits" the other instantly receives the vibration-carried data. Yes, it's a bit technobabble and possibly total handwavium, considering the device ignored distance, and there is no actual "signal" to interrupt, scramble, jam, or intercept.

Flatspace - A technological "bag of holding". Creating and inserting a 3-space volume into a 2-space framework, you create a "doorway" that is larger on the inside than the outside. TRIAD used this in most forms of bulk storage: Fuel, cargo, ammunition, heatsinks, etc. Downside being that if the connection between outside space and the internal volume is ever severed, the internal pocket collapses and everything inside is destroyed. Second is that inside the space, time is suspended, which usually had fatal results on biological matter (IE people).

N-Space Refractor - A variation on the Flatspace technology, only this time we've created a crystal with a near perfect reflective index, who's internal lattices extend right up into higher spatial dimensions. Fire a burst of light into this baby and it reflects infinitely until striking a specially treated transparent surface. These were used as ultra-high capacity batteries for energy storage. This technology is not a high priority, because I've other FT batteries I can use.
Drives

Daedalus Gates - A variation of my "Otherspace Tunnel" FTL drive. It's functionally similar to Stargates (from the show/s of the same name), but relies on Tractite to function.

Corraine LDD - A Linear Displacement Drive, functionally identical to the same-name drive on the game "Independence War". Millions of tiny micro-teleports give the illusion of FTL acceleration, up to three times speed of light max. The drive is reaction-less and inertia-less, but cannot easily change direction without slowing down to sublight "speeds" first.

Mobius Transfer - A variation of space folding. This is essentially a short-range teleporter, where the contents of a volume of space at two platforms is exchanged. Unlike Trek-Transporters, the subject matter remains intact and coherent throughout the instant exchange of space.

Tractite Enhanced Tech:
CH-Ceramal (CH-C) - Ceramal is a semi-fictional material used in the novels by author Neal Asher. Short for Ceramic Alloy, Asher describes it as a ceramic composite doped with crystalline tungsten. Normal ceramal was roughly five times stronger than an equal mass of titanium-based alloy. By treating ceramal with extreme heat and pressure during manufacture, the density of the material increases by a factor of ten, also increasing it's strength. The gravity environment needed for such "Case Hardened Ceramal" was similar to the gravity and pressure found near the surface of Jupiter's core. Without Gravity generators to replicate this extreme environment, Morninstar is unable to manufacture CH-C.

Neutronium Fuel/Neutronium Micro-Fusion - IRL, Neutronium is not a super-dense solid. It's closer to a super-dense liquid, which violently explodes and "degenerates" as pressures drop below those found in neutron stars. For this reason, RL neutronium is referred to in science circles as "Neutron Degenerate Matter". With gravity generators, it's possible to artificially manufacture and store large amounts of this Neutronium "fluid". Because almost all the protons and electrons have been stripped or fused together in Neutronium, this substance would have almost no resistance to fusion reactions. TRIAD uses this as fusion super-fuel. Construct a reactor where the chamber is composed of thousands of nano-scale particle collider tracks and reaction pits. Using micro-scale gravity fields, individual atoms of neutronium can be kept at pressure while being propelled down the tracks and impacted together to create fusion reactions. This is basicly just a super-charged, super-compact fusion reactor, which without gravity containment for the neutronium is far less efficient.

Grav-Boosted Plasma/Particle Weapons - In RL physics, plasma weapons (and some particle weapons) are very hard to do. Plasma wants to return to an un-excited ground state, which means you have to contain the plasma somehow so it retains enough energy to strike and transfer to the target. A lot of sci-fi proposes magnetic containment, but this doesn't really work because most plasmas are electromagnetic conductors and superconductors. The plasma will be constantly bleeding energy as it interacts with the magnetic fields, making them weaker, increasing the rate of energy loss, etc... For TRIAD I used micro-scale gravity generators fired along with a plasma "bolt" to contain the plasma and prevent it reacting with the surrounding environment until impact. For plasma/particle beam weapons it's a similar principle, using a gravity sheath to confine the beam and keep it from scattering. Yes, it's possible to use plasma/particle weapons without gravity control, the grav-tech just makes them more efficient (leading to longer range or higher damage potential).

Grav-Boosted Mass Drivers - Again it's rather easy to use electro-magnetic effects to power mass-drivers, however with magnetic propulsion you are required to use magnetic materials in some portion of the projectile to be fired. Because the use of Tractite allowed the creation of energy-cheap gravity fields, we could propel projectiles of any composition for roughly the same or even less energy than magnetic propulsion. Again it's a matter of gravity control enhancing other FT technologies.

[Feazanthia]

The Slipgate problem has been made known to me, and I will be posting a thread detailing the construction of the network in the next couple of days.

Also, for the record, we didn't just come out one day and say "ohai we has slipgates kthxbai". The construction of the network, both its initial announcement and it nearing completion were mentioned in numerous threads. A clear IC timetable was set up, which was one of the reasons I was so curious how long after the Arcturan Incident it had been. Canonically, the IRON began planning for the Slipgate network right after the Incident and the subsequent political clusterfuck.

Without further ado...

Slipgate Press Conference

Mention of the Slipgate Project being on-schedule

Building a Phase Two gate on the Gamma-Beta border

I'm not saying I didn't screw up OOCly in the management of this project. I should have anticipated that someone would require an IC post detailing how the gate was built, and probably an IC post about the network going active. I was planning these things for the Phase Two system which, in my honest opinion, is the one that will be FAR more important both as a strategic element and an asset in enforcing IRON's mission statement. But I don't want it to seem like we were just trying to handwave in a massive infrastructure upgrade.

And, like I said, I am currently planning to set up a few IC threads about Slipgate construction in the next few days. And perhaps a few things about Phase Three? *eyebrow waggle*


EDIT: And Morningstar gets +1 internets for the "technological bag of holding".

[-Raysia-]

Redemption for Feaz! I didn't know about that thread

And cool tech stuff, MC

[Morningstar Coalition]

I'm dropping this here for anyone watching, or anyone who decides to just poke their nose in.

The Morningstar Coalition fleet will soon be leaving the protection of the Raysians to seek their own fortunes and destiny, along the way, I hope that they find more than just a boring trek across empty star systems.
So, I'm putting up an open invitation to pitch ideas for things and people they might encounter along the way. Using Bryn Shander's map, the fleet will be departing sector JK, near the Raysia system. Their first waypoint is somewhere in the K-I sector to get past the galactic core, there they will change course and start heading for sector N-I. After this second waypoint, they will make final course for sector R-K and the Praxis system in subsector 1-2.
The fleet consists of almost three hundred ships of varying sizes, roughly three quarters of them warships. Such a large flotilla is bound to attract attention, either from governments along the route, or else pirates, raiders and even legitimate traders. The fleet's method of travel requires that all ships pass through the interior of star systems to move from entry "jump point" to exit jump point. Most of the ships will be limited to sublight speeds while they pass through these systems. Total time from Raysia to Praxis will be roughly two to three IC months.

Keep in mind one thing, no attacks or ambushes are valid unless I approve OOC them first. I have planned for a major incident somewhere in M-I, however other than this I would prefer that most of the fleet survived the trip. Feel free to pitch me an idea for an encounter along the way.

[Morningstar Coalition]

Well, looks like my list of threads is running a bit too long to contain in my signature, so I'm dropping this little tidbit in here and will just link to this post for my sig.
Edit Note: Now the list has been sorted by timeline. Older events at the bottom of the lists, newer events at the top. One note however, I've sorted the timeline based on when the thread started. Some threads' events will end up running past events in other threads because of this.

Morningstar Coalition's Tech Profile

Threads the Coalition is involved in:
Link - Current Status - Open/Closed/Invite Only/Semi-Open - My Thread/Involved Thread

My involvement with these threads will ICly occur almost a month after the fleet reaches Praxis and begins rebuilding it's decimated numbers.

A Signal Made Hidden - In Progress - Open - Involved Thread
From Out of the Ashes of Empires - In Progress - Open - Involved Thread
The Evacuation of the Skyan Homeworld - In Progress - Open - Involved Thread

Both of these threads are very recent, and occur at some undetermined time after the fleet arrives in Praxis. The Terror Station thread got overrun by an idiot and was locked by the OP, then re-started as an invite-only thread.

Terror Station 2.0 - In Progress - Closed - Involved Thread
Terror Station - Retcon/Restart - Closed/Locked - Involved Thread
Into the Hulk - In Progress - Open - Involved Thread

The Praxis thread was originally set perhaps a month after TRIAD Enterprises originally left the NS-verse. However, I've since retconned things, so the new start time for the Praxis thread is after both Second Exodus threads.

Derelicts: Praxis - In Progress - Open - Involved Thread
The Second Exodus - Part 2 - Stalled - Semi-Open - My Thread

These two threads are happening at the same time, on the same world. Both Velorenen events started during the opening events of Second Exodus Pt 1.

HOLY GENOCIDE, BATMAN! - Stalled - Semi-Open - Involved Thread
COUP D'ETAT - In Progress - Semi-Open - Involved Thread

As mentioned above, the actual start of Second Exodus occurs before the two Velorenen threads, however the Exodus threads cover almost three to four IC months of time.

The Second Exodus - Part 1 - Stalled - Semi-Open - My Thread

Both the Symposium and the third Rules of War conference take place roughly one or two weeks before the start of Second Exodus Pt 1.

The Galactic Assembly - The Rules of War - Take 3 - Stalled - Open - Involved Thread
The Symposium - Stalled - Open - Involved Thread

Rules of War (Day 2) is concurrent with all four of the threads following it in the list. Each diplomatic contact mission was sent out within days of each other, and the delegation to the Galactic Assembly was sent not long after that.

The Galactic Assembly - The Rules of War - Day 2 - Complete - Open - Involved Thread
Ashes to Ashes - Stalled - Invite Only - My Thread
Dust to Dust - In Progress - Invite Only - My Thread
If you don't take it out - Stalled - Invite Only - My Thread
It's going to Rust - Complete - Invite Only - My Thread

Aid and Comfort takes place perhaps a month before the above diplomatic missions. Out of the Ashes was originally going to be a "diary" of the Coalition Admiralty, and while it starts perhaps a week prior to Aid and Comfort, the most recent Out of the Ashes post takes place roughly a month prior to Second Exodus Pt 1.

Aid and Comfort - Complete - Closed - My Thread
Out of the Ashes - Complete - Closed - My Thread
Morningstar Discussion Thread - OOC - Open - My Thread