Space Opera

Interesting. Were the Storm named on purpose for their similarity to a natural storm (such as a hurricane, tornado, or tsunami) and the futility of fighting it? And will players ever have a chance of besting one, or will they have to run as fast as their dinky shuttle can take them?

I'm also curious about the Stalkers. They are basically very large humanoids with claws that attack and eat the Mantis, correct? Also, do they still hunt the Mantis or have the Mantis abandoned any world they live on? Do they hunt anything other than the Mantis?

Yes. Yes.

Yes, though they're only a little larger than humans. They still hunt the Mantis, because the worlds are valuable. They hunt anything.

This post has been edited by Templar98921 : 04 July 2010 - 11:43 PM

I love waiting 6 months before posting again. It's totally good for my work ethic.

I should force myself to have enough stuff for a decent post every month, at least.

Oh well. Here's your 6 (sorta) month post!

Those of you who pay attention to what's going on in Japanese pop culture may have heard of the new Space Battleship Yamato (or Star Blazers, whichever you're familiar with) live-action movie. SBY has had rather a large affect on the human ships, as there is a tendency for them to look like... well, battleships and carriers in space. Mainly because I like the aesthetic. There's considerably more grimdark in this than SBY, though. And so, on to the ships! This hexamonthly episode will showcase some larger ships of all the main races (except the Chrysanthemums, who are undergoing yet another retool to make them more... well, more, while still attempting to keep a Japanese flavour. It's actually quite difficult, but holographic sections are proving surprisingly effective.), and go a little into the naming conventions of each race. Also, I'll explain how the inter-race civilian trading network runs, and introduce you you to the Freeport system.

First off, the Series 8 Bulldog:

The Bulldog Light Transport is a Freeport ship dedicated to just that: Light Transport. Lightly armed, but heavily armoured and fast, this ship is designed to get between A and B as fast as possible, and with little or no damage to the cargo. A departure from Freeport's traditional bulk haulers and shuttles, with nothing in-between, this ship will set you back just upwards of a 900,000 credits new (values subject to change without warning etc.), but could well be worth the investment.

Ideally, this ship and it's variants, the Mastiff and the Terrier, are just going to be fun to pilot, and play a role like the Starbridge in vanilla; fun, easily modifiable and quite capable, though it's not going to be anywhere near good enough to take on military ships. The Bulldog comes with one gun slot and one turret slot, though both the Mastiff and Terrier will have more available.

Next, the Machintor Epitah Armored Freighter:

Yes, all Machintor ships will look like hellish conglomerations of flesh, bone and metal (it does look like that, right?). As stated before, they are vastly more capable in combat terms than Freeport ships, but are also orders of magnitude more expensive, and the mods required to run them are illegal in some sectors of space. If you buy a Machintor ship, you will be fused with your shipboard AI as part of the process, so expect any more software updates to be purchased from the Machintor only, at more exorbitant prices.

"So, what's the point, then?" you may ask. Well, the advantages are threefold. One, you can outfly anything that doesn't come with a price tags of millions, a huge crew and months or years of training and gaining the required rank in the military of choice. Two, it opens up all sorts of trade that would be otherwise impossible, because it is very, very difficult to scan Machintor ships and there is all sorts of illegal fun to be had (illegal everywhere but Machintor space, of course). And three, you can't start the Machintor string without being one of their ships. So yeah. Still may not be worth it to some of you, but choice is a wonder.

TE98 Sunbleed Carrier

The first joint project between Vespan and UNX, the TE98 is the smallest carrier in size (ever so slightly), but is the superior to the T94 in capacity, power generation and management, armouring, manoeuvrability and just raw force. It boasts a deck Railgun in addition to torpedo tubes and a point defence system, and fills the medium carrier gap in the Human fleet (the official designation of the T94 is a “scout carrier”, designed with large sensors and high speed, but in it's<i> non-existent</i> engagements, it's acted as a hit and run vessel.) The TE98 will not be available nor seen for a while into the game, for a few reasons.

"Volund" Man'Thor Freighter

It's the offical Man'Thor freighter and supply ship. Not a huge amount to say, except it's fast and small for it's job.

Naming Conventions

Human:

The model numbers for human ships are prefixed with one or two letters indicating the duties it was designed for. Here's the list:

A- Fighters/Interceptors
D- Anti-Fighters/Support
I- Anti-Capital
R- Transport
X- Cruiser
S- Station
B- Heavy Capital
U- Super Heavy
P- EW/ECM & ECCM
T- Carriers
E- Experimental
O- Dreadnought

Model titles are left to the designation of the manufacture; Vespan uses the names of metals, like the A34 Silver, while UNX has nounverber titles for their ships, such as the BX54 Starstealer.

Individual capital ships names depend on which number they are; the first ship in the line is always named after the line itself, so the first BX54 built was called the INS Starstealer. After that, the government names them, and I've gone with the names of testbed designs and famous ships, such as the Agincourt and the Mary Rose. You'll never come across a fleet consisting of “Starstealer, Starstealer, Starstealer”, it'll be more along the lines of “ INS Starstealer, INS Agincourt, INS Othello ”.

Chrysanthemums:

As the Chrysanthemum's ships are built by the government, they all follow the same naming pattern; adjective then a flower name. All model names are translated (possibly poorly) into Japanese. The only named ships are those who have performed valiantly in battle, and they are always named after their Captain at the time of the engagement. They'll have structural and visual differences as well, and it is considered the greatest honour on a Captain to have a ship named after them.

Man'Thor:

All the Man'Thor designs are named after famous (and not so famous) figures from Norse mythology. I'm still figuring out a system for naming individual ships, though.

Mantis:

Mantis ships are named after two different concepts, depending on the Captain's fancy, such as the Hope/Birth and the Foolishness/Opaque. All Mantis ships are individually named (ironically for a hive mind), but all models of a series will look the same.

The Freeport system and civilian trading

The Freeport system arose mainly out of a desire to swap civvie tech between merchants, give them an edge over their own competitors. A grey market trading post eventually arose around the most travelled non-government system, one very close to the galactic core. Almost over night it turned a huge profit, as the station security helped prevent the increasingly common cargo frauds and theft of goods amongst the market. As the station grew, both physically and in influence, other stations appeared in frequent stop over systems, and soon a competing network was set up, outside of any government influences.

As always, the balance didn't last. The original station, under a Mr. Walker, used it's excess capital to purchase outright the newest stations just after they were built, and then used the profits off those (profits gained buy careful advertising and manipulation of the market) to buy up the older, more resistant stations. Eventually, Mr. Walker owned the first 5 civilian stations, and then he formed them into one company, Freeport Associated. In it's first year, Freeport Assoc. turned profits to rival the smallest multi-planet human corporations, as civilians flocked to the technology trading, and now mineral, energy, repair and refit services offered by the Freeport stations. The first purchase offer from Indigo Multiplanet came soon after, but the complexities of buying a business not truly floated and with a reluctant sell CEO meant the deal collapsed quickly.

And in any case, Mr. Walker had plans...

Freeport 6 started construction in 2388 HTS and was completed a scant two years later. It was then that the true extent of Mr. Walker's ambition was unveiled. Freeport was the first major shipyard to include tech from multiple species in it's designs, and quickly dominated the civilian market. The first Series 4 ships to roll off the lines were all small, in-system tugs and test-bed shuttles, but they were cheap and functional beyond what any of the single-race civilian ships could offer. As they started selling, and selling well, Mr. Walker uncovered the thing he had really been looking for; an old pre-H4 Drive generation ship.

Bulky, underpowered and over-packed, the massive starship's systems had failed and all the occupants were dead on discovery. But it was repairable. Mr. Walker begat those repairs and became it's only occupant, frozen in cryogenic sleep, as the ship was ordered to complete a massive loop at enormous speeds, to keep Mr. Walker, already an old being, as young as possible for his return in 500 years. The rechristened Glorious Journey left on the same day that the first Series 6 ship emerged from Freeport 6: The Solar Guide Frigate.

Freeport Associated flourishes under the AI minds Mr. Walker left in charge, and Freeport 7 was completed in 2419 HTS. The Freeports now cover nearly all ungoverned space, and form a massive economic power, if not a military one. Towered over only by the respective large races, the Freeports have recently unveiled yet another certain money maker: The Series 8. Lead by the Sirius Cargo Hauler and Bulldog Light Transport, it is expected that Series 8 sales will overtake Series 6 sales within a few years. Series 6 and 4 ships are still being manufactured, albeit in secondary shipyards around the monster that is Freeport 6, and early reviews indicate it'd be better to buy Freeport-built instead.

There's some delicious back-story, but if you don't care for that, here's what it means for the player:
Freeports will be your early upgrade stations, for both ships and outfits, and if you choose a merchant player, they'll start at one of the Freeports.

Buying non-Freeport Series 4 and 6 ships will be cheaper, slightly, but the ship quality will be all over the place. On the other hand, certain shipyards will perform better in some areas than the Freeport models, so it's worth a shop around if you're after something more specialised, and don't want to shell out for someone's tricked out personal blockade runner or hauler. Freeport are the only people to sell Series 8 ships.

Race-specific civilian vessels do exist, they're just crap in comparison.

Freeport will have a mission string, even if it doesn't have a major campaign. There'll be rewards.

This post has been edited by Templar98921 : 19 January 2011 - 04:54 AM

QUOTE (Templar98921 @ Dec 17 2010, 04:33 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Next, the **Machintor Epitah Armored Freighter:
**

Yes, all Machintor ships will look like hellish conglomerations of flesh, bone and metal (it does look like that, right?).

Actually, my first thought was, "Why is there is ribcage with engines in here?" So yes, it does look like that. A ribcage or just a bony heart.

This all sounds pretty good. I look forward to reading more!

There you go, current Chrysanthemum ships at last. The placeholder names for them are the Garyuu Interceptor and the Sugetsen Destroyer, though I'm off to get my Japanese dictionary for their real names at a later date. As previously mentioned, Chrysanthemum ships revolve around speed and beam weapons. The Halo drives they fit are easily the fastest in the galaxy, and have on/off inertia (There'll be an outfit which you can buy/sell for zero credits to turn it on and off. Not the neatest solution, but eh). They also have stronger shields and far weaker armour than average.

Beam weapons, being beam weapons (in this category are, in order of power, Particle Beams, Lasers and Masers, with multiple classes of each), do a lot more damage to armour than shields, as shields can redistribute the energy far more effectively. To combat this, there is an anti-shield beam type (Grazers) but they are less efficient for their weight and power consumption.

UT32 Diamondsun Carrier

It's big, it's relatively ugly, it's devoid of direct firepower for it's size, it's the Diamondsun Supercarrier! It carries ships. Lots of them. It's built by UNX. Curiously, not much more to be said.

Normally I type massive wall-of-text posts, but I'm not going to this month, because 1. I cannae be bothered and 2. Most of what I've been working on is end-of-plot spoilers.

So my post next month (I'm going to actually keep to a monthly schedule this year) will be primarily about the Storm (EDIT: Oh, and the Pirates!), if anyone is interested.

This post has been edited by Templar98921 : 19 January 2011 - 08:05 AM

I'm actually very interested in this TC, I like the descriptions of the various races a lot. Keep it up!

@templar98921, on 19 January 2011 - 08:02 AM, said in Space Opera:

... it's relatively ugly...

Ugly? It's a massive, mobile flight deck and it's glorious!!! I love it!

@darthkev, on 19 January 2011 - 05:44 PM, said in Space Opera:

Ugly? It's a massive, mobile flight deck and it's glorious!!! I love it!

Excellent, that was the effect I was going for.

Proof that J-Trance and Naval history make me interested in typing stuff out:

Official Ship Classifications: Freeport AI Automated Designation Guide

Small Craft:

Shuttles are anything smaller than 100m with greater than or equal to 15 tons designated cargo space. Anything with less than 15 tons of designated cargo space but still primarily used for the carrying of cargo is classed as a Runabout.

Fighters (or Fighter-Bombers ) are any small craft for military purpose with a mix of anti-smallcraft and anti-largecraft weaponry, primarily used for patrols and policing, as opposed to use in military actions, though there are exceptions.

Bombers are any small craft for military purpose with a primarily anti-largecraft weapon loadout, and feature in direct military action a considerable amount of the time.

Interceptors are any small craft for military purpose with a primarily anti-smallcraft weapon loadout, and feature in direct military action as support for Bombers and anti-Bomber work. Occasionally used on patrol and for police work, depending on avaliablity of other designs and capability of craft in question.

Other smallcraft sometimes have designated roles; these are specified in the ships design in the databanks, and thus will show up upon scanning, though they are not common enough to set aside a general category.

Medium Craft:

Transport is any ship with a greater than 100m length with greater than or equal to 15 tons designated cargo space. The ships subclass depends on a few factors:

- Light Transports are anything with less than or equal to 30 tons designated cargo space, and a limited weapons array.
- Blockade Runners are anything with less than or equal to 30 tons designated cargo space, and a weapons array consisting of at least one (1) turret and three (3) guns capability.
- Medium Transports are anything with between 31 and 50 tons designated cargo space, and a limited weapons array.
- Armored Transports are anything with between 31 and 50 tons designated cargo space, and a weapons array consisting of at least three (3) turrets and two (2) guns capability.
- Bulk Transports are anything with greater than or equal to 51 tons designated cargo space.

Destroyers are any medium craft for military purpose with a length of less than or equal to 1000m and are primarily tasked with escort missions for larger craft, specficially anti-smallcraft, anti-missile and anti-Corvette duties.

Corvettes are any medium craft for military purpose with a length of less than or equal 500m and are primarily tasked with the destruction of enemy capital ships and large craft. Sometimes designated Torpedo Boats depending on fitting ( Corvette is the designation for primarily direct firepower, while Torpedo Boat is the designation for indirect fittings).

Cruisers are any medium craft for military purpose with a length between 501m and 1500m and are primarily tasked as long-range commerce raiders. Indirect fittings are typically classified Taskcruisers , while beam fittings are classed as Streamcruisers.

Battlecruisers are any medium craft for military purpose with a length between 501m and 1500m and are primarily tasked with the destruction of enemy capital ships and large craft. Indirect fittings are typically classified Warcruisers , and beam fitted Cruisers as Killcruisers.

Carriers are any medium craft for military purpose with a length between 501m and 1000m with a capacity of 6 smallcraft wings maximum (Mantis ships have leeway here, as 8 smallcraft wings is typical for a Carrier of this size) and are primarily tasked with the provision of smallcraft support for both largecraft and mediumcraft. Scout Carriers are equipped with less smallcraft, but are typically smaller, faster and more agile, and are used for support for Cruisers on commerce raids, and sometimes as raiders in their own right.

Large Craft:

Battleships (sometimes Ship-of-the-line ) are any large craft for military purpose with a length greater than or equal to 1501m and primarily tasked with completely dominating the space they are in, including anti-capital and anti-smallcraft duties. Indirect fittings are typically classified Wolfships , and beam fitted Battleships (such as they are) as Panzerships.

Super Carriers are any large craft for military purpose with a length greater than or equal to 1001m with a capacity of more than 6 smallcraft wings (typically up to 12) and are primarily tasked with the provision of smallcraft support for both largecraft and mediumcraft, up to and including destruction of enemy capital ships and largecraft from bomber missions. Battlecarriers are ships designated for a split smallcraft/mediumcraft role, such as carrying Corvettes and Torpedo Boats.

Dreadnaughts are any large craft for military purpose with a length typically greater than or equal to 2000m and primarily tasked with destruction of major enemy assets, such as Super Carriers, Battleships and derivatives, and on occasion stations. They can typically destroy multiple Battlecruisers in straight engagements, but fall prey to Super Carriers and especially Battlecarriers if unsupported.

Notes: I left Frigate out as a term because it's become essentially meaningless, as it's role keeps changing. Battlecruisers were phasing out by the time missile armaments became common, so I made up a term. Obviously, no ships have beam weapons yet, so terms were made up for that. Also, Corvette, Dreadnought and Ship-of-the-line don't mean what I say they do, but they're awesome terms, so it means that now. There are other military designations, but those are for... odd... ships, so find them out by your own.

There are no Transports designated Large Craft primarily because they have nowhere near the displacement of the Large military ships, but I might fiddle with that later.

Oh, and Rocket is anything that's basically a UGB, and Missiles are guided. Strictly speaking, not the correct definition, but close enough.

This post has been edited by Templar98921 : 20 January 2011 - 02:00 AM

I'm sorry this post is a tad late, but what can you do. The main reason is I opened up the Storm model, recoiled in horror and went on a re-design/re-model binge. I'm still not happy with it, so the Storm won't be featuring this month, even though I said they would. I apologise. In exchange:

Star Eater Pirates

By far the biggest and most powerful (though by no means the only) Pirate gang in the SOverse, the Star Eater pirate story begins with the Diamondhead system, in the galactic south. For years, every ship that had enered the system had been shredded by the system's lingering defence system, which use incredibly advanced weaponry. Quick-hyper spy ships showed that the system was asteroid heavy, and had massive sensor interference. Nonetheless, something was there, something that could have been a station. None of the major governments were willing to risk a fleet for exploration, so the system was just off-limits for years.

A pirate called Gerhold had reached the end of his luck. Massive bounty on his head, ship in ruins, food and water dwindling, medicine running out. Succumbing to depression, and wishing to commit suicide, he hypered into the Diamondhead system, where, according to the legend, he was greeted by a stream of communications and status updates from each of the remaining system defences. They had somehow confused him with the one of the previous owners of the station, and guided his ship in the what Gerhold quickly realised was not just a station, but a partially functioning shipyard as well. His curiostity piqued, he allowed himself to be directed on board and to the Stationmaster's staterooms, where an AI waited on him.

Three weeks later, Gerhold's contacts recieved a message that a magnificent opportunity had arrived, and to come to on of the systems around Diamondhead. After they had gathered, most somewhat on edge being around each other, Gerhold arrived from Diamondhead, his ship cast anew and remade faster and better armoured than before. He then guided those who would follow back in to Diamondhead, and the first meeting of the Star Eaters was called.

A week after the meeting, the first piracy credited to the Star Eaters started. Previously, pirates were armed with slightly souped up civilian vessels and equipment, but the Star Eater's use of new engines and weapons quickly became apparent. The Star Eaters started to accumulate other gangs and their members, and soon became by far the most powerful pirate gang in known space.

The system defences remained under Gerhold's control, and no-one within the system challenged his rule. It was also enough to keep the major governments out, at least for now.

Space Opera's pirates are considerably nastier than the playable pirates in EV Nova. Blackmail, murder, occasional rape, drug dealing, all the disgusting things pirates do in real life. Pirate ships are also easily one of the best non-military ships avaliable (the only competition being Machintor ships) and are relatively easier to aquire. Here's a quick rundown of the most common ones. and a little experimental frame.

Hammerhead Heavy Fighter
(picture included earlier in this thread, but re-produced here for the sake of completeness.)

The Hammerhead is probably the most able fighter in the galaxy. Designed to operate without carrier support and for long periods, it has more jump capability, shields and armor than any other fighter and a destructive capacity equal to most military fighters. It's larger engine size means it has a slight manoeuvrability edge on most fighters too, even if it's larger mass means it's acceleration suffers. Not a ship to be trifled with.

Barracuda Boarding Vessel

About corvette size/weight, the Barracuda differs slightly from most corvettes with a focus on manoeuvrability and acceleration over firepower. The smallest ship to mount an EMP beam, the Barracuda typically fries the electronics of it's target before hanging back to regen energy and damage shields and armor, to avoid damage to itself, being relatively flimsy. The spike and hook arrangement at the front is part of a boarding array to enable quick and easy access to other ships, which most large pirate vessels mount.

Pirate Solarguide Frigate

The closest thing the Star Eaters have to a tanking vessel, the Solarguide is unlike other pirate vessels in that it forgoes manoeuvrability and speed for shield toughness. An impressive ship, it doesn't have the cargo capacity of it's civilian counterpart, but has two EMP cannons, vastly more energy and more direct firepower, as well as it's toughness. Typically armed with close-range weaponry and famed for going after heavier ships, many pirate captains mount some point defence to discourage fighters and missiles.

Pirate Liner

The pirate version of the Starliner (which I've not shown you yet, oops), is similarly armed to the Solarguide, but has vastly more impressive acceleration and manoeuvrability than it's heavier cousin. The boarding array at the front is attached directly to an assault drone hanger, for ease of vessel capture, and the gutted out and reconfigured living space gives you a respectable cargo capacity.

(I really like this one, so I'll get a better screenie sometime. This one's on an odd angle.)

Xiphactius Cruiser

The first cruiser-sized fully Star Eater frame, the Xiphactius is a ridiculous ship. It's not incredibly tough, but fast. Amazingly fast. It also has decent cargo space, and the coupe de grace on it is a reconfigured system defence gun from Diamondhead. The gun costs huge amounts of energy to fire, but is enourmously destructive, and fully capable of wrecking fleets, if carefully managed. It's also the only over-penetrating gun in Space Opera.

So there's this month's update. Sorry it didn't contain the Storm, but look forward to them next month!