Open Source TC

I've got a bunch of planet descriptions for an old project (not Revenant or Retribution) that I'd like to donate. Where should I put them?

@UE: They go in the dropbox. Stick them in a rtf file, then throw them in the donations folder.

I second JacaByte's idea of limiting exploration to give the appearance of a bigger galaxy, and I vote for the following three governments:

The monarchial/religious government. There should be a pesky subgroup of these guys (a small one) which flies tries to indoctrinate everyone. This subgroup should not be accepted by the general government.

The advanced republic with strong freedoms. They should have the best tech, and the smallest military.

Warrior nation.

There should be a smaller fourth government with just a side-mission string. They are the confederacy of independant planets. You must fly through at least 4 jumps of uninhabited space to get to them, and the planets are spaced out. There could be quite a bit of money made in trading with these planets and the major gov'ts, but the uninhabited space is filled with pirates.

Nifty idea Jaca. Could simply be some large and powerful space-borne creatures, like the Wraith or Hyperoids, except much more menacing. They could all be grouped into a govt called "Wild Animals", "Hostile Fauna", or something of the sort. Or, if we add other random hazards like mine fields and such like Frozen Heart did, they could also be grouped under "Hazard".

I dropped my world descriptions in the box. Although they were for a different project, I think you could easily adapt them to your needs, or at least hopefully draw some ideas from them.

I'm going to cast my vote for:

• Ultra-free, highly-unregulated Republic.

• Loose Confederacy of worlds who hate each-others' guts out.

• Warrior/Expansionist government.

(I briefly considered Bureaucracy and Monarchy, but since everyone else was already voting for them, I decided to be obstinate :))

i really cant make up my mind, all the ideas have real merit to them, so no matter what ill be satisfied...

and a note on the map idea, the systems further out could also have a -gravity effect set on an invisible planet/asteroid field/space wreck in the center of the map. so it gets physically harder for ships to fly out there, to the point it slams the ship back as soon as it jumps in... now ships with a higher mass could be more immune to this, so they could get out to a certain point.. this could also be useable in a sense that small ships cant get thru certain jumps without a certain mass...

I Vote for the Advanced republic. The warrior nation. and a Monarchy with a very large army but low tech.

I vote for:
-Warrior Nation
-Scientific Nation
-Monarchy/Church driven society

And a couple of side nations. Perhaps they are very powerful companies, they are too powerful for governments to be able to stop without outright destroying them, and so they exist by themselves under their own laws.

I vote:
Monarchy with Religion (not all sects have to be evil - perhaps just people don't like them - like Jedi, or Aes Sedai, or the Second Foundationers, or the equivalents that must exist)
Unregulated Freedom-lovers
Not sure on the third one: maybe loose, hating confederacy, of warrior-society... I'm not sure.

I do disagree somewhat with the "science government" being part of the "real three-way war," but perhaps there could be a minor government,
Say, this gives me an idea... Would you other people be open to the idea that completely different pasts can happen in different storylines? This is likely to occur anyway on such an open project, but what if we embraced it, instead?

Also, I have been intermittently out of order for the past few weeks with illness, and consequentially my CalTech application. Is there anything specific I should work on?
I can:
Create an advanced method for logically assigning bits and IDs,
Create resources from materials someone else has written (i.e. a flowchart of missions with descs; create accessory resources for sprites, combine individually rendered frames, or render them myself in some cases (not much experience here))
Try to write a string of missions (not likely to have good descs for many)
Do basic (as in, ideas) 3D modeling or create a 3D model from 2D drawings.
Proofread.
Debug.

I can't just:
Do something that assists the development of a project.

Make an advanced method for assigning Bits and IDs. that would be truly useful to everyone.

1. Reserve all bits in the range 0-999. Remember, it is always possible to refactor and shorten it later (albeit breaking pilots).
2. For each major government, allocate a range from n000 to n999. (presumable n={1,2,3})
3. Within each major government's range, allocate ranges for missions (presumably the bottom end), crons (I feel they should be separate from the missions, even when related - discussion?), and outfit permissions (and other permissions). These subranges should be the same for each. I'd suggest n6xx for crons and n8xx for permissions.
4. When there becomes a need for bits belonging to no government (for example, syst changes? I might assert that all syst changes should be done separately, even if they relate specifically to a government), allocate further major and minor ranges.
5. reserve the 9xxx range for debugging, and the 8xxx range for things that haven't been assigned an official range to work with.

For IDs it is similar, but those limits are more easily reached. I need to compile a list of every field that refers somehow to another resource's ID.
There should be skips so that newer related resource go with the old, and are not tacked onto the end. Are there any Nova resources in which skipping IDs is known to cause problems? I know there was an issue with DLOG/DITL somewhere...

I really need to work on RezEditor. Would people use it if it didn't offer much in the line of editing, but had refactoring abilities? Is there anyone who actually likes writing GUI code?

Looking over the faction concepts, and the resulting votes, you've got some names that could confuse during the final vote count. Having both "Scientific Nation" and "Advanced Republic" threw me for a moment, and having people vote a descriptive instead of a name is difficult enough; but you also have two entries for "Warrior Culture." This makes "Warrior" / "Militarist" votes more difficult to place. Throw in the fact that they seem to be taking the concept in two different directions, and you could have a problem.

As JacaByte calls his own entry the "Extreme Militaristic Culture," I'm using that name here for one of them.

The other "Warrior" entry mentions them being quite culturally developed, so I will refer to that one as the "Culturally Developed Warrior Nation" here. Since their description specifically called them "Warrior Nation" in the Concepts file, any votes saying simply those two words were placed under the second entry.

~vIsitor~'s vote for the 'expansionist' Warriors confused me, as neither of the two "Warrior" entries was listed as specifically expansionist. However, JacaByte's was directly compared to the Roman Republic, and the other entry was listed as "avoiding war unless they have a good reason," so I interpreted ~vIsitor~'s vote as being for the ExMilCul.

The preliminary count's from both "Warrior" types are rolled together under a "Generally Warrior" heading.

As for my confusion between "Advanced Republic" and "Scientific Nation," I'm ref' to the latter as the "Technocracy," as it is a more distinctive name.

I'm seeing votes for "Advanced Republic," "Freedom Lover's" and "Unregulated Republic," but I find only one 'Republic' entry in the Faction Concept's document. I've rolled all those votes into "Advanced Freedom Republic."

If I may be so bold, using specific names for the factions you're voting for will make the final vote count that much easier on those doing the counting. Best to set that straight now, and avoid unnecessary confusion later on.

Putting the names in ( b )Bold Tags( / b ) to make them stand out will also assist in the count.

If I've accidentally placed some of these votes wrong, it's all the more reason to use a clearer system for these votes.

Generally Warrior: (5)
Culturally Developed Warrior Nation: (3)
LNSU
Jailsurr
of doom
Extreme Militaristic Culture (2)
JacaByte
~vIsitor~

Monarchy w/ Church: (5)
JacaByte
LNSU
of doom
Jailsurr
Nonconventionally

Advanced Freedom Republic: (4)
LNSU
~vIsitor~
of doom
Nonconventionally

Loose Confederacy: (2)
~vIsitor~
Nonconventionally (?)

Bureaucracy: (1)
JacaByte

Technocracy: (1)
Jailsurr

Federalist Empire: (0)

I'm voting for a technocracy, but as a minor side government, like Gli-Tech-nia or Rauther. It's small, but in that area is basically a law unto themselves. I would also support an advanced republic like the Polaris, which just happen to have really good tech, but it's not the whole center of their existence.

My votes were correctly placed - including the uncertainty I hold myself - although "advanced freedom" might not be the best description. Oh, and I know my name is awkward (it is an adjective, for use with "I'm"), but it is somewhat annoying when it is shortened to an adverb. I shorten it to nonconventional when I shorten it like that, i.e. sourceforge username - unfortunately, someone else got the Gmail address - and I often sign like this.
-NC

(I will pretend I completely understand what's going and speak in a collective "we" as if I already joined. I will join this group as soon as I can use DropBox, which will happen after I get my MacBook Pro in a few days. I'll just throw in a few cents about the current discussion.)

Are we voting on just one government at a time, or all the major governments? If only one, I will vote the monarchy with church, as I think there is tremendous material for great plots in that. There could be all kinds of "little wise sayings"and rituals passed down through tradition that seem like they might have had important meaning at sometime, but the general thought is that it's for the "old people". Most space-farers who hail from this government pay lip-service to their inherited beliefs, but a very small few of them are still dedicated and "orthodox."

Missions for this government would have to involve studying some of the traditions and sayings in order to glean clues. Maybe some sinister plot of some powerful "holy order" that still operates "by the book" from the outside. You could either work to bust them or join in their evil and become one of them.

-----

Example dëscs for a planet I just made up:

Planet dësc: "Tranquility is a lush garden planet, sparsely dotted with monasteries. At a glance, the planet seems virtually untouched by anything other than the hand of <insert name of deity> himself. The few but prosperous produce markets on this planet are only open in the morning and the cool hours of the afternoon, as the monks prefer to meditate the rest of the day. Spacefarers come from far and wide to by the highly nutritious food for sale, and the noise of their spaceships is the only sound that ever disturbs the songs of the the brilliantly colored swagglebirds that delight visitors with their antics as they swing on vines in the orchards or dance among the treetops in the forests. These exotic creatures are often targets of poachers, but most dare not try because of the dire curses the monks proclaim on anyone who would harm the delicate creatures. To date, no one has successfully smuggled a single swagglebird off the planet, dead or alive."

Bar dësc: Hardly a bar by any spacefarer's standards, the courtyard of the Saint Derrick's Chapel is open to spacefarers during market hours, and many delicious fruit drinks are for sale at bargain prices. The monks at the door scan all visitors for weapons before they enter, as the Chapel is a sanctuary of peace. The music is certainly strange, but the drinks are refreshing.

News:
A blessed summer bumper crop has lowered the price of food on Tranquility.

Disturbances caused by would-be swagglebird poachers have forced the holy brothers on Tranquility to raise the price on their famous Myrtle Berry Wine.

This post has been edited by Geek : 04 November 2008 - 04:45 AM

@geek, on Nov 4 2008, 05:34 AM, said in Open Source TC:

Are we voting on just one government at a time, or all the major governments?

You're voting on three at a time, as it was consensus to have three major factions.

Geek said:

If only one, I will vote the monarchy with church, as I think there is tremendous material for great plots in that. There could be all kinds of "little wise sayings"and rituals passed down through tradition that seem like they might have had important meaning at sometime, but the general thought is that it's for the "old people". Most space-farers who hail from this government pay lip-service to their inherited beliefs, but a very small few of them are still dedicated and "orthodox."

Mmmm. If I may point you to the concept blurb from the Faction Concepts document?

Faction Concepts.txt said:

A monarchial nation with a powerful religious element. The government and the church have roughly equal power and do not rule over each other in sort of a checks and balances systems. For example, the king, who rules by divine right, needs approval of high religious officials to ascend to the throne, but at the same time is also responsible for appointing those officials while king. Nation is quite benevolent and will help those in need, but at the same time will try to indoctrinate them into their beliefs and put them to work in exchange for the help. For example, the homeless people are given food and shelter, but are put to work as "indentured servants", which is in reality much like slavery, but not nearly quite as cruel. (b)Soldiers are highly zealous. Will easily accept improvements of existing technologies, such as a better gun, but is leery about new innovations. If they were in Nova, their size and population would be somewhere between the Aurorans and Federation, leaning towards the latter.

If you say that most of their spacers are only paying lip service to their people's faith, you're moving their church into the background. After all, whose perspective is it that the player is watching the universe from?

Additionally, the concept doc is saying that the military tends towards the zealous... Assuredly the Military of one of the three major powers in the galaxy will have more than a handful of spacers in their service, yes?

Geek said:

Disturbances caused by would-be swagglebird poachers have forced the holy brothers on Tranquility to raise the price on their famous Myrtle Berry Wine.

"Would-be poachers" are still guilty of poaching, whether or not they succeeded; and thus, Are poachers.
If the wine is famous, the viewers don't need to be reminded about it - they should already Know, probably by seeing it mentioned in many places.
Is "holy brothers" the name of the monastic order on Tranquility? If so, it is a proper noun and should be capitalized. If no, 'monks' will work just fine.

So:

Quote

Disturbances caused by swagglebird poachers have forced the Holy Brothers on Tranquility to raise the price on Myrtle Berry Wine.
Or
Disturbances caused by swagglebird poachers have forced the monks on Tranquility to raise the price on Myrtle Berry Wine.

Geek, we're voting for all three at once. Also, for your reference so you can place your votes accurately, I uploaded the two files where the faction ideas are coming from.

Faction_Concepts.txt (5.52K)
Number of downloads: 11
G_vts.rtf (10.94K)
Number of downloads: 11

Edit: In after Eugene...

This post has been edited by JoshTigerheart : 04 November 2008 - 11:23 AM

Sorry. Just a random brainstorm based on limited info.

I'm reading that faction stuff now. More later...

EDIT:

I vote Monarchy, Advanced Freedom Republic, and Bureaucracy. The Bureaucracy and monarchy can definitely be at odds with each other, and the Republic will be the middle-man, trading peacefully with both governments, but reserving the right to step in if their conflict grows to the point where it could start a full-scale war. Skirmishes between the monarchy and the bureaucracy do happen, but most are usually stopped by patrolling peacekeepers from the Republic. Plenty of room for plots in any of the governments related to overthrowing the other, maybe even the Bureaucracy and monarchy temporarily uniting in an effort to destroy the Republic so that they can fight their war without interruption, and also to grab the immense resources found in the Republic core worlds.

I also vote that the advanced warrior nation, technocracy, and loose confederation exist as very small factions (the warriors and tech whizzes could even only have one or two systems each) that have the potential to sprout into more powerful factions, depending on the agendas of the three Big Powers, who may seek to support or destroy the smaller factions. All three Big Powers would love to have the military edge of the warriors and the tech of technocracy, but unfortunately both have no interest to join the conflict, preferring instead to peacefully trade with the loose confederation, really a collection of backwater planets populated by explorers and prospectors, as well as pirates.

To expound on some of the minor factions in my idea, the warrior nation could have gained most of its military experience from internal conflicts that were fought on and off for centuries, and it all began with a rivalry of explorers who discovered the homeworld of the new nation. They first fought over the one planet, then took the fight throughout the star system as nearby planets were colonized. Eventually, they just couldn't fight any longer, as their excessive military budgets were destroying their ability to survive. They put an end to hostilities, the rival factions keeping each other in check by equally occupying each others' territory and working together to rebuild. They are peaceful, and trade with the technocracy has allowed them to build a powerful economy, with a high standard of living for their people. Their warships are very advanced, built with incredible technology and centuries of military experience. While small, they are more than able to withstand any annexation effort of one of the Big powers, and their allies in the technocracy and loose confederation would quickly come to their aid.

The technocracy was formed by a group of explorers composed of techs and executives from several tech firms on Earth who were tired of the bitter competition on Earth, and sought out to build a technological paradise on their own. They succeeded incredibly, and their technological empire is the envy of surrounding worlds. Advances in artificial intelligence have allowed this government to build a formidable space fleet almost entirely crewed by droids and super-computers. These sleek automated wonders can be quickly mass-produced, and are sold only to trusted allies. The technocracy also boasts a formidable army of battle robots. These robots pack built-in energy weapons with incredible range, and their ability to collapse into solid slabs of metal allow thousands of them to be carried into action quickly.

This post has been edited by Geek : 04 November 2008 - 05:54 PM

Hmm... when I envision any religion-government combination, I can't imagine everyone is truly loyal to it. Those who are out for their own power are likely to pay lip service only - albeit powerful lip service. If the religion is truly tied to the upper class - the crowning, etc., then the lower classes are likely to be fairly apathetic, since the religion is not helping their everyday lives. (A religious lesson: remember, help all strangers; they might be important.) I personally would think that the military would be more practical, but it is perfectly possible for deeply ingrained mannerisms to apply themselves to that lifestyle. Perhaps returning soldiers are a fragment of what keeps the religion alive in the hearts of the common people.
Note that in any case, I think nobody should have a really clear idea of why they are really doing this religion thing, anyway. An idea of mine follows.
Perhaps it was all started after some great hero of the past, who did a bunch of good things and then departed. For example, there might be a stone on a pedestal in the temple on the home world, which the hero of long-ago, before he/she left, prophesied, saying "you will know my true successor when he/she uses the force of this stone against his/her enemies," and the people since have worshipped the stone, but have been unable to summon any power from the stone, because in reality it's just a rock, and its intended purpose is to be thrown by someone not even looking for it, in desperation.

I think a religion has generally more influence then their main country. Take christianity for example it had many 'christian countries ie Britan, Germany, France. Each individual country may be at war with some other country. But in order for the nation/religion to be truly at war they need a cause for all of the countries to be at war. aka a crusade type thing.

P.S. someone keeps deleting my name from the active developers list. I have just re added it for the 3rd time.

This post has been edited by of doom : 06 November 2008 - 12:39 PM