LibriumArcana.Games

I think it is time to get going on yet another installment in the Phoenix War timeline.

I've had a few PMs with Kreshna and Jon that I will repost here to get things started.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote: Well I think the problem is continuity, especially the Phoenix War part 2 where both Lord Adam and Darth Kreshna died.

Shall we just ignore that one and start over again from the Phoenix War 1? You'll need to contact Jon too, by the way. Anyway, I'm thinking about Babylon Five post Shadow War, so it'll be more like the earlier part of Phoenix War I. So it will be more about various governments and the tension between them, while Darth Kreshna (in the same position as John Sheridan) will suffer the headache of keeping the peace.

Ra wrote:

Destructionator XV wrote:There were some things I did like about RGOAKS, especially how I was playing myself. I write my characters not as simply part of the plot, but as characters who were having to deal with the plot around them, wether they liked it or not. It felt much more natural to me anyhow, pretty much writing them the way they are in my head.

Indeed, it had its good moments, and your portrayal of the Lord and Lady was excellent. Keeping it character driven, over and above the plot at all times, is what we have to do to make this new STGOD work, and keep vigilant about it, so we don't fall into the plot-driven holes that killed the last two STGOD's.

Aye, and of course some minor characters would be fine (such as I introduced Sir Hoisler and Professor Mathias of the A'millian Empire, who did little more than random guest specialists would on TOS).

I'm not really sure we should even focus on a plot to get going. Perhaps just writing some random stuff about our characters would be better, letting a plot develop from there.

Agreed.

Yeah, this would probably work, though having at least a loose framework of where we want to go would be a good thing.

In RGOAKS, I had a final goal in mind the whole time: some tragic fall of Lord Adam. When I first started, I was going to have him replaced by a mirror universe doppleganger, which is why he was so cold and late in the first few posts. But then I ended up making a rational defence for his actions, and it turned out quite a bit more interesting.

However, I don't feel I adequately wrote it in the end, and him being slain really forced any continunity from that in one direction, though that one direction does have some potential.

In my ending for this (which I never posted), it would have ended something like this (barring DXM answers)

The Lady realizes he was right, or more accuratly, that time has run out, and she has no choice, and proceeds to carry out his plan: orbital bombardment of the planet's major population centers. This would get Nyar-whatever's attention; most his bittorrent seeds are being disconnected if you will.

Now, one or two things would happen:

He would move in to attack the bombarder to save his worshippers, at which point he is blown to hell by beefed up Starship weapons, or if needed the multi gigaton bomb carried on the ship. At the cost of billions of innocents, mission accomplished.

Or: he would be angry that his worshippers are being blasted, and summon his magical energy to strike back, resulting in the mass destruction of the Star Empire: the view from the TARDIS they saw ends up being a self fulfilling prophecy. Game over. Any continuation down this path would end up being a Battlestar Galactica situation: the final survivors from the empire flee, with the Lady on the verge of madness: everything that could have gone wrong, went wrong.


But I could never decide how shitty I wanted to make the situation.

Awesome how you had the whole damn thing worked out. Too bad it was never able to grow to fruition. I'll certainly work on a loose framework for my side of the new STGOD's plot, such as why Galadriel is back from Valinor (the RGOAKS explanation was that there was no explanation), and maybe some political scheming that could go on between the Goa'uld and... say, the Empire or even the A'millians.

Hell, here's a plot idea... maybe Ra could be up to real dirty tricks, like trying to acquire his own Dark Jedi and investing a lot in other Force-related things after the Phoenix War ended. He could also (along with KAN's X-filesish "Organization") be researching on recovered Guardian technology, trying to overcome the problems of it driving its users mad. So you've got these reverse-engineered Goa'uld/Guardian hybrid ships with bioarmor and other enhancements. Ra was always an antihero type in the Phoenix War, he should stay that way.

And as for continuity, think of RGOAKS like you think of Predator II or Batman & Robin; it never happened.

Perhaps the Lord and Lady tried their hand at writing some fiction about themselves, and the new one begins with them putting down the pen of DOOM (tm).

LOL! That's so random and crazy it might just work. *gives stamp of approval*

Half-joking here, but if you want a plot... what if it was an alternate-universe scenario? Your recent post on the BC versus Carrier inspried me a bit... what if it was a Zerg invasion? Maybe LadyTevar could DM the Queen of Blades?

That has some potential.

One big advantage the Zerg would have as an enemy is they would be beatable. With the other threats, we kept making them more and more powerful, so not even the SW Empire could take them down conventionally. This has the obvious problem of forcing us into DXM solutions (man, it is like Stargate SG-1. Let's search for another ancient plot device!) With Zerg, defeating them militarily would not the the real problem in the end (phasers would eat them alive): it would be dealing with the consequences, dealing with internal character conflict, which IMO makes for a more interesting story than just fleet buildups and attacks.

Exactly! Not unlike how the nBSG Cylons were handled, I guess. Half the time the Fleet is facing its own problems and issues, and its own fight for survival, rather than just making pretty explosions.

Starcraft single player wasn't awesome because of mineral mining and unit massing. It was awesome because of Mengsk, Raynor, Aldaris, Tassadar, and Kerrigan, and never knowing how they will end up interacting.

I couldn't have said it better myself. The character drama within SC had me on the edge of my seat, quite a unique experience for a strategy game.

I'm also tempted to suggest mirror universe (either controlled by evil like in Star Trek or just different, like in the Stargate quantum mirror episodes) or time travel at some point, just to give us an excuse to write out people and settings in such a different way. Time travel might be fun seeing how different our settings would look 1000 years past or future. Anything 1000 years or more in the A'millian empire would put them pre holocaust, and things were very different back them. And also, would Lord Adam want to try to change history while there?

Mirror universe and time travel might be fun to explore for a short time, but I don't think we should focus much on it in the overall story arc. Just something to change stuff up temporarily down the line.

Oh, that's awesome. We could have all kinds of wierd stuff, like what if the Stargate was never discovered in Giza, so Colonel O'Niell never killed Ra in the movie? Would he still have his huge space empire, and how would the Goa'uld had handled the Guardians, if they appeared at all? Or what if Galadriel had taken the One Ring, becoming the evil dark queen she prophesied of? Or on the Wars end, we could even see time travel back to the days of the Old Republic. The possibilities here are limitless.

But no, it should certainly not become the focus of the story, just some brief detours during slower phases of the game to add excitement and depth to it.

But, I kinda like the idea of using the Zerg, and if the whole thing takes place in some alt universe, we just have to decide on what is canon for this universe and what is not (such as, did the Guardian war happen in this universe?) and we are good to go.

Indeed... I think we should go with the Phoenix War having happened, with the new game's events happening soon afterward, but if you feel otherwise, just say so.

The summary looks like we are going to through Ra Goes on a Killing Spree out of the continuity, picking up at some point after PW I.

All right, continuing. While RGOAKS's events might be thrown out, it can still provide backstory and information on characters.

As I wrote in one of the PMs, my method of retconning it would simply be it was a fanfic attempt by the Lord and Lady. It will certainly give valuable information about them: remember how Adam brushed off the plot early in RGOAKS as being "not our problem"? That will probably happen again. The A'millians just got tossed around by the Guardians, and when he let an outsider in, he was backstabbed, which will fuel his latent xenophobia. Those two people are tired of it all, though they are very good at hiding it and appearing Vulcan in public. Don't expect them to be an easy sell this time around either.

Ra brought up having too many characters, which is a good point. Also, PW I had too many plot threads going, with some of them right into a wall. Recall when it was fast moving: small forces fighting amonst themselves, but then we brought in the Guardians, who could take down Stardestroyers, and we were trapped looking for DXMs. Hallowed are the Ori situation there: we need a beatable enemy, and I also think, as mentioned above, that the enemy shouldn't be a big deal at all. Look at the nBSG Cylons: they are just a driving force, the real story is in the ragtag fleet.

I also propose we have a set goal for the ending: this need not go on forever (because if we have a radical change in plot, we'll continue as volume IV). If we have a goal, we can stay focused and not go nuts with neverending plot threads. This goal might be simply "Find Earth" to keep with the BSG analogy, or we can make it "kill the overmind" to go with the Zerg. I just think a goal is important to keep us under control.

I feel that our posts too should be rather small individually, unless your characters are alone. That way, others can post more to your conversation, allowing more character interaction. Of course, if there are no other player characters around, the stage is yours.

Time jumps should only occur at the beginning of a post, and only need to affect other players when resynching is required. This way, other players have a chance to post something in that time frame before being left behind. Example:

We are all together, and then split up. This post ends with something like "they all head back to their spaceports."

My next post:
One day later
Adam was watching TOS and loving it.

Someone else's post:
One hour later
Mr Awesome sits on his space shuttle, watching Airplane! on the in flight movie.

At this time, someone else's post is one hour after boarding the shuttle, not one hour after my post. This also has the advantage of if one of the players is busy and doesn't have a chance to post, we can still post some internal conflict or character development or something, so long as it doesn't affect the other player's characters.

Am I making sense?

Am I making sense?

Yes.

And I totally agree, a main goal is indeed necessary to keep the game from going into a tailspin. My basic idea WRT to that, it could start with "stop the Zerg invasion of planets X and Y", and end up later evolving to "retreat to area Z", "find person A", "stop Kerrigan", etc.

Another thing I thought about, remember that the Zerg are drawn by psychics? So our Force-using characters (Lady Galadriel, Darth Kreshna) might have to invent new tactics accordingly.

And above all, I know it sounds corny, but let's just have fun with it. That's what made PW so great.

Ra wrote:My basic idea WRT to that, it could start with "stop the Zerg invasion of planets X and Y", and end up later evolving to "retreat to area Z", "find person A", "stop Kerrigan", etc.

Maybe mirror the beginning of the game: some planets are all ready infested, get started by figuring out what is going on.

The final goal should be reasonably consistant out of universe: stop Kerrigan or whatever. The evolution of how we get to that goal in universe would of course be more dynamic, like what you said here.

Funny fact: the Lord and Lady are both players of Starcraft and Warcraft II, and the Protoss exist as minor entities in the A'millian canon. Might be a good idea to not use that though, as it could be weird. (But then again, they watch Star Trek and Star Wars and are ok with the Empire, so it might be funny to bring in the games)

Another thing I thought about, remember that the Zerg are drawn by psychics? So our Force-using characters (Lady Galadriel, Darth Kreshna) might have to invent new tactics accordingly.

Definitaly like that. It would be a psi emitter that you can't turn off!

And above all, I know it sounds corny, but let's just have fun with it. That's what made PW so great.

Aye.

I'm up for it - provided we make the powers of characters have a more realistic approach. Give them power, certainly, but give them weaknesses as well, and no more fucking omnipotent unlimited powered beings. Yes, I'm looking at you and your bloody Phoenix Force, KAN.

I'll be using the Culture GCU Mostly Harmless (Referential Cookie) and a civillian drone or two.

EDIT: Note that the Mostly Harmless is unarmed, and an Eccentric who would rather die than attack another being

I hate to spill your tea, Dak, but I have the feeling you would have more fun in this game as a Force user, rather than conveniently having the most powerful warship in the game's universe.

Ra wrote:I hate to spill your tea, Dak, but I have the feeling you would have more fun in this game as a Force user, rather than conveniently having the most powerful warship in the game's universe.

You missed:

Me, editing for clarification wrote:EDIT: Note that the Mostly Harmless is unarmed [as are all GCUs], and an Eccentric who would rather die than attack another being

If you'd like me to have something else... well I'm not going for Star Wars at any rate. Or Star Trek. Or any of the other overly-used sci-fi out there. *Glances about*

Alright, you've forced my hand, to maintain my Culture-ish background in this TGOD, I'll be a freaking Spartan-II! (Brigadier-General Michael-422) (Before you ask, I'm just a supersoldier, this implies that I can do quite a bit better than the average soldier, but I'm not going to be Master Chief McWanked)

I was merely suggesting that you did that because (I thought) you were a big fan of Wars. Ne'er mind.

Ra wrote:I was merely suggesting that you did that because (I thought) you were a big fan of Wars. Ne'er mind.

I do like Wars, I just also like broadening the horizons a bit when TGODing.

I mean, Jedi are dime-a-dozen, but how many Eccentric uber-pacifist GCUs can you mention that have appeared in TGODS?

Quick reminder: the Wiki we put up last year is still up:
http://arsdnet.net/wiki/index.php/

I've not done much to it in the last few months, until yesterday, when I started fleshing out more little details on the A'millians. Right now, I am struggling to make the path of the Ancients come together. I want to combine the 13th tribe (going to earth), Stargate, SG:Atlantis, Phantasy Star (came from earth), and a few bizarre facts about my own star system. Too much contradictory canon to combine! I'll probably end up taking some artistic licence to the canon (like I don't all ready!)

But, yeah, that is still there if you want to write up backstory references or whatever.

At this point, I feel we should all formally list our characters, assets, and situations.

Time: shortly after the conclusion of the first Phoenix War. (How much after? I'll be open to suggestions)

I will, again, be playing as the A'millian Star Empire, specifically as the leaders of the Empire, Lord Adam and the Lady (who still has no name out of universe).

At their command is the resources of the Empire: about 180 major inhabited worlds and a number of smaller colonies and military installations with a total population of about 1.1 trillion sentients (down from 1.2 trillion before the Guardian incident, which is a significant loss of life). The total number of planetary militia members is nearly 6 billion, and the size of the Federal military forces is nearly an additional 10 billion people. Planetary militias are normally used for local support or the repelling of a planetary invasion, but if needed, they can be called to Federal duty.

The Federal military's Starfleet has nearly 50,000 starships, 250 starbases, and over 2 billion personnel, capable of projecting force into other galaxies. It controls a small network of transwarp hubs that can be used to shorten travel times across long distances, such as those between galaxies, and individual ships all have varing combat capabilities and speeds. Firepower level is greater than Star Trek, but no where near Star Wars. The Fleet is often spread rather thin, but can, on rather short notice, regroup to form deadly fleets, if it is possible to leave planetary defense to the local militia or regular Army.

The population of the Empire is mostly human, but also has numerous other sentient races, and a large number of artificial intelligences, all with equal rights.

Also part of the Federal military are the A'millian Knights, an elite branch trained in the use of powerful magic. The best of the best are made part of the Elite Knights, which has only 25 members. In total, there are only about 5,000 knights in the empire. The Lord and Lady are both trained as Knights, and served in that branch early in their careers (and, it was actually larger back then, for various reasons).



I doubt you will actually see much of this military facts in the game itself, it is just here as interesting back facts to keep in mind, especially when considering enemy force numbers and strength.

Now, time to get into the character themselves' power and some facts.

Lord Adam is of the species A'millian and is 1919 years old, having served his nation for over 1700 years now. He is, as are all Knights trained in combat with many types of weapons including rifles and swords. He is also a former Starfleet officer, trained in various forms of starship operation and maintenance. Additionally, he has tremendous knowledge and experience in various fields of science, mainly physics, advanced computer systems including AI, warp field dynamics, astronomy, and magiology (the scientific study of magic). He is on experience level 108 (level as in Final Fantasy terms), breaking the normal level 99 barrier quite some time ago, making him a fearfully powerful magical combatant. (Worth noting that this magic is not really effictive except in some special circumstances, such as fighting other users of his same kind of magic. There are many restrictions on it.) He has slight natural telepathic ability. He has been in absolute command of the star empire for 996 years.

If you think that is a hell load of qualifications, you would be right, but if you were a genius who has been around for almost 2000 years, you'd know a lot of stuff too.

The Lady is of a species very similar to the A'millians, but reproductivly incompatible along with a few other minor changes. They are from the same planet. She is 1,752 years old, having served the nation for over 1,700 years. She is also a Knight, and hence trained in many weapons and magic usage. One difference in her training from Adam's is she also attended the War College, and is fully trained in military strategy and tactics, and proper diplomancy. Also a former Starfleet officer, she has various starship qualifications as well. She, too, has tremendous knowledge in various fields of science, including chemistry, geology, biology, computer systems, and physics. She is fluent in over 250 different languages. She is on experience level 106, again making her an insanely powerful magical combatant when the special situations arise allowing that kind of battle. She is also capable in mind reading and control, able to reproduce most feats of the Bene Gesserit, despite not having any formal training from them. She is better in personal combat than Lord Adam, both with bare hands and swords, and is considered one of the finest swordspeople in the empire.

She and Lord Adam have been very close friends for almost seventeen centuries, and she carries his complete unquestioned trust. They are both considered geniuses, even amonst biological A'millians and AI mainframes, and both, like all A'millians, very good at controlling emotion. Both have a number of other faults, including having no real friends except each other (which they see as being their greatest advantage) and xenophobia. They also have some psychological problems brought on from their many life experiences, but I won't list them here.


Once again, I doubt these qualifications will be relevant in the game, and I am providing them here merely as backstory.

(If you are wondering how I determined those numbers, I just took the population of Earth, the United States, and the size of the US Armed Forces and extrapolated from there. They seem huge, but that is expected for a interstellar empire. I might actually be being rather conservative here.)

Whoa, sorry for the late reply. I've been on my bad for some days due to my throat. Maybe I really need to stop smoking.

Well, the Zerg storyline is fine. However, I always like the Babylon Five backdrop.

Remember Babylon Five after Shadow War, where President Clark assasinated President Santiago? And the nations who previously allied with each other against the Shadow now started to show some tension between them?

So what if we have such background? So after the Guardian Wars, the Death Star Three (DK's battle station) become the host for various diplomatic and high-rank figures from various nations (A'millans, Goa'ulds, etc), to make the backdrop resembling Babylon Five. And of course, despite the 'comradeship' between the leading characters (Ra, Galadriel, Lord Adam, Darth Kreshna, Lord Detritus, etc), national interests always come first. So I imagine Lord Adam, in grim face, says, "we have no choice but attacking the Goa'uld border. Damn, I really hate to do this." etc.

By the way, I also need someone to play as the Galactic Empire. See, Darth Kreshna is more like John Sheridan (while the Death Star Three serves the same function as Babylon Five). Darth Kreshna, however, is dictated by the central government at Coruscant to some degree (although, being a Sith Inquisitor, he's relatively more independent than Sheridan). Mind you that he doesn't always have to agree with Coruscant. For example, Coruscant may say "nuke A'millan Prime!" while DK will say "but we can resolve this peacefully" etc etc. So I guess someone playing the central government will be interesting.

PS: anyway, Dak, I'm still gonna' be the Phoenix to keep things consistent with the (hypothetical) ending of Phoenix War I, but don't worry, I'll keep myself limited to diplomat/commander role like John Sheridan.



Anyway, there's some things I'd propose to make the STGOD last long:

(1) let's start with premises and backdrops instead of a fixed storyline to follow. In fact, let's NOT having a pre-built storyline. Instead, let's the storyline flows naturally as the characters interact.

(2) before started, I guess we need more players (too bad Robert ain't here anymore), so maybe we need to invite some more before actually starting the STGOD. And by the way, there's a lot of new members in LA who don't actively post, so why not inviting them?

(3) While we love to play with individual characters, I guess we also need to pay attention to things like fleet movement or such, just like the early days of Phoenix Wars STGOD

(4) Keep things balanced. The Galactic Empire, the Goa'uld, the A'millans, and the Trolls are basically on the same league with each other, but when someone decide to bring the Culture, the Lensman, or the Dahak, any ensuing space battles will be surreal and won't get balanced anymore.

(5) Last but not least, make this thread a sign-up[/url] thread, just like other STGOD OOC thread, so others who are interested can also register as an alien nation.

EDIT: Change of plans, read the upcoming post after I summarise this lot, might take a minute.

The Commonwealth

Based around an alternate version of Earth, the Commonwealth is the evolution of the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Nations and the European Union sometime after the Third World War. A galaxy-spanning organisation, they're best compared to the Galactic Republic and the Culture in moral values, though they do have a fully standing military and are technologically comparable to the Galactic Empire.

Their ships are controlled by sentient AI systems, and they can function entirely without a crew.

Upon encountering a wormhole in the year 5467 CE, they launched a small reconnaisance fleet to see what was on the other side, because they're nosy bastards by nature and can't really help having a look and seeing what's out there. The fleet that was sent included five Heavily Armed Escorts, ten Lightly Armed Escorts and one Construction Vessel for establishing a small outpost. However, several weeks into the survey of the surrounding systems, the wormhole collapsed, and the Commonwealth fleet was trapped on the edge what they discovered to be a mirror galaxy to their own, many years into the past.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:Maybe I really need to stop smoking.

I think I've said this before, but that would be a really good idea.

By the way, I also need someone to play as the Galactic Empire.

What might be more interesting is having Coruscant not really play much a part at all. Say it takes a couple hours or more for messages to go back and forth, and weeks for ships. That puts more pressure on Darth, and keeps Imperial might at bay. Imagine this

"You are a long way from home, Admiral. By the time your vaunted fleet arrives, there will be no one left to rescue."

Or perhaps

"Admiral, message from Coruscant. Reads: "You are ordered to BDZ your 'allies' at once." Message transmitted, two days ago, sir."

"We are a long ways from them... and I don't like this order. It will be at least four days before they even know what is going on, and weeks for them to send anyone to do anything about it."

Turning Coruscant into basically the giant with no teeth (but perhaps still poison...) would make the Imperials more interesting, IMO.

(3) While we love to play with individual characters, I guess we also need to pay attention to things like fleet movement or such,

To some extent, yes, but I really don't think it should be as important as the individual stories with the characters. Sure, we will certainly have some fleet battles, but we don't want to focus on that too much.

Think about nBSG, where Adama was getting ready to attack Pegasus. The real awesome part of that scene was Adama and Cain on the radio talking about it. ("I'm getting back my men.") The next cool part was seeing the Vipers flying back and forth past eachother, just waiting for the order to open fire, which never came. That drama would have been weak if they just started shooting, but the interaction between Adama and Cain (and of course the outstanding acting) made that one of the best scenes in television. Period.

Now, I would like to see some battles in a similar way too. We play commanders in the CIC barking orders and hearing status reports.

my post:
Bring us around to target the forward batteries and order the Aries and the Melbourne around to cover our flank. (cookie for the reference on ship names)

Aye, sir, firing solution in seven seconds.

opponents post:
Sir, the enemy vessel is targetting her main weapon.

Engines ahead full, bring us right past her, firing port missiles as they come to bear.

my post:
Target has changed course, closing fast.

Keep our dorsal shields facing her... fire phasers!

opponents post:
Phaser fire to our forward section, shields holding. Missile range in five, four...
Commander, two more enemy destroyers attempting to flank us, sir.

Fire missiles as soon as we are in range, then bring us about to 148 mark 008, and punch to warp 2.

my post:
We have an inbound nuke!

All hands, brace for impact.

*ship shakes*

Report!

Direct hit, port shield compromised!

Return fire!

Sir, she has gone to warp, the Aries and Melbourne requesting permission to persue.

Granted.

opponents post:
Direct hit, sir, enemy has lost her port side shield, now at warp 2, enemy destroyers persuing.

Prepare to bring us about for another strike. Hard about and punch to warp 4, firing photons at the enemy weak shield as we pass by.

Enemy destroyers closing.

Engage!

My post:
Sir, she has come about fast, gone right past our ships!

Fuck! Rotate that port shiel-

*shakes, blaring alarms start to sound*

Port shield completely destoryed; explosive decompression on decks 3, 4 and 5!

Spin up the jump drive, get us out of here!

opponents post:
Send message to enemy commander: surrender and prepare to be boarded.

my post:
Sir, message from commander enemy: "surrender and prepare to be boarded."

Get the Aries and Melbourne back here, we aren't finished yet.

===========================

Battles like such could be really awesome, at least if we all play fairly and don't wank out of getting shot or anything like that. You will notice the enemy in that exchange, with one ship, was taking me down to size with three ships, due to superior tactics. I wasted my destroyer assets when they chased but were too slow on responding to the enemy's sudden turn around, and my command ship was on the verge of destruction.

We could have some overall stragetic movements, probably our main characters giving overall orders for deployment, and it is my hope to have at least one awesome battle like demonstrated here, but I don't want any kind of major focus to be on battle or fleet movements.

days of Phoenix Wars STGOD

Did you notice that Phoenix War I was thread number 39 on this board? It is the old days!

(5) Last but not least, make this thread a sign-up[/url] thread, just like other STGOD OOC thread, so others who are interested can also register as an alien nation.

I can edit the title in a bit if we want.

Destructionator XV wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:Maybe I really need to stop smoking.

I think I've said this before, but that would be a really good idea.

I mean cigarette, not cannabis

Where's Jon, by the way? (not related to the cannabis, but the STGOD)

Destructionator XV wrote:

By the way, I also need someone to play as the Galactic Empire.

What might be more interesting is having Coruscant not really play much a part at all. Say it takes a couple hours or more for messages to go back and forth, and weeks for ships. That puts more pressure on Darth, and keeps Imperial might at bay.

Interesting. So DK's pressure as Imperial representative in Death Star Three will be higher.

However, I still think it's interesting if there are more than one player for a single faction. The emphasizes of having another player to play as Coruscant is to have disagreement between Darth Kreshna and the Imperial Center.

I guess it can be applied to other factions as well. Take a look at the Goa'uld, for instance. Jon is playing as the Supreme System Lord Ra, but other player can sign up as Baal and makes Ra's life more difficult.

Or how about the A'millans? Adam, probably you wanna' invite someone else to play as an A'millan general or something? The general, since it'll be played by someone else, doesn't necessarily have to agree with you all the time. In fact, since the general is played by another player, we can have possibilities like the general will betray you, or defect to the Goa'uld while selling your military secrets.

Destructionator XV wrote:

(3) While we love to play with individual characters, I guess we also need to pay attention to things like fleet movement or such,

To some extent, yes, but I really don't think it should be as important as the individual stories with the characters. Sure, we will certainly have some fleet battles, but we don't want to focus on that too much.

Agree with you. What I mean is the 'balance' between the characters' role as adventurers and as head of the state.

Destructionator XV wrote:Battles like such could be really awesome, at least if we all play fairly and don't wank out of getting shot or anything like that. You will notice the enemy in that exchange, with one ship, was taking me down to size with three ships, due to superior tactics. I wasted my destroyer assets when they chased but were too slow on responding to the enemy's sudden turn around, and my command ship was on the verge of destruction.

Agree with you 100%. That's why a faction at Culture level will really ruin the play balance.

Granted Star Wars is way more powerful than Star Trek, for example, but at least those two still share the same 'look' and style, so it'll be quite easy to pretend that Star Trek is more powerful than it is for the sake of play balance. But something like the Culture, the Timelords, or the Lensman? The balance will be really ruined for sure.

Destructionator XV wrote:Did you notice that Phoenix War I was thread number 39 on this board? It is the old days!

The good old days... *sobs*

Destructionator XV wrote:I can edit the title in a bit if we want.

Yup, and invite others as well.

I'm just thinking... Well Robert has left us, but how about inviting him back just for the sake of playing the Borg? Whaddya' think, folks?




Oh, and by the way.......

A NOTE ON EVIL CHARACTER:

Remember the lesson from Phoenix War 1, when all knew that the Guardians are evil and we should ally ourselves against them? So that even Adam knew that Khardem is evil and will eventually betray the A'millans anyway? (well, actually it was all my fault)

I think it'll be better if we don't have such character this time; an evil character whose sole purpose is to lose so the good guys can win. Allen played as the Guardians during Phoenix War 1, but how much fun one can actually have by playing an evil character that will eventually lose for the sake of the story?

Jon said about having the Zerg in this STGOD, and I actually agree with that. However, let's not make the same mistake again; let's not make the Zerg an evil faction that will eventually lose because the story says it. Let's not make the Zerg 'the next Guardians'.

Instead, just let the Zerg be played by another player, and treat it just like other factions like The A'millans or the Goa'ulds. Sure, there will be initial prejudices due to the fact that the Zergs are vicious monsters, but from there, just let the 'story' flows naturally based on how others will interact with the Zerg. In fact, during Brood Wars, Kerrigan was quite cunning that the Protoss allied themselves (temporarily) with the Zergs; I'd like to see it happen in our STGOD.

By the way, who'll play the Zerg? Any StarCraft fan here? Scottie?

*blinks* Well, I was thinking to myself, these days where I have a month free, that i should have a looksee at the old stomping ground....

eh, I dont suppose my little Trolls are still around at all? If so, I would quite like to return....

Dartzap wrote:*blinks* Well, I was thinking to myself, these days where I have a month free, that i should have a looksee at the old stomping ground....

eh, I dont suppose my little Trolls are still around at all? If so, I would quite like to return....

Of course they are. We're expecting your return!

Excellent and your lucky, I'll most likely even use a spellcheck on my posts in this

Meh, I might as well list my characters and all that. I'll add to the ongoing discussion in my next post. But I think it should be added here that the Aurora from the last game should be kept on DS III, or perhaps some other suitable neutral location, so than any one player having absolute access to it.

And yes, it should be some time (arbitrary figure, say a 2-5 years) after the PW's conclusion.

The Goa'uld, of the major powers, took the heaviest toll in the Phoenix War. Many of their worlds, and a vast portion of their fleet were destroyed in the war. Whereas Ra once controlled a sizeable portion of the Milky Way galaxy, he now controlls about 80 systems. The fleet, which is in the process of being extensively rebuilt, can mount minor incursions into other galaxies.

Ra is still, for what it counts, the Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld. He has also become a businessman within the Galactic Empire, and now owns a small Correllian-built courier ship, which he uses to travel between the Imperial and Milky Way galaxies.

After the war's end, Ra saw that his reformed empire's power was waning, and also saw that the Galactic Empire was the most powerful nation, postwar. While he handed over reconstruction efforts to his underlings, Ra got extensively involved in business within the Empire, rising into a somewhat successful commerce baron on Correllia.

But as he became a successful tycoon, Ra never forgot that he was the ruler of a small interstellar power, still. He began seeking any possible means to bring the power of his nation up to that of the A'millians and Empire once again.

Ra's obsession with increasing his own power began to manifest itself in strange, secretive programs. Goa'uld scientists began scouring the galaxy for Guardian wreckage from the war, and began studying it extensively, as Ra went against his better judgement (he saw what the technology did to the A'millians, but still wanted to use its power for himself). It was well-known that Guardian technology was not only hard to integrate, but that its latent psionic energies would drive its users insane, or control them outright. Ra's researchers were tasked with finding a way to overcome this.

To overcome these problems, Ra also began having his researchers look into Force-related knowledge, to see if that could be used to subdue Guardian technology and use it to his own ends. Ra's dabblings with the Dark Jedi, especially one named Madar, began around this time, and he began turning to Darth Kreshna for some help at all, but never asking much; he didn't want to alert anyone to what he was up to. Through all of these motives and plots, Ra hopes to regain the power he once wielded, no matter the cost.

Galadriel is no longer Ra's advisor. At the (unseen) end of the Phoenix War, Galadriel gave Ra her blessing, and departed once more for Valinor. She promised to return when the time comes, but sofar has not made an appearance. Still, Ra has the feeling she'll be back.

Madar is a rogue Dark Jedi Ra hired out as his personal bodyguard while in the Imperial galaxy. An enigmatic person, Madar rarely says anything, unless it needs saying. Madar, in addition to guarding Ra, also serves as his chief interrogator and spy. In a way, it could be said Madar has worked her way into becoming Ra's right hand woman, and even possibly his new First Prime (a position that was never re-filled after Srenn betrayed Ra in PW I).

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:I mean cigarette, not cannabis

My response is the same. Smoking kills people, and quitting would do you a lot of good.

It is a proven fact that cigarettes cause cancer and a number of other health problems. And they are rather costly, at least over here. It would be good in so many ways to give them up.

Interesting. So DK's pressure as Imperial representative in Death Star Three will be higher.

Yup.

However, I still think it's interesting if there are more than one player for a single faction. The emphasizes of having another player to play as Coruscant is to have disagreement between Darth Kreshna and the Imperial Center.

If we have enough interested players, yeah this could be a good thing.

Or how about the A'millans? Adam, probably you wanna' invite someone else to play as an A'millan general or something? The general, since it'll be played by someone else, doesn't necessarily have to agree with you all the time.

He doesn't need to agree with me to carry out my orders. But, again, if there are enough players who would like to play that, I'd be willing to try it.

Agree with you. What I mean is the 'balance' between the characters' role as adventurers and as head of the state.

I see. Yeah, that makes sense.

Granted Star Wars is way more powerful than Star Trek, for example, but at least those two still share the same 'look' and style, so it'll be quite easy to pretend that Star Trek is more powerful than it is for the sake of play balance.

Or, make the Empire weaker. Two ways of going about this: limit their numbers, or just say their firepower is lesser.

I would rather make the Empire weaker than everyone else more powerful because when you start throwing gigaton turbolasers around, problems simply tend to simply vapourize. With lesser firepower, thinking about what to do becomes more important.

With lesser numbers, they can be ganged up upon and defeated, and they will need to limit their presence simply due to their limited forces can't be everywhere at once. Also, the loss of one ship will be a bigger deal. (I have thoughts of Starcrossed going through my brain. Remember how excited Kirk was when he got that first Stardestroyer kill over Vulcan?)

I'm just thinking... Well Robert has left us, but how about inviting him back just for the sake of playing the Borg? Whaddya' think, folks?

Try sending him an email and see what he says. If he is willing, I can unlock his account here.

Though, I've noticed he hasn't been online as much lately. He is probably really busy IRL, though, the same could be said of you guys. Still, he was a good player and it would be interesting to have him back.

However, let's not make the same mistake again; let's not make the Zerg an evil faction that will eventually lose because the story says it.

This is in contradiction with our idea of having a set story goal though.

The only way around this is if we actually do have a player as the Zerg. Then we can have both: everyone going for the final goal (to win), and if you decide to help the Zerg, your goal would be to bring them to victory, and if you do not, then your goal is to stop them. And we'd still need something to be the aggressors, so in a sense, someone is still evil, because the story line said so.

But, if we don't have a human player for them, I think we should make it pretty well evil, so we don't have conflict of interest when writing it, so the story remains coherent.

In fact, during Brood Wars, Kerrigan was quite cunning that the Protoss allied themselves (temporarily) with the Zergs; I'd like to see it happen in our STGOD.

To fight other Zerg and the Terrans though. Someone would have to be picked on....

You know what could be interesting though?

Ra wrote:He began seeking any possible means to bring the power of his nation up to that of the A'millians and Empire once again.

The United Earth Directorate did something similar. What if Ra's quest for power summoned the Zerg, and realizing this, he ended up taking control of some of them? Latent psionic energies, the psi emitter. Just throwing out potential ideas there.

Destructionator XV wrote:The United Earth Directorate did something similar. What if Ra's quest for power summoned the Zerg, and realizing this, he ended up taking control of some of them? Latent psionic energies, the psi emitter. Just throwing out potential ideas there.

That's a perfect idea.

It was the year of destruction... the year of The Flame... the year we took back what was ours. It was the year of rebirth... the year of extinction... the year of excitement... and the year of love. It was a new age. It was the end of history. It was the year everything changed. The place: Death Star Three. - Ra, Darth Kreshna, Lord Adam, Galadriel, Lord Walper, Lord Detritus, Irene, Lady Galadriel, Commander Flotsam, Admiral McKenzie.


It was the dawn of the third age of the Galactic Empire, few years after the Empire/Guardian war. Despite their loathing to admit it, the Empire was forced to realize that their vast military might alone would have not helped them in the war against the Guardians. Thoughts like peace, reasons, and alliance were getting more popular within the Imperial public. Strongly influenced by the left-wing political factions, and proposed by the Sith Inquisitor Darth Kreshna, the Imperial Senate had endorsed a project to ensure everlasting peace for the future generations: stationed within the Sol System, the Death Star Three was a dream given form. Its goal, to prevent another war by creating a place where Imperial humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call - home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in six hundred thousand kilometers wide of battle station, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's the Empire's last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Death Stars. The name of the place is Death Star Three.



The Galactic Empire

Despite taking the brunt of the attack during the Guardian War, the Empire's industrial and military might still dwarfed other nations by magnitudes. Quickly rebuilding her economy, the Empire had been reclusive since the end of the war, delegating most foreign affairs through The Death Star Three project.

Left-wing, peace-advocating factions had been gaining more power in the Imperial Senate due to popular belief that the Empire could have not won the war without the interference of the Heroes of The Lights. However, despite their political losses, Imperial hardliners and conservatives were rumored to secretly rebuild their power; utilizing their vast wealth to regain their influence. It was rumored that Imperial hard-liners were regaining control within the Imperial Navy, secretly refitting Imperial fleet with Guardian's biotechnology.

Imperial government consisted of two parts: The Imperial Senate, which represented legislative power, was headed by Supreme Chancellor Saan, while the executive power was held by the aging Prime Minister Sate Pestage.



Imperial Forces

Even at the end of the war, the Empire still had way over 20,000 Star Destroyers at its disposal, as well as thousands of bigger warships and two other Death Stars.



Darth Kreshna and The Death Star Three

The latest Sith Inquisitor, Darth Kreshna was a Sith noble who regained his nobility status and wealth after the end of the Imperial/Guardian War due to his involvement with the Army of Lights. After the end of the war, the Sith proposed the Death Star Three project to the Senate; offering his personal Death Star as a diplomatic place where Imperial humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. Now the Sith --still the owner of the mighty battle station, played the role as Ceremonial Host to the diplomats and officials from various alien nations like the Trollish Imperium, the Goa'ulds, and the A'millans.

There were many rumors concerning the Sith Inquisitor's role during the war --including sinister ones. It was said that he was actually the one who caused the coming of the Guardians on the first place; it was also said that Darth Kreshna was a host of an unstable omnipotent power called 'The Phoenix Force'. However, the Sith was generally regarded as a popular political figure and celebrity --especially among the liberals.



Darth Kreshna's Ceremonial Forces

As a Sith Noble, Darth Kreshna held a private fleet of his own. Although the size was nothing compared to the Empire, it was still formidable considering its status as privately owned fleet. Dubbed 'ceremonial forces', the fleet actually consisted of several separate fleets. The Sith's personnel followed the rank and division of the Imperial Navy; the difference was that Kreshna's personnel wore a special badge depicting a bird-shaped flame.

Death Star Three. Served as Imperial 'diplomatic project' to ensure peace for the future generations, the Death Star was still fully capable for combat purpose. Its primary laser was fully operational, as well as millions of heavy turbolasers across its surface. The inside, however, was heavily refurbished to contain residential and business areas due to its now-peaceful purpose. More a megapolis than a military battle station, the recently commissioned Death Star Police Department worked hard to keep the crime rates aboard the battle station low.

69th fleet - The Firebirds. Darth Kreshna's 'core' flee. Consisted of the most elite Imperial personnel and veterans of the Guardian, the fleet was led by the Executor-Class Command Ship Phoenix, it had two Eclipse-Class Star Battleships, three Procurator-Class Star Cruiser with AEGIS capability, twenty Imperator-Class Star Destroyers, and ten Allegiance-Class Star Destroyers.

471st fleet. Primarily designated for 'hit and run' purpose, the fleet was led by the Eclipse-Class Star Battleship Constellation, it had ten Star Destroyers and a Shockwave-Class Star Cruiser.

354th fleet. Led by the Sovereign-Class Star Battleship Valor, this fleet was consisted of ten Imperator-Class Star Destroyers and three Allegiance-Class Star Destroyers.

717th fleet. Focused more on capital ship combat and notably lacked of fighter support, this fleet was led by the Vengeance-Class Star Battlecruiser Fury. It also had a Shockwave-Class Star Cruiser and eleven Allegiance-Class Star Destroyers.

Other assets. Including three mature World Devastators, support and logistic ships, as well as numerous shipyards spreaded through the Sol System.



The Army of Lights and the End of the War

Nobody was sure how the war was actually ended. To the public knowledge, the Army of Lights --the Goa'ulds, the A'millans,
the Trollish Imperium, and Darth Kreshna's renegade faction had successfully caused a major disarray in the entire Guardian Fleet, enabling the Imperial Navy to strike the final blow. However, how exactly they did it was still a mystery. Various urban legends had appearred among the public, from mild rumors to the most wildly superstitious speculation. Nonetheless, each head of the state now became popular war heroes among the public of all involved nations, dubbed 'Heroes of the Lights'. Ra, the System Lord of the Goa'uld, particularly had gained a celebrity status among Imperial population since his venture to the Imperial business world.

Ra wrote:Ra is still, for what it counts, the Supreme System Lord of the Goa'uld. He has also become a businessman within the Galactic Empire, and now owns a small Correllian-built courier ship, which he uses to travel between the Imperial and Milky Way galaxies.

It was rumored that Ra was financially backed by Sandra Kuat, the 'Princess' of the uber-affluent Kuat family. However, the family itself had been quiet regarding to the rumors.

Ra wrote:Galadriel is no longer Ra's advisor. At the (unseen) end of the Phoenix War, Galadriel gave Ra her blessing, and departed once more for Valinor. She promised to return when the time comes, but sofar has not made an appearance. Still, Ra has the feeling she'll be back.

Another member of the 'Heroes of the Lights', Stormtrooper Captain Irene Patterson, had resigned from the service. Latest official record said that she had dropped her deceased husband's surname and resorted to her virgin name 'Irene Morales'. There were many wild rumors surrounding the beautiful war hero. It was said that she was dead during the Guardian War and ressurected shortly before the aftermath. It was said that she was the secret lover of Darth Kreshna. It was also said that she was actually the one who played the greatest role in ending the war, by releasing Darth Kreshna from a 'dark influence' and calming the 'Phoenix Force' inside him, thus, bringing the Guardians to the docile state and causing disarray in their fleet. However, those were all just rumors and urban legends, and even the existence of the 'Phoenix Force' itself was dismissed as superstition. The strongest rumor said that Irene had left her country to join Lady Galadriel's unknown journey.



Lord Walper and The Borg

The Borg was probably the biggest victim of the Guardian War; exterminated to total extinction of their race. The cause of the destruction, however, was still totally unknown, and nobody was sure whether they were actually destroyed by the Guardians, or by something else. However, Lord Walper was known to rescue Darth Kreshna during the Guardian attacks on Coruscant. Further investigation also revealed that Lord Walper of Borg was originally an Imperial Citizen and a Sith, so the Imperial Senate had decided to postmouthly recognized him as war hero.

In the years since the conclusion of the Guardian incident, the A'millian Empire is simply enjoying the peace. It is the first time in many years that they were not under attack: before the Guardians, there was a cold war with some neibours, and before that, a shooting war with other neibours, and before that, an on and off skirmish with various satellite powers.

Things were quiet, and no one was loving it more than the leaders. They could finally sleep in, game, watch TV, almost anything. Status reports come day after day, with nothing of significance. All the problems are small enough that regional governers and ministers took care of it.

The biggest things on their minds was the retirement ceremonies of some aging Elite Knights, the dedication of a new War Memorial, and Revenge of the Sith vs A New Hope for today's movie viewage. And the latter was no problem at all: just watch both trilogies. Hell, they had the time. And it was good.

On a national level, nothing much is going on either. Planentary militias went home, reserves deactivated. Most the Federal Forces were recalled to maintain border security while the internal economy returned to normal. The biggest foregin presence still maintained was on the Death Star III: a civilian ambassador from the Foregin Minister's office, his civilian staff, one small starship and her crew, and a small Army group to defend the Embassy, which is actually simply a small section inside the Death Star. These people are rotated out rather rapidly, as during peace time, people are not required to stay away from their families for more than three months at a time (plus travel time back and forth) according to A'millian law. In total, there are about 180 A'millian nationals assigned to the Death Star, with the occassional visitors never bringing the number higher than 350 at a time.

Most starships still deployed, not on border patrol, are on scientific missions, exploring strange, new worlds, seeking out new life forms, and new civilizations, well, you get the idea.

It is peaceful and prosperous, and everyone likes it this way.

Going to take a quick moment and blab about AI in the ASE. Again, not really relevant to the game, but I want to talk about it.

As we know from the Destructionators seen in Phoenix War I, the A'millian Star Empire has developed artificial intelligence, and uses it in two main forms: large, more intelligent (relatively) mainframe style AIs (initially developed in AW 2347, which is about 1650 years prior to the Guardian incident) and smaller, less intelligent (relatively) human size androids (prototype completed in AW 2651).

When AW 2853 came around, a team in Starfleet's design corps was tasked with creating an all new, fully modern battlecruiser for the fleet (the Warrior-class starship project). By this time, both AI types have greatly matured and the project leader, a man you have come to know as Lord Adam, who assisted in the Android project, was faced with a decision: will he include one of these mainframe AI systems in the design new class of starship? (Androids were a non issue for him because they would have been considered part of the crew, not part of the ship design).

Such a system would greatly reduce the A'millian presence required on the ship, which was important for them, since they have a low population, but it had at least one problem.

It is the belief among A'millians that any AI system should have equal rights to any other being. The AI might not be biological, but it is sentient, and therefore should have rights like us.

The problem here becomes evident: what if the ship's AI doesn't want to re-enlist when its service period is up? Removing a mainframe controller from a ship would not be possible because mainframe AIs, in order to have intricate control over a system, need to be tied into that whole system directly in many ways.

This means if the AI exercised its right to become a civilian, the warship would have to be de-commissioned, stripped of her weapons of war (as civilians cannot own military grade heavy battleship weaponry) and a replacement built for the fleet. Emperical data of AIs thus far have shown little threat of this; most AI systems were content with simply quietly doing their jobs to the best of their ability day in and day out, despite being free to do otherwise. They, like many A'millians, simply saw doing their job as the logical thing to do. Additionally, as the A'millian military was an all volunteer force, building a warship and forcing it into service would be illegal, so there was also the possibility that a newly constructed starship might not even want to join Starfleet. The potential cost of this would be enormous.

Another option also existed for him: limit the AI's thought processes so the idea of leaving the Starfleet would never occur to it, however, he considered this to be ethically questionable (he did not take a stand either way in the report), and decided to not go with an AI in any form built into the ship.

Instead, AW 2869 saw the Warrior-class starship launched with a very sophisticated, but non-sentient purpose built central computer system to avoid this very problem. All other mainstream A'millian ships were also designed in this fashion.

(Worth noting however, that one ship was built with a mainframe AI built in, a starship created by Lord Adam as an experiment of the system started in AW 2995 and completed in AW 3002. This ship is capable of functioning without a crew and never showed a desire to resign like he feared it might. This ship became his personal vessel. Despite the success in this system, his original argument still stood as enough a problem to not incorporate this technology into the mainstream fleet.) [Out of universe, I wanted a starship sidekick like KITT from Knight Rider in the early years of making this universe, so I made one, not even thinking about the ethical repercussions.]