Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

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Heretic
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Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Heretic »

I know, I got plenty of stuff on my hand, and it would be stupid to start something new, but what I am about to do will help revise HWverse, which had become so cluttered and brain bogglingly contradictory and empty that I have to (sadly) do another revamp. But this time, I want to make sure this will be my last revamp, so I'm making this universe to test out concepts on worldbuilding, where instead of filling in specifics on background threads, and then crying because I got myself into a sea of red tape of specifics when trying to write stories, I will put in a generic (but hopefully original in some way) universe, and enrich it with stories, which was the whole point after all. Yes, I am taking Mobius One's universe building method and applying it to my own. Also, as this is focused on help revamping Hardcore Way, I'm not going to kill myself over the whole setting, so I'm just going to take the general concept of Traveller, the D6 RPG, and mutilate it as I go, until I get something at least a bit original and enjoyable.
So...let's begin with my synopsis...

It used to be that the skies were the limits, but now, after the fall of the Solar Confederacy, the red skies of vast desolate battlefields and horrible pasts limit tyrants and rogues, and a simple takeoff from a rusty ship can break even those limits. For millenniums, kingdoms and dictatorships were built and razed, their worth to the universe equivalent to a fly in ancient New York: a small, short living entity that will be swatted away within 24 hours, or the next 24 years. Of course, as there are no stable galactic trade routes, the task of taking item X from Point A to Point B, and then taking item Y to Point C and D, while dodging the xenophobic technocracy of Point H AND fighting off damn Marxists from Point M, is done by none other than the ever loved freelance trader. These daring people, armed with only a ship, a gun, and their wits, are the life line of the galaxy, shipping supplies to planets looked over by larger trading organizations. These space capitalists will brave new space phenomenas, dogfight pirates, negotiate with homicidal machine kingdoms, and fight the dreaded communists and topple socialist federations that pop out every few decades bent on equal distribution and regulations, all for a couple of wealth chips.


Now, this isn't all about these traders, but the main focus and picture concerns them. There would be no way to summarize any nation, as they come and go, but one can classify all of them into a couple of categories. Note: Due to the unorganized flow of knowledge, despite the virtual network, the terms vary, but the names mentioned below are the most and normally used by freelancers.

Demounionists: Pronounced Demo-Unionists, short for Democracy-Unionists. The concept of democracy, capitalism, and a strong federal government thrives here. Most states (or so they claim) fall into this category, and freedom, liberty, and equality are valued(usually. 1 out of 10 nations really do). Corporationists, Federalists, Trader Guilds, and American-Revivalists fall under this category. Named because freelancers favor these types of nations over all others.

Socio-freaks/Commandists: Anyone who supports governments that interfere with the economy. The sworn enemies of the freelancers, with their regulations, equal distributions, and free services that the freelancers would have been glad to have provided, like alien medicine, welfare, and security. Marxists, Leninists, Trotskyists, and all other command marketers fall in this rank. The term Socio-Freaks was used as an offensive word used by the Freelancers, while Commandists are a more generic and commonly used term for these hands-on governments.

Uber-topians:Other governments, like New Age guruism, anarchy libertarians, tribalism, environmental/feminist/vegancracies, neo-feudalism, and any other forms of governments that don't fit the other four categories. Uber, because freelancers rely on these topians, and vice versa.

Techno-quacks: Robocracies, technocracies, and all others that go overboard with technology and science. Cyborg and hiveminds fall into this category. Many a freelancer were blown away by the awesomeness of the Master Computer after a game of nuclear chess. Best to be avoided for beginners.

Boss-Banshees: A term relating to both authoritarianism and theocracies. Fascists and banana republics fall into this, as well as the many Mormon communities that pop up. Named the Boss-Banshees as both the fascists and fundamentalists scream praises, propaganda, and video poop everywhere they go.

Now, there are many nations that have characteristics of 2 or more categories, but there has never been a nation or empire that hasn't been categorizes one way or another. If there are still issues on what they are, they get dumped into the Uber-Topian section by default.



A typical Freelancer's equipment

Their ship

The most important item of all freelancers, the hunk of metal that will make or break an empire, start or stop wars, and basically change civilizations forever. If a rusty ship holding a planet's only source of cybernetics crashes on some forgotten hellhole, that would affect the intended planet's health overall, as well as the cybernetic manufacturer's profit, which in turn affects the planets with the resources and minds to make those artificial limbs, and so on and so forth, including the birth of cyber-barbarians in said hellhole bent on raiding the systems. Most freelancer ships are fast cargo ships with turrets brimming all over, with shields upon shields of energy shields, though there are exceptions, depending on the needs and conditions.

Handheld Computers
Sometimes, freelancers don't adventure in space, but around the world they are in, thus excluding the necessity of the ship, but a modern trader without his HC is like a politician without his lies. Impossible. This small handheld does calculations, records the warehouse stock, saves transactions, map routes, and review databases for all sorts of information, amongst other things. Usually a square piece of material with a screen, a keyboard on the side, and a ball to navigate a pointer.

Environmental suit
All too often the trader will face planets a bit hostile for him, but can hold profitable beings that must be milked, so he will need to have something that separates him from nature, though keeping him intimate with the profit. The most common environment suits are a semi-bulky encasing armor that is flexible and does not comprehend movement. They can survive heat, cold, biohazards, and other hazardous conditions. A speaker is placed where the mouth is located, where the wearer speaks into a mic, which goes to the speaker on the other end of layers of protective material.

Sidearm
Sadly, trading in this time and age isn't a happy thing. Out of a million worlds, only ten percent a genuinely benign. Music is said to be an universal language, and the sound of clips being reloaded, beams humming out tubes, and the clash of daggers is not exempted. The trader is also a soldier, a pirate, a mercenary, and a lawbringer as he is a merchant. Weapons vary, but the most popular weapon is the laser pistol. A pistol stock with a device inside that shoots out concentrated heat segments, the laser pistol comes in many shapes and flavors, from generic Desert Eagle shaped ones, to laser pistols disguised as a cigar. Heck, there is a widely purchased gatling pistol, with no recoil, armor piercing beams, and a sniper scope! Now, pistols aren't the only thing, nor are ranged weapons. Melee weapons are also cherished. Technology has allowed the ancient hammer to become a earth shattering machine, the sword into a molecule cutting ranged weapon, and the brass knuckles into bone-shattering electro-stubs. Heck, the simple club can house nuclear blasts in its blunt edge. The choices of weapons are even more varied than the choices of spouses.

Well, I think that concludes the draft. I'm going to make stories in this setting when I get this approved.
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Heretic
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Heretic »

I'm still writing "The Perilous Adventures of Captain Animus", but I'm stuck. Though this is suppose to be sci-fi with a scientific reality of -5, I really don't know how space battles work. With all the frictionless void, no air, and massive distances, how would such things work? I would like some expert advise.
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Heretic »

How is the laws of physics affected in space? I tried researching it up, and aside from virtual frictionless, I got nothing else.
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Dakarne »

Really, other than the frictionless nature, there are three things you ought to remember...

There is a third dimension; you can go up, down, left, right, forward, backwards, etc. though not immediately as you will still carry momentum in the direction you were previously travelling. Distance is also going to be massive. Actual visibility is likely to be very low. Thus, what you'll end up with is sort of very long, long range submarine combat.
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Heretic »

Alright thanks. i almost completely forgot about the 3D of spaciness. I guess I have been looking at too much tabletop games...
Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Blackwing »

Bit late, but...

Despite what some very scientifically well built sites say, most space battles, probably, would actually take place at (relatively) short range.

For two reason:

1. Story and plot almost always overrule realism. Treating battles in space like long range submarine combat is good if you want your story to be a suspenseful look at the inter-crew dynamics on board a spaceship and how the pressure of being 'hunted' by another ship while also trying to hunt them affects this, but if you want the focus to lie more on the battles themselves and the action part of a battle, it's better for the story if the enemy is a clear and present threat rather than some distance sensor blip firing missiles.

2. Even in complete realism, sites like Project Rho overestimate potential ranges for ship-to-ship combat in space. For instance while missiles themselves have a fairly long range, they don't tend to move at relativistic speeds, which basically means that the target has plenty of time to intercept, jam or outrun the missiles as needed at long range.
Lasers (and masers, xasers and whatever else), meanwhile, have plenty of speed and fairly ok range before diffraction becomes a serious problem(though diffraction also means you'd better hope your laser lens is fully up to specs, else you're losing a lot of energy on scatter), but they also have large waste energy and heat, even very efficient ones as a necessity of their operation (especially since, unlike modern anti-bomb lasers, they need to be able to adjust the focal point of the lens depending on the distance to the target) and heat management is a problem in space.
Relatively close range lasers are capable of tighter focal points and thus need less energy for similar effects (and thus less waste heat you need to deal with). Moreover more distance means longer travel times for lasers, meaning they're a lot less efficient at damaging (not necessarily at hitting though) targets at long distance.

So keep that in mind (mostly to remind yourself that you get to be a bit unrealistic if you want).
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Destructionator »

Dakarne wrote: Actual visibility is likely to be very low.
That's debatable in general, but in tactical range, probably isn't true. A combat spacecraft would still be hot against the cold background of space, so it would show up on infrared. Without anything in between, there wouldn't be much to jam up the vision.

If you've already identified an object as the enemy, tracking his location is just a case of following the infrared dot. Identifying it as the enemy in the first place? That's a lot harder.

Blackwing wrote: For instance while missiles themselves have a fairly long range, they don't tend to move at relativistic speeds, which basically means that the target has plenty of time to intercept, jam or outrun the missiles as needed at long range.
Intercept and jam are both pretty likely, and are big reasons why I'm generally on the beam side of the beam/missile debate.

Outrunning though, is more of a problem. Outrunning an individual missile might work out, but there's a big cost in fuel and/or propellant to doing that. And once you run from the missile, you may have to burn to get back on course, adding to this.

But the big thing is: dodge one, that's fine. Uh oh, here comes the next missile. Dodge it. Damn, here comes another. Out of propellent? FUCK!


Long range laser fights can be similar too. There are lasers that could potentially do damage at interplanetary distances, though these are going to be big, high tech, power and heat hungry affairs (note the top of the post though on how it might be hard to figure out what is and isn't a target that far out, of course), but at that kind of distance, the target has plenty of time to get out of the beam's way.

The problem is, if he knows the beam has fired, it's too late to dodge it (if you see a laser, it means it is hitting you!). He has to randomly juke about without knowing when he is being fired upon.

This can keep the crew on edge, but more importantly from a tech perspective, it ends up using a lot of precious propellant that you can't use later when you've entered tactical range.


Of course, such long range lasers can simply be beyond your tech level if you don't want to deal with them. Or too big to mount on ships, and thus only viable on defensive stations (which is what I did in TASE).


Blackwing's analysis is IMO pretty accurate about it generally being (relatively*) short range though.

* Still not in-your-face ranges of course!
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Heretic »

Man, that would suck if you can't see the laser coming at you. I mean, I wouldn't really have awesome adventures with rayguns and space parrots...I guess I can bend the properties of light a little....


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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Destructionator »

Well, if you think about it, how do you see anything? By the light hitting your eyes... since in this case, the laser IS the light, you can see the problem.

(Now, you might be able to see it without it damaging you: if you are just looking at the side of the emitter, or the reflection of the light on something, or it shimmering in the air. But, of course, the main point remains: if you can see it, the light is already there, so it is too late to dodge it!)

Old Battlestar Galactica had a decent showing of their laser pistols, though the "laser torpedoes" on the ships were nothing like real lasers.

Anyway, the pistols just showed some shimmer as they fired, and instantly had a little explosion on the target. Very much like firing regular guns in that you can't see the bullet in flight and the effects of the hit seem instant.
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Marle: Lucca! You're amazing!
Lucca: Ain't it the truth! ... Oh, um...I mean...
Marle: Enough with the false modesty! You have a real gift! I would trade my royal ancestry for your genius in a heartbeat!

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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Blackwing »

Personally, in Loaded Dice, most non-fighter combat is done through boarding.

Boarding has to be one of the most effective (if not necessarily efficient) anti-ship combat options in space, especially from the point of view of the crew members not in the boarding party.

This is because the members of a boarding party, specifically one on a suicide mission or wearing pressurised suits, get to shoot where ever the crap they want without worrying about damaging vital equipment (after all, they're there to stop the ship from being combat effective any way), while the people trying to stop them have to take care not to damage their own ship.

Boarding methods of any kind are generally vulnerable to point defenses, but not as vulnerable as missiles. After all, point defenses are generally designed for missiles and since missiles are things that are meant to explode any way, point defenses just nudge that along a bit. Boarding pods can afford to be better armoured and are as a rule less volatile.

Plus in fleet to fleet combat an effective boarding party can turn a ship's weapons on it's own allies.
So Einstein was wrong when he said "God does not play dice". Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen. ~ Stephen Hawking
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Destructionator »

The hardest part with boarding would be crossing the gap between the ships. You might be able to armor against lasers for the trip (depends on your tech assumptions), but missiles would probably still ruin your day.

Hmm, imagine this: you launch troop ships. They launch missiles to take them down. You have lasers from the mothership shooting at the missiles near it, and fighter escorts protecting them for middle range. Then machine guns on the transport so it protects itself for the last leg of the trip. And of course, the other guy is doing all the same to you.

And the troopers fight with swords on the ship, since swordfights are awesome they don't want to damage the ship.

It would sure be action packed!
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Mobius 1 »

Destructionator wrote:And the troopers fight with swords on the ship, since swordfights are awesome they don't want to damage the ship.

It would sure be action packed!
I've never been much of a hard sci-fi guy, but this just made my day. Thanks, Adam. :)
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Re: Heretic's Traveller carbon copy

Post by Blackwing »

Yeah, In LD, boarding's born of necessity, since retrievable troop pods are worth shielding, missiles are not (and in LD most shields are pretty much impervious).

Even in a hard science setting getting 'right up in their face' close to your enemy with weapons meant to be effective at close range is a good idea if the enemy mostly has long range weaponry.

After all, if the distance between you and the enemy will make them take the full force of the blast, nukes are not an option. Likewise missiles designed to hunt targets at long range are not liable to be able to outmanoeuvre a ship at close range (long range missiles have smaller warheads too, due to the large fuel capacity needed).

So if you have medium to short range missiles versus a long range barrager, you're liable to win. You can also put kinetic kill weapons to better use, since the enemy has less room to dodge. And lasers are, surprisingly, a lot less effective at very close range, because their focal point is usually (especially if they're meant for long range) as far away as possible, which means they'll have less focus (and thus less penetration potential) up close.
It's also a lot easier to stay out of their firing cone when that cone's not very large yet.

As for getting to close range: if you have FTL, that's not a problem. If you don't, most battles aren't going to be very long distance any way.
So Einstein was wrong when he said "God does not play dice". Consideration of black holes suggests, not only that God does play dice, but that He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen. ~ Stephen Hawking
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