Anonymous

The Hill has Its Eyes.
 
And just as the Dude Abides,
 
It Hails The New King,
 
Still on the Hill
 
and The Hill Chills

good point too, +1

Aetherios Posted Yesterday, 11:50 AM   CommanderLouizPosted Today, 12:34 AM  
Well, in fact it's over. He won

Quality piece.
 
That is all.

hahaha, perfect explanation!

I do like any easy to answer discussion.
 
Piracy =! Griefing , however Piracy ∩ Griefing ≠ ϕ . 

For those that are not on any of the many DU discord servers
 

 
Go give it a like here: https://community.dualthegame.com/organization/robotechcorp

Is the title an allusion of some sort? ;-)
 
I jest. Better late than never!

Hi all
 
So as promised, here's the entry I was going to submit for Novawrimo round 1 before time and life collided with each other.
 
On the upside, I took a couple of extra days to have friends proofread, so no spelling mistakes!
 
Authors Notes / Glossary:
 
Anzaki - derived from the old acronym ANZAC (Australian & New Zealand Army Corps), referring the to Armed Forces of two 21st century nation states. The Anzaki were the product of an inter-generational  genetic program designed to produce better soldiers. Originally a culturally homogenous Australian & New Zealand population drawn from the family and members of a large semi-permanent deployment of troops who were effectively stranded and isolated overseas when the governments of those two countries collapsed. The results of Anzaki gene tailoring include improved immune systems and physical health and well being (a way to explain the general lack of sickness and minor injury in MMO's), and notably, an almost complete suppression of the flight reflex, through careful application of transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. To the common person, the Anzaki were renowned for exhibiting virtually no fear in battle, never having retreated, fierce loyalty to their comrades, and surviving at any cost.
  Australia - 26th century Australia is largely uninhabitable, largely due to extreme climate conditions. Much of the population that remains is centered on the South East Coast, and around the Perth Metroplex. Port Drum, the southern hemisphere's major launch site for Lunar and in-system traffic is located some 2000km east of Perth.
  Genie - Slang term for genetically engineered or tailored people. By international consensus following bioweapon attacks during the 22nd century, such individuals are readily identifiable by the synthetic gene tailoring of pteridine pigment xanthopterin within certain chromatophores called xanthophores located in the iris stoma, resulting in a bright amber eye colour similar to that of the Great Horned Owl.
  Tomorrow Men - Slang term for convicted individuals who have been sentenced to military penal unit. Such individuals are traded between governments and corporate interests as assets. They are kept in cyrogenic storage until needed, and then deployed into conflict areas where the loss of life would be considered prohibitive for regular troops. The life expectancy of such individuals is quite low (17 days on average). The use of the term stems from the dark joke that each prisoner's release date is usually listed in a system simply as "tomorrow" (or today + 1), because tomorrow never comes... the_tomorrow_man.pdf

Pretty much the general gist of what's being said in this thread - it makes absolute sense to have more efficiency from more crew on larger ships. In pretty much what #4 said regarding roles and what was later said regarding NQ's statement on efficiency of larger ships.
 
The statements that I really disagree with, and what I really don't want to see happen, is the obsession of "balance", that has existed in, and completely crippled several games in the past. Life is unfair. Sure, there would always be advantages and disadvantages in everything and anything, but I don't want to have a "fair fight" against a capital ship when I'm flying a little single seat fighter - or even a bunch of em. If I take my mitsubishi pajero onto a a race track up against a Ferrari, I expect to lose in a race, badly, beyond any recognition. Likewise, I would like to see specific roles when it comes to ship designs, and sizes - so using that same comparison with cars, my Pajero climbs 40 degree hills in the mud on the farm - something which a Ferrari wouldn't be able to do.
 
Basically, what I would really hate to see, is the whining of "whine, that capital ship gun melted my single seat fighter - it's too OP, balance it" - in the regard of EVE online, something which I didn't quite like (though I understood why they had to do it in the span of EVEs gameplay), was the fact that smaller ships were literally invulnerable to larger ones, as the guns were unable to hit them. Yes, you want a mixture of ships in fleets - but that mixture needs to be achieved through each ship earning it's specific role in that fleet through it's own strengths, rather than forcing a rock paper scissor scenario, with the ability to evade turret fire of small maneuverable craft lying with the pilot, against the aim of a gunner, or the quality of the design and location of hardpoints of the ship - rather than simply saying "gun size X cannot hit targets smaller than size Y". 
 
Would this result in certain ships and builds that would be significantly better than the others - of course - but isn't that the entire point of a game such as DU, part of which is building and improving blueprints and ships? And it would also bring in the mechanic of correctly identifying your target based on it's threat level meaning the difference between victory and defeat. I feel, that 'unbalance' in this sense, is a GOOD thing, since it will push players to try and build better, more efficient, more advanced ships throughout the 'evolution' of DU, rather than stifling this with balance.

No no - that works well. And could means the sec zones then have diff "size" ships. Maybe the zones are then somehow related to atmosphere/low orbit/"inner space"/deep space type thing?
 
It's early. So may well be a half-baked idea.

His examples (exactly!) shows what players need to do, not "Navigator has a 3D view". Clear and simple answer, without extra "thinking and conjecturing" what this mean.
I do not look at the situation as "Captain" or whatever else who control everything, I try to see what you want to offer to players on board (those service stuff). Because saying "IT SHOULD BE MULTI ONLY" = force somebody to do that. And if it fully boring and not gives any fun, why players need to do that?
 
But the main thing is - "And yes, if they are lucky, 99% of most crews job is watching screens. But you want them there for those 1% of the time - battle ;)"
And this is the main problem! It could be cool to manage some systems 1-2 times, but doing this crap day after day.
 
The game must give fun not routine work. Most of the things in the list is routine. Yes, these things could look very awesome in theory and dreams, but doing them day after day (to be good in that role) will be fully not enjoyable very soon. Or you think that somebody come back home from the 8hrs routine work in office (or any other) and will enjoy another few hours of routine gameplay?
Saying "YOU MUST HAVE MULTICREW" you forcing somebody to do the routine.
Saying "YOU MAY HAVE MULTICREW or IMPROVE AND PRACTISE YOUR SKILLS" gives the option to have a crew or work hard to do as more as possible.
In the end:
-Hardcore players have unlimited target to improve their multitasking and personal skills (Can fully and easy control full ship? Let's add something new)
-Basic or Casual players can try to find crew for up to every single turret and system (Don't want to do something? Hire somebody to do that)
-Well skilled players can learn how to run few systems at the same time (You like activity 1, 2 and 3, but 4th is too much for you? Hire someone to fill this gap)
 
Will 1-2 players control the same ship better than 10 players, this is a question of skill and practice. "Hard to Master" - isn't that on of the main messages from Developers?
 
Thanks,
Archonious

Automated systems only can do a specific amount of tasks per second. this means that it will be impossible to control a complex ship alone (efffectivness aside, the code won't be fast enough to control all the objects and parts). In my opinion you really should need a big crew for a big ship. If you destroy the bridge of a starship, it should still be able to work, for example. That would cause a change in war strategies because it makes more sense to attack the main engine or other parts. (modular destruction has already been confirmed, as far as i know)

Who knows? I guess as we come closer to Alpha, the Devs will share more info on the subject.  

Interesting discussion. 
10 is a small ships complement, but lets assume automation effeciencies means we can do away with crew and have officer/c-class roles.
 
Edit: RL/in game descriptions added.
 
1: Captain - makes decisions. Probably owns the ship.
2: Pilot - flies the ship around. Preferably well.
3: Navigator - monitors all radar, sets courses, does mappy stuff.
4: Signals (Comms) - monitors enemy comms, jamming, ecw, does friendly comms
5: Gunner 1 - pew pew
6: Gunner 2 - pew pew
6: Engineer/Mechanic - repairs / tuning
7: Quartermaster - cargo, decks inc moving things from A to B. Tractor beams
8: Weapons - reloads, flushing (overheat), torps etc
9: XO/Watch - watching everything, filtering key info to Cap.
10: Marine - pew pew in person, offensive/defensive.
 
All specialists in that perform a critical role rather then they are experts. In fact you probably will struggle with less than that because sharing roles gets risky.
 
And yes, if they are lucky, 99% of most crews job is watching screens. But you want them there for those 1% of the time - battle

Interesting discussion. 
10 is a small ships complement, but lets assume automation effeciencies means we can do away with crew and have officer/c-class roles.
 
Edit: RL/in game descriptions added.
 
1: Captain - makes decisions. Probably owns the ship.
2: Pilot - flies the ship around. Preferably well.
3: Navigator - monitors all radar, sets courses, does mappy stuff.
4: Signals (Comms) - monitors enemy comms, jamming, ecw, does friendly comms
5: Gunner 1 - pew pew
6: Gunner 2 - pew pew
6: Engineer/Mechanic - repairs / tuning
7: Quartermaster - cargo, decks inc moving things from A to B. Tractor beams
8: Weapons - reloads, flushing (overheat), torps etc
9: XO/Watch - watching everything, filtering key info to Cap.
10: Marine - pew pew in person, offensive/defensive.
 
All specialists in that perform a critical role rather then they are experts. In fact you probably will struggle with less than that because sharing roles gets risky.
 
And yes, if they are lucky, 99% of most crews job is watching screens. But you want them there for those 1% of the time - battle

@Devious_T:
Yes, people who have entered the contest will be able to vote for their favourite piece.
No, there's no way of ensuring it can't be for themselves (but we don't see where the issue is there: they have the right to vote for themselves if they want to. All in all, it will be just one vote).
 
@Anonymous:
No worries. There will be other Novawrimo contests in the future 
 
@All:
Here is the list of the participants to the contest.
If you have posted a fan fiction for the contest but forgot to put the tag [Novawrimo] in the title of the thread, please inform us until tomorrow (Friday 16th December) 9.30PM PST. Winners will be announced in January next year: beside the winter holidays coming, it will take some time to read all the fan fictions and come to a decision. Thank you all for your involvement to the contest! 
 
"Crossing lives" by Ashteron
"Yellow Submarine" by Temerian
"Everyday life of an agent" by Zamarus
"The Space Trix" by Rrovall
"Blood and Ice" by Rockerboy2020
"Experiment Alpha" by Kurock
"That Bright Dawn" by Aetherios
"Pis Aller" by Velenka
"The Sleeper" by Peregrin
"Left Behind" by Devious_T
"First Contact" by Arkanos
"Rebirth" by Temerian
"Memories of a pirate" by Lethys
"Parting Gifts" by BenFargo
"The Last Arkship" by Danger
 
Best regards,
Nyzaltar.

+1, liked it

Option 4:
 
THE BEST DAMN COMMUNITY EVER!

Right up until you get jamming or atmospheric interference.
 
I'm be running tanks on the ground, like they should be

Heh-heh, thanks, Kurock.
 
Thanks, Aetherios!
 
(Whoops, and Anon.)

* Stands up in the circle*
 
Hi. I'm Anonymous, and I'm a roleplayer. It's been 63 days since my last IC interaction...

Okay, here's a story (of a sort). I hope you all enjoy it.
 
Same story, but improved a bit in the presentation (minor edits)... Revised 12/13
First Contact (Final).pdf

Aiken Drum. My fave Julien May character because of the classic nursery rhyme he got the name from.
 
Good story

It's the name of the Man in the Moon
 
"There was a man lived in the moon, lived in the moon, lived in the moon,
There was a man lived in the moon,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
 
Chorus
And he played upon a ladle, a ladle, a ladle,
And he played upon a ladle,
and his name was Aiken Drum.
 
And his hat was made of good cream cheese, of good cream cheese, of good cream cheese,
And his hat was made of good cream cheese,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
 
And his coat was made of good roast beef, of good roast beef, of good roast beef,
And his coat was made of good roast beef,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
 
And his buttons made of penny loaves, of penny loaves, of penny loaves,
And his buttons made of penny loaves,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
 
And his waistcoat was made of crust pies, of crust pies, of crust pies,
And his waistcoat was made of crust pies,
And his name was Aiken Drum.
 
And his breeches made of haggis bags, of haggis bags, of haggis bags,
And his breeches made of haggis bags,
And his name was Aiken Drum."