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Down the memory lane... Backstory - conflict, considerations, suggestions
I was searching thru some old posts and run into a very interesting one posted in 2004 from Soltis:
Thu, Nov 18, 2004 Soltis
As most people have noticed, the distribution of ships, weapons, and station inventory is essentially the same everywhere. While this is okay until a more plausible framework is put up, there are some pretty HUGE conflicts between this, or any similar setup, and the storyline as outlined in the VO manual.
Due to hugely differing technological developments between the different factions, there really should not be ANY crossover in terms of ship distribution.
Itani ships are based on an entirely different tech tree from Serco, and while both of these factions have traded with the UIT, the UIT has its own, completely different technological history from which most of its ships would derive.
I can see things like busses being the same for all factions; the explanation being that busses are pretty much surplus stock from earlier times, when the different factions had not diverged so much. There should be some differences, ideally, between the factions' busses, but for a start they could be the same.
Sticking to the storyline, the Itani ships would be lighly armored, fast, and highly maneouverable, depending mostly on their actual shielding for protection.
Serco ships, only recently having been introduced to Xithricite-based alloys, would have much, MUCH heavier armor, higher ship mass, and less overall speed/maneouverability, and, not incidentally, be close to indestructable.
UIT ships would be highly dependent on their exotic alloys, probably resulting in good maneouverability and strong armor, though definitely not as strong as the Serco, or agile as the Itani.
There would undoubtedly be crossover between the UIT and other factions, with UIT utilizing Serco and Itani derived technologies, while Itani/Serco would have adopted techniques and technologies shared with them by the UIT. It's even possible that some minor technologies would have been traded to the UIT by one of the other two factions, and then traded to that faction's enemy by the UIT subsequently, but this would most likely be a very rare occurance.
As with ships, weaponry would almost certainly have developed differently between the factions. Itani would undoubtedly favor energy based weaponry, since the weight of ammo would compromise their ships' maneouverability, though I can see them using some high velocity guns and possibly long range missiles to soften targets. Itani weaponry would probably emphasize light weight and projectile speed over damage.
Serco would prolly rely on more conventional weaponry, like missiles and projectile weapons, though it's likely their energy weapons would have been bolstered in quality by relations with the UIT. The Serco's tradition of carrier-based combat would make ammo conservation less of a consideration than it would be for other factions, as well as weapon and subsystem(see parenthetical comment below)maintainability. Weapon damage, however, and range, would be a top priority for the slow, ponderous Serco forces.
The UIT would almost certainly have a good mix of all weapons types, having exposure to both Itani and Serco technologies, and undoubtedly would have come up with their own, specialized implimentations of these weapons. I would think that with a survivalistic element present, the UIT would use weapons that were easy to repair(a factor to be taken into account later, if subsystem specific damage ever is implimented), provided a good weight/damage ratio, or had few logistic considerations, like ammo, to worry about. I also had ideas for beam-weapons, derived from advanced UIT mining lasers, but that can be discussed later
Station inventory would also be very different. Not withstanding the considerations of an economy based on actual game-useful items, even the basic "trade items" should differ vastly from nation to nation. All the "basics," and items that any civilization would need, like food, consumer electronics, manufacturing tools, common ores(UIT should be the only significant source for Xithricite-based ores), and other such items would remain the same, but things like weapons/ship components, advanced alloys, and other miscellania would differ greatly, especially between Itani and Serco, with the UIT being a mix of the other two, with a smaller number of specialized items of their own.
War dynamics: as it stands, play dynamics are pretty much the same for everyone at the moment. The "traditions" of the different societies don't make any difference at all right now, which ruins a large part of the immersion the storyline would otherwise provide. The different factions place equal emphasis on the same licenses for the same reasons, which does not mesh with the vastly differing worldviews of the different factions in any way. The fact that there are three combat oriented licenses, one trade license, and one mining license at the moment don't help at all; there's no way to gain licenses, and thus recognition, for any other aspect of play at the moment.
There are other issues along these lines, but this is what I can think of right now. Any other issues of this nature that need addressing should be posted here for further debate.
Thu, Nov 18, 2004 Soltis
As most people have noticed, the distribution of ships, weapons, and station inventory is essentially the same everywhere. While this is okay until a more plausible framework is put up, there are some pretty HUGE conflicts between this, or any similar setup, and the storyline as outlined in the VO manual.
Due to hugely differing technological developments between the different factions, there really should not be ANY crossover in terms of ship distribution.
Itani ships are based on an entirely different tech tree from Serco, and while both of these factions have traded with the UIT, the UIT has its own, completely different technological history from which most of its ships would derive.
I can see things like busses being the same for all factions; the explanation being that busses are pretty much surplus stock from earlier times, when the different factions had not diverged so much. There should be some differences, ideally, between the factions' busses, but for a start they could be the same.
Sticking to the storyline, the Itani ships would be lighly armored, fast, and highly maneouverable, depending mostly on their actual shielding for protection.
Serco ships, only recently having been introduced to Xithricite-based alloys, would have much, MUCH heavier armor, higher ship mass, and less overall speed/maneouverability, and, not incidentally, be close to indestructable.
UIT ships would be highly dependent on their exotic alloys, probably resulting in good maneouverability and strong armor, though definitely not as strong as the Serco, or agile as the Itani.
There would undoubtedly be crossover between the UIT and other factions, with UIT utilizing Serco and Itani derived technologies, while Itani/Serco would have adopted techniques and technologies shared with them by the UIT. It's even possible that some minor technologies would have been traded to the UIT by one of the other two factions, and then traded to that faction's enemy by the UIT subsequently, but this would most likely be a very rare occurance.
As with ships, weaponry would almost certainly have developed differently between the factions. Itani would undoubtedly favor energy based weaponry, since the weight of ammo would compromise their ships' maneouverability, though I can see them using some high velocity guns and possibly long range missiles to soften targets. Itani weaponry would probably emphasize light weight and projectile speed over damage.
Serco would prolly rely on more conventional weaponry, like missiles and projectile weapons, though it's likely their energy weapons would have been bolstered in quality by relations with the UIT. The Serco's tradition of carrier-based combat would make ammo conservation less of a consideration than it would be for other factions, as well as weapon and subsystem(see parenthetical comment below)maintainability. Weapon damage, however, and range, would be a top priority for the slow, ponderous Serco forces.
The UIT would almost certainly have a good mix of all weapons types, having exposure to both Itani and Serco technologies, and undoubtedly would have come up with their own, specialized implimentations of these weapons. I would think that with a survivalistic element present, the UIT would use weapons that were easy to repair(a factor to be taken into account later, if subsystem specific damage ever is implimented), provided a good weight/damage ratio, or had few logistic considerations, like ammo, to worry about. I also had ideas for beam-weapons, derived from advanced UIT mining lasers, but that can be discussed later
Station inventory would also be very different. Not withstanding the considerations of an economy based on actual game-useful items, even the basic "trade items" should differ vastly from nation to nation. All the "basics," and items that any civilization would need, like food, consumer electronics, manufacturing tools, common ores(UIT should be the only significant source for Xithricite-based ores), and other such items would remain the same, but things like weapons/ship components, advanced alloys, and other miscellania would differ greatly, especially between Itani and Serco, with the UIT being a mix of the other two, with a smaller number of specialized items of their own.
War dynamics: as it stands, play dynamics are pretty much the same for everyone at the moment. The "traditions" of the different societies don't make any difference at all right now, which ruins a large part of the immersion the storyline would otherwise provide. The different factions place equal emphasis on the same licenses for the same reasons, which does not mesh with the vastly differing worldviews of the different factions in any way. The fact that there are three combat oriented licenses, one trade license, and one mining license at the moment don't help at all; there's no way to gain licenses, and thus recognition, for any other aspect of play at the moment.
There are other issues along these lines, but this is what I can think of right now. Any other issues of this nature that need addressing should be posted here for further debate.
[Stamp of Approval]™
[Stamp of Nice Idea, but Never Going To Happen, Ever©]
it probably will, i'm tired of seeing vults in itan, nations need proprietary ships/weapons/cells greyspace needs to have a racemix of all of em that changes as weapons flow throgh the market, i'm way too stoned for this.
Yep. Long overdue. Nations need to have more differences other than one unique ship and a few different variants of shared ships.