Really BIG Write-Ups...

[Dr. Anomaly]

What with Star Hero and The Ulitmate Vehicle now out (and the expaned Size tables for vehicles) I'm considering, just for fun, doing a write-up of the Skylark of Valeron.

Anyone else planning any really BIG write-ups?

[Agent Escafarc]

I don't have UV yet and I don't know how big the Skylark of Valeron is. But I'm planning one day to write up the ships of the Honorverse.

[Dr. Anomaly]

The Skylark of Valeron is from a series by E. E. "Doc" Smith (also creator of the Lensman series). She was the biggest "built" ship I can recall (i.e. not a converted asteroid or something) and was 1000km in diameter. Despite that ridiculous tonnage, she had the power-to-mass ratio of a speedster and could traverse vast intergalactic distances in mere days...and the amount of firepower and defenses she packed made many galactic-wide civilizations look underarmed by comparison.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
The Skylark of Valeron is from a series by E. E. "Doc" Smith (also creator of the Lensman series). She was the biggest "built" ship I can recall (i.e. not a converted asteroid or something) and was 1000km in diameter. Despite that ridiculous tonnage, she had the power-to-mass ratio of a speedster and could traverse vast intergalactic distances in mere days...and the amount of firepower and defenses she packed made many galactic-wide civilizations look underarmed by comparison.

Great! But I want to see the schematic.

[Dr. Anomaly]

Yeah? Well, I'd like to see one, as well!

Have you actually read the books in question? If not, I'll say that all we ever see of the interior of this monster is (1) the multiple layers of kilometer-thick airlock doors leading to the innermost chamber and (2) said innermost chamber which was the size of, and had the look & feel of, a small park. The park contained 3 houses and a small control room building, as well.

We're told the 1 cubic km of Brain that runs the thing is "underground" in relation to the houses, but we never see it once the ship has been constructed. (The Brain was built first, then the ship was materialized around it.)

Other than that, all we're told in the books is that the main sixth-order drive engines, main power plants, shield generators, etc. are within a spherical area about 100 km in diameter that makes up the core of the vessel. We know this because at one point, the Valeron is hit with such an attack that she gets mostly vaporized -- peeled like an onion -- by such strong forces that the creator has to re-tune the shield generators to protect only the vital 'interior' instead of protecting the whole vessel. Only with the supposedly invincible screens doing a 200x overlap over a much smaller area does the core of the ship survive the attack and escape.

[By the way, if you're not familiar with "Doc" Smith's over-the-top style and love of synonyms for 'huge' or 'gigantic', the end of this particular series will illustrate it quite nicely. Determining that the antisocial race that runs the galaxy which nearly destroyed his vessel has GOT to go (it's a threat to all humanity everywhere, y'see) the creator of the Valeron with some help from notable allies and one major enemy, destroys said enemy galaxy. Yes, the galaxy. Actually, he destroys two galaxies, because he uses the stars from one galaxy as ammunition to destroy the stars in the enemy galaxy. (He picks a star in the enemy galaxy, determines its direction and velocity; picks a like-sized star from the 'ammunition' galaxy with a diametrically-opposed velocity, and flips the 'ammunition' star through the 4th Dimension so it reappears in the path of the enemy star. Splat, Kaboom: super-super-super nova. Wash, rinse, repeat. Since nearly every star in the enemy galaxy had a planet of the enemy around it, pretty much every star gets destroyed.]

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Yeah? Well, I'd like to see one, as well!

Have you actually read the books in question? If not, I'll say that all we ever see of the interior of this monster is (1) the multiple layers of kilometer-thick airlock doors leading to the innermost chamber and (2) said innermost chamber which was the size of, and had the look & feel of, a small park. The park contained 3 houses and a small control room building, as well.

We're told the 1 cubic km of Brain that runs the thing is "underground" in relation to the houses, but we never see it once the ship has been constructed. (The Brain was built first, then the ship was materialized around it.)

Other than that, all we're told in the books is that the main sixth-order drive engines, main power plants, shield generators, etc. are within a spherical area about 100 km in diameter that makes up the core of the vessel. We know this because at one point, the Valeron is hit with such an attack that she gets mostly vaporized -- peeled like an onion -- by such strong forces that the creator has to re-tune the shield generators to protect only the vital 'interior' instead of protecting the whole vessel. Only with the supposedly invincible screens doing a 200x overlap over a much smaller area does the core of the ship survive the attack and escape.

[By the way, if you're not familiar with "Doc" Smith's over-the-top style and love of synonyms for 'huge' or 'gigantic', the end of this particular series will illustrate it quite nicely. Determining that the antisocial race that runs the galaxy which nearly destroyed his vessel has GOT to go (it's a threat to all humanity everywhere, y'see) the creator of the Valeron with some help from notable allies and one major enemy, destroys said enemy galaxy. Yes, the galaxy. Actually, he destroys two galaxies, because he uses the stars from one galaxy as ammunition to destroy the stars in the enemy galaxy. (He picks a star in the enemy galaxy, determines its direction and velocity; picks a like-sized star from the 'ammunition' galaxy with a diametrically-opposed velocity, and flips the 'ammunition' star through the 4th Dimension so it reappears in the path of the enemy star. Splat, Kaboom: super-super-super nova. Wash, rinse, repeat. Since nearly every star in the enemy galaxy had a planet of the enemy around it, pretty much every star gets destroyed.]

Wow! How many points for that Teleport?

[Dr. Anomaly]

Remember -- it'd be Teleport Usable As an Attack, too. Points = uh...ouch?

Actually, if you're actually gonna pay points for it, it'd make more sense to buy it as a really, really, big RKA with loads of MegaRange (intergalactic) and MegaArea (volume of a large star), Expendable OIF ('ammunition' star).

STILL more points than I really wanna think about, tho...

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Dr. Anomaly
Remember -- it'd be Teleport Usable As an Attack, too. Points = uh...ouch?

Actually, if you're actually gonna pay points for it, it'd make more sense to buy it as a really, really, big RKA with loads of MegaRange (intergalactic) and MegaArea (volume of a large star), Expendable OIF ('ammunition' star).

STILL more points than I really wanna think about, tho...

I am sure that somebody out there will try to build it on 250, whoops! make that 350 points.

[Gary]

Originally posted by Agent X
I am sure that somebody out there will try to build it on 250, whoops! make that 350 points.

Hey, I once built a nuclear bomb on 5 real points, 4 if you decided to make it independent.

[Gary]

Originally posted by Agent X
I am sure that somebody out there will try to build it on 250, whoops! make that 350 points.

1 pip major transform galaxy to random mass of energy
nonstandard autofire (+1.5)
5.5 trillion shots (+20)
area effect (+1)
69 doublings (+17.25) (roughly 1 galaxy in radius) (did not use megascale because I didn't want too large of a drift from misses)
0 end (+1)
does knockback double knockback (+1)

+41.75 total in advantages. 214 active points.

OAF (-1) Immobile (-1) 5 minutes to activate (-2)

43 real points.

This attack transforms a galaxy into a random mass of energy. 5.5 trillion body should do the trick. Even if it doesn't, 11 trillion inches of knockback is pretty lethal.

[Agent X]

Originally posted by Gary
1 pip major transform galaxy to random mass of energy
nonstandard autofire (+1.5)
5.5 trillion shots (+20)
area effect (+1)
69 doublings (+17.25) (roughly 1 galaxy in radius) (did not use megascale because I didn't want too large of a drift from misses)
0 end (+1)
does knockback double knockback (+1)

+41.75 total in advantages. 214 active points.

OAF (-1) Immobile (-1) 5 minutes to activate (-2)

43 real points.

This attack transforms a galaxy into a random mass of energy. 5.5 trillion body should do the trick. Even if it doesn't, 11 trillion inches of knockback is pretty lethal.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

[Aroooo]

Originally posted by Gary
1 pip major transform galaxy to random mass of energy
nonstandard autofire (+1.5)
5.5 trillion shots (+20)
area effect (+1)
69 doublings (+17.25) (roughly 1 galaxy in radius) (did not use megascale because I didn't want too large of a drift from misses)
0 end (+1)
does knockback double knockback (+1)

+41.75 total in advantages. 214 active points.

OAF (-1) Immobile (-1) 5 minutes to activate (-2)

43 real points.

This attack transforms a galaxy into a random mass of energy. 5.5 trillion body should do the trick. Even if it doesn't, 11 trillion inches of knockback is pretty lethal.

You scare me

But since its a Transformation, what's the 'common' defense/recovery?

Aroooo

[Gary]

Originally posted by Aroooo
You scare me

But since its a Transformation, what's the 'common' defense/recovery?

Aroooo

Considering that the galaxy has to heal 5.5 trillion body, I think it's safe to say that in that period of time, the random mass of energy has coalesced into a new galaxy.

[Dr. Anomaly]

That is the FUNNIEST thing I have read in some time! My hat's off to you!

[Dr. Anomaly]

Oh, yeah, is that "5 minutes to activate" for *each* shot? If so, it's gonna take a while to transform the galaxy. If not, it needs a longer set-up time (it took them a couple of weeks in the book to set up the baselines, etc. for the 4th-D trajectories, using star clusters on opposite sides of the target galaxy as "anchors" from which to work).