Kraven Kor

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered LOL - even though I haven't rep'd anyone for months or years... "You must spread some reputation around before giving it to Nyrath again."

Going to run this by you fine folks and ask, if you would, for you to review it and maybe ask some questions to help me flesh this out. What I mostly need is tons and tons of questions regarding things I may or may not have thought about to flesh out the universe. Some of these ideas will likely be similar to what I would recommend for the "generic setting" thread. I want as much of a backstory as possible for the players; but I don't really want to use an existing setting as I don't like players quoting canon to me in my games. I kind of like things to operate based on my imaginings, not someone elses, though obviously a lot of my ideas are st... er, borrowed I'm going to attach a few "work in progress" documents here in a bit, as well. The campaign will be neither "hard" nor "space opera." I want it to kind of be Galactic Champions light - lots of hard science concepts (space travel takes time, no FTL communications other than VERY limited telepathy, FTL limited to deep space travel so you can't have a fleet appear in orbit of a planet with no warning, ships in FTL transit can be detected, no hyperspace or extradimensional stuff, etc.) The general concept is that humanity has only just begun to spread to the stars. Spurred on by a near-armageddon first (official) contact in 2112, we quickly discovered how to mimic the FTL drives of our newfound neighbors and began to explore and colonize space. The players are to be members of a newly-formed government agency which oversees the various spacefaring nation's interstellar trades and politics (Terran Commonwealth is US, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, and a handful of others; Russia is its own entity as is China, and later a Mormon and a Muslim colony are established.) They will essentially be a mix of Army Core of Engineers, UN Peacekeeping Forces, and Navy Seals - the do-anything team of specialists who take out terrorists, pirates, and alien threats alike, while also occasionally helping out on new world surveys or with alien artifacts and such. ----- Some basic info: The year at campaign start is around 2300. The first human colony outside our solar system was around 2050 (Alpha Centauri A), with humans now having claims to 17 systems within 40 LY of Sol. Fortunately, their are no alien species with colonies or claims closer than about 60 LY. Most colonies are terraforming colonies on worlds somewhat similar to Mars, or marginably habitable moons around Gas Giants. Only 3 or 4 are on worlds that are at all Earth-like, and only 2 of those have any extensive native life. 2 more systems are colonized outside the 40 LY zone - these being the "Neo-Mormon" colony and the Muslim colony; both groups kind of saw an opportunity to create a civilization more suitable to their beliefs and built arks to find a new home. Due to no real FTL comms, having to rely on FTL couriers, the "United Terran Commonwealth" came up with an agreement amongst the other nations that each extrasolar colony would need a certain level of autonomy. As such, each nation with a stake in a system has a governer in that system and all of this is overseen by a UN-like body called the Terran Council - the players work for a branch called Terran Command; the TC Military, basically. A Russian Colony in another system ultimately answers to Russia back on earth, but is also under the purview of the Terran Council. ----- FTL travel comes in 2 forms: Our first step into deep space was the discovery that most near neighbor stars have wormholes between them; these are rarely stable, usually appearing only briefly and too dangerous to use for travel. Stars that are tidally locked or that are moving mostly along a similar path will have stable wormholes. (More on this in the docs I'll attach later.) Once we discovered how to travel through a wormhole (the "Node Drive"), we made our first leap to Alpha Centauri and - as suspected - it had a world very similar to Earth though a few million years younger. After a while, we discovered how to stabilize some wormholes via Jump Gates - still requires a naturally occurring wormhole, but the gate can stabilize and - to an extent - make permanent the wormholes that were previously unusable. Finally, and not that long ago, we figured out how to make the drives that most other species used - "Gravitational Tunneling Drives." These create a focused gravitational field in front of a ship that basically creates a shortcut in spacetime - a tunnel in which the ship can travel. (Not going into it here, but FTL does not cause space travel - causality is preserved, and while some relativistic effects occur there is very little time dilation.) ----- More to come, on the aliens, some history, tech, psionics, genetics, bionics, etc. Feel free to ask questions or give input on the above.

Re: What would happen - and at what cost? At what mass / velocity do you have direct impact or a large enough fireball? Or is that covered in your above equation?

Re: What would happen - and at what cost? But wouldn't the shuttle be more prone to disentegrating in the atmosphere and never making it TO the surface? I'm sure there is a point where it is moving fast enough to not do that, but I'd think that at most any speed provided by a torch drive you couldn't get that delicate of an object to ground in one piece to deliver your kinetic energy - you'd just have a fireball in the upper atmosphere. I mean, let's say you got a 1km long space freighter - that isn't even designed for re-entry, no heat shields, nothing - up to around 300 kps, how much of it would make it to the ground? In one big piece or a bunch of little pieces?

Re: Guidlines For Skill/Power Advancement I am planning to use a CV limit, and in the past used a similar system. I'm just calling it as a maximum of +5 from any single category - max +5 from Skill Levels, max +5 from PSL's, max +5 from Manuevers... so yes, they can still stack it up fairly high but there are still sane limits.

Re: Particle Beam The main difference I can think of would be what type of defense(s) they may or may not work (better, worse, or at all...) against. Kind of hints at Trek Shield Modulation and such.

Re: What would happen - and at what cost? Now, I know that an asteroid of sufficient size would do exactly what is described here... but wouldn't a spacecraft - especially if not designed for re-entry - just break up or mostly disintegrate before hitting ground? If the Shuttle nose-dived into, say, St. Louis, how much damage would it really do in comparison to a space rock of the same size? I'd think turning asteroids into weapons would be more practical and devastating than just a freighter. Doesn't really change the equation, I just want to make sure I understand just how much damage a high-moving spacecraft is going to do.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs Molecule Man (and Bernie the Hand) Bernie, at least, has Shadowing and Stealth Vehicle, bought with stealth or skill levels to stealth, disguise, anonymity Follower? DNPC? Or just another guy? Money as a perk. Likely one of them (Bernie) has Mind Control powers, whether via surgery or an actual superpower. I'm thinking this would be Invisible Power Effects on the Mind Control powers. Molecule Man has electrical attacks, likely with the sticky or continuous modifiers on one or more. Doesn't help us build the character much, but is just the most awesome part of the song, so I left it quoted. Sounds like Molecule Man also has desolidification, and a Conical Explosion HTH Killing Attack? Further evidence of the desolidification, and that he is vulnerable to entangles that conduct electricity? Molecule Man might want to spend some points on raising his PD And it would appear Bernie isn't much for physical confrontation.

Re: How to use always on and how to shut the powers off in interesting ways. Eh... I'm not so comfortable with "Always On" placed on a multipower... I mean, which slot is always on? In the case of Cyclops, he can't really focus or adjust his beams without the goggles. He would be quite the challenge to build "realistically" but I suppose that solution is as good as any others. But, I digress. I think I agree with Ideasmith. Basically you have an "Always On" power, which is a limitation. If you want to have an item or switch or whatever that allows you to control the power, then that item or switch should cost you exactly as much as the limitation grants. Or at least be based on that cost, then with the Focus and such limitations added.

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs Molecule Man in particular would make for a great Dark Champs villian if you listen to the words... http://www.madahoochi.com/lyrics.html#molecule

Re: Susano's Song-Based DC NPCs I hereby request and his mid-eighties probable Progenitor, (Awesome, it embeds automatically.) Another might be but half of you would write up the cheezy version from Superman III or whatever, the rest would recognize the intent of the linked song and write up a certain Fox Cartoon character... I'd write up some but my HERO workload is all about my Star Hero campaign right now.

Re: Particle Beam Cost on Charges should balance out either way. They either blow one charge per phase, or one continuing charge per X phases/turns. Keep in mind Continuing charges will suffer should a target be destroyed before the charge's time runs out. And a particle beam should work in a vacuum so long as the particles are supplied by the weapon and properly condensed or focused. I mean, if gamma ray bursts from distant stars can theoretically destroy all life on earth -- I read it somewhere so it must be true -- then a particle weapon fired in space should be able to deliver a blow to a target in space.

Re: Particle Beam I would also think any EM Deflectors or Force Fields would be more effective against particle beams. But I'm not 100% sure I can explain why I think that, just kind of a hunch from all the factoids rattling about my skull.

Re: Particle Beam Yeah, build it as a Penetrating Continuous RKA, then build a second linked Naked Modifier: Explosion. Something like: Killing Attack - Ranged 2d6, Penetrating (+1/2), Continuous (+1) (75 Active Points); Naked Modifier: Explosion (+1/2) for up to 75 Active Points, Trigger (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; +3/4) (65 Active Points); Linked (???; Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value; -3/4) Edit: I tried to add a trigger to the Naked Modifier and HERO Designer v3 crashed. In fact, it is still crashing, won't close, opening Process Explorer now... le sigh. Edit 2: There we go.

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered Another way to look at Superconductors, I have been told, is to see them as merely a 100% efficient medium for energy transference. Conservation still applies - they can't create energy, you can't get more energy out of them than you put it, and as soon as your energy is in a non-superconductive medium, you would see the same loss. Something like that. High efficiency simply reduces the amount of waste, it does not eliminate it nor does it allow you to break the usual laws.

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered It is also a darn good reason why I believe that if there is other life out there, they probably are no closer to cracking FTL than we are. But I do like making sure any handwavium I use is at least rooted in some real science; that it be plausible. -- Now, another thought, which isn't exactly true stealth, but could be used to gain an advantage... It would take someone a bit to detect your ship. There are probably thousands of objects in our solar system we have yet to detect, simply due to the massiveness of space. With more advanced detection methods, this will probably be of less benefit, but I can imagine that a ship using as much of the feasible "stealth" we have mentioned here might be more likely to slip through the grid, but would be more luck than skill or tech - having nobody looking in your direction. Not reliable, but could be the hook for a story or adventure. "Commander, we don't know how we missed this, but we have an unknown craft entering orbit..."

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered Meh, too easy.

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered Well, just keep in mind that some of our dreams are bigger than our brains. Also; how the fark am I going to sneak up on my damned players if all my ideas get shot down?

Re: Generic SF Universe Project My recommendation on that is actually 2 different Generic settings: One Hard-ish Sci-Fi, the other Space Opera. You really can't meet in the middle of the two and make it work for everyone's taste.

Re: How to Build: Resistance to broken bones... Well, as Ghost Angel said, it already has a "suite" of powers attached to it. Between the skeletal reinforcement and subdermal armor (mesh in/under the skin), he has some Damage Resistance, some extra Body with NFC, some extra CON with NFC, etc. I think I'm going to stick to NR Physical Damage Reduction; "Only vs. impact damage." Basically any bludgeoning attack has a chance of breaking bones, so the DR means you might rupture something important but you aren't cracking ribs. Might even want to make it resistant? I mean, in the case of a blunt killing attack, I'd think broken bones would be a good part of the damage dealt? Can you even really have a blunt killing attack? Terminal Velocity is just normal damage...

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered And listening isn't my problem; comprehending is my problem. I apologize if we are constantly repeating tired old arguments. Believe it or not, I am learning something.

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered I just hate that your website is blocked at work, Nyrath.

So one of the characters in my Star Hero campaign is playing a super soldier type. Genetically engineered and augmented with bionics / cybernetics. One of the concepts we came up with was for his skeleton to have been reinforced with a nano-engineered endoskeleton. So I was thinking, OK, that would probably best be simulated by just Non-resistant Physical Damage Reduction... but would it? Or would I do like +STR vs. Joint-Break (MA Manuever from UMA, IIRC)? Thoughts?

Re: Generic SF Universe Project FTL is a two part question: FTL Drives? I say yes. Thoughts to consider: Speed and - more importantly - cost of travel affects a lot of things. If FTL travel is expensive, there won't be a lot of interstellar trade for common commodities, only really expensive stuff or really critical supplies. Part two - FTL Communications. With FTL drives you'll have FTL Communications - but let me expound. Let's say you have FTL drives but no "Ansible" or "Subspace Relays" or anything... IE no phone calls from Andromeda back home to Earth. Now, if your FTL ship takes mere hours to travel from galaxy to galaxy, then you have not-quite instant FTL comms but it is the difference between a phone call and a hand delivered note - hours waiting for answers. If your FTL ship takes weeks to get to the next star system, communications are slowed that much more. Without instant or near-instant FTL communications, galaxy-spanning empires would be unlikely, and if they existed they would be slow to change or react, and there would be a lot of autonomy with the "system governors" or what have you. While having a FTL Video Phone would allow for massive empires and rapid politics. Also, rapid orders from HQ for military ops. My "votes" or at least what I'm currently planning for my campaign: FTL: The FTL System I plan to use is that there is a drive system that uses massive amounts of energy to create a tunnel in space-time that is shorter than the natural topography. I don't want to use hyperspace or subspace or anything extra-dimensional. I want ships in FTL transit to be in "real space" with all the disadvantages that implies - you can be seen and detected, intercepted (with some reeaaa-he-heeaally complex math), shot at, etc. I also want FTL to be somewhat slow. Days to Weeks to travel to another star system. The "Tunnel Drive" lets you create short tunnels, about 1 LY max for a top-of-the-line ship, and you just create a series of tunnels for long trips. In the tunnel, you still are only moving at normal speeds (standard 1G burns, no inertial dampeners), but the tunnel is shorter. In my setting, a ship going to Alpha Centauri would take about 2 days minimum. One going 40 LY or so (the extent of human exploration thus far) would take several weeks. Now, on top of this, as you are using direct manipulation of gravity, you have to be on the far outskirts of a system to use FTL - any significant gravitational influence will affect the creation of the tunnel - I'm thinking, in HERO terms, that it will make the Navigation roll harder, and that if you fail by X amount you end up strewn along spacetime as your tunnel collapses after you enter it. On the other hand, the deeper you are in space, the easier it is to create the tunnel and the longer your tunnel can be (hence why the difference between 1 LY and 40 LY trips don't add up.) I would also support multiple FTL techs - again, my campaign Humans started with a naturally discovered wormhole, then figured out how to build Jump Gates around unsafe or unstable wormholes, but wormholes are limited by the fact they only go to a set destination. Then later they figured out how to basically generate their own short-lived wormholes - the Tunnel Drive. FTL Comms: I vote no. This sets up a scenario where Earth and other extrasolar human colonies have limited contact, and lots of autonomy and cultural differences. Communications are still possible by sending FTL couriers, but you don't have the President of Beta Aquilae on speed dial.

Re: Space Warfare II - Stealth Reconsidered So no amount of insulation / heat recycling could let you have heated interiors but still mask your heat signature? Again, not talking zero waste heat, just talking maximum efficiency.