anyone up for another Chiron Chronicles?

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by mart7x5


Why this organization will achieve so much till 2060? Because it will be devoted to sending people to Chiron, not concerned with public oppinion demanding bigger burgers and cheaper gasoline.

This will never happen. Chances for that are near zero. Even humanitarian organisations today are ruled by greed. I am estimate 99 percent of humanity will be dead by the end of this century. The remnants of humanity will die out in a century or two. Humanity shall never colonize other planets.

[Illuminatus]

Anyway this for basic PC -GS plotline:

Planet Cult wants to take some of far away Gaian bases under its own control, while Deidre wants to avoid conflict. Planet Cult eventually takes some of the colonies, but a greater threar shifts the position and truce is signed. Deidre starts to increase her psi army for future defence.

****

Planet Cult aligns itself with Caretakers in its rampage against Usurpers and their human allies. Deidre chooses to align herself with ********* and stay out from Progenitor conflict.
A psi force commander rebels against her, and joins the Cult, taking some of the remaining offland bases.
******** intervenes into conflict, providing Deidre with neccesary techs. Caretakers declare war on Deidre too, and she has to choose staying neutral or allying with dreaded Usurpers.
She decides to remain neutral and ally herself with ****** who has just broke off from pact with ******** and form a new, purehuman alliance. She prepares for invasion.

After initial success, invasion comes to a halt, as the Usurpers using ********** force Cult and Caretakers to redirect their forces.
Cha Dawn discovers truth about Ruins and decides to break from Pact with Caretakers, but Caretakers decide to take control of Ruins by force. Cult must now face the Alien Threat alone, and in an epic battle whole Cult psi army faces Caretaking forces. Things start to go bad for Cult, but Usurping force arriving hampers the Caretakers. Usurpers offer Cult to switch sides. Cha Dawn has to choose.

Meanwhile Deidre restores control of her bases, but learns a horrible truth that ***************
Will she align with Cult now or not?

[Sovereign]

Hey all,

I finally worked out the rough draft of the guidelines for this cooperative story. Here goes!


The "World" or "Universe" of the cooperative story

Starting year: 2200

Planet Map: Modified SMAC-X Chiron Map

Aliens: Progenitors; Caretakers and Unsurpers


Writing / Plot-lines

Factions already taken and author's name in paratheses:

Gaians (Obstructor)
Planet of Cult (Obstructor)
University (Sovereign)
Hive (Frankychan)
Morganites (GeneralTactius)

New Authors:

If any new writers would like to join, they should introduce themselves into the discussion thread. Then they would need to describe what faction they choose, then bases, units, etc. within reason.

Then the new author should inform the other authors of any planned friendships, alliances, or war treaties. That way, the relationships of the new faction author would be clear and understood.

Upon a clear definition and understanding of the new author's chosen faction, relationship treaties, and starting postions, the author shall be free to write his / her first story post.

Retiring / Inactive authors:

If an author wishes to retire due to real life issues, or feels he / she cannot carry on with the story, the author shall inform the story community in the discussion thread.

Upon retiring, the author's faction will become neutral. The exception to this rule is when other authors have ongoing story arcs or plot-lines involving the retired author's faction. The authors with the ongoing story plot-lines are to be allowed to finish the story arc, by writing the point of view from the retired author's faction, within reason.

In cases of a war based story arc, the story arc is to be reviewed by the whole author community, to avoid what is termed as "god-modding" or in other words, "invincibility" or "faction conquers the enemy faction without losses".


As for inactive authors, if any author is unable to post in the discussion thread for a month or more, the author community needs to try to Private Message the author in question, to ask the reason for the inactivity. If no response is made within a week, discussion should be undertaken regarding the future of the author's participation, as well as his / her current faction in the story.


Bases and Technology:

Authors need to create colony pods to build new bases, as done in the actual game. Production of colony pods shall be done in 1 to 5 years in game terms, depending on how rich the terrain surrounding the base is in minerals and resources.

Technology research should follow SMAC-X tech tree. However, the later technologies should be modified to reflect realistic abilities and achievements.

Technology research per faction should be by factors. Technolgies should be given "Total Research Points" then once a faction generates an acclumated sum total of research points equal or greater than "TRP" then the technology is discovered by the faction. The "TRP" will be provided after the guidelines.

University and Cyborgs = 2.5x technology research rate
Morganites = 1.5x technology research rate (strong economy)
All other factions = 1x technology research rate
Believers = 0.5x technology research rate

For instance, time travel technology would create some serious issues. Therefore it will not be allowed in the story.

Another example would be space based technologies, such as orbitals and space flight. This shall be addressed in the future, by the author community, when either a faction, or general planetary technology level, achieves space flight.


Time Progression:

The guidelines of this issue will be updated upon agreement of the authoring community.



End Guidelines



There it is, the rough draft of the guidelines. Any ideas, suggestions, or things I should add? Also, we need to refine the technology research and the Time Progession issue.

[Mart]

I would like to take Peacekeepers. I have to plan the faction then. I will post more soon

[Illuminatus]

Great! More writers!

[Sovereign]

:::rubs hands:::

Excellent!

Just Excellent!



Welcome, Mart!

[Mart]

Is there any scenario file in which factions and bases could be arranged? maybe map only? What is reasonable number of bases for 2200?

[GeneralTacticus]

If we're going by the game, quite a few, although given a) the size of the map, and b) factional wishes to keep the more important bases with more people in them, they probably wouldn't cover a whole lot of territory, and they'd mostly just be processing points for mining, farming, etc, or military outposts. Also, if you consider population growth rates, and the beating they'd take in the early years, you wouldn't have that many to populate your bases with anyway.

[Mellian]

okay, i am back, sorry for poofing for a bit. will put the latest draft of the guidelines to the datalinks thread once i get back home in one or two hours.

-mellian

[Mellian]

Originally posted by obstructor
Anyway this for basic PC -GS plotline:

umm, we still haven't fully decided on the faction starting locations, and then decide on how many bases and where they will be, which will be influenced base on where else the factions, what year exactly we are starting at, some of the peoples starting general plots and etc.


-mellian

[Mellian]

i rather not go by game standards to figure out how many bases a faction would get, especially as the starting population, abstractly, is far more than what the journey to centauri official story indicates.

also using the information the SMAC appendixes for actual size of Chiron (about a third or less bigger than earth), the planet's environment and etc. indications and evidence from tech blurbs, the cinamic videos after you build a secret project and etc are considered canon for the story.

i also did the math of how big a game square is reslisticly, using the information from the manual, which should be in page two of this thread somewhere. that would give a pretty good idea of the distances involved, and that a single base pretty much only needs a single square than an entire area of sectors to survive...and mines, farms, and etc located in other square from base would be distance small communities of miners and farmers and etc...unless automated robots does all the work, and humans just have to keep an eye on them and transports the product back to the nearest base.

anyway, while i rather not go overall realistic, also don't want to be to abstract.

so ya... oh and I will be authouring the Data Angels, and will minorly do so for the Pirates and Drones as well, until an authour takes them.

when i come back home, will have have to post another draft map of faction starting locations and to make sure the starting authors agree with them.

I know where the authors would like University, Morganites, Gaians and Data Angels (basicly just on the same continent as the morganites and at least be one of their neighbours). all human crossfire factions should be not all that far from their obvious mother factions...except the pirates, as it unclear who they seperated from

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Mellian, I'd like feedback on the rough draft of the guidelines I wrote up. Then I'd be able to refine it into a good, solid, and final draft.

I agree the split factions shouldn't be far from their mother factions.

However, I must question a couple of faction placements. The Believers and the Peacekeepers.

The Peacekeepers are right next to the Spartans, while the Believers are right next to the University. I'm not sure if mortal enemies should be right next to each other. Wouldn't it make more sense if mortal enemies were further apart, such as the USA, Russia, and China?

Just wondering.

Mellian, I also agree with the realism of distances and stuff. A fully developed "city" of size 20 (all 20 squares being "worked") should be the size of Los Angeles or New York City, with 20 million people.

Then after size 20, each population point would represent 2 million people each, to simulate overcrowding and ultra-urbanization like in Tokyo, etc.



Any more ideas or suggestions? Keep them coming!

[Mellian]

i thought maybe to have them close for story potential, else they wouldn't be much enemies and etc if they are far apart.

i don't think los angeles would cover all twenty squares how big is that city geographicly anyway?

has for the guidelines, it is okay, and also something we would end up adding to once the authors make decisions about various things during the story. just that the tech may need to better explained, and that some of the smac/x techs isn't just base on research, but also indicate a faction has the infrastructure to start building cruisers, aircrafts and to start shooting stuff into space. heck, can have an entire tech section in the datalinks thread, as there so many things i would like authors to keep in mind, especially if we are going to make the story more realistic than what it appears in the game...

like, lasers for example would technicly be seen in foggy or smoky environments, and possibly during the night. also a direct energy weapon, hence can't really use lasers for artillery purposes.

impact weapons (rail guns/gauss cannons, etc) is a direct kinetic, and could be used for artillery, as one could theoriticly adjust the velocity of the projectile shot out magneticly. I see impact becoming the cheapest and most basic weaponry on Chiron.

missiles, i see them to be quite used despite how advanced a faction may be, and they can have variety of warheads and purposes....air-to-air, surface-to-air, anti-ship, bazookas, rockets, artillery, and etc.

Cruisers can be a variety of tonnage sizes...from frigate to battleship and carriers type tonnage. also would have non-combat and civilian uses, like transports, merchant ships and etc. they would generally make foils obsolete, or regulated to coastal defences or short range purposes.

and i can go on and on

[History Guy]

(sniffs in the air and wonders if he would have time for this)

[Frankychan]

With all the fiction under your belt you should be titled "Lead Apolyton Fiction Writer", History Guy.

[Mart]

Twenty squares is more or less area of the closest economically dependent establishments. This is how I understand that. We may think that there are smaller "towns" somewhere there - workers on farms, in forests or miners or just simply supply crawler routs crews. Realy small posts-bases, too small to be represented on the map.

[Mellian]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Twenty squares is more or less area of the closest economically dependent establishments. This is how I understand that. We may think that there are smaller "towns" somewhere there - workers on farms, in forests or miners or just simply supply crawler routs crews. Realy small posts-bases, too small to be represented on the map.

yes, but even then, what is being represented is way in the game is way to much, considering each square is about 44 516 km2 (yes, i did the math), so about 210km x 210km squares.

that would make ottawa and montreal just under square away from each other... so me thinks bases can survive pretty well, being one square from each other, considering it will be awhile yet before the chironians will end up having the kind of populations those two cities have.

for story purposes, can just consider each square 200x200 km sectors.

-mellian

[Mart]

Well, presently I'm in Utah, for me distance of 200 km between large cities is really very small. It's desert around. I wouldn't worry that much about this math though. Also, if there is such wish, maximal size of a map is 256 squares, like twice huge size 128. That would make squares 100km?

[Sovereign]

Hmm... my reasoning behind the mega-city of size 20+ is from a few Secret Project movies.

Energy Exchange movie shows a huge city with very tall skycrapers.

The Ascent Movie shows a contient fully covered in a city (I forgot if its Voice of Planet or Ascent Wonder movie).

[Mellian]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Well, presently I'm in Utah, for me distance of 200 km between large cities is really very small. It's desert around. I wouldn't worry that much about this math though. Also, if there is such wish, maximal size of a map is 256 squares, like twice huge size 128. That would make squares 100km?

umm, no.... how many squares in a game map will not change the fact that Chiron's surface area of 7.18x10^8 square kilometres.

also, really not interested in trying to recreate a modified planetx map to the maximum map size possible and i rather keep it to 200x200km squares.

-mellian

[Mellian]

Originally posted by Sovereign
Hmm... my reasoning behind the mega-city of size 20+ is from a few Secret Project movies.

Energy Exchange movie shows a huge city with very tall skycrapers.

The Ascent Movie shows a contient fully covered in a city (I forgot if its Voice of Planet or Ascent Wonder movie).

if we are going to be realistic, it will be a few centuries before Chironians could seriously have 20+ size bases.

like, i can definatly see factions starting to have their own unique architectures, and some skyscrapers (or underscrapers for Hive ) by 2200.

anyway, we shouldn't focus to much on population sizes for particular bases...we can just keep it abstract and not really mention it in the story, like Mike did in his books.

actually, how many years in the first book, Centauri Dawn, went by before Peacekeepers started establishing a second base?


-mellian

[Illuminatus]

If we stick to "realism", on Chiron faction will be to far apart to do anything. They would literally be too far to interact physicall nad story would eventually come to who and where built what.

[Mellian]

i like to the idea to still have some open space between factions, while still capable to strike at each other. sensors/radar seem to be pretty good, a long with long range communications without help of satellites.

anyway, to keep with realism, we would have to pick a realistic year to start the story from. also, we would be starting off with cruisers, needlejets, some fusion and the beginnings of orbital spaceflight tech/capabilities. would also start the story with all factions having comms of each other, and also having an established Planetary Council, done via holographic/virtual communication.

also, the distances, and the average rolling terrain of Chiron, would explain they prefer Rovers as mobile units initially....and aircrafts would definatly help.

overall, story will not end up being all about production and etc.

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Well, Mellian, I think population does play a vital role in any empire or nation.

Simple reason that can be summarized in two words.

Taxation / Economy.

If a nation is developed with a sufficient technology level, its citizens would be educated, doing technological related jobs.

In addition, if the nation has many citizens, they'll be able to have excellent production capabilities, because there will simply be many people working in factories.

These factories would produce loads upon loads of goods, material, and machinery. This in turn, will fuel the eonomy, boosting life standards, due to the wealth of material available for purchase, usage, or trade.

Then in turn, the people become wealthy, and increases the amount of money that can be taxed. The government, a wise one, could use the wealth gained from taxes to improve its infrastructure, thus improving its economy and life standards even further.

This cycle goes on and on, thereotically.


I am under the impression that people on Chiron *must* be well educated in technologies simply to survive. Dummies won't make it far in Chiron.

Therefore, education fuels economies and taxation processes.

[Sovereign]

Arg, I forgot to add...

I understand where you guys are coming from about population. I just feel that it is a major factor in determining a faction's power. After all, without sufficient population, things won't get done as efficiently.

However, I have one question though.

Food stuff / nutrient production and management.

How will we use this to determine how a base grows? After all, people NEED food.

[Mellian]

yes, it does play a vital role...but we are doing a story. is it all that important to mention how many people base or faction has, how much energy credits, or how the economy works in the story? can we leave those generally abstract for story simplicity? also would avoid some 'who as the longest dick' type arguments between authors.

edit: just want to say that authors will not have to keep tract of everything about their factions, just mainly the stuff involved by the various plots in the story.

-mellian

[Mellian]

Originally posted by Sovereign
Arg, I forgot to add...

I understand where you guys are coming from about population. I just feel that it is a major factor in determining a faction's power. After all, without sufficient population, things won't get done as efficiently.

However, I have one question though.

Food stuff / nutrient production and management.

How will we use this to determine how a base grows? After all, people NEED food.

is it that really all that important to the story thought?

yes, it is important to determine how many bases a faction can start with, and general idea of how big they would be, before the story starts....but after it is does, is it really needed to keep track of such things, unless we are speeding through the years in the story...?

maybe we should decide on the story time progression before answering/deciding on those questions.

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Thanks for the clarification, Mellian.

I agree with the abstract idea. I was merely pointing out the vital issues, so that we can figure out what to do with them.


As for the time progession, we had a little discussion earlier about advancing time.

IIRC, I stated "1 game year = 1 week in real world" or something to that extent. This will resolve the problem with inactive authors.

However, you gave a valid point about rushing things, and the various activity of authors.


So I'm prepared to compromise my idea for time advancement.

Here goes...

Authors advance the timeline by reasonable amounts. For instance, if an author needs to advance time by 2 weeks in the middle of a post so that their scouts can reach a particular area... They should be allowed to do that.

However, time advances of 3, 4, 5, or more years at one time is out of the question. Forget it. Do not pass "Go".

After all, not much happens during the first century or two after planetfall. It's all exploration and building.


How about that?

[Mart]

I think that for the story it would be good to think about early contact between factions. I understand the in-game lack of contact is something like coppying civ games, where ancient times did not have contact between civilizations very often. Here i can imagine that early colonists might attempt to build some radio-communication early. That would make starting years after planetfall more interesting. Exchanges with exploration discoveries, first technologies swapping, etc.

[Sovereign]

You read my mind, Mart.

I knew early games wouldn't be fun, with the "turn mashing" until you get a moderate sized empire, with instant transportation (train rails in Civ games, and Monorails in AC), and aircraft to fly over oceans.

However, I believe the first few years would be very isolated because factions don't know each other's frequencies yet. Perhaps they would scan through millions or billions of possible channels or hertz for radio chatter. It'd be like finding a needle in a haystack the size of a planet.