Second Sphere Suggestion Box
Put any and all your random suggestions here. Please try to avoid one-sentence suggestions unless they're pretty self-evident. A short description of the idea would be nice. Also, please sign the suggestion so I know who to get back to in case I need clarification or expansion.
Possibilities could include
- Technologies
- NPC worlds
- Rules for anything
- Fluff (I'll contact you to hash it out in greater detail)
- Plot hooks
- Political events
- Histories
- Art
- General suggestions
- Things to keep in mind
- Criticisms or pitfalls
Keep it constructive!
Remember that chances are I can't use everything, so don't be discouraged if your suggestion doesn't get used. I appreciate the help.
Economy Suggestions
Tech and Transhumanism
Sign your suggestions
I mean it. :p
Sentient AI
Given the processing and efficiency constraints on sentient AI, battlefield deployable sentient AI may be rare to nonexistent-a nonsentient tactical savant will do just as well without the morality questions and expense of making and growing your own sentient mind. Furthermore, given the primary use of AI technology is to reduce overall losses, AI technology should be generally used to make expendable troops more morally acceptable or as assistance to human piloting-low cost, low-capability units given AI governance to allow them to be spent like munitions or systems designed to improve the situational awareness and reaction speed of a (trans)human pilot. More advanced AI systems, capable of matching a skilled pilot or soldier, should be a rarer, more expensive, and difficult to produce (high CIP cost) option. This is only for battlefield designs-large-scale civilian networks can be made sentient for cheaper, as they rarely suffer the same space and hardening constraints-and when you have a planet's mass to play with hardening isn't hard. --MJ12 Commando 03:44, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
Prestige Projects
By MJ12
Or: Because everyone likes one-upmanship.
Prestige projects are high-profile projects that stretch the limits of human science and technology, impressive constructs that are spoken of in awe. These are projects like the Apollo Launch, the construction of the Empire State Building, building the LHC-projects that of themselves have little benefit, but in the end are beneficial because of how they advance one's technical base.
In effect, a Prestige Project is a method to trade PIP and CIP for morale and RP-by demanding that this must be built, one creates a pull for technology in a specific field, which often makes significant breakthroughs trying to supply the resources needed to construct something of this magnitude, and by finishing it your nation has something its people can be proud of, a legacy to remember for centuries to come.
Prestige Projects are not to be taken lightly, and are a significant investment, but their rewards can be worth it. A Major prestige project, like the Large Hadron Collider, Panama Canal, or Hoover Dam, often instantly grants a free advancement in a related technical field as well as a morale booster-building a hypercollider that spans the planet's diameter may increase one's expertise in the field of particle weapons, while building a powerful AI control system might increase expertise in the field of artificial intelligence, or something such as a massive kilometers-high megascraper might translate into improved structural engineering technology. Furthermore Major projects grant a significant morale boost. In some cases, prestige projects may have significant other effects, like terraforming a continent from a patch of sand and sun into a verdant garden world.
Minor prestige projects are smaller and more commonl, but still expensive undertakings. These often simply add RP to certain fields, making further research into them somewhat cheaper. An example may be attempting to break the speed record for a powered vehicle, which could translate into advancements in aerospace or mecha technology, or a massive public transport array might translate into improved prosperity (RP put into economic development.) Minor prestige projects grant morale boosts but they are proportionally less extreme than the ones from major prestige projects, owing to their smaller scale.
Fun stuff from OmegaPaladin
ZOCU
Given ZOCU gets both starting debts and treaty of Sirus, you might want to consider what they get in return in order to make the game a bit fair, especially given the ZOCU alliance as a whole seems to be less powerful than the Core.
PL's suggestions
History Paths
Accumulated - penalties beyond 0, for things that a player might have no interest in or ability to buy anyway such as theta or transhumanism, should assess a penalty of some kind. -transgene should apply a penalty to diplomacy with Those Freaks. I have no idea what -theta might mean but almost every Core world would have it.
NPC worlds
Mandala (PACT)
Early PACT subsidised augmentation colony. Uncovered dust, then active machinery. Eschatonic taliban were about during breakdown which led to some bad things (sometimes involving said active machinery) not seen since the Crazy Times. PACT came back in force once contact was reestablished, but there remains no stable government. However despite the enormous expense they will not withdraw, as Mandala remains their only stable source of the precious theta dust.
Pierson's Bridge (League)
Garden world colonised by generic pioneer types during the longshot period. Sucked up immigrants during the transgene exodus and Breakdown refugee crisis. Currently building up its industrual and financial base from this large potential. Sees itself as a potential 'second earth' far from the Core and likes to compare itself to Industrial America and Information China. Current problems include placating the myriad ethnic and interest groups, and maintaining the immigrant flow. Founding and major member of the Expanse League.
Chaotic Events
Rather than have a preset list of events deemed suitably chaotic, just let everyone exchange 1 +x for 1 -y after history path.M.M. 03:00, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
"Realistic" Weapons Techs and Dust Based Handwaving
By Dacis2,
Unless we're using Handwavium technologies, particle beams (unless they all fired neutrally charge particles) would have considerably worse range than lasers due to electrostatic blooming, or around the range of a short ranged laser.
Suggestion: All particle/pulse weapons will have - range (beams and ZOCU Mega-beams) to -- range (pulses), but they'll all have the + energy + armour piercing traits, with beam capable Pulse/Particle weapons being limited to a certain mount size (say large cruiser or battleship) or above, while Mega-Particles don't suffer from the same problem. At the same time, lasers should have the +energy, + to ++ range, + accuracy, and - to -- penetration traits. (Assuming we're using UV range lasers.)
To balance this, railguns, which are already superior in certain circumstances due to the preponderance of anti-energy weapon defenses, should be treated as 1. special guided weaponry (++ accuracy), since unguided railgun projectiles would be rather useless unless the railguns are firing them at relativistic velocities or at point blank range, 2. having no ranged damage modifiers, since we're not taking closing vectors into account, and 3. they should be able to be engaged by point defense, thus the "firing modes" outlined in the Technologies entry would still work, and would simulate the firing of lighter but more numerous projectiles, or larger but fewer projectiles.
Oh right, I forgot. Energy weapons should be a negative trait, not a positive one, due to their relative inefficiency (for lasers) and the fact that they're subjected to the Inverse Square law (both lasers and PBs) or worse (PBs).
I guess you could handwave (thanks Screw!) electrostatic blooming using Dust. And that thought has got me thinking about handwaving away other things related to cinematic space combat.
1. Stealth In Space
We all know that stealth in space is impossible, based on our current understanding of science, but Dust opens a whole new level of handwavium capability. The first would be a coating on the surface of the ship that prevented any IR emissions from escaping. This, combined with the cold gas propulsion drives and stealth cladding in the Technologies entry will finally make stealth viable in space again.
2. Thermodynamics in Space
No one wants to fool around with the intricacies of radiators, heat sinks and the like during combat, so a Dust based heat sink that radiates the heat in the form of neutrinos (like Star Destroyers IIRC) would eliminate the problem of waste heat.