Sphere:Longshots
It's 2170. About 100 years since founding, and hundreds of light years from Earth. You don't really care. They've never spoken to you. All you have are second-hand tales from trade caravans, about FTL failures and killer drones. They call it 'the Rim', but you just call it home.
Base Infrastructure
- 150 population
- 300 PIP
- 200 CIP
- 200 wealth
- 150 delta dust
- 12,500 military
History Paths
What Happened?
A1) Origins
- Pioneers (+pop)
- Some people petitioned the posthumans with the pure spirit of adventure. With no frontiers left on Earth, only longshots could satisfy the human drive for exploration and discovery.
- Seperatists (+military)
- Others left to escape persecution, real or imagined. Distance from Earth would shield them and let them start anew.
- Idealists (+morale)
- Still others held in their minds an ideal for society. By travelling to a new land with like-minded people, they could make a better life, on sound principles.
A2) Colonists
- Baseline (+pop)
- Mixed (+10 transgene, +5 SP)
- Transhuman (+transgene)
A3) Destination
- Garden World (+pop)
- Tolerable World (+SP)
- Hell World (+morale)
- No World (+shipbuilding)
B) Historical Events 1
- Quiet (+pop)
- Digging (+PIP)
- Crisis (+stockpiles)
- Nationalism (+morale)
- Military Action (+military)
- Artefact Find (+dust)
- Improvements (+transgene)
C) Historical Events 2
- As B.
D) Historical Events 3
- As B.
What Now?
E1) Political Stance
- Keep On Keeping On (+pop, +SP)
- It's the 100th year since founding and we still haven't gone crazy. Pretty good for the neighbourhood.
- Grand Ambition (++military, +FTL application, -relations)
- To the power-hungry, the isolation and fragmentation of the Rim is an opportunity, not an obstacle.
- The Podunk Union (+relations, +FTL application)
- Others look to soft power and cooperation against the challenges of deep space.
- Open for Business (+wealth, +FTL application)
- Despite the distances, trade can still be lucrative and many worlds focus on advancing opportunities.
- Get Out (+military, +doctrines, +defences, -relations)
- Worlds with bad experiences or things to hide take a tough line with outsiders.
- Ideological Purity (++morale, +PIP, -relations)
- Worlds based on certain ideologies can be extremely sanctimonious about them.
E2) Economic System
- Get Digging (++PIP)
- Hard work and strong backs wean colonies off fabricators and onto their own two feet.
- New Gilded Age (+military, ++PIP, -morale)
- Get back to work, scum.
- Fabricator Rations (+++++ fabbers, -PIP, --CIP)
- You had more than your share of fabricators, and your economy never graduated from dependence on them.
- Social Management (+morale, +transgene)
- Without annoying moralisers and lawyers looking over your shoulder, a rationally organised society can be set up.
- Transistor Mines (+CIP, +dust/drexlers)
- Sophisticated structures of posthuman or alien origin can be torn apart for components to be used in other technology.
- Crossroads (+pop, +wealth)
- Worlds at convergences of trade routes reap dividends.
- The Pirate Bay (+military, +wealth)
- Other worlds decide to take them by force.
- Slumlords (++pop, +military, -morale)
- When population outstrips government and infrastructure, black markets and mean bars spring up.
E3) Military Doctrine
- Able Spacemen (+shipbuilding, +fleet doctrines)
- A focus on a solid and reliable fleet is key to defence in the depths of space.
- The Low Road (+ground application, +ground doctrines)
- Ships are hard. It's better to focus on a strong army to defend.
- Swarms (+aerospace application, +aerospace doctrines)
- Making effective smallcraft is a challenge for rim states, but pays dividends.
- Death Spiral (+tech, ++applications, -wealth)
- Some worlds are desperate to gain any technical advantage they can, but without substantial research infrastructure this takes a severe toll.
- Into the Darkness (+FTL application, +dust)
- Effective interstellar travel is crucial to trade and power projection.
- Lord's Army (++military, +morale, -doctrine)
- Enthusiasm and mass will carry the day.
Chaotic Events
- Freaks (+radical morphological change, -pop)
- Some populations took dramatic steps to deal with the challenges of their environment.
- Populism (+morale, -relations)
- Shout louder, that'll do the job.