Sphere:Longshots

It's 2170. About 100 years since founding, and hundreds of light years from Earth. You don't really care. They've barely spoken to you, save for second-hand tales from trade caravans about FTL failures and killer drones. They call it 'the Rim', but you just call it home.

Longshots Signup Sheet
Longshots NPCs

Base Infrastructure

• 150 population
• 100 fabricators
• 300 PIP
• 200 CIP
• 200 wealth
• 150 delta dust
• 12,500 military

History Paths

What Happened?

A1) Origins

Pioneers (+60 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 (+1250 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 (+60 pop)

Mixed (+10 transgene, +5 SP)

Transhuman (+20 transgene)

A3) Destination

Garden World (+60 pop)

Tolerable World (+100 PIP)

Hell World (+morale)

No World (+shipbuilding)

B) Historical Events 1

Quiet (+60 pop)

Digging (+100 PIP)

Crisis (+1250 stockpiles)

Nationalism (+morale)

Military Action (+1250 military)

Artefact Find (+100 dust)

Improvements (+20 transgene)

Extra Fabs (+100 fabbers)

C) Historical Events 2

As B.

D) Historical Events 3

As B.

What Now?

E1) Political Stance

Keep On Keeping On (+60 pop, +10 SP)

It's the 100th year since founding and we still haven't gone crazy. Pretty good for the neighbourhood.

Grand Ambition (+2500 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 (+100 wealth, +FTL application)

Despite the distances, trade can still be lucrative and many worlds focus on advancing opportunities.

Ideological Purity (++morale, +100 PIP, -relations)

Worlds based on certain ideologies can be extremely sanctimonious about them.

Get Out (+1250 military, +doctrines, +defences, -relations)

Worlds with bad experiences or things to hide take a tough line with outsiders.

National Security (+1250 military, +100 PIP)

Even less paranoid ones find it wise to invest in security.

E2) Economic System

Get Digging (+200 PIP)

Hard work and strong backs wean colonies off fabricators and onto their own two feet.

New Gilded Age (+1250 military, +200 PIP, -morale)

Get back to work, scum.

The Middling Classes (+100 CIP, +50 wealth, +50 applications)

Some more developed economies have a population of skilled (and better paid) workers.

Fabricator Rations (+500 fabbers, -100 PIP, -200 CIP)

You had more than your share of fabricators, and your economy never graduated from dependence on them.

Social Management (+morale, +20 transgene)

Without annoying moralisers and lawyers looking over your shoulder, a rationally organised society can be set up.

Transistor Mines (+100 CIP, +100 dust or drexlers)

Sophisticated structures of posthuman or alien origin can be torn apart for components to be used in other technology.

Crossroads (+60 pop, +100 wealth)

Worlds at convergences of trade routes reap dividends.

The Pirate Bay (+1250 military, +100 wealth)

Other worlds decide to take them by force.

Slumlords (+120 pop, +1250 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, +200 applications, -100 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, +100 dust)

Effective interstellar travel is crucial to trade and power projection.

Lord's Army (+2500 military, +morale, -doctrine)

Enthusiasm and mass will carry the day.

The Silence of Space (+stealth application, +fleet doctrines)

Nobody can hear you scream 'Open fire!'.

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.

Tech Indices

Global Tech Index: 8

Shipbuilding: -4 (4)

Bonuses:

12 free levels, no more than +4 individually.

Mixed: +2 transgenics

Transgene: +4 transgenics

No World: +4 shipbuilding

Improvements: +3 transgenics

The Middling Classes: +2 civilian

Social Management: +2 transgenics

Able Spacemen: +6 shipbuilding

The Low Road: +6 ground vehicles

Swarms: +6 aerospace

Death Spiral: +15 total, no more than +4 individually

Into the Darkness: currently a bit vague

Lord's Army: no tech bonus

The Silence of Space: +6 stealth

SP

10 PIP

8 CIP

8 Wealth

10 Dust

10 Theta (minimum production 100)

10 Drexlers (minimum production 100)

5 Population

125 Military

1 to Tech Indices of choice (no index may increase by more than 4 points of pre-SP value)

8 Application Points

2 Transgene Points

2 Doctrine Points

Resources

• Wealth represents a variety of valuable materials or tokens backed by governments, although only the most powerful states have currencies worth much beyond the neighbouring systems.
• Delta Dust is reality-editing nanotechnology of precursor or posthuman provenance, mined from their relics.
• Theta Dust is improved - or repaired - dust, rare and valuable and much more potent.
• Drexlers are sophisticated yet mundane nanomachines used in Velan technology, which can rapidly construct devices.
• Nephilim Armour is drone cladding, impossible to replicate with human science but tough and resistant to drone plasma.