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Count me in!

13 (61.9%)

No, but maybe I'll watch

8 (38.1%)

Total Members Voted: 20

[Pencil_Art]

(Mimes talking with hand)

"And, and, and, and, and."

[~Neri]

Exactly.

It's a rather large amount of things. For a /Minimum/

[kj1225]

Really, talking like we aren't in a science fiction setting where we likely have many reasons as to why we don't need these giant ships.

[~Neri]

Hugo's said we're doing Hard Scifi.

[kj1225]

Then I guess I'll need to totally change my character if I want to stay in because it relies on actual scifi.

[Pencil_Art]

Thinking of making a character sheet. Though I am going to be offline for a week beginning on Monday so might not be a good idea.

Well, anyway, here goes.

Spoiler: Race (Prepare for a wall of text) (click to show/hide)

Description:

The Salavrand:

The Salavrand is a unique creature, surviving mostly because of it's ability to bond together temporarily with others of it's kind to become bigger. They are basically slugs with multiple connection nodes on their bodies, which can connect to another Salavrand's nodes to share thoughts. These 'nodes' allow them to communicate effortlessly amongst one another when connected, though in larger bondings there is often one Salavrand elected to control the others. The nodes also can carry a gas(that is the equivalent of oxygen for Salavrands) and food along, thereby relieving the need for worms deep inside the structure to breathe and eat. The worms can survive on their own, as they each have their own set of organs. A worm that has had it's nodes removed has it's ability to bond reduced drastically, and is considered an outcast to others of it's kind. Each worm is roughly 1/4 of a widely accepted Metre. It's eyes are very small and as such it's sight is very limited. Hairs on the body, however, can sense disruptions in the air, including where the disruption originated from and it's size. Using this, the Worm or Bondling can determine whether it has met whatever-it-is before. It can also sense disturbances in the air bouncing off other objects, such as walls or the ground or the ceiling. As such it can navigate with relative ease.

Reproduction:

A singular worm is asexual and may or may not carry eggs in it at any particular time. If a worm has eggs in it, and it is not hibernating as part of a Bondling, It will go to a nearby corpse of relatively large size(unless it is of a Salavrand worm) and lay it's eggs in it. The eggs will hatch and the resulting newly-born worms devour the corpse, and in extreme cases, each other, to gain energy. The growth process takes, roughly, one widely-accepted fortnight.

History (to explain some stuff):

At one point in history, the Salavrand realized the need to create a larger, uniform.....form, to be able to make advances in the field of, well, anything useful really.

Like many other races, they reached the pinnacle of technology that was space exploration. They launched multiple ships, making their space-suit the priority for improvement, since they needed adaptability. Eventually, they made a space suit that houses a bipedal bonding similar to a human, with multiple slots on the side for suits that can be equipped by individual Salavrand so that exploration is made much more streamlined by the ability to launch several worms at once. The gas required of individual worms is quite high compared to larger, bonded forms, considering the lower metabolism in a larger bonding because of the very large amount of worms that are not doing anything exceptionally useful, except being there to maintain integrity of the whole. These worms slip into a state akin to hibernation. To counter the fact that individual worms could not carry large gas tanks, they simply made along, flexible but durable hollow coil that connects the worm suit to the suit of the whole.

Terminology:

- Bondling - A bonded entity composed of Salaravrand worms.
- Worm - A singular worm.
- Host - A corpse in which a worm has laid it's eggs.
- Bonder - The 'nodes' that connect to other worms to create a Bondling.
- Hibernation - The state a worm enters when it is only part of a Bondling to provide structural intergrity. Not actual hibernation.

Spoiler: Character (click to show/hide)

Name: Averus Salamoth (Name of a worm residing in the middle of the body)

Description:

A Bondling fitted out in the standard space suit for it's race. Stands at almost 2.5 Standard Metres. A tall bipedal being made of many Salavrand Worms, coiled upon each after layer after layer, making the innermost worms very hard to damage. The Worms closest to the surface are the one's with the most muscle. Often seen wearing a complicated headpiece that is it's respiratory headset.

Backstory:

Averus, as he is known, made his way only to the best of schools known in the universe to study biology and other such sciences, in order to prepare for a trip he had been longing for, the longing manifesting itself almost straight after he became sentient. Armed with a great knowledge of biology and chemistry, he then started learning basic survival skills, so he could survive if an emergency happened. He was just about to embark on his journey when the Dark Star expedition popped up. He decided he would be better off on the expedition, as, even if he did not come back, this was even bigger than his previous wish.

Likes and Dislikes:
(Note: this is the controlling worm, not the whole.)
It likes being connected to other Worms, exotic forms of life, planets capable of supporting Salavrand worms and Advanced Technology. It doesn't like being backstabbed, outcast Worms, and things with 'an unnatural air about it'. It absolutely detests anything trying to kill it.

Abilities:

- Can Split - Can split up into multiple worms
- Critical and Intelligent Thinking - The many worms in the bondling combined make a huge amount nueral connections, enabling the controlling worm to be able to think incredibly quickly. Even if those worms are hibernating, their brains are still accessible to the controlling worm. 
- Unused to singular form - Will be unused to being a singular worm. Also gets dumber as number of worms in Bondling is reduced.
- Hard to kill. If a worm is killed, another worm will come to replace it until there is not enough worms left.
- Can change form - being an assortment of worms, It can manipulate worms to change body shape.
- Cluster Eyes - By clustering eyes together, the Bondling can gain a less-limited sight.
- Sensitive hairs - Described in race description. Can sense distortions and their shape in air.

Skills:

- Basic Survival Skills - Knows basic survival skills
- Biological Knowledge - Knows advanced biology
- Chemistry - Knows the structure of atoms and advanced chemistry
- Advanced Lab Protocols - Familiar with all lab protocols and behavior
- Advanced Lab Tools - Familiar with almost all Standard Lab Tools
- Basic Firearms - Knows a bit about standard handheld projectile and energy weapons

[heydude6]

You doooo realize how big a kilometer is right?

Also modern spaceships are smaller then tiny.

And naval ships are a very poor representation of spaceships.

Don't use them as an example.

Ship'll need a massive hydroponics bay to support the oxygen production required for the organics. Think several times larger then a football field size as a bare minimum. Not to mention food production. And the machinery to harvest fuel and process it. And weapons. And reactors. And omnidirectional engines, and crew quarters. And harddrive storage for AI. And shield generators. And mining equipment and ore processing. And refineries. And production equipment. And more reactors. And scientific equipment and labs. And shuttles. And hangers for the shuttles. And an armory for personal weapons. And ammo production facilities for ship based weapons. And systems for making salvaged components modular. And reducing salvaged parts into materials. And a fuckton of other stuff. Like life support redundancies. And electronic hardening. And redundancies for failed systems. And other stuff. Like solar panels. And alternate movement systems. Like solar sails. And we'll need Huge heat radiation fins to prevent everyone from boiling alive.

That's just bare minimum. This ship is intended to be self sufficient without resupply from anywhere besides our own material retrieval. We need a big ship.

Most of this stuff is indeed the bare minimum if we want to create a ship that can harvest resources to build itself up but I decided to cross out a few things that aren't absolute necessities. I will provide an explanation for each of them

Shield generators: Although they are definitely very useful they aren't technically absolutely necessary, the hull should be able to tank some damage although not a lot of it.

more reactors: you don't need to mention reactors twice. Also it may operate on an FTL style power managment system ( from the videogame "FTL")where you have to be choosy about how much power you need to put into a system due to the limited amount of power a reactor has.

Shuttles and hangars: Ships that are capable of carrying other ships are a huge luxury. We'll just have to land our mothership on planets by itself rather than sending a small ferry to it.

Armory: weapons and stuff can just be stored williy nilly such as in the crew quarters or lying on the floor. I know this is messy, disorganized and possibly dangerous but it is possible to have a ship with no armory.

redundancies: I agree that they are very important but they aren't vital, they're called redundancies for a reason

alternate movement: The fact that there is alternate in the title is a huge indicator. Although it is definitely more efficient to use solar sails instead of rocket fuel I must remind you that this list is about bare necessities. The reason why I object to the solar sails is because I don't believe those can be launched into FTL, especially since the main source of thrust comes from light and we are trying to be faster than it.


solar panels: This one I'm on the fence about. Although some famous aircraft such as rocket ships and space shuttles don't have solar panels. It is incredibly obvious that it is more efficient to just install solar panels than to pack 5 lightyears worth of fuel.

Other than these things I think your list was very spot on.

[WillowLuman]

(Ninja'd 3 times)

Heavily leaning towards hard sci fi (so the grown, organic spaceships of that one race are probably out). I'm willing to accept some assumptions on smaller and more efficient setups of currently known processes. Life support and food may not require an area that large, depending on the biochemistry of the plants involved, mechanical/artificial means of recycling breathable gas, the size the crew ends up being, or crew members with cybernetics to offset chemical energy needs. And the possibility of suspended animation/hibernation to reduce energy requirements when certain personnel aren't needed. Then there's the issue of what said crew members breathe, if the ship has to accommodate crew who breath different gasses, etc.

Especially given AI and robots, a crew of hundreds or even dozens is unnecessary to run the ship. And since it would be seen by most (if not all) as a likely suicide mission, the entities involved are probably not willing to expend a lot of personnel on it. So, the ship will likely have to support (at most) a few dozen people, and (at least) one dozen. Additionally, while I haven't seen any opposition to the idea so far, this being a government collab is not yet firmly decided. Or rather, since that's the likely direction, the nature of this collab is not yet decided. Did they all just decide it was worth a try, or did some scientist with a vision pitch the idea and gain their assistance (or some other motive?)

NOTE ON CHARACTERS: Race is important for background, and for the physical characteristics/likely limits of that character, but given the nature of this game, the character's individual description is what's most important.

[~Neri]

Then I guess I'll need to totally change my character if I want to stay in because it relies on actual scifi.

Actually. Your species can very possibly exist based on current understanding of the physical laws of reality. It's just absurdly unlikely to evolve. However the universe is infinite and therefore it's certain. The majority of races submitted so far obviously are not a type 2 or higher civ, meaning there's unlikely to be any tech that can make it possible for smaller ships. Your species very possibly is barely type one, based on how it used people rather then robots to suppress an uprising. I personally recommend reading some Orion's Arm stuff to get an idea for how hard scifi works past a type 1 civ. The AI collective isn't type 2 based on how they don't have the capability to disrupt the event horizon. Which is implied for a type 2 civ to have.

You doooo realize how big a kilometer is right?

Also modern spaceships are smaller then tiny.

And naval ships are a very poor representation of spaceships.

Don't use them as an example.

Ship'll need a massive hydroponics bay to support the oxygen production required for the organics. Think several times larger then a football field size as a bare minimum. Not to mention food production. And the machinery to harvest fuel and process it. And weapons. And reactors. And omnidirectional engines, and crew quarters. And harddrive storage for AI. And shield generators. And mining equipment and ore processing. And refineries. And production equipment. And more reactors. And scientific equipment and labs. And shuttles. And hangers for the shuttles. And an armory for personal weapons. And ammo production facilities for ship based weapons. And systems for making salvaged components modular. And reducing salvaged parts into materials. And a fuckton of other stuff. Like life support redundancies. And electronic hardening. And redundancies for failed systems. And other stuff. Like solar panels. And alternate movement systems. Like solar sails. And we'll need Huge heat radiation fins to prevent everyone from boiling alive.

That's just bare minimum. This ship is intended to be self sufficient without resupply from anywhere besides our own material retrieval. We need a big ship.

Most of this stuff is indeed the bare minimum if we want to create a ship that can harvest resources to build itself up but I decided to cross out a few things that aren't absolute necessities. I will provide an explanation for each of them

Shield generators: Although they are definitely very useful they aren't technically absolutely necessary, the hull should be able to tank some damage although not a lot of it.

more reactors: you don't need to mention reactors twice. Also it may operate on an FTL style power managment system where you have to be choosy about how much power you need to put into a system due to the limited amount of power a reactor has.

Shuttles and hangars: Ships that are capable of carrying other ships are a huge luxury. We'll just have to land our mothership on planets by itself rather than sending a small ferry to it.

Armory: weapons and stuff can just be stored williy nilly such as in the crew quarters or lying on the floor. I know this is messy, disorganized and possibly dangerous but it is possible to have a ship with no armory.

redundancies: I agree that they are very important but they aren't vital, they're called redundancies for a reason

alternate movement: The fact that there is alternate in the title is a huge indicator. Although it is definitely more efficient to use solar sails instead of rocket fuel I must remind you that this list is about bare necessities. The reason why I object to the solar sails is because I don't believe those can be launched into FTL, especially since the main source of thrust comes from light and we are trying to be faster than it.


solar panels: This one I'm on the fence about. Although some famous aircraft such as rocket ships and space shuttles don't have solar panels. It is incredibly obvious that it is more efficient to just install solar panels than to pack 5 lightyears worth of fuel.
Other than these things I think your list was very spot on.

Shield generators don't just stop danage. They stop harmful radiation. Necessary to block that no matter where you are. As this is moving towards an event horizon, it'll need to block radiation and particles.

Why in the seven hells would you not have enough power to run everything? This ship needs to be self sufficient. Even a Ceta AI wouldn't use a ship with regular power failure. The more reactors is redundancy for damage. Reactors are hard to build.

Landing a ship built for space is not plausible. The reaction mass for getting a big ship off a planet is not plausable to acquire. And how do you intend to gather materials if we lack hangers to put small asteroids? We need both shuttles and hangers. A Ceta would not go on such a poorly designed ship. Even a drone bay is required at minimum.

Storing weapons willy nilly is flat out stupid. Few would willingly subject themselves to that level of danger.

Redundancies are Vital if the ship is to be self sustaining. Otherwise a single failure spells doom for the ship. A single fight. A single reactor damaged. A single power conduit destroyed. A single bulkhead breached.

Multiple forms of movement are necessary to conserve fuel. Solar sails allow a considerable amount of conservation if you don't mind going slow, conventional rockets are for combat and quick maneuvering, ion engines for interstellar void travel and transit between planetary bodies if you don't mind waiting. Sorta manditory to save fuel.

Solar panels are needed for sublight fuel efficiency. They can retract during superluminal travel.

[kj1225]

I don't like hard scifi. If I wanted to play something based off real life in the possible future I'd find it. I want to play a game where aliens do cool shit in space.

[blazing glory]

You doooo realize how big a kilometer is right?

Also modern spaceships are smaller then tiny.

And naval ships are a very poor representation of spaceships.

Don't use them as an example.

Ship'll need a massive hydroponics bay to support the oxygen production required for the organics. Think several times larger then a football field size as a bare minimum. Not to mention food production. And the machinery to harvest fuel and process it. And weapons. And reactors. And omnidirectional engines, and crew quarters. And harddrive storage for AI. And shield generators. And mining equipment and ore processing. And refineries. And production equipment. And more reactors. And scientific equipment and labs. And shuttles. And hangers for the shuttles. And an armory for personal weapons. And ammo production facilities for ship based weapons. And systems for making salvaged components modular. And reducing salvaged parts into materials. And a fuckton of other stuff. Like life support redundancies. And electronic hardening. And redundancies for failed systems. And other stuff. Like solar panels. And alternate movement systems. Like solar sails. And we'll need Huge heat radiation fins to prevent everyone from boiling alive.

That's just bare minimum. This ship is intended to be self sufficient without resupply from anywhere besides our own material retrieval. We need a big ship.

This is why I don't really like being in a Sci-Fi game with Kevak, at least for me it ends up too complicated.

[heydude6]

Just asking, since you wanted us to mention specific skills and abilities related to our character in addition to our general race description does that mean that we will have to worry about forgetting to mention specific "obvious" abilities that our race should have? For example I believe my guy should be able to form a dust cloud in a desert that obscures an enemies vision by flapping his wings very hard which kicks up dust. Would I have to specifically mention that in the character sheet or would you just let the action play out if it made sense to you?

Also I add that ability to make dust clouds to my character sheet. I haven't done it yet but I'm going to

[Pencil_Art]

Dang my race is complicated to describe!

[blazing glory]

Actually I probably won't be joining, I don't have any ideas for a race and don't think I'll be getting any anytime soon.

EDIT: Original ideas at least.

[Harbingerjm]

Why in the seven hells would you not have enough power to run everything? This ship needs to be self sufficient. Even a Ceta AI wouldn't use a ship with regular power failure.

Then don't.