This is a game about going to space! The goal will be to take charge of an alien space agency, gain support, and then go from there. Updates will be considerably more frequent over the weekend, including Thursdays and Fridays. No sign-ups are required, and players can vote for multiple nominated actions. Actions with the most votes will be prioritized.
You are the
Agorans.
The
Agorans inhabit
Hosteus Minor, a member of moonless planet in the habitable zone of the K-class star
Hosteus Major. They are an aquatic race, living in massive hives built of kelp-like biomass located in shallow water. Hosteus has three asteroid moons, which had special significance to ancient Agorans during the early stages of civilization.
Hosteus Major is a tidally-locked "waterworld," by most measures, slightly cooler than Earth, with a temperate front hemisphere, and minor ice caps on both sides. 87% of its surface is covered in ocean, but roughly 79% of that ocean consists of coastal shallows on the order of one to two dozen meters. These coastal shallows, labelled "plains" by the Agoran hydrocentric taxonomy, form biodiversity havens on a scale similar to that of Earth's coral reefs. The plains of Hosteus form a single interlinked "continent" with a single, sprawling forest of undersea plants referred to as the kelp.
Hosteus Minor, being tidally locked to its star, has one hemisphere in eternal day and one in eternal night. Despite this, the whole planet is roughly within habitable temperatures. The disadvantage is that the kelp does not grow on the dark side, and thus it is only populated by fish and microorganisms that have been driven into the dark by currents.
Hosteus Minor is slightly more massive than Earth at 1.24 Earth masses, but is less dense and has a surface gravity of 8.1 m/sē. It has a thick oxygen-rich atmosphere at an atmospheric pressure of 275 kPa, composed of 43% Oxygen and 56% Nitrogen. Additionally, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is roughly 1200 ppm.
Hosteus' few islands are mostly volcanic in origin and are heavily forested by land-dwelling variants of the same plants that inhabit the coastal waters. Aquatic plants in Hosteus' seas are typically a pale gray, but near the surface they display brilliant green and blue pigments on their leaves, which tend to spread out just inches beneath the surface level. Plants on land are typically a sharp blue in color, sometimes purple, and typically do not exceed 13m in height.
The Agorans are primarily swimmers, lacking legs, and instead have an eel-like torso that they use to swim around or snake about on the surface. Their two front flippers are long and arm-like, terminating in five webbed fingers, which allow them to manipulate objects. Two of their fingers curl the opposite direction, allowing them to be used as thumbs.
Agorans display a wide variety of physical variations, some genetic, others developmental. All Agorans have a bioluminescent crest, colored differently depending on mood. Likewise, their arms have biolights from the shoulder down to the elbows, which allows them to signal to each other even in world's dark nights.
Some Agorans display angled fins protruding from their joints, often accompanied by additional biolights. Others have a bright, dangling biolight on a stalk protruding from their crest, and others still tend to have claws, differently shaped scales, or any combination of these traits. Some can have completely new limbs, often deformed and tentacle-like in function.
Agorans are large creatures, about 2m in length, but they are lightweight and weigh less than 40 kg on average. Being one of the rare creatures on Hosteus to have skin capable of retaining moisture, they can stay on land indefinitely provided that they drink plenty of water. Females are typically larger than males, but must eat considerably more and have faster metabolisms.
Agorans reproduce via eggs, and females typically lay five to twenty at a time. Each fry can swim on its own as soon as hatched, and tends to be nursed for about four months before it starts to act independently. Agorans only lay eggs once in a lifetime under modern social conventions, although if neccesary they can produce additional batches at the cost of their own nutrition. Each Agoran has a lifespan on the order of a human life.
Missions reward you with either/both Funds and Prestige. Prestige will be used to purchase more leaders in the future, and is generally consumed for PR-related events. When you complete a mission, you will get a new one. You can also abandon missions to get one with a same reward but different objectives.
Baby Steps - Create your first manned flying machine (Reward: 100 Prestige, 400 Funds)
Aircraft have been designed by our citizens, but none have thus far been successful.
Navigating the Aether - Prove what lies above the skies (Reward: 1000 prestige, 1000 Funds)
Before we go to space, we should know what we are getting ourselves into. Literally. There are two competing schools of thought on the issue, primarily taking sides along the same lines as gravitational theory.
The Watcher - Predict the next transit of Yog (Reward: 20 Prestige, 100 Funds)
Astronomical phenomena have special significance to the Agorians, and formulating an accurate model for predicting the positions of astronomical bodies will help plan trips to them in the future.
Name, Profession: Thulataru, Doctor of Microfluidics
Skills: +25 Administration, +10 Science
Trait: Does not provide bonuses when leading a project.
Name, Profession: Hathlag, Astrologer
Skills: +10 Science, +10 Diplomacy
Trait: Your diplomacy cannot go negative.
Name, Profession: Orthek, Material Engineer
Skills: +10 Manufacturing, +10 Science
Trait: Gains +20 Science while testing drives and heavy machinery.
Name, Profession: Achutei, Inventor
Description: She is the one and only inventor of the Balloon Elevator.
Skills: +10 Administration, +25 Manufacturing
Trait: Might be upset about not funding public Balloon Elevators.
Name, Profession: Borli, Doctor of Marine Biology
Description: He knows a lot about fish, but wants to know more...
Skills: +35 Science
Trait: Will insist on sending live animals to space.
- Idle (-25 A, -10 S while working)
Hathlag - Flammable Air
Orthek - Pierce the Heavens (+20 S while working on a drive or heavymachinery)
Achutei - The Crucible
Borli - Explosive Recompression
Current Funds: 335 Anth (-10/turn from workers)
Agoran currency represents working-class labor. Each Anth is the cost of employing a worker for one day. Part-time workers are paid in advance when hired to a project. Full-time workers always take precedence over part-time workers when it comes to labor.Current Full-Time Workers: 10Hiring a part-time worker for a single project only will cost extra funds to train the workers. By hiring full-time workers and paying them constantly, we avoid the problem of training costs and delays.Active Projects:-
Pierce the Heavens! Part A - 5/5 Anth, 10/10 Workers, 10/30 Man. Project Lead: OrthekProcedure: Build a scaffold above the water to drop weights from.-
Flammable Air - 30/30 Anth, 10/30 Sci. Project Lead: HathlagProcedure: Create a large quantity of this "flammable air".-
The Crucible. Part A - 20/20 Anth, 10/80 Adm. Project Lead: AchuteiGather experts from the nearby island to work on a new metallurgical method.Only four university projects without any completed stages may exist at a time
Explosive Recompression Part B - No cost, 50 Science needed
Borli has the plans for the pressure suit. It is currently heavy, bulky, and requires exotic steel or bronze from the surface in order to manufacture. Considering that pressure from within is easier to contain than pressure from outside, Borli thinks he can miniaturize the thing.
Procedure: Have Borli draft a basic reverse pressure suit.
Navigation Computer Part A - 40 Anth, 50 Science needed
For decades, exploring the Dark Side of Hosteus Major has been a major challenge. Because of the frigid water, exploration is primarily done with boats, using the Three Satellites as guides. Unfortunately, the Satellites are themselves very fast compared to a boat, and thus they are not a reliable means of exploring the eternal night. The stars are bright, but they are scarcely visible during storms.
A shipboard computer powered by a large bucket of water should do the trick. Inputting the positions of the Three at the beginning of the voyager should be able to guide a vessel provided its heading is updated occasionally.
Procedure: Design a shipboard computer.
Find a Lensmaker - 20 Anth total cost, 30 Administration needed.
Find a Glassmaker - No cost, 25 Administration needed.
Craft Lenses - Requires glass, 10 Manufacturing needed.
Study the Skies - Requires Telescope, 50 Science needed.
Date 94|43
Diplomacy Roll: [85+10] -> Exceptional [95]
Borli left the inventor's abode calmly chuckling to himself. He had no idea how to approach the task ((Having no Dip skill, hint hint)). However, he was able to plead with the engineer, using canned phrases such as "the good of science" and "common good," as well as a promise not to re-sell the blueprints. Given Borli's recent rise in status, the inventor agreed to share the designs, but not the right to sell copies.+Project "Explosive Recompression" completed!...
Manufacturing Roll: [56+35] -> Exceptional [91]
Orthek found the preliminary sketch of the scaffold to be... disgustingly inefficient, and prone to fall before it leaves the water. If it were constructed above ground using more durable and dried materials, it could climb several dozen cubits (meters)!
A lot of people seem to be interested in the view from such a scaffold. You could probably make 20 Anth or so for charging other scientists for the service, maybe more....
Science Roll: [118]
Hathlag, collaborating with the prospective alchemist, proposed a solution that indeed created a large amount of flammable gas using an acid-based reaction. The difficult part was finding the beach squid from which to extract the base.
Having filled several flasks with the products using a cleverly designed catching mechanism, Hathlag prepares to take a sample with her below, simultaneously discovering that the gas is incredibly buoyant in air. She ties several rocks to the bottom of the flask to keep it from floating away, or floating in the water, for that matter. One of the rocks happens to be flint, though, and when it wiggles out of the tie, it just so happens to land on another piece of flint. The resulting blaze of enlightenment lasted but two short seconds as the entire experimental setup was blown to ashes.
It will take several Anths to rebuild the setup, but fortunately nobody was there on the beach to see it. Your reputation is preserved!...
Administrative Roll: Acceptable [69]
Achutei was aghast at the ignorance of the surface-dwellers. She spend an hour swimming just to meet with imbeciles that believed in fire-water-earth mysticism and saw the mass production of steel as an affront to nature. It would take quite a while to get them to accept the fact that her goal was noble... who knows, maybe mass-produced steel could be a good thing? The mystics said it would lead to war and ruin but Achutei, glancing at the swords and spears around their belts, could only scoff.
The first goal shall be to locate a banded iron formation that wasn't owned by some treehugging mystic or stingy capitalist. Considering that the coasts were packed, the only options would be to venture up the rivers or to hack through the jungle. Doing it alone would not be the brightest of plans.Progress will not continue past 30/80 until a solution is found.
During these sorts of situations, player input is required. The results will be decided in RtD-like fashion as we follow the adventures of our poor engineer.
Author
Topic: Reach for the Stars [Suggestion Game] (Read 11780 times)