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Randomized Backstories

67 (25.9%)

Genetic Additions

98 (37.8%)

Mess Hall

50 (19.3%)

Revamped Area

44 (17%)

Total Members Voted: 257

[zchris13]

Yeah.  Just chairs.  Funny little leading edge doodads on the wings were popular on supersonic jet fighters from the previous generation of fighters, and the receding edge design suggests control surfaces, as if it was designed for landing in-atmosphere.

@ Sukasa: I really really like it.  That is basically what I want, in a nutshell.  Nailed it dead center.  The engines are a little huge, though, for a research vessel.  Cut out the big yellow bumps, and add a big blue observation dome for the bridge on top of the dorsal section, and you have a winner.  Also shorten it a bit.

[Sukasa]

Perhaps that objective could just be replaced with something like "ensure nobody else escapes on the ____  escape pods"

[Grakelin]

As it stands with the shuttle, if you are not on the shuttle as either the traitor or the regular crew, and the shuttle takes off, you have lost.

This means that the game ends for everybody (who is alive) at the same time, and the results can be shown immediately. We lose this ability when we use escape pods.

Maybe podding to a seperate mini-ship which will warp out and end the game?

[Rift]

I think its really natural for large ships to have shuttles, how else would you get supplies/people to and from it without having to dock to a station/in a moon-sized hanger..

Any thoughts/suggestions for the overall shape for the design I posted?

From the picture, i would say the top z-level is the bridge + a hanger/dockingports for shuttles, seperated by space.. maybe a commdish.
then two[three would work too, but might be too much] z-levels of normal stuff, perhaps in a rectangle shape [2 main hallways?]
then a observation deck on the bottom z-level.
Perhaps having the main engine area on one floor near the back, and atompherics in the same area above or below it..
That sort of thing.
Thats what comes to mind when i look at the picture anyway.

[Grakelin]

That's a good question actually: The purpose of the ship.

Have we thought of this yet? If not, put aside all our ideas for right now: why is this rig out in space?

[Sukasa]

Yeah, that seems a little off.  Generally I think that was designed around earlier maps, where the "good old days" had things where if the shuttle was even on it's way, that was because shit had already hit the fan and the station was no longer capable of supporting life - essentially, if you weren't on board you were going to die, no exceptions.

[zchris13]

Multiple escape pods adds another level to the traitors objective.  Escaping alone is more difficult, while escaping alive is easier.  To escape alone, you have to detonate bombs on all of the shuttles except yours immediately before they depart.

[Sukasa]

That's a good question actually: The purpose of the ship.

Have we thought of this yet? If not, put aside all our ideas for right now: why is this rig out in space?

It's out in space since that was the original design, and because that's what the game code is oriented towards.  Some of the gameplay also assumes you're in space (AI sat, etc), but apart from that it's basically just a "just because" reason.

[beorn080]

Maybe podding to a seperate mini-ship which will warp out and end the game?

I like this idea. The pods are on the station, and in an emergency can just be fired off. When the shuttle comes, you can fire the pods to be picked up by the shuttle, or use EVA gear to get to it. Effectively, Centcom is sending a rescue vessel to get everyone out of there.

[Grakelin]

Sukasa: Yeah, that's obvious. So let's decide what the actual purpose of this ship is. This will help both in designing the ship now and roleplaying on it in the future.

[Sukasa]

Well, the "ship" I designed I had a small back story idea, in that it was an experimental Long-Haul Mobile Research Facility (Fancy name for a Science Vessel) that Nanotransen had constructed in secret and had recently deployed.  The syndicate, wanting to harm Nanotransen financially, wishes to either capture or destroy the vessel and that provides some of the gameplay.  It's a fairly abstract idea, but I mean for 2 minutes of thinking it's not bad.

[zchris13]

It's a reasearch vessel.  We are researching the properties of plasma, a substance that is found on a gas giant planet in an extra-solar system.  (that just means that it isn't Saturn or Jupiter, and Uranus and Neptune are iceballs)

Showtemp debug command is rearing it's ugly head right now.

[Cecilff2]

Yeah, I'm not sure if westsider has the source, but if you do, run a search for the showtemp verb and comment it out.

[Grakelin]

I agree that this is definitely a research vessel, though specializing in plasma in particular is a slippery slope for two reasons:

A) Genetics Research labs should not be there in this case. Cloning isn't exactly something you do on the side.

B) If our ship is designed to study one gas giant in particular, it should just be a station.

A general research vessel makes sense. The big question is why it needs to be mobile.

If it's just going around scooping gasses off different planets, we need to plan for additional rooms for the ship.

[zchris13]

We were dispatched to the planet.  We are and always shall be a mobile research station, and are current residence is orbiting a gas giant.  We can do more than just plasma testing because we aren't specialized, we are a research vessel.  We need a laser testing room and stuff like that.