anyone up for another Chiron Chronicles?

[Illuminatus]

Originally posted by mart7x5


Why this organization will achieve so much till 2060? Because it will be devoted to sending people to Chiron, not concerned with public oppinion demanding bigger burgers and cheaper gasoline.

This will never happen. Chances for that are near zero. Even humanitarian organisations today are ruled by greed. I am estimate 99 percent of humanity will be dead by the end of this century. The remnants of humanity will die out in a century or two. Humanity shall never colonize other planets.

[Illuminatus]

Anyway this for basic PC -GS plotline:

Planet Cult wants to take some of far away Gaian bases under its own control, while Deidre wants to avoid conflict. Planet Cult eventually takes some of the colonies, but a greater threar shifts the position and truce is signed. Deidre starts to increase her psi army for future defence.

****

Planet Cult aligns itself with Caretakers in its rampage against Usurpers and their human allies. Deidre chooses to align herself with ********* and stay out from Progenitor conflict.
A psi force commander rebels against her, and joins the Cult, taking some of the remaining offland bases.
******** intervenes into conflict, providing Deidre with neccesary techs. Caretakers declare war on Deidre too, and she has to choose staying neutral or allying with dreaded Usurpers.
She decides to remain neutral and ally herself with ****** who has just broke off from pact with ******** and form a new, purehuman alliance. She prepares for invasion.

After initial success, invasion comes to a halt, as the Usurpers using ********** force Cult and Caretakers to redirect their forces.
Cha Dawn discovers truth about Ruins and decides to break from Pact with Caretakers, but Caretakers decide to take control of Ruins by force. Cult must now face the Alien Threat alone, and in an epic battle whole Cult psi army faces Caretaking forces. Things start to go bad for Cult, but Usurping force arriving hampers the Caretakers. Usurpers offer Cult to switch sides. Cha Dawn has to choose.

Meanwhile Deidre restores control of her bases, but learns a horrible truth that ***************
Will she align with Cult now or not?

[Sovereign]

Hey all,

I finally worked out the rough draft of the guidelines for this cooperative story. Here goes!


The "World" or "Universe" of the cooperative story

Starting year: 2200

Planet Map: Modified SMAC-X Chiron Map

Aliens: Progenitors; Caretakers and Unsurpers


Writing / Plot-lines

Factions already taken and author's name in paratheses:

Gaians (Obstructor)
Planet of Cult (Obstructor)
University (Sovereign)
Hive (Frankychan)
Morganites (GeneralTactius)

New Authors:

If any new writers would like to join, they should introduce themselves into the discussion thread. Then they would need to describe what faction they choose, then bases, units, etc. within reason.

Then the new author should inform the other authors of any planned friendships, alliances, or war treaties. That way, the relationships of the new faction author would be clear and understood.

Upon a clear definition and understanding of the new author's chosen faction, relationship treaties, and starting postions, the author shall be free to write his / her first story post.

Retiring / Inactive authors:

If an author wishes to retire due to real life issues, or feels he / she cannot carry on with the story, the author shall inform the story community in the discussion thread.

Upon retiring, the author's faction will become neutral. The exception to this rule is when other authors have ongoing story arcs or plot-lines involving the retired author's faction. The authors with the ongoing story plot-lines are to be allowed to finish the story arc, by writing the point of view from the retired author's faction, within reason.

In cases of a war based story arc, the story arc is to be reviewed by the whole author community, to avoid what is termed as "god-modding" or in other words, "invincibility" or "faction conquers the enemy faction without losses".


As for inactive authors, if any author is unable to post in the discussion thread for a month or more, the author community needs to try to Private Message the author in question, to ask the reason for the inactivity. If no response is made within a week, discussion should be undertaken regarding the future of the author's participation, as well as his / her current faction in the story.


Bases and Technology:

Authors need to create colony pods to build new bases, as done in the actual game. Production of colony pods shall be done in 1 to 5 years in game terms, depending on how rich the terrain surrounding the base is in minerals and resources.

Technology research should follow SMAC-X tech tree. However, the later technologies should be modified to reflect realistic abilities and achievements.

Technology research per faction should be by factors. Technolgies should be given "Total Research Points" then once a faction generates an acclumated sum total of research points equal or greater than "TRP" then the technology is discovered by the faction. The "TRP" will be provided after the guidelines.

University and Cyborgs = 2.5x technology research rate
Morganites = 1.5x technology research rate (strong economy)
All other factions = 1x technology research rate
Believers = 0.5x technology research rate

For instance, time travel technology would create some serious issues. Therefore it will not be allowed in the story.

Another example would be space based technologies, such as orbitals and space flight. This shall be addressed in the future, by the author community, when either a faction, or general planetary technology level, achieves space flight.


Time Progression:

The guidelines of this issue will be updated upon agreement of the authoring community.



End Guidelines



There it is, the rough draft of the guidelines. Any ideas, suggestions, or things I should add? Also, we need to refine the technology research and the Time Progession issue.

[Mart]

I would like to take Peacekeepers. I have to plan the faction then. I will post more soon

[Illuminatus]

Great! More writers!

[Sovereign]

:::rubs hands:::

Excellent!

Just Excellent!



Welcome, Mart!

[Mart]

Is there any scenario file in which factions and bases could be arranged? maybe map only? What is reasonable number of bases for 2200?

[GeneralTacticus]

If we're going by the game, quite a few, although given a) the size of the map, and b) factional wishes to keep the more important bases with more people in them, they probably wouldn't cover a whole lot of territory, and they'd mostly just be processing points for mining, farming, etc, or military outposts. Also, if you consider population growth rates, and the beating they'd take in the early years, you wouldn't have that many to populate your bases with anyway.

[Mellian]

okay, i am back, sorry for poofing for a bit. will put the latest draft of the guidelines to the datalinks thread once i get back home in one or two hours.

-mellian

[Mellian]

Originally posted by obstructor
Anyway this for basic PC -GS plotline:

umm, we still haven't fully decided on the faction starting locations, and then decide on how many bases and where they will be, which will be influenced base on where else the factions, what year exactly we are starting at, some of the peoples starting general plots and etc.


-mellian

[Mellian]

i rather not go by game standards to figure out how many bases a faction would get, especially as the starting population, abstractly, is far more than what the journey to centauri official story indicates.

also using the information the SMAC appendixes for actual size of Chiron (about a third or less bigger than earth), the planet's environment and etc. indications and evidence from tech blurbs, the cinamic videos after you build a secret project and etc are considered canon for the story.

i also did the math of how big a game square is reslisticly, using the information from the manual, which should be in page two of this thread somewhere. that would give a pretty good idea of the distances involved, and that a single base pretty much only needs a single square than an entire area of sectors to survive...and mines, farms, and etc located in other square from base would be distance small communities of miners and farmers and etc...unless automated robots does all the work, and humans just have to keep an eye on them and transports the product back to the nearest base.

anyway, while i rather not go overall realistic, also don't want to be to abstract.

so ya... oh and I will be authouring the Data Angels, and will minorly do so for the Pirates and Drones as well, until an authour takes them.

when i come back home, will have have to post another draft map of faction starting locations and to make sure the starting authors agree with them.

I know where the authors would like University, Morganites, Gaians and Data Angels (basicly just on the same continent as the morganites and at least be one of their neighbours). all human crossfire factions should be not all that far from their obvious mother factions...except the pirates, as it unclear who they seperated from

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Mellian, I'd like feedback on the rough draft of the guidelines I wrote up. Then I'd be able to refine it into a good, solid, and final draft.

I agree the split factions shouldn't be far from their mother factions.

However, I must question a couple of faction placements. The Believers and the Peacekeepers.

The Peacekeepers are right next to the Spartans, while the Believers are right next to the University. I'm not sure if mortal enemies should be right next to each other. Wouldn't it make more sense if mortal enemies were further apart, such as the USA, Russia, and China?

Just wondering.

Mellian, I also agree with the realism of distances and stuff. A fully developed "city" of size 20 (all 20 squares being "worked") should be the size of Los Angeles or New York City, with 20 million people.

Then after size 20, each population point would represent 2 million people each, to simulate overcrowding and ultra-urbanization like in Tokyo, etc.



Any more ideas or suggestions? Keep them coming!

[Mellian]

i thought maybe to have them close for story potential, else they wouldn't be much enemies and etc if they are far apart.

i don't think los angeles would cover all twenty squares how big is that city geographicly anyway?

has for the guidelines, it is okay, and also something we would end up adding to once the authors make decisions about various things during the story. just that the tech may need to better explained, and that some of the smac/x techs isn't just base on research, but also indicate a faction has the infrastructure to start building cruisers, aircrafts and to start shooting stuff into space. heck, can have an entire tech section in the datalinks thread, as there so many things i would like authors to keep in mind, especially if we are going to make the story more realistic than what it appears in the game...

like, lasers for example would technicly be seen in foggy or smoky environments, and possibly during the night. also a direct energy weapon, hence can't really use lasers for artillery purposes.

impact weapons (rail guns/gauss cannons, etc) is a direct kinetic, and could be used for artillery, as one could theoriticly adjust the velocity of the projectile shot out magneticly. I see impact becoming the cheapest and most basic weaponry on Chiron.

missiles, i see them to be quite used despite how advanced a faction may be, and they can have variety of warheads and purposes....air-to-air, surface-to-air, anti-ship, bazookas, rockets, artillery, and etc.

Cruisers can be a variety of tonnage sizes...from frigate to battleship and carriers type tonnage. also would have non-combat and civilian uses, like transports, merchant ships and etc. they would generally make foils obsolete, or regulated to coastal defences or short range purposes.

and i can go on and on

[History Guy]

(sniffs in the air and wonders if he would have time for this)

[Frankychan]

With all the fiction under your belt you should be titled "Lead Apolyton Fiction Writer", History Guy.