anyone up for another Chiron Chronicles?

[Mellian]

edit: just to see if i can edit the subject here...

okay, i really miss being part of a multi-author / cooperative story, especially a SMAC/X one. so wondering if anyone would be interested in starting another one, like chiron chronicles, but using the lessons learnt from it, a long from BAC.

i willing to Help establish the basics and guidelines for this story universe, a long with possibly make the webspace i have with my ISP available for it to store maps, pics, and other information..and maintain any info/datalink thread(s).

as for those who remembers how i was before, i will refrain from being some anal retentive enforcer, making sure to keep in mind that it will be Cooperative story, where the authors work together, and making sure to make anything i have to say is positive and constructive criticism.

anyway, as for the story, i am thinking maybe to start it off somewhere in the 22nd century, about five to ten years after the Proginators landed, and 20-40 after some of the human crossfire factions started to appear and officially considered as factions by the unitial seven factions / the Planetary Council.

as for the map, can be either base on the default Chiron Crossfire map, or some random one or some custom map done by someone (which may be useful to create it in a way to match any starting plot ideas the authors may have).

as for factions, we can one author be in charge of a faction, but can play any characters and etc belonging to other factions or etc, with the approval of author incharge of the faction, if any.

if people are interested in this, and would like to participate, than i would be interested to take either the data angels, nautilus pirates or the free drones...in that order.

soooo....any interest?

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Mellian, I remember you tried to set up a similiar story last year or so.

I think it was "Never Ending Chiron" or "Never Ending Centauri" or something like that.

If you manage to get this new CC off the ground, I'd like to call dibs on the University, like I did in NEC.

[Mellian]

yes, but i was planning all this system and structure for NEC, making it like some online board game interactive history thing...but realized it wouldn't work and also ended up being distracted by other things.

as for the new CC, would help establish some way where we can have a multi-author cooperative story, while avoiding/minimizing problems we had in the previous CC and in BAC.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

I might be interested... if this gets off the ground, count me in for the Morganites.

[Sovereign]

Well, a few points of advice...

first, allow customization of your leaders names, as long as they have a believable relationship to the original SMAC / SMACX leaders.

Such as children, best friends, vice-president or second in command, etc. that rose to power after the first leader is assasinated or stepped down, much like in real life.


Second....

Allow people to select starting spots.

For example.... provide the official map for SMAC / X...

then have the player look at the map, and then select his / her starting postion. Depending on the size of the islands or contients or Pangeas, there should be only 1 faction allowed on a small island or contient, 2 - 3 factions allowed on medium land masses... and 4 - 6 factions on large / huge land masses.

This ensures every faction has at least some room for several cities, and some lee-way in expansion. No early game wipe-outs.



Third and last.... Use standard SMAC / X technologies, up to quantum power. Beyond that, it's almost god-like, like with time tech and trascendence.

In addition, for these techs, we should create our own, along believable lines... such as Shields, Interstellar travel, food replicators, deep core mining, etc.


I think if you allow these things, Mellian, more people would be interested in joining. Just giving advice.

[Mellian]

will be allowed, just hope people hold true somewhat to the characteristics of the factions...like in the previous CC, the honorable diciplined militaristic survilist Spartans were made into some corrupted, dishonorable, fascist, gothic, sadistic, genociders.

but i'm sure the system i have in mind with help resolve any problems, which will be more focus in making a good story, than which faction as a bigger army or is better at what or who could defeat who in a battle.

as for technologies, a thing to keep in mind about, is some techs are not really techs...as some seem more like setting up the stage as to when a faction will have enough infrastructure to a build a cruiser, to build and maintain aircrafts, start shooting stuff into space and etc... also, a lot of the techs in the SMAC/X tech tree are theoritical base, where afterwards, have to build a prototype to work out bugs before building more in more cheap mass production way.

another thing i would like to authors to keep in mind is the passage of time, which does tend to be a problem...like talking about some character about to go in some missions, and the next story day, they are at the other side of the planet doing their mission...like umm, how thehoot did it only take one day for that char to get one place to the other without any problems? or when research techs...start researching on a new tech, and they are finish in one story week...umm, what?

anyway, would like to see the story start out where the planet is still not fully covered with bases, average faction just started really using aricrafts, cruisers, and etc...and just about to experiment shooting stuff into space. also would like to see the techs a faction base on the characteristic of the faction...like the Gaians is more into Green type tech, Morganites mroe into the build type techs, Spartans more into the military type techs, and etc....


anyway, more later...

-mellian

[Illuminatus]

I want to be a part of such project, and I doubt I could join BAC. If it gets running can I please take (they have already taken Uni and Morgan ), Gaians?

[Mellian]

i guess we have enough interest to start figuring stuff out, like the map, starting locations, guidelines and some rulez, the datalinks thread, starting major plots, a basic general timeline to start with, and etc......

but first....what should we call the story? Chiron Chronicles has already been taken...thinking possibly re-using the title of Never Ending Chiron again...

next question would be....should we base the story on a custom map or the default planet x map (with the only difference that UNS Unity actually crashed in Unity sea that into the continent, as i don't think it was that huge). if so, what kind of custom? should it be edited to fit in with the starting plots? (as in, for example, having the peacekeepers and spartans being neighbours, being natural rivals and all...same with the Morganites and Gaians...with the data angels being between the morganites and university...pretty much matching up faction characteristic dynamics for story plot possibilities).

-mellian

[Sovereign]

Hi there, Obstructor. Welcome to AC Fiction!

Mellian, an idea or two about the passage of time....

First, Every day in the real world should equate into a year in the story. That way, within 1 real life year, we can get plenty done with 365 years gone by in SMAC fiction.

This can give us some room to do stuff.

Also, the advance of years in SMAC should go no matter what. Doesn't matter if the author doesn't post. That way, more active members don't have to wait weeks or months for a substantial action or event to take place.

One other thing, Mellian. Sometimes factions can and DO change over time. Sometimes leaders change personalities, which will influence their faction or nation being led. This happens all the time in the real world.

I'll wait a bit and see if more people can come in and start this up, and get this off the ground, then I can start posting.

[Mellian]

Originally posted by Sovereign First, Every day in the real world should equate into a year in the story. That way, within 1 real life year, we can get plenty done with 365 years gone by in SMAC fiction.

well, considering the activity in AC-Fiction and the authors, i don't think it would be the best idea to rapid though time like that. As for a passage of time, thinking more like....

Spartan Command
0500 (Zulu or local time), March 14th, 2176

the active authors can go on posting and when a inactive author returns, they can make a previous date before the latest dated posts to add something to the story, as well it doesn't contradict what as already happen story wise.

to prevent any hang ups, like waiting for the inactive author to return to write something in response, i'll encourage authors to communicate with each, their plans and etc on plots they are working on together, or affecting another author's faction or/and character(s)...so if one is missing, the other author(s) could go on.

i will also encourage authors to have an Plot Agenda section in their Faction Info/Stat post in the Datalinks thread, to let other authors know what they are planning generally or specificly in whatever Plots they are currently working. also will encourage authors who know who will dissapear for some length of time, to mention in this post or in the discussion thread what they are planning to do/write in the story, so authors know what to do or not to do in the next story post(s) during the absense of the one author. should also have some possible plots in the info posts, even if it currently not being worked on in the story and etc, or at least not directly.

One other thing, Mellian. Sometimes factions can and DO change over time. Sometimes leaders change personalities, which will influence their faction or nation being led. This happens all the time in the real world.

yes, some Factions may change, but they do keep their general basic characteristics, and the only way for those to change is if some key/major event as cause it. like, i am sure the pacifistic Gaians can become militarist faction after being brutally attacked or/and something as happen to really pissed them off for example.

as for leaders....yes, their personalities may change...especially in SMAC/X where most folks see them living for a long time thanks to longivity genetic treatments...so over time, experiences and events will influence on how they think. like any human being, their mind continuously evolve, for the good or the worse. of course, for them to change their minds on things and their personalities, there as to be a reason for it. just because is not one.

like take United States, where they change leaders every four-eight years...they may be able to influence their nation closer towards a path they want them to be, but doesn't overall change the nations attitudes and basic characteristics. only time they do change is because of major events, like WW1 and WW2, the cold war, and 9-11, to a way i'm sure the founding fathers wouldn't have really liked.....but of course, none of those events truely complete, or mostly, change the nations basic characteristicsl...like them suddenlly becoming fascist and willing to commit genocide.

to also keep in mind, the factions seem to have been created the factions in a way each represent some aspect of humanity, to create this general dynamic between them....hence why it is so attractive to write fictions about, exploring the various interactions of these faction characters in different circumstances....so in a way, don't want to see this dynamic to be lost in the story.

-mellian

[Mellian]

here is a map of modified SMAX Planet. I increased the sized of some continents and islands, added couple of new medium islands, with a few little ones, removed Unity so we can just assume it crashed in the Sea of Chiron, increased the size of the monsoon jungle, added some monoliths at various spots, and etc.

i was pretty much unsastified with the random map creations, so i thought i would just thought i would edit the default map.

so what do people think?

can also start picking which area of the map the faction you chosen to be, and also suggest maybe where some of the untaken factions will be located.

i'll be taking the Data Angels, which i rather have them not to far from the Morganites, whom they splitted off and possibly a bit from University if they are located in the same continent.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

I'd like to put the Morganites in the area around the Borehole Cluster, with some bases along the river leading southwards, as well.

[Mellian]

this area?


okay, maybe should really decide what year to exactly to start the story. i mentioned possibly late 22nd, or just year 2200...if so, then the average faction would be big enough to have a handful of bases...with the average tech base where they can build aircrafts, cruisers, choppers, and just starting to get into shooting stuff into space....with the average weapon/armor/power techs at chaos (disruptors) and missile weaponry with impact guns as the most common basic weaponry of the time, plasma to silk steel armor, and started to really field fusion powered units with some factions still stuck with the majority of their armed forces having fission....

so ya....faction sizes would also be base on their character...like, i can see the believers and hive spreading aboutlike crazy, with some factions like maybe the morganites, university, and etc sticking with fewer but better quality and bigger bases.

most factions shouldn't be cramping against each others at this point....still leaving lot of room for expansion and etc. oh and don't base completly completly on the in-game strategies to get good bases with good spacing...i would think realisticly, future higher tech bases/cities between 10k to 100k+ should be okay resources and etc wise by being one to two squares away from each other, considering Chiron is a slightly bigger than Earth, with some bigger landmasses. so plenty of room for many many bases than by what playing the actual game suggests. besides, it is a story, not like exact population, production levels, other stats and etc would be all that important...

now, now that i just rant on about my thoughts....here is the map of the area you chosen GeneralTactic.

-mellian

[GeneralTacticus]

Yeah, that's the area I was talking about... and as for the rest, that sounds pretty good to me.

[Illuminatus]

Will there be 14 faction (perhaps 12 withput aliens?) When you answer me this I will take Gaians position (since I planned some "trouble" between them and Planet Cult)

Actually I planned north island fro Gaians with one or two bases on NW island and three of four bases on the north side of Uranium flats (this are colonies - and possible source of conflict between them and other factions on that continent). Also on the north side of Donut Continent near Ruins was also a colony or two but they broke away to form Planet Cult (this was MY 2150, 2155 and Planet Cullt has grown) which has a tendency for North seas. Also there are troubles with overexpansion for Gaians, who have a lot of bases and colonies, but weak conventional military, medium psi military and medium infrastructure. Also second navy on planet (besides Pirates).