Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy

[Cody]

Tardis → Dr Who → theme music → Delia Derbyshire → White Noise → Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell

[cbr]

Tardis → Dr Who → theme music → Delia Derbyshire → White Noise → Black Mass: An Electric Storm in Hell

Moi parlez avec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTvXBAKm_5I Baccara...

[Cody]

Ouch!!!

[Cholmondely]

Bumping this handy tip

Golly! If only I had the skills!

I could have a stab at dislocating your leg, too!

But all you've revealed is that you like red lobsters and frogs and exhibit a morbid loathing for fish...

[cbr]

I could have a stab at dislocating your leg, too!

But all you've revealed is that you like red lobsters and frogs and exhibit a morbid loathing for fish...

Excellent a Feudal challenge , now where did I have those lobster girls

[phkb]

Context: I'm writing some missions for this OXP.

The current OXP has a Constrictor that was intended for player missions. What are our thoughts on how this ship could potentially be used in missions? Obviously, there are potential missions doing something in intergalactic space. But I was thinking more about normal space. Could there be a reason for the player to hoon around in a Constrictor? Again, Thargoids in normal space are a possibility. But what about non-Thargoid reasons. Would HIMSN get involved in something local, if that something had the potential to impact on their operations? Or would that be beyond their remit, and if such a situation occurred they'd just inform GalCop and let them deal with it? I'm just trying to avoid too many instances of "Fly there, blow stuff up, fly back". Instead, I'd like things like "Fly somewhere, find something, scan that something (or interact with it in some way), get sprung scanning it, and now blow stuff up". But it's hard to come up with a Thargoid version of that, which hadn't already been done in Cataclysm or one of the other Thargoid mission OXPs.

Let me know your thoughts.

[phkb]

As a secondary question, I'm trying to make these missions galaxy independent. But in order to do that well, I kind of need to add a Imperial Navy station to each galaxy, whereas the original vision was just Xeer (G1), Birera (G3) and Xeer (G7). Thoughts?

[Cholmondely]

My understanding of HIMSN is that it was intended to be strictly limited. A small-budget navy solely focused on the Thargoid conflicts and rarely seen. Just in interstellar space (sometimes?) or the handful of hidden bases (if the player can ever find one!). The idea of having a base in each galaxy was discussed and dismissed as too much. So on that basis, I wouldn't make the missions galaxy independent (the Vanilla Game's and Xeptatl's Sword missions aren't either).

But. As you know, the OXP was never properly finished.

The beta and gamma stages still need incorporation. And, I suppose that it ideally needs to be woven in with Thargoid Wars, TCAT, Cataclysm etc.

And, thinking about it seriously, if there are only the handful of stations, how do they fight off incursions in the non-stationed galaxies? Where are their ships located? Why do we never see them?

I'll mention this to Cody the next time I speak with him and report back, in'sh'Allah!



But the Brain in the Box might well know more:

Things *may* change...

[Redspear]

Context: I'm writing some missions for this OXP.
...
Let me know your thoughts.

Context: I don't know this OXP very well.

The constrictor is by design a super-ship and the oolite version especially so. I believe it's true that the original had a speed similar to the oolite cobra mk III wheras the oolite version is a LOT faster. Nothing wrong with that but it makes it more of an issue once it becomes a player ship.

So that would be my main concern with this and some of the following could constitute 'collateral damage'

• constrictor mission becomes less special
• non-thargoid encounters become a doddle
• giving up the constrictor will make the game seem real slow as player speed almost halves
• until the injectors run out (and that will take a while in this ship) who's catching you?

These concerns don't necessarily operate together as there are workarounds for any one of them but to address them all would be tricky I think.

Maybe the prototype constrictor was more capable but less stable than a hypothetical constrictor mkI (that could be used for these missions) but then, what's the point of using a constrictor if it's not more capable than anything else?

It's one of those things that sounds cool but doesn't particularly suit the existing assets IMHO.

As a secondary question, I'm trying to make these missions galaxy independent. But in order to do that well, I kind of need to add a Imperial Navy station to each galaxy, whereas the original vision was just Xeer (G1), Birera (G3) and Xeer (G7). Thoughts?

Could it be mobile a la Superhub? It would just require that one of them be so and it needn't require coding as such.

[Cholmondely]

As a secondary question, I'm trying to make these missions galaxy independent. But in order to do that well, I kind of need to add a Imperial Navy station to each galaxy, whereas the original vision was just Xeer (G1), Birera (G3) and Xeer (G7). Thoughts?

Could it be mobile a la Superhub? It would just require that one of them be so and it needn't require coding as such.

That's a good solution. Or just use the Komodo carrier as the non-base "base". That presumably is the reason for them!

[phkb]

So on that basis, I wouldn't make the missions galaxy independent

OK, so, G8 is looking pretty sparse for missions -- should I put them there?

[phkb]

...and G8, in the original design, had precisely 1 hidden outpost. It seems a waste to have all those other stations and yet not interact with them.

I suppose I could make the missions require galactic jumps, but that spoils the plan I had for an overarching story. Hmm.

[Cholmondely]

...and G8, in the original design, had precisely 1 hidden outpost. It seems a waste to have all those other stations and yet not interact with them.

I suppose I could make the missions require galactic jumps, but that spoils the plan I had for an overarching story. Hmm.

G8 does have Iron Raven. I'd understood that it was similar to Assassin's Guild - it provides several interlinked missions and colours the galaxy appropriately (adding in the Galactic Stock Exchange, the Naval Weapons Establishment, Jane's Shipyard Intelligence, League of Anarchists, Kosmicheskikh Slyushba Razvedki, various companies, Pleasure World etc.)

How about basing your G8 mission at the Naval Weapons Establishment (Arance, Contacts: Cmdr Stuart Nash, Systems Development Division)?

The NWE is an executive agency of the Federal Navy with particular responsibility for the research and development of advanced weapons technology. Although it has a large complement of highly qualified staff, the NWE also draws upon the expertise of others working in industry or academia, especially those living in systems with a strong military presence or a close affiliation with GalCop.
The recent increase in the number of independent equipment manufacturers has meant that the NWE no longer enjoys a monopoly over naval contracts and is often forced to enter into competitive tender processes. Despite this, the NWE remains the navy’s first choice for many areas of system development.

From Ramirez's PDF which also has a logo for them!

[Cholmondely]

...and G8, in the original design, had precisely 1 hidden outpost. It seems a waste to have all those other stations and yet not interact with them.

I suppose I could make the missions require galactic jumps, but that spoils the plan I had for an overarching story. Hmm.

Again, why not base them at a Komodo carrier, the local movable base for each galaxy? Does it really need to be an orbital of some sort?

And! You can have oodles of fun chasing the Komodo, trying to work out where it might have moved to!

[Cholmondely]

Context: I don't know this OXP very well.

The constrictor is by design a super-ship and the oolite version especially so. I believe it's true that the original had a speed similar to the oolite cobra mk III wheras the oolite version is a LOT faster. Nothing wrong with that but it makes it more of an issue once it becomes a player ship.

So that would be my main concern with this and some of the following could constitute 'collateral damage'

• constrictor mission becomes less special
• non-thargoid encounters become a doddle
• giving up the constrictor will make the game seem real slow as player speed almost halves
• until the injectors run out (and that will take a while in this ship) who's catching you?

These concerns don't necessarily operate together as there are workarounds for any one of them but to address them all would be tricky I think.

Maybe the prototype constrictor was more capable but less stable than a hypothetical constrictor mkI (that could be used for these missions) but then, what's the point of using a constrictor if it's not more capable than anything else?

It's one of those things that sounds cool but doesn't particularly suit the existing assets IMHO.

But if the mission is only done well after one has done the Constrictor mission does that not change things? One may already have moved on from the original Cobra to a horrendously-expensive souped-up OXP ship (FdL Lightspeeder anyone?), and non-Thargoid encounters are already a doddle, et cetera, et cetera.