EMPIRE! CWBG XIV: To Heir is Human - To Faith 10, Divine

[SamBurke]

This was a tech that happened last round; but doesn't look like it was commented upon. As Drac and I talked about this tech before it was created, I certainly don't have a problem with it. Based on lack of comments, is this tech all right?

I don't mind it. It's a little silly, because underwater is much more limited than land anyway, but I'm fine with it.

[lt_murgen]

This was a tech that happened last round; but doesn't look like it was commented upon. As Drac and I talked about this tech before it was created, I certainly don't have a problem with it. Based on lack of comments, is this tech all right?

It seems to make sense, but there should be a caveat about moving through non-aquatic regions territorial waters. It should not apply there. So no moving through canals, or the straights of Shengdi or that other one between Selyra and Maos. Also, if tactical maneuvering pulls them into territoral waters, it should count as an extra region.

[TheWombatOfDoom]

It seems to make sense, but there should be a caveat about moving through non-aquatic regions territorial waters. It should not apply there. So no moving through canals, or the straights of Shengdi or that other one between Selyra and Maos. Also, if tactical maneuvering pulls them into territoral waters, it should count as an extra region.

Straight of Ethelos, which separates the Lyrian Sea from the Dappled Sea.

[Gengy]

It seems to make sense, but there should be a caveat about moving through non-aquatic regions territorial waters. It should not apply there. So no moving through canals, or the straights of Shengdi or that other one between Selyra and Maos. Also, if tactical maneuvering pulls them into territoral waters, it should count as an extra region.

I'm uncertain about the tactical maneuvering; not because I object to your caveat, but because I have not had experience with the topic, so am uncertain whether or not that is adding complexity where none is needed.

I've created an image based on how I personally understand the tech.

Spoiler

Show

IMO, it works in all purely aquatic regions with no difficulties (other then permission from the region owner). It works in island based territories and coastal territories (such as "A" and "B") only with permission from region owners (ie, blockades work as normal). The Red "X" are areas that it doesn't work (ie, land based regions and yes, canals). Murgen [and others] is that what you are thinking?

[Reggiejam]

Dawn to Dusk thread is up. Only invitees can post but any can read. Hoping to give it some more TLC after this week ends but thought I should get it up for people.

[Logic]

I heard something about new rules changes to ruler scores in Skype. Was that spitballing, or something that actually happened?

[Aedilred]

I heard something about new rules changes to ruler scores in Skype. Was that spitballing, or something that actually happened?

I suspect that may have referred to the changes for the Tellurian Games this round, which have changed slightly. The vast majority of players are unaffected, though, and their Games bonuses will remain the same. As far as I'm aware there are no changes to ruler scores planned in the near future. I'm not in the main Empire Skype chat though so I don't know what has been suggested there.

[TheDarkDM]

I heard something about new rules changes to ruler scores in Skype. Was that spitballing, or something that actually happened?

I think you might be catching us spitballing for Space Empire, which probably won't happen until after the Future Telluris Empire QB has planned.

[Logic]

I suspect that may have referred to the changes for the Tellurian Games this round, which have changed slightly. The vast majority of players are unaffected, though, and their Games bonuses will remain the same. As far as I'm aware there are no changes to ruler scores planned in the near future. I'm not in the main Empire Skype chat though so I don't know what has been suggested there.

Aha. I was in a slight panic, as I just got to 10/10/10 this round (ignoring Faith, as Celero does) and I was hoping my gains hadn't been effectively nullfied.

I think you might be catching us spitballing for Space Empire, which probably won't happen until after the Future Telluris Empire QB has planned.

I was only barely following the Skype, as I had been offline of it for a while, and was skimming it to catch up.

[QuintonBeck]

Aha. I was in a slight panic, as I just got to 10/10/10 this round (ignoring Faith, as Celero does) and I was hoping my gains hadn't been effectively nullfied.


I was only barely following the Skype, as I had been offline of it for a while, and was skimming it to catch up.

You needn't worry about what's discussed in the Skype chat. I'm not a member of it and I am the one who ultimately will be making any decisions related to rules or the future of the game.

I think this does exemplify one of the issues that I had/have with the Skype chat that OOC discussion of the game takes place there where those not part of it miss things and the forum and game suffers for it. I would encourage people to move away from the rapid back and forth of the massive Skype chat and into thoughtful discussions relating to the game here in the OOC.

[TheDarkDM]

I think this does exemplify one of the issues that I had/have with the Skype chat that OOC discussion of the game takes place there where those not part of it miss things and the forum and game suffers for it. I would encourage people to move away from the rapid back and forth of the massive Skype chat and into thoughtful discussions relating to the game here in the OOC.

I mean, I take your point, but in this instance the conversation was explicitly not about this game, so I don't think any harm was done.

[HalfTangible]

i think you might be catching us spitballing for space empire, which probably won't happen until after the future telluris empire qb has planned.

....

i think you might be catching us spitballing for space empire

....

space empire

this is relevant
to my interests o_o

[Logic]

You needn't worry about what's discussed in the Skype chat. I'm not a member of it and I am the one who ultimately will be making any decisions related to rules or the future of the game.

I think this does exemplify one of the issues that I had/have with the Skype chat that OOC discussion of the game takes place there where those not part of it miss things and the forum and game suffers for it. I would encourage people to move away from the rapid back and forth of the massive Skype chat and into thoughtful discussions relating to the game here in the OOC.

I don't feel it was anything too terribly negative. There was a statement I only had time to skim, and I asked for clarification. I feel it was no more than a friendly "check the rules changes" which could have come from anyone, about anything. It just so happened the rules changes being referenced were for the Telluran games, not Empire itself.

[QuintonBeck]

It wasn't specific to that point necessarily, it was simply a segue into a general statement about the Skype thread.

There will be no space empire in the foreseeable future due to wanting to make the rules more streamlined in the context of what we've done so far before upending the implied basis of the game's setting and revised rules in development.

[Logic]

It wasn't specific to that point necessarily, it was simply a segue into a general statement about the Skype thread.

There will be no space empire in the foreseeable future due to wanting to make the rules more streamlined in the context of what we've done so far before upending the implied basis of the game's setting and revised rules in development.

Speaking of which, I really need to spitball with you on Empire 2... When we both happen to be on Skype, methinks.

[Gengy]

Apropos of Nothing, I continue to be very busy for the next couple of weeks. (Good busy!) Apologies if this is interfering with any RP or plans other than my own. Please feel free to PM me if something pressing is occurring that you feel needs my attention.

[WaylanderX]

Yo all,

I'm back from vacation and thus avialable for any Prowess related matters one might have. I'll post in the Telluris thread and the shadowy stuff thread hopefully today.

Cheerio,

Way

[Aedilred]

That is neat, can you do Caramel?

To be honest, I stopped when I did for two reasons: firstly that as in real life it is unlikely that every country would have its own specific deck unless they all appeared autochthonously (which is unlikely) and hence traced things via some of the bigger or (in game terms) older trading countries that were most likely to have spread their cultural influence around. The second reason is that I largely ran out of inspiration, or at least didn't want to push it too far. So feel free to add to things yourself, as Murgen and Morph have above,

Darn straight. We don't want none of them Salterri likin' us!

Given Guilder's behaviour over the years, that has become apparent

***

People may be aware I've always been a Skype sceptic, at least as far as the large Empire chat went. I left it for vague and complicated reasons which were only partly to do with the content of the chat itself and have been considering rejoining in the last few days, but I feel it works far better as a social club than as a venue for game discussion, and it's the non-Empire social side of things I miss, for the most part.

My main concerns with it from a gamey perspective are twofold: firstly that it creates a two-tier OOC environment between people who are members of the Skype chat and those who aren't. While the Skype chat is open to everyone in theory, not everyone has the time or indeed the software to spend much time on it, and while not all players read the OOC thread either, the thread is at least automatically accessible to anyone playing the game if they feel the need to check out what's going on or investigate the context for a rumour. I think at times there has also been a tendency for important news to spread on the Skype thread and have some players left out of the loop altogether (it took a long time for the Kazul to become common knowledge here, for instance, while they've been common knowledge there for months).

Secondly is when it comes to the impermanence of the record. While few people do go trawling through the old OOC threads they are all available and searchable via the forum so if some discussion of something actually interesting comes up it remains here in perpetuity and is relatively easy to find. On Skype things get buried very quickly and I'm sure there have been things discussed on there that would be of interest to the game at large (along the lines of, say, the card decks above, or previous discussions on funerary practices or music) which unless someone has the presence of mind to copy over at the time either here or to the wiki, effectively gets lost forever.

On a purely personal note (and one of the reasons I left) I started to find the immediacy of it rather stressful too: not so much in general social chat but if someone would see me active in the group and bring up a ruling query or indeed even a question as to why I was taking certain IC actions, etc. There were times when I found the apparent expectation of a timely response quite difficult to deal with, especially in situations where I was taken as a voice of authority in an area where actually it wasn't my decision (I have final say over very little in this game!). That's not something anyone should feel guilty about as it's my problem more than anyone else's, but it does kind of underline the general gist which is that in many respects I think it's better for things like that to be dealt with here rather than on the Skype chat. Of course now I'm not in it it's not really a problem for me but it is something worth bearing in mind for the future I think (and also one of the worries that stops me rejoining).

[Elemental]

Some of the first known card decks were produced in Bordeux, from where they spread to Ashenia, Crima and the Sulvan Primarchy. The Bordeusi set however failed to spread extensively beyond the borders of the UN, as the national character of Ashenia, the region's main centre for printing the cards, prevented the gambling with which the cards were generally associated from becoming popular.

Gambling is a thing in Ashenia, they just prefer to bet on horse races and tile games, not cards (they're too easily marked). Even so, card decks are still pretty popular to own, especially if they're really nice ones.

[WaylanderX]

Skype-Stuff

I personally haven't got too much of a problem with Skype, as I tend to discuss important stuff mostly 1 on 1 with somebody to discuss it with, through text or verbally. It makes it easier to retrieve and/or recall, that at least is my experience. However, I can understand the issues people have with the Skype chat (It is rather inactive of late though). We can't just delete it though, if people find it fun to use. But, at the least, if people have new ideas pertaining directly to EMPIRE's mechanics/progression (Techs, Rulechanges, and so on), they should at least post it here at the same time as posting it on Skype.

Which brings me to my next point:

Quinton told me the Titans make more sense as a F10 then a C10, so I'm brainstorming about a different capstone to my Spirit Tech tree. I came up with the following 3 concepts and would like to have some good ol' community imput on them. I know, lets put a voting system in. Please award them 1 to 3 points based on what would fit the Techtree best / has the best rule of cool. I'll come up with relevant mechanics later on, so balance-wise, nothing is decided yet. If you don't have time or like to rate, that's fine too . These are the ideas I had:

• 1. Resonance Knights: Instead of binding a Soul to only 1 item, it is instead bound to both a weapon and an armor. When donned, it partly binds to it's wielder, creating a symbiotic bond between the two. (For those who know of it, this is based on the anime/manga Soul Eater) (Base Techs: Spirit Channeling, Special Metal)
• 2. Wrathstrom Cannon: Based on cannon tech, solar towers tech and spiritchanneling, this tech is basically an energy cannon that is mounted on a large vessel (The Marius Pride in my case). The inside of the cannon is laced with magical Gossamer, Tanedhan feathers and other supernatural materials. Flames of the Cataclysm are inserted in the end of the barrel. Using Spirit Channeling, the latent power of the souls inside the Flames is unleashed and subsequently focused by the mirrors. When build up enough, it's shot out of the cannon in a ray-like projectile. The laser only destroys the the connection between body and soul when it hits something living. In other words it will kill any living thing it manages to hit, but leaves any non-living object perfectly intact. (Base Techs: Cannons, Solar Tower, Spirit Channeling, Ancient Alchemy)
• 3. Nexus Dreadnaught: Also a tech which uses the Marius Pride, this instead temporarily binds the souls of Huroshan soldiers to a central Nexus on the ship, creating a sort of hivemind and perserving the soul of the soldiers inside the nexus if they die in the battle. Note that this may or may not result in actual troops being preserved. (Base Techs: Spirit Channeling, Mind Conference)

If none of these strikes your fancy or you have another idea, feel free to crack down on these and suggest your own.

I don't really have an exact preference for any of these, so that's why I posted this :P.

[Rain Dragon]

I like 'Nexus Dreadnaught' the most out of the three. Fluffing a base of operations sounds really good and it reminds me a little of Cylons on Battlestar Galactica.

Spoiler: STORY SPOILER!

Show

You know, how there's the Cylon ship where spare Cylons are stored so that when one dies their data is uploaded into the new one so they're good to go.

It seems awesome, though how would the preservation mechanic work? Would there be pristine bodies there for them? Maybe golems? Do they end up sharing a body with someone else? Do they end up possessing the base?

'Resonance Knights' are cool, though it interests me a little less as a concept.

I don't like guns, so like cannons least. EDIT - And due to this anything I say is likely to be biased. I don't really have much experience with them in games roleplaying or otherwise, so no help there.
They seem fluff-wise the most straightforward in my eyes which isn't a bad thing but interests me the least.
I think it'll potentially have the most trade offers, as I hear some people really like their death lasers.
/looks sideways at Elemental
/also Kitsanth

[WaylanderX]

I like 'Nexus Dreadnaught' the most out of the three. Fluffing a base of operations sounds really good and it reminds me a little of Cylons on Battlestar Galactica.

Spoiler: STORY SPOILER!

Show

You know, how there's the Cylon ship where spare Cylons are stored so that when one dies their data is uploaded into the new one so they're good to go.

It seems awesome, though how would the preservation mechanic work? Would there be pristine bodies there for them? Maybe golems? Do they end up sharing a body with someone else? Do they end up possessing the base?

'Resonance Knights' are cool, though it interests me a little less as a concept.

I don't like guns, so like cannons least. They're also fluff-wise the most straightforward in my eyes which isn't a bad thing but interests me the least.
I think it'll potentially have the most trade offers, as I hear some people really like their death lasers.
/looks sideways at Elemental
/also Kitsanth

Maybe a small percentage of the troops killed in battle return as Spectral Units? I need to talk with Quinton about what is possible. It would also be a fun plothook for EMPIRE II, when the wreckage or something of the Pride is found and a ghost army steps out to defend it.
As for trade offers, the sheer amount of resources and techs involved makes trading any of these fairly difficult.

Tech	Vote Points
Resonance Knights	2
Wrathstrom Cannon	1
Nexus Dreadnaught	3

[WaylanderX]

As I just heard from people on Skype, there are some who are worried to the scope of my proposed ideas. Please note that the scale can be lessened (A massive laser/ray can be make a "decently sized" laser/ray, for example). It's the concept that I would like to have feedback on.

Edit: Edited tech descriptions, removed words related to power or size of the relevant techs.

[Kitsanth]

as I hear some people really like their death lasers.
/looks sideways at Elemental
/also Kitsanth

Lasers? Me? Never, such talk is clearly slanderous.

[Mabn]

So any comments on the territory update I posted? So awesome I should retroactively get into the game 3 turns ago and just take all those actions now?

[Logic]

So any comments on the territory update I posted? So awesome I should retroactively get into the game 3 turns ago and just take all those actions now?

Well, no one gets retroactive actions (so far, at least.) However, new players do get 5 bonus actions to begin the game with, to show that they had an established nation prior to their discovery.

[lt_murgen]

So any comments on the territory update I posted? So awesome I should retroactively get into the game 3 turns ago and just take all those actions now?

I read through it and had no particular issues. Essentially, there was a period of upheaval and some new folks took over.

edit- if you do post actions this round, please include a 2D6+Faith roll to resist the minority of Kina attempt in Alydaxis. It is not an action to make a resistance roll, but you should note it in your posts. Alternatively (and in an effort to be transparent), I rolled <10 which is the normal default roll, so you don't really have to make your own roll and let the 10 stand as your roll.

[Philote]

1. Resonance Knights: Instead of binding a Soul to only 1 item, it is instead bound to both a weapon and an armor. When donned, it partly binds to it's wielder, creating a symbiotic bond between the two. (For those who know of it, this is based on the anime/manga Soul Eater) (Base Techs: Spirit Channeling, Special Metal)

If you want to go for style points, throw in some Garb into your Resonance Knights tech.

[Morph Bark]

You needn't worry about what's discussed in the Skype chat. I'm not a member of it and I am the one who ultimately will be making any decisions related to rules or the future of the game.

Correction: penultimately.

[QuintonBeck]

*Crazy ideas*

I like 1, 3 is alright, 2 I'm not a fan of.

Mabn have you been in contact with Lord_Burch?