Messages

1

The Successor States / Re: Ad Securitas Per Unitas: The Republic of the Sphere

« on: 18 June 2013, 07:33:56 »

That's assuming the Republic sticks to Stone's line of peace.  In all fairness, Stone and the Republic gave the Inner Sphere close to 50 years of peace and they repaid it with treachery.  If the Republic wins, it would be strange if they played nice again.  If they emerged from Fortress Republic they won't be much better than any other IS state.

Hell hath no fury like hippies moved to violence?

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General Discussion / Re: Wild Theory: Fate of the Manei Domini and the Homeworlds

« on: 14 June 2013, 13:28:32 »

Personally speaking... The Inner Sphere is over. All the new hotness is out in the periphery. Anything that is done in the Inner Sphere will be a rehash. The time has really come to explore, colonize and fight outside of the Sphere. An invasion of the Inner Sphere isn't something that needs to happen again. I think more focus should be placed on the development of minor periphery states over time, especially since the Inner Sphere descends into chaos. They need to grow and become real, fleshed out factions. With an HPG black out, the melee in the Inner Sphere should be atmospheric for those who like to fight there. But over the course of the next hundred or so in-game years, the emphasis should be placed on expanding the playing area, otherwise we'll just stagnate in a 650 light year circle around Earth.

I don't know if the Major Periphery States, WoR and ISP 3 sold well or not, but what I gathered from them is that the real action is out there in the wilderness.

I could get into a "Heretics of Dune" style situation where a sufficiently cataclysmic event sent mankind driving out in a Scattering, only to slowly reach back towards the old stomping grounds. Not in an attempt to restore anything, just to see if anyone or anything useful is still left.

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Off Topic / Re: So Sony just took MS to the cleaners at E3.

« on: 14 June 2013, 13:20:11 »

I have read that Microsoft's announcement about the debut of XB1 (is it derogatory to call it the Xbone?) in Asia is not because of supply, per se.

Rather, instead of trying to compete initially in the Asian console market, which has never been very friendly to Western machines, Microsoft intends to use those consoles to flood the zone in the States, operating under the idea that parents would rather grab an easily available Xbox One then mess around trying to locate the more in-demand PS4.

It doesn't seem like the most media-savvy strategy (the Wii U was tagged as a 'failure' early on exactly because of how many were widely available, which 'obviously' meant no one was buying it) but nothing about Microsoft's Xbox One rollout has seemed very media-savvy, so who knows?

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Off Topic / Re: roosterboy's 2013 comic book conclave

« on: 13 June 2013, 17:03:30 »

\
do you know how many comic right now are using mystigue ??  the girl I think is at least in 3 different issue if not more.. she a teacher in the hellfire club, she is iceman love interest that he has capture and she is using the broodhood to steal money.  I wish Marvel wouldn't use the same character at the same time unless its a crossover there plenty of villians.. either make it so we know what going on when or use different one per book. 

While Wolverine and the X-Men is an awful book and I'm ashamed to admit that I'm still buying it, in Jason Aaron's defense he does have Quenton Quire remark about how busy Mystique's been stealing boatloads of money. So, yay, continuity.

(He then ruins said yay by forgetting a few pages later that Toad has multiple degrees in English Lit and the Humanities, because it's funny to make fun of him because he's ugly and a janitor now.)

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Off Topic / Re: So Sony just took MS to the cleaners at E3.

« on: 11 June 2013, 07:44:18 »

Man, I'm really going to miss my Gamerscore when I switch to the PS4.

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Off Topic / Re: female superhereo

« on: 11 June 2013, 07:08:35 »

There was another hero with that name, a human woman who could transform into any form of energy.  I don't remember what happened to her.   

Monica Rambeau. When not using the Captain Marvel moniker she went by Photon. Later, she just went by Monica Rambeau. Was leader of Nextwave, where most of her leadership consisted of constantly starting her speeches with "When I was with the Avengers..."

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Off Topic / Re: TitanFall Trailer (E3)

« on: 10 June 2013, 17:10:47 »

All I could think of as I watched that was "If only Microsoft had the rights to a best selling intellectual property that featured giant robots."

Honestly? For the first 90 seconds of narration I was convinced it was a new Heavy Gear game.

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General Discussion / Re: Wild Theory: Fate of the Manei Domini and the Homeworlds

« on: 10 June 2013, 12:23:44 »

Having a second exodus or destroying the Clan Homeworlds for the sake of destroying them is pathetic story wise. Something is out there keeping it all quiet and I'd like to think the TPTB will write something awesome when it's time to write something about them.

But the Clans were the Something that was Out There. There would have to be Something Else Out There.

Which is entirely possible, I guess.

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Off Topic / Re: Watching Game of Thrones... (may include spoilers, if you're sensitive to them)

« on: 06 June 2013, 11:19:08 »

it was also done in the right season.  Character were establish people where invested and thought they knew how the show was going to go.. Then you smack them in the head with a curve ball.  Now they will watch knowing no one is safe and anything can happen.  Lost should had thought about doing something like that for the mid season just to keep the series fresh

Eh, in its defense, Lost did try to shake things up by moving from flashbacks to flash-forwards at the end of Season Three, but man did they have to hit rock bottom before they got there.

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Off Topic / Re: female superhereo

« on: 06 June 2013, 06:14:37 »

Carol Danvers.

Really surprised there wasn't a Captain Marvel movie lined up for their Phase II plan.

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General Discussion / Re: TRO 3145--Federated Suns

« on: 05 June 2013, 06:11:56 »

Speaking of which, I hope we see some Task Force Serpent/4th SW Sian raid type operations into the DC & CC. The Prey Seeker would be perfect for hitting worlds that are deep behind enemy lines. Like Benjamin. Or New Samarkand. Or Liao. Or Victoria. Or Detroit.

I kinda sorta expect that Julian Davion's route back to the Federated Suns will include a Doolittle style raid on Sian. Or at least Tikonov or Sarna.

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General Discussion / Re: TRO 3145 - Free Worlds League

« on: 04 June 2013, 13:48:27 »

Ohhh, no. I value my NDA far too highly to let stuff slip.

Is it a 20 ton sprint Mech with nothing but a targeting laser and satellite uplink for naval fire support?

(Because, actually, that would be kind of cool...)

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The Successor States / Re: But, but, but....I thought Davion and Kurita were allies?

« on: 30 May 2013, 09:52:29 »

To the citizens of the Combine, whatever he may be genetically, Victor is 100% Davion. Such pedantry as you point out has no place in centuries-long hatreds.

I think you could swing it, IF you played it right.

Victor, after all, is the lone Davion who honored the Combine by studying Bushido and earning the katana he used to behead the Dragon's great foe, the ilKhan of the Clans. Unlike the detente between Hanse and Theodore, which was a partnership of equals, Victor was more of a junior partner in the succeeding "special relationship" between the FedCom and the Combine. (And if that's not totally true, the opinion makers in the Combine could certainly spin it as true...) One might even argue that the deterioration in relations was because the Combine perceived the leadership of Yvonne and Harrison as weak and unworthy of the honor they had shown to Vic.

Plus, he's safely dead, so no fear of him doing something to call attention to his gaijin-ness.

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Off Topic / Re: Doctor Who -- Season 7 Discussion Thread

« on: 23 May 2013, 12:14:22 »

While I enjoyed "The Name of the Doctor" it seemed to me that there was a distinct lack of Silence Falling on the field of Trenzalore.

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Off Topic / Re: XBox One

« on: 22 May 2013, 14:00:54 »

Without getting into the DRM or always on or backwards compatability issues I was left with the impression that Microsoft really, really, REALLY wants us all to watch a lot more TV.

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General Discussion / Re: Field Manual 3145 Cover

« on: 22 May 2013, 13:57:36 »

So does that cover art count as Malice aforefront?

(Sorry about that one.)

Between this and the colour maps, the wait for the print edition will be quite a long one...

But they've already done Malicious Intent.

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General Discussion / Re: Field Manual 3145 Cover

« on: 22 May 2013, 13:07:20 »

I see a RAF logo on the right torso of the center 'Mech. I wonder if this is Remnant or Fortress?

Can't wait to find out.

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Off Topic / Re: roosterboy's 2013 comic book conclave

« on: 17 May 2013, 08:02:18 »

James Asmus confirmed that Gambit is canceled as of issue 17.

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Off Topic / Re: Ender's Game Trailer.

« on: 09 May 2013, 09:51:56 »

Even assuming the first film is a major success, I don't think adapting Speaker for the Dead is going to be a very easy task. You do away with giant chunks of what makes the first film popular and bank everything on audiences being able to get behind talking CGI piggies.

Were I a Hollywood type and it Up To Me, I would look at cribbing something together from the Shadow series of novels (but with less Anton's Key stuff) with a heaping of Ender in Exile mixed in. Speaker, Xenocide and Children of the Mind are too highfalutin to get adapted properly.

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The Successor States / Re: If Joshua Hadn't Been Doubled

« on: 02 May 2013, 21:14:01 »

Another thing to consider is that there was a period of time where False Thomas was not exactly on the outs with ComStar (and more importantly, the Real Thomas Marik) but not exactly behaving as the proxy ruler they had expected him to be. It may be that False Thomas didn't try sending Joshua to Terra because he knew the boy would be just as much a hostage there as he would be on New Avalon, and that Joshua's chances for treatment were as good if not better on New Avalon because the FedCom had a really good reason to keep the boy alive, whereas ComStar did not.

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The Successor States / Re: Democracy in the Successor States

« on: 26 April 2013, 12:40:24 »

Except there are a lot of democracies / republics in BT at the planetary level. Prior to its dissolution, the FWL remained a republic at the interstellar level. The Captain-General, prior to their 31st Century emergency powers, had limited influence over most operations of the nation.

Unless you split hairs on the definition of "democracy," they're quite common in BT and the House Sourcebooks and Handbooks have said so. Explicitly and directly, and I quoted one on that matter earlier. I also gave direct examples of planets with "democratic republics."

I keep coming back to the size and communications issues. It's not a direct correlation, I admit, but when you look at colonial-era America you have a nation comprising a relatively small population spread out over an enormous distance, such that communications from the capital (Philadelphia) to major metropolitan hubs like New York City might take 4 days to 2 weeks depending on weather conditions, and heaven help you if you have to get word from Boston to Charleston in a timely fashion.

So is there a upper limit on how large an American style, representative star democracy could be? What I keep imagining as viable is a nation that has sufficient JumpShip assets so that any system is within a double jump of the capital, meaning emergency communications are never more than the time it takes to transmit the message from the surface to the jump point and vice versa. Increase the pool of dedicated JumpShips and you increase the potential diameter of the nation via the introduction of command circuits.

Naturally, in a post-Succession War Inner Sphere there probably aren't that many JumpShips available for just communications duty, but I don't see why something the size of the Terran Alliance, St. Ives Compact or post-Tukayyid FRR wouldn't be viable.

(And yeah, given that all of those are ex-realms at this point, that might not be the best of examples...  )

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The Successor States / Re: Democracy in the Successor States

« on: 23 April 2013, 08:10:19 »

During the Jihad years, I harbored secret hopes that the Democracy Now! movement in the Lyran Alliance would ultimately result in an explosion of pro-democratic ideals (even as I knew from the Dark Age material that there was no real hope of any change to the map). Instead, Democracy Now! went down in flames because we can't have nice things.

Now, I find myself hoping that if House Davion is truly on the ropes that Filtvelt manages to finally tap all the unused riches of the Davion periphery and grows into an industrial power capable of playing the role of arsenal of freedom to its spiritual forefathers.

Again, I know. Nice Things, cannot to be having them.

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Off Topic / Re: roosterboy's 2013 comic book conclave

« on: 18 April 2013, 09:18:59 »

I knew about the Captain Marvel/Avengers Assemble crossover, but as far as I know Captain Marvel at least is doing reasonably well and isn't about to be cancelled.  I guess we'll see when August solicits come out.

AoA and X-Treme are definite cancellations. Astonishing X-Men is also part of the "X-Terminated" crossover but I'm not sure of its future. There's a new volume of (Adjectiveless) X-Men coming out soon from Brian Wood/Olivier Copiel which may render Astonishing even more superfluous than it already is.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Gambit's solo series.

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Off Topic / Re: roosterboy's 2013 comic book conclave

« on: 18 April 2013, 05:46:11 »

Marvel published ~70 or so issues. Their license from the toy company (Hasbro?) expired. No more ROM.

But Marvel can still use the Space Knights, as they've appeared in things like Annihilation: Conquest.

Were the Micronauts licensed characters as well? I know Marvel still uses the Microverse but the last appearance of the 'nauts I can recall was back in the late 90s (in the first Cable series).

So we're seeing the axe fall over at Marvel.  Age of Apocalypse, XXM and Captain Marvel all are apparently getting canned.  Kind of a shame on the last two, they started out shaky but had become pretty enjoyable.

I've read that some of the survivors of X-Treme X-Men will be folded into Uncanny X-Men. It's too bad, but not surprising.

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The Periphery / Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread

« on: 18 April 2013, 05:41:06 »

Pretty fringy even for BattleTech.

What we lack in numbers we make up for with obnoxiousness, er, enthusiasm.

Yeah, that's it.

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The Periphery / Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread

« on: 17 April 2013, 18:07:30 »

I never really saw us as NOD...

Crazy Tesla Coil wielding Red Alert Soviets, maybe.

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The Periphery / Re: 3145 Periphery

« on: 12 April 2013, 11:01:29 »

Everyone seems to have missed the bit about where the Ravens decided to open negotiations with the Outworlds rather than take them outright.  The Ravens stumbled across a detatchment, challenged them to a Trial of Possession for their JS/DS/whatever.  And the OA fighters fought them to a tie.  They gained massive prestige from it, and the Ravens treated with them sort of as a equal rather than tried to subdue them.

Oh sure, they were all charm and Big Romantic Gestures in the beginning, but now that the relationship is a given they've dropped the act and are sitting in the proverbial armchair on Alpheratz watching lacrosse (Clanners love lacrosse, you know) and yelling for the Outworlders to bring them another beer and a sammich. And all the Alliance's old friends won't talk to them anymore because they got tired of getting lectured about how "you just don't know the Ravens like I do"...

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General Discussion / Re: IlClan sourcebook - Just realized something.

« on: 10 April 2013, 13:13:24 »

I still don't understand why people think it would mean anything other than what it's always meant. Wouldn't that be the logical assumption?

Because logic is a little bird chirping in the meadow?

(Really, at this point we've all been conditioned to expect the conspiracy or the prestige or the tweest or whatever. Things being as they seem? We'll never see that coming...)

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The Periphery / Re: 3145 Periphery

« on: 10 April 2013, 07:47:52 »

Which is really kind of odd. The only time in the book she's mentioned as going a little extreme is on New Hessen. The earlier novels have her dealing with her issues, but also confronting and putting them behind her. The traits provided in the ER are rather...well.

I would note that they say she's just a "regular" level politician, not that she's necessarily bad at it. After all, she renegotiated the treaty with Jessica Marik, and did it without giving away anything about Andurien.

Wait.

Heir to multiple realms? Middling politician? Friends with nobility of other Great Houses?

Danai is the CapCon's Victor Steiner-Davion.

The Wheel truly does turn.

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General Discussion / Re: What are you most looking forward to in FM:3145?

« on: 10 April 2013, 07:39:13 »

"Nothing interesting happened in the Niops Association."