Author Topic: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread  (Read 170385 times)

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #120 on: 07 September 2011, 15:27:08 »
It's all second hand information - a possible civil war interrupted by invasion, a nuke going off in the capital, a total cessation of communications with the outside.

Hopefully Final Reckoning will provide more info. If there was a Blakist presence in large numbers in '79 then it's a miracle the Regulans didn't swing by and just carpet bomb the system "just to be sure".

Well, I suppose we can take comfort that the Niops (which my TouchPad spellchecker wants to change to Hoops) Association is still on the MWDA map...with all three worlds (the hidden colony on IX not included).
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Niopsian

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #121 on: 07 September 2011, 15:35:59 »
Well, I suppose we can take comfort that the Niops (which my TouchPad spellchecker wants to change to Hoops) Association is still on the MWDA map...with all three worlds (the hidden colony on IX not included).

Indeed! Although the information from the Touring the Stars entry was so similar to the 3067 data that many of us (ok, me) assumed that nothing must have happened in the intervening years.

Whoops. #P


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Caturix

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #122 on: 07 September 2011, 18:18:20 »
And what about Niops I, II, III, IV and VIII ??
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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #123 on: 07 September 2011, 18:21:12 »
And what about Niops I, II, III, IV and VIII ??

Probably like Sol I, II, V, VII and VIIII.
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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #124 on: 07 September 2011, 18:25:06 »
WoB vs. Niops: Mac vs. PC enters a new and frightening phase... 
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #125 on: 08 September 2011, 00:14:16 »
WoB vs. Niops: Mac vs. PC enters a new and frightening phase...

Oh, come on! You know Hoops is the one place in the galaxy that still runs webOS...well, besides my house.
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chanman

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #126 on: 08 September 2011, 01:36:09 »
Oh, come on! You know Hoops is the one place in the galaxy that still runs webOS...well, besides my house.

The Dark Age blackout was actually caused by the Niops HPG rolling out a P2P-distributed patch that had the unfortunate side effect of completely bricking HPG whose operators had neglected to keep their systems up to date.

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #128 on: 08 September 2011, 10:59:16 »
:'(

Buck up! In BattleTech, it's still a planet.
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Doug Glendower

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #129 on: 08 September 2011, 14:02:36 »
I heard that to power the Super Shield, Levin demoted it permently... PRAXIS STYLE!

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #130 on: 08 September 2011, 15:43:23 »
Buck up! In BattleTech, it's still a planet.

Now you have me wondering if the Belters consider Ceres and Eris to be planets. 
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verybad

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #131 on: 09 September 2011, 15:32:28 »
I must admit a grudging respect for Niops. They are the lone village of Gauls standing up to RomanMarian domination.

Ils sont fous, cest Marianes! ;D

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Col.Hengist

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #132 on: 09 September 2011, 23:06:11 »
yes, well...Vercingetorix was still strangled at the triumph.
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verybad

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #133 on: 09 September 2011, 23:43:11 »
Welcome to Niops, check out our new OS!


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Niopsian

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #134 on: 10 September 2011, 10:54:40 »
Welcome to Niops, check out our new OS!


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Yes, the SPARTAN-II project is definitely one of the things that is not being developed in the secret facility that does not exist on Niops IX. :-X


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Col.Hengist

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #135 on: 10 September 2011, 11:43:28 »
Correct, if it was on IX it would be a mentat cyborg.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #136 on: 29 September 2011, 18:00:21 »
OK, so is anyone else confuses by the Word of Blake invasion of Niops?  Chanman and I were planning out the Niops fanfic we're working on, and found some...oddities.

First, Niops is small time. We might not want to admit it, but we all know it.  Industrial capacity?  Sure, they have some small capacity to build SLDF military hardware, but certainly not enough to significantly affect the Blakist war effort.

Field Report Periphery mentions that Niops got invaded because the Word of Blake could take advantage of their internal unrest (over for nearly a year, though, wasn't it?) and also to gain access to their mineral resources.  However, chanman and I both recall reading that Niops is mineral poor, having depleted most of their mineral resources.

So, why the heck did the Word of Blake not only invade Niops, but go so far as to use nukes, but invade with a small enough force that, after two years, the Niops Associated Militia still held Niops V?
« Last Edit: 29 September 2011, 18:09:25 by Giovanni Blasini »
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glitterboy2098

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #137 on: 29 September 2011, 22:50:44 »
first foundation under the mule trying to stop the 2nd foundation from surviving to the proper time?  ;) 8)

more seriously, perhaps it has to do with some of niops' oddities. why did a tiny pure science research outpost get several regiments of star league military hardware for guards? hell, they even had Nighthawk's which were classified at "read about then shoot yourself after" levels even for the Terran Hegemony's upper commands.
why did they have a techno-religious society when comstar first contacted them, but a more normal one when relations became more normalized with the IS? what kind of science data is worth the cost of several regements of top of the line battlemechs? etc.


a shot in the dark (and parhaps an interesting plot idea for fanfic), perhaps Niops really was something of a 'Seldon Foundation". set up in an out of the way place where it would be safe from political fallout, with a fairly pluasible cover. set up with massive databanks of info about everything, and staffed with eggheads to ensure that the knowledge can be preserved and maybe improved over time. then assigned a heavy guard (for it's size) citing issues with the nearby RWR and other periphery powers as a cover.

all as a "timecapsule" in case the worst comes to past and the IS fights the 'final war'.

heck, you could even attribute it to Jerome Blake before he became leader of comstar.. certainly the idea fits his fears about the IS that the word of blake perverted into their plan of "let them fal lto the stone age so we can swoop in as rescueing angels" though the timing of the founding of niops would imply some longevity medical tech being involved..
« Last Edit: 29 September 2011, 23:06:49 by glitterboy2098 »

Niopsian

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #138 on: 29 September 2011, 23:07:57 »
Moreover, we don't have hard confirmation yet that it is Word of Blake. They're the most likely culprits, to be sure, but all the sources seem awfully non-specific.

Unless I'm forgetting something.


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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #139 on: 11 October 2011, 17:15:09 »
OK, here's a weird one, for the fanfic I'm working on:

We know in the early 3060s, the Niops Association has a population of around 20 million spread across three planets in the same red dwarf star system.  The planets are close enough, in fact, that aerospace fighters can stage between each planet in less than a day with minimal drop tanks.  It's also, IIRC, less than 3 days to their jump point.

So, we know some level of interplanetary travel has to happen - if not, how'd they settle all three worlds?  Cargo and people travel back and forth between the three planets.

Additionally, the Niops Association Militia has four "regiments" which each consisited of a 'Mech/armor battalion and two infantry battalions, which have to shuffle troops between the three planets, as well as a single (in 3062 or so) aerospace fighter wing.  Over the run-up to the Jihad, they also funded another battalion (IIRC) of armor/'Mechs via "astronomical research data".  After the Jihad began, they also started producing Nighthawk PA(L) suits.  So, they've certainly got high-tech production, but it's always been characterized as being very slow, and often practically hand-built.

During the Jihad, occasional reports from JumpShips come in to tell about the invasion of Niops after their HPGs go silent.  It's not clear whether these were JumpShips visiting Niops or, initially, escapees, though.

Given that this isn't the FGC'62, where Niops could produce JumpShips without too much difficulty, were gearing up to produce the Tracker class, and had the blueprints to the Newgrange but absolutely no hope of ever building them, I'm trying to figure out what a more realistic picture of Niops merchant and military shipping might have looked like at the start of the invasion by the Word of Blake.  What their shipbuilding industry might look like would be an added bonus.

So, how big a civilian DropShip fleet would Niops realistically?  As for designs, I figure the Danais is a possibility, though they seem to have gotten better gear than the average Periphery state (since they were directly colonized by the "Star League"), so something like the Buccaneer or Mule may be more likely.  I'm not aware of too many passenger liners, just the Monarch and, IIRC, Princess.

I'm assuming Niops can't move their entire military at one time, which makes sense, since they had little need to do so.  Figure shipping to move maybe a quarter of that - around one combined arms battalion and two battalions of infantry at most?  Thoughts?

Lastly, what do you think their FTL transportation assets probably look like?

My end goal in all of this is not only to try to round out my mental picture of what the Niops Association looks like, but also to figure out what realistically could have escaped at the start of the invasion - yes, chanman and I had the idea of a "ragtag" fleet led by some military ship escorting a wacky bunch of transhumanists looking to start over somewhere else.

Ideas, comments, suggestions, mockery, derision?  ???
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Niopsian

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #140 on: 11 October 2011, 18:23:29 »
As a colony, they may not have been allocated FTL transportation, expecting that they would be receiving regular visits from SLDF or SL civilian transports. (This might also help explain why once contact was lost they didn't hop over to the nearest FWL system and see what was up.)

The first opportunity to acquire JumpShips might have been when the Capellan refugees stumbled across the system. If that's the case, I'm thinking a handful of Scout or Merchant class ships, with only the bare minimum of infrastructure bootstrapped into production to keep them serviced.

You're right about the intra-system traffic angle, though. The Niops system should be buzzing with DropShips, and there should be enough demand and industry to produce some local knockoff designs. (What was the predecessor to the Union? The Lion?)


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Colt Ward

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #141 on: 11 October 2011, 18:28:21 »
How widely know are the Niops worlds?  I am considering changing my mercs future home destination to one of these worlds, but the whole bit about the mercs participating in a coup attempt might make it uncomfortable.
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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #142 on: 11 October 2011, 20:46:39 »
One of my pet theories is that Niops was a cover for a Special Armed Services base, hence why they had enough data (and probably examples) of the Nighthawk BAs. Given they basically hand-tooled their high end gear, they had to have some equipment on hand to copy in addition to the mechanics/basic technical guides.

Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #143 on: 11 October 2011, 21:27:29 »
How widely know are the Niops worlds?  I am considering changing my mercs future home destination to one of these worlds, but the whole bit about the mercs participating in a coup attempt might make it uncomfortable.

Around the Periphery edge of FWL space, relatively well known - at least, well enough to send multiple groups out to make sure everything was OK there.  They're well-known to ComStar/WoB, and merited multiple VIP mentions in-character: Lear, for example, mentioned them in reports to Stone.

One of my pet theories is that Niops was a cover for a Special Armed Services base, hence why they had enough data (and probably examples) of the Nighthawk BAs. Given they basically hand-tooled their high end gear, they had to have some equipment on hand to copy in addition to the mechanics/basic technical guides.

Possible.  I also tend to suspect they were a major Star League data repository, with something akin to the Helm or New Dallas Cores.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #144 on: 12 October 2011, 01:37:40 »
As a colony, they may not have been allocated FTL transportation, expecting that they would be receiving regular visits from SLDF or SL civilian transports. (This might also help explain why once contact was lost they didn't hop over to the nearest FWL system and see what was up.)

The first opportunity to acquire JumpShips might have been when the Capellan refugees stumbled across the system. If that's the case, I'm thinking a handful of Scout or Merchant class ships, with only the bare minimum of infrastructure bootstrapped into production to keep them serviced.

Sounds about right.  Capacity to support, if not construct, JumpShips.

Quote
You're right about the intra-system traffic angle, though. The Niops system should be buzzing with DropShips, and there should be enough demand and industry to produce some local knockoff designs. (What was the predecessor to the Union? The Lion?)

Lion and Confederate.  The former carried eight 'Mechs and a company of light vehicles, the latter either four 'Mechs and two ASF or six 'Mechs.
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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #145 on: 12 October 2011, 08:53:11 »
I wonder if a large portion of the in-system civilian traffic(and maybe a bit of military) isn't done with Dropships, but long-range shuttles?
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Col.Hengist

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #146 on: 12 October 2011, 10:31:25 »
The only real problem I have with NIOPS being a memory core planet is if it were they should have been able to build battlemech factories from specs left in the core.
Problem 1) no labor to build it.
Solution is they had all the cappy refugees.

Problem 2) maybe the weren't in the core.
Solution they're pretty bright,even the MH is building primitives in factories and they have been around a lot less time and with less knowledgeable people.

Altho in my opinion i also believe they were a military/covert ops/something sneeky and fun place.
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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #147 on: 12 October 2011, 19:10:58 »
I wonder if a large portion of the in-system civilian traffic(and maybe a bit of military) isn't done with Dropships, but long-range shuttles?

Plausible, but you get some scales of economy with dropships - fewer trips, oversized cargos, fewer pilots and traffic. Or, why I see a lot of 53 and 48 foot trailers at work even though most of the shipping depots we receive shipments from are inside the city and perfectly doable with 5 tons or pup trailers.

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #148 on: 12 October 2011, 19:22:42 »
True. I just figure that smaller craft give a lot of flexibility, especially when you're a small-time merchant. Military-wise, I bet there's certain situations when a light tank and a squad or two of infantry will do, and given how few DropShips they must have, a DropShuttle will probably do just fine.
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Giovanni Blasini

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Re: Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread
« Reply #149 on: 12 October 2011, 21:52:21 »
It's a cast-iron bitch to find infantry movers from the 27th Century that don't haul a bunch of other stuff: if Niops could move a sizeable portion of their infantry on standard DropShips, their spacelift for 'Mechs and vehicles would be utter overkill.  Figure Niops probably uses a lot of landing craft and the SLDF predecessor of the Battle Taxi to move infantry.
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