Setting up a new AToW Campaign

[Trellis Serf]

Hello again.  I don't actually know which forum this would go in, but since it's for an A Time of War game I want to set up for friends back home (and later recruit more players online), as I won't be able to run for them in RL.

Anyway, couple of lore questions, and a book integration question.

Lore Questions (should this have been in Ask the Writers?):
1.  Is there honestly a way for an inhabited planet located in a Clan Occupation Zone to have been so good at hiding in plain sight that somehow the Clans, and for 80 years afterward the invasion, just avoided it or went around it?   Either they deemed it insignificant, or perhaps the few inhabitants of this planet were around a really long time, deleted their existence from pre-Exodus Star League records, and have been throwing up "chaff" or something that makes their presence undetectable?
2.  Are there instances of stuff surviving from the 20th Century, such as old computers, and even more, software from that time period?  1,000 years is a long time, and software preservation efforts can be challenging, I'm sure.

I'm picturing a planet that kind of was like Niops, but founded by a bunch of loner software engineers and nerdy preservationists.

Book question:
Which book is best for a long-term campaign that balances the RP aspect with an operation that sees the players defend this hypothetical planet when their existence starts becoming known, especially among periphery pirates and sniffing seekers?  Campaign Ops?

Thanks in advance!

[Daryk]

Campaign Operations has the Maintenance and Salvage rules that used to be in the OG Strategic Operations, as well as rules for simply operating a unit.

Questions like this absolutely belong here in this forum!  When you start to actually run it, either the Fan Faction or Roleplaying subforums would work.  I use the Non-Canon Units forum for unit TO&Es, and those usually end up being the OOC threads.

[monbvol]

To more directly answer your questions:

1. Ultimately it is your game and you can just handwave away that this has happened.  As for how plausible/likely that is I would say the Clans have had a few instances where as long as a world was insignificant enough and didn't present them a problem they have largely left it alone but if either of those change they will act on it.

2. Yes.  There is scattered stuff from the 20th and 21st century around, largely museum pieces and the like.  Almost all of that is on Earth though.  Software is pretty unlikely to have survived in its original form.  So it is not impossible that a new version in more modern programing languages of something that old exists and certain things are just going to persist in some familiar form.

Another asset that might prove surprisingly useful for book keeping is MekHQ.  It can help take care of any accounting and repair/refit tasks once you get used to it.

[Trellis Serf]

To more directly answer your questions:

1. Ultimately it is your game and you can just handwave away that this has happened.  As for how plausible/likely that is I would say the Clans have had a few instances where as long as a world was insignificant enough and didn't present them a problem they have largely left it alone but if either of those change they will act on it.

I admit I ask this because I have a friend who is 1,000 times more versed in lore than me, so it's difficult to surprise him, as well as keep things in a comfortable level for the other players who like a bit of "grounded heavily in lore" but is it's own thing.  I was going to do "Generic Periphery Realm", or something in the Outworlds Wastes, but decided to have a bit of fun with a weird idea I had while walking in the hot Florida sun.

Then there's the one guy who loves all things Clans, and always couches things like the Clans are omnipotent, so I wanted to "Well, ACTUALLY" him.  Yeah, guilty.

2. Yes.  There is scattered stuff from the 20th and 21st century around, largely museum pieces and the like.  Almost all of that is on Earth though.  Software is pretty unlikely to have survived in its original form.  So it is not impossible that a new version in more modern programing languages of something that old exists and certain things are just going to persist in some familiar form.

Another asset that might prove surprisingly useful for book keeping is MekHQ.  It can help take care of any accounting and repair/refit tasks once you get used to it.

The reason I ask this part is because the weird sun-baked brain thought I had was that this world was founded by some Star League software engineers on retreat.  They were also nerdy preservationists restoring ancient games from the 70s-90s, which then somehow became the cultural guides leading to a Renfaire like society, warped by Zork games.  The story would be that they can't hide anymore and are attracting pirates, and even a branch of Snord's Irregulars.  The inspiration is kind of meta because Infocom, the makers of Zork, also went on to make the Crescent Hawk's Revenge game...

And yes, there would be subterranean, photophobic monsters that can devour humans whole if no light source is present. 
Thanks for your answers!  And yes, I've already set up MekHQ for management!