Empire of the Nerds: The Niops Association Thread

[Daryk]

Agreed on the Prowler!  :thumbsup:

[truetanker]

What again on the Niopian Origins?

And if your confused about my question, here's this:

It is indeed, at least in its 2613 form.  So are the Vengeance (2682) and Excalibur (2786).  I was pretty surprised myself.

Just what made them special... Isn't fluff stated somewhere that they had Royal Division equipment?

TT

[Giovanni Blasini]

What again on the Niopian Origins?

And if your confused about my question, here's this:
Just what made them special... Isn't fluff stated somewhere that they had Royal Division equipment?

TT

It was more my surprise to see them on the Periphery General list at all, and it turns out the Fortress has always been there.

That struck me as odd, because the Fortress is supposed to be rare, with only handfuls built, older ships hard to maintain, and the fiction tends to show Fortresses as carefully, jealously horded by Houses.

Ditto the Vengeance: it gets added to the Periphery General list in the Late Succession Wars era, which TR3057R describes as mainly being House-controlled, with a few independent and mercenary ships as the exceptions.  Excaliburs are supposed to be similarly rare.

As for the Niops Militia using Royal Division equipment, it's never clearly established outside their use of Nighthawk XXI and XXII suits, which clearly were Royal Division equipment.

[Colt Ward]

The tech retcon had those ships start being built again, so IMO all they are doing is saying they may have propagated that far . . . and to end up on the MUL for a faction, it could mean that at least 2 of a unit have showed up.

[Sartris]

The tech retcon had those ships start being built again, so IMO all they are doing is saying they may have propagated that far . . . and to end up on the MUL for a faction, it could mean that at least 2 of a unit have showed up.

correct

[DOC_Agren]

It is indeed, at least in its 2613 form.  So are the Vengeance (2682) and Excalibur (2786).  I was pretty surprised myself.

I'm still shocked, they were always fluffed as RARE as He11...   here Fortress Fortress..  Lets land and shell some Long Tom on our enemies!!!

It does indeed.  Between its appearance and performance, the Slayer's definitely my favorite heavy aerospace fighter, and seeing this hit the Periphery General list makes me just squee with joy.

I have to be honest Cannonshop has greatly effected my view of them..  used be my go to bird was the Thunderbird, still would be as harder as a merc from Lryan to get enough Slayers

The most Niops-themed choice on the vehicle list, though, would probably be the Prowler, which is on the Periphery General list in ECM, Sealed, Sucession Wars, Support and Standard versions.

:thumbsup:

[Daryk]

Pinard builds T-Birds...  8)

[DOC_Agren]

Pinard builds T-Birds...  8)

yes I was talking about getting Slayers and the only "legal" source is from the DC.  T-Birds can be bought TC, MoC, FS.  So you can get multiple resupply sources

[truetanker]

The Slayer is a Draconis Combine heavy fighter designed before the fall of the Star League.

Wakazashi planned to move its plants to the Periphery so that they could avoid being damaged in the ensuing carnage.

And as such, why wouldn't the SL have access to it? The data plans could have been in cold storage much like the Monolith C was with the clans.

TT

[DOC_Agren]

The Slayer is a Draconis Combine heavy fighter designed before the fall of the Star League.

Wakazashi planned to move its plants to the Periphery so that they could avoid being damaged in the ensuing carnage.

And as such, why wouldn't the SL have access to it? The data plans could have been in cold storage much like the Monolith C was with the clans.

TT

I have no problem with SL/Clans having access to design..  Just as a 3025 to 3060 merc it harder to come by outside the DC where the plants are

[Hotpoint]

Hi All,

I've been working on a re-boot of my "Revenge of the Nerds" BT Fanfic (I realised I could do a lot better with the setting) and as part of that I decided to flesh out the Niops system a bit.

Taking the real-life TRAPPIST-1 system as a base I shuffled some of the planets around to come up with what I hope is a reasonable guess at what the Niops system is like (the two dwarf planets are my own invention but it is canon that Niops has an asteroid belt).

You could actually fit the entire planetary system inside the orbit of Mercury in our own solar system because Niops is so much smaller than Terra.

The Goldilocks Zone (not too hot or too cold) for TRAPPIST is actually the 4th, 5th and 6th planets out from the star, but TRAPPIST is an M8V Red Dwarf whereas Niops is a hotter and larger M5V so having Niops V, VI and VII as the inhabitable ones isn't a stretch.

Even though it's only a Red Dwarf Niops I, II and III orbit so close to it that they're hot as hell, whereas Niops IV is a lot like Venus (very thick toxic atmosphere).

Again because they orbit so close to the star all the planets in the system except Niops VII are tidally locked (Niops VII will be too eventually). That helps explain why the coldest of the three inhabitable planets of the system is the one most people live on (the weather on a tidally locked planet with an ocean and an atmosphere would be absolutely diabolical).

Take a look and feel free to use this yourselves.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Hi All,

I've been working on a re-boot of my "Revenge of the Nerds" BT Fanfic (I realised I could do a lot better with the setting) and as part of that I decided to flesh out the Niops system a bit.

Taking the real-life TRAPPIST-1 system as a base I shuffled some of the planets around to come up with what I hope is a reasonable guess at what the Niops system is like (the two dwarf planets are my own invention but it is canon that Niops has an asteroid belt).

You could actually fit the entire planetary system inside the orbit of Mercury in our own solar system because Niops is so much smaller than Terra.

The Goldilocks Zone (not too hot or too cold) for TRAPPIST is actually the 4th, 5th and 6th planets out from the star, but TRAPPIST is an M8V Red Dwarf whereas Niops is a hotter and larger M5V so having Niops V, VI and VII as the inhabitable ones isn't a stretch.

Even though it's only a Red Dwarf Niops I, II and III orbit so close to it that they're hot as hell, whereas Niops IV is a lot like Venus (very thick toxic atmosphere).

Again because they orbit so close to the star all the planets in the system except Niops VII are tidally locked (Niops VII will be too eventually). That helps explain why the coldest of the three inhabitable planets of the system is the one most people live on (the weather on a tidally locked planet with an ocean and an atmosphere would be absolutely diabolical).

Take a look and feel free to use this yourselves.

Thank you so much.  In fact, if you have that in higher resolution, I'd seriously appreciate it.

That's pretty close to what I was thinking, too, with using TRAPPIST as a base due to how similar they are, especially since my other choice, Kerbin from Kerbal Space Program, wouldn't really work.

In my own stories, I have a hidden cache and shipyard on Niops IX, one of the dwarf planets out farther than Niops VII.  I went with that since it mirrors Ix in the Dune stories.

[Hotpoint]

Thank you so much.  In fact, if you have that in higher resolution, I'd seriously appreciate it.

Here you go (I just realised I uploaded an older version and corrected it in both posts).

[ANS Kamas P81]

All planets being tidally locked is going to make the weather interesting. 

[Hotpoint]

All planets being tidally locked is going to make the weather interesting.

Yep. The atmosphere and oceans on the warm side of the planet are going to be constantly trying to transfer heat to the cold side (thermodynamics writ large). Expect some serious winds, and constant rainfall at the point the warm damp air meets the cold which resembles a waterfall more than it does a thunderstorm!

It does nicely explain the population of Niops generally choosing to live on the coldest planet of the three available though (they're all inhabitable but only VII is hospitable, just wrap up warm when you go outside).

[Daryk]

Awesome, thanks for sharing this!  :thumbsup:

[Hotpoint]

Just as a follow-up to my planetary chart for Niops above, this is how the sky would likely look on Niops VII (it's actually an artists rendering of what the sky of exoplanet Kepler-1649c would look like, but Kepler 1649 is an M5V Red Dwarf like Niops and 1649c orbits about the same distance out as Niops VII does its own star).



Niops is a lot smaller than Sol, but its planets orbit much, much closer than we do so it still looks pretty large in the sky.

Red sky at night, sailor's delight. Red sky in the morning, sailor takes warning.

Red sky all the damn time, you're living under an M Class Star.  :))

[Daryk]

Nice pic!  :thumbsup:

[D-Rock]

Hi there, long time reader, first time poster.

I thought you might be interested in my interpretation of a Niops Association Militia formation as well as its paint job.

At your inspiration from the shuttlecraft from the original Star Trek series. Dark gray underbelly with a lighter gray top but instead of the red stripes I use blue as per Canon.

As for my Mech choices that was trickier. All I knew is Niops used the Highlander, Black Knight, Nighthawk armor, and Burke tank. Choosing what other mechs they might feel was difficult. In the end I chose fancy star league era rides that were very hard to find in the periphery. I figure, judge by what we already knew they had, that they want the very best, even if it was a tad impractical or implausible to have it.

The Highlander and the Black Knight are obvious choices since they are Canon. I chose the Sentinel because I thought it was a cheap and quirky option that would be reasonable to add into a far off militia. The Wolverine I threw in just because it's a common design (that and I felt Comstar Mechs were limited in the medium options).

Trying to decide on a scout was difficult. I could just give them a wasp or a stinger and called it a day, but knowing how much niops tend to go towards fancier rides I decide to go all out and just get a Mongoose. The Mercury was just to flesh out my options.

I hope you all like what I have to give and I hope I can contribute to this discussion further.

[Giovanni Blasini]

Dude, that's a hell of a first post.   :thumbsup:

Love the inclusion of the Sentinel - I'd passed over looking at the design, just because it looked so damned goofy, but the new one is absolutely glorious-looking, and you're right that it's a good, quirky unit that makes a decent medium trooper.  The Mongoose and Mercury are also great choices: I still wish there was a 20-ton Omni version of the Mercury.

Paint job looks fantastic, taking what's known from canon and really adding to it with the darker grey lower half.  It looks great!  It's always cool to see other interpretations of more obscure paint schemes that have descriptions without depictions, and see how they all differ and are yet really similar.,

[D-Rock]

'Benny's Blitzers' 1st Reinforced Lance (lvl II) of the Territorial Guard, Niops Association Militia, based out of Chapterhouse, Niops V.

Circa, 3150's.

The devastation brought upon by the Word of Blake in the 3080s, Marian raiders, and the political chaos afterwards, reduced the NAM's Star League era battlemech army to the equivalent of one regiment... divided among three inhabited planets. The degradation also reached NAMs aerospace corp, meaning they could be relied on less, making a mech engagement more likely. The loss of all but one of the Niops Project Workshops meant the once formidable force was without the proper means of replenishment or replacement, self-sufficient but hardly enough to keep up with demand. Resources were exhausted. Political will to rebuild the armed forces was practically non-existent. The diplomatic front was equally dire, with their only friend in the Terran Republic of the Sphere collapsing, Interstellar Expeditions losing interest, a warring Free Worlds League at their doorstep, the Marian Hegemony looming over as a threat, and now the Magistracity of Canopus on the war path, with Niops straight in their path.

By the ilClan era, the Niops Association Militia was in a sorry state. But this was not the poorly experienced and naive armed forces from the days of Alicia Carmichael, devastated by the Marians and the Word of Blake. This new force, despite the odds, we're learning from the past, and motivated by one mantra.

"Never Again."

They adapted the Level II squadron formation, yet deployed in the standard Inner Sphere Lance during battle, selecting suitable mechs within the reinforced lance depending on mission requirements. If the mission required even more firepower, all six mechs could be deployed. The pilots cross-trained in different formation configurations and mission requirements to create a flexible battle formation that made use of their limited resources. They were still hamstrung by their ancient and increasingly rare war machines, top-of-the-line in their day but now worn and kept together by luck and by the tireless efforts of the Niops Projects Workshop. However, it doesn't stop the overworked and underappreciated cadre of MechWarrior pilots in the NAM from slowly getting better, and even innovating.

Time will tell if their new ideas will work within the practical application of actual warfare, but so far the simulations are promising.

Benny's Blitzers makes do with what they have, tending to ancient mechs who've survived, despite the odds, the devastation and reconstruction of their nation. So far it is a battle Lance formation, but once the applicable Mex are made available, Benny's Blitzers will transition to a Heavy Cavalry Lance to better respond to pirate raids.

As the horns of war are heard near the lone periphery nation, Niops is more than aware that time is not on their side. It's the hope of a few to awaken the many so that the last vestige of Star League glory may yet still survive.

The Mechs:
-'Ol' Reliable', a Highlander HGN-732 originally from the SLDF garrison. Piloted by Capt. Benjamin 'Benny' O'Halloran)
-'Ali's Revenge', a Black Knight modified to BL-9-KNT standards after studying captured destroyed examples during the Word of Blake invasion. Piloted by Lieutenant Sg. Cynthia Carmichael, descended from the arch-traitor Alicia's cousin.
-a Wolverine WVR-6R, one of a few imports brought in during an attempt to standardize NAM mechs with more common models found throughout the periphery. It's yet to earn its name. Piloted by Sergeant Lynn Chen 
-'Stump', a Sentinel STN-3L, there's plenty of these quirky and unpopular machines in the NAM inventory. Piloted by Corporal Leif Nellis.
-'Speedy', one of the few Mercury MCY-99's left in NAM service. It's pilot, Corporal Harminder Singh Kaur, doesn't want to give her up when (or if they ever) replace his unit with the much more economical Locust.
- a recently refurbished Mongoose MON-66. These machines are considered 'cherry' assignments for a graduate straight out of the Niops Military Academy. Piloted by Private Alphonse Li

[Daryk]

They should have imported a WVR-6M from the fractious Mariks.  That's a 3025 machine that can hold its own years down the road...  ^-^

[Giovanni Blasini]

They should have imported a WVR-6M from the fractious Mariks.  That's a 3025 machine that can hold its own years down the road...  ^-^

It's a heck of a 'Mech, but one hilarious use of a WVR-6R would be to load the AC/5's ammo bin with flak ammo, allowing it to function as your air defense 'Mech.

[Daryk]

I think that would be a better use of the Sentinel, actually...  8)

[D-Rock]

My takeaway was that Niops likes their mechs weird and rare.

I don't think any of it aside from what's already established is really able to be set in stone.

But these are some of my closest guesses I can make to plausible mechs.

[Giovanni Blasini]

I think that would be a better use of the Sentinel, actually...  8)

The STL-3L is running an Ultra/5, so no flak ammo available.

My takeaway was that Niops likes their mechs weird and rare.

I don't think any of it aside from what's already established is really able to be set in stone.

But these are some of my closest guesses I can make to plausible mechs.

Sounds plausible, and anything that makes Niops weirder works for me. :)

[Daryk]

The UAC has a slightly longer range, and thus might still be more useful in that role...  ^-^

[Giovanni Blasini]

So, with, what, two new Recognition Guides left to go, think there will be any blurbs mentioning the Niops Association as fielding a particular unit?

[Daryk]

Best of luck with that!  :thumbsup:

[chanman]

Decided to try my hand at a Niops paint scheme on a Gunpla GM (HGUC-040 Cold Climates GM for those wondering)




Notes:

• I made the terrible and undoubtedly common mistake of trying to paint before final assembly. The right arm snapped off in the joint (these older models seem to have weaker polycap articulation points in general).
• I'm pleased with how the head turned out
• I goofed on the metallic grey on the shield (and upper legs). I got lazy at the end of this build and just put the paint on thicker than I should have, although I'm not totally opposed to the grain effect
• White is bloody nightmare, especially with black primer. It took 6 layers, and by the end the paint was starting to get a bit thick and I swear I still saw some dark spots. Note to self: No more dark primer with light paint
  
• Although it stemmed from inconsistent mixing for the grey formulation, I actually like the effect of varying grey shades. It has an effect a bit like the grey-on-grey camo used by USAF air superiority F-15s
• These early GMs seem to have the weakest articulation/most worn-out molds.