I'm not clear what the Ryan iceball style jump is carrying. I think that's by design, but wanted to make sure I wasn't just extra-dense this morning.
I'm saying it's a repurposed space-station.
Is it a MW2: Mercs reference? The ice ship you defend?Okay, it's been longer than I care to think of, but IIRC, that was purely in-system
Dun dun duuuuuuuuun!
This ...
Options do not include the Omnivoracity from Starfire, could include the aliens from the Dahakverse, or the Xenophones from the SPI series of games, but ... Cannonshop, ever read Passage at Arms by Glen Cook? Or the related Starfishers trilogy?
Cannonshop has used the formation for moving large items intact before in these stories, so evidently in this continuity it is possible to move things without shattering them. perhaps the standard Ryan cartel method was actually a flawed version, which could be perfected if you had skilled enough jump-navigators?
I confess I have not.
I admit, I will not miss having to negotiate who gets to sleep in the bed, and I will not miss having three out of four heads packed with supplies
Well, at least Trillian has the good sense to keep Sharon around...
And it's now "a couple" of dead civilizations?? ???
Did we get a date on how long ago the first xenocide event found was?
Prior or post fall of the original Star League?
What have Tabby and Maggie and Sybil been up to?
Getting my speculation down now:
My two C-Bills are on aroguehighly-self-evolved branch of Caspar/Locura AIs. The existential terror of aggressive aliens enforcing a Great Filter is less unnerving than the slowly-dawning horror awakened by the realization that this is wrought by things wrought by human hands. It's consistent with both Battletech canon and what I've read of Cannonshop's other work, in that humanity's own capacity for atrocity and self-destruction is one of the setting's greatest forces.
Interesting choice of killing vector. The requirement for external power - microwaves, in this case - means that in a planetary environment you're unlikely to see a "grey goo" event. It would also be likely that the Dust only responds to a specific frequency, or band of frequencies. Withdraw the power source, no breakaway. Not so much low-tech nanotech, as deliberately reined in.it also would simplify decontamination measures. as once the power beams are off, the agent no longer is active. presumably you could also engineer them to be vulnerable to some other form of energy so that you could destroy the motes prior to colonization. (given it is nanoscale technology the likely choices would be UV, which tends to rip apart DNA and similar organic molecules, or ionizing radiation like X-rays and gamma rays.)
Would be amusing if you could Dust a ship, then play some masers over it ...
How many ships is a Cutter Division?
There are 64 cutters, and 16 support ships in a Cutter Division.
(snips breakdown)
I step away for 2 days and have to catch up
I was asking another writer whether he was a Strazinski, or a Martin. Eg. Strazinski had a 5-year arc for Babylon 5, with enough flexibility to roll with the punches, but knew where he was heading. Whereas Martin is quoted as saying "he builds the world, puts the characters in it, and then they do what they're going to do".
Like most writers, I suspect it's a little from column A, a little from column B. Where do you feel you sit on that range?
I was asking another writer whether he was a Strazinski, or a Martin. Eg. Strazinski had a 5-year arc for Babylon 5, with enough flexibility to roll with the punches, but knew where he was heading. Whereas Martin is quoted as saying "he builds the world, puts the characters in it, and then they do what they're going to do".
Like most writers, I suspect it's a little from column A, a little from column B.
Questions:
1) What worlds are the Quarantine Zone?
2) What Worlds (from point Far East to Far West, on the 3150 map (or closest map that would serve) so show roughly the patrol zone of the 9th District?
3) Linkie to the story that deals (and explains) the Quarantine Zone?
So does this mean that Ngoverse stuff will come to a slow ending again :'(
And here a map center on Hood (https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/a/a3/Hood_IV_3151.svg?timestamp=20200214152719)
1 more centered on Miquelon (https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/4/4d/Miquelon_3151.svg?timestamp=20200214153909)
and 1 centered on Brooloo (https://cfw.sarna.net/wiki/images/9/9d/Brooloo_3151.svg?timestamp=20200214151200)
Those should help show the Quarantine Zone area
and PW don't feel bad many of us have been trying to follow with love the Ngo's for years.
and of course there are multiple parallel universes here also
i have started just disconnecting my brain as i read, too much else to keep track of, but wonderful story telling
Sorry about that, but it's been almost 20 years. (IIRC, the first Ngo story dates back to the late 1990s when Fanpro was just getting off the ground in the U.S., and these boards were a private board because the company didn't even properly exist.)yep the old private/personal board when many of us 1st jumped from rec.mecha.something to this.
a number of changes HAVE happened over the years. Most of the revisions were 'just enough to keep kinda current-ish'.
yep the old private/personal board when many of us 1st jumped from rec.mecha.something to this.
was it really that long ago
either way I have always enjoy your Ngo stories
Sorry about that, but it's been almost 20 years. (IIRC, the first Ngo story dates back to the late 1990s when Fanpro was just getting off the ground in the U.S., and these boards were a private board because the company didn't even properly exist.)
a number of changes HAVE happened over the years. Most of the revisions were 'just enough to keep kinda current-ish'.
I do enjoy making them.it might be interested to see a Ngo fanbook & tech readout with maybe some Scenarios. I mean you have put lots of work into Coast Guard and how they work.
I've had a few terrible ideas that I don't have the resources or time to do wrt to them. how terrible? Remember when Herb Beas did "Operation:Flashpoint" (the Kaumberg civil war in the Davion Civil War era)?
yah, something like that as a non-canon sourcebook (or series of modules) that people could play out and see if their results match mine.
Maybe a 'quarantine campaign' for post-Jihad era showing just how things ran between "Black Jumpsails" and "The Administrator" for Kowloon.
and then a follow up with a bunch of major battles from the final Falcon War.
could even be a stack of the things. Lots of Aerotech/space battle scenarios with planetary invasion sub-modules. why? because I doubt it was as 'easy' as the story makes it look, but I'm absolute crap for laying out good tabletop scenarios.
Then again, I'm LOVING what Giovanni_Blasini is doing with NIOPS in this-a tie in that isn't overt, but is really, really cool. I'd like to see more-maybe a FWL based set of stories from someone who really, really rocks the purple, or something deeper with the Cappies or the Davions or the Dracs.
something like an "Age of Navies" group project. yeah, that would be cool. (My opinion, other views may vary).
Somebody's in trouble... ::)
BTW, it's "underway"... you "weigh" anchor... two different things...
the attempted pun didn't work. in null-gee, being under thrust gives weight, so... but it didn't work, so edited.
Sorry... 27 years in the Navy got to me first...
It was an awesome line. It's the kind of clever that I like.
Wrong type of navy I guess :P
You gotta love the moxie of the officers in the KCGM.
KCGS Edward Vanh...
"It determines whether we use megaton yields to pull you over for a safety inspection, "
You gotta love the moxie of the officers in the KCGM.
8 Cutters with nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.
8 Cutters without nukes vs 1 Cameron seems one sided.
"They are identifying themselves, Ovkhan." the technician caste at comms said. "We are being hailed by...The Kowloon Coast Guard."the "oh ******" heard round the galaxy..
"Out here?"
Fair.
Not necessarily. The Cameron is actually a pretty mean ship that has good dissipation for its weapons, and enough of them to hit fairly hard, barring things outside the rules like the original's power system issues. On paper, the Aegis refit looks meaner, and does in fact have a bigger broadside, but the Cameron can actually defeat an Aegis in an engagement between the two, because its SI and armor are strong enough to keep from being taken out in one turn by the Aegis, while the weaker armor and SI of the Aegis means that, even once they roll, the Cameron could take out the Aegis on the second turn, thanks to having a broadside surprisingly comparable to a Texas class.
"It determines whether we use megaton yields to pull you over for a safety inspection, You jumped into my pond, the planet is not my pond, if you want to negotiate with the owners of the planet, we will stand by, Over."
"They are identifying themselves, Ovkhan." the technician caste at comms said. "We are being hailed by...The Kowloon Coast Guard."So Star Commodore Leland Khatib, the really question, do you feel lucky? Do you punk?
"Out here?"
Those Marines better get a move on, or there won't be any ship to go back to... :-\
Ouch... and I thought the first boarding team detonated its charges?? ???
Gary studied the Elemental across from him. "You wish an explanation? very well. Imagine someone who will run into a fire to save a stranger, who does not ask for honors or glory, who will challenge a combat-hardened elemental twice her mass, a man with nothing left to lose, for people who denigrate her faith and her heritage. I want you to imagine someone willing to place their life and faith on the line, constantly, without complaint, for those too vain and ungrateful to even comprehend the sacrifice...now, imagine that character, in someone who is also a cunning and resourceful fighter, who will risk their life to prevent a death."
he laid his palms on the desk, "She is truly good. Not just 'honorable', but good...and if you harm her, I will harm a disproportionate measure in reprisal, or die trying. I will do this, because she has made it possible for me to be better."
Dang it, I thought Trillian had that one locked down... :-\
I wouldn't be surprised if the minor powers contribute at least one JumpShip each...perhaps more. i'm sure that they have contacts with freelancers more than willing to hire on for (very generous) star league pay and promise of maintenance and overhaul afterwards (or during)
They also need to find a way to navigate around the shockwave so as to avoid their own destruction.
"Five Light Years from Strana Mechty." Star Captain Joseph Khatib stated. "The shockwave will reach the Pentagon worlds in a decade."
Depends on how 'thick' the shockwave is. If it is less than 30 light-years thick, they can just pop from outside to inside.
[snip...]
If there are any multi-body political systems between the Pentagon Worlds and Lyran space, those can be used to help resupply as needed.
And I still think the scale doesn´t work out:
It´s over 200 light-years from Strana Mechty to the Pentagon worlds. The shockwave cannot move faster than light. If it is to hit the Pentagon worlds in the 3170s, in must have been set off in the 2950s at the latest; by the time of Operation Revival, most of the Kerensky Cluster would have been hit already.
Big think to remember about Jump Chains.
The Chain moves at A jump per how long the slowest ship is charging.
or
in other words. the Jump chain can send a shipment only once per week.
If in a command circuit, you have some Jumpship that charges at 180 hours and others at 168, then you will have bottlenecks at the slower charging ships.
A Command Circuit is optimized for moving a few Jumpships quickly, they are not set up to do a continuous movement.
Why do you have to move all of them into the innersphere all at once. The clans probably know of a habitale world out side of the shock wave. Take supplies to build a temporary community, food, medicine and equipment to make housing. Then transfer the people there to get them out of the path. While starting to move some of them back. Once everybody and every thing that can be taken is safe then move them to the innersphere. By then you should be able to build enough jumpships and passenger dropships to be able to make a major command circuit with enough backup to make it fairly safe.
You need to move large numbers of people to locations that can support them.
Moving 100 million people from 29 ish worlds would require hundreds of worlds to absorb that number of refugees.
Otherwise the people will end up in camps for at least a generation of suffering and scarcity.
Dumping that many people on undeveloped worlds would kill most of them.
And that is assuming the hostile forces in the area don't attack at some point.
And the command circuit idea works but only for a flow rate equal to the minimum number of collars in each chain link and it would be no faster then that many jumpships going there and back again. It would only reduce the on ship time for the refugees and really only makes sense if you have a shortage of dropships and a surplus of jumpships.
this kind of situation would be ideal for my Columbia Evac Mk I as the main ship with people being transported up to the ships with the Evac Transport MK II small craft
How did your 2.5 MTon Columb1a Mk 1 manage to get 40 Dropship collars, two lithium-fusion battery systems, and cost only 2 billion?
For its price it is a good deal, but I'm wondering if there was some creative accounting going on behind the scenes.
The other detail is that if it isn't built yet, it may not be finished in time to help out.
attached is the break down of the cost for the ship
What year are we in for the Silent Black?
Thank you for the details
In your cost sheet, you have the following items with a listed cost:
KF Drive x 14,119,759,440
KF Drive Support System 6,000,000,000
Autonomous Tactical Analysis Computer (ATAC) 5,000,000,000
Naval C3 2,500,000,000
Even assuming the KF Drive line should be:
KF Drive x 1 4,119,759,440
That is still four items in the cost breakdown that are individually over 2.1 billion
How did your 2.5 MTon Columb1a Mk 1 manage to get 40 Dropship collars, two lithium-fusion battery systems, and cost only 2 billion?
For its price it is a good deal, but I'm wondering if there was some creative accounting going on behind the scenes.
The other detail is that if it isn't built yet, it may not be finished in time to help out.