...the post wasn't that long.

Besides, didn't Kith say that she wouldn't go too far when she originally proposed the scouting expidition?

That doesn't sound promising, at all.

Smooth as Tennessee Whiskey. 

How dark is it, anyway? I mean, I know it's midnight and we're in the woods, and there's the fog, but any moonlight at all?

A good percentage of us have some sort of low light or dark vision (save for Gib and Cedric... not sure about Midge... do cids have low light vision?) so a short range scout might not be a bad idea...

I'd like it noted for the record that, this time, it was not Ch'dau who wen't all gung ho! Me thinks the cat may be rubbing off on his companions a wee bit.  

Course plotted, engines on stand by. Give the word, Captain!

Mmmm... corn and carrots!

We're making stew!

Nice to see some forward momentum on this, again!

Good call on the "standing ready to rouse the others" bit, too! I figure that Gib, at least, will have been jostled out of sleep by the screams... battle experience and whatnot, you know... not sure about Cedric and Midge, though. I suppose we'll see when they post.

Much like the path that had led them to it, the fording of the stream had been more trying than appearances might have let on. Beneath the perceived calm of the water’s surface lurked faster currents and a streambed much slicker than imagined, both of which contributed to a more tentative crossing and, at one point, the need for Ch’dau to reach out and save Midge from a misstep that very well could have swept the cidal away. Save for that incident, and the unceremonious dunking of his own hindquarters that resulted from the “rescue,” though, the party made the far bank with little more than wet legs and wounded pride.

Creeping mist and encroaching dusk dissuaded the party from moving much farther and, following a brief and thankfully uneventful scouting of their surroundings, the decision was made to make camp for the night. A fire was lit, food was prepared, and watches were assigned in the face of the gathering night and, after drying his fur by the fire and filling his belly, Ch’dau settled himself against a tree, tending his blades before allowing himself to drift of into a guarded slumber. The first part of the night passed without incident and, for a short while, it seemed the rest of the small hours might follow suit. As the evening drew on, though, and the Silver Cat began to find himself lulled further into sleep, a distant scream echoed from somewhere far off in the woods, stirring the Kazari instantly into wakefulness. He was on his feet before his eyes were fully open, blades in his hands and ears twitching in hopes of capturing a more precise location of the screech that had shattered the stillness. His gaze swept the periphery of the camp and he sniffed at the air, too, making sure that there were no immediate threats, before he made his way to Kith’s side. He crouched next to the watchful woman as the renewed silence, once again, gave way to another distant cry… “What do you make of that, Little Kitten,” he asked softly, his own senses fully alert to their surroundings, now, “Has it only been the screams or has there been giggling, as well?”

((OOC: Short and sweet. I'm only assuming that Ch'dau hasn't heard, smelled, or seen anything aside from the screams, of course. If otherwise, let me know and I can edit.))

I've got a meeting of my own in about 30 minutes but will try and get a post up for the fuzzball shortly thereafter.

Quick question - would the scream have roused the rest of us or was it distant enough that only Kith heard it due to being awake?

...latest post was from one of our "VietSpam" folks. I purged the post and banned the user this morning.

I don't take any issue with the number/frequency of the life-beaing planets (or the math behind their existence), at all. I was just surprised that it's as high as it is, and, of course, it makes perfect sense given the setting.

Quick question regarding gameplay... will each player get to choose their own "starting system" or will they be assigned at random?

... and I think the planetary classifications are pretty great as presented. The proliferation of gas giants, ice giants, and such makes sense, as well. I am rather surprised by the frequency of life-bearing worlds, though. Not that it doesn't make sense (especially for a sci-fi type game) but one of every three systems possibly containing a planet or two of this type made me do a "double take." I wouldn't have expected them to be that common.

Good stuff, though, and I believe it'll make for decent gameplay options/strategies. I've got more thoughts in that vein but, at the moment, I have to disappear into the tedium of a meeting at work.

...and I think you pretty much nailed it where the tech-tree portion of colony ship>terraforming is concerned.

"Also, one ship type I didn't mention would be akin to a trnasport - a colony ship.  Slow, no armament, needs escorts.  Can it also terrform, or does it just carry colonists and materials?"

In my mind, I'm not seeing a colony ship that can terraform on it's own (at least, not at first... perhaps an upgrade, at some point?). I'm thinking that, to begin with, these ships simply carry colonists and materials. Maybe something along the lines of when the ship makes landfall it burrows itself into the terrain and establishes a "biodome" of sorts around itself, facilitating the colonists in setting up and beginning the terraforming process.

Thoughts?

You've touched on the big ones, I believe.

• Shipyards


• Trade/Spaceports


• Mining/Resource Production facilites
  
  
  
  • How about refineries? (convert raw resources into useable/upgraded materials)
  
  
  • And, since we're thinking about uninhabitable planets/asteroids; what about terraforming facilities? (leads into "upgrading planets," I would think)
    
    
    
    • I would also think that terraforming structures would require a pretty decent tech level to build, of course, not to mention copious resources
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  


• Definitely orbital defenses of some sort
  
  
  
  • Fighter stations
  
  
  • Satellite defense platforms
  
  
  • Planetary shield generator networks?
  
  
  
  

Also, as touched on above, planetary upgrades definitely make sense to me (even if we set aside the thought of terraforming). Things like infrastructure and agriculture come to mind. You can go from "land-based" transportation (i.e internal combustion engines and paved roadways) to more advanced systems (i.e. hover-vehicles, mag-lev trains, etc) that have less "environmental impact" therby improving the overall "health" and efficiency of a planet/system... Maybe, as you proceed you see production facilities like shipyards and such go from terrestrial facilities to orbital ones, again, minimizing impact on atmosphere/environment?... Then, you get into agriculture as, I imagine, feeding your systems populations and mainatining their overall health/well-being would be a consideration (moving from "samll, simple farms" to more efficient production and distribution facilities)... some sort of medical structures, perhaps, now that I've brought up health and well being?

Sounds as if we're on the same page where trade goes. I definitely like the idea of a trade port being an upgradeable structure, as well. As it's upgraded, perhaps, it becomes able to facilitate more (or even farther reaching) trade partners?

I also like the thoughts on pirates/smugglers and their ships. "Fringe systems" would definitely be prime targets for pirates, I think, and given that we're looking at blockades, I also believe that we might find a use for them (in more of a smuggler capacity) in others. That said, would we want to give consideration to making pirates/smugglers their own faction(s)? I don't know that they'd necessarily have control of their own systems, per se, but I could envision them setting up bases of operation somewhere... Asteroid fields or space stations of some sort, maybe?

Trade was one of the reasons I thought about transports, actually; I just wasn't sure exactly how much commerce might play into your vision for the game overall. If you wanted to get complex with the whole thing, some considerations might include things like:

• Trade routes, agreements, and or partnerships


• From a strategic perspective, you might also consider embargos and/or blockades (to curtail an enemies supply chains and/or development/repair times)


• And what about smugglers and pirates?
  
  
  
  • Would smugglers and pirates necessitate another class or two of ships or would they fall into existing proposed classes?
  
  
  
  

Again, I may be getting out in the weeds with some of this but, in the end, it's just kind of stream of consciousness brainstorming, at the moment.

What about transports? Assuming there is a "resource management/dispersal" aspect in play, here, I could imagine a need for haulers of some sort. Lightly armed (if at all... could possibly rely on escorts for defense) but well armored with cargo space above and beyond that of other ships their size.

Again, not sure how in depth you're really wanting to get with this, so, it's possible that the transport role could be filled by other ship classes you've already mentioned.

Edit: Now that I re-read, I see that transports would likely fall under the cruisers category... Disreagrd the sleep deprived elf.

*twitch*

Math bad! Tree pretty!

Thank heavens for nav-computers.

We're here and ready. 

Variations in tech levels? It's not incomprehensible that some systems would be "advanced" (FTL travel without needing wormholes, for example) whereas others might not even be capable of intra-system travel, right? Are you looking at including something along those lines or is that too far out in the weeds?

How in depth do you really want to get, I guess is the question I have...

I like the ideas you've proposed for systems you "own" (production queues, managing defenses, etc) but, where enemy/unclaimed systems go, are there going to be differences between, say, long range vs short range scans/scout missions? Some thoughts in that regard:

• A long range scan/scout might produce info such as atmosphere, potential resources, system size/composition and the like.


• A short range scan, on the other hand, might glean more detailed info such as existing civilizations, technology levels, more detailed resource analysis, etc.

I've got thoughts and ideas, of course, just haven't had a great deal of time to get into the "meat of them" just yet. 

I'm digging the map and the basic concept of the game! Very Cool!

Making the planets "clickable", bringing up context menus and such would make it even better. Very interested to see how this develops.