Rhona W

Dark Space - A Mecha-Focused Space Opera RP

Lorei Corben
CSNS Spirit of Adventure

Lorei drew to a stop as she reached the rest of the group of assembled pilots. As her optics glided across the assembled faces and her other senses took them in, recognition dawned; the lanky, feathered form of a male Zarrah-Kul. This one was etched well into her older memories, and she couldn't help but smile, the graphics of her eyes turning to a happy crescent.
"Anka," she called out as the captain moved away. "It's been a long while; I'm glad to see you here". Her attention shifted across faces and she had another surge of recognition as her eyes fell upon the pretty Lepizari currently engaged in conversation with a female human who seemed almost to be hiding her appearance. She recognised the Lepizari immediately - and well she should; the rabbit-like woman had got 'hands-on' with the synth's body in ways that very few people other than lovers or surgeon/mechanics had. Mii had tended desperate repairs to Lorei's body and likely saved her life in the process. It had been the basis of a friendship that had been somewhat at a distance, but friendly nonetheless. She smiled and waved to Mii once the Lepizari's gaze moved her way, but not moving to interrupt her conversation.
She gazed around further, hefting her bag on her back and adjusting the pack strapped around the base of her tail, until-

Her gaze landed on the only Mon'nnari that was there. That the horned, cloven-hoofed woman was there at all was enough of an unusual thing; there were barely a handful of the species at large within Confederation space, and even less of them in the military. But this woman.
Her appearance was exotically enchanting; beautifully scarlet eyes and dark hair. Dusky skin contrasted with gleaming jewelry and a fit, firm figure that was still enthrallingly feminine. Had Lorei had breath, it would have taken it away; instead it sent a surge through her bodies' systems.
...And a stream of frantic questions and thoughts as she looked at that beautiful face. Recognition, but no understanding of why, or where or who. Memories of touch, and closeness, but not of context, no understanding of how these moments had happened, where or how. What was the history of those moments, how had she ended up close to this woman, when had they been together-
She pressed one three fingered hand to her head-visor, the displays of her eyes flashing orange and screwed up closed. Her long tail lashed and she let out a strained groan as the cybernetic equivalent of a migraine crashed into her brain module.

Dark Space - A Mecha-Focused Space Opera RP

So, I saw this and thought of the RP, a little bit

@CitrusArms

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't partly inspiration. It's certainly the right tone and vibe I'm going for.
I love the video, and the song completely

Dark Space - A Mecha-Focused Space Opera RP

As Captain Gavren met the assembled faces of the newly arrived rangers, the ship around them lightly shuddered, the sensation moving up through their feet on the deck. The Spirit had cleared dock and her engines fired up, moving the ship away from the docking arms of the rotating station. Finally, she had cast off and was underway on her first voyage. The ship glided silently away from the station, picking up speed as her sublight engines flared to life and she made for the nearest safe jump point.

In the hangar, Gavren spoke up as he stood before the Rangers, the cetanui's clear, strong voice commanding their attention as he spoke.
"Welcome, Rangers. If I might have your attention for the moment; I'd like to introduce myself and give a brief overview. I am Captain Ralana Gavren. I'm familiar with your backgrounds; some more than others. But I look forward to working with you all. As a Ranger ship, our missions will vary, and take us all across ConFederation space, and maybe even beyond. But our first operation is to head to the Western Fringe. Heavy raiding activity has been reported along the frontier in that area, and it's more than the colonists can handle alone, so we're going to find out where they're based, and then take them down. Something that - at least on the first account of it - sounds simple and routine."
He eyed them all to gauge their reaction; he didn't expect much - it was a simple, run-of-the-mill mission, nothing big for a Ranger unit, but at the same time; the bread-and-butter of their role. Dealing with problems too big for colonists, but too small for the Navy.
"The location of your quarters has been uploaded to your personal data devices, along with full primers and briefs on the Spirit of Adventure and her facilities and capabilities. We'll be transiting to Hyperspace shortly, but you'll hear the alerts over the system before we jump, so you'll have a chance to prepare. I'm sure we'll all talk more soon enough, but thank you for your attention, and welcome aboard. As you were".

He excused himself, leaving them to go about their business, and the activity around them resumed. Messages sounded over the ships' PA, informing all of the crew of their progress, and the bustle of people at work, securing their mecha went on. Voices shouted to one another as crews communicated needs for parts, tools, and other such things, leaving the newly arrived rangers in the middle of a sea of activity.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Scott's Loadout

Full load of 20mm Vulcan cannon ammunition

2 x AIM-9X Sidewinder short-range AAM
2 x AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range AAM
4 x GBU-31 'quicksink' JDAM
2 x Droptank

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

So, since we're about to actually head into a mission where we'll be using live ordnance, I thought this is a good time to explain how I'm going to handle that aspect of things.

Obviously, as we should all be aware at this point, modern warplanes can carry a wide variety of weapons, and the profiles you all posted for your jets have a good indication of what some of those are, and what they can do.
I'm not going to dictate to you all what you should be carrying for each mission, but give you free reign to pick - within reason, anyway; and as suits the purposes of the narrative and the setting. No one will have access to nuclear/biological/chemical weapons freely, and using anything of that scope would naturally be a serious and dramatically story-relevant, world-affecting event and not a casual thing.
If you like, you can post what your loadouts for a mission will be here, so we can keep track and for the fun of it, and if you want/need any help picking and choosing, or over on the discord group too.

I'll post what I've got in mind for Scott shortly as an example.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

"Lt. Illya Sokolov, sir. I apologise for my late arrival, but I was under the impression you had already received my dossier and wished to ask about my role in the operation."

@Shadow Daedalus

As the new pilot entered and introduced himself, Scott was taken by surprise. He checked his notes and notifications, flipping through to see if he'd missed something... and in the same instant he was doing so, a torrent of messages appeared in his inbox. With an exasperated sigh, the squadron leader rolled his mismatched eyes, before surrendering to a wry smile and shaking his head.
"No, don't apologise, Lieutenant Sokolov. It seems like I've only just got the information about you being assigned after we had two pilots drop out yesterday before we even set off. I'll have to catch up on your dossier double-time when I get a chance.
In the meantime, I'll give you the quick version of the operation:"

Scott quickly went over the specifics of their upcoming mission, what the objectives were, and where everyone would be deployed, before coming back to Illya's arrival and his question about his place in it.
"As for where you'll be; I'm going to assign you to Flight One with myself and Cobalt 7, to protect the convoy of ships. Wheels up in four hours; so get yourself fed, watered, and prepped. Mechanics and ground crews will be uploading weapons and fuelling our planes".
He quickly checked the electronic tablet in his hands, and then nodded.
"I've been sent over the details for your electronic flight book; all the details for the mission have been sent over to you as well, so you should have everything you need. Glad to have you with us"

How to combat reluctance to join already-ongoing threads?

<Snipped quote by Einherjar 906>

Provide a summery.

Like a short, bullet point summery of events and key facts. They can read into more detail but the summery will mean they can least geta quick working version of RP and what's in the future etc.

@PrinceAlexus

I use the 0th post in the IC for this on my RP's (once they've got far enough to make it worth it)
And the 0th post in the Chars tab is a roster of all the current characters and important NPCs

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

snip

@Shadow Daedalus

He looks just fine! Feel free to go ahead and post in the characters tab.
If you want, you can do a quick post to either have Ilya have arrived overnight, and be ready to fly with the rest of the squadron, just having arrived late to the briefing, and Scott's notes having been jumbled or something so he was missed.

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

Alright, I certainly don't mind making a Jet Pilot since I was eyeing the SU-47 or Yak-141 as potential ideas. I'll get right on filling out a CS, but it's not long hit 1am in my timezone so I'll have to finalise in the morning, if that's alright?

@Shadow Daedalus

Those are both excellent choices - especially since we don't have any Eastern, or especially (given the setting) former Soviet aircraft on the team, which is kind of a surprise. The Yak-141 is especially an interesting choice.
And don't feel the need to rush on the CS. Take your time, and I can introduce your character into things as soon as they're ready

Shattered Steel - An Ace Combat/Project Wingman/etc inspired aircraft-based RP

@Rhona W Hey, are you accepting new players atm? I was in one of your older RPs (the starfighters one) but it died quickly and I took an extended break from RPGuild soon after.

I'll take the time to catch myself up properly, but can I check a few things? Do all PCs have to be jet pilots, or can I make a Heli pilot and/or ground crew as well? I love the idea of playing around with Alt-History/'What-if' Tech and really want to use a Mi-24 'Super Hind'

@Shadow Daedalus

Hiya Shadow, thanks for dropping in!
I am open to new players, yes.
However, all PCs do have to be jet pilots as that's the jist of the RP. While I also love the SuperHind, it wouldn't really fit in with the rest of the squadron and would be difficult to integrate. Same with ground crew too; the action will be airborne primarily.
There is definitely plenty of what-if/alternate history involved though, giving you plenty of 'could have been' aircraft to take your pick from.