Avatar of Darkmatter
  • Last Seen: 5 yrs ago
  • Old Guild Username: It starts with a D and rhymes with sharkmatter.
  • Joined: 11 yrs ago
  • Posts: 1233 (0.31 / day)
  • VMs: 0
  • Username history
    1. Darkmatter 11 yrs ago

Status

Recent Statuses

9 yrs ago
Current Currently buried in a number of things which I hope will benefit the Guild.
9 yrs ago
In some ways, the guildfall was a blessing. It makes it harder for my original 2009 RPing to be found...
1 like
9 yrs ago
I've finally returned to the Guild. Many months of much RPing ahead.
10 yrs ago
A thousand things to be done; plenty motivation.

Bio

Aeronautical Engineer
Irish
TV and Film addict

Been here on the guild since April '08, seen a lot of change but still love it. I've been on and off, I've GM'd fantastic projects and train-wrecks, it all comes with the territory. I once tried to make a YouTube ad for the guild because I'm slightly insane. In a weird place with the Guild right now, seems like so many names I knew are gone, but more than happy and ready to meet new people. Been writing casually for over a decade, a lot of that practice has been here. I have some small short sci-fi stories printed in anthologies but those are so heavily edited they don't even feel like mine any more.

When not on the Guild I'm most likely working, playing FFXIV or the Souls series or (insert recent must play video game).
Anyone with a passing interest in sci fi needs to read Saga by Brian K Vaughan.

Most Recent Posts

I am very glad you asked these questions, because as GM, I have a very clear picture of the setting and this there is a breakdown in relay this information efficiently all the time. You're right to ask, the OP was probably too sparse of mech details. I'll post my exact thoughts, but it is all up for debate/discussion.




Q: What's the basic size of current era mechs? Does it vary from faction to faction? Has artillery evolved along side them? How so? Do cannons crab around on legs or are there just blockier mechs with big guns?
A: The 'era' I keep saying I'm pushing is real-robotish. With a bit more lenience for sci fi tech given it's 60+ in the future: rail based rifles, basic energy weapons, etc. Though I realise cyberwarfare would be a pretty big aspect also. Sizes would for example from 5 meters tall up to like 20, nothing going near 50, fifty meters is very tall. Tech levels will obviously vary here and there, but basic design goals would be similar. A good comparison is aircraft arms races and developments. Yes crab tanks exist, as seen in my CS. They 'running tanks' were staples of the European forces.

Q: You mentioned that mechs won't be hoofing it cross country. Do they lie down on flatbeds/stow inside transport planes after every engagement or do most designs incorporate a wheeled drive? If so please describe it.
A: Well maybe the mechs should be running around? I just didn't expect them to stroll from France to Germany say? Within deployment zones they'd move 'on foot' like infantry but for long range deployment, specialized transports would be used; land, air and sea. The wheeled drive system is something that's maybe used in conjunction with 'walking' maneuvers.

Q: Your CS mentioned how the Federation's 4 gen Dragoons make use of neural assisted targeting. Is battle fatigue a major concern? Do several pilots crew the same suit and operate in shifts? Would damaging/overloading/overstimulating this system over-stress the pilot? Is there a secondary targeting system in case of malfunction?
A: In my CS it notes comas were caused in three specifically trained pilots after prolonged use of entirely neural systems. So yes, battle fatigue is an element that exists. Of course you'd expect fairly rigorous training among pilots, preventative measures and the whole sci-fi lends itself to pilots themselves being enhanced beyond regular operational limits. Yes there could be potential cause of stress in pilots due to malfunctioning neural systems. I'd assume our engineers know what they're doing and have redundancy built in, including manual aiming and firing mechanisms.

Q:*What powers most mechs? If it's not diesel why does everyone need oil so badly? Solely for civilian and manufacturing needs? If so why haven't they begun to shift to secondary energy sources?
A: Good question, I hadn't put huge thought into the setting's Applied Phlebtonium, and had just used oil as its a well known substance/energy source. Diesel mechs may be a bit too grungy for the feel we're going for. I'm open to suggestions on this one. I'm much more used to writing in hard space opera settings, so these down to earth sci fi techs aren't my forte! Some possible ideas include; a new refining method for the oil, compact nuclear reactors but they have obvious issues with mass production and inevitable destruction, and just coming up with some magic plot compound like most mech settings do.

Q:*Operation and maintenance times/costs for mechs please? Just a rough ballpark estimate would be great. How far could most mechs travel on their own/ how long could they maintain combat readiness without refuel/repairs? Are more modern/sophisticated mechs more vulnerable to this than older, out-dated models?
A: Ha! Going to answer this based on my actual job as an aircraft quality assurance engineer! Assuming the mechs are of an equal tech level in their own setting, and the average technician is as skilled as those working with me, a minor maintenance could take place in hours, large repairs and replacements in a day or two and complete overhauls would be a week or so. Homeland Empire maintenance stations might be able to do thirty overhauls a day though, and underground resistance garages might struggle to weld panels back on. It's a bit relative this one. We can assume older mechs are more prone to total failure, but mechs with more complex systems are more prone to regular minor issues. Bare in mind though that again, the term 'complex' is a very subjective.

Q:*How vulnerable are mechs to air-to-ground based bombardment? As in helicopters/planes. One would assume very--but then it raises the question of anti-air mechs. Are their any flight-capable mechs?
A: You'd assume it's a two way fiasco, with many basic mech models being prone to bombardment, but some advanced models being agile enough to attempt to avoid it. There's inevitably going to be AA based mechs, flaks and missiles and such.
@Blubaron45 I have to agree with Mach on this one. It isn't at all a bad character, he just doesn't fit the lore of New Ancora. I get more of a 'superhero/vigilante' feel from him and that's just a BIT too far-fetched for this rp. You can either make edits and tone him down (which will take some work) or you are free to create a new character, it is your decision. Just... less 'anime-ish' please.

@Darkmatter I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you mean. Like, change the format of the CS sheet? As long as the required information is there, I'm not at all against you adding different things. If Ghost Shadow were playing an actual human, you would see an entire wardrobe section in there lol :D

@Lev You have a lot of good points, and I think for right now I'm just going to make a 'make sure 3 characters have posted since you've posted' rule just because there are so many of us. I say characters and not players because there are some of us with 2 characters that do very different things :P Does that help?


All the info will be there. You can judge for yourself when it's up.
@babbysama

Diplomacy will be huge! Politicing between the Empire's ranks, between Asia and the Empire, with any other faction! Even resistance leaders will have to double as diplomats.

I aim for 50/50 split on action and interaction.

I'm like 100% ready to start the IC but I'd rather wait for at least 2-3 other characters to be submitted. Hopefully that'll happen soon
@Darkmatter


How I read this message:

Someone finally asked one of the obvious questions.

this guys got the numbers.

you answered with essentially what I would have said.

Basically, as it's such a 'win' condition I was just going to use GM magic and ignore it. If anyone brought it up the answer was going to be long range missiles are near useless with the advancements in air superiority vehicles, anti-air weaponry etc.
Yo GMs. Is the application process set as above?

I have a sorta unique idea for a CS, it'll tick all the appropriate boxes for info and such, and I can even format it like the template but the tone and perspective wouldn't be traditional. Is that ok?
Considering the average rate of drop out rates, I don't think a cap is totally necessary unless numbers hit 20
@darkmatter Well. Guess that solves that. Fate has spoken. XD


Cool cool. Leaving work now, and have a variety of shopping tasks but expect a character over the next 8 hours.
@darkmatter Hm. I'm relooking at all the characters now. We've got a lot of hard characters, but you're right. Not necessarily bad guys. I misevaluated this mix. There's a lot more good going on than I thought.

I think Elizabeth could potentially be grouped in with Deon and Derrick. She's a scary chick. And I know that one of the characters (not saying who. Spoilers!) may be darker than they appear.

Personally, I could go for another scumbag. Discussing it with the other GMs, but I'd give the go ahead to your piece-of-shit asshole. XD


Well I don't have a choice now anyway seeing as how @Archangel89 literally just posted a PI character which was my other idea, hence all the questions regarding it I had previously asked.

Scumbag mobman it is.
<Snipped quote by Darkmatter>

Yeah... they're pretty bad... lol but the restricted districts are more like, 'let the 'bad' guys go there so they won't come here' type thing. Nothing is up and running there; no stores or electricity. A literal ghost town with collapsing buildings etc.


Right ok fair enough on the restricted zones. I don't really get how that'd ever happen in such a city where space is obviously an issue but it's your RP

Having read the character sheets there's definitely more 'good' than 'bad'. Unless I'm categorizing them wrong?

Other than Derrick and Deon there aren't any 'bad' characters? I 100% don't categorise drug addicts as bad or immoral people based on their addiction alone, and certainly not the ones portrayed here!
And even then Deon and Derrick are in a grey area. And there's three law enforcement characters!

The way I see it, there's a lot of mixed up characters and a lot of 'do-gooders and try hards'. When I asked if there was a need for 'bad' characters I mean downright assholes. I had planned to make a genuine piece of shit scumbag, but then you said we needed a beacon of light

I'm just a little confused.
Ok. Thanks. I have a character in mind so, but it can be adjusted as needs be. I'll get to work on him now.

Edit: Are the restricted districts actually that deadly? I mean, gangs are gangs but are they really shoot on sight downright madness? Or is that just hyperbole? @YoshiSkittlez

I find the description of Flannery's the most offensive but accurate thing I've seen today.

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