• The site has now migrated to Xenforo 2. If you see any issues with the forum operation, please post them in the feedback thread.
  • Due to issues with external spam filters, QQ is currently unable to send any mail to Microsoft E-mail addresses. This includes any account at live.com, hotmail.com or msn.com. Signing up to the forum with one of these addresses will result in your verification E-mail never arriving. For best results, please use a different E-mail provider for your QQ address.
  • For prospective new members, a word of warning: don't use common names like Dennis, Simon, or Kenny if you decide to create an account. Spammers have used them all before you and gotten those names flagged in the anti-spam databases. Your account registration will be rejected because of it.
  • Since it has happened MULTIPLE times now, I want to be very clear about this. You do not get to abandon an account and create a new one. You do not get to pass an account to someone else and create a new one. If you do so anyway, you will be banned for creating sockpuppets.
  • Due to the actions of particularly persistent spammers and trolls, we will be banning disposable email addresses from today onward.
  • The rules regarding NSFW links have been updated. See here for details.

Forging Ahead (GURPS Interstellar Wars/Celestial Forge)

So crazy idea but is there any reason for Sophia to not tell the Confed the truth at this point? Under observation and and lie detector and sensors buy something material that cant possible come from their universe or gives her obvious powers or changes and then spell out the truth that something is augmenting her and gibing her missions and her big one right now is preventing the confed defeat in the 4th war.

No need, but she could have told them that she got the premonition that the Vilani were going to attack at the same time than the super brains and the perfect memory.

That could make that people start really getting worried...
 
The Fourth Interstellar War happened for very dumb reasons. Basically the Terrans couldn't control their borders and smugglers well enough.
In 2170 Yangila decreed an almost complete shutdown of all trade with Terra, imposing very tight border controls and steep tariffs on Terran goods. She justified these moves by pointing to the economic and social disruption that seemed to follow extensive contact with Terrans, and to the public health problem the "plague-ridden barbarians" posed to innocent Vilani populations.

The Terran Confederation government actually made an attempt to comply with the new Imperial restrictions, not wishing to set off a new conflict with the Imperium. Not all Terran individuals agreed, however. Terran smugglers, especially members of the Free Trade movement, carried goods past the border checkpoints in violation of both Imperial and Confederation policy. This placed the two civilizations on a collision course once again.

When Sharik Yangila closed the Imperial border in 2170, she doubtless knew in advance that not all Terrans would conform to the new policy. After her repeated demands that the Terran Confederation control smuggling came to nothing, she declared that the Terrans had provided casus belli and opened hostilities. The Fourth Interstellar War began in 2173, with a massive raid against the Terran colony on Procyon. The Terran naval station and shipyard there were destroyed in the first assault, and a brief bombardment of the colony made a shambles of the planetary defense. The colonists prepared for a last-ditch defense, but to their surprise the Imperial forces simply withdrew to their own space once again.

Terran strategists soon realized that the raid was a very bold opening move. Procyon was the gateway to a whole cluster of Terran industrial colonies and outposts, in the so-called "Outback" region. With the naval station destroyed, this flank of Terran space was suddenly at risk, and a significant portion of the Navy had to be diverted to shoring up its defenses. At very little cost, the Terran Navy's offensive capability had been gravely reduced.

In 2174, Imperial forces began a series of probing raids in the Nusku system, at the opposite end of Terran space. The attacks, spaced several weeks apart, each did as much damage as possible with long-range missile fire, then withdrew before the Terrans could move to close range. This technique proved very effective, permitting Imperial forces to wear down the Terran defensive position at relatively low cost to themselves. The third attack was pressed home, smashing the remaining system defenders and landing troops on Nusku. By the end of 2175, the planet had been fully occupied by Imperial forces.

The Terran Confederation was not exactly idle during all of this, but its leaders discovered that the Empty Peace (and Yangila's campaign of subversion) had sapped Terra's ability to fight. Military budgets had been reduced, and military industries had been converted to civilian use. The citizens were not prepared for war, and indeed the Confederation had been snarled up in internal disputes for several years before the outbreak of hostilities. These problems were all correctable, but it took time before the Confederation could effectively mobilize for war. By then, Nusku had fallen and the Vilani were beginning to mount new probes at Procyon and into the Outback. Even if the Imperium launched no new major offensives, the Confederation faced along and difficult war.

Faced with an impossible military situation, the Terrans tried diplomacy instead. Envoys met with saarpuhii Yangila at Dingir, literally begging for peace in very meek terms. Yangila was naturally delighted at this turn of events, thinking that she had done more than any other Vilani to humble the stiff-necked Terrans. She magnanimously agreed to a peace, on the condition that Terra respect the border controls and keep to its own space.
 
The Fourth Interstellar War happened for very dumb reasons. Basically the Terrans couldn't control their borders and smugglers well enough.
'Border controls' was just the public justification she used for her war. She'd been planning for that war since at least the early 2160s. She deliberately raised the trade embargo to 'total' status knowing that it would invite smugglers, because she wanted the ability to claim that smugglers violated the armistice terms of the last war to figleaf her getting this one.

Note that everything I wrote about her building up her war machine already is canon, the only fanon I did was insert an explicit motivation.
 
'Border controls' was just the public justification she used for her war. She'd been planning for that war since at least the early 2160s. She deliberately raised the trade embargo to 'total' status knowing that it would invite smugglers, because she wanted the ability to claim that smugglers violated the armistice terms of the last war to figleaf her getting this one.

Note that everything I wrote about her building up her war machine already is canon, the only fanon I did was insert an explicit motivation.
And then when she had victory and earth begging for mercy she decides that we have learned our lesson and signs a treaty instead of finishing the threat off then shocked years later when the terrans come back and hit twice as hard now utterly convinced that there can never be true peace with the Vilani.
 
Note that everything I wrote about her building up her war machine already is canon, the only fanon I did was insert an explicit motivation.
Her plan was to basically "humble the barbarians," but I should note if she wanted to go further she could totally have gone scorched earth. The Terrans military was not at a good point at this time.

And then when she had victory and earth begging for mercy she decides that we have learned our lesson and signs a treaty instead of finishing the threat off then shocked years later when the terrans come back and hit twice as hard now utterly convinced that there can never be true peace with the Vilani.
Ironically it's after this the Terrans start to take a more proactive stance on things.
 
And then when she had victory and earth begging for mercy she decides that we have learned our lesson and signs a treaty instead of finishing the threat off then shocked years later when the terrans come back and hit twice as hard now utterly convinced that there can never be true peace with the Vilani.

IIRC she pissed off a lot of bureaucrats, and had to choose either to sign the peace or get kicked out of her seat. Or that was her predecessor, I forgot...
 
And then when she had victory and earth begging for mercy she decides that we have learned our lesson and signs a treaty instead of finishing the threat off then shocked years later when the terrans come back and hit twice as hard now utterly convinced that there can never be true peace with the Vilani.
Note that she still had most of her fleet, and had taken out a lot of Terra's. As far as she knew, she'd already won. The next step would be to culutrally assimilate Terra into the Imperium, but she was apparently planning on taking that process slowly enough to let Terra save its face while being brought onboard instead of trying for a rapid forceful subjugation. (I mean, if Terra had shown one thing already it's that you can't force these people to bend the knee even when nuking them.)

The problem is, a few years into this plan they took a good chunk of her fleet away to deal with another rebellion that had popped up nearby, and Terra ran straight into that opening like a running back spotting a defensive lineman had just tripped.
 
Last edited:
So she ran into the classic Roman problem of "the savages can wait we need a few legions over here."
Vilani civilization is basically a saner version of the 40k imperium. You can't get ideas of rebelling if you have to fight many rivals and the throne can recall your forces at will. The problem here is that her actions on top of the last few leaders had convinced the Terrans the Vilani empire was inherently untrustworthy and out to fuck them over only stopping because they keep getting caught up in internal politics.
 
So she ran into the classic Roman problem of "the savages can wait we need a few legions over here."
That about it. She managed to stalemate the Terrans but even then she was fending off her rivals and forced to step down. The next to take over, Dumushirs, were basically very not-interested in conflict.
Until the next Interstellar War, initiated by the Terrans, for course. :p
 
Yeah thing they are not stupid and after she starts producing miracle tech they will look back at that and ask themselves what did the girl with every reason to hate the Vilani and want them dead make in that bio lab that so horrified her when she saw the end result burned it and apparently refused to touch biology since?

They are not stupid. As soon as she delivers on the FTL comms they are gonna go after her past with a fine tooth, again, and if they are as smart as they think they are they are gonna ask what could have horrified her so much and realize they don't want to know. Because if she delivers the FTL communications method in the prelude or during the next war the Confederation situation is going to be desperate on the military situation and desperate burocrats/politicians who hear about a possible silver bullet "final solution" might get ideas...
 
Though she probably won't have time at the moment per say unless she just hands the systems off another route to take is point defense. The confed primarily uses energy weapons but the Vilani are obsessed with missile weapons and use them on every platform as a primary weapon. Apparently most early battles amount to Terrans having to soak fire until they can finally get in range.

Know who has awesome anti missile systems? Battletech.

Well when they remember they have them and use them. But yeah iirc put like 6 AMS on each facing on warships makes them if not immune to missiles can make them very cost ineffective. So if Sophia gives them that and it gives even a 10% increase in protection it could be a war winner and if it does more it could really fuck with the Vilani who will suddenly have their library of responses invalidated.
 
Huh, could someone gimme a rundown of Traveller tech levels? I looked at the wiki and it was kinda confusing, to say the least, cause it had something like 31 tech levels and we're out here talking about level twelve being way above the current setting.
 
If the Confed uses mainly energy weapons, I wonder how Naval PPC's would stack up.
 
Huh, could someone gimme a rundown of Traveller tech levels? I looked at the wiki and it was kinda confusing, to say the least, cause it had something like 31 tech levels and we're out here talking about level twelve being way above the current setting.
That's another edition of the RPG. We're using the GURPS Interstellar Wars edition, which is a modified version of the GURPS tech level system.
 
If the Confed uses mainly energy weapons, I wonder how Naval PPC's would stack up.
While BattleTech's material science is basically black magic; the space equipment is it is hilariously massive compared to the stuff Confed uses.

You can probably stick some of the lighter stuff onto existing starships, but the big boy toys will absolutely require ground-up purpose built hulls to be mounted on.
 
If the Confed uses mainly energy weapons, I wonder how Naval PPC's would stack up.
Not sure but probably give them a leg up in any case. Most any tech she gives them would be invaluable because it is centuries more refined than most of what they can easily get now or open completely new paths for them. Study of bt lasers could really improve theirs. Ppc tech could be a very nasty heavy gun and might let to these meson guns they get eventually sooner.
 
In space, the big problem is heat management. If we go by real world physics. The battletech heat sinks should mean Terran Federation ships should be able to use a Lot more powerfull energy weapons snd energy plants on their hulls. Or just more of them. Without melting.
 
Whatever happened to that molecular circuit math project that Sophia had just submitted to MIT when she got surprise graduated and drafted? It seemed like that was going to be what she ended up using the ultracapacitors for, which was gatting a foot in the door with inventions. It seems a little strange in the interviews with the GP people that they think she didn't discover anything at MIT, when she was literally supposed to be discussing a discovery in chapter 5 when they ambushed her.

I guess you may have forgotten it, since it only had a few paragraphs, but since she was actually working on it independently at MIT and was interrupted, it makes more sense for her to have used the molecular circuits as her invention.
 
Whatever happened to that molecular circuit math project that Sophia had just submitted to MIT when she got surprise graduated and drafted? It seemed like that was going to be what she ended up using the ultracapacitors for, which was gatting a foot in the door with inventions. It seems a little strange in the interviews with the GP people that they think she didn't discover anything at MIT, when she was literally supposed to be discussing a discovery in chapter 5 when they ambushed her.

I guess you may have forgotten it, since it only had a few paragraphs, but since she was actually working on it independently at MIT and was interrupted, it makes more sense for her to have used the molecular circuits as her invention.
Didnt she basicaly leave enough hints to make it look like she was just connecting the dots?
 
Cliff is going to have a interesting time trying to integrate the tech he adds though best bet would be quality of life upgrades. Though problem is actually absorbing it all. Dropping clan freezers is awesome but can they even build them without massive effort much less slot them into a build or ships set up for it? How big of a hassle would be getting IS standard plate into production or put on ships much less Ferro carbide? Sophia probably be better off just handing out working theory and ideas and let confed engineers do the practicals and then she tweak as needed or able.
 
Imagine having all wh40k orkish tech in your head, with death rays, and force fields made of metal plates and red paint, but knowing it wudnt work in human hands.
to my understanding the feild is more of a memory reinforcment effect, with some durability enhancement thrown in, so it probably WOULD work, just not as well as in setting.
 
to my understanding the feild is more of a memory reinforcment effect, with some durability enhancement thrown in, so it probably WOULD work, just not as well as in setting.
You have a bucket of red paint, and a brush. It will make your tonk ride 20% faster...
 
to my understanding the feild is more of a memory reinforcment effect, with some durability enhancement thrown in, so it probably WOULD work, just not as well as in setting.
At best I would say Ork tech works better in Orks hands because their innate powers. Makes everything run like it was newly made not something pulled from a rusted scrapyard.
'In many alien space-faring species, as well as our own,' Urquidex told him, 'such structures – dealing with inspiration, experimentation and technological development – occur in the frontal lobes.' Urquidex passed the dot across a comparatively redundant part of the creature's brain. 'Or the xenos equivalent thereof. In a race who have taken that crucial and technologically demanding step into a larger universe, you would expect this to be an area of recent evolutionary development.'

'Agreed.'

'Not so in Veridi giganticus,' the magos biologis said. 'It occurs in one of the most primitive parts of the organ.'

'But what does that mean?' Van Auken asked.

'It means that their technological mastery, being what it is, proceeds not from evolutionary, intellectual development as it has in humans and many other races. It has been a feature of their race from very early in their existence.'

'An accelerated development?' Van Auken hoped so. Acceleration could be modelled. Acceleration could be predicted.

'No,' Urquidex told him. 'Something primordial. A capability innate within their species. Their mastery of technology – including the gravitational and vector capabilities that you would wish to reproduce – is a natural ability. Not a product of some form of developed, higher order conception.'

'These conclusions will not please the Fabricator General,' Van Auken said.

'It is only a theory,' Urquidex said. 'Other priests at other conquest-sites may reach other conclusions.'

'Have you learned anything else?' Van Auken asked.

Urquidex turned and snapped on a hololithic projector that enveloped the monstrous brain in a fluxing field representation.

'What is that?' the artisan asked.

'Honestly?' the magos said, 'I don't know. I happened upon the frequency by accident. This is the barest manifestation of it, I can tell you that. It has been fading since biological cessation.'

'If you had to make an informed guess, magos?'

'Some kind of field or emanation,' Urquidex said. 'It seems to be coming from deep within the brain structure – again, an evolutionarily ancient feature.'

'Could it be psionic in nature?' Van Auken asked cautiously.

'Unknown,' Urquidex said with equal reservation, 'not my area of specialisation. However, watch this.'

Urquidex directed a pair of servitors into the foil tent. Between them they carried an alien weapon: some kind of barbaric chopping implement sporting a chain of revolving teeth like a chainsword. A brute motor was built into its ungainly shaft, the handle of which was scored with primitive glyphs and graffiti. The magos directed the drones to slip the savage weapon into the beast's death-stiffened grip, and lay the great shaft of the weapon and its murderous headpiece across the greenskin's open and organ-excavated chest.

'What are you doing?' Van Auken asked, as Urquidex directed a servomat to attach power couplings to the weapon's monstrous motor. 'Magos?'

'Clear…' Urquidex said, before instructing the servomat to supply power to the weapon from its own core.

The serrated chain of the chopper roared to life, the clunky machinery of its motor squealing and crunching, the gore of the Emperor's Angels spraying Van Auken from the monstrous weapon's thrashing teeth. The artisan stepped back and wiped the speckles of old blood from his face.

'Turn it off,' he commanded.

'As you wish,' Urquidex said, selecting an autopsy cleaver with a monomolecular edge from a rack of similarly macabre tools. Swinging the cleaver down with force, the magos chopped at the hulking wrist of the greenskin. It took a number of strikes, with the cleaver-blade biting through flesh and bone. With a final strike the claw-hand was separated from the meat of the arm – and the weapon chugged, bucked and died. Van Auken stepped back towards the creature with fresh interest.

'It still has power?'

'The problem isn't power,' Urquidex assured the artisan-primus. 'The weapon has suffered a malfunction, which isn't surprising given the poor quality of its construction and maintenance. I fear that this field – swiftly depleting and dissipating after death – in some way aids the crude workings of such creations.'

'But what of technologies not in direct contact with the xenos?'

'Unknown. The weapon was a simple demonstration with a cadaver-specimen,' Urquidex said. 'I have not observed the field's properties in a living organism. I don't know for sure that the field is responsible.'

'If it was, could the field be replicated?'

'Unknown. Not my specialisation.'
 
In space, the big problem is heat management. If we go by real world physics. The battletech heat sinks should mean Terran Federation ships should be able to use a Lot more powerfull energy weapons snd energy plants on their hulls. Or just more of them. Without melting.

Or just skip using energy weapon and start to mount macro cannons. I mean jokes aside. Wh40k tech of shooting big cannons should be superior to lasers they have at time.
 
Or just skip using energy weapon and start to mount macro cannons. I mean jokes aside. Wh40k tech of shooting big cannons should be superior to lasers they have at time.
eh, i mean you just need better lenses for long range, and battletech has long range lasers on their warships if im interpreting the details correctly, so it could be a case of just retooling curent production slightly.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top