Imperium Offtopicum: The Great Abyss [Sign-ups and OOC]

(c)keepwalking07
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
Setting and General Game Info
Greetings and salutations! Welcome to the Universe of The Great Abyss. TGA is set on a grand setting-The Milky Way Galaxy. In Earth years, the game takes place in AD 2550. Expect imbalanced starts and technological diversity. There is no real galactic stage yet, but lets see if you can change that.

In this game, you'll be leading your species to create an empire or republic (or whatever you call yourself) that spans the stars; colonizing celestial bodies, interchangeably dealing with or exploiting anomalies, inferior races, and other things of that nature on the way there. So let's get started.

The Galaxy
It goes without saying the galaxy is big, and you can start anywhere on it. There will be two maps, and they are as follows:
The quick-reference map: This will show you just how big all your fellow space-faring empires are quickly, but won't detail systems and the like.
The Grid: A ton more detailed than the above, this map will show you who controls what systems, where other fleets are, and where anomalies are.

Starting Out
I am giving everyone full creative freedom on the applications to join this game, however, there are a few base rules.

Everything else is assumed to be free game. However, take the time to realize that I am human too, and thus make mistakes in terms of the above statement. Recognize that I can rescind this if I spy something I don't like in an application. GM is God. It is known.

Now that that's done, actually starting out is quite simple. Here's a standard application.



Technological Advancement
There are 7 Tiers of civilization.
Props to you if you know where I got it from.

Most of you will be in either Tier 4 or Tier 3, with a few exceptions if I like your post enough and even a few that cannot be gauged by this system(For example, Ravus_Sol's application for Great Journeys would be so amazingly awesome I'd consider his species an anomaly that plays by its own set of rules unbeknownst to other players because it was that awesome.) Note, if you want to be one of these exceptions I'll be making difficulties to accommodate your advantage, so don't be too eager to start with a hyper-advanced race. Your Tier is assigned to you rather than you pick it out, based on the details of your join post.

However, in general, this is how large-scale technological strength will be gauged for most of you.

Small-scale progression is also tracked and is much more personal and unique to your species. I won't assume that all of the species in the galaxy will be playing by the same technological rulebook; I intend to see many different kinds of technology trees based on different energy sources and the like later in the game. These small-scale movements in technology can range from small bonuses that stack up well as time goes on to somewhat major advancements that isn’t necessarily revolutionary but still rather significant, and will almost always come about from your actions as you explore and write roleplay. Once I figure you have enough small-scale technological progression, I'll announce to you in private that you are eligible to propose a research effort to increase large-scale progression, and thus get closer to ranking higher in civilization tiers. As you increase in tier, you will need more research efforts to further advance.

The research effort is something specific you’ll be getting at. For example, you can say that you want to do a project on terraforming technology. The amount of roleplay and resources you put into this will yield what kind of bonus the project will give you. Research projects are abig deal because they will likely affect your civilization’s entire society. Again using the terraforming example, the technology obtained from the project can benefit colonization efforts, war strategies, the economy as a whole, etc. Don’t take a research opportunity lightly.

Internal Politics
Everyone in your civilization will probably have an opinion (unless it’s a hive mind or something), so all of your decisions will probably have some sort of feedback,backlash or anything really. Be prepared for the worst and be wary of rash decisions, as billions of individuals will have one thing or another to say about it.

Exploration and Colonization
In order to explore the galaxy, you're going to need expeditionary fleets. These fleets are non-permanent, abstract units that do not show up on the map. They survey a region of the galaxy and report back on their findings, giving you information of that sector. Note that these fleets are not 100% accurate, but along with what they found will be an approximation of how much left there is to find, from 0-100. Searching a sector numerous times will probably be commonplace.

These fleets can still be attacked and destroyed; the more dangerous your voyages turn out to be, the more it will cost to send exploration fleets out until you guarantee their safety with a military escort. Note, you can send part of your military fleet to survey a sector, but they will be less effective and this probably wouldn't be a bright idea if you're at war as it takes away resources from the immediate threat and they have a chance to be destroyed themselves.

Once you find a body suitable for colonization given your technological parameters, you may send in colonization efforts to the body in question. As you put more resources into colonization, it will become more likely for the first permanent settlement to be erected there, opening opportunities to explore the planet in-depth and exploit its resources.

Note, one planet can be contested by multiple empires. The implications of such events would surely gain fruition quickly if a compromise is not reached.

Economy
The economics of this will be loosely based off that of Civilization. The most important factor of the domestic economy is the infrastructure of the planet in question. The infrastructure is proportional to how much of the planet's resources you can effectively extract and put to use. Infrastructure is rated from 0-100%. Infrastructure counts the entire planet, indiscriminate of who has settled it if more than one empire has done so. It is split between the empires involved according to how much a respective empire puts into its colony's infrastructure, capping at 100.


All planets will have a profitability range, but some can have something special that makes it more profitable than others, and not just mechanically. This can be a large deposit of a particular resource, or an ancient civilization’s research facility that can give you something as major as a free research project. Generally, however, profitability is measured by a digit from 1 up. Profitability can even be improved in highly developed worlds that become commercial centers, spaceports, areas of high productivity, or something else like that.

We’ll call what you get out of your total economy tax income, but this doesn’t have to be exactly correct in your species. The percentage you set this as is how much of the economy the governing body uses. The percentage left over is what the people use. This can vary in usefulness depending on the civilization in question. For example, humans under a capitalist society may benefit from the government not directly controlling where a good deal of the economy goes to, but an insect hivemind race may find it more prudent to have more direct control, as individual drones won’t know what to do with these resources without guidance from the hive. Just set this according to what you believe your species is best suited for and it’ll all probably work out. This might not always be the case, but you have to experiment. Don’t copy another person’s strategy either - nobody is actually playing by the same exact set of rules.

Now, your economy is further stimulated by domestic trade. This is gathered from net profitability and infrastructure, acting as a modifier to your base economy to yield total economic gains. The things you’re consistently paying for subtract from this to form your GDP of sorts. Like stated before, I use these terms leisurely and because we understand them. An insect hivemind probably won’t have much of an actual GDP or any economic system we’re familiar with to speak of, but these rules apply.

Trade with other players requires the establishment of secured trade routes. Most merchants are not going to risk their assets to fly through unexplored regions of space. While in a significantly privately-based economy this won’t be a problem, as private navies and mercenary groups would probably take this job over, in most cases it would be up to the military to establish and keep these routes safe. You’re going to have to talk to other players to establish these routes. One planet can only trade with one other planet, and the benefit of the route will only consider those two planets; choose who you decide to make trade with carefully. The solid benefit of the trade goes to the planet with the higher economic standing as the lesser planet will feed off of the greater, but this can be good for the lesser planet if tariffs of the greater aren’t too high; they become more economically independent from the controlling player, thusly the player won’t need to send as many resources to maintain that colony. This is a double-edged sword, however, because that planet can end up becoming dependent on its trade partner and start to drift towards the other empire. TL;DR, be careful what you sign up for. The most fruitful of trade relationships for both parties come from two well-off planets of different economic persuasions (one production-heavy planet trading with a commercially-inclined planet).

All values of a planet can decay if it is starved of investment. This decay is exponential if the planet is under siege.


Military
Your empire's military is determined by the quantity and quality of your fleets. Your military is very malleable, the most malleable part of the game in fact. You will be creating your own units and organizing your own ship classes.I will give parameters of a class based on what you will write about them, and you will upgrade them from there. At the game start, there will be two universal ship classes.





These are not the basis of all ships everywhere. Feel free to propose that your ship uses a specific weapon type, or several. Same with defense. Also feel free to add other modules, such as a communications center or some such that would give a bonus to organization of the fleet, increasing combat effectiveness. However, what I give you as a template will be final. Also note if I find your ship has too many advantages, I will give it something to make up for it. For example, say your ship has a lot of firepower. I may have it so your base ship has a high firepower rating of a specific kind of weapon that may be hard to defensively counter, but at the same time it might have a very limited hull and no shielding to speak of. Or, I’ll require that another stat be added that limits how many weapons the class can have, such as some kind of advanced reactor module that would need to be increased in order to also advance firepower.

Those base ship schemattics I give you will be both passively upgraded by advancing technology, and can be actively upgraded. You see, your civilization will have a stat for how many modules a ship of a particular class can have. This can be increased, and thus your ships can be upgraded. This may seem choppy now but I’m sure everything will be clear when the game starts up and I’m more than happy to explain everything to you in private.


Espionage
Espionage is very free-form. However, you need to set up a network in the civilization you want to internally wreck before committing yourself to actually causing turbulence. All that needs to be done to do this is investing some of your economy into the effort and your agents/robotic spyware/whatever will do the rest. From there, you can propose what you want to be done and you will get a report on how possible that effort is. You can also request information your spy network has uncovered about the civilization in question, including secret deals, projects, and if your spy network is big enough, orders from previous turns!

Freeform Development
One las thting, this IOT is above all, freeform. If you want to build a specific something, you can come to me and request it. I'll give you a bill of materials and we can see where it goes. Want a surface-to-space laser cannon? Can do. Space elevator? Sure. Anything you want to do is doable within the realm of science fiction in this IOT given you want it enough, I assure you.

Reserved

Reserved
Post away primordial maggots

Requesting Humans

Terran Empire

more later

ill make an alternate sign up if Tyo doesnt like the Terran Empire

decided to not go Terran Empire

Also going to create a human signup.

I wish to reserve a spot for the Unicob/Sectiods/Greys.

Clarifying I won't decline a sign up until the application is completed, but until then they won't be accepted either.

Species Name: Terrakol
Description: Mostly robotic. Nobody remembers the true form of the Terrakol. For details on why, see history. Physically, most Terrakol have humanoid-shaped robot bodies measuring 6-7 feet in height and 200-400 pounds in weight. They usually have some sort of a retractable ranged weapon built into one hand. Their legs usually contain jets, but they cannot fly more than a few feet off of the ground for more than a few minutes due to weight.

Homeworld Details: Devos Treta is a planet seemingly completely man-made planet. All true life died out on the planet long ago, and metallic buildings line the entire planet.

Species History/Stengths and Weaknesses: Devos Treta was not always a dead planet. A long time ago, nature was abundant on the planet, just like Earth. However, over time, massive industrialization and urbanization took its toll on the planet, and it eventually became clear that in a few years, Devos Treta would be uninhabitable, and no planets able to sustain life were nearby. However, several scientists, through dark, mad scientific rituals, discovered the secret of life energy. They had learned how to store a person's consciousness in a small orb filled with gold liquid, called "life energy" and put it in a robotic body. Some of the species turned to that and became robots in all but soul; the rest perished and the real Terrakol species became extinct.

Thus, the greatest strength of the Terrakol species is that it is not truly alive. As a result, they do not need to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe, and biological threats such as poison and disease do not affect them. Their robot bodies give them great strength with surprising (on par with human) speed, and they feel no pain. In fact, they can repair any injury to their bodies and even transfer robot bodies if their life orb is intact. However, their greatest strength is their greatest weakness; if even a tiny crack appears in their life orb, they will almost certainly die nearly instantly. Also, any attack that would interfere with a robot's mechanical system is just as powerful on a Terrakol. Their other great weakness is that they cannot reproduce. There are roughly 5 billion Terrakol alive, and that number can only go down. As a result, the Terrakol tend to rule areas very indirectly, and the indigenous species of a planet is usually left to govern itself within reason.

Technology: The personal (usually built-in) weapons of a Terrakol usually consist of a standard ranged weapons and a retractable electroblade. Space fighters are not much bigger than an actual Terrakol and pretty much act as an extension of the Terrakol. Basically, the Terrakol body is inserted into the fighter, and through a few cords, the Terrakol directs the ship through his force of will from the life orb rather than controls. They can also eject the pilot at high speed towards the nearest planet (or Terrakol spaceship), since the Terrakol do not need to breathe. The weaponry of the spaceship is relatively standard ion cannons, as well as other weapons (I don't know much about sci-fi weaponry, sorry!). Because of the way they are piloted, Terrakol fighters cannot be hijaked or stolen by non-Terrakol. Terrakol warships are much more similar to regular warships; they have similar design, though they require fewer pilots, and are armed with ion cannons and rail guns. Both types of ships are armored relatively strong but lightweight armor, allowing for lots of mobility. Non-military technology is roughly average Tier 3 besides the life orbs; space navigation is pretty efficient, and the Terrakol use nanotechnological storage and mass drivers. The Terrakol have not made any food or medical advancements because they are robots in that sense.

Location: I can't edit the map on iPad, but I am claiming Orange and roughly X=P and Y=R.

If this is too OP I have alternatives in mind.

Humanity – always with their eyes to the stars, their asses still stuck firmly in the mud. This has, however, changed. Humanity's efforts in concern to space have always been, at least in the national sense, concerned with “How can we exploit this for profit?” and it showed; in the late 21st century of Earth's history, colonization of foreign worlds within the Sol system was done by national governments, creating resource extraction colonies, populated by prisoners, political dissidents, and those foolhardy enough to volunteer for colonial life. Mars and several moons were split up among the nations that got there first; colonial companies carved out chunks of land and even a few, small, independent city-states have sprung up among the colonization efforts.

Later on, though, with the establishment of the UN Extra-Terrestrial Exploration and Settlement Division, this practice of “finders keepers” was stamped out; any and all major shipyards were bought or, in the case of a few unruly nations, seized by popular consent, and established as United Nations territory and the license to construct new shipyards is handed out only through the United Nations. Colonial rights had to be applied for through the UN, and conducted with a UN-licensed starship, and the only governmental body with the shipyards and permission to construct warships was the United Nations, allowing it to fairly distribute colonial land to competing nations and corporations.

The UN has expanded vastly in the time since the establishment of ETESD, acting as patrons to thousands of scientists and researchers in their hunt to advance humanity, to break beyond the grip of Sol and into the great abyss beyond.

Major Human Colonies

Mars

• Terra Nova – Population 1,000,000 – Capital Terra Nova
• Nova Maine – Population 600,000 – Capital New Portland
• Klein Deutschland – Population 460,000 – Capital Frederiksburg
• Mao Zedong City – Population 450,000 – Capital Mao Zedong City
• Little Siberia – Population 150,000 – Capital New Moscow
  Other than the four largest colonies, there are many dozen other ones and other political entities – Mars having a total population of around 3 million.

Venus

• Washington Research Center – Population 1,000
• New Beijing Research & Development Station – Population 300

Those are the only two human settlements on the planet Venus, both expensive and costly to maintain in the harsh environment of the planet. They are research outposts and nothing else, and few people expect Venus to ever become a popular destination for colonists.

Luna

• Rockefeller Mining Township – Population 20,000 – Capital Newport
• Fort Druthers – Population 10,000 – Capital Fort Druthers
• United Nations Headquarters – Population 10,000 – Capital UNHQ
• UN Naval Academy – Population 5,000 – Capital UNNA
• Fort Columbia - Population 40,000 – Capital Fort Columbia

Earth's one and only moon is divided up mostly into United Nations territory, particularly locating the UN Headquarters – resting on ground that belongs to no nation - and three of the most important of Earth's military bases. Forth Druthers is a premier location in Terran military development, testing, and research, housing some of the best minds the United Nations Armed Forces has to offer. Fort Columbia is the training camp for all UN Marines, who act as the UNAF's most well trained and tenacious armed branch. All prospective UN Marines must be screened through Fort Columbia and receive basic and advanced training on site. The UN Naval Academy molds bright, young minds into disciplined and intelligent officers – establishing a high quality, high quantity officer caste for the UN Navy.

The other major settlement on Luna is owned by the Rockefeller Lunar Corporation, which has dozens of sites around Luna extracting resources – the most important of which is the Mining Township, focusing on the extraction of Helium 3.
Across the rest of the Sol System, there are small human settlements – particularly on the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. There are 14 planets/moons/asteroids officially settled by humans, though most without significant populations – the total extra-Terran population reaching around 3.15 million humans.


Terran Government
For the past 50 years, humanity has been governed by an increasingly powerful United Nations – particularly the Extra-Terrestrial Exploration and Settlement Division, or ETESD, which divides up available land, gives out contracts, and funds new research and development concerning outer space. Though all Earth nations remain as independent nation-states, the United Nations serves as a counterweight, stopping wanton aggression and keeping rogue states in check. The United Nations Armed Forces is a large, well trained force, and the UN controls all major shipyards and, thus, maintains control over the entirety of all warships operating in Sol space. The UN Peacekeeping Force are the primary ground troops, either acting as real peacekeepers in war or, much more frequently, helping with the aftermath of natural disasters. The Navy is the most well funded branch, and also by far the largest; it employs several warships, hundreds of ship-to-ship and ship-to-ground fighters and bombers, and a large group of elite warriors – the UN Marines. The UN is, despite all its fangs and sharp claws, a benevolent organization, however, and its Minister is elected by all the nations of the world, and global legislation is voted on by a representative from every member nation.

The UN does own a large colony on Mars, known as Terra Nova, from which it gets much of its resource and tax base. It owns several smaller colonies sprinkled throughout the system as well, which all contribute to the UN Treasury.

The UN, elected by popular consent, maintains the right to represent Earth and Humanity as a whole when conducting itself with affairs of non-human sentient life. It is the figure of human diplomacy and military might in all non-terrestrial affairs.


Human Technology:

Humans have always been a progressive lot, technologically: moreso now than ever. The march of technology onward has propelled humanity into the stars, and shows no signs of stopping. In particular, human science has focused heavily on superconductors and magnetism which, along with the recent advent of cold fusion, has brought about a new age in production efficiency, quality of life, and improvements to UN warships.

The most significant advancements, aside from the myriad production efficiency ones, had to do with war. Cold fusion reactors powered warships through the skies, from engines to weapons to the oxygen purifiers that kept those steel coffins alive. They were common back on Earth and on the colonies, as well, providing cheap, clean energy to the masses.

Railguns became commonplace aboard UNN Warships as well, serving as the primary weapon for fighters and warships alike. Though the United Nations Navy has rarely seen combat – only back in the days of the unpoliced frontier, with raiders and bandits roaming free – but the few times it has, railguns have proved themselves far superior to the much more primitive weapons available to pirates, raiders, and other such thieves.
The other major advance in concern to warships was thanks to magnets. Using large, powerful superconducting magnets, large warships create magnetic fields around themselves to stop – or at least slow down – projectiles that are flung at it. These shields – McDormy Shields, after their inventor – are tried and true on the field of battle, with many a pirate's cruise missile being harmlessly deflected into space by superior UN technology. On UNN Fighters, these shields are lacking; there isn't enough room on fighters and thus, instead of shields, fighters have thick armor – fighters feature 5 cm thick graphene armor, while warships can range wildly in armor thickness.

Magnets have found themselves incorporated into the everyman's life quite thoroughly, in the civilian sector of things. From everything to medicine, to transportation, to weaponry and resource extraction; magnets becoming to modern human society like what electricity was to the humanity of the 19th and 20th centuries.

In terms of ground troops, railguns are often found on human vehicles, while ground troops use either personal directed energy weapons or ballistic weapons, depending on the situation; the United Nations Armed Forces trains its ground troops in the use of both types of weapons.

I want to join as a company, but I'm really am bad at creating species.

I used species loosely. If you want to be a trade federation or something made up of multiple species that'd be fine too.

However if you mean a more non-gov'ts organization, that can be applied... After a galactic scene is set. At game start, most species probably won't be in high association with each other.

Species Name: Hyrhh'unt [Common Name], Tinearapax cogitans [Scientific Name]
Species Description:

Home System: The Yn Yng system consists of a single Orange Dwarf star, Yn Yng, and 5 planets; the innermost planet, Uu:yw, is an uninhabitable rocky wasteland completely lacking a hydrosphere, and is tidally locked to Yn Yng; despite this, several research stations are maintained on the planet. The second planet in the system is the Hyrhh'unt Homeworld, Hyrhh, which shall be touched on later. The third planet in the system is a Gas Giant known as Llyrl that is orbited by over 40 moons, several of which contain oceans & have been extensively colonized. The fourth planet is another Gas Giant, and is called Wriynq; it possesses a most beautiful ring system & is orbited by 17 moons, one of which contains vast underground river systems, and is among the wealthiest of Hyrhh'unt colonies. The final planet in the system is a frozen chunk of ice & metal called Jhu'y-uyy, which plays host to a minor research & mining station, & little else. In between Hyrhh & Llyrl is a large belt of asteroids, while a similar belt of comets & icy dwarf planets lies beyond the orbit of Jhu'y-uyy.

Homeworld: Hyrhh, the Homeworld of the Hyrhh'unt, is a world of water; only 18% of the planet's surface consists of land, and of that, the vast majority is concentrated in a supercontinent near the south pole known as Prissth:t, which translates to 'The Place of Wonder' in the official language of Hyrhh. The largest & most influential Hyrhh'unt settlements are located along reefs & atolls in the tropics, with population density decreasing the deeper into the ocean you go & the further towards the poles you venture.
Species History: Empires rose & fell on Hyrhh, as they did on any other planet, for millennia. Warfare, trade, diplomacy, backstabbing, & evangelism expanded the influence of one state, gave another a minor advantage, and so on and so forth, so that for most of history, while there would certainly be great powers competing for influence, none was ever able to unite the species under one rule. As the centuries wore on, however, the civilization centered on the great city of Ghhst managed to avoid the pitfalls that had ensured the collapse of earlier cultures. Gradually, the nation became more & more powerful, began having an ever increasing influence on politics, culture, & economy throughout the world, until during the year now known as 'Oyq ry;yrh jhn wrall' h-un'- that is, 'The Birth of a Species United' the Ghhstians took direct control of their various clients & puppets; at that point, the remaining Hyrhh'unt nations knew that they no longer had a realistic hope of keeping their sovereignty; some chose to fight, to go out in a blaze of glory, while others sought to preserve their way of life by appeasing Ghhst, but one by one, voluntarily or otherwise, the last independent Hyrhh'unt realms vanished, swallowed up by Ghhst. The Ghhstians spent many centuries consolidating their hold on their new lands, colonizing the seafloor, & sending probes into space. Eventually, the moons of Llyrl & Wriynq were opened to colonization, research & mining interests were established on moons, planets, & asteroids throughout the Yn Yng system, and the Hyrhh'unt entered the Space Age; science & philosophy flourished, and after a breakthrough by the renowned researcher Rruyk Hhs'irthk, the Hyrhh'unt developed ships capable of efficiently crossing the great voids between stars. The following age was marked by a rapid expansion of the Hyrhh'unt Hegemony, and as the new year dawns, many Hyrhh'unt can feel that a new chapter in the history of their species is about to be written.
Technology: Tier 3
Location: H3, F5

Joining, as what I don't know, but it will be interesting.

mrrandomplayer said:

Species Name: Terrakol
<snip>

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The only problem with this is that your technology is much too vague. I use it to determine the strength of your military among other things.

Okay, I'll fix it in the morning. I don't really know where to start, though.

Hot damn, I can't resist this. Would it be alright if I use my species from Great Journeys, possibly slightly updated? I know how they go on about transcending and stuff, but if I am correct that Tier 0 literally means that the species has ascended to a higher plain, then they are really just a Tier 3 bordering on 4 level spices with Tier 1 AI and a large Tier 7 population holding them back. Also they have a lack of highly sophisticated military technology as they really have had no need for it. Yet. Would this be okay? Should I gimp them a bit with some penalty to make them more balanced or is the concept not salvageable?

As they are now it seems fine, just update them to fit application perameters.

mrrandomplayer said:

Okay, I'll fix it in the morning. I don't really know where to start, though.

Click to expand...

I need to have a sense how powerful each kind of ship component is in relation to each other, really. Extra stuff such as what they use for energy and how exactly their weapons and shielding and stuff work(describing a mass driver briefly, or plasma shielding) is very very helpful. I'm not looking for a scientific text about these things, just a kind of summary saying they're there. Look up ships from science fiction franchises, they do a good job of this.

Tyo said:

As they are now it seems fine, just update them to fit application perameters.

Click to expand...

Awesome, I'll try and do that tomorrow/the next day.

Sonereal said:

I want to join as a company, but I'm really am bad at creating species.

Click to expand...

You could always join as a Corporate Empire of Rubber Forehead Aliens.

NinjaCow64 said:

You could always join as a Corporate Empire of Rubber Forehead Aliens.

Click to expand...

Corporate empires are cliche.