Darsnan
Emperor
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2007
- Messages
- 1,218
Hi All,
I am posting here for the benefit of those who only post at CFC. In about 10 days I'm going to release my mod for SMAX, which is titled Beta Lyrae. Here is the preface for the mod:
BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of Eden-class planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets which had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all....
Mission Year 2492
Because of the many rolls the UN was responsible for in regards to planetary exploration and colonization, The UN Spaceship Harmony had been designed as a hybrid ship, one that could very quickly be reconfigured from a bulk transport, to a scoutship, to a warship, or any mix in between. This was accomplished by creating a base hull which had detachable cargo pods, or bays. If the ship was needed as a bulk equipment mover, then specialized cargo pods could be attached for this function. If the ship needed to move people, then transport pods were attached. And if the ship needed to be an exploration vehicle, then sensor pods were attached. For this specific trip the Harmony had three separate missions: first, it was an exploration vehicle, and so was equipped with a sensor pod for performing this mission. Second, it was going to assist in a humanitarian mission for the planet Margolis 5 which currently was experiencing some sort of unidentified plague, and so was equipped with several transport pods for the personnel associated with the Humanitarian mission, as well as several cargo pods full of the missions equipment. Finally, the Harmony was also ferrying a group of refugees who would provide replacement stock for the losses suffered to the base population on Margolis 5: the container these people were placed in was little more than an empty cargo hold with beds, and the refugees crammed in like cattle.
The Harmonys itinerary had it exploring a string of unknown worlds which would take it in the general direction of Margolis 5. As the ship wormholed out of hyperdrive at its first location designated by the High Council, its sensors automatically went online and began scanning the previously unknown system, taking in the local planets, asteroids, and the local stars current state. A habitable planet was located, the Harmony took up orbit, and the ships sensors recorded the state of the planet for future colonization missions.
After a day the crew of the Harmony had enough information to classify the planet as habitable, and duly logged it as such. The next solar system on their list was called up, the wormhole linking it located, and the Harmony proceeded on to its next destination where the process of cataloguing was repeated, the only difference being that the once habitable world in this solar system had degraded over the eons and was no longer considered a viable candidate for colonization. They worm-holed again, and again processed the information their automated instruments collected.
It was during their fourth solar system that one of the technicians who had been assigned to examine the Progenitor star charts realized a mistake had been made in the original decoding of the charts: someone had accidentally moved the decimal point during the coordinate translation, meaning their ship would have ended up in the wrong solar system. The technician made the correction, fed the coordinates of the new solar system into the navigational computer, and went about her business, all without ever telling anyone she had deviated from the original flight course the Harmony had filed back in the Alpha Centauri solar system.
The Harmony wormholed out into the new solar system just as it had countless times before, and its sensors began taking data of the surrounding environs. A prospective habitable planet was located, and the Harmony began the process of entering into orbit. The ship only had hours to live .
Sister Prudence sat at her computer terminal on the starship UNS Harmony reviewing data from the automated sensors. She astutely ignored the nearby University scientists who were reviewing the data in parallel with her: they had a working relationship with her, but other than that each had their own agendas and tended not to intermingle.
The first sign of concern happened shortly after the Harmony had assumed orbit around the identified habitable planet in the solar system. Sister Prudence noticed several of the Peace Keeper Operations crew gathering around one of the maintenance terminals assigned to monitoring the health of the starship, with one supervisor providing direction. Prudence heard the words hull breach, but in a tone which indicated it was a minor affair, that which had happened before and been remedied easily with a meteor patch. The maintenance supervisor who had been called over delegated the responsibility for the job, and then went back to the task she had been working on. Several minutes passed before another Operations person called for attention, this time slightly more urgently. Another hull breach, again minor, and in a completely different location. Again the Operations Supervisor delegated the responsibility to another subordinate, however this time the supervisor stayed at the terminal. Prudence noted from her station that the Super began calling up other subsystems and reviewing their status. Most subsystems, once checked, she closed down again. However there were several screens she kept up, and as time went on the number of screens she kept up grew. More alarming to Prudence was the growing look of panic on the subordinates face.
Prudence opened a new screen on her own terminal and started a quick diagnostic on the Harmony. To her horror no fewer than 20 subsystems were now showing faults, and the list was steadily growing even as she watched!
Thinking quickly, Prudence was able to project that the ship would become irreversibly damaged within 20 minutes, with catastrophic failure to follow shortly thereafter. She made a quick call to the Believer Factions quarters and requiring a quick prayer service to occur on the C Deck, which happened to be conveniently located next to the Harmonys escape pods. As Prudence got up from her station she noticed the Uni technicians hurriedly moving towards their own exit, followed closely by the Hiverian Security Staff. So, bad news does travel fast! As Prudence moved towards the door she caught the eye of the Maintenance Supervisor who was still at her post. Before Prudence could give her a warning the woman turned to Prudence and said calmly, Youd better hurry. Prudence almost missed a step the woman was literally going to go down with the ship, sacrificing herself in the hopes of saving others before the ship lost integrity. Prudence noted the womans name Jiramindi. You will be remembered, Prudence promised.
The Believer escape pod jettisoned from the Harmony and began its descent towards the planet below. Prudence manipulated the pods controls to give her and her command detachment a better view of the Harmony: as the escape pod slewed around in response to Prudences commands it gave them a good profile of the ship, and what they saw amazed them: it was as if the ship were slowly dissolving right before their eyes! Huge chunks of the front section were already missing, and the holes there were growing by the minute, while aft the damage wasnt as bad but was steadily getting worse. Did we hit an antimatter field? she heard someone ask from behind her. Couldnt be someone else replied, else wed see explosions from the matter antimatter collisions.
Nannites! someone else said, almost accusingly, and Prudence knew they were right! Shed heard of several Factions back in the Alpha Centauri system who had been experimenting with nannites which could perform menial tasks on the molecular level. What she was seeing here before her went far beyond that, and it made her shudder. This was science completely unfettered and on a level barely comprehendible, and left to run amok. What really made her soul grow cold was the thought of what they might find on the world below .
The artwork for Beta Lyrae is coming from two people: Buster's Uncle and wgabrie. The following is the new title screen:
I am posting here for the benefit of those who only post at CFC. In about 10 days I'm going to release my mod for SMAX, which is titled Beta Lyrae. Here is the preface for the mod:
BACKDROP: In MY 2433 several factions discovered the wreckage of a Progenitor interstellar spaceship on the farside of Nessus. After much investigation it was determined that the ships star charts were intact, and that the hyperdrive engine could be cloned.
By MY 2452 the first fleet of scoutships had been built and sent out with a mandate to investigate all of the habitable planets catalogued in the ancient Progenitor ships star charts. The results were mixed: some scoutships returned with exciting news of Eden-class planets, while other scouts return with tales of planets which had degraded over the eons. Still other scouts failed to return at all....
Mission Year 2492
Because of the many rolls the UN was responsible for in regards to planetary exploration and colonization, The UN Spaceship Harmony had been designed as a hybrid ship, one that could very quickly be reconfigured from a bulk transport, to a scoutship, to a warship, or any mix in between. This was accomplished by creating a base hull which had detachable cargo pods, or bays. If the ship was needed as a bulk equipment mover, then specialized cargo pods could be attached for this function. If the ship needed to move people, then transport pods were attached. And if the ship needed to be an exploration vehicle, then sensor pods were attached. For this specific trip the Harmony had three separate missions: first, it was an exploration vehicle, and so was equipped with a sensor pod for performing this mission. Second, it was going to assist in a humanitarian mission for the planet Margolis 5 which currently was experiencing some sort of unidentified plague, and so was equipped with several transport pods for the personnel associated with the Humanitarian mission, as well as several cargo pods full of the missions equipment. Finally, the Harmony was also ferrying a group of refugees who would provide replacement stock for the losses suffered to the base population on Margolis 5: the container these people were placed in was little more than an empty cargo hold with beds, and the refugees crammed in like cattle.
The Harmonys itinerary had it exploring a string of unknown worlds which would take it in the general direction of Margolis 5. As the ship wormholed out of hyperdrive at its first location designated by the High Council, its sensors automatically went online and began scanning the previously unknown system, taking in the local planets, asteroids, and the local stars current state. A habitable planet was located, the Harmony took up orbit, and the ships sensors recorded the state of the planet for future colonization missions.
After a day the crew of the Harmony had enough information to classify the planet as habitable, and duly logged it as such. The next solar system on their list was called up, the wormhole linking it located, and the Harmony proceeded on to its next destination where the process of cataloguing was repeated, the only difference being that the once habitable world in this solar system had degraded over the eons and was no longer considered a viable candidate for colonization. They worm-holed again, and again processed the information their automated instruments collected.
It was during their fourth solar system that one of the technicians who had been assigned to examine the Progenitor star charts realized a mistake had been made in the original decoding of the charts: someone had accidentally moved the decimal point during the coordinate translation, meaning their ship would have ended up in the wrong solar system. The technician made the correction, fed the coordinates of the new solar system into the navigational computer, and went about her business, all without ever telling anyone she had deviated from the original flight course the Harmony had filed back in the Alpha Centauri solar system.
The Harmony wormholed out into the new solar system just as it had countless times before, and its sensors began taking data of the surrounding environs. A prospective habitable planet was located, and the Harmony began the process of entering into orbit. The ship only had hours to live .
Sister Prudence sat at her computer terminal on the starship UNS Harmony reviewing data from the automated sensors. She astutely ignored the nearby University scientists who were reviewing the data in parallel with her: they had a working relationship with her, but other than that each had their own agendas and tended not to intermingle.
The first sign of concern happened shortly after the Harmony had assumed orbit around the identified habitable planet in the solar system. Sister Prudence noticed several of the Peace Keeper Operations crew gathering around one of the maintenance terminals assigned to monitoring the health of the starship, with one supervisor providing direction. Prudence heard the words hull breach, but in a tone which indicated it was a minor affair, that which had happened before and been remedied easily with a meteor patch. The maintenance supervisor who had been called over delegated the responsibility for the job, and then went back to the task she had been working on. Several minutes passed before another Operations person called for attention, this time slightly more urgently. Another hull breach, again minor, and in a completely different location. Again the Operations Supervisor delegated the responsibility to another subordinate, however this time the supervisor stayed at the terminal. Prudence noted from her station that the Super began calling up other subsystems and reviewing their status. Most subsystems, once checked, she closed down again. However there were several screens she kept up, and as time went on the number of screens she kept up grew. More alarming to Prudence was the growing look of panic on the subordinates face.
Prudence opened a new screen on her own terminal and started a quick diagnostic on the Harmony. To her horror no fewer than 20 subsystems were now showing faults, and the list was steadily growing even as she watched!
Thinking quickly, Prudence was able to project that the ship would become irreversibly damaged within 20 minutes, with catastrophic failure to follow shortly thereafter. She made a quick call to the Believer Factions quarters and requiring a quick prayer service to occur on the C Deck, which happened to be conveniently located next to the Harmonys escape pods. As Prudence got up from her station she noticed the Uni technicians hurriedly moving towards their own exit, followed closely by the Hiverian Security Staff. So, bad news does travel fast! As Prudence moved towards the door she caught the eye of the Maintenance Supervisor who was still at her post. Before Prudence could give her a warning the woman turned to Prudence and said calmly, Youd better hurry. Prudence almost missed a step the woman was literally going to go down with the ship, sacrificing herself in the hopes of saving others before the ship lost integrity. Prudence noted the womans name Jiramindi. You will be remembered, Prudence promised.
The Believer escape pod jettisoned from the Harmony and began its descent towards the planet below. Prudence manipulated the pods controls to give her and her command detachment a better view of the Harmony: as the escape pod slewed around in response to Prudences commands it gave them a good profile of the ship, and what they saw amazed them: it was as if the ship were slowly dissolving right before their eyes! Huge chunks of the front section were already missing, and the holes there were growing by the minute, while aft the damage wasnt as bad but was steadily getting worse. Did we hit an antimatter field? she heard someone ask from behind her. Couldnt be someone else replied, else wed see explosions from the matter antimatter collisions.
Nannites! someone else said, almost accusingly, and Prudence knew they were right! Shed heard of several Factions back in the Alpha Centauri system who had been experimenting with nannites which could perform menial tasks on the molecular level. What she was seeing here before her went far beyond that, and it made her shudder. This was science completely unfettered and on a level barely comprehendible, and left to run amok. What really made her soul grow cold was the thought of what they might find on the world below .
The artwork for Beta Lyrae is coming from two people: Buster's Uncle and wgabrie. The following is the new title screen:
Now I know why you were so intent on pushing me to start this thread - so you could post this pic! Very, very nice job! :b: Do you have base graphics/ Diplo screen stuff you'd like to use, or do you want me to look around for some pics?
