Stellar_Magic

This JI is what I've come to call the C&C effect. If you played their earliest games (Red Alert) you'd discover that the range of a tank and an artillery piece were the same... Oh well we can modify it to our liking.

In one fo the recent screenshots I saw Niles Ferrier sp?, if he's in there expect a lot of heros, perhaps as many as are in Star Wars Rebellion.

Ioor should be in command of the 4th Fleet.

Yeah, I play it and I've modified my version to encourage the formation of large armies... (Low upkeep, high purchasing cost. After all, after you obtain all the equipment you're just paying the soldiers in the field.) I also made it so that the Romans fight... well, more like romans (All of their units are hideously expensive now but just as hideously effective, except against archers anyway.)

Krask knelt in the meditation room of the transport. He sat with his body centered over the pinwheel star which dominated the room. Its red marble polish giving it a gleam in the candle light around him. He felt the force in the room, the whisper of the darkness, the call of the light. Each tugged at him, and each tried to guide him. Krask ignored them both. He centered his being in the room and listened as the calls fell silent. He threw his spirit upon the floor and into the trillions of nanites that pulsed through his ship, like blood in the body. Slowly he cracked open one golden eye as beads of sweat appeared at the top of his head. The red feathers which began there flashed a brilliant black as blood streamed out of them for a moment then rushed back. His muscles grew numb and his spirit fainter, tired and less resilient. Then slowly he stood up and brushed off his mane of red feathers and straightened his robes. The door to the room hissed open and a Kar Vanel'kar droid stepped into the room, its two red eyes focusing on the Captain, "We will arrive within the next few moments Captain." "Thank you," Clawdar answered as he closed his eyes and whiped his hand across his pale face, "Is the cloaking device ready?" "Yes sir." "Good," Captain Clawdar glanced back at the droid and smiled. They wouldn't be detected, each of the warriors had gone through the purification rituals before him. Each had torn down their force footprint, and to Clawdar each had torn apart their souls. He dispised the technique, and always felt scarred and used upon its completion, but he knew that if the mission was to succeed stealth even stealth from the force needed to be observed.

Well, you wanted a better discription of the vessels... Here's the Raporan Replicator... Thrawn nodded to his subordinate, “Thank you Captain Halien. Helm, bring us to flank speed. Guns, target the replicator. That’s our objective.â€

This is the 2nd draft of a fanfiction that was posted along time ago on SWRebellion.com. The original is still there if you're that interested in the story, you'd have to do some forum searching though. To be frank this project isn't the highest on my list of priorities.

Lets see, how differently will both sides actually play... The Imperial get larger capital ships, and the Rebels get better intelligence and starfighter designs, does that make it so one side plays differently from another? No, it doesn't. In a combat engagement between a standard imperial Task Force and rebel Task Force (MC80 + 3 Fighter Squadrons + Support ships vs. ISD + 6 Fighter Squadrons + Support ships) both sides really end up playing the same, they send fighters against fighters, bombers against caps, and caps against caps. In the strategic setting both sides can conduct hit and run, both sides can assault a planet, and both sides need planets to gather resources to build ships to assault more planets... Sure the rebels may lean toward hit and run, and the imps may lean toward assault, but thats just tactics and tactics can be used by both sides. Heck an Imperial Star Destroyer can be just as or more effective at hit and run attacks as a Mon Cal Cruiser. The only way massive differences in play between the sides will occur is if the Rebels are forced to use smaller amounts of units then the imps and can aquire resources from imperial worlds (Smuggling) so that they don't have to occupy large swaths of the galaxy. Neither of these is going to happen I think.

Well yes the Rakata used slaves... They're also probably responsible for spreading the human race everywhere in the Star Wars universe. But the Rapora are in many ways worth less then slaves to the Rakata. The Rapora were genetically engineered to be killing machines... This also leads us into some stuff on the Raporan religion and worship of those who exercise use of the dark side. For one thing that artist's rendering of the Ssi-ruuk doesn't agree with how I imagined them. I felt they should look more bird like with beaks and so forth then how they're portrayed. Now about the Chiss and Rapora I just finished a rough draft of a possible exposition for the story which takes us back to Thrawn's premptive action against the Rapora which cost him his career. I'd like to note that this is a very rough draft but... enjoy. The grey hull of the chiss vessel Mitth Spear slid through the darkness of space. Only the occasional glint of a running light lit the vessel as it slid forward. The craft’s rough edges and planes bent light in strange angles across the hull two dark blue stripes decorated the ship’s sides designating it as a vessel of the Mitth Family. Swiftly a flight of chiss gull winged fighters slid up beside the larger vessel. Their twin ion drives blazed bright in the darkness of space as they maneuvered to protect the larger vessel. There were more ships out there, dozens of glinting hulls, each another vessel in Chiss Expansionary Defense Force. The occasionally flash of an ignited ion drive would illuminate the position of the squadrons of chiss fighters scattered amongst the fleet, awaiting the go order. For the captains of the ships, they knew that no matter what happened this day their careers were already over. They were breaking the code of honor inscribed in every chiss officer and soldier. They were preempting an enemy force. Onboard the Mitth Spear’s bridge Commander Mitth’raw’nuruodo glanced down the list of status reports from each ship in the assembled flotilla, “Is everything ready?â€

Well the simple answer to your questions JI is this... The Rakatan Empire and the Infinite Empire are one and the same. The Rapora were part of the Empires military wing, and when they fell they lost most of their technology. The actual cause of the demise of the empire has never been fully explained, but the most likely cause is that of an internal uprising by the slaves. Because of the fact that a large portion of the Infinite Empire's technology involves application and manipulation of the force the revolt was probably led by forceusers, perhaps the precursors of the Jedi. The Rapora want a return to their former glory but because they're only a single star system they have to develop a means of occuping territory with an extremely small number of warriors. To do this they need very advanced droids, which until this point in the timeline haven't finished development. Is the galaxy as strong as JI states, probably not. The Jedi have been cut in half by the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, and a period of punctuated peace has begun. The major powers of the Galaxy are disarming to pre-Vong levels, they'll have to gear up once more once the Rapora become a threat. If that isn't enough the Rapora have technologies that enable them to produce ships and droids many times faster then the GFFA. Their only limit is crewing those same ships. I don't know about you but... how many alien species have we seen that are humans with aestetic changes... I prefer using species that are less humanoid then other peoples. The Raproa are designed as Saurian bipeds, sure. Other alien races that will come to play a part will include the Aklasp, a race that not only isn't humanoid but isn't carbon based. (Silicate lifeforms are fun.)

Heck even if they put in the Bulwark Battlecruiser an SSD could still beat the crud out of it, I mean the Bulwark Battlecruiser is obsolete, smaller, and less well armed. So what if the Rebels had a couple, they still aren't the uber powerful SSDs, and who says you have to play the Rebels the way the rebels fought, you could mix combat styles after all.

It seems Thrawn has little idea as to how convoluted a backhistory we've woven for the Rapora. In many ways I've designed them so that they've always been there in the background... The Rapora not only are of the Star Wars galaxy but were among one of the chief players in the Infinite Empire. Many commonly used technologies in star wars were originally designed by them... the turbolaser, the pulse beam, cortosis armor, droid and robotic defenses, lightsabers, replication, and repuslor technology. After the collapse of the infinite empire the Rapora lost a large amount of their technological development especially in the field of robotics and droids. In other fields their technological developments surged ahead. Their energy shielding technology is as much as two-hundred years further developed then the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. Their weaponary also surged forward with research into plasma arms. Unlike the Vong's plasma weaponary the Raporan equipment is technological and much more predictable to the user making it more effective. Often times a single plasma cannon can inflict more damage then an entire bank of turbolasers and the Rapora have developed variations of the design which surpass the destructive potential of a superlaser. We've all heard about the dangerous groups out in the unknown regions, one of these groups is the Rapora. In fact it is the same group which led to his downfall. Thrawn ordered a strike on the Raporan homeworld soon after the destruction of Outbound Flight. The attack cost the chiss dearly but succeeded in forcing the Rapora to rebuild their military potential... After the attack Thrawn was charged and sent into exhile. Around the same time Palpatine brokered a deal with the trade federation that sold the Rapora both the designs for droid brains and droidekas... This piece of technology would prove vital in allowing a single star system to threaten the entire galaxy.

Oh dear, talk about one of the greatest tragedies in human history... and a necessary one. 1st, three events triggered the surrender of the Japanese in World War II. The nuclear bombing was only two of them, the other event which occured between them was the Russian entrance into the war. Even then the Japancese might not have surrendered. The military leaders of japan were split evenly over a negotiated settlement to the war or continueing hostilities. When the Emperor broke the tie and force the leaders to open negotiations there was a coup attempt. If it had succeded America would have still been forced to invade. If the bombs hadn't fallen Japan would have probably remained in the war until invaded. 2nd, loss of life from an invasion of Japan to both sides would be far worse then the losses suffered from the bomb. The American estimate for american casualties put them at over a million. The American military actually preordered thousand upon thousands of purple hearts which we didn't finish giving out until Vietnam. Recent revelations about Japan's military preparedness for an invasion make it clear that the american estimate is far less then what would have actually occured, and some leading historians believe that the American invasion would have been thrown back into the sea.

For RTS games I play mostly Rome: Total War, Homeworld2: Warlords, Star Wars Rebellion, Close Combat III, and Operation Flashpoint (Squad level command, but hey it requires some thinking).

Only Cain and the other guys at SWRebellion.com know where this is going...

Uh, BS... In all the forums but 1 I was the last one to post. In that other one it was Trej, what are you talking about?

Its up to you guys to post once in awhile!

BS hit the legend right on the head... good job.

Some dumb author had her do it in the Dark Nest book... Official? Well if I get it actually published, if not I'll post it as fanfiction. Mad, do you even have to ask?

What would classify as an atrocity... Lets see, blowing up a civilian space station, blowing up civilian facilities, bombarding a civilian population... Examples... Say you're attacking a rebel base on Naboo and the rebels have blockaded your only way into the base in the streets of Theed. So you call in an orbital strike and blow up the roadblock as well as a couple blocks of civilian buildings around it... that would be classified as an atrocity. Okay here is exactly how I'd work this out. Combat Experience: First, there are 5 experience levels. Greenhorn, Seasoned, Veteran, Elite, Ace. The amount of experience required to level up is exponentially larger then the previous level. Experience affects accuracy, severity of morale and loyalty changes, and a unit's maneuverability. (Turns faster) Experience Value increases when a ship fires its batteries or takes damage. Experience Value decreases when a unit is repaired. (This is because the replacement personnel aren't as good.) Morale: Troops and ships start out when built of a morale value of about 1/2 the maximum amount of morale or 50%. Morale directly effects the rate of a unit's acceleration, rate of fire, and loyalty of a unit. Morale Value increases when an enemy unit is destroyed, it fires its own weapons, a friendly ship fires its weapons, an enemy surrenders, or a planet falls under the player's control. Morale Value decreases when an enemy fires its weapons, loyalty drops to critical levels, a unit is forced to retreat, over time, and when a planet falls. Morale Value can randomly increase or descend (Though usually decrease), when a friendly vessel is destroyed, or when a ship is damaged. Loyalty: Troops have the same amount of loyalty as the planet which created them, while ships have a twenty percent loyalty bonus upon their creation. Loyalty increases when engaging pirates, a planet falls to their side, and when the enemy kills civilians. Loyalty decreases when a planet falls to the enemy, morale is critically low, and when their side commits an atrocity. Why are Morale and Loyalty seperate... this is why. Say an extremely loyal starship is engaged by a massive enemy force, its morale drops to critical and the ship cannot escpae. Instead of surrendering, the ship is scuttled. Say a moderately loyal starship is engaged by a massive enemy force and can't escape, its morale drops to critical levels and it surrenders. Say a disloyal unit is engaged in a firefight in a city between the enemy and your own forces. They're morale remains high but when one of the civilian's is killed their loyalty drops to critical and they switch sides. Say a disloyal unit is engaged in a firefight in a city between the enemy and your own forces. They're morale is low, and when one of the friendly units kills a civilian, the unit surrenders instead of defecting due to low morale. For a unit to defect they have to have medium to high morale, and also have very low loyalty. Pride and the belief that they're better then to commit such atrocities is they're primary motivation. If they aren't proud of themselves they'll merely surrender instead of defect. God, a game like that would rock...

Star Trek vs. Star Wars: The White Admiral Part II The white shape of the Lambda Shuttle ITS-473A-4 slid into the expansive hanger bay of the Chimeara. Its wings retracted upright with a hiss of escaping gas as the craft settled onto the deck. With another hiss and whine the loading ramp dropped down and a dozen battered and haggard looking personnel sped out of the vehicle. Suddenly at the opposite side of the hanger the doors to the turbolift hissed open and Grand Admiral Thrawn stepped into the room. Beside the main control console General Covell spun on his hip and saluted to his superior, “Evacuation of Wayland complete. We managed to grab most of the important equipment and data on our way out, including the… cylinders.” “Good,” Thrawn replied as he glanced at the medical teams busily treating the casualties from the complex, “Any loss of life?” “Sixteen stormtroopers that were on patrol are missing and two of the maintenance personnel as well. They probably got caught in the lava flows.” The General frowned, “Considering the situation it’s miraculous that no one else was lost.” “I’d agree,” Pelleaon said to himself. Suddenly a lieutenant ran up to them, “Sir, we’ve got a transmission from Dorja. He reports repulsing an attack by previously unknown forces.” Thrawn’s red eyes narrowed, “Set course for Dorja’s command. We’ll find out what this is all about.” * * * Out in the space beyond the bridge Dorja saw another white dagger shaped ship leap out of hyperspace. The comm officer turned to him, “The Chimeara is hailing us; Grand Admiral Thrawn wants a report.” Slowly Dorja sighed as the holo projector at the aft of the bridge hummed its readiness. He stepped to the plate and nodded to the comm officer. The tall blue form of the Grand Admiral materialized before him. With the effect from the Holo projector he looked nearly human, “Captain Dorja one of your ships is missing and several appear to have sustained battle damage.” “Yes Admiral, we were attack by an unknown force. They called themselves the Borg. We have a complete sensor record of events, Admiral I’m afraid I’ve never seen anything like them,” Dorja said slowly. “Yes, the damage your ships have suffered is not consistent with any known form of weapon except… except for a number turbolaser blasts on your hull,” Thrawn said as he took a data pad from an officer that walked on. “Somehow the enemy discovered a way to reflect our fire back at us. Our own shots caused damage to our ships toward the end of the battle. They also boarded and captured the Cruel Redoubt,” Dorja reported. He saw Thrawn arch an eyebrow. “Captain, I’d like that complete record of events and a full report within twelve hours, events have taken a strange turn and I want to know what is happening, and every sliver of information is crucial,” The Grand Admiral cut the transmission. Dorja let out a deep breath, “Yes sir.” * * * Captain Pellaeon slowly walked toward the rear of the bridge. He held the latest report from the scout ships, and prospects weren’t looking good. Slowly he stepped through the doors into the outer office of the Grand Admiral There in a darkened corner Rukh stood, somber and watching. Pellaeon shook his head and stepped through the doors. Hovering in front of him was an enormous image that made Pellaeon halt. Three giant cubes were engaging a force of two Star Destroyers and support ships. Pellaeon watched the crisscrossing of blasts and beams for a moment and was about to clear his throat when the Admiral leaned back from his chair in the center of the room, “Fascinating isn’t it. We’ve encountered a race that is far different then any we have encountered before. But I think I know how to beat them, if they return at any rate.” Thrawn brought up a sensor display record recording the imperial gunners’ impacts. There Thrawn nodded, “You recall that each turbolaser fires on a slightly different frequency.” “Yes, the gunners installed the measure so they could keep track of who destroyed what post battle, something of an instrument of pride,” Pellaeon answered. “Yes, if you watch closely you notice that all the batteries on the ship have fired three times at this point.” Thrawn pointed to the display and suddenly Pellaeon watched as the newest barrage from the Relentless reflected off a shield the Borg had suddenly deployed. Thrawn keyed off the holo projector, “The enemy recorded the frequency of each of our attacks and used the information to deploy a shield directly on that frequency; the counter to this is self evident. Each turbolaser will be a given a sequence of ten frequencies that they will rotate through when engaged by these Borg.” “I’ll order the modification at once Admiral,” Pellaeon said swiftly. “What do you think of the shape of the ships, captain?” Thrawn asked casting his red eyes directly at Pellaeon. “I don’t know what to make of it sir, it’s just a simple cube…” “Yes, a cube, a simple standard geometric shape. This gives us an insight onto the enemy’s psychology, we’re dealing against a low grade hive mind, and a culture based upon adding other to its existence. I’d say that it is a culture striving to include all to become a one all in composing culture, I believe that they believe that doing this they will reach a utopian existence,” The Admiral had stood and was now gripping the tops of the chair. Slowly Thrawn shook his head, “They’re striving for perfection makes them dangerous, even more dangerous if they actually believe themselves to be perfect.” “So you know how to defeat them in battle,” Pellaeon answered slowly. ”Yes, captain, if it comes to that, they have their weaknesses,” Thrawn answered slowly. He glanced at the pad which was clutched in Pellaeon’s grip, “What have our scouts reported?” “I’m afraid they’ve reported that all the installations supposedly in this sector no longer exist, there is no sign of battle or debris either sir,” Pellaeon answered as he handed the report to Thrawn. “And we have no scientists with us who could explain what has occurred,” Thrawn shook his head slowly, “What we really need are a few good minds.” “Yes sir,” Pelleaon said quietly as he flipped the datapad around in his hand, “Our scout ships’ latest reports. Prospects aren’t that good sir.” “Have they found any remaining bases?” “Just one sir, and its barely able to support one of our task forces let alone both ours and Dorja’s,” Pelleaon closed his eyes, to think that all of those bases had disappeared was hard to swallow or accept. Admiral Thrawn nodded to himself, “Expand the search, we must find a base of resupply soon for both our forces. How long until the recon teams reach Fondor and Bilbringi?” “The first should be arriving at Fondor any moment,” Pelleaon answered quietly. * * * With a flash the Imperial Reconnaissance Team Epsilon Four dropped out of hyperspace. Their two escorting gunboats sweeping their sensors for possible threats as the ferret probe sped forward into the system with an Imperial Patrol Ship in close attendance. “Epsilon Four-Alpha this is Epsilon-Four-One, we’re clear of starfighter and capital ship contacts for a thousand kilometers in every direction.” Onboard the Ferret Probe the mission leader, Captain Talam leaned over the mike, “Roger Gunboats, this is Alpha, beginning area scan.” With a sigh he leaned back in his seat, “Let’s hope something is left.” Behind him Sensor Operator Johan Velate glanced over to his commander, “Something sir? I’d settle for the whole shipyard.” “The way our luck has been running Johan, we’ll be lucky to find a bolt of that shipyard left.” Captain Talam turned back to his controls and glanced out the window at the three escorting ships. Suddenly in the back of the crew compartment there was a gasp, “Sir, I’ve picked up another ship. Bearing Two-One-Zero Mark Two, closing fast.” “Contact is unknown type, repeat unknown type,” Johan called out as he caught the ship on his display, “I can barely make it out on the EM scanners.” He flicked a switch, “Gravitic sensors show the craft at twenty kilometers and closing.” “Twenty klicks?” Captain Talam said under his breathe, “But the fighters said…” Suddenly a red brown starfighter shot straight past the cockpit. Captain Talam could barely make out the two claw shaped wings and curved black canopy before it disappeared from view. Captain Talam turned back to the crew compartment, “Optical, did you get that?” “Yes sir, we’ve got it.” “Hot sith,” Talam said aloud as the two gunboats maneuvered past the canopy, “Epsilon Four-One, do you see him?” “Negative, he just jumped to hyperspace… out system jump too.” Captain Talam turned back to the displays slightly shaken, “Well son of the sith… What the hell was that?” The gunboat commander’s voice echoed across the comm, “Almost looked like one of those old Sith Fighters from the Galactic Museum. Wrong color though, those were grey.” Talam replayed the high speed pass in his mind again, the ship did look similar to that craft, but more angular then the sith ships he’d seen in the museum. It might be something to go on nonetheless. He glanced back at his displays, another seven hours in the sky. Through the viewport the distant sphere of Fondor was rising into view, from here he couldn’t see the shipyards, but at least the planet was still there, and if the world was still there… Behind him one of the sensor operators whooped with joy, “By the force, its there, its all there!” The first glimmers of hope rose within him as he listened to the operators call in the contacts. Star destroyers and unknown vessels, Titan Cruisers, Venerators, Acclamators, and Strike class ships. There were more ships there then Admiral Thrawn had used on the attack on Coruscant, and with them at his command the Empire would be able to recover and expand like they’d never dreamed. * * * Grand Admiral Thrawn sat in the command chair at the center of the bustling activity of the Imperial II Star Destroyer Chimaera. Slowly he turned to watch Captain Pellaeon as he strolled along the command deck inspecting the stations of his subordinates. Thrawn watched as the communications officer straightened, “Captain, I’ve got a communiqué from Scout group Epsilon Four. They’ve found the Fondor shipyards completely intact!” “Their report?” Captain Pellaeon asked swiftly. The officer nodded and Pelleaon took the data pad from the officer. He skimmed it then handed it to Thrawn, “There is an attached holographic file.” Thrawn nodded as he took the data pad and skimmed its report. Yes, they’d found that Fondor still seemed to have its shipyards. Slowly Thrawn took the data card from the pad and punched it into he tactical data holo projector. In front of him the world of Fondor materialized. There were indeed a large number of shipyards around the world. He zoomed in one off the shipyards and stopped cold. There in the center of the shipyard was a vessel that was far from standard Imperial design. Thrawn’s eyes narrowed as he saw that it was an enormous vessel that was shaped like a ship from the distant past. He guessed that it was just over fourteen kilometers long from the range. Putting a finger to his blue cheek he spoke, softly, barely a whisper, “Captain?” Pellaeon wheeled and marched next to him. When he bent down Thrawn continued in that tone so that the crew could not hear, “Run this vessel through the technical specifications found at Wayland if there is a match I want to know about it.”

Done, here's the map... http://img15.imagevenue.com/img.php?loc=loc200&image=632_August4.jpg

I could see building SSDs being restricted to when you've got Fondor and Kuat but not for heroes. I mean, Thrawn never used an SSD...

No S***, of course you'd get some freebees on easy. I'd love to have the random ship defection, it would also be cool to have to try and protect those defecting vessels. Maybe you could set it up so that the other side got an intelligence report on a defection before hand so they wouldn't just get shot down trying to run for hyperspace. Having troops and ships with morale effects just makes sense. I'd love jumping on an imp convoy and have the escorts panic and run, it'd just be fantastic, and relatively easy to set up. Each event could have a simple morale value. Say a friendly ship blows up and the event has a range of increasing the morale of a nearby unit slightly (Think about an enraged crew) or lowering it significantly. Or each weapon shot has a morale effect (A much smaller range but similar) so that if a dumb Carrack gets jumped by a pair of moncals the ship will start to panic. If a craft panics and can jump to hyperspace it will flee. If it panics and is disabled or in a gravity well it surrenders... Blowing up an enemy ship or firing their own weapons would naturally increase morale so that a seasoned unit that has seen combat would have a better morale value then some dumb convoy escort that has never fired their guns. Time doing nothing but sitting their would eat away at morale and so on... God, I want the sourcecode already! Let me at em!

Well, JI, if they release the source code we'll have a free hand... personally I think we should have two influential stats for starships... Morale and Loyalty. Morale is how the crew of a ship feels about their own abilities and those of their enemies. High morale is the result of combat victories with little to no losses whereas low morale can be caused by a lack of combat experience, low loyalty, or defeats. When a ship's or troops morale drops low enough they may surrender. Loyalty is how supportive the crew is of the cause they're serving. Loyalty can be affected by the observation of attrocities, morale, defeats, and the loss of the world where the vessel was constructed. Smaller vessels and support craft should be just as loyal as the planet where they were built at first, whereas command ships and ships of the line would probably be more loyal then the support craft. A ship can theoretically defect at any time but the chance of a vessel switching sides is directly dependent on its loyalty and morale. (Low Morale and Low Loyalty may cause an imminent defection.)