Stellar_Magic

Great ideas... especially the novas, but here's another one for you to consider. Every year ten stars start nuclear fusion in our galaxy Ten new stars! Here's a list of random events I'd want in game: Solar Flare Cosmic Flare Mandar Minimum (Causes a mini ice age at nearby worlds) Meteor Impact Star becomes Variable - Stars size will randomly expand and contract Star reaches old age - Becomes Red Giant Stellar Collapse - Forms white dwarf Star Nova - Forms Nebula Supernova - Forms Nebula or Neutron Star or Black Hole What should we be able to colonize? I mean what should our limits be? Terrestrial Worlds, Jovian Worlds, Planetoids, and Ice moons? Should we be able to set up orbital colonies? Should some worlds be impossible to colonize (Demon planets like Venus)? EDIT: Kaja we could set it up so that the game automatically creates new characters as they die from old age or combat.

The Sith code from KOTOR Peace is a lie, there is only passion Through passion I gain strength Through strength I gain power Through power I gain victory Through victory my chains are broken The Force shall set me free Sounds almost like an American motto

I don't personally agree with what you said JI, from a true simulation of space combat you'd find that there is a big difference, mostly due to the distances involved. Rate of Acceleration is written in the form meters a second a second or meters/sec/sec. This means the following, for every second that thrust is applied the velocity (meters/sec or meters a second) is increased by that amount. The acceleration is determined by the force or thrust divided by the mass according to newtonian physics. f=m*v f is force m is mass v is velocity Not only that there is a speed limit other then the speed of light in space because unlike the common belief there are particles in a space which can cause drag, dust, gas, photons, excetra. Now I'm moving on to the reason behind the actual top speeds for each of the engines. Lets start with ion drives. So an ion drive might have say an acceleration of 100m/s/s whereas a Impulse drive might have an acceleration of ten times that number. Finally a solar sail may have an acceleration of a mere 20m/s/s. But when you start traveling between the stars you hit a major snag. An impulse drive if you had it running constantly would eventually reach a point in which the surface area of the drive would keep the object from further accelerating. This is the theoretical maximum speed of the object. For drives like ion, radiation, and impulse these top speeds are far too shallow for interstellar travel to all but the closest stars. But not so a solar sail, why? A solar sail uses the very particles that are slowing down the other drives as its propulsion, primarily photons. This means it can achieve a much greater maximum speed giving such vessels much greater range. Do you see why I put max speeds on them, so you could see that each drive is useful in certain situations but not other ones. Now on to the era in which each technology appears... Early Era: Ion Drives Impulse Drives Solar Sails (A private foundation is planing on launching an experimental solar sail this year) Middle Era: Fusion Drives Late Era: Gravitic Drives (These require immense knowledge of string theory in order to create)

I thought we might want to start working with technologies and what specifically they'd be like in game. I decided to start of with Sub-light propulsion. Propulsion Technology: (Sub-light) Ion Drives: Ion Engines are among the simplest form of propulsion yet conceived off, using nothing more elaborate then a small tank of a noble gas, and an electrical charge the vessel is propelled by a stream of ionized gas particles. NASA has already launched a few space probes which utilize this form of propulsion. Unfortunately the engines tend to deliver little thrust and are therefore less then perfect for human space travel in the amount of time it takes to get a vehicle moving at speed. The ideal role for this technology would be as maneuvering thrusters as the ion propulsion uses nearly no fuel and the low thrust released from such an engine would be more then adequate for maneuvering a vessel. Max Speed: 1/4th the speed of light Acceleration: Slow Impulse Drive: You’ve seen it on Star Trek, and the mars mission planned for 2018 will use one. The impulse drive uses radioactive particles created in a reactor and ejected out the rear of the vessel. This produces a medium amount of thrust, but the engine can burn for much longer then a traditional rocket enabling it to reach high speeds relatively quickly. It’s the ideal for short hops within a solar system and is capable of reaching nearby stars. Max Speed: 1/4th the speed of light Acceleration: Medium Fusion Drive: This is the Radiation or Impulse drive’s big brother, featuring what amounts to the thermonuclear reactions of a star at the vessel’s aft to propel the vessel. The thrust released would be nearly double that of a traditional Impulse drive, but the drive system would be extremely vulnerable and easy to destroy along with its parent vessel. Max Speed: 1/3rd the speed of light Acceleration: Fast Solar Sails: While not technically a drive system in the traditional sense Solar Sails are your best bet for interstellar travel early in the game, using photon pressure or the pressure of light, solar sails are able to travel much faster then traditional drives. Unfortunately there is a downside; solar sails take a large amount of time to accelerate to full speed, making them impractical for in system travel but ideal for long voyages to before the invention of FTL drives. Max Speed: 3/4th the speed of light Acceleration: Slow Gravitic Drives: This is the ultimate in sub light engines, manipulating gravity itself a ship can be propelled nearly to the speed of light. The use of gravitational drives also enables vessels to accomplish seemingly impossible maneuvers and reversals in direction. Max Speed: 9/10th the speed of light Acceleration: Very Fast

What I'd like to see on the solar system and space combat level would be the inclusion of gravity wells. Imagine if you used gravity assist to fling your fleet around a planet and straight into the enemy. (Unfortunately this would require the use of newtonian physics) A military higharchy would be awesome! You'd be able to see units improve from experience as well I bet. I've also had some thoughts on the build program and our A.I. Civilian higharchy. Would it be possible to enable a planetary governor to build their own defense force? Maybe give the player the old state's rights question to deal with? That would be interesting. It would also give the player a real dilemma as to how to deal with his worlds... maybe even having to stave off a rebellion. I'd also like it if we were able to give a unit a series of orders, like a strategic plan. This would be absolutely vital to implement if we included all the problems the speed of light would play on communications. You'd send out a list of orders that would instruct the unit not just on what to do now but, after that. Lets say a fleet. Fleet A is ordered to make a patrol of six systems, x, y, z... You could say have a Que order box. Patrol X for 15 days Patrol Y for 15 days Patrol Z for 15 days So after the fleet runs a patrol of a system for 15 days it moves on to the next system and so on until it runs out of orders. Maybe you could create patrol and supply routes, or literally make it so you send ships on specific missions and assign them withdrawal and resupply points. Those seem to me to be great ideas... Now to see if we could get them into a game. oh and JI what is #swrebellion?

This topic is for debate on how the Galaxy at War engine will run, its features, complexity, and a variety of other topics. Firstly I must ask a question, we're talking about managing lots of worlds, and technologies, how much micromanagement do we want, or do we want macromanagement. This is another feature I think we should have, a number of factions within a nation. This means that you'll have to cope with the occasional rogue element within your nation, or perhaps find yourself with a bunch of splinter nations that have declared their independence from you. The factions would act almost like a political party within the nation, and you'll find yourself using negotiation both within and outside of your nation. Or you end up like Britain with all your empire evaporating into seperate nations before your eyes. We want characters!!! This is almost a duh, we want characters. But what role do we want them to play? Thats all for now, I'm headed to class...

Well... We now have a philosophical debate gearing up. Have any of you ever read the Sith code? It's actually kind of strange considering that nothing in it screams out I am evil!!! You could obey the code and not be evil...strange no? A sith is the champion over the force, he controls it, uses it, and doesn't give in to its direction and guidance. It fights the flow. A jedi is a tool of the force, the force works through him, and guides every one of its actions. Moreover a jedi doesn't attempt to sieze the pure power of the force whereas a sith does. Ergo...the Sith is a Champion of the force and a Jedi is a tool of the force.

Unfortunately you live in the world of Relativity, I however have been enlightened by the world of string theory. Your limits on movement and travel are all unfortunately out of date. With the interdimensional nature of the universe inherit in string theory everything we've just proposed is not only possible but likely. So likely in fact that a team of respected british scientists just released a research paper that states that the most likely form of first contact scenario is in fact aliens landing on earth... "Take me to your leader ." Sorry Teukros, the laws of relativity are violated nonstop in the actions of subatomic particles, thats why Einstein spent most of his life trying to create an all inclusive theory a.k.a. The Theory of Everything (TOE). Most scientists now believe that String theory is in fact the (TOE) thereby your little relativistic prison has a giant open window.

Hmmm... The Dyson Sphere shouldn't be available until the very late period of the game, considering it involves completely disassembling a solar systems planets in order to create a shield like sphere around the star. A couple notes, scifi writers have theorized the following eras of civilizations based on their power sources. 1. Fire Power, combustion is used for all sources of fire (This goes from stone age to the 1950s on earth) 2. Fission Power, Earth's current technological state where the breaking of atoms into their component parts produces power. 3. Fusion Power, this stage could be divided into two parts, hot and cold, based on the two methods for power production. An international coalition is currently organized to construct the first 'Hot' fusion reactor (It's construction is being slowed by an argument about its placement Japan or France your pick). 4. Antimatter-Matter Reactions, the combination of matter and antimatter reactions in a reactor releases enormous amounts of clean energy that is used for all manner of purposes. 5. Quantum Power, also known as a quantum singularity engine, quantum power uses a minature black hole to generate power and is inherently unstable. 6. Advanced state, the civilization has achieved the most advanced thought possible, advanced spaceflight, instantanious travel, and matter - energy conversion become everyday events. The Dyson spheres become reality. -It is also at this point that Transcendence or Ascention would occur if possible. Jedi Igor, while I applaud your timeline, I see one major problem, technological development seems to be happening too quickly, specifically when it comes to exceptional leaps such as faster then light travel, and advanced spaceflight. Firstly there are two forms of scientific knowledge, applied and theoretical, we have not been able to truly apply Einstein's relativity to any commercial venture. How long would it take for the discoveries that Superstring theory will unleash to make it into applications? A hundred years, two hundred years. Perhaps at game start we set the player back by quite a bit, we force them to use sublight technologies and simple distance creates the different factions. Moreover I think the order of some technological innovations is wrong. Wormhole generators are the epitimy of interstellar transportation, they provide instantaneous travel between points in space. Moreover it has been theorized that development of Wormhole generation technology requires the invention of gravitational effecting technology analogous to a warp drive. Here is the order of technologies I would use in this game: Early Game: Solar sails enable colonization of worlds and transits between worlds but such voyages are extremely long ranging from four years to Alpha Centauri on up. Moreover upon reaching the ship's destination all communications with the home base would be hopelessly lagged, due to the time it would take for information or orders to arrive. Space is very much a wild frontier and factions split by both idealogy and nationality appear. These factions exist within the broder nations of Earth: America, China, Japan... etc, but develop their own unique identity due to isolation, revolutions on these planets is quite possible, as are general rebellions. As leader of a democratic state it is more then possible that you will have to appease these diverse groups to maintain control, the early game is clearly a game of diplomacy, both inside the faction and outside. Totalitarian rule is possible, but difficult to maintain due to the isolation of your many star systems. --Nomads, these are beings that leave your nation in this stage of the game and cut their ties with earth and head into space searching for worlds to truly call their own. Warfare: The situation in terms of warfare is roughly analogous to the difficulties facing Britain in the 18th century, launching attacks often takes an inordinate amount of time and the combat situation has inevitably changed during the interceeding years, you are constantly forced to make your best guesses as to enemy movements and forcast the situation years ahead of you, moreover you must plan for any number of contingencies. If that wasn't enough it will take time for your worlds to find out that a state of war has been declared or a cease fire. Much like the battle of New Orleans in 1812 combat can take places for long after a cease fire has been signed. Mid Game: The invention of interdimension and warp travel takes place in this era, you may find that many of your problems with communications have been eliminated, but not entirely. Ships travel faster then radio messages so the old radio wave has been replaced by courier vessels. The transit between stars has been cut from years or even tens of years to a matter of months or weeks. You may still suffer communications difficulties, but alas, such is life. Technology in general continues to improve and you may find your communications problems over after the invention of a gravitational or subspace communications. FTL travel remains extremely limited, your ships cannot be recalled while FTL and have enormous recharge and alignment times for a jump to FTL speeds. Weapons technology begins to diversify with the invention of lasers, pulse weapons, disruptors, antimatter rail guns, antimatter torpedoes, plasma cannons, and gravitational mines. Shielding for protection against weapons fire becomes a reality for the first time with the invention of magnetic shields. Shields will continue to develop throughout this period. --Earth disappears in the accident described, further severing the bonds between the nations. Unrest on worlds and an increased aggressiveness between nations and factions takes hold. --Nomads have by this time set up their own empire on the opposite end of the Galaxy. Warfare: Think Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars as technology progresses and changes. Your forces will be able to quickly ready themselves for battle and engage the enemy, however you must remain careful, because due to the communications problems you suffer early in the game your forces are vulnerable to preemptive strikes. You have to be adaptable and resourceful in order to move to combat new threats as they appear and develop new tactics in order to utilize the weapons that will continue to be developed. This period is one which will probably be conflict ridden and very tricky to master. Late Game: One word, wormholes. The development of wormhole generators will give you instantaneous communication and transportation. These advancements will give you benefits over your rivals that will revolutionize the way in which warfare occurs. Moreover your nation will become more united as trade and even simple everyday comutting from place to place becomes possible. Dyson spheres can finally be built enabling you to create worlds that can support populations thousands of times larger then a single planet. You'll be able to expand and colonize worlds previously beyond your reach. Science begins to advance at a perilously fast pace, and ascention becomes a true possibility. --Nomads return to your side of the Galaxy and begin to actively compete against the nations of earth. Warfare: Even if you knocked out the other nations early in the game, you still have one enemy left to fight, the Nomads. You'll fidn that this war will be waged on an hour by hour basis. An actual war may take only a matter of weeks to wage due to the advancements in technology. Combat is roughtly conducted on a manner similar to modern earth bound warfare. Moreover due to wormhole technology there is no definite front, enemies can drop in behind your lines and blast a planet out of existance. This is basically the armaggedon stage of the game, win or die. So JI what do you think of my take on this?

--UPDATE-- I've finished or nearly finished two more ship images, neither of which are Rapora (I started work on another Raporan ship [the Vaka Class] but haven't finished it.) I give you the Vagaari Paskla Class Carrier: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/PasklaClass.jpg A common vessel in the Vagaari arsenal, the Paskla class carrier is lightly armed and armored, designed almost as a one way vessel for fighter craft. Normally with all the hanger attachments the Paskla resembles a giant sphere, in combat the hanger parts are ejected along with the fighters revealing a small and easily damaged foe. Here's the Beta of an Aklasp starfighter, tell me guys what do you think? http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/AklaspFtr.jpg

Unfortunately Cain, by adding more characters to the already full side of the GFFA from the Protectorate, the story that has been created in the RPG would be compromised, there simply isn't enough room to add those characters without throwing out someone important. Enless you've got some sith to add to the Rapora side... Models... well I've got one model, Mad78 made it awhile back, I'm not even sure if its been textured... Mad did you texture it?

I've updated the Rapora Wars RPG logo, to use it type this without the * in your signature. [*url=http://www.swrebellion.com/postt1738.html][*img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/RaporaWarsRPG2.jpg[/img][/url]

Okay, I'm posting this due to a number of strange and unique similarities to a novel I'm writing (Stellar Magic: The Merlin Academy) and the universe which is springing up with the Galaxt at War project. In order for any of this to make sense I'm going to begin by making a timeline for my universe. (Some of these concepts will seem similar in some manner to the Star Gate universe, trust me the result and nature of the universe itself is much different.) 8000 B.C. The Sunni - Rotef War begins Imagine a war between two galactic superpowers here referred to as the Sunni and Rotef. They are in fact one species, and are not corporeal beings in the traditional sense, but energy creatures, they've developed advanced technology and vessels to explore the galaxy and can be killed by extreme cold or a positive electrical pulse (This is different from a DEMP weapon). At this point, the war has become a stalemate, in a desperate attempt to win the war, the Rotef release a biogeneticweapon (not a correct term but its closest approxamation) the weapon innfects all Sunni and Rotef within a year, and forces both species to adapt, billions of beings die before a rememedy to the disease's effects can be found. 7960 B.C. The Rotef find Earth The Rotef were the first to stumble across the primitive world of earth as the earliest seeds of civilization began. It was discovered that a Rotef could survive and prosper despite the weapon's effects if it took the place of a human's mind and fed off the bioelectric energy released from the brain. Desperate and lustful they siezed thousands of humans, became the owners of their bodies. They also discovered that the humans were awestruck by the abilities endowed by the possession of a Rotef. In fear and awe they raised the Rotef up to being the gods of their world. The Rotef became corrupted by this power, most began to view themselves as gods, and many began to carve their own empires out of the earth. To do this they needed weapons, tools, and beings that would incite terror within human hearts. 7900 B.C. - The reign of terror begins One of the Rotef, a creature called Aretes was the scientist that created the bioweapon which had decimated both sides. He was commissioned to create a number of creatures to be used as weapons by various other Rotef. The first of these was the Urk, a genetically modified human designed to be more imposing and dangerous, later he created a number of other creatures, ranging from Wargs to Dragons and Kracken to Anubites, each called a different name at the time. 7890 B.C. - The Sunni arrive on Earth Unlike the Rotef the Sunni recognized the intelligence and sentience of human beings, they approached them as equals and offered them a deal. As a result of being possed by either a Sunni or Rotef a human was given unnaturally long life, and the ability to manipulate energy. What they offered was a true sybiotic relationship with their hosts, many humans volunteered and soon both the Sunni and Rotef had outposts on the planet, conflict was bound to arrise. 7700 B.C. - The Sunni discover human paranormals, Wizardry begins The Sunni's close cooperation with humans caused them to stumble across a small band of human beings that projected a natural electromagnetic field. Recognizing the value of such a trait the Sunni taught the band about electromagnetism, energy, plasma, and technology. Their electromagnetic field enabled them to project energy and manipulate it just as the Sunni and Rotef could with the use of a simple piece of Sunni Technology, the wand. 7700-7000 B.C. - The great human rebellion With the Sunni's assistance the Humans rebel and overthrow the Rotef pretenders. As the Rotef flee, their most staunch supports flee with them. Recognizing human development the Sunni withdraw from Earth on their own. They leave behind only the wizards whose traits and abilities are eventually lost to time. --Normal Human development continues from here until 2052 A.D. 400 B.C. - The Sunni create the Grethan race The Sunni have been keeping tabs remotely on human development using genetically engineered remote viewing creatures. These small statured grey aliens achieve sentience, recognizing the creatures achievement, the Sunni teach them how to operate their technology and give them freedom, they leave and form their own civilization. 1947 A.D. - Roswell A sunni patrol craft around earth is intercepted by a pair of Rotef starfighters. Both the Sunni craft and one of the Rotef ships crash into the desert. The only bodies found are a trio of Grethan diplomats onboard the Sunni craft. 2006 A.D. - Sunni withdraw from Terran (Earth) space Following a series of military disasters the Sunni are forced to withdraw from near earth region of space. 2018 A.D. - Humans land on Mars Over the next tne years six permament colonies are established on the Red planet, suddenly in 2051 all the colonies go off the air. 2042 A.D. - The XPXF-1 makes its first flight The Extraplanetary experimental fighter mark 1 makes its first flight, within the next ten years two squadrons of the production version XPF-1 will become operational. 2051 A.D. - Wizardry is rediscovered An archaelogical site in northern europe unearths a mumified body of a wizard is unearth along with the technologies that enabled him to use 'magic'. 2052-4000 A.D. - The Epiphany Age One of the Rotef in charge of the Uruk forces, known to the humans of Earth as orcs launches an all out attack on earth and is beaten back by humans. Earth is devastated and the Free World Alliance is formed as humans colonize over a hundred planets. 4000-4080 A.D. - The War becomes hot. The Rotef council, faced with the human threat issues a general declaration of war agains the Free World Alliance. The Sunni attempt to assist as the Free World Alliance is torn upside down by a Civil War between fundamentalist elements and democratic forces. By 4060 humanity is on the verge of becoming a refugee state, by 4080 they are a refugee state. Currently I'm writting Stellar Magic: The Merlin Academy set in 4052. The list of technologies used by each faction and side is immense. Wormholes, solar sail ships, ion drives, radiation drives, pulse weapons, antimatter weapons, plasma weapons, rail guns, and the most basic of equipment, swords, spears, armor. If I were to make a game of this... Stellar Magic: Galaxy at War Nations and their factions: The Free World Alliance: - The Wizarding Brotherhood - The Democratic Party - The Living Word Party - The Republican Party - The Green Alliance Party The Rotef Empire: - Ares - Athena - Romulus - Remus - Spartan - Anubis - Hel - Most any mythological group you could think of. The Sunni Federation: - The Worker Caste - The Religious Caste - The Warrior Caste The Grethan Alliance: - The Lokan Spirituals - The Gondir Revivals - The Reconilitors Whew... This but one concept for the teams of this engine, I've come to think of the Galaxy at War concept as an enormous open source strategy game engine, not necessarily as a game unto itself. Hopefully if we have someone working on the engine we can have a game or perhaps two working in tandem with the engine design team to ensure it has the number of features we desire, and on how to incorporate new concepts into the existing framework. Therefore the flow of information will be two way, and will ensure the engine will support the variety of mods that are sure to come from this community.

---UPDATE--- Another ship card moves from in the in progress state to the done state. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/KarLurClass.jpg The Kar Lur class Cruiser is the mainstay of the Rapora fleet, capable of engaging any foe fielded by the GFFA. This exceptional firepower comes primarily from the two superheavy plasma cannons mounted on its side. Each one is capable of bulling through the toughest of shields to cause devastating damage to its opponents. In the RPG four of these ships destroyed an Executor class Star Destroyer in a single volley (During the battle of Bastion) They're approxamentally the same size as a Imperial Class but significantly faster then an Imperial II and more maneuverable.

I'm thinking that Lucas would find that much of the EU doesn't work very well as a cartoon. The X-wing series could easily make the jump to a live action television series, SciFi channel would beg for it...just look at Battlestar Galactica (The New One) to see how an X-wing series could make the leap, though I think the Rogues would have a better following then anything those Galactica people could pull together. Some of the other EU novels would work great as a miniseries, especially Zahn's books. If any of you saw the Frank Herbet's Dune miniseries you know what I'm talking about, much of the Thrawn trilogy requires six or more hours per book of screentime, simply because of its complexity. Would Lucas do any of this...I have no idea.

No, Cain the TC isn't finished...not by a long shot. You want to mod part of my story...which part?

JediIgor, I don't frequent this forum much, but dang, now that I read this I feel I must do so more often. What I'm seeing here is Alpha Centauri played out on multiple planets instead of a single world... I'm also seeing a history that somewhat resembles something from a novel I'm working on right now, strange no? Tommorrow I'll post how my little universe, Stellar Magic, and yours are similar, and I'll detail a possible strategy game along similar lines to yours... Perhaps we can swap ideas.

Kaja, glad you stopped in, I'm sorry I overlooked you earlier, go ahead and read through Rapora Wars, some of it is interesting reading, the sheer bulk of material needed for this RPG means that even if you're absolutely horrid, I'd gladly accept your help. So could you send me or post here an example of any art you've done...wait that logo you did yourself...hmm. Can you draw a droideka? We're going to have a variation on the destroyer droid design (Droideka), called the Droideka'kar... You've probably read about it in the RPG already (It may even appear on page 1). Thats something you might be able to do. I'm currently working on the Raporan ship cards...Trej, Mad, you're going to love this... The first step in getting the Vareme class Supercruiser in game is complete, I give you the bland black and white sketch of the Rapora's largest capital ship. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/scan0004.jpg For size comparison, the cylinderical bridge at the upper back of the the vessel is about the length of an Imperial Star Destroyer...thats one big sucker. EDIT: I'm done, check it out! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v436/StellarMagic01/VaremeClass.jpg

I'm in the same boat bub, oh well.

So what have you been up to... Studying? Tests? Finals? A planned heist of the US embassy?

There really aren't that many sections Mad, I'm thinking two Logos for the Rapora Wars, 1 the RPG, 2 the Total Conversion Project. Perhaps we should list them: Rebellion Design Bureau II Reloaded Design Team Warlords Community SWR Moderators Fanfiction Contributor (Maybe) Rapora Wars RPG Community Rapora Wars TC Team Any others?

Whats sad Mad is that you're the only one to reply yet, where are Darkie, Trej, and the modding crew that floats around here... Trej, aren't you the least bit interested in helping?

Personally I thinka 30 x 70 Logo would be best, it would enable the creator to add text, and if we made it standard it would simplify things. On another not 30 x 70 is about the same size as the Rank insignia. Click on my Rapora Wars image and be zapped to the Rapora Wars Mod Team Thread... Now thats a cool feature.

This is probably my tenth appeal for assistance from modders in this community, while I can make some progress with due diligence myself, to complete a TC on the scale of this one requires a large amount of work even for a group as big as the Reloaded Team. In terms of scale of changes the game changes will be of a rather extreme variety, a new and intuitive interface for the Raporan faction, and a modified interface for the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances. New movies, sounds and models will be required, as will cards and string changes to the actual game. Unlike Reloaded I plan on releasing a series of updates from the games first fully playable version onward, but achieving that first playable version will be most difficult. But first an answer to some questions: What are the Rapora Wars? Rapora Wars is a fan fiction plot for episodes VII-IX of the Star Wars Universe. The story explains many of the problems which have been created between the Expanded Universe and the Movies by George Lucas, including Anakin Skywalker's status as the Chosen One, the continual survival of the Sith for over a millennia, Emperor Palpatine's birth and history, as well as explaining and encompassing a number of conflicts and theories brought forth by Timothy Zahn's books, specifically who exactly do the chiss fear, and how big a threat they are. The answer to all of these questions has been linked to a previously unknown race of beings from the unknown regions, called the Rapora. Who are the Rapora? The Rapora are a race of beings which have a bipedal frame, reptilian features, carnivorous habits, force abilities, and a fanatical devotion to the dark side of the force. Their history can be traced back thousands of years before the formation of the Old Republic, under the reign of the Infinite Empire (First revealed in KOTOR). Then the Rapora were breed as the force sensitive military arm of that Empire and fell upon hard times during its downfall. Its downfall had been caused by the emergence of the first Jedi Knights, a group which managed to overthrown the Empire, scatter its remnants, and create the first inkling of freedom in the Galaxy. The Rapora suffered as a result, hidden away in the unknown regions with only a few thousand of them remaining they settled down and began to bide their time, planning for an eventual return, a return that would take over 10,000 years to initiate. The Rapora had remained a somewhat low level threat until the waning days of the Old Republic, when Senator Palpatine, known to the Rapora as the Timeless One, brokered an exchange of technology between the Rapora and the Trade Federation, an exchange that turned out to be a one way deal. Over five hundred Droidekas were sold to them, along with their design specs, over five decades these evolved into the Raporan Droideka'kar, a battle droid reputed to be able to decimate enemies as advanced as Jedi. The Rapora began a military build up for the next fifty years, that was only interupted by a surprise attack by chiss commander Mith'raw'nuruodo which forced them to delay their return until over thirty years after Endor. This same incident was the final straw that caused the chiss leadership that led to his dismissal and transfer to the Empire. After Yuuzhan Vong invasion was repulsed by the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances, and a series of attacks by the Rapora’s onetime allies the Killik, the Rapora began to move. Their first victim was the Vagaari Federation, a loose coalition of warrior states that held an area of space roughly equal to the Hutt’s claim in the unknown regions. After a few short battles the Vagaari were defeated by an internal coupe and a prorapora government control, with that the Vagaari effectively became the Rapora’s puppets. Their vast, though less advanced fleet would form the bulk of the Rapora’s forces in the coming war. Next the Rapora struck the Empire of the Hand’s command center at Nirauan, killing Admiral Voss Parck, the faction’s leader. They swiftly moved on to the Chiss world of Csilla where they destroyed the planet with an enormous directed plasma weapon called a Raporan Replicator. Using the raw material of the planet the Replicator began producing more vessels for the war effort and focused its attention on their next aim an attempt to incapacitate the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and the Imperial Remnant. They nearly succeeded, Bastion, and Bilbringi are in ruins and the GFFA shipyards of Kuat were destroyed in a viscous battle, the GFFA fleet has been cut to shreds by the Raporan onslaught and must rebuild. It is at this point that the TC will begin. You said that this will touch on Anakin Skywalker’s ultimate fate, and Palpatine’s birth and history, how? You may have noticed that thus far Lucas hasn’t provided the actual text of the prophecy, and I believe he quite possibly never will, but this begs the question of what Lucas did release, is the force in balance at the end of Return of the Jedi? The answer to my mind is quite simply no, the power and control has merely shifted to the other side, there is no true balance between the two, and ergo Anakin Skywalker’s work isn’t finished. So we have created something of a riddle in the story, what was the prophecy? Well, we’re not sure but we have decided to infer a new and hidden meaning to some of the lines from the films. At one point Anakin says, “I will conquer death!â€

Well the only problem with Trej's idea is that if you make them much smaller... you won't be able to read them, I'll play around with them for a bit. See if I can make them any smaller. I personally would rather have such insignia below the Avatar along with the rank, but currently thats not possible.