Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Great Game

It's the year 2120 in the Great Game - the end of play! Our solar system looks interesting! The four players' secret agendas are revealed!

A had Little Dictators, getting extra points for pushing North Korea, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia - looks like only North Korea made it to the finish line, with a mostly stable colony on Orbital 3 around Earth, and partly stable colonies on Mars Orbital 2 and Oberon orbiting Saturn. Kazakhstan was knocked out early and Ethiopia never was drawn. Nice try, A!

B's secret agenda was Huddling By The Fire, getting extra points for founding colonies in the Inner System, inside the Belt, and there are indeed a lot of them! 14 colonies inside the Belt! Well played, B!

C's secret agenda was The Stars Must Be Free!, getting extra points for making colonies independent. There are independent colonies on Earth Orbital 1, Deimos circling Mars, Acidalia Planitia on Mars, Ceres in the Belt, and Elara around Jupiter. Nice job C!

D's secret agenda was Royal Legacy getting extra points for boosting the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The UK started off as a Great Power, but was knocked out fairly early, but Australia is a Great Power with a fully stable colony on Callisto, a mostly stable colony on Venus Orbital 3, and a partly stable colony on Belt Orbital 7; and both Canada - with mostly stable colonies on Mercury Orbital 1 and Ibrium on Luna as well as a fully stable colony on Phobos - and New Zealand = with its partly stable colony on Mars' North Pole and new unstable colony on Neptune Orbital 2 - are Lesser Powers. Excellent work D!

The furthest out colony turned out to be the Iranian colony on Eris in Trans Neptunian Space!

What happened to the starting lineup of great powers? Only Russia is left from the 2020 starters! War and pestilence and socio-economic disasters have churned them all under. The log would tell us, but it doesn't really matter!

The board was printed out at Staples full size on card stock, glued to a folding backing board, and taped up with duct tape around the edges. The chits and cards were also printed out at Staples on card stock. The National Power chits were pasted onto laser cut cardboard chits from the Game Crafter. The other chits and cards were left as is after being cut out. The Colonial Stability markers were hand drawn and colored directly onto laser cut chits from the Game Crafter. The game chits were circular, and hard to cut out. I may change that in the future. Maybe diamond shaped chits?

The Lucky Break's Shuttle!

Here's the shuttle for the Lucky Break. No name, no permanent crew! It's an a-grav only vessel, so only works in orbit or surface to orbit. The seating below and above, and the the inter-deck flooring between, can contract into small but dense cubes and be offloaded into the cargo deck. Changeout is rapid and simple. You would have three configurations - 30 passengers on two decks, 15 passengers on the upper deck plus cargo on the lower deck, and full volume used for cargo. Normally, you would use the Breakout for cargo lifting and the shuttle for passengers, but if the Breakout is detached somewhere else, you could use the shuttle for both.

Sunday, March 25, 2018

The Breakout

Here is the plan of the 90 ton lighter Breakout. The Breakout is a true spaceship able to fly independently anywhere in a star system, unlike the shuttle. So even though it goes through Jump in the hangar of the Lucky Break, it has its own captain and crew.

Link to full sized drawing: Breakout

Friday, March 23, 2018

The Lucky Break

I drew up the floorplan for the PC's ship, the Lucky Break. They are trying a new, untested Jump Drive which allows for a higher level of jump to rescue their adoptive parents who mis-jumped years ago and disappeared. They found a new theory which explained what may have happened, found two brilliant physicists to design a working drive to make that second level jump, then bought a shipyard.

This this is the result, designed by the players using the StarCluster 4 ship design rules in Toolbox 4: Engineer's Guide, and drawn up by me. They have allowed for their parent's ship to be brought back, sitting on top of the hanger deck. The Lucky Break looks like a beer keg with bung pump attached... Big StarCluster ships not made for entering atmosphere seldom look sexy! :D

First up, the Control Tower. Only the bridge is shown in plan, as the other levels are pretty boring. The top of the tower is a clear trapezoidal plasteel "dome". Unlike most ships this size - 1500 tons - the bridge crew can see out without sensors.

Link to full size drawing: Control Tower

This is the Hangar/Cargo Deck, with their Lighter, the Breakout (nicknamed Arkanoid) and their A-Grav Shuttle.

Link to full size drawing: Hangar/Cargo Deck

This is the Jump Deck, with the massive special Jump Drive and EM Bottles to serve as gigantic Capacitors to store the needed energy. This is approximately the center of mass with their parent's ship attached.

Link to full sized drawing: Jump Deck

This is the Quarters Deck, with the PCs' (and partners') luxurious living quarters. They share a hot tub, yes! Around them are a Sick Bay, an Operating Suite, a Healing Vat, and the slightly less sybaritic quarters for the rest of the crew.

Link to full sized drawing: Quarters Deck

This is the Main Deck, with the Pool - which doubles as a water injection boost for their main fusion drive - Lounge, Galley, Fuel Generator- which makes deuterium from hydrogen using a multi-stage weak force process - Conservatory with fruit trees and other plants, and the water farm, which feeds everyone.

Link to full sized drawing: Main Deck

This is the Engine Deck, with the main rocket nozzles, fusion reactor coils, and water boost injection pumps.

Link to full sized drawing: Engine Deck

Monday, March 12, 2018

Three Years Ago...

Three years ago - in real life and in the game - a space ship took off on a simple jump to a nearby system... and never arrived. The crew - the wealthy and famous crew - left behind four young girls they had rescued from a life as child prostitutes and also left them their fortunes. The kids were going to college when their adopted family disappeared, and they were besieged by the press - How do you feel? Why do you think they left you behind? Do you resent your family?

At the beginning of this year, they found a possibility - an accident could have propelled their family ship into a mega jump out of known space! And there might be a way to replicate it and follow them!

The girls have brought two physicists into the family who have cracked the megajump puzzle. Now their "aunt" - a semi retired member of the crew named as executor by the family - has bought a spaceship manufacturer in trouble, and a ship is now ready to make that megajump into the complete unknown. The four girls and their friends and lovers will have to be prepared for anything! Aiens? Slavers? A looming evil star empire? A black hole? They have no idea.