NationStates Jolt Archive

Oki, huzzah for my second completely OOC thread, I'm asking for FT RPers to part with their hard earned advice, the last few times I've RP'd FT I've gone in blind and it's ended up badly, very badly, okay so let's cut the foreplay and let me get down to what I have in mind for my FT nation and what I need help with...

Oki, following on from my MT nation, instead of directly RPing a single nation I've decided to go for the hard path, my FT nation instead is a sort of coalition of sorts, they're followers of a Computer program Matem who has stolen itself into thier culture and brainwashed them all, like a cult, if you know my current MT nation then you'll know where my recent RP's will be going now, anywho, although I'm planning on having quite a large empire I have many several downfalls, the major one being that very few of these Cultist nations have any knowledge of eachother and would likely fight amongst themselves if they did meet, second I've got such a variance of tech between each planet, some'll be hardcore FT but others will be PMT, NFT or even so far as PT.

Now onto advice, well first I need to know if this proposed nation is fine, it may be huge but it's also crap, bear that in mind, next I need Space fleet advice, in previous incarnations of FT my fleets have always been woefully inadequate or dare I say hugely godmoddish, if someone could help me out with like an example of what they have in thier fleet that'd be nice, lastly I need a crash course in FT tactics, MT tactics I can handle but in FT it becomes oh so difficult, should I rid myself of infantry and concentrate on tanks? Or visa versa? Or even both and go for Mechas? Anywho, any help will be much appreciated and if ye liked what ye saw send me a TG and I'm sure we could sort out a war...

Please don't touch mecha. Please? It saves me from having to trot out the old logic, and, while fun, it gets old after a while.

If you want even vaguely realistic ground troops, I'd stick with the standard infantry and armor support and avoid mecha entirely. Of course, tanks usually graduate to grav-tanks by now, so the line between armor and close air support is usually blurred. You'll still need infantry because tanks can't get into tight spaces, and you'll still need tanks because they carry more plasmariffic death than a foot soldier, as well as more armor. General tactics stay the same, although some tinkering needs to be done, as flying infantry and tanks have become the norm.

I personally wouldn't have too much of a problem with your nation, assuming you don't inflate your pop overly much, and keep the amount of actual FT colonies low, probably even below your actual population. Just so you know, inflating your population is generally frowned upon, although the corresponding weakness you've introduced may lessen that.

As for your space fleet, you should probably keep it based on your actual population, including the usual logistics paraphenalia. As for size, I'd really say don't go over 4 kilometers unless you're only going to have a few (flagship type thingy). I'm really not one to ask about numbers, however, as I've only recently cemented my fleet size, and there's no real rhyme or reason behind it except in my twisted mind.

I'd volunteer for a small war with you, as QUETZAL would probably dislike Matem's exploitation of its wards, but I'm currently involved in a reasonably large conflict, and pretty much all of my fleets are accounted for already, either offensively or defensively. So, maybe after all that is over. Anyway, good luck!

snippity

Thanks for the advice and the invitation for a possible war, it's been a help.

I'll cover a bit of what Otagia didn't.

About fleets: Generally, make sure your fleet's composition is primarily the smaller frigate-cruiser type ships. They're the core of any fleet, and no fleet is built on uber-long super star destroyers. The moderately-armed and armored ships will always be the frontrunners. Make sure your fleet also has variety, though. That prevents you from getting game-planned against.
Advice on tactics. You can generally use a couple of tactics, though the way you control a sea navy can sometimes work also in space, as long as you can factor in three dimensions. Just don't spam-shoot missiles or lasers or whatever, as it gets horribly dull and easy to repel against (in space, with advanced tech and increased distance, repelling enemy barrages gets easier to do. The smart captain makes innovative ways to win). Be imaginative and creative in tactics, not just broadsiding (ie, see Revenge of the Sith...the commander of the Chimaera uses a hanger-bay set artillery piece to blast a Confederate cruiser).
On the ground: Infantry is still the dominant part. Always will be, armor is simply supplemental, but make sure you do have it. Mechs if you seriously want to, but I won't go into detail about them. Incorporating aerial attack, such as gunships and assault shuttles, is a huge plus though.

As Otagia, I'd be willing to stage something with you to give a taste. Also, you can see a lot of my military in my FT reference in my sig.

dont turn ships into jigsaws. Dont give them 10000 guns with all of them a different type, keep all the waepons simple in there use so the thread does not stop.

But if you do bring better gun or invented guns, know how they work, that way the RP wont turn into a tech argument. Many RPs die that way.

I could conquer you again.

I could conquer you again.

Let me think about it

No :P

Let me think about it

No :P


oh come on it was fun for me atleast.

oh come on it was fun for me atleast.

Yeah but I wouldn't even touch FT for the longest time afterwards, if you do want to have a war then I recomend we work out beforehand the intended result, I would be interested in having a war with you but my metheods of expansion are somewhat different to conventional methods.

different how?

different how?

I split it into 4 phases, like so

Phase 1-
A Sect of the Matem Cult sends out a SecOrd soldier to the location of the enemy planet, hopfully this soldier is not detected, once on the planet the SecOrd locates 4 people who won't be missed in society, usually convicts or drugies or prostitutes, and implants them with the Voice Chip used by Matem Cultists to "hear" Matem, these people become the Engine-Priests and are revered highly amongst the Cult, the SecOrd soldier is also promoted to Engine-Priest, almost immediatly work begins on constructing Matems hub, a copy of the Matem Program is uploaded and begins to issue orders to the Cultists with the Chip

Phase 2-
The Enginepriests then go out and recruit each of them another person, these people are called Familiars, these Familiars then go and recruit as many people as possible via kidnapping, preaching or intimidation, these converts become Second Orderlys, or Secords, when the invasion is over they will have opportunities to lead Temples, gain promotion to Engine-Priest or become officers in the Armed forces.

Phase 3-
Once the Matem cult reaches a percentage of around 30-40% of the population then Matem unleashes herself by attempting to bring down computer networks, specifically those inside the military, ready for a full on revolution by the SecOrds, primary goals are to capture, all enemies captured are converted and are known as Transitionals, those people are viewed as the weakest of both mind and strength, the highest they may achieve is to be a member of the Military.

Phase 4-
Once the invasion is complete the Transits are ordered to construct Temples to Matem and Space going Vessels, computer systems, specifically in Spaceships, are then given a Demi-Matem, a sub program which helps to manage the Ships systems, SecOrds are then granted positions based on skill, once this generation dies the next generation will follow in the forefathers footsteps, no person can marry outside of thier cultural position or have children with those of another cultural position, thus meaning that jobs will remain in the family.

Of course this style only really works on NPC planets with no Large Empire, on a PC world it might stand a chance, and by gods would it be fun to RP, but yeah...

So you expand by getting planets to revolt and declare fealty to you?
You'll be triggering religious wars left and right you know, and they're the messier kind.

Especially if you get involved with other religious systems...Like Chaos :D

Especially if you get involved with other religious systems...Like Chaos :D

Precisely. In fact I had you in mind when I thought of religious wars Chronosia. It's one thing that I've yet to see to any extent, a good, messy, drawn out religious conflict.

Well most of my wars and the following subjugation are religiously motivated in the sense of converting all Mankind to the worship of Chaos :D But yeah, I need a good war where theology itself becomes a battleground. Coreworlds is too light-loving godlessness for me :P

Religious wars are fun to RP, cos rather than fighting for something so coldly nesercary your fighting for a fanatical belief in a system, plus I've never RPed a cult before...

Personally I prefer powered armor w/ jump jets over mecha, but I sometimes use mecha to it's just according to what type of thread it is. For instance, if you are playing a Battletech Thread then mecha is a must. I also prefer small quick,
maneuverable ships with spiked firepower like the Defiant class starship. But I do have a few giants in my fleet, so I can transport lots of smaller ships to the fight. I also sell many differant ship types at my FT store front, the link to it is in my sig.