NationStates Jolt Archive

I have a few Nations on here, yet none that are dedicated to Roleplay, I'd liek to change that with this one...however, I'm slightly confused as far as FT Nations are done.

First, I see FT Nations with billions upon billions of people, and economies in the trillions, yet their pages certainly don't reflect populations and economies anywhere near that.

Also, what weapon systems, sub-light and FTL drives would be effective for roleplay?

The FT empire I want to create will have the look and feel of a late 80s, early 90s space flick...bulky and unrefined. Kind of like Aliens meets Star Wars.

When it comes to technology, I'd say its really all up to you. I take some of my own ideas and combine them with other sci-fi. Some use strictly their own or a certain sci-fi.

As far as populations go, I'd say use your nation's actual stats for your main planet. Or something like that. That's at least what I do.

That's my view for the most part. I'll leave it to some of the bigger names in FT to give you anymore info.

For my part, I knew I wanted a powerful realm that could stand as a beacon of light, when I noted too many others were either darkly driven or just pragmatic in outlook.

After doing this all on and off for two RL years on NS, and after my fair share of wars and expansions that took my nation from a few planets to a huge NPC primarily run mutli-galactic empire-republic-ect.., my main focus was to keep my end of the story about the largest of possible events that could be possible in FT. I just think in larger terms than probably many are used to. I would gather that in doing so, I helped (or hindered in some thoughts probably) expand the realm of FT outside just the Milky Way Galaxy that most of the rps exist in.

Of others of note I know have done this for a long time, Chronosia, CoreWorlds, Huntaer, and too many others that I've read through or just noted of through many FT discussions, that I would gather that each FTer are after a basic premise of their realm existing with a dang good storyline to justify it.

Speaking for myself, I steered away from inter nation and ESPECIALLY inter-alliance wars, and concentrated on the evolution of my empire-republic-ect.. The few times I did otherwise came down to for the most part, a ton of TGs, and OOC topics, though even I felt the bug of a few bad rps and a hard lesson learned here and there.

In the end, if you do FT rp wise, even if PMT, if you ain't having fun doing it, within godmodded reason, then it all won't be fun at all. Fun comes first.

And yes.. all those cool ships and plans help some too.. =^^=

I'm FT(ish), though I avoid war RPs as a general rule - I don't get online often enough to sustain them, and I hate the accounting that's needed to turn a war RP into something reasonably objective. Still, Kriovalian FT technology is reasonably new, and scientists there often design new technology only after the theory is well-developed - transdimensional travel hypotheses were worked out before basic rocketry, as it turns out.

As Krioval is based on the ideals of efficiency and interchangeability with regard to technology, our space fleet is comprised on many thousands of nearly identical ships designed for stealth and speed over firepower.

First, I see FT Nations with billions upon billions of people, and economies in the trillions, yet their pages certainly don't reflect populations and economies anywhere near that.

I, among many others, uniformly ignore those people. Ignore would be, perhaps, a bit of a strong word for it. I recognise the existence of their characters. Just not their empires and worlds. They simply do not exist for me.

You'll see this policy tends towards the uniform across II, and most population and technology-wankers are ignored. You'll see the occasional person who'll interact with them, but if you're looking to actually be able to wage war without being totally ignored... yeah. You take that 5% of your population as your military, and you sit with it.

Also, what weapon systems, sub-light and FTL drives would be effective for roleplay?

Anything. I tried realistic energy outputs for a few months, at which point I got bored to all hell, didn't enjoy trying to figure EVERYTHING out, from what wanktatium armor did against wankasers, and just figured 'screw it'. I now use some hyped up dimensional tech. Which amounts to bolts of shiny red lightning.

Keep in mind that you don't have the right to claim superior firepower (unless your NS population is larger, of course, in which case it pertains to the amount you can bring, not quality), and never superior technology. Thus, you can only roleplay your tech as being equal. So use whatever the hell you feel like!

The FT empire I want to create will have the look and feel of a late 80s, early 90s space flick...bulky and unrefined. Kind of like Aliens meets Star Wars.

Work it out, make it nicely-written, and no-one will give a damn what it looks like. So long as you're reasonable, and a decent writer, it's all good.

Superior technology only as a plot device. If it's been worked out and mutually established that one party has better tech in <area>, then it's fine.

I've recently decided to refrain from actually giving numbers for forces that are not particularly significant (ie. not a 'hero'* or objective) in anything where the fate of a single unit is not going to be of any more importance than 'x ships blow up' or 'x troops get killed'. Instead, I just give vague quantifiers for any large groups, such as 'flotillas', 'fleets' and perhaps just the universally vague 'a lot'.

* 'Hero' being defined as anything that is particularly well developed and has become more than a statistic. Not necessarily special, but represents a bit more effort than your average troop or ship.

For example, in a fight between two fleets, the "Command Carrier Commandcarrier" would be a significant piece. As would the Frigate Frigate providing the viewpoint of the front line, but not Generic Ship #4928.