Very ambitious Vegeta. I admire your in depth plot. Want to work on the Ares RPG with Garm and I, your writing skills and wisdom would serve us well...

Anyhoo, I'm just wondering how long this will be? If there's more than 5 missions a species it would seem to drag on, I don't think I would find the time to finish a campaign that's more than 40 missions long. It would probably be my loss, but still...

Anyway, why does everyone put the humans last? They're so cool... Oh well.

------------------
In the next world war,
In a jack-knifed Juggernaut,
I am born again.

I have my own ideas for a plug and I will be sharing them when Hera is released.
Vegeta's ideas are ambitious but not realistic. The Ishimans never committed a particularly large number of forces to the Human offensive. The entire point of the deal was that the Humans get SOME ships and technology but the Ishimans do not have to sacrifice their own defenses to fight the Cantharans. The Bizadanez were never helpless, their ships were as heavily armed as any and their one battleship that was captured could have destroyed dozens of carriers before it was defeated for all we know. In addition, The Cantharians or anyone else for that matter may not know where the Ishiman home system is. The idea that Vegeta is any kind of leader is also worth questioning. Has the plug been released? No Is there a web site? Not that I have heard. Have any graphics been created? If they have, I would enjoy seeing them. Until something has actualy been DONE, it is nothing more then a dream.

Who knows, eh? It's really Vegetta's vision so whatever he says is how it goes. It looks interesting and I will certainly play it if it gets off the ground.
On the topic of the Gaitori possibly siding with Humanity I have this to say: they have no reason to. Public oppinion of the Gaitori due to the sort of propaganda that is necessary to have a war effort of any kind (much more so since the war in Ares was interplanetary in scale... not to mention the fact that they were on the defensive) is probably: Humanity-barbaric, savage, violent butchers from a time that would have been best forgotten, who took the lives of many a brave young Gaitori warrior. Ishimans-Dangerous cowards, willing to provide armaments to the bloodthirsty human army but too frightened and weak to risk their own lives in an assault. Add into this the fact that in the eyes of each race, the other is but a mockery of 'God's chosen design,' and not REALLY intelligent (just look at the way that the aliens on any Star Trek series are represented: the aliens are not different than us, they are less than us. Each is just some ideal or other stretched outa proportion. I get the feeling that we would not be alone in this view. I'm sure there are Gaitori who are huge fans of the hit holovid series Blur'krik, a diplomacy-based series where a lot of so-called alien races which are really just their ideals and enemies within their own species stretched and distorted and made flesh on screen live on a space-station.). Uhm.... Spider Robinson's short story 'The Blacksmith's Tale' illistrates my second point a lot better than I ever could. And everybody should read Callahan's Place. Suffice to say, though, if I was writing the plug-in, the Gaitori would take one of three actions:

1. Refuse any alliance with the Humans and Ishimans.
2. Accept an alliance with intent to betray them.
3. Accept an alliance (but this is a strained, uneasy alliance at best for all parties concerned).
   Of course, it's really not my plug-in so feel free to ignore or use any or all of these ideas at will.

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Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for the Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the shadows lie.

-The Lord of the Rings

Walter wrote:
I have my own ideas for a plug and I will be sharing them when Hera is released.
Vegeta's ideas are ambitious but not realistic. The Ishimans never committed a particularly large number of forces to the Human offensive. The entire point of the deal was that the Humans get SOME ships and technology but the Ishimans do not have to sacrifice their own defenses to fight the Cantharans. The Bizadanez were never helpless, their ships were as heavily armed as any and their one battleship that was captured could have destroyed dozens of carriers before it was defeated for all we know. In addition, The Cantharians or anyone else for that matter may not know where the Ishiman home system is. The idea that Vegeta is any kind of leader is also worth questioning. Has the plug been released? No Is there a web site? Not that I have heard. Have any graphics been created? If they have, I would enjoy seeing them. Until something has actualy been DONE, it is nothing more then a dream.

Actually Walter, when it comes down to it, it doesn't really matter if the Ishimans had every single last ship back on defense. First of all, the Ishiman defenses would have to be scattered across their various systems, or they could easily be pestered every time a small group of Gaitori entered an undefended system. Secondly, the Salrilians have planned this attack all along, while it struck the Ishimans by surprise. Third, take into account the 2.5 : 2.1 advantage that the Salrilians have. Easily, the Salrilians could crush the weaker, unsuspecting Ishiman defense forces.

The Bazidanese were a trading species, not a species that truly commited itself to the fighting. In fact, the way the Cantharans managed to capture one of their military ships was an unexpected assault on one of the Bazidanese worlds. The Bazidanese Star League was originally peaceful with the Order, and it was only until recently that the Order began to turn on them. The Bazidanese rarely had a need for a warships, and they had a small, secretive force. I also state this in my campaign summary. But keep in mind that the Cantharans are a militaristic species, and have the advantage of numbers. The Bazidanese are seperated from their allies, and so their small force will have to fend off the Cantharans.

Your last vaguely relavent question/statement is not that dificult to answer. You can say "How did the Ishimans know so much about the Cantharans?" Well, of course, its done by either long range reconnaisance, or by simple espionage.

The last few statements of yours are indeed absurd and inane. While you think this is all in my head, I have already discussed the production and publication of Aftermath with an established firm. At this point, I am trying to find possible producers that would help me with making Aftermath a reality. I have already inquired about Aeon Productions, an Escape Velocity plugins group, about their graphics and publishing abilities. Even though I have not made an official deal with them as of yet, I am pleased to say that if I were to go with them Aftermath would not only be a reality, but it will also be a fantasy come true. However, posting a website before I decide who I want to publish Aftermath with is a bit premature. I believe it is much better to be established and then produce a website. But, Aftermath has not reached that stage yet, and in time it will.

Oh, and your spelling and grammar aren't exemplary themselves.

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-Vegeta <axis.n3.net>

Newt wrote:
**Very ambitious Vegeta. I admire your in depth plot. Want to work on the Ares RPG with Garm and I, your writing skills and wisdom would serve us well...

Anyhoo, I'm just wondering how long this will be? If there's more than 5 missions a species it would seem to drag on, I don't think I would find the time to finish a campaign that's more than 40 missions long. It would probably be my loss, but still...

Anyway, why does everyone put the humans last? They're so cool... Oh well.
**

I appreciate the offer about Garm's "pen-and-paper" RPG, but right now I think I'm overtaxed as far as leisure work ;). I will try to offer some consultation and perhaps some plot/story ideas if you'd like.

As far as missions go, I'm guessing somewhere from 2 - 5 missions per campaign, of course, I will try to have as many missions to compliment the plot and storyline as possible, but also trying to keep it condensed and not too lengthy.

Well, the major battle will be at Earth, and the major battle will be at the end, so I though I might put Humans last. Of course, none of these ideas are final.

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-Vegeta <axis.n3.net>

Soldier of Binki wrote:
**Suffice to say, though, if I was writing the plug-in, the Gaitori would take one of three actions:

1. Refuse any alliance with the Humans and Ishimans.
2. Accept an alliance with intent to betray them.
3. Accept an alliance (but this is a strained, uneasy alliance at best for all parties concerned).
   **

I predict that the Gaitori would be relatively divided on the subject. Heres my reasoning:

1. When the Cantharans threatened their wellbeing, the Gaitori sided with them. This leads me to believe that, in general, the Gaitori are somewhat cowardly. Since the Gaitori were only familar with fighing far away from their home systems, they didn't really buckle after losing a good portion of the territory along the border. However, if the Obish were to capture a few of the Gaitori planets back home, they'd start to worry. This leads me to believe that a large portion of the Gaitori would swap sides to save their hides.

2. Of course, a few Gaitori won't like the idea of betraying the former alliance and making a new one (recall the Gaitori Seperatists). So, these Gaitori would be willing to fight alongside the Salrilians and would prevent the human sympathizers from assisting the battle for Earth.

I hope that clarifies the Gaitori and Obish Campaigns. Now to clear up the others ;).

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-Vegeta <axis.n3.net>

Due to many questions coming up about Aftermath, I have resolved to do a few things.

1. Clean up and rewrite the story and plot. Clarify them.

2. Make appropriate new systems, such as Ishima and Elejee (I think Darkk is right). Should help with action #1 above.

3. Organize the information, and perhaps make a crude website.

These should help, and I'll put them on my agenda for this week.

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-Vegeta <axis.n3.net>

Vegeta wrote:
**Heres some net level ideas:

-Tic-Tac-Toe - Capture three stations in a row to win!

-Capture the Flagpod- A modified Flagpod stage where you'll have fun trying to capture that flag when its surrounded by 4 flak drones. Although its almost instantenous victory if you touch it, you'll have to keep in mind what a SINGLE flak drone can do. This time you'll have to dispatch some Engineering Pods to actually win.

-Space Race, The Sequel! - Battle with your large fleet against an opponent. Best pilot takes all.

-Grolk, Don't Run. - Fight head to head with a whole array of Grolk ships.

-Territories- Capture all the bunker stations- if you can!

-I've Got the Power- Protect your power stations, and use them to build a fleet to crush your opponent.

-Space Warz, HVD Style- Battle head to head with your favorite HVD.

-The Vent Core- Start out only being able to build Assault Transports and Engineering Pods, and capture your way through the Vent Core, gaining the ability to build more ship classes.

-They're Everywhere- Squadron fighting at its best. Fighters, Interceptors, Heavy Cruisers, and Transports are the only ships you can build.

-The Ares All-out- Rock and Rock, only many times better. Experience all the new ship classes, and learn how to use them. Build Interceptors, Heavy Cruisers, Gunships, HVDs, Frigates, Carriers, Defenders, Battleships, ATRs, and Transports. They're all at your disposal- use them wisely!

**

Space Race, the Sequal sounds great! That will probably be your best net level. I've always has a great disire to do Space Race, networked...

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I come, I go; You'll never know...

-Admiral Dennis
(url="http://"mailto:admiraldennis@mac.com")mailto:admiraldennis@mac.com(/url)admiraldennis@mac.com

I think most of those ideas are great, I think I will revise some of them though. Here's a few replacement ideas:

Tic-Tac-Toe: 6 bunker stations and 3 flak drones in a square pattern. The 3 Flak Drones will be set up diagonally so one must capture atleast one in order to win. Capture three (2 bunkers and one flak or the three flaks) in a row to win. You will be able to build Interceptors, Gunships, ATRs, Frigates, and Engineering Pods.

Death and Destroyers (replacing Capture the Flagpod 2): Destroyer ships duke it out. You will only be able to build Gunships, Corvettes, HVDs, and Transports.

Capitol Combat (replacing I've Got the Power): Frigates, Carriers, and Battleships battle in this stage. You'll be able to build Transports as well.

Those are a few ones I think are a little better. Of course, I can always add more.

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-Vegeta

Tournement Manager
Species and Ships Profiler
Beloved Overlord
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I've revised and made a new storyline, which should clarify some issues up. Here goes:

Our triumph over the Cantharans was complete. Our Human friends, with our gentle guidance, were able to recapture their homeworld and destroy the Cantharan Gateship, crippling the Cantharan fleet and insuring the safety of Earth. The humans were able to breath the free air of their homeworld once again.

I only wish I could do the same. Alas, Ishima has fallen. It could be no other treachery than that of the Salrilians. Perhaps I should tell you what exactly happened.

Our Gateship, the ship I command, had just assisted the Humans in their quest for Earth. We had prepared ourselves for our journey home, a journey which would last only a few days. We could not have fathomed what fate our homeworld would endure in those few days.

I was told the exact events leading up to the fall of our planet. It appeared at first that it was the Audemedons who were prepared to engage in all-out war. Several Audemedon fleets appeared in our systems, and after a short while our defense fleets discovered that these fleets were no more than holographic projections. It was then that we received a distress signal from the Elejeetian Empire, which read that a massive Audemedon fleet, many times greater than the defenses of Elejee, was en route to one of the Empire's systems. We conjectured that this Audemedon fleet was real, and therefore Ishima sent as many ships as it could. Not until it was too late to we discover that this fleet was holographic too. By that time, the Salrilians had already pummeled our planet.

We were to be grieved, but we knew that we must take action. Our forces returned to fight the evil of the Salrilians. In the moment we could measure the size of their fleet, our pride was swallowed by complete fear. Our forces attempted an escape, but it was in vain. The few that escaped fled to the Omisha system, and destroyed the warp gate behind them. If it weren't for us and our Gateship, the remainder of our forces would be devastated by the Salrilians that were persuing them.

We're going to have to forge out on our own now. We will find some measures to fight the Salrilians, and hopefully find some way of surviving in the meantime.

Well thats it. That's an actually story, so I hope to placate some of your interests in Aftermath.

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-Vegeta

Tournement Manager
Species and Ships Profiler
Beloved Overlord
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Another thing I wish to discuss is the Ishiman line-up of ships in Aftermath. Hopefully this will give you some idea of the intentions of each ship class.

Interceptor- 500 Shields. Rapid PKB Cannon (30 dmg). Standard Ishiman Warp drive. Same handling and speed as an Ishiman Fighter. 3 resource credits.

Heavy Cruiser (mod)- Modified shields from the original. Now has 1500 shields. Everything else is the same. 6 resource credits.

Corvette- 3500 shields. Ion Cannon (2000 dmg.), Lepton Beam (80 dmg.). Standard Ishiman warp drive. Same handling and speed as the Obish Battleship. 22 resource credits.

Frigate- 2500 shields. Scatter Missiles (50 dmg.), Rapid PKB Cannon (30 dmg), Protopulse Gun (100 dmg.) (note: this Protopulse gun has half the firing rate of the Obish Escort). Standard Ish drive. Slightly slower and less manueverable than an Obish Escort. 12 resource credits.

Battleship- 6500 shields. Q. Beam Turret (40 dmg.), Dual Core Pulse Turret (100 dmg.), and Heavy Scatter Missiles (85 dmg.). Ishiman Carrier drive. Slightly faster and more manueverable than a carrier. 36 resource credits.

The only other modifications is the cost of a fighter is brought down to 1. Otherwise, this is general outlook at what Ishiman ships will be. As always, these ships are subject to minor or major change.

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-Vegeta

Tournement Manager
Species and Ships Profiler
Beloved Overlord
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Ion Cannon (2000 damage)?

2000 damage is enough to take out a cruiser or an HVD in one shot. I assume you meant 200 damage instead.

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Replicant
www.axis.n3.net

Nope. I meant two thousand alright.

The Corvette is a member of the Destroyer family, so it's designed to take on large ships. However, the Ion Cannon takes a good amount of time to recharge, and a squad of Heavy Cruisers would be able to take it down pretty fast, probably before it could fire the Ion Cannon twice. The goal of the Corvette is to fight Carriers and Battleships and deal a significant amount of damage to them. Since the Ion Cannon is not a very fast flying weapon (unlike Fullerene), most ships would be able to dodge it except for Capitol ships.

A weapon with 200 damage of course, could not do such damage.

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-Vegeta

Tournement Manager
Species and Ships Profiler
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I think the final battle should be at Ishima. It would really beautiful irony to have it end where it began. I can't wait to kick Sal butt!!!

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Commander-in-Chief of the Nijayias Interstellar Navy.

Im pretty impressed, Veggie. I looks like you've dedicated alot of time to this. Im looking forward to your plug-in.
HardWare

I only hope Hera is capable of producing such a grandios scenario, and that Ares is capable of handling all the data.

BTW, do you need testers?

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"They're everywhere!"- hapless victim #203948

On the Ion Cannon idea, Vegeta:
2000 damage seems a little too much. In theory a 2000 damage, really-slow-loading weapon isn't that bad, but in practise you have a real problem. In the hands of a skilled pilot, on a ship with reasonable speed and manueverability, it would be truly lethal. Nothing could stand in its way, especially if it had even half-decent range. My advice is:
Drop the damage to 1000. Give it long range, and a ten-second reload time. And make the Corvette reasonably fast, but not particularly manueverable.
That way, it will still kick capitol ship ass, but be completely ineffective against faster, smaller vessels piloted with skill.

Just my ten cents.

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Sundered Angel ,
The One and Only

At once, I thought about making the Ion Cannon do only 1000 damage, even though that is a sound amount of damage, I think I will start at 2000 damage first.

My original plans for the Corvette were to make it a ship slightly less manueverable than an HVD, yet having roughly the same speed. As for the Ion Cannon (2000 damage version) I thought about making the recharge time on it anywhere from 20 seconds to 30 seconds. I must say the 1000 damage version sounds more appealing, especially when the recharge time is reduced to your suggested 10 seconds. Now, even if the Corvette has the 2000 version, it still only has forward-firing weapons, which will leave 3 sides of it exposed at all times. With less manueverability, it's not going to be easy for a Corvette to battle Heavy Cruisers orbiting it. But I must say 2000 is a bit much. A 1000 would be more sound because it would give an HVD a second chance to avoid a Corvette, yet still dishing out the same amount of damage per second.

Keep in mind, that all ships in Aftermath will undergo extensive testing to make sure that they fit their roles, not underperforming or overperforming them. Think of it as quality control.

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-Vegeta

Tournement Manager
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THIS SOUNDS SOOOOOOO COOL!!!!! But I'd like to know an estimate for when this expansion pack will come out. Again, this is soooooo cool! Take your time on it Vegeta, it sounds good. Just can't wait tho.

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Veggie, I was wondering if the corvette will have lightspeed capabilities. It would be sound if does not, because it could be in lightspeed, shoot the ion cannon, and be a hard target to hit at the same time. This would make the corvette more lethal then intended. I also want to know what ships of the Obish and Ejeetain clans have lightspeed capibilities.

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