Ambrosia Garden Archive
    • Strange Ideas...


      Fun to think of plug-ins one could do, had one time enough for the worlds...

      James Blish, Cities in Flight . Great place for trading and non-combat scenarios, but upgrading would be a little strange ("I've got Yuma, Arizona. Can I trade up to Baltimore?").

      E.E. "Doc" Smith, the "Lenseman" books. Fun language (Zwilniks, Boskone), and weapons (the Negasphere, the Sun Beam). Inertia-less drives don't really work, tho.

      C.J. Cherryh, the "Chanur" stories. Translates almost perfectly to EVO, with brave merchant ships, Station politics, strange aliens, and a war brewing that a single captain can influence the course of...

      Charles Sheffield, Godspeed. A fun premise to try to incorporate; over-use of jump drive has collapsed subspace, restricting humanity to a single multi-planet system. Until now...

      James White, the "Sector General" stories. I don't know how you could do it, but wouldn't it be fun?

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      WIth Herb Caen gone, someone gotta use up all those ellipsis...

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      "Ame" Arashi

    • I have to add one..

      The Icarus Hunt
      (forgot the author)
      Oppressed traders, many different aliens, Patth dominating trade with use of Patth Hyperspace engines, and patth destroyers that are remarkably like UE destroyers...

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      All the problems we face in the United States today can be
      traced to an unenlightened immigration policy on the part of
      the American Indian.
      --- Pat Paulsen

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Commander Arashi:
      **Fun to think of plug-ins one could do, had one time enough for the worlds...

      **

      Poul Anderson's novels and stories, the best bet would be in the period of Nicholas van Rijn and his protege David Falkyn, or perhaps the later era of the Terran Empire and its conflict with the Mersian Protectorate.

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      Joe Burnette
      "I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
      among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Commander Arashi:
      **E.E. "Doc" Smith, the "Lenseman" books. Fun language (Zwilniks, Boskone), and weapons (the Negasphere, the Sun Beam). Inertia-less drives don't really work, tho.
      **

      I've actually considered trying to do a plug based off those before. It'd be a lot easier in Nova though, since MaxBeamsOnScreen is up to 64, and most offensive weaponry is beams. The shield layers would be tough to mimic too. Wall Shields would probably have to be armor, since hulls themselves don't seem to be armored. Nova also has inertialess outfits, but they don't really work the same. It may be worth consideration someday. Make quite a plug if anyone could pull it off. Modeling the ships wouldn't be too bad either. 😉

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      - Macavenger | e-mail: (url="http://"mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com")mailto:e-gamerguy1@home.com(/url)e-gamerguy1@home.com

    • I had the idea of the premise of a plug-in being that H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds was history rather than fiction. That, and a pastiche work called War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches which expands on Wells's sotry by putting a number of the famous figures of history who were alive then, e.g. Jules Verne, Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt, William Randolph Herst, etc. Worth a read, but nothing too special.

      My idea was that, as mentioned in the book, the martians successfully colonize Venus, which of course is a primeval jungle-world rather than the blasted wasteland we know it to be. Faced with the threat from the skies, humanity forgets its differences, colonialism is abandoned, and an alliance of nations is formed; the world wars I and II never occur, and instead we develop a space program, land on the Moon, Mars, and Venus, learn to communicate with the Martians, and begin to cautiously engage in diplomatic relations with them. Then we are attacked by interstellar invaders, and the two sentient races of the Solar System must work together to fight them off.

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      "She said, 'Honey, you know I gave up cigarrettes for my new-year's resolution... but I didn't give up SMOKIN'!"
      -- The Blues Brothers, "I Don't Know"
      Bounty Plus, Final Battle and the Annotated Bibles
      idisk: andyg

    • Quote

      Originally posted by -REDCHIGH-:
      **I have to add one..

      The Icarus Hunt
      (forgot the author)
      Oppressed traders, many different aliens, Patth dominating trade with use of Patth Hyperspace engines, and patth destroyers that are remarkably like UE destroyers...

      **

      I believe that Timothy Zahn wrote that.

      I also think that Timothy Zahn's Conqueror Trilogy would make an excellent story and a cool plug-in. The only problem is that I don't know what the ships look like. Could someone please point me somewhere where I could find what the ships look like. Those books are excellent, as are all of Timothy Zahn's books, and if you want a good book, read something written by Timothy Zahn.

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      You would have to be ignorant, derranged, demented, or dead to turn down the oppurtunity to fly an Azdara.

    • The Gap series would lend itself quite well.

      -reg

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      "Oh crap. I'm going to hell - I put the Bible next to Mein Kampf again."
      -Her Holiness, Pope Jenne "Kirby" Hubbs

    • Quote

      Originally posted by WickedDyno:
      **... which expands on Wells's sotry by putting a number of the famous figures of history who were alive then, e.g. Jules Verne, Einstein, Teddy Roosevelt, William Randolph Herst, etc. Worth a read, but nothing too special.

      **

      Ever read Harry Turtledove's WorldWar series?

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      "Ame" Arashi

    • I've heard of it, but I want to start at the beginning with his "Guns of the South" series. Problem is, I can't find it in stores, or at least not the ones I go to.

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      "She said, 'Honey, you know I gave up cigarrettes for my new-year's resolution... but I didn't give up SMOKIN'!"
      -- The Blues Brothers, "I Don't Know"
      Bounty Plus, Final Battle and the Annotated Bibles
      idisk: andyg

    • Quote

      Originally posted by WickedDyno:
      **I've heard of it, but I want to start at the beginning with his "Guns of the South" series. Problem is, I can't find it in stores, or at least not the ones I go to.
      **

      IIRC, "Guns of the South" is not part of a series, at any rate it doesn't connect with the WorldWar novels.

      As for finding the books, don't they have libraries where you are? Don't you have access to the internet? Don't the bookstores know how to order books not in stock? Don't give up so easily 🙂

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      Joe Burnette
      "I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
      among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer

    • Joe is correct. Guns of the South (time-traveling white supremacists give AK-47s to General Robert E. Lee) is a stand-alone book. How Few Remain , which also posits a Confederate victory, is the actual beginning of Turtledove's multivolume alt-Civil War storyline. It is followed by his The Great War books: American Front , Walk in Hell , and Breakthroughs. Then the Great War books give way to a new series called American Empire. The first (and only, so far) book in that series is Blood & Iron.

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      world keeps turning

    • What would make an awesome plugin is Alen Dean Foster Pip and Flinx.. It's based in a big setting with many aliens and other spins offs like Icerigger trilogy.

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      Life is a dream we will
      all wake from one day.

    • Quote

      Originally posted by Wolfstar:
      **What would make an awesome plugin is Alen Dean Foster Pip and Flinx.. It's based in a big setting with many aliens and other spins offs like Icerigger trilogy.

      **

      Which reminds me of the great star-spanning tale spinners...Hamilton, Vance (already mentioned), Jack Williamson... How about a "Legion of Space" plug? Occurs to me Giles Habibula could be a mission bit or an outfit, allowing you to break into alien fortresses, board hostile ships, disarm traps...

      If I were still doing RPG I'd head for James H. Schmitz (Telzy Amberdon, the Witches of Karres, etc.) A wild and wooly universe whose government has a particularly hands-off approach (they'd prefer to see merchant associations buy private mercs and solve their own pirate problem, for instance. The Overgovernment only acts -- and boy, do they act! -- in matters that threaten the entire Federation.)

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      "Ame" Arashi

    • I had an idea for this; like the world in ev.
      It would involve new graphics and all, but the graphics would just be... simple, probably, and the actual work would most likely be quite mindless... There could be like the USA, EU, terrorists taking the place of pirates, etc... this is actually a fairly developable idea, in my view. I've begun some work, someone tell me if I'm not insane

      -lequis

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    • $1 says you are insane.
      Intresting idea, but it sounds hard to implement, that's all...
      - 'Tole

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      --The newbie hater--
      Blood, waves, triumph. Blood, anger, lust, greed, blood. The First Antigan was born of such sin, into such sin. He saw sin, saw life, saw hope. He was Imbued with the power, the idea, the strength he would need to lead his people to absolute rule. Resurrected power, long forgotten on the torn and shattered Earth. Almighty lord, Nasher Degy, awoke, and prepared his elite power for use on his hated opponents. Almighty First, just like that. - Antigan Codex, Book of Antigan. 1:1