OK, the formal announcement of the ambitions of QT and I to develop a TC plugin for Nova. Unlike most plugs, this is a trilogy of plugins (exactly why it is called The Ages Trilogy ), that follow space travel from its birth, to its zenith, and finally to Humanity's decline - possibly due to an invasion of an alien race... The first plug is called The Dawn of the Space Age. Cheesy, I admit, but fairly descriptive. Most ships are fusion-powered, the more advanced have photonic engines, and a few have ion drives. We're not going to be able to get on the webboards very often, but we should be posting a website in a few days (a week or two at most). But I'll try to give you enough information to keep you happy until we get the website up and running.
Main governments, in alphebetical order.
Aldebaran Federation (small - 5 systems) Come in late in the game, after the fall of the UTLC. Not really important, but are a major player in the second plug as the Aldebaran Empire.
Guild of Free Traders (nonexistant - 0 systems) Not the same as Nova's Guild. More like Asimov's Traders in the Foundation series. Generally peaceful folks for whom you can do some rather challenging cargo runs.
Mars Republic (tiny - 1 system) Duh. Just the people of Mars, whose main profit is made from processing the ore that the TA's ships bring in.
Oceania (medium - 5-10 systems) Basically, Australia. Major ally of U.S. in the rebellion against the UTLC.
People's Republic of China (medium - 5-10 systems) Late in the game, main and only enemies are Taiwan and the U.S.
Renegades/Pirates (very small - 2-3 systems) Always there, can't get rid of 'em. Don't know the final name yet, but that's okay.
Russian Federation (medium - 5-10 systems) Pretty boring, they're just kinda there.
Sol Energy Corporation (SolECor) (very small - 2-3 systems) Run the big solar cell stations that orbit very near the Sun. Maybe a coupla missions for 'em. Not really important to the main storylines.
Stellar Transport & Colonization, Inc. (STC) (big - 20-30 systems) Major player in the storyline. Supplies ships and outfits to most of the other governments. Has the best - and the most expensive - ships. CrimeTol of 0, and a very strong military. Don't tick 'em off. Fortunately for you, for the storylines, you won't need to.
Taiwan (full name?) (very small - 2-3 systems) Enemy of China. U.S. supplied ships to it to give it a foothold.
Trojan Alliance (small - 3-5 systems) Small, but not the kinda guys you wanna mess with. Kinda like Switzerland. They mine the asteroids in the Trojan and Greek cluster, the Main Asteroid Belt, and the Oort Cloud.
United African Nations (medium - 5-10 systems) After the fall of the UTLC, Africa found that it was pretty much united as one country, founded on the same republican-democracy principles of the U.S. Became yet another minor player in space.
United States of America (medium - 5-10 systems) Led the rebellion against the UTLC. Has some very good ships, considering the time they've had to produce them. The plug's version of the Emalgha. Except human, with more guts and a badass attitude.
United Terran-Lunar Confederacy (big - 10-20 systems) Major player, up until the time of the Rebellion. One of the most feared militaries in the galaxy.
Venus Terraforming Colonies (very small - 2-3 systems) The hippies, druggies, and other assorted wackos of the plug. In other words, Southern California. Really cool people, with some interesting outfits and ships.
Alright, that's all I've got time to give you now, but I'll be interested to see how many replies I get.
------------------
Youre only given a little spark of madness. You mustnt lose it.
-- Robin Williams