Shimmer

Flag sprites are always going to be a pain in the cunt if you design them with any degree of complexity :p The Callistean banner I had to cut out one of the circles just so it works, with flags I believe the priority should be that it looks competent as a general design, translating it to banners is always going to be a compromise. ...especially when you remember its not even 32x32, the canvas itself is closer to 15x15 because 32 is the size of the sprite file, 15 is the pixels you get to actually work with.

It fits the aesthetic of silversun. It's a planet caught in the vice of a corporate power, so it feeling corporate and artificial while retaining some of the almost vaporwave vibe of the planet makes sense to me. It doesn't need to be designed conventionally, and in the case of Silversun it not being designed so conveys the feeling its meant to invoke a lot better.

As it stands the only departments that I see benefiting from this (and having the slot competition to warrant such a change) are security and medical (paramedics to be extra precise), and neither of those need additional encouragement for playing. People should be discouraged from playing them on Odyssey rounds, at least so that other departments are filled. If we cut out a hard limit you will see an extreme lean towards Security as a department.

Not all that big of an issue if Operations are given additional funds in an Odyssey round to order whatever equipment is necessary. Bounties aren't really a focus anyways, so I feel like it should be a thing already. Even then; the slot scarcity only ever really applies to security and medical, especially paramedics. With the latter, you already have 2 extra paramedic belts in storage, and there's enough hyposprays in medical to outfit the entire ship.

Added a few more elements to the document; specifically a little more on infrastructure. Expanded on public transportation, how people get around within districts, AND how the magtro lets them do that between districts OCEAN FREIGHTERS LORE also added, if only a little. Ships should be on sea not in space! and on that point; added a little bit of a cultural element as to how callisteans refer to space ships. given it's early colonization, i imagine most ships arriving on callisto would be very rocketlike. So, both as a cultural habit, and to differentiate space ships from sea ships, callisteans call space ships 'Rockets', 'Rocks', or 'Rocketships'. Finally, added that Callisteans, because of their distance to the sun and the low gravity of Callisto, should be paler and taller than their terrestrial counterparts. unlike lunans tho they aren't snobs and don't take pride in that fact.

See- I absolutely understand this anxiety. When hush-hush about the NBT2 came down to me via the grapevine, I literally had a similar reaction as ASmallCuteCat, my exact reaction was; 'Is this necessary? This kind of change would make all of my characters unplayable! With the proposed changes I'll have to bin them or change them in such a way that they'd be grating to play!' The thing is, at least insofar as it pertains to me, I am not saying the same applies to anyone else, this was ultimately a kneejerk reaction. Every character that is made, especially one with a lot of effort, thought, and passion behind it, is in it's own unique (and deeply personal) way a lore mini-project. It's headcanon, it's a dynamic, it's themes and personality and time, and literally no one wants to see that either go entirely to waste or have to significantly alter it that changes it in a radical, only barely recognizable capacity. I understand that, I've literally felt the exact same way when I've gotten rumors about the project. The thing is- this exact line of thinking could've been applied to the NBT, the transition from a static setting and into one that goes through the 4 corners of the galaxy? Well, characters that are in some way attached to Biesel, that live there, whose arc and character are built with living on that planet or on Valkyrie or Odin in mind would just not work with our current setting. I've not been a sixth as active of a member back during KoTW, and went under a completely different identity, but I wonder; has something similar not happened before? Have these same anxieties, these same concerns, not been voiced with precisely the same reasons as here? And would you not agree, that ultimately, in-spite of that, the Horizon is a far better setting that allows for a lot more room in terms of character development, and even opening up character creation freedom as a whole? What I'm meaning to convey here is that while this kind of anxiety is absolutely understandable, and has merit- I want people to also try and see the flipside of this. To consider the possibilities that open up, think of concepts and step out of the comfort we currently have if only for a moment. As for this; my perspective on the matter? Because a character, just as a person, would ultimately want to continue their life in some other way. The Horizon is an exploration ship, it's not an airliner, it's not a static station, it's the kind of work environment that is not conductive to settling down. This doesn't apply to all characters, obviously other people will write theirs differently from mine, but I like to see my characters have some sort of end goal or a time limit. A certain point at which they settle down, have a family or similar. The Horizon is just not the environment for that. Ultimately; a change such as NBT2 is impossible to be done without stepping on many toes. Every single player will have an element or two that they'll at the very least disagree with if not outright despise. I'm not happy with all the ideas that the NBT2 proposes either, and some results of the community survey do disappoint me to a degree. But we shouldn't grind ourselves down on the tiny details because lets be honest each and every detail and point is a whole hill you can defend until you're blue in the face and die. I hope people take a step back if only for a moment; see the larger picture. Briefly set aside your anxieties and ask yourself sincerely- If this were to go through, would I enjoy this? How much fun could I have with this? What could I write with this? What could I do with this?

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Medium Species: Human Short Description: An expansion fleshing out Callisto some more. How will this be reflected on-station?: Characters from Callisto will be able to use the new additions both as a conversation started and for the purposes of character background. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: No, it is an expansion. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Yes. Long Description: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tRZg7ozRuDjX1E5R8m-HAz0nCBtvSHC5H_JjrPPqalQ/edit?usp=sharing The additions are divided into several parts; the document above is a copy paste of the wiki page on Callisto, including everything from it. The first thing I've done is gone over what grammar and spelling errors I've found, and tweaked some wording here and there to make it flow better. Some things were outright replaced, the original text banished to the cutting floor for the sake of better flavor that makes more sense. This includes Callisto being described as 'warm' despite it being in the orbit of Jupiter, and additionally, Callistean cinema is no longer Cytherean but on a budget, instead it becomes focused around theater, operas, plays and musicals. Very british. Very cool. Finally; expansions and addition! Brand new map!!! Included in this post are three files, one krita file with all the relevant layers for people to tweak at will, the complete map with names markings and borders, and a blank map. Immigrant communities received an expansion! Dominians now have a loyalist diaspora to introduce solarians to imperials outside of the horizon and outside of persecuted minorities. And the introduction is done through secondaries, too, no nobility involved. Give a little more fluff as to what happened to Martian refugees, in addition to all kinds of refugees following the collapse. Callisto now has a proper place for them! FINALLY finally, expands on the districts GREATLY, introduces mini-districts called municipalities to the larger districts, and gives many of them relevant points of interest that can be used by Callistean (and immigrant) characters to reference something from the moon. That should be all! Map.kra

Nor can your characters stay on it forever either. Every character has it's eventual time limit, where you explored their arcs, and played out their gimmick. Eventually, just as a person, that character will need to move on somewhere else. Especially within three years.

the EOD special

nine actors nine actors

A full split, unless as part of a content expansion pack rather than preceeding the vague promises there-of, would be worse. You're doing the same thing of splitting hairs in terms of responsibilities but in addition you're placing them in different department. Further development shouldn't be a promise it should be what preceeds a change like this.

This was the case previously, where we had the role split into job titles exclusive to positronics, exosuits and circuitry. No one liked it. It wasn't necessary, it gave less stuff for the roles to do, and got merged for a very very good reason.

The current big issue I would see is departmental distinction. People in engineering still look like engineers, people in medical still look like doctors and medics, people in security still look like cops and mercs. You lose this visual aspect when you eschew a uniform or some sort of distinguishing clothing. For this proposal to make sense (at least to me) it'd have to come with a very generous sprite package to address that. At the very minimum thats what, 5-6 sprites per department, but ideally 5 per department per corporation; its a lot of work.

that required confirmation?

This is a very serious topic, which is exactly why easing off on the language isn't something we should do. This is a significant issue, and it should be treated as a whitelist one because command has all the tools and means to involve overlooked departments. They don't either because they do the bare possible minimum, harken back to 'realism' as a guiding principle, or are in some other way anemic in their leadership. The same way we treat stonewalling antags harshly and as an administrative concern (afterall, it is disrupting the flow of the round, ruining it for not just the antag but those engaged with them), we should be treating this issue with a greater degree of concern because stonewalling departments is far, far, far worse. When someone stonewalls an antag with confirmation faxes, or 'realism's them to a stand-still where they question their every motive and reason and demand proof and any other number of actionable behaviour, they are sapping away fun from the antag, and those directly around them. Not cool. When someone stonewalls an entire department, they don't just sap enjoyment from it, they choke the entire department. No one wants to be cucked to an empty ship with at most 3-5 characters some of whom are too busy commanding the off-team to engage with you. Why would you play service, or operations, if it's possible for some anemic command member incapable or unwilling to figure out how to include you to simply say 'It's too dangerous! ;)' This is how you kill the drive of players to play departments. This is really, REALLY bad. And much like how we treat stonewalling antags as a whitelist issue, so should we this. As a command member, people look up to you for guidance, leadership... Command. What possible excuse could there be for someone who chose to play that role to act anemic, and do the bare-minimum? You should be expected to show initiative, to involve as many people as possible, that's the whole point of fucking command to begin with.

Thank you Jeff! ❤️ The telescope is simply an existing piece of lore I wish to maintain given it's a unique feature of Ganymede and offers some background for anyone looking to play a Ganymedean engineer or scientist. A more logical explanation for it's presence there could be a combination of it's distance from the sun, Jupiter occasionally providing shade from any light pollution, and then the lack of an atmosphere to interfere with the telescope. But those are post-hoc justifications, really it's there to keep a cool feature about the moon that shapes its character in a way distinct to Europa and Callisto. It being heavily urbanized would resemble the latter, it being underwater would resemble the former. Any massive dome constructions would resemble Luna; a big fuck-off telescope though? Unique to it and it alone.

Lore Impact (Small/Medium/Large): Small. Species: Human Short Description: Brings up Ganymede up to standard with other Solarian worlds such as Novo-Igman and other planets in the SRMs. Most notably, does not give Ganymede it's unique lore-page, seeing as that is currently not allowed. Instead, it simply increases the wordcount from a simple paragraph that doesn't quite set the scene into something people can draw on for characters, including a brief history, and contrast to Ganymede's sister moons, Callisto and Europa. How will this be reflected on-station?: Allows more freedom and background to people who wish to make characters from Ganymede, thus making the Jovian accent a little more meaningful. Does this addition do anything not achieved by what already exists?: Given it's an expansion, all it does it flesh out the character of something that exists. It does not achieve anything new. Do you understand that the project may change over time in ways you may not foresee once it is handed over to the Lore Team? Of course. Long Description: The expansion / tweaking itself; "Often regarded as Callisto’s twin, the low-burn rivalry between the two Jovian sisters dates back all the way to their respective founders. In contrast to the Commonwealth origins of Callisto, the Federation of Ganymede was colonized by a combined effort of the European Union in competition with their close neighbour. Initially not as flashy as its terraformed twin, Ganymede ultimately used its more inhospitable nature to its advantage. Ganymede is notable for its extremely dense and efficient architecture compared to barren moons like Luna, eschewing surface domes in favor of large and sprawling towers dotting the surface. Residential towers are a minority in Ganymede, with the Gallilean moon never able to match the population of its neighbour. Instead, the majority of those towers serve as the breadbasket of the Solar system, growing a variety of crops using the moon’s abundant ice oceans. Over the span of 200 years since its initial colonization, Ganymede perfected the use of the towering farmland, optimizing ocean desalination efforts and fielding some of the best agricultural experts in the Spur. Ganymede’s more mechanically inclined infrastructure isn’t insignificant either. While Callisto serves as the gateway for goods entering Sol, Ganymede is a hub through which the system communicates with the wider Spur. Surface not used for habitation or farmland is occupied by massive communication arrays and information infrastructure, free of cumbersome atmospheric interference. The lack of an atmosphere likewise made the Jovian moon a perfect candidate for one of the wonders of the Spur; something many of its residents pride themselves on. The truly massive Hubble II telescope facility covers as much as a third of the moon’s surface and is renowned throughout the Orion Spur’s scientific community for its ability to produce high-quality images of extremely distant objects. Hubble II has even managed some commercial success, with Idris Incorporated producing a licensed year calendar using its images of major planets, and even the galactic core, Sagittarius A*. Unsurprisingly, due to the nature of the moon, Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals has a foothold in its research institutions and widespread farmlands, often employing Ganymedeans outside of the moon itself as astronomers and agricultural researchers. Also of note is the foothold of Einstein Engine, heavily invested in Ganymede's information infrastructure and the maintenance of the moon's massive telescope. Einstein employees on Ganymede are typically engineers and technicians whom specialize in said infrastructure." The intent is to replace the current paragraphs on the Jupiter page (https://wiki.aurorastation.org/index.php?title=Jupiter) with the above.

If you're unsure, you should double check. Because you're wrong, sensor reports explicitly give you a report for all the armaments visible on a ship. Any ship you can scan will show you what guns it has. Not only does it mention being a cruiser, it's mentioned as a prototype, and one with NAVAL ballistic weapons. The description is outdated and still mentions the Levi, but I implore you to still read it; do you genuinely think someone on a small pirate skiff is going to KNOWINGLY attack a ship described as 'a line without compare; featuring naval weapon hardpoints'? Here is a scan of the Canary before anyone says 'Naval just means its attached to a ship!', if it did, why is the canary's "low caliber" rotary cannon not referred to as a 'naval armament'? You cannot approach the Horizon undetected without antag-level stealth tech that only the mercenary gamemode shows us a non-canon example of, and even then it's up to the antagonist party. Any time the bridge is manned (which realistically it would be at all time), BCs and XOs go to great lengths to identify and IFF ships around them. If you approach the Horizon without identifying yourself, you'll be shot. No, you can't approach it undetected, try it yourself. If the ship is too small for the 400mm gun to be effective, it's too small to survive a Grauwolf barrage, which is designed specifically for the scenario you're describing - a small skiff rushing towards a much larger ship. You're suggesting someone charge a horse into a line of pikes, it does not end in the horse's favor and anyone with a will to live (aka all ghostroles) will take great care to avoid being shredded. Out of fear of driving this thread off topic, this is where I'll end the conversation.

Note the wording: by mistake, they didn't have advanced sensor reports that tell you the name, size, and capabilities of a ship. They would never have attacked KNOWING what it what.

The reason most ships do not go toe-to-toe with the Horizon is a difference of size rather than status. Most ghostships are tiny corvettes and modified freighters, meanwhile the Horizon is a cruiser with a massive cannon attached to it (400mm if im not mistaken? its a big fucking gun's the point) Imagine if modern cargo ships had a battleship cannon turret strapped to the bridge, would dingy boat pirates try their luck on it? Same principle.

On paper... But you're rarely alone in those roles and people do want to play those to loot gremlin or explore. If you're alone sure you can use it to practice piloting but if you aren't? Well you'll get sidelined. Additionally, this doesn't exactly teach you. You have no one to learn from, no one to coach you no one to explain you anything, you're basically throwing yourself into the water until you learn how to swim. It's why miner isnt a good role to learn how to BC either imo

Why not give atmospheric technician the jaws of life the AI borg has? That way they can access locked areas in an emergency and pull people out of rooms with bolted but broken airlocks.

Bridge crew are not intended to be a command or a command learner role. That is not their responsibility and it never was. A learner role for bridge crew IMO is a good idea, that way you're not expected to do something like mining or xenoarch, and you're in the proper environment to be taught the mechanics and responsibilities involved.

If Sol consulars come back I'm immediately making one But also, just bring them back. It's time, and Sol is currently the only faction that isn't represented in any way on the Horizon. It's weird, with how many Solarians are aboard, that they have no way to contact their own government.

It would be odd to place the headquarters of the United Nations, which with this suggestion becomes the executive body of the Alliance, in a state that is legally not part of the Alliance. Geneva is neutral grounds precisely because Switzerland is canonically independent. We don't really need to look for a place to put the UN Headquarters in- because we already have an answer! Simply place it in the current canonical capital of Earth - Paris. As for the Security Council, that should be on Luna. Since the SC oversees matters of military, and Sol's lore has the navy headquartered on the moon, it would make sense for it to be there. Ties it into how the military slipping away from the civilian government lead to the instability to begin with, and enforces the fact that both Luna and Earth are so tied together that they're basically the same entity politically. I would also introduce a few other elements, the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly since the general assembly is unelected (member states send their representitives to it, however who is sent isn't an elected position. Think of them more as ambassadors than senators); the former becomes the legislative body and the latter is an executive body. The International (Interstellar?) Court of Justice can be used as a judiciary. im very in favor of this because i have an unhealthy obsession with the blue helmets.