Va'tramra'av Race.

[SgtSammac]

On the subject of clothing/non-anthro aliens. It is ALOT OF WORK.

At least let the dev team finish the map overhaul before we turn that subject into its own specific discussion otherwise we will be overloaded.

[incognitojesus]

Just give 'em a colored arm band.

Problem solved.

Problem solved. Colored armbands, and well, they'd have to sacrifice the ability to put things in their pockets most likely. Belts could work, but satchels/backpacks (satchel masterrace)? Those could work, too. As for hard/softsuits? Well, due to the fact that they're a newly discovered species, why would manufacturers of hardsuits create select models/variants for a species that is rarely seen (and most likely will be rarely seen ingame)? So, I don't believe the Arachnids really need hardsuits.

[Guest]

Just give 'em a colored arm band.

Problem solved.

Problem solved. Colored armbands, and well, they'd have to sacrifice the ability to put things in their pockets most likely. Belts could work, but satchels/backpacks (satchel masterrace)? Those could work, too. As for hard/softsuits? Well, due to the fact that they're a newly discovered species, why would manufacturers of hardsuits create select models/variants for a species that is rarely seen (and most likely will be rarely seen ingame)? So, I don't believe the Arachnids really need hardsuits.

 

They technically can't be called arachnids, since you know, they lack the eight legs.

[incognitojesus]

They technically can't be called arachnids, since you know, they lack the eight legs.

It was meant to be a reference to Starship Troopers.

[GlamourChariot]

Just give 'em a colored arm band.

Problem solved.

 

This is literally what I said when it was brought up before they were created.

Yaaaaaaaaaaay

[Guest]

Just give 'em a colored arm band.

Problem solved.

Problem solved. Colored armbands, and well, they'd have to sacrifice the ability to put things in their pockets most likely. Belts could work, but satchels/backpacks (satchel masterrace)? Those could work, too. As for hard/softsuits? Well, due to the fact that they're a newly discovered species, why would manufacturers of hardsuits create select models/variants for a species that is rarely seen (and most likely will be rarely seen ingame)? So, I don't believe the Arachnids really need hardsuits.

 

Well, for hardsuit/softsuit substitute, I have a few ideas:

1. Give them a buff that makes the resistant, but not immune, to pressure damage

2. Give them a buff that makes them immune to pressure damage, but still requiring internals

3. Give them a verb/command in the IC tab that says: Harden Exoskeleton, you feel your outer layer of armour harden like steel this would end after five minutes, and would have a cooldown of say, 6 or so.

I'm just thinking, Alien Bug race, surely their exoskeleton would provide significant protection against something.

[Jboy2000000]

Tajaran have unarmed damage bonus, if not that, maybe they should have a bonus against blunt damage.

[Guest]

I don't see why workers would need a damage buff? Especially if they've been crated to work and only work. The race has a separate sect created for fighting as stated in the OP.

[incognitojesus]

Simple, just don't allow them to wear hardsuits.

I mean, like (I think) I stated before, they were only recently discovered. Know what that means? Not many manufacturers of hardsuits (Let's just call them Corporation XYZ) would begin making hardsuits for said bug scum.

I know, people are going to complain that they won't have much of a chance if the room they're in is depressurized, but we could mitigate this worry simply by giving them a small damage buff against depressurization; Enough that space won't outright kill them in a minute or two, and enough for them to get out of harm's way while still giving some sort of challenge.

Lastly, if we are going with the backstory as to why the Arachnid scum is even on the station in the first place being that they were given as 'gifts' to Nanotrasen by their respectable Hives, why would Nanotrasen care if they live or die?

[GlamourChariot]

but we could mitigate this worry simply by giving them a small damage buff against depressurization;

 

So they can kill the de-pressurization before it kills them?

Genius.

[incognitojesus]

A buff against pressure damage meaning they don't take as much damage when exposed to the spess of Spess Station 13.

[Jboy2000000]

What about softsuits? I never really thought about those for this or other races.

[Erik Tiber]

I have some suggestions with regards to their space technology. This use of small fighters seems rather inefficient, unless your definition of 'fighters' and 'bombers' covers ships several hundred meters in length. Them getting into space implies a certain level of technological advancement and technical expertise. Simply making crude-ish looking spacecraft should be well within their abilities, and would be easier. Uneven craft cut from asteroids would be difficult to handle as the thrust would not be applied evenly. If a craft is not radially symmetrical, it will steer horribly.

Boarding pods also seem extremely impractical. A pod can instead be filled with an equal mass of explosives. The pod would not have to match velocity with the target craft either, so it could hit the target more quickly.

I advise not making their technology completely uniform either. Making them somewhat technologically stagnant (perhaps due to cycles of extreme overpopulation and population crash) seems like a good idea due to their biology and such, in which case you could have certain systems possess crude fusion technology, while others may have backslid into preindustrial technology. By making their society highly variable, you also introduce more RP possibilities for players.

[Covert0ddity]

Skull actually gave me a rather good idea a week or two back in regards to their origins, which I will be factoring in in their revision, along with multiple actual science based biology additions.

The idea is that they actually began on asteroids, and have only recently begun to inhabit small moons and other large celestial objects. In the past, they had no control if where their asteroid-nests went, but now they can change velocity and orbiting pattern with minor thrusts in accordance to position. This would also make the species themselves not require a hard suit, and have an immediate buff and debuff right there. Slow in gravity environments, and no space damage.

Factoring in their nests aren't designed to go far, they use fighters, generally cut out if their nests or other asteroids, to engage their foes. On how they feed on said asteroids will have to be debated later within my mind. Crystals? Space fungi?

In regards to use fullness of boarding pods, I'll have to disagree. When it comes to medium, or even some small sized ships, (let alone capital) the goal is not to annihilate, it's to capture. Perhaps not with the alliance, but when your forces are veery slow and don't number many, a prospect of another functioning ship without expending resources to build is very inviting, in the case of the Va'tramra'av.

And I thought I clarified there was tech differences. I'll make that more clear.

[Erik Tiber]

Skull actually gave me a rather good idea a week or two back in regards to their origins, which I will be factoring in in their revision, along with multiple actual science based biology additions.

The idea is that they actually began on asteroids, and have only recently begun to inhabit small moons and other large celestial objects. In the past, they had no control if where their asteroid-nests went, but now they can change velocity and orbiting pattern with minor thrusts in accordance to position. This would also make the species themselves not require a hard suit, and have an immediate buff and debuff right there. Slow in gravity environments, and no space damage.

I have no idea how they would manage to have life evolve on asteroids. This does not seem very plausible. I may be wrong though, but this seems to be very counter intuitive. How did they evolve out there? Why wouldn't all their exoskeletons snap like twigs when presented with a single G, after they've spent their entire existence adapting to existence in zero-G? How would they feed? How did life start out there in the asteroid belt? Why has the radiation not killed them? Why don't we see microbes in asteroids in the asteroid belt?

This could easily be replaced by some sort of moon orbiting a gas giant, or a strange terrestrial planet if you want to go for alien-ness. I can math it out for you if you give me some specifications.

Factoring in their nests aren't designed to go far, they use fighters, generally cut out if their nests or other asteroids, to engage their foes. On how they feed on said asteroids will have to be debated later within my mind. Crystals? Space fungi?

Yes, but if they used fewer, larger warships, then they would be functioning much better than an equivalent mass of fighters. Also, cutting them off of their hives without shaping them does not make much sense. Parasite ships that hang onto their hive ships and engage the enemy? That seems perfectly plausible. It's just that fighter-sized craft would be inefficient and not cost effective.

This does not seem at all necessary. You could have them live primarily in asteroid belts, but have them evolve on some moon or planet, the player interactions would be the exact same. You could make a world very alien without breaking physics.

In regards to use fullness of boarding pods, I'll have to disagree. When it comes to medium, or even some small sized ships, (let alone capital) the goal is not to annihilate, it's to capture. Perhaps not with the alliance, but when your forces are veery slow and don't number many, a prospect of another functioning ship without expending resources to build is very inviting, in the case of the Va'tramra'av.

Speed is not relevant, acceleration is. A boarding pod needs to first accelerate to reach the target, then match velocities. When it is matching velocities, it is inherently vulnerable. It is making itself a sitting duck on purpose. If the enemy has any decent laser weaponry (which they should certainly given their technology level), they would destroy the vast majority of any incoming missiles/ KKV's/ whatever, and you'd need to launch a whole lot of missiles to overwhelm this. This problem only becomes worse when you intentionally make your missiles slow moving and fill them with your own men. It would be better for them to simply salvage the scrap, or manufacture a new ship. You gave the impression earlier that their ships were cheaply made.

I have an alternative for capturing ships: Blow a ship's radiators, demand that they surrender or face destruction. Enemy ship can barely respond because if they use too much power they boil alive, this opens the door for you to send in people to pacify it.

[SmileyDemon]

 

Dmi file of possible sprite for races with dismemberment sprites and male and female versions respectfully. Originated as the sprite of a scrapped baystation race and ended up with some of my editing as a race within the paradise server.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/rbqhnreiccu4el9/r_def_kidan.dmi

[Covert0ddity]

Thank you for submitting your sprites!

We already have Sue working on them, but we had some issues with implementation some weeks ago and we may require new sprites. If Sue does not have sprites, or does not want to do them, we'll accept yours. I'll talk to her about it.

Thank you again. Now all we need is the code. If you're also able to do this, add me on Skype (The Fence, Covert0ddity if you can't find that) and we can go over it, pending revision of the lore to make more sense.

[Skull132]

Thank you again. Now all we need is the code. If you're also able to do this, add me on Skype (The Fence, Covert0ddity if you can't find that) and we can go over it, pending revision of the lore to make more sense.

 

How about no one does this? Or I will flat out deny any code I am presented. I'm sick and tired of people bypassing me, if they want a large modification such as this done. I really don't care who writes it, that's not the issue. The issue is the flow of information, and organization of workflow. Initiative is nice and all, but this is overzealous, and it throws more wrenches into the cogs than is needed.

So, I propose this to happen next: Covert compiles a list of properties he wants his race to have ingame. He sends them to me. I will evaluate, including input from people I deem necessary (such as the Head Administrator), provide input, and develop the idea until we have a fleshed out list of shenanigans. Following this, we put the code into production, and voila. Simple, I'd like to think.

And this is all in a, most likely vain, attempt to make sure the crap that happened with Kocasslani does not get repeated.

[keinto]

For some reason, I imagine them more like bees rather than ants or any other bug. They would look so slick if they had wings! And maybe a sting ability? I know I'm changing their already proposed core physiology, but from their sprite, that's just what my imagination made me say. On the other hand, as ant-like creatures, they could have a powerful bite ability, and would not be slowed down when wearing hardsuits due to their superior strength (whenever they start being manufactured).

What would their accent and speech be like? Going back to my variation, would they, like the Unathi, struggle with the S sounds and turn it into a buzz?

Example: "Szzzecurity to Szzzzcienzzzze!"

Or maybe substitute the S with a BZ? But that could get annoying to type and read.

"The Bzzzingularity habzzz been let loobzzzze!"

I definately prefer the first way. Maybe outright replacing all S sounds with Z's?

"The zzzzhutle izzz almozzzzt here! Do not forget the onezzz with ZZZ-ZZZ-D'zzz!

Either way, I'm looking forward to this race, whenever they are implemented, and already have a character in mind.

[Guest]

I heard some talk from Covert recently that they were still working on this one.

Any new news for us, Covert?

[Dea Tacita]

 

Dmi file of possible sprite for races with dismemberment sprites and male and female versions respectfully. Originated as the sprite of a scrapped baystation race and ended up with some of my editing as a race within the paradise server.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/rbqhnreiccu4el9/r_def_kidan.dmi

 

I'd prefer we have our own unique icons. A new race is a major thing and copying someone elses icons isn't really something I think we'd want for something that we want as unique for Aurora.

[Rechkalov]

I'd prefer we have our own unique icons. A new race is a major thing and copying someone elses icons isn't really something I think we'd want for something that we want as unique for Aurora.

 

Right.

I bloody love Formics insect races in sci-fi.

I couldn't resist taking a shot at this.

With and without that outline that seems to be characteristic for SS13, but which I simply cannot bring myself to like.

[Rechkalov]

I've quickly looked over the discussion, and noticed that you were questioning what purpouse, justification, if you will, would there be for a hive member to work aboard Aurora - I didn't read all of the comments, so if you had figured that out, feel free to disregard this altogether, I would just like to propose a perspective.

I expect you aren't familiar with Ondřej Neff's writing, so I'll try to briefly sum up a character from one of his books - it's more of a body than a character, a race that is literally one collective mind.

Its drones are absolutely expendable, and join the other races in their doings purely with the intention of giving them a hand, very often at the cost of the drone itself; I'm not sure if I am getting the point across. That entity has no real interest in the business itself, merely in assisting members of the species its fond of.

Where I am going with this; Va'tramra'av drones aboard Aurora could be perceived as more of a diplomatical, political move than the drone's personal interest in the station's business. The drone may not give a damn, and its job aboard our station might be, in the long run, rather insignificant for the hive, but the drone serves its hive by its presence already; its being there is a sign of good will for peaceful coexistence.

Fiercely loyal to their Queen, a drone or warrior would do anything to please them.

There. Your motivation for the drone's presence. The Queen wishes to make friends with NT.

The hive could possibly spare a few workers, where the other races are usually extremely sensitive over each and every one of their people.

Not to mention that they would probably have trouble comprehending the other cultures, and insight acquired this way could prove extremely valuable.

[Covert0ddity]

The lore team and I have been discussing a lot of things so far, and I like your idea, Rech. Basically what we've got hammered down so far is their biology, their system, and rough outlines of Culture, History technology, caste systems, and, the all important question of, 'Why are they here.'

I think we'll definitely incorporate that idea, I don't see why, as you said, a huge hive couldn't spare some workers for NanoTrasen in order to make relationships and the like.

[Nik]

The question is, are you using those first sprites that straight up look like fucking Power Ranger minions? Cause the ones that were posted recently look WAAAY better (No offense to whoever did the first).