Hypothetically, could a nation respect a foreign general enough to name a vessel after them? Ex Poland respecting Napoleon enough to name a vessel after him?
2 Likes
Maintenance stations are smaller and much more common than dockyards, which are massive superstructures that actually construct vessels. Most of the dockyards are indeed in Earth or Luna orbit, but Mars has some minor industrial capacity of its own, even if it is a fraction of the Homeworld’s. So you’re basically right on the money.
100%. Larger nations do this fairly often to throw a bone to an ally or potential ally to garner a little diplomatic goodwill. More than a handful of US and Chinese vessels are named after historical figures and battles from nations they were never directly involved in.
9 Likes
Happy June everyone!
I had hoped that by now I would have been able to finish editing and playtesting Chapter 4. Unfortunately, as you can clearly see, that has not been the case. It was another busy month at my day job, which again meant significantly less time in front of the computer editing my draft. That doesn’t mean I didn’t make any progress, I did, just not a lot. Hopefully things will lighten up on that front soon however, so hopefully I can get back into editing and writing full force. Don’t worry, the story is far from abandoned!
That said, this month has also made me reconsider making a patreon. Again, I like the idea of giving you supplemental materials, and a way to interact with the work, while also gaining a financial benefit, but it also comes with obligations. Once I make a patreon, I really can’t, or perhaps I should say shouldn’t, have months like this one where not much gets done. It’s one thing to have a quiet month with little progress when I’m just a story and thread you keep an eye on, it’s another thing completely when you are paying me actual money. So probably not a patreon anytime soon, just to ensure a little flexibility for me and not to rob you of your hard earned dough.
Not much to say beyond that really, other than I appreciate your patience. I know I’ve been saying Chapter 4 is close for a while now, and while that’s technically true, I can understand the frustration of still not being able to read it. To slightly make up for it, I thought I’d share a little supplemental material I wrote up a bit ago. It’s not very long, but it’s a bit of new content that might scratch a little bit of that Officer of the Fleet itch if you’re feeling it. You can find it below.
Otherwise, thank you as always for the ongoing support and engagement. I hope you all have an incredible month, and I’ll talk to you all soon!
A Student of Unique Potential
Priority Communication
Date: 09/07/74
Time: 21:48 GMT
Watts: Her test scores are impressive. Highest I’ve ever seen.
Forest: Highest anyone has.
Watts: So what’s the problem?
Forest: Problem? There isn’t one. By all means admit the girl, I want you to, I simply have reservations.
Watts: Weren’t you heavily involved in designing the entrance exam? Why then the concern?
Forest: It is precisely because I helped design that exam that I have my concerns.
Watts: And how exactly am I meant to take that statement?
Forest: However you want.
Watts: May I remind you Admiral, that it was you that requested this meeting. If you wish to continue being frustratingly illusive with your answers, I have two dozen better things to be doing with my time.
Forest: If you were anyone else, I could have you formally reprimanded for speaking to me in such a manner.
Watts: I suppose it’s good that I’m not anyone else.
Forest: I suppose it is.
Watts: My point still stands Admiral. Why the hell are we talking about the potential of a 14 year old girl when I know for a fact that both you and I have enough paperwork and responsibilities to bury a small nation?
Forest: The kid has talent. I expect her to do very well in your Academy. I simply wish to impress upon you the necessity of tempering her success with forbearance.
Watts: I try to do as much with all my students, Admiral.
Forest: Not all your students have the potential of this child. She reminds me of myself.
Watts: Pride is a sin Admiral.
Forest: And an exceptionally poor trait to have as a leader of souls. I know you meant your comment as a joke, but I don’t. I was a damn good officer in my younger days, but I knew it better than anyone. I thought I was invincible. Untouchable. Infallible.
Watts: That’s not-
Forest: It is. You know it is. You saw it first hand. I almost lost the Passchendaele because of that overconfidence. I led a dozen good soldiers to their deaths and only avoided hundreds more, including my own, through sheer luck.
Watts: May I remind you that you received a promotion and half a dozen commendations for your actions that day. It would seem High Command disagreed with your assessment of the situation at the time.
Forest: High Command needed a hero for a rare victory in the early stages of the war, and they picked the brave young officer who led his ship forward like it was the charge of the light brigade.
Watts: We honor the Light Brigade.
Forest: Yes, but not Lord Raglan.
Watts: Your point, Admiral?
Forest: The girl could be an incredible asset. An invaluable asset. She has the intelligence. Her test results make that exceptionally clear. She will almost certainly be successful, likely one of, if not the best cadets to go through the Academy. But hubris is a poison to the successful, and I do not wish to see such a promising talent fall victim to a god complex.
Watts: If it will get you off my back, I will give the girl extra attention, and attempt to keep her talents from being plagued by overconfidence.
Forest: Thank you.
Watts: A rare moment of politeness from you, old friend. I’m impressed. Tell me though, are you truly that convinced of this girl’s potential? That she is worth the extra attention, worth the extra focus and effort? Do you really think she may be a factor in the next war?
Forest: No. I think she may be the deciding factor.
31 Likes
I very much enjoy your story and I extra enjoy how communicative you are authour! As you’ve mentioned, no patreon means you have flexibility so make sure you’re taking care of real life first 
8 Likes
If this is Wagner, then my MC begs to differ lol.
If not, then holy hell how did she do that 
6 Likes
I think that refers to entrance test scores. Also, this is couple years before MC shows up, since Wagner is no longer 14 by the time you meet her.
4 Likes
Which type of weapon system is most common ? Is it kinetic, lazers or missiles.
1 Like
It is indeed her entrance exam test scores being discussed. Canonically, she has the highest score on record. Yes, even higher than the MC.
Kinetic heavy weapons are the most common, though most ships are also outfitted with various types of missiles. Lasers are used almost exclusively as short ranged point defenses. There are not large laser weapons of any kind currently utilized by the Fleet.
13 Likes
So mostly what would be considered ‘realistic’ space combat - Definitely on board with that.
Any ETA on the next update? I know you had a big update (I only played on the initial WIP release), but I’m wondering if I should keep waiting for now or hop on again.
3 Likes
Yeah, the goal is to keep the setting “near future” and somewhat grounded. I still resort to Sci-Fi mumbo jumbo, but I want the story to feel like it could actually exist in 130 years time.
As for the next update, I had hoped to already have published it by now, but life intervened. I’m done writing and now very close to being done editing Chapter 4. That said, I still need to debug and playtest everything. How long that takes depends on my work schedule and how badly past me coded things. With that considered, it could be relatively soon or it could still be a ways out. Sorry for being vague, but I honestly don’t have a solid ETA.
All that said, I’m glad you’re here and I hope you’ll enjoy the new Chapter when I do release it (whenever that may be).
21 Likes
I do think that the ‘near future’ setting is my favorite Sci-fi setting - look at The Expanse (which, in my opinion, has some of the best space combat in fiction) - I’m almost sure you watched it or at least some of it based on your story.
Keeping a setting grounded in reality but flexible enough to overcome obstacles is the way to go in my opinion - and you’ve been doing that.
As for the ETA:
That is completely fine.
Game development + story writing is no small thing, even with a dedicated game engine.
Take your time and stay healthy.
We’ll be here waiting!
6 Likes
If you have to compare how much one cruiser will represent military strength in our world. Like a hypothetical so player’s can understand how you see them how big a threat they be if one was suddenly in our world.
2 Likes
Probably not a very useful estimation, tbh. I mean, with out current technology level that ship would have total space superiority allowing it to freely bombard from orbit with its railguns and wreck orbital infrastructure too. But if you somehow put it against the firepower of the world’s land armies, a single ship with a few guns is not exactly amounting to much.
2 Likes
Ok let’s assume one of this ship come here on our earth ofcourse it’s going to be in space because it’s only work in space. But how big a threat will it represents
1 Like
Having played Stellaris quite a lot, I’m waiting for the aliens to bring out the equivalent of a million fleet power armada.
8 Likes
Only in corvettes too
2 Likes
Just wanted to pop in and say I enjoyed the options you have early on. Really plays into the Enders aspects.but in a way I thought to be more interesting, as someone who didn’t care much for that plot. Lots of early intrigue with a sense that leaving a mark is just a matter of time. 170k words is gargantuan, good luck!
8 Likes
Assumedly an infinitely large one considering we’d have literally no ability to combat it except hiding and waiting for it to run out of munitions
1 Like
I mean it’s basically rough equivalent of having a tank show up in Middle Ages. Sure, it can move around and bombard cities with little opposition, but it is also still just one tank compared to literal billions of people and millions of settlements spread all around the globe. It’s one of these cases where one needs to be wary of the usual Authors Have No Sense of Scale, the Planetville especially.
3 Likes
In this hypothetical scenario I’d say that a single UEV vessel, whether it be a destroyer or a dreadnaught, would be able to cripple the entirety of the modern day world. That said, never in a million years could it seize any amount of territory.
There is no real threat that a 2026 nation could pose to a Sci-Fi vessel ~150 years in the future. UEV point defense systems would render any traditional modern day attack ineffective. So a single ship would then have complete and total orbital superiority.
That means any and all satellites are at the mercy of the futuristic single vessel. Within days or hours that single ship could, if it wanted to, blind the modern world by turning our satellites into dust. It could then rain orbital bombardment down upon literally anywhere in the world it so chose. Could be military bases, could be capital buildings, could be powerplants and infrastructure. Hypercarbon rounds are reentry capable and they build up a fair bit of kinetic energy as they fall to Earth. Nowhere would be safe, and no counter attack could be mounted. It’s less a tank in the Middle Ages and more a bomber in the Bronze Age, where the bomber has infinite fuel and the ability to magically blind and distrupt any organized response.
That said, one ship is still just one ship with limited munitions and people. There is no way it could take or hold territory with a crew of a couple hundred souls. It could destroy important locations with impunity but it will eventually run out of rounds. So a single vessel could cause mass chaos and havoc sure, but to what end?
Keep in mind all of this is less about how cool or advanced UEV ships are and more about the fact that everything related to space in the modern day is really delicate. We don’t have defenses up there. We didn’t put satellites into orbit expecting someone to drive up and shoot them down with lasers. Modern day space travel, exploration, and infrastructure is still in its infancy, and it’s really quite easy to beat up a baby.
But please don’t, that’s mean.
8 Likes