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Nah, Second Committee/HA have a kind of immediate post-Revolutionary France thing going, to my eye. The feudalism is just a social heirarchy with convenient labels, as opposed to some sort of actual belief in nobility by blood. poo poo, HA's got more social mobility than the US.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 21:34 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 01:56 |
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HA is the Space Confederacy and so they deserve to be on the receiving end of their Shermans.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 22:05 |
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Hostile V posted:HA is the Space Confederacy and so they deserve to be on the receiving end of their Shermans. That's a bit harsh, they are not nearly as bad as the confederacy. They are the Space USA. With all that implies.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 22:13 |
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Josef bugman posted:That's a bit harsh, they are not nearly as bad as the confederacy. They are the Space USA. With all that implies. The Space USA or Space Britain is the usual comparison on the discord, yeah. They aren't really feudalists like the Baronies explicitly are, and I think they'd probably resent the implication considering they've previously tussled with the Baronies. Not being feudal doesn't mean they aren't expansionistic colonizers willing to do things like grow flash-cloned soldiers to fight in their wars or, like, make the Genghis. Unlike any of those other examples, Confederacy included, they don't really do any slave stuff thankfully.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 22:33 |
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Kai Tave posted:Unlike any of those other examples, Confederacy included, they don't really do any slave stuff thankfully. One of the reasons I liked Big Sal was because they were used to fight slavers.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:04 |
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Josef bugman posted:One of the reasons I liked Big Sal was because they were used to fight slavers. Yeah HA would absolutely look at the Confederacy and be like "who the gently caress are these rear end in a top hat losers?" and give John Brown all the Solidcores he could carry. Then once the slaves were free and the plantation owners reduced to a fine mist they'd roll in, set up shop, and establish Harrison Armory Brand Government before moving on to the north (and Canada, and Mexico, and pretty much anywhere else). Like, the last thing I want to do is stan for imperialists, fictional or no, but as presented HA is a polity that unironically believes in its party line of social mobility and making a Great Empire, not just as a line of bullshit fed to the proles while the 1% make themselves rich and cut off peoples' hands for not meeting rubber quotas. This doesn't make them good and I think enough has been presented in the material to illustrate that just because an imperialistic colonizing hegemony really does believe in Manifest Destiny doesn't mean they're somehow better than a polity that's using it as a cynical tool for callous exploitation, but it's safe to say that Tom and Miguel aren't interested in presenting one of the major player-facing options to source your cool toys from as being as openly and unabiguously lovely as that. The four corebook corporations have definite flaws and downsides ranging from imperialism to eugenics to plain old war profiteering, but thankfully nobody's being asked to hold their nose and play nice with the Space Nazis in order to have a cool laser mech. The eventual split between Union's Second Committee and Third Committee was actually an outgrowth of this as well. Initially Union was presented as more of a single contiguous entity without this sense of political schism and upheaval and it had led to a lot of confusion surrounding Union's aims and intentions, how much of their stated goals were genuine and how much they could be trusted. So the writers went back to explore this more, developing more of a "Union timeline" and tying things into the Hercynian crisis as one of the major tipping points leading to the contemporary Union ThirdComm which is now trying to actively fix things and be at the forefront of the push for fully automated luxury gay space communism for all, so you don't have to (if you want) continually ask yourself "are we the baddies?"
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:41 |
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This is why i love the setting. It's just so much fun to see things work like this. Still think the Aun are the worst though, can we blow up the Monolith they have? Also now I am going to have to play John Brown in this. You utter rear end in a top hat!
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:46 |
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Josef bugman posted:This is why i love the setting. It's just so much fun to see things work like this. The Aun don't have Mentat, Mentat has the Aun.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:51 |
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PoultryGeist posted:The Aun don't have Mentat, Mentat has the Aun. I still want to punch it in the stupid invisible face. I don't like Gods at the best of times, I like them even less when they are empowering people who are essentially anthropecentricism dialled up to 15.
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# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:56 |
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Josef bugman posted:I still want to punch it in the stupid invisible face. I don't like Gods at the best of times, I like them even less when they are empowering people who are essentially anthropecentricism dialled up to 15. Oh no doubt. The Aun were basically a contained issue before Mentat showed up to kick over the anthill and then make the ants psychic.
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 00:06 |
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Murder the Monists and Topple Their Blink-pockets
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 00:22 |
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PoultryGeist posted:Oh no doubt. The Aun were basically a contained issue before Mentat showed up to kick over the anthill and then make the ants psychic. I can imagine an Aun saying the same thing: "The Union were basically a contained issue before Ra showed up to give them space magic"
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 02:05 |
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atelier morgan posted:I can imagine an Aun saying the same thing: "The Union were basically a contained issue before Ra showed up to give them space magic" Oh yes, both the MONISTS are having fun running their rats through the maze. Although the launch of the kinetics pre-dates the Deimos Event IIRC, so the Second Committee may be ahead in the 'Biggest Bastard' competition
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 02:15 |
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PoultryGeist posted:Oh yes, both the MONISTS are having fun running their rats through the maze. Although the launch of the kinetics pre-dates the Deimos Event IIRC, so the Second Committee may be ahead in the 'Biggest Bastard' competition SecCom also won their pre paracausality war with Karrakis by targeting the planet with gigaton range kinetics.
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 02:31 |
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when all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. no, we're not in the market for non-hammer tools, why do you ask?
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 13:35 |
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I would find it quite interesting if the MONIST entities can't really "see" each other until they are pointed out and then they just start getting very mad at each other.
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 14:37 |
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smh if you think RA and Metat Aun are separate things, and not just two aspects of the same higher-dimensional entity that's hedging its bets on long-term human survival.
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# ? Apr 27, 2019 22:08 |
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Yeah my suspicions are on RA having a sort of Leto’s Golden Path plan that sucks in the short term but works out on RA’s timescales
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 00:58 |
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Lemon-Lime posted:smh if you think RA and Metat Aun are separate things, and not just two aspects of the same higher-dimensional entity that's hedging its bets on long-term human survival. RA is against transhumanism and Metat Aun has immortal servants who can harness interdimensional power with their minds, seems out of character.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 02:22 |
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My personal headcanon for why Ra is against humanity developing consciousness uploading/transfer technology isn't because they're trying to maintain some AI monopoly but because it's an evolutionary dead-end. They don't seem to care about, for example, SSC's particular brand of transhuman bioengineering efforts or life extension technology or anything, so I think it's less that Ra is somehow jealous or fearful of an advancing humanity as...well, it could be any number of reasons, but I'm partial to "the rapture of the nerds is actually a pitfall that Ra is keeping people from falling into so we don't just have endless savestates of Harrison II over and over again."
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 02:24 |
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Pentecoastal Elites posted:Yeah my suspicions are on RA having a sort of Leto’s Golden Path plan that sucks in the short term but works out on RA’s timescales Leto and Paul had to go through an enormous amount of personal development and tragedy to get to the point where they could enact the golden path, and personally think the A.I will have to go through a similar amount of mistakes and introspection. There will be mistakes.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 02:30 |
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Kai Tave posted:My personal headcanon for why Ra is against humanity developing consciousness uploading/transfer technology isn't because they're trying to maintain some AI monopoly but because it's an evolutionary dead-end. They don't seem to care about, for example, SSC's particular brand of transhuman bioengineering efforts or life extension technology or anything, so I think it's less that Ra is somehow jealous or fearful of an advancing humanity as...well, it could be any number of reasons, but I'm partial to "the rapture of the nerds is actually a pitfall that Ra is keeping people from falling into so we don't just have endless savestates of Harrison II over and over again." Alternately, he's certain that SSC's biotech efforts will inevitably destroy humanity with endless bioclones of Harrison II over and over again, and he's closing off the escape route.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 02:48 |
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Ratoslov posted:Alternately, he's certain that SSC's biotech efforts will inevitably destroy humanity with endless bioclones of Harrison II over and over again, and he's closing off the escape route. The upside of cloning Harrison II is finding new and inventive ways to kill him. Ra just likes reality TV.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 02:57 |
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Ratoslov posted:Alternately, he's certain that SSC's biotech efforts will inevitably destroy humanity with endless bioclones of Harrison II over and over again, and he's closing off the escape route. The thing is though that this is likely to lead to the most hilarious of all outcomes, accidentally having 15 Harrison II clones fighting to work out who the real one is.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 08:34 |
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Josef bugman posted:The thing is though that this is likely to lead to the most hilarious of all outcomes, accidentally having 15 Harrison II clones fighting to work out who the real one is. That's just the Horatio Empire from Endless Space
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 11:24 |
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thatbastardken posted:RA is against transhumanism and Metat Aun has immortal servants who can harness interdimensional power with their minds, seems out of character. Yes, that's why I'm saying it's hedging its bets by backing both and seeing which one wins out. There is no "in-character" for a purely alien intelligence that can ignore every rule of physics and causality and exists as a giant plot device for GMs.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 11:33 |
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Josef bugman posted:The thing is though that this is likely to lead to the most hilarious of all outcomes, accidentally having
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 12:19 |
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BR is hot right now. Someone would fund it.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 16:57 |
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Baronies, obv, they still use flash cloning on the DL
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 17:02 |
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Hey I did absolutely no research after reading the OP, forgive my low effort posting, but I'm curious if the writer used 'paracausal' as a Destiny tribute or whether it's just a common (or very obvious and widely used) SF term. This is a complete vanity question since I was the one who stuck the word in Destiny and I want to feel good about having some kind of tiny influence on a cool-looking setting.
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# ? Apr 28, 2019 23:58 |
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General Battuta posted:Hey I did absolutely no research after reading the OP, forgive my low effort posting, but I'm curious if the writer used 'paracausal' as a Destiny tribute or whether it's just a common (or very obvious and widely used) SF term. This is a complete vanity question since I was the one who stuck the word in Destiny and I want to feel good about having some kind of tiny influence on a cool-looking setting. It's entirely possible, honestly. Tom's a huge fuckin nerd. "Reach heaven through violence" is an homage to The Elder Scrolls, for example.
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 03:48 |
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General Battuta posted:Hey I did absolutely no research after reading the OP, forgive my low effort posting, but I'm curious if the writer used 'paracausal' as a Destiny tribute or whether it's just a common (or very obvious and widely used) SF term. This is a complete vanity question since I was the one who stuck the word in Destiny and I want to feel good about having some kind of tiny influence on a cool-looking setting. Destiny is cited as an influence in the KS and there's a lot of Destiny-adjacent bits in the setting so I think it's a safe bet. (Also, if you're the person I think you are, you wrote one of my favourite books of all time, so... uh, thanks? [Read Baru everyone, it's good as hell]).
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 05:30 |
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Hello everyone I am responsible for this mess. My co-writer is also a goon but hasn't posted in years.General Battuta posted:Hey I did absolutely no research after reading the OP, forgive my low effort posting, but I'm curious if the writer used 'paracausal' as a Destiny tribute or whether it's just a common (or very obvious and widely used) SF term. This is a complete vanity question since I was the one who stuck the word in Destiny and I want to feel good about having some kind of tiny influence on a cool-looking setting. Hello sir, 100% absolutely, I think I added it in for one system originally and my amazing co-writer wove it into the setting. We both loving love the Destiny lore and I think it shows.
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 15:21 |
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Speaking of awesome poo poo, the SUNZI is out: https://twitter.com/Orbitaldropkick/status/1122876747219898368?s=20 Not gonna lie, I though it was Size 1/2 at first and was worried that prospective pilots had to go through the Ariel Procedure to qualify for the license. E: I love how the two HA frames based on stolen Los Voladores tech have a different color scheme. The Armory is nothing but subtle... PoultryGeist fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Apr 29, 2019 |
# ? Apr 29, 2019 16:36 |
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Operant posted:Hello everyone I am responsible for this mess. My co-writer is also a goon but hasn't posted in years. Yooo that’s awesome. I’m gonna read more! E: do you guys ever hire freelancers General Battuta fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Apr 29, 2019 |
# ? Apr 29, 2019 16:58 |
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General Battuta posted:Yooo that’s awesome. I’m gonna read more! Please e-mail us at massifpress@gmail.com
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 17:42 |
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Missed a real opportunity for Sunzi's out, gunzi's out, imo.
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 17:48 |
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The Sunzi seems, to put it bluntly, terrifying.
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 18:46 |
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Operant what is it like to do a Kickstarter and have talented people spontaneously materialize out of the ether to work with you.
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# ? Apr 29, 2019 18:50 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 01:56 |
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Josef bugman posted:The Sunzi seems, to put it bluntly, terrifying. i love the flavor quotes for it almost as much as i love how it exists to make the skill cap for mastering the board game-ness of mech combat stupendously high in case you have a player who is really, really into that
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# ? Apr 30, 2019 00:33 |