Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
I’ll have to give the build a swing at some point. It won’t shock me if it isn’t legal.
Singularity - musings
- Thread starter Sigtrygg
- Start date
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Emperor Mongoose
Too bad. I don't have either robot or vehicle books as yet.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
There will be an updated Vehicle Handbook soon. Hold off for that.
J. L. Brown
Emperor Mongoose
As Terry Mixon has mentioned; the Vehicle Handbook is currently undergoing revision. It needed it; not quite as bad a 'Field Catalog' needs a re-work, but still....
The original Vehicle Handbook is a flaming mess -- Mongoose leaned into 'rule of cool' and 'people hate math' far too much, and what comes out the other end is mostly nonsense. Vehicles do not use 'power', and (if they did) there is no way to make vehicle power-using or power-generating systems make sense in terms of High Guard, Central Supply Catalog, or Robot Handbook stuff. That is just one example -- and do not get me started on the catastrophe which is 'Shipping Tonnage'. Or the conversion between Starship 'dTons', Vehicle 'Spaces', and Robot 'Slots'.
Sadly, I am given to understand that none of those problems will be fixed, nor will there be any attempt to do so. I highly recommend that you borrow a friend's copy, and work a few designs, to see what you think of the new Vehicle book before purchasing it.
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wintertraveller
Cosmic Mongoose
I've recently been rereading The Third Imperium book. It is a superb campaign source. It respects the CT material and still adds new content that I've been finding it useful even for campaigns Spinward of the Core Sector. It contains many passages that have provided me hooks for new game ideas.
Like the Core Rulebook and High Guard, this is material I will continue to turn to. Well done to you and all of the team at Mongoose. Thank you
Fluffy Bunny Feet
Emperor Mongoose
I noticed that with the "Sedan" air/raft which is generously 1dTon but is listed as 4 (shipping) tons and gets a 5 dTon docking bay. A larger (LBB) air/raft was pointed out to me but it probably would only take a 3 dTon docking bay so you could carry 2 of them or 4 of the little ones (or 1 and 2 if you mixed them) in a 5 dTon bay. Makes my ships "non canon" designs just for that. I've had some discussions on that here.
Jet_Black
Banded Mongoose
I'm preparing the first cruise route for our campaign, the Confederate Route. Now, I totally get why one wants to stop at worlds like Velpare (cuisine, nature), Lalandra (museum), or Sketola (architecture, former seat of government), but what could the passengers do / visit on Holex, Exod, Oorpic, or Asalam? Those worlds seem to be rather boring to me...
You stop at Exod to get a jump crystal stolen or whatever other problem you can have in a high-tech slum and have a reason to stop at Ye-Lu.
Asalam seems like a slam dunk to have like, a open to space luxury motel, or a field of asteroid football, but there can be no match because a team lacks exaclty the amount of players/tourists you have.
Oorpic is both an iceball and hightech. That's the perfect set-up for Le Carnaval de Québec, light shows in a ice cave, and dog sleds pulled by weird aliens. Something bad happens?!?
Asalam seems like a slam dunk to have like, a open to space luxury motel, or a field of asteroid football, but there can be no match because a team lacks exaclty the amount of players/tourists you have.
Oorpic is both an iceball and hightech. That's the perfect set-up for Le Carnaval de Québec, light shows in a ice cave, and dog sleds pulled by weird aliens. Something bad happens?!?
To further reclaim the thread from the offtopic (and kinda tired) routine, I've been reading the second book of the Singularity campaign and by God I love it. I'm so frustrated that I have two groups right now, both playing PoD: how am I going to get to play this very different campaign?
I will admit that I was worried that it would be a gimmicky approach to the fashionable topic of AI, in the way that Virus in TNE read like something that someone would write who had encountered the Good Times email on AOL and thought that was how computer viruses worked. I backed it because I want Mongoose to succeed and to keep making their art, but I was not convinced I'd enjoy it.
But in fact it's thoughtful, and clearly grounded in years of sci fi speculation on the subject matter across a range of sources. I'm very glad I backed it even if I don't get to use it at the table right away!
I will admit that I was worried that it would be a gimmicky approach to the fashionable topic of AI, in the way that Virus in TNE read like something that someone would write who had encountered the Good Times email on AOL and thought that was how computer viruses worked. I backed it because I want Mongoose to succeed and to keep making their art, but I was not convinced I'd enjoy it.
But in fact it's thoughtful, and clearly grounded in years of sci fi speculation on the subject matter across a range of sources. I'm very glad I backed it even if I don't get to use it at the table right away!
Just remember, the mainworld isn't the only reason to visit a system. Spectacular gas giant scenery, maybe spelunking in asteroid cavities, secondary world sightseeing or holiday resorts. Face it, why would anybody rational from a nation with a high standard of living visit an allegedly crime-ridden cesspool like Mexico? (Answer: they stay out of most of Mexico, and stay in the resorts.)
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
With Act 2 in our hot little hands, and Act 3 likely a bit off, I'm inspired to ask what is next for the stretch goals, @paltrysum. Anther, perhaps? Something else? And when might we see whatever it is?
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
Anther is up next.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
As my players are there but haven’t had a chance to really explore yet, other than the Grand Imperial Hotel (from a third party adventure) thank God. Any hint on timing?
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Any clue when Anther might land?
paltrysum
Emperor Mongoose
Cassie is focused on Act 3 right now, but Anther is next up.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Thank. I had thought Act 3 was holding for things.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Hey, it’s been a month since the last Kickstarter update. Can we get a new one? I’m curious when Act 3 and Anther might make an appearance and new art would be cool to share.
Jet_Black
Banded Mongoose
A question for the GM's running Singularity right now:
Have your players already discovered the secrets of the Fortuna Ventura, and how long did it take?
We're currently on our first tour along the Confederacy route, having just stopped at Bogustin. I've rolled mysterious event 8 for that week - android crew member caught in reset mode - so I made up a short event: Hash Deacon, the (android) engineer was hit by a random energy spike while in engineering, forcing a reset and having him staring into nothingness for two minutes. Of course, the PC engineer did immediately call the PC doctor and together, they got Deacon to sickbay and into the autodoc. At this point, I decided that the autodoc was manipulated, showing human lifesigns instead of an android. Still, for a single moment, the doctor saw... something non-human, before the manipulation kicked in!
Now that my players interests are piqued, they'll start investigating like a pack of hunting dogs on the scent. I could have handled the scene in sickbay differently, but the doctor's player is a rather quiet person and I just wanted to give her a scene in the spotlight.
Have your players already discovered the secrets of the Fortuna Ventura, and how long did it take?
We're currently on our first tour along the Confederacy route, having just stopped at Bogustin. I've rolled mysterious event 8 for that week - android crew member caught in reset mode - so I made up a short event: Hash Deacon, the (android) engineer was hit by a random energy spike while in engineering, forcing a reset and having him staring into nothingness for two minutes. Of course, the PC engineer did immediately call the PC doctor and together, they got Deacon to sickbay and into the autodoc. At this point, I decided that the autodoc was manipulated, showing human lifesigns instead of an android. Still, for a single moment, the doctor saw... something non-human, before the manipulation kicked in!
Now that my players interests are piqued, they'll start investigating like a pack of hunting dogs on the scent. I could have handled the scene in sickbay differently, but the doctor's player is a rather quiet person and I just wanted to give her a scene in the spotlight.
Terry Mixon
Emperor Mongoose
Two minute is ridiculous. These are advanced robotic brains. What are they running? Windows 95? This model brain has been in use since 298 in the Imperium. 807 years. They are an extremely mature technology. No way that would still be happening.
That kind of pause a dead giveaway, not a subtle clue. I made it a handful of seconds instead so it’s odd, but not a game breaker.
We’re playing our game on a forum so the players are still at Anther. I look forward to seeing what happens when they finally get on their first route after they’ve recruited passengers.
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Fluffy Bunny Feet
Emperor Mongoose
Maybe. But maybe with the energy spike it needed a long diagnostic and reconfiguration to use alternate (spare) circuits for some functions and overcome memory damage (advanced journalling?).
