|
|
Post by bobc on Feb 5, 2017 10:35:33 GMT -5
Star Traders live a long time because of their proximity to the void engines. Use of the warp gates also means that ship time will be different to planet time.
As game time passes will it account for how time passes differently for the captain and his contacts? If you head off for a tour of the galaxy will you return to the same contacts or will they be dead or succeeded by their heirs?
|
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 5, 2017 13:06:26 GMT -5
Dead and succeeded by their heirs. Or assassinated and replaced by someone hostile. Cherish your contacts while they live  |
|
|
|
Post by johndramey on Feb 5, 2017 19:38:40 GMT -5
That is pretty awesome. How does the game handle that, is it just a straight up "contact lives until XX" or is there a check that is done periodically to see if said contact lives/dies?
|
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 5, 2017 19:46:51 GMT -5
That is pretty awesome. How does the game handle that, is it just a straight up "contact lives until XX" or is there a check that is done periodically to see if said contact lives/dies? Old age is handled by finding the oldest contacts in the universe and giving them a chance to die off. This is assuming that they're not killed in a Conflict, Mission result or Rumor. They have to survive a lot of risk to get old enough to die from pruning. |
|
|
|
Post by bookworm21 on Feb 5, 2017 20:37:35 GMT -5
I hadn't realised you weren't joking 🙃
|
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 5, 2017 21:58:18 GMT -5
I hadn't realised you weren't joking 🙃 Haha, nope. We debated this set of rules a lot -- but the story and the universe are important enough. Yes, it will hurt when the Prince you've worked with for 40 years dies. You'll feel it ... but you're a Star Trader, and you must never love a Grav. |
|
|
|
Post by Officer Genious on Feb 5, 2017 22:38:37 GMT -5
I hadn't realised you weren't joking 🙃 Haha, nope. We debated this set of rules a lot -- but the story and the universe are important enough. Yes, it will hurt when the Prince you've worked with for 40 years dies. You'll feel it ... but you're a Star Trader, and you must never love a Grav. Oh god I feel a love story coming... The fanfiction I can write with this!! |
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 5, 2017 22:46:17 GMT -5
I believe that this story is a tragic love story, the love of a Grav and a Star Trader is certain to end in heartbreak.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brutus Aurelius on Feb 5, 2017 22:56:11 GMT -5
I believe that this story is a tragic love story, the love of a Grav and a Star Trader is certain to end in heartbreak. I can already imagine it. Like the sailors of old, they would only be able to see their lover every couple of months at best. Years would pass, and every time, the Grav would be older, and eventually would pass on. |
|
|
|
Post by En1gma on Feb 5, 2017 23:05:57 GMT -5
Oh the stories I could tell.
|
|
|
|
Post by xdesperado on Feb 5, 2017 23:45:37 GMT -5
|
|
|
|
Post by resistor on Feb 6, 2017 0:31:21 GMT -5
Old age is handled by finding the oldest contacts in the universe and giving them a chance to die off. This is assuming that they're not killed in a Conflict, Mission result or Rumor. They have to survive a lot of risk to get old enough to die from pruning. Contacts killed by a mission result? So I could run an errand for some Cadar prince while SSC and CS have an alliance, and later take a mission to assassinate said Cadarian when a duel of assassins breaks out? |
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 6, 2017 0:41:05 GMT -5
For story reasons, we will mostly avoid your Captain directly facing off against Faction Contacts in terms of things like assassinations. From a story perspective, the Star Trader has to have something between required neutrality and diplomatic immunity. That means that for the most part, they're not directly participating.
However, your mission could smuggle a Faction assassin into the Zone and kick off a series of events that culminated in the death of the prince.
The Contacts each have an AI agent that operates them. Each of the AI is trying to win their private mini-game of eliminating the influence of all other Faction's Contacts (and be the highest influence Contact of their Faction.)
The AI from a single Faction can coordinate and cooperate, but they can also betray each other and steal influence. They're giving you missions because it helps them gain influence. They can spend said influence to upgrade other Contacts, improve their Star Traders or participate in Conflicts.
|
|
|
|
Post by Brutus Aurelius on Feb 6, 2017 0:43:02 GMT -5
For story reasons, we will mostly avoid your Captain directly facing off against Faction Contacts in terms of things like assassinations. From a story perspective, the Star Trader has to have something between required neutrality and diplomatic immunity. That means that for the most part, they're not directly participating. However, your mission could smuggle a Faction assassin into the Zone and kick off a series of events that culminated in the death of the prince. The Contacts each have an AI agent that operates them. Each of the AI is trying to win their private mini-game of eliminating the influence of all other Faction's Contacts (and be the highest influence Contact of their Faction.) The AI from a single Faction can coordinate and cooperate, but they can also betray each other and steal influence. They're giving you missions because it helps them gain influence. They can spend said influence to upgrade other Contacts, improve their Star Traders or participate in Conflicts. So when we play the game, the game plays us. |
|
|
|
Post by Cory Trese on Feb 6, 2017 0:43:50 GMT -5
Yes. The really important part of ST2 is all the little AI inside fighting for control. The player is just an interesting side effect |
|
