WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

[Arioch]

I assume the more nasty chemical agents haven't been used in the war?

Well, again, if the Loroi marine is expecting trouble, she can take steps to seal up. But it's hard to imagine an effective military use for extreme chemical or biological weapons in the context of the kind of combat that a Loroi marine would engage in. If the defenders of the ship being boarded want to commit suicide, they can just blow up the ship.

[Karst45]

Were you expecting a skybar and bunny stewardesses?

Do you really want us to answer that?

[Ktrain]

Were you expecting a skybar and bunny stewardesses?

Do you really want us to answer that?

Does Outsider even have female fans?

[icekatze]

hi hi

It was Faith Hicks that originally introduced me to Outsider...

[Arioch]

Outsider does have female readers, but I think the forum posters here are almost exclusively male.

[Karst45]

i think they are too shy

and to Ktrain, Female Fan may also like the idea of loroi bunnystewardesses

[DevilDalek]

Well, I for one am glad Arioch posted up the deck plans, for such things are of interest to me.
I can see how it would be configurable, and quite easily possibly with flat pack partitions that lock into points on the floor (maybe the same ones the chairs do).
Without much effort you could quickly configure it for cabins, labs, whatever your heart desires.

I do have one question though ,the vestibules, what are they normally used for? can they be plumbed for additional fuel? or maybe used as drop bays?

[fredgiblet]

Page 8: In the third panel, Sculley's pad display was cleaned up, and the brand has changed from a "Palm CXII" to a "Pad CXII".

Ah the early 2000's, when Palm was relevant.

Not to jinx us, but does this mean there'll be more time dedicated to new comics?

[Count Casimir]

Well, with the new clarity of the screen, it certainly looks like an Umiak ship to me.

I forget, were we still suspicious of everyone?

[Hālian]

Given that it's a blue beam that struck the Bellarmine, I see five suspects in roughly decreasing order of plausibility:

1) The Loroi
2) The Historians
3) A false-flag operation or some such
4) Something that lives up out behind either of them
5) Remnants of the Soia or another old empire

[Jericho]

Given that it's a blue beam that struck the Bellarmine, I see five suspects in roughly decreasing order of plausibility:

1) The Loroi
2) The Historians
3) A false-flag operation or some such
4) Something that lives up out behind either of them
5) Remnants of the Soia or another old empire

Blue? it's white with a green tint. Alex said it too.

Tough the historians could be a likely suspect. I have an hypothesis that i'll share later.

[sunphoenix]

Whatever it was... I expect it was an autonomous robot vessel... or the Loroi Farseer would have known of its presence with ANY... non-human life form on-board. Unless there is another race with a natural Lotai out there!

[Jericho]

Well the mannadi did have some degree of telepathic resistance. but i'm not so sure of how much.

[Ktrain]

Let's stop kidding ourselves, we all know who the real culprits are: http://youtu.be/vt0Y39eMvpI?t=1m23s

[Whale]

Doesn't look like an umiak ship IMO... Might be historians... Remember how Tempo looked at the AI after Alex mentioned the beam color and it basically said "let's not jump into conclusions"...

[pinheadh78]

Gah! I don't have a way at the moment to post an image so you'll need to screen-grab > copy > paste > Enhance ! on your own

I've taken a closer look at the ship on the screen in page 6 and have observed the following features. My money is on a 3rd party as its profile doesn't seem to match well with the two main races.
- Looks like a rectangle with rounded sides and a mild wedge-shaped bow
- Doesn't seem to have any kind of thrust-vectoring around the engine nacelles
- Engine exhausts look rectangle shaped where as Umiak and Loroi ships tend to be rounded
- Engines are close to the main ship-body with a large boxy structure between them with a rounded off top
- Seems to have an oval-shaped structure above or attached to the main body between the engines
- Seems to have a lighter-colored streak along the port side near the engines (lights or wing maybe?)
- Doesn't appear to have forward prongs nor any prominent rounded shapes like Umiak or Loroi
- Profile is clean without allot of "stuff" sticking out or prominent stand-out features
- Its about 300 meters long so that narrows things down and eliminates almost all Lorori capital ships and just about all the smaller craft. Lots of Umiak ships in that size range though.

I've gone back and looked at the Loroi ship-profiles and to my eyes these are the candidates.
- Forward Prongs are common on Loroi ships
- Loroi Engines tend to be widely spaced and frequently have prominent thrust vectoring veins. (though a few don't follow this style)
- Clean profiles but gun-turrets are easily visible
- Usually long tubes with lots of rounded or angular corners resembling fast fighter jets or bombers.
* Typhoon - Length: ~800m - unlikely as its Way to huge
* Halberd Mk.17 - Length: ~600 m - Still way to big
* Wavestrider - Length: ~600 - Too big
* Catapult - Length: ~550 m - To big and while a boxy-shape it seems to be wrong in other areas
* Cutlass - Length: ~300 m - Very close match if the prongs are hidden by the viewing perspective, however engines seem wrong
* Blaze - Length: 234 m - Close but it has very prominent engine veins, perhaps not visible on the screen due to perspective?
* Herald - Length: 200 m - On the small side and has engine veins but is about the right shape.

Doesn't look Umiak either; those tend to be more rounded shapes with lots of things dangling off or attached while the shape on the screen looks to be more of a box shape with a clean profile. Anyway, it could be one of these but there are lots of ships in that size range that have no profile silhouette to base any guesses around.
- Appear to have lots of round structures
- Often have lots of antenna or other structures protruding from the main hull
- Not very angular or boxy though the ships do tend to have flat-blunt bows (not wedge shaped)
* Type-KS Missile - Length: 300-400 m - Front end has prominent rounded wing like structures
* Type-G Gunboat Tender - Length: 300-400 m - Rounded shape with obvious stringers on side

Yes, I spent way to much time on this post and detail but I figure it makes up for the infrequent times that I post anything to the forum.

Peace out

[icekatze]

hi hi

I don't think there's really any way we can rule out the Umiak, since their ships are so varied. Remember, they don't exactly have ship classes. Each Umiak ship is unique in some way, with regional shipyards producing their own variations, and since they prefer to toss their ships into the grinder rather than sending them back for refit and repair, they probably don't worry about having standardized parts, they just build whatever is most useful at that moment.

(Not that I don't suspect it could be a third party or anything.)

[projekcja]

It was obviously the guardian from Master of Orion - the bane of all scout vessels.

See? Green Beam!!!

[Jericho]

It was obviously the guardian from Master of Orion - the bane of all scout vessels.

See? Green Beam!!!

Actually it's stated that the moment that both the Umiak and the Loroi have waited for arrived in 2160 in a most unexpected form. So i wouldn't put it past Arioch to perhaps play this twist.

The whole idea both saddens me and excites me at the same time. I in one hand would have wished that humanity and Alex would play a greater role in the events of the war but on the other as a victim of the guardian in many playthroughs I finds it hilarious.

[Arioch]

Don't worry, Alex plays a critical role in the outcome of the war. He's not just a spectator.