Well, I didn't expect this to be so controversial. There are some really good objections here, so I'll clarify what I meant on some of the less objectionable parts, scale back the crazy ones, and try to sort this out cleanly.
First- I didn't know the ISS was established as still being there. That's blatantly non-canon (my idea, not it still being there), and it'll have to go. I'll need *something* to collide with on the way, as that's the in-plot genesis of 'SS Katamari'-esque dimension of my ship, though- maybe a satellite or three? A heckuva lot of space junk? The bottom section of Apollo 11, which a quick moon trip could pick up? Suggest, and I shall edit- if there isn't quite enough mass, I'll have him swing by a car junkyard or two to even things out.
Heck, drakensis' idea, with the abandoned fen stations being added, is perfect for that: if I'm allowed it, I'd be honored to steal- er, *use* it.
As for *why* the ISS, I was going for it for a couple of reasons. First, all these fen are escaping Earth without any (navigation) problems: wouldn't having somebody botch the trip into space be different and interesting. Second, to answer Sirrocco's objection of 'not becoming Architecture by Escher too easily', the thought was that that would be an evolutionary process, taking time to fully realize. The station would gradually beccome unrecognizable, except for a few bits here and there: in the interim, it would've been an organized structure to build the Katamari bits around.
Second- The subs. Too much for what I really wanted, anyway. For one thing, nuclear is totally unnecessary. For another, I badly underestimated the size of those suckers when I came up with that part. Third, it'd be too hard to get, as Timote mentioned, three of the LAs, or any modern sub, while they weren't crewed. Say some half-decent mothballed Russian diesel, a random retired European design, and an American Coast Guard ship? Part of the reason for the subs was the torpedo launchers, which could be used for probe launches, deploying hardtech missiles carrying nanites, and many other useful things.
So that you don't think I'm too nuts, let me explain what I was thinking, so that you can get it to manageable proportions. First, when I said 'not decommissioned', I meant still in active service: I was thinking along the lines of grabbing subs in the yards for repair, during the middle of the night. That was what I meant. As for honking off the 'danes, that was half the purpose.
I think the random thefts will work *better* for that, especially since this'll have multiple countries all irritated at the same guy, but (with the ISS still there) not quite enough to send somebody after him. That was more the level I originally wanted, so that'd work out.
Third- weapons. Understand, these *aren't*, as Sirrocco suggested, purpose-built, or anything of the sort. I'm fully aware of the rules on *that*, and did things this way as an honest attempt to work within the 'weapons' rules.
My character spends his time doing three things: seeking/archiving data, tinkering with wavetech (and what little-but-slowly-expanding hardtech he understands), and everything else. That's written the way it is because it reflects his priorities- he spends a *lot* of time inventing, 'waving, tinkering, working on his station, etc. My defensive system ideas are, in-story, experiments of his that he's figured out how to use to prevent others from attacking him- utility devices adapted into defensively capable form. Take the Eiffel Tower example given in the first version of my writeup: that can be explained as a variety of nanomachine swarm under the control of a 'waved computer that absorbed a few books of famous monuments. It's essentially a variation on the nanofac/grey goo idea, let loose on a pirate ship (either through a space torpedo collision, or some exotic variation on a tractor beam).
While I can agree that was a fairly extreme concept, I will remove it if desired, say that it won't work again (that whole one-shot weapon rule proposed a while back), or tone it down. Still, it wasn't designed as a weapon, and it destroyed nothing, using no explosions of any sort. That's the sort of defense I'm talking about: no destruction, but a reconfiguration of existing matter into inconvenient forms.
Fourth- the 'moving planets' part. Think about this- my station is an insect, in stellar terms. Stars and planets are big. If my station tries to move an object, both move, according to physics, a distance proportional to their masses. It's like launching a rocket- the gases a rocket engine expels push upon the Earth, but does it move? Microns, if at all- but the rocket sure does. By pulling a star to it, my station creates an immeasurable, insignificant difference in its position, while pulling _itself_ far closer to the star. Same principle with pushing planets: they don't move enough to measure, but my ship does. It'd take a few millennia of constant use to have any sort of measurable effect on any one stellar body. This isn't planet-moving equipment (that would be munchkin), but a different way of moving my ship. Does that make it clear/acceptable/possible, or am I totally off base?
Finally, Sirrocco- about the 'how do ships leave your little chunk of home after they arrive' question: no ship that the Katamari effect is applied to leaves unchanged. The only thing similar to that that I've mentioned is my runabouts, and those are essentially modular sections of the junkball and its habitable/functional sectors, altered to _be able to leave_ and function as elementary shuttle-like constructs on their own. No ship docks and leaves, in the 'dane (or general SF) sense: it's a temporary detachment of part of the ship. The Katamari effect (which I originally thought of as an eventual armor concept, but will probably make a quirk of the original car) would make standard docking difficult. This, I'm not quite sure of, and will update in a generally more friendly way later today, along with all erroneous entries on other threads.
I apologize for crossing the Line, and thank all of you for giving me constructive criticism to remedy the breach. Hopefully, I've given you an understanding of what I was trying to accomplish, how I wanted to do it, and how unintentional it actually was.
If any of the proposed edits/clarifications contained here are still objectionable, feel free to respond, and we'll hash out a compromise that stays behind the Line, but true to the base concept I was going for. I have and will continue to work consciously to create interesting ideas that still work within the paradigm here- anything that crosses that Line was not deliberately so, and was either a loophole that needs to be clarified, or ignorance on my part.Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines...
My
Unitarian Jihad Name is:
Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate.
Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.