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| An Idea for Profiles... |
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Posted by: Black Aeronaut - 05-23-2009, 03:44 PM - Forum: Fenspace
- No Replies
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It suddenly occurred to me a bit ago that we have a bit of a problem. Our characters are hardly static, while our character profiles remain so.
Here's an example. My character, for example, didn't have his biomod for a good deal of Season 0. Gina didn't exist as anything but an AI until
about six months into Season 1, and still further changes and evolutions are planned.
I personally feel that character profiles, as they are now, are fine and good for introducing a new character. However, as characters evolve after their
establishment, a profile must also change so show this evolution, and at what point in time the changes occurred so there is nothing to be confused about if
you're a newcomer.
I propose an addition of a time line to each character's profile to ensure such clarity. Even if an exact date cannot be given, a rough "right about
there" point can be provided so a new reader can grep the order of events in a character's evolution. I'll use my own character's profile as
an example.
Benjamin Rhodes
Primary Writer: BlackAeronaut
Appreance
- Height: 5'7"
- Weight: 140 lbs.
- Build: Light
- Hair: Long (see quirks for details) Dark Brown (looks almost black)
- Eyes: Brown
Mundane Attributes
- Neat and Clean: Ben likes to keep all things neat and orderly, but still allows a certain degree of 'lived in'.
- Tenchi Masaki Syndrome: Through sheer luck in his draw from the genetic deck, Ben has the sort of looks that attract vast quantities of
border-line under-age femme-fens.
- Mario Andretti, eat your heart out: He's a racing fiend! The whole courier thing just helps support it.
Biomod
He has Kazuma Torisuna's right arm, complete with transformation abilities and super-charged attacks.
Handwavium Quirks
- "What's the Magic Word?": In order to use the special Shell Bullet attacks, Ben has to use Kazuma's attack lines,
"Shocking Fist Bullet!" etc...
- Idle Hands: The arm, when it is active, has a mind of its own and it is a very perverted one at that. If Benjamin is not careful it will grope
any attractive females present, save those he is closely familiar with (apparently it is only interested in 'New Territory'). To prevent this
he uses a 5,000 lb. test nylon cargo strap fastened to his waist. He can disuade it through sheer concentration, but it requires constant focus; if his
mind wavers from restraining the heinous acts of his perverted arm it will require physical restraint to bring it back under control.
- Dramatic Wavy Hair of Doom: One of two side effects that the Handwavium was able to get away with under the Professor's guidance was that
Ben's hair gained a mind of its own and whips around as though it were in a constant breeze, exponentially increasing his dramatic air and Fen-girl
attraction factor.
- James Dean's got nothing on me: The other side effect. If he wears a scarf, it whips around just like the hair.
Time Line
Oct 2007 - Received his first batch of handwavium and proceded to wave his computer and then his car. Accidentally created an AI, Regina Langley, based
off of Asuka Langley-Soryu of Neon Genesis Evangelion. The two leave the US, becoming fugitives in the process, and become refugees in Australia. Benjamin
temporarily sets up his home base on Australian soil, running his courier deliveries into space from there.
2007-2012 - Benjamin becomes a pioneer in a racing sport known as Asteroid Racing, which gains rapid popularity not
among the Fen, but on Earth as well. Benjamin's name, among others, become synonymous with names like Mario Andretti and Dale Earnhardt.
Aug 2011 - On a chance meeting with The Professor, Benjamin contracts the Mad Scientist to give him a biomod: Kazuma
Torisuma's right arm. The Biomod is a success, but with the disadvantage of the 'Idle Hands' quirk - the arm has a mind of its own, especially in
the presence of a well-endowed woman. Fortunately, this is only while the biomod is active.
May 2012 - Benjamin takes part in the infamous SOS-con. Here, he makes the literal back-door deal with Haruhi Suzumia
to become an ace pilot for Operation: Great Justice in exchange for an SR-71 Blackbird. This, of course, is the seed that starts the Roughriders.
Additionally, Benjamin's status as a Spark/incipient Mad Scientist is revealed when het takes 'Honorable Mention' with his hair-raising cackle.
Jun 2012 - Ben takes delivery of his Blackbird, which had come from his home town of San Antonio, no less - Haruhi had
done her homework. Benjamin and Gina set to work refitting the plane into a properly armed heavy space-superiority fighter with assistance from The Professor
and his own assistants. Fortunately, nothing blows up, but the Blackbird suddenly sparks an AI before the computer system was even finished, which was to be
Gina's place. Miffed, she takes the Bullet Boy Express and goes to see AC Peters without telling Ben. Benjamin
was surprised then, when she came back a week later and stepped out of the space-car.
Jul 2012 - After the refit of the Magnificent Midnight, Benjamin and Gina come to the realization that O:GJ doesn't
really have enough purpose-built combatant ships. So, the two set out to begin building that fleet with "Fezig"-class parasite fighters and
Blackbird-class heavies.
Nov 2012 - O:GJ carries on, but casualties are heavy in The Belt. To help remedy the situation, Benjamin contracts the
construction of B-36 replicas to run long-duration patrols in the asteroid belt with Fezig escorts. The Peacemaker-class ships are a massive success as they
drop the hammer on Reaver operations in The Belt.
Feb 2014 - With things from O:GJ settled, Benjamin shifts the Roughriders into a mercenary-group for peace-keeping
operations. Benjamin's family, after a visit from his Mother, also decide to join Ben in space where they promptly fall victim en mass to the largest loss of Handwavium containment in history - even the family dog is subject to contamination and biomodding.
Apr 2014 - Benjamin winds up with a daughter when, curious about what its like to be human, the Magnificent Midnight makes an already biomodded human form to occupy. Mayonaka Langley-Rhodes joins the family and is soon having
misadventures with Oliver, the Bologna Loaf Express.
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| More Issue 15 news... |
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Posted by: Shader - 05-23-2009, 02:18 PM - Forum: The Legendary
- Replies (15)
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I was trolling the boards for issue 15/16 news and well:
BOOM! Badges go bye-bye! Farming for Badges is
*against the rules of fun*
All my shiny AE badges.... *sob*... :p but at first glance this looks like another step in the right direction on the dev's part to clamp down on farming.
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| Attn: Ankhani |
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Posted by: Sofaspud - 05-22-2009, 07:23 PM - Forum: The Legendary
- Replies (1)
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I'm having the worlds worst luck finding yours, though I know I have it somewhere... so, can you email me?
sofaspud.prime AT gmail-dot-com.
It's re: a resumption of the long-stalled Nano/Swift story I was working on...
--sofaspud
--"Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
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| 40 Years ago this week - Apollo 10 |
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Posted by: Logan Darklighter - 05-22-2009, 12:28 AM - Forum: Fenspace
- Replies (16)
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A very interesting article on the BBC website that goes into details not often thought about these
days.
I had no idea that the ascent stage of the Apollo 10 Lunar module "Snoopy" still existed! It's in a Solar orbit even now!
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| [TECH/RFC] Gagarin-class starship (REVISED) |
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Posted by: M Fnord - 05-21-2009, 05:09 AM - Forum: Fenspace
- Replies (13)
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'Cos I got bored, and the Gagarin hadn't shown up on camera, as it were.
Note: In case you start scratching your heads about the format, this particular article was put together in MediaWiki markup language, not DokuWiki. Mostly to prove that I could.
Comments, brickbats, etc. --Mal
{{shipbox
|shipname=Special Project 1
''Gagarin''-class explorer
|shipimage=NX-100.jpg
|caption=
|hull=Custom hull
|length=120m / 393.7 ft.
|width=200m / 656.17 ft. (wingspan)
|height=15m / 49.21 ft.
|mass=558,000 kg / 1,230,179 lbs.
|drivetype=2x [[impulse engines]
1x [[warp drive]
|driverating=Peak velocity 0.041c
|weapons=2x point-defence laser array
2x multi-mission launchers
|manufacturer=Utopia Planitia Shipyards (under license)
|owner=VVS EXFOR
Starfleet Command
|flag=
|faction=[[Soviet Air Force]
[[United Federation of Planets]
|registry=Variable
|datelaunched=30 July 2013
|purpose=Multi-mission cruiser
|crew=40 (standard operating)
10 (minimum req.)
350 (emergency evacuation)
|supcrew=
|auxvehicles=3x [[iPods] (Soviet)
1x [[Type-7 shuttle] (Starfleet)
|status=''In Production''
}}
The '''''Gagarin''-class explorer''' (also known as '''VVS Special Project 1''') is a deep-space vessel designed by the [[Soviet Air Force] and built by the [[United Federation of Planets].
==History==
Special Project 1 was designed during a general bull session following the VVS expedition to [[Epsilon Indi]. While the expedition had succeeded well beyond expectations, the limitations in ''[[Ptichka]'' as a long-distance explorer were clear. The Central Committee spent several long nights working out what was best about ''Ptichka'' (maneuverability, landing capability, high-resolution sensors), what they needed (better capacity for survey gear/sample return) and what they wanted (enough room so nobody was walking over others when trying to get from the bunkroom to the head), crunched the numbers and put together a basic hull that fit those criteria. Then, realizing that a) they didn't have the manufacturing capability needed to build the hull, and b) contracting out to a 'Danelaw firm would easily run in the hundreds of millions of dollars, the Central Committee stuffed the plans into the big folder marked “Someday.”
''Someday'' arrived in mid-2012, when the Committee approached [[Utopia Planitia Shipyard] with an eye towards licensing Special Project 1 or selling the design outright. The [[Trekkies] at the time were expanding their shipbuilding facilities as a forerunner to building the [[Archer-class] – the design originally known as the NX-class, which was (at the time) stuck in development hell. Special Project 1 was similar to the Archers if not quite as massive or as capable. Starfleet Command decided that, if nothing else, the Soviet design would make for good practice in large-vehicle construction and operation while the engineers continued working out the problems with the ''Archer''. Starfleet licensed Special Project 1 from the VVS shortly after SOS-Con. The Soviets would get the first prototype and a discounted (to the point of symbolic) price for any cruisers built afterwards.
Despite the Boskone conflict putting a dent in construction schedules, the first Special Project 1 (now renamed the Gagarin-class) left the Utopia Planitia slipways on 30 July 2013. The prototype ship GCU ''Yuri Gagarin'' was accepted into the Soviet Deep Space Exploration Forces and flew on the [[Into the Great Wide Open|2013 Delta Pavonis expedition]. The second ship off the line, USS ''Alan Shepard'' launched on 28 August 2013, and was assigned to extended duty in the [[Alpha Centauri A] system.
Gagarin-class starships are currently under construction at Utopia Planitia. The production line is expected to continue running until 2030 at the earliest.
==Design==
The original Soviet design for Special Project 1 was a [[Wikipedia:Blended-wing body|blended-wing body] aircraft 85 m long with a wingspan of 160 m. This design incorporated two decks, one outfitted with living quarters and one built for cargo or other mission-specific operations space. Utopia engineers refined the Special Project 1 design, extending the main hull length to 100 m and wingspan to 200 m, increasing the overall height of the hull to 15 m and adding three more decks through the centerline.
The most visible Trekkie design element on the Gagarin-class is of course the [[warp drive]. The 40 m warp nacelle sits on a pylon on the aft fuselage directly above the main [[impulse engines]. The nacelle extends 20 m past the aft fuselage, bringing the ship's total length to 120 m.
In a departure from Federation designs the Gagarin-class main bridge is smaller than usual, with only four stations - captain, helm, sensors/communications and engineering. This “mini-bridge” allows for both the traditional Starfleet bridge crew as well as the more abbreviated flight-deck crews common on Soviet ships.
The Gagarin-class is capable of landing on the surface and taking off again. However, the ship is so large that only a very small number of airfields on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system can accommodate one even in the short term. Crew and cargo transfers are usually handled via docking with a facility (using the Fenspace-standard docking collar) or through smallcraft. The Gagarin smallcraft bay can handle four Soviet [[iPods], two Starfleet [[shuttlepods] or one [[Type-7 shuttle] depending on service or mission requirements.
Designed as a research craft first and a warship second (or fifth, depending), the Gagarin-class is not heavily armed. The class has a laser point-defense system based off a similar system used by USSR ''Ptichka'' during the Boskone war. Gagarins also have two missile launchers which can fire the Starfleet standard torpedo or [[NOMAD] survey probes.
===Class Quirks===
* '''''We Are The Trek Collective:''''' The computer-generated voice synthesizer on all ''Gagarin''-class ships uses the distinctive tones of [[Wikipedia:Majel Barrett|Majel Barrett]. This applies to ships that ought to have a different voice as well as any (non-AI) computer hooked into the ship intranet for longer than 12 hours.
* '''''Slit-Screen Power (part 1):''''' In FTL flight, the view outside the windows, external cameras, etc. is a shifting two-dimensional light show very similar to that seen in the last half-hour of "2001: A Space Odyssey."
* '''''Slit-Screen Power (part 2):''''' Related to the first, engine performance can be improved by playing Pink Floyd's "Echoes" for the first twenty minutes of any flight. (The original track off "Meddle," not the short version from the "Best Of" album.)
===Variations===
The main Gagarin model is the '''Block I''', which is as described above. The '''Block Ia''' model is a design change requested by the Soviet Air Force in order to use the vehicle as a mothership for the VVS flagship ''[[Ptichka]'' and the MCU ''[[Columbia]''. The distinctive warp nacelle is replaced by two smaller nacelles integrated into the hull at the wingroots. Where the original support pylon was located, a cradle and umbilical rig designed for space shuttles is integrated into the airframe.
'''Block II''' vehicles are expected to come into service in 2016-18, as Utopia Planitia absorbs and improves upon the technology in the [[Whole Fenspace Catalog]. The Block IIs are expected to be faster, more reliably quirk-free and easier to maintain than the Block Is. Starfleet may or may not authorize building a ''Block IIa'' variant for their own flagship, USS ''[[Enterprise]'' (OV-201).
==Vehicles of Note==
===GCU ''Yuri Gagarin''===
{{shipbox
|shipname=GCU ''Yuri Gagarin''
|shipimage=
|caption=
|hull=
|length=
|width=
|height=
|mass=
|drivetype=
|driverating=
|weapons=
|manufacturer=
|owner=VVS EXFOR
|flag=
|faction=[[Soviet Air Force]
|registry=NX-100
|datelaunched=30 July 2013
|purpose=Deep space exploration
|crew=Maj. [[Elena van Oorebeek] (CDR)
4 operations
35 mission specialists
|supcrew=Yuri (NAV)
Kei (ENG1)
Mughi (SYSOP)
|auxvehicles=
|status='''Active'''
}}
The ''Yuri Gagarin'' was the first Gagarin-class to be contracted and built. The ship was formally delivered to the Soviet Air Force on 1 August 2013 (it had been launched with great ceremony two days earlier). ''Yuri Gagarin'' underwent shakedown with a short circum-Uranian flight, then was remanded to the VVS staging area at L2 for outfitting for the 2013 Delta Pavonis mission.
On the Pavonis expedition ''Yuri Gagarin'' performed according to expectations. The ship acted as mothership for the expedition proper and as such did not undertake any planetfall operations. The science team onboard ''Yuri Gagarin'' was responsible for charting twenty small bodies in the outer system and producing high-resolution photographic maps of the major planetary bodies.
GCU ''Yuri Gagarin'' has undertaken solo missions to [[Proxima Centauri], [[Barnard's Star] and [[Alpha Centauri B] in the interim. Plans are currently underway for a survey of the [[Sirius] system.
====Known Vehicle Quirks====
* '''''A House Divided:''''' When the ''Gagarin'' was constructed, the expected AI ship avatar (a highly exuberant Russian man named Yuri) sparked in the navigation mainframe. However, not long after another AI sparked in the engineering mainframe. This AI, avataring as the infamous Kei from "Dirty Pair," took an immediate dislike to her companion in the navigation system, and vice versa. Planitia engineers were almost ready to scrap the ''Gagarin'' and start again when a ''third'' AI sparked, this time in the interwave router. The router AI called itself Mughi and devoted most of its time to making sure Yuri and Kei kept to their jobs and didn't try to kill each other (and by extension, the crew). The balance of power is uneasy, but stands.
===The Fleet===
{| {{table}} width=100%
| {{tableheader}}|'''Name'''
| {{tableheader}}|'''Registry Number'''
| {{tableheader}}|'''Service'''
| {{tableheader}}|'''Type'''
| {{tableheader}}|'''Year Launched'''
|-
| ''Yuri Gagarin''||NCC-100||VVS EXFOR||Block I||2013
|-
| ''Alan Shepard''||NCC-101||Starfleet||Block I||2013
|-
| ''Yang Liwei''||NCC-102||Starfleet||Block I||2014
|-
| ''Arbitrary''||NCC-103||VVS EXFOR||Block I||2015
|-
| ''Laika''||NCC-104||VVS EXFOR||Block Ia||2015
|-
| ''Neil Armstrong''||NCC-105||Starfleet||Block I||2014
|-
| ''John Glenn''||NCC-106||Starfleet||Block I||2014
|-
| ''Winging It''||NCC-107||VVS EXFOR||Block I||2017
|-
| ''Undocumented Feature''||NCC-108||VVS EXFOR||Block I||2017
|-
| ''Valentina Tereshkova''||NCC-109||Starfleet||Block I||2015
|-
| ''Sally Ride''||NCC-110||Starfleet||Block I||2015
|-
| ''Alexei Leonov''||NCC-111||Starfleet||Block I||2015
|-
| ''It Was Like That When I Got Here''||NCC-112||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2018
|-
| ''Michael Melvill''||NCC-113||Starfleet||Block I||2016
|-
| ''Vladimir Komarov''||NCC-114||Starfleet||Block I||2016
|-
| ''Anousheh Ansari''||NCC-115||Starfleet||Block I||2016
|-
| ''Paradigm Shift''||NCC-116||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2018
|-
| ''Just A Weather Balloon''||NCC-117||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2018
|-
| ''Edwin Aldrin''||NCC-118||Starfleet||Block I||2016
|-
| ''Gherman Titov''||NCC-119||Starfleet||Block I||2016
|-
| ''Public Nuisance''||NCC-120||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2019
|-
| ''Thetan Collector''||NCC-121||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2020
|-
| ''Virgil Grissom''||NCC-122||Starfleet||Block I||2017
|-
| ''James Lovell''||NCC-123||Starfleet||Block I||2017
|-
| ''Christa McAuliffe''||NCC-124||Starfleet||Block II||2017
|-
| ''Rolled A Twenty On The Random Encounter Table''||NCC-125||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2018
|-
| ''Cultural Imperialism Is Better Than The Other Kind''||NCC-126||VVS EXFOR||Block II||2019
|-
| ''John Young''||NCC-127||Starfleet||Block IIa||2017
|-
| ''Shannon Lucid''||NCC-128||Starfleet||Block II||2018
|-
| ''Eugene Cernan''||NCC-129||Starfleet||Block II||2019
|}
==Stories==
The Gagarin-class starships have appeared in the following stories:
* [[Into the Great Wide Open]
* [[Anschluss]
==Related Images==
Image:Gagarin emblem.png|''Yuri Gagarin'' ship's emblem
Image:Gagarin plaque.jpg|''Yuri Gagarin'' dedication plaque
Image:Laika emblem.png|''Laika'' ship's emblem
Image:Laika plaque.jpg|''Laika'' dedication plaque
{{soviets}}
{{spacecraft}}
[[Category:Spacecraft]
[[Category:Space Vessels]
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
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| Can't think of a plot idea? |
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Posted by: OpMegs - 05-21-2009, 02:28 AM - Forum: General Chatter
- Replies (6)
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Well, this might help.
I got the following:
Quote: Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Superman and Animal Crossing. The story should use
tornadoes as a plot device!
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."
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