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[rough draft] Astroball
[rough draft] Astroball
#1
Since Comrade Fnord asked about it...
This is very much a work-in-progress.



[size=larger]Astroball[/size]

The object of Astroball is to score points by putting a one-meter ball into an opposing team's goal zone. One point is scored every time a player does this.

Rules

The game is played in a three-dimensional "field" one kilometer long and one-quarter kilometer wide and high. Thirty-five obstacles are allowed to drift randomly within the field (any that reach an edge of the field "bounce" back into the field). Five-meter-diameter goals are positioned in the centre "wall" of each long end of the field. One referee is present on the field, in a distinctive one-person ship.

Teams are made up of five players, each in a separate one-seat vehicle. At the beginning of a half, or after a goal is socred, the players are arrayed in three lines on their half of the field. The line nearest the center of the field is made up of the forward and the flanker, who are expected but not required to play offensively. The second line is made up of the blocker and the fielder, who are expected but not required to play defensively and pass the ball to the forward or flanker. The third line is the goalie (who is not required to tend the goal).

Making contact with an obstacle or the referee's ship is forbidden, and results in a five-minute penalty for a first offence or expulsion from the game for a second offence. Making contact with an opposing player's ship is permitted.

The ball is manipulated with a ship's "grav-grab", a short-range gravity-effect device similar to (but weaker than) those used in the towing industry. Holding the ball for more than fifteen seconds is forbidden, and results in a two-minute penalty. Reversing the polarity of the grav-grab to throw the ball against an obstacle or the referee's ship and bounce it back to the same player is permitted, as is passing the ball to a teammate.

Games take place over 40 minutes, played in two 20-minute halves. The clock does not run when a penalty is being assessed or when the ball is being retrieved from a goal.

Venues

Both Starbase 1 and Stellvia maintain official Astroball stadiums. Stellvia's is the first Astroball venue ever constructed, and is open to anyone who wants to use it. (Reservations are strongly encouraged.) The Trekkies use theirs for Academy pilot training.

It doesn't take much to set up an Astroball field - just a few dozen obstacles, two goal zones, and some field boundary markers. This means any group with a couple of hundred credits to spare can set up a place to play the game.

Pickup games of Astroball have been known to take place in Saturn's rings, using the ice boulders as obstacles. The Fireflies still train there on a regular basis.

Astroball League

The Astroball League was founded in 2011 in an effort to get the game recognized as a Fennish-Olympic sport.

Match Play

The official Astroball season takes place in late-July and August, between baseball's All-Star Game and the North American Labor Day. The season is played round-robin style, with every team playing every other team once.

The two best teams at the end of the season compete for the Machida Cup (1) the week after Labor Day.

(Footnote 1: Apparently, Yayoi Fujisawa insisted on that name for the trophy. Nobody's sure why, since she's never so much as visited Tokyo.)

Off-Season

The rest of the year, a team will get together whenever convenient (or possible, in some cases) for training - honing piloting skills, developing new plays, coaching new players, and tightening up the team's timing.

Occasionally two teams will be able to play exhibition games during the off-season.

League Teams

As yet, there are no professional Astroball teams, because nobody has the resources to devote to a full-time team. These are recognized "semi-pro" teams, which have taken part in match play since the Astroball League was founded in 2011.

The "Original Four"

There were only four Astroball teams in 2011. All four still play today, and are recognized as the best teams in the League.

L5 All-Stations
League champions in 2011
Team colors: orange and white
This is a mixed group from all the Earth-Luna L5 stations; no one habitat has the manpower to field a team on its own. Two players have been on the team since its creation: forward Cal Calrissian (from New Yavin) and flanker Yayoi Fujisawa (from Stellvia).
The team is funded by Stellvia.

Air Force Fighting Wings
League champions in 2012
Team colors: blue and silver
Based out of the Benjamin Franklin and backed by the TSAB, the Fighting Wings are perhaps the most visible 'Dane group in Fenspace. Their truly professional piloting skills and habits (their forward and flanker are wingmen to each other, unlike most teams) are offset by the experimental equipment they are required to use by their superior officers. Their support crew has yet to develop a working hardtech drive or grav-grab, but that doesn't stop them from using Astroball games as test venues.

Academy Cadets
League champions in 2013
Team colors: gold and blue
Backed by the Trekkies, the Cadets are a college team, based out of Starfleet Academy on Starbase 1. They are the only team to individually name their ships; they use shuttlecraft names from the various incarnations of Star Trek. (This keeps feuds over which Trekkies get to use "the good names" to a minimum; they're reserved for official use.)

Crystal Kyoto Knights
Team colors: silver and "rainbow" (there were too many arguments about which Sailor Senshi's color to use for the ships' highlights before they decided to use them all)
The Knights are funded by the Senshi and based out of Crystal Kyoto. They were originally an all-male team, but became co-ed in 2012.

Newcomers

Fireflies
Team colors: brown and gray
The Fireflies are based out of Serenity Valley, Ganymede, and are an even mix of Browncoats and Juvies. They joined the Astroball League in 2012.

(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.

(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.

(need a team here)
Team colors: ? and ?
(backers, home field, team quirks)
They joined the Astroball League in 2012.

SOS-dan
Team colors: green and blue, with red lettering
The SOS-dan played in 2012 only. They had a disasterous first half-season, but the mid-season replacement of flanker Mikuru Asahina with Winry Rockbell at least salvaged the team's dignity.
As the name implies, they were backed by the SOS-dan.

(if anyone joined the League in 2013, they get listed here - same format as above)

Sidebar: What about the Wizards?

Hogwarts doesn't field an Astroball team; they're too busy playing quidditch.

Sidebar: Kay and Yuri

The best-known Astroball announcers are Kay and Yuri Lischinsky, based out of Starbase 1. They usually cover Martian weather and Trekkie sports for the Federation News Service, but during the Astroball season, they put that aside and provide live color commentary for every game.

They're the sport's biggest fans, bar none. Kay and Yuri even capped off the 2012 season by getting married in the Starbase 1 Astroball stadium!


So, what are the other Fennish sports like?

 
 
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#2
No comments? Does that mean people are happy with this, or that nobody cares?

(And doesn't anyone want to suggest three more teams for the league? I suppose I'll have to come up with them myself, then...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#3
The Martian War Machine
Team colors: Red and black
Backed by the Mars Terraforming Project, the War Machine is based in Port Lowell & is composed of a mix of Pulpers and fendanes. Noted for a particularly ruthless playbook (as befits their name).

Kandor City Vigilantes
Team colors: Dark gray and white
Pickup team sent to the big leagues in order to give the lunar colonies somebody to root for other than the All-Stations. Publicly owned by the citizens of Kandor City.

Belt United
Team colors: Green and yellow
A mixed group from the major Main Belt mining towns, based out of Ceres. Backed by Rockhounds.

ETA: Oh, and...

VVS Red Stars
Team colors: Red and silver
The first (and so far only) all-AI team in the League; the players in their day jobs are X-COM's infamous air combat patrol Azu Squadron. Based (reluctantly) out of Gagarin Crater AFB and backed (very reluctantly) by the Soviet Air Force.
Joined the League in 2013.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
Reply
 
#4
*sobs* Oh no, boss... is that really a good idea? Can't we claim they're not associated somehow? Then again, I don't suppose it's like
they'd take no for an answer...

That said, the thought just came up whether you (Rob) were thinking explicit single specification ships, or opened up to anything built along general (or
specific) guidelines, or what?
Reply
 
#5
Another Sport:

Solar Regatta: a challenging race for the larger fencraft, with a course that Transits the orbits of the Classically-known planets, and has required
"navigational hazards" checkpoints. There are several divisions, but in general nothing smaller than a Type B Motorhome has ever competed, due to the
distances involved.

If I could remember the name of the mundane version of the sport, I'd work up a few sentences for Kandor's "Golden Age Superman Marathon."
Taking advantage of the low gravity of an as-yet-unfinished Lunar base, it involves "leaping tall buildings in a single bound." This isn't often
literally the case, but the same sorts of folks who dash across the tops of 'danelaw buildings in New York and Paris just love the wuxia movie feeling of
roof-hopping in 1/6 G.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll
Reply
 
#6
Quote:That said, the thought just came up whether you (Rob) were thinking explicit single specification ships, or opened up to anything built along general (or specific) guidelines, or what?
General guidelines: one-seater with sufficient life support for the pilot (even if an AI is piloting the ship), grav-grab on the front, no weapons.

Hull arnour or a forcefield is strongly recommended (ever since the end of the 2011 season, when the sport became full-contact), but keep in mind that smaller ships avoid obstacles more easily, and smaller ships don't have room for large powerplants to move the armour around or power the forcefield.

The Fighting Angels used 'waved jets - the largest vehicles ever to be used for Astroball - until they realized their jets' bulk and profile were interfering with maneuverability...

 
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
Astro Ball Team
#7
The Banzai Institute Dragons

Colors: Blue and White

The league team for the Institute, the Dragons join as an expansion team in 2012 (or later). Noted as being the best among the Blue Blazers (who have several
intramural teams, based out of their various cities or colonies), the team roster changes almost annually, with members being cycled out. It has more than the
average number of second- and third-string players, many of whom do not sit on the sidelines during play, but only show up when first-stringers are pulled out
due to Institute emergencies. Buckaroo takes players off of the Global Frequency during games, but will notify game officials and the team staff if a player is
needed.

The Dragons are not known as a particularly consistent team, due to the other commitments of the Insitute, but they always bring a certain amount of enthusiasm
and esprit de corps to their games. The team focuses on teamwork, providing for some dazzling displays of astrobatics (i.e., the vacuum equivalent of
aerobatics) and seemingly telepathic communication between players. (No psychic powers are involved, just an awareness of where teammates are or should be that
has been finely honed.)

The Dragons all tie on a rising sun hachimaki under their safety helmets before entering a game. The hachimakis are duplicates of Buckaroo's own headband,
as seen in "The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension" and in the syndicated Fenspace television series.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
Reply
 
#8
Thanks, folks! I've taken the liberty of pushing the War Machine back to the 2013 season, to make room for the Dragons in 2012. Any more new teams get to join in 2013.

And since we're talking about other sports, here's another draft Wiki page for the Gazetteer. I took the liberty of adding "stardancing" to the list...

Could somebody else write up asteroid racing and quidditch, please? (I could dig through the oldest Fenspace posts, but that would delay Legend of Galactic Girls even more.)



[size=larger]Sports in Fenspace[/size]

(blah-blah - witty intro placeholder - mention the Warsie's annual 'fennish olympics' - blah-blah)

Asteroid Racing (blah-blah - description - oldest of the Fen sports - blah-blah)

Astroball is a team space-based game, once described by a BNF in the VVS as "somewhere between quidditch, soccer, and demolition derby, and a hell of a lot of fun." Astroball has its own page.

The "Golden Age Superman Marathon" is played on Luna. Taking advantage of the low gravity of as-yet-unfinished Lunar bases, it involves "leaping tall buildings in a single bound." This isn't often literally the case, but the same sorts of folks who dash across the tops of 'danelaw buildings in New York and Paris just love the wuxia movie feeling of roof-hopping in 1/6 G.

King of Fen-ers is a virtual-reality fighting game that from the outside bears remarkable similitaries to various coin-op and console platform fighting games. Matches are held in cyberspace - participants either use neural induction helmets (if meat-type sentients) or jack in (if electronic-type sentients). Humanoid participants may provide avatars of themselves, while any player can use a character from at an assortment of CRPG and FPS games. The Cyber Confederation maintains the servers and takes care of any problems with scale. (KoFen is the only venue where The Jason and Wave Convoy could fight hand-to-hand.)

Competition matches are divided into three classes, based on how the competitors would handle being shot in the gut. Class 3 approximates "fall on the floor and begin bleeding to death," 2 is more of "cringe at the big welt," and 1 is "either basically not notice or dodge it." The servers are programmed to damp out the virtual effects of any killing blows, regardless

KoFen opened for play in late 2013.

Quidditch (blah-blah - description - favourite Wizard sport - blah-blah)

The Solar Regatta is a challenging race for the larger fencraft, with a course that transits the orbits of all the classically-known planets and has required "navigational hazards" checkpoints. There are several divisions, but in general nothing smaller than a Type B Motorhome has ever competed, due to the distances involved. (AIs are specifically prohibited from taking part in smaller ships for safety reasons.)

The Trekkies sponsor an annual Solar Regatta, awarding the Federation Cup to the winner.

Zero-G Gymnastics (also known as "stardancing") is the most peaceful of the Fen sports. It's been likened to a combination of ballet, tai chi chu'an, and rhythmic gymnastics; team performances add elements of synchronized swimming. Judges award points for perfection of form, originality of routine, and grace of movement.

Winry Rockbell is the best-known solo zero-g gymnast.

 
 
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#9
I like this a great deal. Many win points for including stardancing.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#10
Thank you. (I was tempted to mention the large number of Heinlein-fen stardancers, but I'm not completely sure how well the average real-world Heinlein fan likes Spider Robinson's works. I know I do, but I'm not average...)

 
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#11
I've found a strong correlation between the two myself.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#12
Dohyeah, Asteroid racing. Given as how it really was my idea, I should take care of that. That and Sol Rally Championship too. [Image: wink.gif]
Reply
 
#13
Thanks. I'll set up a Wiki page with what we've got so far sometime soon (maybe even tonight), and you can add your descriptions later.

Re: quidditch - anybody got an image of Honami Ambler from Rental Magica flying during a crisis situation? Her afterburner-equipped broom is what I see Fenspace's Wizards using - or at least wanting to use - during quidditch matches, and it's easy enough to doubletalk one of those with handwavium and a miniaturized ship's drive. (If nobody has one, I'll see what I can screengrab on my own...)

 
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply
 
#14
The opening credits of the A!MG OVAs has a shot of Skuld riding something vaguely broomlike but mechanical; would that be useful or relevant?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Reply
 
#15
No reason we can't offer both as examples of quidditch brooms...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
Reply


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