PhoenixFlame Presents: Eclipse Phase

[Aerozord]

Oh, come on! Ellen isn't going to manipulate you! A lot. She's not going to manipulate you a lot. Probably.

And Medicine is for poor people who can't buy Medichines.

I got some, over all its a low score though. but I think someone has it up pretty high

[Geminex]

Wait until you see his backstory before you start frothing at the mouth. He's a human raised amongst mercurials. Mercurials being the least human faction. Meaning that they'd almost certainly be opposed to human behavioral patterns. Which is the most prominent human behavior?
Why yes. Yes, it is sex.

Q.E.D.

The turned-off-ellen was just a minor bonus.

And besides, it's only level 1. That's a -10 modfier, it shouldn't really affect your ability to seduce him. Particularly since, with all the super-senses he has, he can practically watch her masturbate.

[Dracorion]

Personally I'm just making Daniel queer. Unfortunately I have no idea if there is anywhere I can set that. It isn't a modified behavior after all, he's always been queer.

Yeah, but Ellen has Sex Switch, so she can turn into a guy if she has to seduce Daniel. Even if it does take a week.

Wait until you see his backstory before you start frothing at the mouth. He's a human raised amongst mercurials. Mercurials being the least human faction. Meaning that they'd almost certainly be opposed to human behavioral patterns. Which is the most prominent human behavior?
Why yes. Yes, it is sex.

Q.E.D.

The turned-off-ellen was just a minor bonus.

Ah, bullshit.

And besides, it's only level 1. That's a -10 modfier, it shouldn't really affect your ability to seduce him. Particularly since, with all the super-senses he has, he can practically watch her masturbate.

No, but I wish. Ellen masturbates in simulspace, and your character has no points for hacking I think.

Anyway, if the guy doesn't have a lot of sex that should only make it easier for Ellen to seduce him. I mean, she has so many bonuses to seduction she's practically a walking cloud of estrogen.

[Krylo]

...Why are we discussing where Ellen diddles herself?

[Dracorion]

I have no dignity and Geminex brought it up.

And I haven't decided yet if it's an OCD thing of hers or not.

[PhoenixFlame]

*Facepalms*

So Drac, how's it feel to wait seven days of hormonal imbalance and organ rearrangement to seduce one guy?

I guess you might be angry that you can't get into a computer's pants, either.

Or... Wait, you masturbate in simulspace? Doesn't that defeat the whole luxury of actually owning a biomorph? While we're on that topic, have you ever seduced a guy before? 'Cause I got this idea that you don't know how it works.

Frankly, I thought you'd be more concerned with the fact that, oh, I DONNO, the nanoswarm is EATING THE AIRLOCK than if Ellen is hotter than the melting steel five feet down the hallway.

Can we get a disaster team on- ooh, boobies...

[Overcast]

I wasn't part of that. I wasn't trying to be part of that. Daniel shall not be part of that sort of thing if I am his puppeteer.

Besides it will take you a week to become a man, which makes you a bit less effective with all the boys who like girls just to make an attempt to seduce the hardest man in the world to manipulate because he is so old that he believes his sexual orientation means something.

On the note of nanoswarm eating the airlock, I was going to take some Guardians, but I am totally bunk at programming nanomachines. Please tell me someone has a proper defense against the little bastards.

[PhoenixFlame]

On the note of nanoswarm eating the airlock, I was going to take some Guardians, but I am totally bunk at programming nanomachines. Please tell me someone has a proper defense against the little bastards.

"I didn't take energy weapons because they look useless."

At least Billy was prepared.

[Geminex]

seduce the hardest man in the world
Argh.

And I have a nanobot detector, for all it's worth, though no countermeasures. Maybe a few of us can just get a torch as a secondary weaponI think flamethrowers would do a lot to kill nanobots. Though they'd eat up rather a lot of oxygen. Ah well.

And I think we should make sure that, between us, we have at least one person who can deal well with each network.

I have 90 @-rep and 60 in Networking: Anarchists, so I've got that covered. What've you all got?

[krogothwolf]

"I didn't take energy weapons because they look useless."

At least Billy was prepared.

I kept with the Energy Weapons in the end! I figured everyone else was going kinetic so I should have stuck with energy. So, yay me!

[Aerozord]

all this talk of seduction kind of makes me happy I picked neotenic. Doubt anyone would try and seduce a guy that looks like he is ten

by anyone I mean any player, sure in this setting such characters aren't uncommon

[krogothwolf]

all this talk of seduction kind of makes me happy I picked neotenic. Doubt anyone would try and seduce a guy that looks like he is ten

We could meet a priest

[Dracorion]

Or... Wait, you masturbate in simulspace? Doesn't that defeat the whole luxury of actually owning a biomorph? While we're on that topic, have you ever seduced a guy before? 'Cause I got this idea that you don't know how it works.

Well yeah, my innate heterosexuality might be the biggest detriment and making Ellen's seduction techniques realistic. And if diddling herself is an OCD thing, I figured she'd do it in simulspace because it's where she can control everything. But yeah, other things she does in the physical world.

Frankly, I thought you'd be more concerned with the fact that, oh, I DONNO, the nanoswarm is EATING THE AIRLOCK than if Ellen is hotter than the melting steel five feet down the hallway.

She is. Also, Smart Vac Suit. Sucks to be the cheapskates that didn't get one.

I said Ellen would turn into a guy if she ever had to seduce Daniel. All we have to do is make sure she doesn't have to.

Ellen has 40 C-rep and 60 F-rep, and 65 in both Networking: Hypercorps and Media. Also 50 G-rep, but no Networking.

[Overcast]

Two more purchases just in case Daniel is stuck in a situation where NotSure isn't around. Capsule Proximity rounds filled with Liquid Thermite and a Nanodetector.

Daniel is his own vacsuit.

He is 80 with Firewall, and 70 with Scientists. He also has a networking skill of the exact same with both.

[Geminex]

my innate heterosexuality
hahahahahaha oh wow

So ok, so far we have:
Hypercorps (ellen)
Media (ellen)
Firewall (daniel)
Scientists (daniel)
Autonomists (Spectre)

We still need ecologists and criminals.

And if anyone hacks themselves into Ellen's mesh, they could totally copy the memory of aforementioned diddling and sell that as high-quality pornographic XP. You'd make thousands.

[Dracorion]

For one, she'd know, and could report them to the authorities. For another, she'd either kill them or demand half of the profits.

[Overcast]

Don't know if your heterosexuality is much a chance for Pheonix's due to gender advantage., nor is it much help in trying to be convincing to my own flexible sexuality how or what might sound good to another man.

We shall see.

Also calm your libido Gem you're getting awkward.

[Dracorion]

Also calm your libido Gem you're getting awkward.

You should try reading one of the Umbral threads sometime.

[Geminex]

That's not libido, I'm just mocking Drac. But your point is taken, apologies to everyone who's feeling awkward. And yes, Umbral is far worse.

Back to stuff that's actually relevant, Spectre has 75 demolitions skill, so if you guys provide the indgredients, he can probably make whichever explosives you need. No need to spend CP on them now.

[Overcast]

Of course umbra is worse, it is run by AB. If I expect anything less from the man I'd be fooling myself. No insult to him it is just the mindset.

Anyway is anyone actually not self centered enough to be aligned with the ecologists? Also I think most folks are a bit too stuck in a good reputation along with their self centeredness to align with criminals.

[Krylo]

He is 80 with Firewall.

I didn't really pay attention to this before, but what?

It's like our first day on the job, guy. You aren't the employee of the month the day after you're hired.

No one should have more than like 30 Firewall, tops.

[rapter200]

Ok added a Standard Vac Suit... why you ask, well I am getting a suspicious feeling that we will end up in space floating around. I don't want to be the only dying quickly.

[PhoenixFlame]

Hacking systems illegally is awesome, but criminals are bad people. We can't associate with them.

That said, I think the above burst of logic influenced Krylo to have some G-connections.

Edit: Yeah, 30ish max for I-rep, but don't be alarmed, the Eye is certainly going to be giving you whatever mission-specific toys you may need, you just don't get the privledge of using it as a standard rep ring until you earn it. It really is "the best" ring, as it is everywhere and includes everyone, you just can't talk about it.

[Overcast]

Valid point, I'll give it to criminals for his amazing graff skills.

EDIT: I just thought that over and really scum are far better suited to loving his art. So enter @-rep.

[Dracorion]

Hmmm, maybe Ellen needs to see about getting with Firewall.

[Geminex]

EDIT: I just thought that over and really scum are far better suited to loving his art. So enter @-rep.
I have @-rep covered. Criminal would really be better, if you could justify it.

[Krylo]

Why and how does an Isolate have 90 rep with ANYONE?

Just out of curiosity.

[Aerozord]

PF, you said before having multiple tech guys was always good, and that got me to thinking. Since their score doesn't help with teamwork, how does having multiple people skilled in anything help?

[krogothwolf]

Because, he's so isolated that everyone has heard of him?

[Overcast]

Personal interests. He only really has a few of them but what they are he chases with great fervor and typically leaves his mark rather heavily. He wants immortality in the realm of reality without having to worry about people trying to swindle him for it.

That gets him some scientist buddies constantly on call to helping him toughen his morph just one step more, or a researcher who specializes in such an area who is asking for his help in some way. He isn't much of a scientist himself, but he is known to help with only the promise that they help him back.

He doesn't need to know the politics of it. He just wants to live forever.

The other is his art, Graffiti. There is only really one way to pursue an art that is about placing your mark on public property. He is unusually good at putting his name where it doesn't belong, whether that be after a mission, or just in one random drift in his isolation. He isn't trying to show off any sort of anarchism, it is just an old passion that never died down.

So he might know a few people by being a bit of a punk, but as said it isn't so much a sociopolitcal choice. It is a hobby.

So in short...accidentally.

[Krylo]

OC you're a brinker.

Which is slightly different.

Gem is an isolate, a background that is completely set around the idea of never talking to ANYONE, yet the autonomists are willing to (via rule book) commit mass murder for him on a word and then some.

He's also both a transhuman and a mercurial, which makes very little sense.

Gem--be honest, you weren't thinking of background when you chose those were you? You were thinking '60 free skill points with no restrictions on where to put them, and dick all for disadvantages!' weren't you?

[Geminex]

I'm still working on the backstory. Right now, it's probably going to be:

Part of an isolate colony

Colony collapses (probably disease or raiders, not sure)

Few survivors escape (including spectre)

Get taken in by Mercurials (Which are autonomists, yes? It didn't say anywhere, but they didn't fit into any other group)

Get used as test subjects for a variety of social experiments involving human nature and the suppression thereof. (which accounts for a few of his negative traits, namely the modified behavior and uncanny valley)

Experiments seem sucessful, employed by mercurials as part of a covert commando. (The members of this commando are all the results of such social experiments, and they've been stripped of names as part of these experiments, instead being called "Spectre 1-8". My character was Spectre 3. They're also all resleeved into ghost morphs)

These dehumanized commandos turn out to be very good at what they do.

This, in turn, is used for propaganda purposes by some Mercurial groups, since it shows that even a human whose humanity has effectively been stripped, can fight very effectively, and this, in turn, indicates that humanity doesn't convey practical superiority.

Additionally, word gets put out that the Spectre series have support from the higher echoleons of Mercurial leadership, increasing the support they get, even from non-mercurial autonomists.

Finally, Spectres begin to fall out of favor (unbeknownst to them), since they're gradually beginning to regain their human traits. During one operation, against several high-ranking media moguls, they're resleeved into splicer morphs, for the purposes of blending in more easily, and kitted out as usual. Unfortunately, after completing their mission, their mission controllers break off contact, the extraction vehicles aren't in place, and they have no way of escaping. Some spectres are killed, some are caught, some escape (spectre 3 being among them). This also results in the level-3 Fame Black Mark against them.

-----

It's not the most elegant (there's a few holes in it, I'm aware), but I'll work on it. Does that sufficiently justify 90 @-rep? When he regains his body and blows up the facility it was kept in, I'm guessing those rep will drop quite quickly as well.

[PhoenixFlame]

PF, you said before having multiple tech guys was always good, and that got me to thinking. Since their score doesn't help with teamwork, how does having multiple people skilled in anything help?

Because if one if you dies, you have a backup.

To the above, Gem: You don't need to be human to fight effectively. The TITANS showed us that. In fact, they seem pretty damn poor at it, relatively speaking. O mai, what a background. I'm not sure I'd take you, but I guess I don't have much of a choice. Your character is, after all, a gigantic liability in huge need of reconditioning, and unlikely to be loyal to anything, seeing as he's both a escapee and an exhuman.

Better vet another Erasure team while I'm at it.

[Overcast]

For any odd reason or another when you said that I got a nice little rim shot in my head.

And cool I thought that I was getting a bit paranoid about how my character was set up. He pretty much runs on his own program...to be honest he might be the one who uploads all their adventures onto XP. Because it plays on his hedonism simply for the amount of amusement it causes.

EDIT: Dammit stop using words that make me want to peek at the back of the book.

[Geminex]

Oh yeah, that's really reassuring.

And Krylo, your baseless accusations...
are not entirely incorrect.

I was planning the "humans among mercurials" theme, because
a) my characters do usually seem quite inhuman (at first, anyway) and this was a good was to justify that
and
b) I wanna do the whole gradually-becoming-human-and-developing-moral-qualms bit.

The isolate was purely stats-based, I'll admit, but I'll make it plausible, if I haven't already.

Edit:
I'm not sure I'd take you, but I guess I don't have much of a choice.
What d'you mean? You're not sure you'd take me? If you (or anyone, really) has much of a problem with it, I guess I could go over my background and faction again.

[Dracorion]

Which reminds me, I need to come up with a background for Ellen.

Balls.

[Krylo]

Ellen's background:

Socialite slut. Turns out Watts MacLeod is sexually transmitted.

[Overcast]

Dear god it is PERFECT.

[Dracorion]

Krylo wins. Forever.

But I might give her a bit of a background in Hypercorps. And shift some rep there to boost it up to 80, just so she can call in some pretty big favors to further her objectives.

[PhoenixFlame]

What d'you mean? You're not sure you'd take me? If you (or anyone, really) has much of a problem with it, I guess I could go over my background and faction again.

I'm judging your Bios from Nyx's viewpoint (your Proxy), and I have to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of bringing said character into the fold. For example, by making this guy a Sentinel, I risk...

1.) Breaking the conspiracy if he decides to go rogue, which he has, to my knowledge, done before.

2.) Risk of him becoming an exhuman, if he isn't already, since he has throughout the course of his life been broken of his humanity and placed in highly modified morphs used to commit acts that are generally associated with sociopathy and calculated murder.

3.) The great deal of difficulty it would be to terminate him, thanks to his stealth skills and extreme combat focus. Unknown if he would be suceptable to [REDACTED] or not, or if utilising [REDACTED] would be necessary or worth the risks incurred there either.

In return, I gain what is possibly a very good infiltrator with experience. I need that, but I don't know if he's worth it.

[Dracorion]

Gah. Stop making me want to read the Spoilers section of the book, PF.

[Geminex]

Oh, that's what you mean.

Well, his primary goal, right now, is to get his body back. Help him with that, he'll help you. And if you do manage to recondition him in the course of his service, one way or another, he'd be one hell of an asset.

As for being hard to terminate, fair enough. But that applies to pretty much every combat specialist you employ.

[Krylo]

Hey guys, sane backgrounds aren't that hard. See watch.

29 years ago (that's 19 BF) two scrubs bumped ugly. They were lower middle-class, which is to say poor, because the pre-fall era was really shitty for folks that weren't the top 1% or what ever. They did ok for themselves though.

That is until world war broke up when he was still pretty young and then robot death machines. His parents died, he escaped off world getting infected by the Watts MacLeod strain of the exsurgent virus on the way--not that he knew what that was at the time.

Went a little crazy as a result, and then told the hypercorps they could collectively fuck off before fleeing to the outer systems because, to him, they were no different/better than the old governments which had left his family in poverty and failed to provide the security they promised in exchange--his parents being dead and all.

Some point shortly after he ended up on a scum barge. The end.

[Aerozord]

Oh, that's what you mean.

Well, his primary goal, right now, is to get his body back. Help him with that, he'll help you.

that doesn't really work on keeping him in line when the opposition can also get him a body, and probably with greater ease

[PhoenixFlame]

As for being hard to terminate, fair enough. But that applies to pretty much every combat specialist you employ.

That's a very confident appraisal.

[Geminex]

@Krylo: Booooooooring. Where's the incredibly convenient coincidences, or the implausible decision-making?

@Aero: He doesn't want a body. He was re-sleeved into a ghost when he was 18, and, while the ghost was constantly renewed and updated, it was always the same ghost. He was good at infiltration, so he managed to survive 30 years' worth of missions, and he got quite attatched to that body.

Subconciously, the calm efficiency of the ghost also prevented him from feeling too human, it was sort of a barrier.

Anyway, yeah. He doesn't want a morph. He wants the morph, his old one (if only for the optimized implants). And I doubt anyone but firewall could help him with that.

[Krylo]

I'd suggest the tech specialists would actually be harder to terminate than the combat specialists.

Killing people in Eclipse Phase isn't hard, no matter how good they are. The hard part is making sure they stay dead, which is to say hunting down all of their back ups and erasing them. A computer/tech person is more likely to have sufficiently faked their ego id hard enough to have a back up of themselves that slips through the cracks.

Also it's the infiltration specialization that makes him a 'difficult to erase individual'. It's not the killing him, it's the finding him.

[Overcast]

Yeah, but look at Daniel. Aside from the fact I said he might just upload the adventures(which he won't if you tell him so) he is a relatively reliable human being who will serve to get a bit closer to immortality, or for an original data file for the old album Deadringer by RJD2, or for money, or for the promise that down the road if he asks for something you'll do it for him

He isn't much of a risk factor in comparison.

Background for amusement. Born on Earth, lived up to the ripe age of 100 to barely see the first steps to immortality begin. He was able to survive just long enough to catch the singularity and pull himself down year by year till it was like he was 18 again. Of course while the good times were good he eventually became one of many to end up in the Fall.

And he didn't make it. Not perfectly anyway.

Eventually a group of reclaimers up and rescued him, but they couldn't afford to resleeve him so they sold him off where an unknown party put him back together again with a brand new Remade body and edited memories.

He has no idea who they are.

All he knows was he was sent out into the universe with nothing and had to fight his way up the food chain until he got to where he is now. Well connected with a few groups that help make his life easier when he needs it to be, enough modifications to make death difficult, gear for nearly any situation, a dead eye with his guns, and his dreams.

Now he drifts, not so interested in the troubles of others, but more in his own personal wants and needs.

[PhoenixFlame]

^- See, that guy is certifiable. He can be a bit eccentric (Uploading XPs) but those aren't hard to find and cause to "disappear" before slapping him on the wrist and requesting that he let us go through and censor the classified bits before making a popular X-cast out of them.

Which is perfectly fine, but change the names to protect the innocent.

Otherwise, yes, you can trust us better if we can trust you.

[Geminex]

Also it's the infiltration specialization that makes him a 'difficult to erase individual'. It's not the killing him, it's the finding him.

Exactly. Initially I was going to protest that, as long as you know where he is and what he's doing, you can kill him with an assault rifle.
But the problem is that, if you have motivation to kill him (i.e. if he goes rogue), he won't be where you expect him to be, and it'll be hard to find where he is, certainly hard to track him physically. Digitally is another matter, but he'd be careful.

So he would be difficult to terminate, if not to kill. And with the high rep he has, he could probably find a place to store a backup or two. Also, depending on how many CP we get in the course of the mission, I'm thinking of giving him at least rudimentary computer skills.

Edit: Oh, and Krylo, was my CP allocation ok? I don't think I gave him too many, but it was late when I checked. I might've mis-counted.

[PhoenixFlame]

Termination is fairly rare, only in the case of extreme... Badness.

Yet, it is always considered thoroughly, for it's more merciful purposes. (Killing rogue alpha forks, eliminating compromised (by virii) agents before they compromise others, killing psis who develop beyond human limits, ect.)

[Dracorion]

Hmmm, if Ellen's father died (forever) during the Fall, and she inherited his hypercorp, does that give her a steady (outrageous) income?

Because that would be awesome. And it would cut down the timeframe for her plan to control a Pandora Gate by half.

[PhoenixFlame]

and she inherited his hypercorp.


BWAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Dracorion]

Most hypercorps are decentralized, non-asset-based legal entities.

... fucking hypercorps. Well, it should get her a share, anyway, right? That should still be an outrageous amount of creds.

[PhoenixFlame]

... fucking hypercorps. Well, it should get her a share, anyway, right? That should still be an outrageous amount of creds.

Did you even read the part on Hypercorps?

H-hang on, hang on, you're killing me here. I gotta stream this convo with my autonomist friends. Stand by...

[Dracorion]

I skimmed over it, actually. And I can't for the life of me find whatever it is you're talking about.

[Aerozord]

even by modern standards you cant own (entirely) a corperation. Its is a seperate entity. It would be like owning america. You can have alot of influence on what it does or complete control on one area, but you can never own it.

long as there is someone to hire new people, which can be a AI now, everyone in the entire corp can die without affecting the business in any significant way

[Dracorion]

Yeah yeah. But there's always controlling interest.

For hypercorps in this game, yeah, any stake that Ellen could would probably be insignificant. But hey, money. She needs some. A lot of it, actually. I'm just trying to come up with a way for her to get it.

I'm actually highly dissappointed there's no sex hypercorp in Eclipse Phase. I mean, in a post-singularity universe where everyone can be straight, lesbian and bisexual at the same time and everyone lives forever so marriage is a joke, you'd think there'd be a lot of demand for some strange. Y'know, rich bastards looking for a hot escort to take to someone's resleeving party, or want to indulge their latest fetish (do you want to play with a Neotenic, or let a Fury redefine "wild" for you?). Some nerd who wants to try out the latest hentai VR game, or a crazy stalker that wasn't to spend the night with their favorite metacelebrity.

I mean, I dunno if all those things can be monopolized, but damn it'd be fun if they could.

[Geminex]

I'm just trying to come up with a way for her to get it.
Oh well now, let's think about this, shall we? Who can come up with an idea for a sexually arousing female to make large amounts of money with very little effort?
Yes, billy? Prostitution? Very good, billy! Have some Petal!

[Dracorion]

Large isn't good enough. She needs obscene!

Ah, screw it. Maybe I'll just have her fuck her way into a hypercorp over the course of the RP, discover the Earth Gate, fuck her way into getting put in charge of Earth, live happily ever after.

[Aerozord]

Yeah yeah. But there's always controlling interest.


no, who told you that? even just 20 or 30 percent of company is considered unusually high. You become a corporation by selling off most of your control for capital to expand. I dont know of any actual corporation on the planet that has one person with controling interest.

[Geminex]

You forgot the bit where you get shot in the head because you roll a critical failure on a persuasion check and people realise that you're a manipulative bitch.


And yes, I will continue to refer to Ellen in the second person when talking to you.

[Dracorion]

Damnit, there's no psi sleight for rerolls!

[Geminex]

Better get a lot of Moxie, my friend. Because if I can screw you over utterly by spending a point, OH BOY, AM I GONNA BE SPENDIN' ME SOME MOXIE.

[Dracorion]

I'm flattered you'd be willing to spend one whole Moxie on me. You're a good friend, Geminex.

[Aerozord]

hmm hey is this like Paranoia and we can spend moxie to alter other people rolls?

[Geminex]

hmm hey is this like Paranoia and we can spend moxie to alter other people rolls?
I wish. Nah, we can't. But persuasion rolls are opposed rolls, and that means that I could, theoretically, spend a Moxie to turn a standard success (which would've let Spectre just resist Ellen's persuasion) into a critical success (which would've let him not just resist persuasion, but also benefit him in some other way. Exactly how would be up to PF, but immunity to persuasion for a while, or all-out suspicion seem fair).

So yeah, I can spend Moxie to modify my defensive roll, which in turn could hurt Drac quite a bit. Manipulating PCs is dangerous business. It might be better for Ellen just to stick to seducing NPCs.


I'm flattered you'd be willing to spend one whole Moxie on me. You're a good friend, Geminex.

Don't forget 20 rounds of AP ammo when spectre shoots Ellen in the face, or the scrapper's gel that he'll use to melt her cortical stack!
We're totally BFFs.

[Dracorion]

I'm pretty sure I could counter-Moxie you, though.

[rapter200]

Ok well since I feel a little left out here is Damian's backstory.

Damian was born as an uplifted octopus and starting at an early age he had a large interest in Human History. A history that was not his own. While growing up he spent most of his time studying Old Earth History learning about Earth's old Nations and Cultures.

This interest in history also turned him onto economics and political science. He didn't enjoy the hard sciences very much, they were to boring. Why learn science when you can learn about a story that was in play as your own people cruised the ocean. His love of history also gave him a love of old movies. Actions, Comedies, and all the rest.

His parents also made sure that he could defend himself and survive, hoping that he would never have to actually fight someone. Damian grew up to be one of the foremost minds on Old Earth History hoping to use his knowledge of economics, past events, and current political climates to make a fortune somehow and use it to get to his beloved earth and explore it ruined wonders.

[Krylo]

If you guys wanna PvP go play SoL. We're supposed to be on the same team here, and really none of us built perfect unstoppable juggernauts so the dick waving is kinda unnecessary. ESPECIALLY YOU DRAC YOU STARTED IT AND IT IS JUST GOING TO MAKE YOUR JOB HARDER IF YOU DO TRY TO SEDUCE/PERSUADE US BECAUSE THIS GAME ISN'T EXALTED AND DOESN'T HAVE SOCIAL COMBAT RULES.

THAT SAID:

Gem, I did your sheet. You were almost perfect, except for three things:

1: You don't list what armor you are wearing, and there is no armor in your gear section. You only have the armor values listed which tells me very little as far as cost etc. You also don't say whether you have light or heavy bioweave armor, I assumed light. P.S. Put your armor and weapons in your gear section, plz. It makes it easier on me when all the shit that costs money is in one place (well two, 'cause implants, but yeah).

2: You spent 19 too many creation points. Not bad.

3: You only spent 275 points on Knowledge skills. You need to spend 300 at least.


Also, random suggestions:

Instead of having 90 points in @-Rep, how about spreading it around? A single mercurial community keeping you as a secret hit squad would earn you rep with that single habitat's governance, but not with the autonomists at large (actually, probably quite the opposite, as they tend to look down on any kind of 'law' roaming the solar system and interfering with their societies). However, you'd have probably picked up some C-Rep by twisting corporate arms in the inner systems, and some G-Rep because spec. ops. can always use less than legal help from time to time.

Also, not sure how you'd get blacklisted with the gliterrati for being spec. ops. Seems like you're more likely to get blacklisted with pretty much anyone/everyone else unless your little commune was having you murder celebrities or something.

Remember, also (and this goes for everyone), that the 'theoretical ceiling' for rep is 80. Once you have 80 rep with some place, there's nothing you can't get. 80 rep signifies that people are willing to commit mass murder for you, dismember bodies for you, get a crew together and move entire asteroids for you, etc.

It's honestly pretty ridiculous/silly for any of us to have that much pull with any single organization without very good background reasons for such a group to trust us that much.

Really 40 is enough to get people to bend over backwards for you already, and note that just because you don't have 80 rep (what allows you to get expensive ranked items) that doesn't mean you CAN'T get them. You can either take a modifier to your roll (-10 if you have 60, -20 if you have 40 rep, etc.) you can still get those items.

It would be more sane, and more useful, to simply have a high networking skill. Remember, even if you have 99 Rep you've still gotta make the roll to get what you need. Further, Networking Autonomists is similar to networking Guanxi (Autonomist and Guanxi/Criminals tend to overlap, after all, especially on scum barges), and Guanxi contacts probably have hypercorp contacts, and basically you can argue that you should have (and will probably get) a bonus to networking ______ rolls just by having any networking skill high enough. Similar rolls give bonuses is an actual rule (though it's left up to GM discretion). High networking gives you a better chance to lean on your whatever contacts to get stuff from other circles that you maybe have less rep and contacts with.

[Geminex]

I'm pretty sure I could counter-Moxie you, though.
Maybe you could. Maybe you couldn't. I don't know. Neither do you. I'm certainly willing to take the risk.
The question is...
Are you?
Well? Are you feeling lucky, punk?
...
Ok, I'm done. We can keep PvPing in umbral.


Oh, and rapter, is it possible that you could reallocate some Rep and networking to get into the ecologists' good books? Your background justifies it.

And finally thanks, Krylo. I'll consider that. I'll probably ust decrease my SAV a bit more to amount for the extra points I spent.
As for Rep, I might get criminal. I'll move some points around.

And one final thing, what poisons can we have in our poison glands? Any injectible toxin? Cause twitch doesn't seem that great, now I compare it to BTX...
Though it's more likely to save my life, if I do happen to enter combat, since its effects are a lot harder to avoid once they do set in.

[Krylo]

I think you can have any poison you want in your glands, but I have no idea how the gaseous ones would work. Other than making you immune to them, that is.

[Geminex]

Well, if they're injectible, I assume that they exist in liquid form.

And grargh. I'm 40 points above, and everything I have seems irreplacable. And I haven't even started redoing my social connections...

Edit:
Ok, I've cut it down to size. It should be allright now, I've reduced my credits a bit, replaced the invisiblity cloak with a camoflogue cloak (because fuck it, 5000 credits?), reduced Will by 2. And I think you miscalculated a bit on my skills, I just spent 456, not 471.

[Overcast]

Remember kids I have ten moxie that belongs to Phoenix that refreshes with my own that has the sole purpose of making all of our lives suck out loud.

What I'm saying is save your moxie, you are going to need it.

Anyway might start shifting my Rep and Networking. But I figure he only has reasonable excuses to be liked by the Eye, @-list, Fame, Ecowave, and RNA. Civics probably have caught wind of him doing terribly beautiful things to their buildings and it is lucky enough for him not to have a black mark from them, and he just isn't the sort to deal with criminals unless he really as to.

Which is really mucking up the Networking division. I'll tweak it a little after class.

[Geminex]

Remember kids I have ten moxie that belongs to Phoenix that refreshes with my own that has the sole purpose of making all of our lives suck out loud.
I'm sorry? You seem to have used the plural "our" here. This implies that we're somehow going to suffer along with you.
I mean, I know that the rulebook says the GM can use them to harm us as well, but I'd imagine that's less "unlucky by association" and more "unlucky if it harms you".

I doubt I'd have my rolls flip-flopped if I were just making explosives in the next room from you.

If you were helping me make said explosives, it might get used, provided that the ensuing explosion hurts you more than it does me. I'd still protest that use of the nega-moxie, though, and, at the very least, make sure I never let you help me again. Though of course, spectre wouldn't be assisting your character either.

But I think it'd be primarily used to influence other player's rolls when they're, say, trying to save your life, or if their success would be especially advantegous to you.

And besides, I question your getting that ability at all. A level-3 black mark is way less harmful, especially if you also plan to get 10 Moxie! I mean, if you're not getting more than 1 moxie anyway, it's not too harmful, because your DM only gets as much as you do, and in this case, that's just one point. But if you're getting 10 Moxie, you're gaining 30 CP, but, in turn, you're giving your GM the ability to screw you over royally not once, not twice, but 10 times!

So yeah, I'd reevaluate that choice. Get Black Mark. Get a bunch of smaller flaws.
10 nega-moxie is not worth 30 CP.

[Krylo]

And I think you miscalculated a bit on my skills, I just spent 456, not 471.

I think you miscalculated on my miscalculation.

I have shown my math, from calculating skill point cost per item, to the sum of adding each additional skill point together, to taking off 80 points from your background/faction bonuses. Still 471.

Also you spent 301 points on Knowledge skills, not 300 like your edits at the top seemed to imply, but only 35 on creds, not 36 like your edits at the top, again, seemed to imply. So that evened out.

You are still exactly 19 points over, somehow. After those modifications. I would have thought 15 points over, 'cause that's the difference between 456 and 471, but I guess not?

Don't know where the other 4 points came from.

Edit: OC took bad luck as a core part of his character concept. I don't think he cares about usefulness/point values so much as just being unlucky.

Edit 2: Though I didn't show the work on your bonuses, so 20 to skill of choice + 20 to skill of choice = 40 + 10 to skill of choice = 50 + 10 to skill of choice = 60 + 20 to networking of choice = 80, thus subtracting 80 points from the final number (it's easier than trying to figure out where you put the bonuses and calculating it in line).

[Overcast]

Krylo hit the nail on the head, that trait was taken as an actual part of how my character functions, not just for the extra points.

Anyway this should help things out a bit, split my 70/80 to a 30 to each of the groups I said might like him a bit. I also changed the networking to the proper tunnel vision that Daniel would have. One Networking toward graffiti artists and aficionados and one toward Immortality researchers and supporters.

[PhoenixFlame]

It's also to make Daniel's life hilariously fail moments after he's epic win.

That said, hypercorps really aren't into trivial things like sex, because well especially now 90% of people don't have bodies capable of that anyway... Poor clanking masses.

*Sigh* but yeah. If you insist on... What you're insisting on, expect to be treated like you could generally expect, and likely forcibly reprogramm-

Wait what, Ellen's got no combat skills.

Don't even make me go there.

[Geminex]

Yeah, that's what I said before. The only thing Ellen is good for is seducing her comrades.

And Krylo, ok, you're right. I miscalculated my morph bonuses. It should be allright now. Got a few ranks in infosec as well, just to begin with. I cut down on INT to pay for all that.

And ok, fine. Do what you want with Daniel. Though if you wanna keep the trait, at least cut down on the Moxie.

And I question that the toughest character has a sniper rifle. You're right, really, you're tough and really well-armored. Really, really hard to kill. Man, your toughness inspires me. You should be in the thick of combat!

Not, I would emphasise, on the sidelines, sniping. Sniping is for those of us with 30 DUR and 16/16 armor. You have twice as much DUR, and better armor to boot. Plus, your fray skill isn't bad. Get a Rail Assault Rifle, get into the thick of combat, man! We need a good meatshield.

Edit:
And OC, I've been going through your bio again, and damn. Either I need to re-read the rulebook, or there's quite a few mistakes there. I'll post my notes on it in a second, but Krylo, mind having a look at it as well? I'm not entirely certain that what I'm writing is entirely correct.

Edit2:
Oh, and one more thing:
I just realized that you can combine ammo types (such as AP accushot, or hollow-point homing). When you do so, do you need to combine the cost for both ammo types?

[PhoenixFlame]

Yes, but only one selection from each type. (Normal and smart)

Remember railguns cannot fire smart ammo.

[Arhra]

Do not try to do the maths here: it does not add up. Equipment is pretty much finalised though.

Just putting up my nearly complete sheet for suggestions if there's anything glaringly stupid I've done or something I should possibly stick in before finalising skills.

[Geminex]

Yes, but only one selection from each type. (Normal and smart)

So what you're saying is, I can't have accu-homing, Armor-flaying, hollow-point, reactive zapping splash ammo? Curse you and your restrictive practices.

Remember railguns cannot fire smart ammo.

Nothing but AP and standard, right? Sucks a bit, but they're totally worth it.

And I won't post my notes on Daniel's bio, because they're not coherent. Lemme just sum them up.

Firstly, skills:
You seem to have alternated between factoring in too many CP and too few. It actually came out to too few, altogether so you need to spend, I think, around 30 more there, since you're at 370 right now, I think. Your networking is utterly screwed, though, I don't think "Immortality" or "graffitti" are valid networks.

Secondly, armor:
I do believe PF said we could only have one mod per armor. You have 3. Or did I miss something?

Thirdly, your muse's last 3 knowlege skills are at 50 instead of 40. I think that's a mistake?

Fourthly, you gave him Proximity Capsule (liquid thermite) ammo. That doesn't work in two ways, you can't combine proximity with anything, and you can't put anything but toxins into capsule ammo.

I think you're allright, otherwise. I'll go over it again tomorrow.

[Overcast]

You likely forgot to include my specialization skills. That comes up to exactly 30.

PF said we could only have one surface mod per armor. I logically went through and one thing is an attachment hive of repair nanobots, one surface cover of offensive response, and a shock resistance that is weaved into the fabric.

The Muse is a mistake, I'll cruise on it in a minute. As are the thermite rounds. Though I will note that capsule rounds can hold drugs, toxins, nanobugs, I don't see why they couldn't hold liquid thermite in there. I'll get rid of it though.

And your request to lower my moxie is denied. This is part of who he is and I refuse to part with it.

So is your request for him to change to a frontline position without the sniper rifle. That will be for NotSure, the toughness isn't so he can wade into combat and try to get suicidal shots off, it is so that if things go horribly wrong he doesn't get torn apart like wet paper.

As for networking, subcultures are allowed and I was waiting to see if PF would allow the ones I have.

[PhoenixFlame]

Immortals and graffitists? Sure, I don't see why not. One's probably a subculture of Ultimates, and the other Anarchists. Use the appropriate reps (@, most likely).

Gem: Yes, railguns with AP are still killsticks.

Accu-homing reactive hollowpoint reminds me of "Focused Afocal Pulse"

[krogothwolf]

Alright, fixed a little bit on this, Fixed my WT to match what it should be and added Respirocytes and medichines to my character to help survivability in vacuum and in general.

And Gem: NotSure has 60 DUR and 12 WT. It's not like he's a league behind Daniel in Toughness, plus he does have better armour and is generally faster. So it's not like he's a weakling when faced with the frontline enemy.

[Aerozord]

crap looking at everyones defence I hope my tactic of avoiding getting hit in the first place will work

[rapter200]

I hope avoiding combat at all costs will work, and if not Damian can easily get away from the thick of combat. He is one slippery mofo.

[PhoenixFlame]

Speaking of "Focused Afocal Pulse" what's everyone's opinions on me making 'ammo' (Lens) types for energy weapons, ala EVE-online to give pewpew something to play with so bangbang doesn't get all the fun?

Ideas include:
Focused: - damage, increased penetration (hi)
Afocal: -damage, -range, shotgun spread
Tetrahertz: +range, -damage
Infrared: Standard.
Visible: Visible lasers, in case you're into that, otherwise standard.
UV: +AP, -range
Multispec: +damage, +ammo cost

And modifications to make pulse weapons beam, and vice versa. Heat sinks for plasma rifles, since they can't use most of this.

I mean, we're of the consensus that they are terrible, otherwise.

[krogothwolf]

Uh, if you could go into more detail as I've never played EVE. Though I'm assuming that means you could alter your Beam type by applying a different lens, but it would still use the same ammo in the battery pack?

[PhoenixFlame]

Uh, if you could go into more detail as I've never played EVE. Though I'm assuming that means you could alter your Beam type by applying a different lens, but it would still use the same ammo in the battery pack?

Yeah. Basically your wavelength is determined by your lens which has effects on the beam, usually "Shorter range = Higher Damage" and vice-versa, but I have some esoteric ideas too. I know real lasers don't really work this way, but these are future lasers.

A bit like the T2 gleam and aurora lenses.

[krogothwolf]

I think it would add an interesting element to my ranged weapons so I'd be down with it, I don't know who else uses Beam Weapons though, didn't really check.

[Overcast]

Slammers(aka Bombers, Taggers, and Writers) are a collection of urban artists. They have members in just about every faction, but they are most concentrated in Socialites and Scum. Socialites tend to focus on the art itself and the Scum the risk of the action, but it is excelling at both that makes you famous. The idea is to put something beautiful somewhere you aren't supposed to be. Which typically requires that you have a little bit of combat skill when the hypercorp's security starts making you into swiss cheese. Many also publish their most dangerous infiltrations/assaults along with the art to put onto the Mesh.

Immortals have people in just about everything as well, but there is definitely a concentration in Argonauts and Ultimates. These are the people who chase, fight for, and research the future in the extension of life on the material plane. Within is the desire of not having to deal with the paranoia of saving and uploading your consciousness but being able to live in perfect peace with an indestructible physical form. Fame comes through proceeding the science, funding the science, or fighting those who would hinder them.

Exchanged proximity for Splash Homing(Liquid Thermite) for the pistol and Splash Accushot(Liquid Thermite) for the sniper because I really want the possibility of setting someone on unquenchable fire someday.

[Dracorion]

Ellen now carries dual heavy rail pistols. Because your mother.

Anyway, background:

Socialite bitchess. She contracted the Watts-Macleod strain while escaping Earth. Her father (now dead) was one of the founding members of the Nimbus corporation. Being his daughter doesn't get her any extra creds, but she did make it a point to learn how businesses work.

A while back, during a rare Jovian diplomatic trip to Mars, there was a minor scandal involving Ellen in an octomorph and three high-ranking members of the Junta, earning her a permanent black mark with that faction. Oh well.

You know the rest of her background (y'know, control over Earth Gate).

[Arhra]

Yeah, a few more options with beam weapons would be pretty nice.

Ellen now carries dual heavy rail pistols. Because your mother.
Just make sure the recoil won't tear her pretty little arm off.

Seriously, you don't screw with Sir Isaac Newton.

[Dracorion]

Since apparently we'll be in zero-G most of the time, she'll probably only be launched into the wall.

[krogothwolf]

Since apparently we'll be in zero-G most of the time, she'll probably only be launched into the wall.

It'd be like having her own propulsion system!

[Dracorion]

Give her a rail sniper rifle for faster than light travel!

No need to worry about surviving in space, that's what vacsuits are for.

[Geminex]

I mean, we're of the consensus that they are terrible, otherwise.


Indeed. Can we get some numbers, how are the lenses going to modify performance, exactly? I could always go beam weapons... Probably not, though.

And d'you know what else is terrible? The machine gun. Less AP than assault rifles, 50 ammo capacity. Really could use a fix, that. How about...


-8 AP; 2d10+8 DV

100 ammo, also come with smart magazines and extended ammo clip (for 200 ammo)

Cannot use any other attachments (other than lasersight)

Can use all ammo types, but cannot use suppressive fire unless using Standard, Hollow-point or AP armor

If user has less than 20 SOM, halve walking and runnig speeds

Cannot be fired while moving

Suffers a -20 modifier if fired while standing, -10 if crouching

If user standing or crouching, weapon cannot be aimed

User can spend a complex action "Emplacing"

Characters using an "emplaced" weapons are prone, and get "minor cover" bonuses (-10 to enemy ranged attack rolls). All their ranged attacks (including their suppressive fire) also get an additional +10. MG can also be aimed while emplaced.

An emplaced weapon cannot be moved, unless a complex action is spent to remobilize it.

Machine guns can use two kinds of suppressive fire: standard (uses 20 ammo/phase, 20m diameter) and heavy (uses 40 ammo/phase, 30 meter diameter, another +10 to attack rolls)

All enemies who are damaged by a machine gun's suppressive fire, must also make a WILLx2 save, or be forced to retreat behind cover, without being able to act.

---------------

How about that? It might be too strong, I don't know. But it'd actually give the MG a role in combat, namely suppression. And if you accept above proposals, I think you should also disallow the existence of rail machine guns.


You likely forgot to include my specialization skills. That comes up to exactly 30.
I actually did, but I don't think specializations count. Lemme check...
Yeah, it says you have to "purchase a minimum of 400 skill points". It says "skill points", so I don't think specializations count.

And your request to lower my moxie is denied. This is part of who he is and I refuse to part with it.
Ok, fair enough. Do whatever you want, it's your character. I shouldn't be trying to interfere, here.

So is your request for him to change to a frontline position without the sniper rifle. That will be for NotSure, the toughness isn't so he can wade into combat and try to get suicidal shots off, it is so that if things go horribly wrong he doesn't get torn apart like wet paper.
Here, on the other hand...
I sorta get what you're trying to do here, make a super-armored badass, who will never die, ever, and can still inflict great damage.

But see...

I've chosen a role for my character. Demolitions expert/infiltrator. I don't know what that role will involve, of course, but I don't think I'd be too wrong in assuming that, now and again, he'll be behind enemy lines, trying to kill a certain dude, or plant a certain bomb, trying to cause some sort of disruption to let the rest of you do your job. Cut off from the rest of my team, desperately trying to both complete my task, and survive. And I'm fine with that role, it'll be fun, and very, very effective.

But thing is, I am very aware that, should Spectre get spotted, or screw up, he is very, very likely to lose his morph. And I'm fine with that, too. Success of the team is paramount in this game, not sucess of the individual. What does it matter if he has to get a new morph afterwards, as long as we complete our mission? I'm quite willing to take a dangerous, role, because I know that said role will be highly effective, and I know that someone has to do it.

Whereas you, from what I can tell, don't really care how effective you are, as long as you don't die. And I mean, sure, self-preservation FTW!

But it annoys me, that I'm actually willing to take fairly large In-game risks for the good of the team (and I'm not the only one, Krogo's volunteered to be our solitary meatshield), while other team members' top priority is to make sure they don't die and lose their precious enhancements. D'you understand what I mean? And ok, so he has +immortality. But there's better methods of getting immortality, besides weakening your team by just not fullfilling role you could fullfill with comparatively minimal risk.

[krogothwolf]

Eh? I like Overcast's character actually. Long Ranged support is actually helpful to a meat shield. I'm the target he picks them off, and with his moxie that could actually make it easier. It also protects him from attacks and a sniper is a stationary target usually so even if he is far away he still needs to be protected. He's not weakening the team at all. One meat shield is fine in a game that involves a lot of long ranged battles. He keeps their head down as I move forward and they'll be trying to pick him off with their snipers.

You have to look at the bigger picture Gem.

Also, PC's aren't always team players mate.

[Overcast]

Krogo paints it rather well. Indeed it should be clear that my character is a Brinker who isn't used to doing things like this with anyone besides himself. The most transhuman interaction he usually participates in are keeping up with the Immortals and Slammers, and posting XP's of his most recent break in and masterpiece. All of this is on the Mesh.

So he usually doesn't go in with support from anyone, he has built up a way of working so that he can actually pull all of this off by himself. Convincing him that it is an awesome idea to suddenly change his ways, striking from afar with acute precision and moving in when it is perfectly safe but being prepared for when it all goes to shit, for something that would involve him getting shot. Often. And with his luck.

That will take more than just telling him to do so.

It is perfectly fine to be annoyed with him, but understand he isn't really out to please anyone other than himself. Maybe Firewall if they help his cause.

[Geminex]

Oh, I'm not saying that a sniper isn't useful. I'm saying that OC would be more useful as something other than sniper. See, amongst combat classes, I think there are two roles: Support and Assault.

Support are meant to stay out of harm's way, avoid taking damage, while disrupting the enemy's operations. They don't deal a lot of damge, usually, but what damage they do deal is very effective. An example of that would be Spectre. Spectre's a very heavy supporter. His infiltration allows him to move through combat unseen, attack the enemy from unexpected angles, gather intel, or eliminate the enemy's support units. Like I said, his infiltration skill is central to that, but so is his sniper rifle use, since attacking from long range will make him even harder to detect and avoid. Support units are the Chi.

Assault, they're not supposed to stay out of harm's way. They engage the enemy openly, they take the most fire and return the most fire, they assault and take enemy positions. NotSure (I vote that you make his in-game name NS and he refuses to tell what it stands for) is assault. He's capable of taking a significant amount of damage, and also dealing a lot of damge, at various ranges. Assault units are the Cheng.

"Engage with the Cheng, succeed with the Chi". That's Sun Tzu, for you, though quoted sloppily.

Anyway, like there you are. Support and Assault. And I think OC would be far better-suited to an assault role.

Mind you, I can't tell any of you what to do (I'm not your real dad, after all). If OC wants to go support, fair enough. The reason I got pissed off was that his justification wasn't: "I think I'd be more useful as a sniper", because I'd have been totally fine with that. His character, his choice.

But his argument was "I'm less likely to die as a sniper". He's specifically saying that his primary motivation for getting high survivability and going sniper (a definite support role) was the fact that he'd be less likely to die this way. And that annoyed me, because I set up my character for maximum effectivenes, and self-preservation was quite low on my list.

Edit: But I'm fine with OC's response. He says it's in-character for him to do that, ok. I'll continue my argumentation IC as well, though my low SAV is gonna make that difficult.

Edit2: And apologies for quoting Sun Tzu up there, I don't want to seem pretentious. But goddammit, never, ever imply that I don't see the big picture, or I will bury you in strategy until your brain disintegrates in the most allocatively efficient way possible, and game theory starts dripping from your ears.

[krogothwolf]

Support engages in combat as well you know Gem, they face dangers just like everyone else. The people we will engage will be able to match or exced what we can bring to bare. I know thinking of Super tough sniper doesn't seem normal you have to remember you not only have to build to survive in a team but also alone.

You have heard of heavy armoured crossbow men used around before right? They are heavily armoured to protect themselves even though they aren't really going to be fighting enemies up close and personal. They are so for max survivability in combat. Just because something doesn't jive with how you think it should be doesn't mean it's not how it should be. His build makes perfect sense for his character and his ambitions. It also does make sense tactically.

Also, I've seen enough rangers fall in DnD because they can't take punishment that I enjoy the idea of his long ranged pounder that can take the heat it can dish out.

[Geminex]

You have heard of heavy armoured crossbow men used around before right? They are heavily armoured to protect themselves even though they aren't really going to be fighting enemies up close and personal. They are so for max survivability in combat. Just because something doesn't jive with how you think it should be doesn't mean it's not how it should be. His build makes perfect sense for his character and his ambitions. It also does make sense tactically.
They are heavily armored because they expect to take a lot of damage. It makes sense, since enemies are going to be returning fire against them, they might even charge them. And besides, that's a strategic example. When you're talking whole armies, you need to readjust your thinking.

But see, snipers don't usually expect to take damage. Their long range means they can take positions that are difficult to assault, they can easily stay out of the enemy's range. They aren't in much danger, even with 10 nega-moxie. They need some protection, sure, but OC's character is made entirely to survive large amounts of damage. He specializes on survivability. So no, choosing sniper does not make sense tactically. That's the entire reason it doesn't "jive" with how I think it should be.

And support engages in a different kind of combat. The entire point of Chi is that they fight when it suits them. If they engage in combat, they will usually have a tactical advantage (that is to say, they're likely to win their engagement) and always a strategic advantage (even if they don't win, their engaging will help the entire army succeed).

Spectre will still fight, sure. But if everything goes well, the extent of his combat will be "Shoot someone in the back at point-blank range and run away before his comrades find out he's dead" or "Lie on a hilltop, under a camo-cloak half a mile away and snipe the enemy's medics". If I do it wrong he'll be in a situation where enemy assault units have a chance to hit him, where I've lost the initiative and come under unexpected attack. And that's when I'm in serious trouble. Whereas assault units, they'd be in trouble as well. But that's the kind of troube they're made to be in.

But like I said, before (in my edit), if this is a character-related thing, fine. I don't want to let tactics get in the way of good role-playing, I don't want to interfere in the way he designs his character. I'll just have Spectre bring it up at the earliest possible opportunity, in the RP, and we can continue our discussion then, IC.

[Dracorion]

Say Gem, where does Ellan rank? Support or Assault?

Answer seriously, please. Don't you go getting cheeky.

[Krylo]

"Lie on a hilltop, under a camo-cloak half a mile away and snipe the enemy's medics".

Someone didn't read the fluff section on habitats.

Edit: This is going to primarily be urban combat. There's not going to be any half-miles. It's going to be closed areas, for the most part. EVERYONE who plans on fighting should have decent armor and survivability. Hell, the first thing Lind is going to do when he gets conscripted by Nyx is try to get himself some decent armor, and I don't even plan on shooting at anyone/being shot at ever if I can help it.

None of us are safe from being shot at and it's completely silly/ridiculous to say that just because someone's a sniper or an infiltration person they shouldn't have decent armor. The armor incurs no penalties to sniping or sneaking, the only reason you wouldn't take said armor is because you can't afford it along with everything else you want with your character and are willing to take the risk until you can.|

Pro-Tip, read Lack. The story in the beginning. Note what happens to those characters that don't have armor. Even the ones that would normally not be in combat. Spoiler: Their heads get ripped off.

Edit 2: Well it won't be urban combat if we go to earth, but if we go to earth we're all dead anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

[Dracorion]

But armor will completely ruin Ellen's dress! That's... actually pretty much why she's not wearing any.

Maybe I'll get her an Invisibility Cloak or something.

[Krylo]

But armor will completely ruin Ellen's dress! That's... actually pretty much why she's not wearing any.

Maybe I'll get her an Invisibility Cloak or something.

Smart skin. Takes one action turn to deploy, and will basically double the armor values of your smart vac suit. Pretty much unnoticeable until deployed, too.

[Geminex]

She's not much of a combat class, is she?. The entire Support/Assault scheme only works for combat classes. If she does have to enter combat, her primary goal should be to leave combat again, before she gets hurt. I'd classify her as support, if combat's inavoidable, since she could probably disrupt the enemy's command structure, using disguise and impersonate. But she's more of a utility class.

Yeah. I'd divide classes into Utility/Combat, and divide Combat into Assault/Support. Every character has a bit of both, utility and combat, though the weighting varies.

I intended for Spectre's focus to be primarily ,combat, though now I come to think of it, he's fairly utilitarian as well, since infiltration and demolitions have a lot of uses out-of combat as well.

Ellen? She's highly utilitarian. If we need a high-level personality to see things our way, she's the one who'll be responsible for persuading them.

OC? Very combat-heavy, in a support role, though I maintain that he isn't efficient in said role. Though his piloting skills might also be useful.

Oh, and I have a question regarding capsule ammo:
Its price is that of 1 dose of payload, plus trivial for the bullet. But does that give us 100 bullets' worth of ammo?
Because it seems strange that one dose, spread across 100 bullets, would still have the full effect. What's up with that?

[Dracorion]

Actually, Ellen doesn't use Disguise or Impersonate. Can you imagine why?

What if I give Ellen some proper armor and give that Chameleon Coating? Actually, nah.

[Overcast]

Oh yeah forgot to add in the edit to Daniel after the situations that were pointed out. Pulled a pair of specialties(Verbal Intimidation and Running) switched the +10 bonus to any skill for the Brinker from Intimidate to Kinetics, pulled 10 points(20 CP) from Kinetics, then reapplied to Freerun and Intimidate(for removing their specialties, poor fellows) and my Networking skills.

That should even out the thirty I needed. Got myself confused along with Krylo that I needed to spend 400 CP, but I needed 400 skill points.

[rapter200]

Ok finally. Finale character sheet. I discovered that my CP spent on knowledge skills was below 300 by 85 points so I had to get rid of some moxie so I had to get rid of some moxie and a completely useless (for me at least) Networking skill F. Also Replaced my I skill with E, and gave I the E amount.

[Geminex]

None of us are safe from being shot at and it's completely silly/ridiculous to say that just because someone's a sniper or an infiltration person they shouldn't have decent armor. The armor incurs no penalties to sniping or sneaking, the only reason you wouldn't take said armor is because you can't afford it along with everything else you want with your character and are willing to take the risk until you can.|

I'm not saying that he shouldn't have heavy armor. Like you said, there's almost no downsides to being well-armored. But there's a difference between being well-protected (as, for example, spectre is), and being heavily focused on surviving. And pretty much all the planetary settlements (which, I assume, we will be spending a significant amount of time on) are long-range habitats. I don't know what our missions will involve, I don't have much experience with the game. But I know that, at the very least, the ability to engage the enemy at long range, without getting engaged in return, will at the very least increase survivability.

As for Lack, that was actually the very first thing I read. But the fact that it seemed like something of a suicide mission didn't encourage me to use it as a template. One thing I noticed, though, was that every team member had an allocated role. Unlike our team, at the moment.

And wait, looking at my bio, could I use smart-skin as well as the armor I have right now?

[Krylo]

As for Lack, that was actually the very first thing I read. But the fact that it seemed like something of a suicide mission didn't encourage me to use it as a template. One thing I noticed, though, was that every team member had an allocated role. Unlike our team, at the moment.
I looked at it as a "Well, they fucked up this mission. Why? For starters there hacker had no combat skills and no armor. Then instead of their two tankish characters going into cover last and providing distraction for the rest of the team, one charged in first where he couldn't actually help anyone, and the other failed to protect the hacker. They also failed to bring any thermobaric or plasmaburst weapons to deal with a nanoswarm, and, last, but not least, their secondary combat character (a synthmorph), failed to heed the warnings of their surviving techie."

It may or may not have been a suicide mission, but their team handled things poorly and it would totally be worth it to look at it and think of how things could have gone down differently had they handled things better. Looking at failed missions (even if the odds were shit in the first place) and figuring out why they failed is pretty standard spec. ops. training, really.

Also, it doesn't matter that OC's character is built to survive anything. You could be too. Without sacrificing much of anything from your infiltration abilities.

So could I with only minor sacrifices.

So could Ellen.

So could Rapter.

The only reason we aren't are in character issues. We aren't commandos, we don't attack secured facilities, and we aren't swordsmen. It wouldn't make sense for the hacker to have bothered getting a heavy bioweave implant, or the socialite to be rocking a full tactical combat helmet, and heavy body armor, it doesn't make sense for professor octopus to be trying to up his DUR as much as possible.

It totally does make sense for a commando to do all those things (well, maybe not the implants 'cause of the whole missing body thing, but still), regardless of whether they plan on getting shot at or not.

If you want to play your character a little closer to the edge, that's cool, but so long as Daniel is making a contribution to the team, there's really no reason for us to force him to change the role he's in.

Man, you are one of those WoW leaders who forces someone who doesn't even need whatever raid and hates healing to play it every night in a healer role just 'cause the other healer isn't quite as good, aren't you?

And wait, looking at my bio, could I use smart-skin as well as the armor I have right now?

Yeah, though come to think of it, I don't think smart clothing should stack with armor vest.

I think you've got a 'skin' layer (bioweaves, chameleon skin, etc.) a 'skin tight' layer (smart skin), and a 'clothing' layer (armor and clothes). I think that's what PF said.

[Geminex]

Man, you are one of those WoW leaders who forces someone who doesn't even need whatever raid and hates healing to play it every night in a healer role just 'cause the other healer isn't quite as good, aren't you?
God no. I don't play WoW, don't do any role-playing, other than text-based. Tell me, did you read my posts? Including the parts where I said that, if his choice is role-playing based, I wouldn't want to interfere? Yeah, lemme quote them for you:

But I'm fine with OC's response. He says it's in-character for him to do that, ok. I'll continue my argumentation IC as well, though my low SAV is gonna make that difficult.

But like I said, before (in my edit), if this is a character-related thing, fine. I don't want to let tactics get in the way of good role-playing, I don't want to interfere in the way he designs his character. I'll just have Spectre bring it up at the earliest possible opportunity, in the RP, and we can continue our discussion then, IC.

See? No fanaticism! I like efficiency, and I want us to be successful. From what I've gathered, this is a hard game, so I'm trying to coordinate us effectively. But ever since this discussion started I've been saying that, if this is character-related, I don't mind too much, and I didn't want to interfere OOC.

So yeah, I'm not trying to spoil the game for him, or make him do things my way. I'm making recommendations, and supporting those recommendations with arguments. My arguments were rebutted, so I challenged the rebuttals. I still maintain my point that he'd be more effective in a different roll, mind you, but I again emphasise that If That's Part Of His Characterisation, Fair Enough. I Do Not Want To Interfere With His Role-Playing. I Will Take This Up Again In-Character, When It Makes Sense For My Character To Be Mad At His Character For The Reasons I've Outlined.

Also this argument was a good excuse to show off my knowlege of The Art of War, because dammit, I spent 6 hours studying that book, I have to employ that knowlege somehow.

Also, it doesn't matter that OC's character is built to survive anything. You could be too. Without sacrificing much of anything from your infiltration abilities.
I question that. I mean, sure, I could get better armor, but 30 DUR is 30 DUR. I could switch my morph, of course, or get better implants, but that'd cost me as well. It's not too difficult to increase one's survivability, but OC's character isn't just "pretty hard to kill". The configuration he has is more or less the most survivable config he could have gotten. Hell, he even threw in an emergency farcaster! If anyone should risk danger, it's him.

And we can stack armor vests with clothing.

[Krylo]

The configuration he has is more or less the most survivable config he could have gotten.

Nah.

He's not a Fury Morph.

He'd have 75 DUR if he were.

He's also got light bioweave instead of heavy.

Pretty close, though!

Anyway, is everyone done shuffling around their skills and shit?

'cause I'm getting tired of checking sheets and I only want to do it one more time for everyone.

[krogothwolf]

I'm done, the most I'll do is trade in the Agonizer for credits! I'm just debating which is better, sword+agonizer or sword+laser pulser.

[Overcast]

I'm done. If there is any eventuality that I've missed I will have to deal with it in game. But I've run through this so many times that the only real changes I've been making were based on things you pointed out like the Rep.

Yeah I didn't take a Fury because I liked the Remade more, and I didn't take heavy bioweave because it dulls the sense of touch. Once again little things that are mostly character concept based, but nothing shocking.

Anyway effectively with Daniel they may have all survived. He could kill the first bot with no real trouble just like Sava. He can't hack, but hopefully Lind can help on that later. When the sawbots came out he would have set off the fire trap, but he wouldn't have panicked due to his endocrine control and high will and would have pulled out his heavy pistol and fired on the little creeps without any trouble at all. In the hallway he has the perception to spot the monowire before it cuts off his hand. And he even has some liquid thermite splash homing rounds for the cloud of nanites.

This is just Daniel being added to the situation.

Another note is his average damage rate from 2300 units away. With his rifle he can do two burst shots in one Complex Action. He has four per turn due to the fact he has four action phases when all his speed improvements are active. With a skill of 80+10+10 he chills at 99. With accushot he has no penalties for the distance. He can do from 2300 units away 26 damage minimum per Complex Action. 80 Maximum. Typical AP of -12, but he might also make a called shot to bypass armor or aim for someplace a bit more damaging. Per turn he can dole out 78 minimum, 240 Maximum and still have a complex action leftover to reload.

I think that serves just fine.

[Geminex]

With his rifle he can do two burst shots in one Complex Action
Nah, sniper rifle can only fire in semi auto mode.
That's the main reason I'd recommend an assault rifle instead. In fact, I might take assault rifle instead as well, hold that thought.

Also, how d'you have 4 speed? You don't have enhanced neurachem, do you? Just level 1. Gives you +1 speed. Add to that enhanced reflexes, gives you +2 in total. Where does the last +1 come from? I don't see any drugs.

In fact, lemme take a look at this...

would have pulled out his heavy pistol and fired on the little creeps without any trouble at all.
Heavy pistol. 24 rounds. If you're firing in semi-auto, that's 24 shots, I assume you'd get 12 kills, in total. 3 kills per turn. I'm guessing they'd overpower you, before you can reload.
No, what I'd do would've been to bring an assault rifle or SMG and lay down covering fire. You'd get a free attack against every target, I'm guessing that'd be a lot more effective than shooting them individually.

In the hallway he has the perception to spot the monowire before it cuts off his hand.

He has enhanced vision, I'll admit, but I'd put your chances at 50/50 at best. It's a single molecule, you'd have at least -30 in difficulty modifiers to spot it.


And he even has some liquid thermite splash homing rounds for the cloud of nanites.
PF, again: If we buy a dose of chemicals or toxins for use with splash or capsule rounds, is that enough for 100 rounds of ammo?

[Krylo]

Re: Daniel's Speed.

Last +1 comes from a kick gland.
---------------------

CHAR SHEETS:

OC: Fixed, all good.

Rapter: You only spent 925 CP. You have 75 left to spend.

Drac: You spent 21 too many CP. I think it's because you were adding background/faction skills at the end instead of at the beginning of your skill calcs.

Skills are done like so/In this order:

Faction/Background Bonuses + Base Aptitude + CP Up to 60 total skill + (CP added from 61-80 x 2) + Morph Bonus + Other Bonuses/Specializations.
Krogo: You only spent 390 on Active Skills. Your mistake was on your Beam Weapons skill. It takes only 35 to get to 60 from 25. Not 45.

You also only spent 975 CP. You have 25 left.

Gem: Fixed. All good.

[Krylo]

Aero: Same as last time, so still good.

Arhra: Jesus hurry up and finish.

Krylo: Lookin' Good, Buddy.

[Geminex]

You're too easy on Krylo. I never liked that bastard, him and his freaky skull. Besides, he's so inattentive. D'you know, he completely missed that fact that I had put 20 points into infosec? I was only 7 under. I could so have taken advantage of that. And then mocked him for it later. Because who does he think he is, being all selfless and checking our bios for us?

As for Spectre's bio, I think everything's fixed now. I reallocated some skills, decreased SAV, a bit. I still feel like too much of an all-rounder, actually, but I think I'm specialized enough for now.
Have you played this game before, by the way? Or is your apparent expertise just the result of your reading the manual?

I'll wait for PF to respond in response to my questions... I might change my weapons again, be warned (though you probably won't have to go over my bio again, it'll just be some credits moved around).

[Overcast]

Yep that'll kill it. Reduce from networking because the only skill I am going to be working that hard on is Kinetic Weapons. Counted up the total spent with your helpful recalculations and I should be on spot with the minimums.(Awkwardly I seemed to be down by 40 in my knowledge skills)

On the monowire, he has about the best chance as anyone to see it before it gets him.

Heavy Pistols for any odd reason or another still retain their ability to fire in fully automatic. Anything doable with the bigger and more difficult to conceal if the time comes assault rifle and submachine gun is possible with the Heavy Pistol.

[Geminex]

Heavy Pistols for any odd reason or another still retain their ability to fire in fully automatic. Anything doable with the bigger and more difficult to conceal if the time comes assault rifle and submachine gun is possible with the Heavy Pistol.
Not quite. You sacrifice range and damage, for one. For another, clip size. You can still fire in automatic, but you have 24 shots, at most (32 if you get smart magazines and extended magazines). Meaning you only have a few automatic bursts, and only one turns' worth of suppressive fire. Mind you, I'm a great fan of them, I'm using two! But I intend to get quick, close-range kills with them, not use them as primary weapons

SMGs and assault rifles don't have the above disadvantages. But I'm still thinking about assault rifles vs. sniper rifles. Lemme keep thinking about that, I wanna project a few different scenarios. This would be a lot easier if I had some experience already.

[Krylo]

You're both good now.

Now let your characters alone.


RE: PF wanting to know what we want to do.

Ideas: Dealing with Factor/Ecologene deals. Seems it could be shady and potentially dangerous for transhumanity.
Something dealing with going through one of the gates/exoplanets.
Helping the morningstar consortium resist the planetary consortium.
Dealing with Jovian/Autonomist (or anarchist) conflicts.
Dealing with exhuman assaults on transhumanity.

[Dracorion]

There, fixed. I added Smart skin. Krylo, you forgot to count the 50 cred cost from Biosculpting. Now I'm going to go on ahead and bask in the glory of your blunder.

RE: PF wanting to know what we want to do.

Ideas: Dealing with Factor/Ecologene deals. Seems it could be shady and potentially dangerous for transhumanity.
Something dealing with going through one of the gates/exoplanets.
Helping the morningstar consortium resist the planetary consortium.
Dealing with Jovian/Autonomist (or anarchist) conflicts.
Dealing with exhuman assaults on transhumanity.

I like the second one, because it aligns with Ellen's goals more. I will point out that Ellen's Black Mark with the Jovians isn't going to help negotations much if we do the fourth one.

[Geminex]

I like both the gate and the exhuman ideas.
But maybe have those a bit later?
I could totally imagine a string of missions, which pit us against the Gatekeeper Corp. and end with us storming a gate (the Pandora gate, I'm thinking) to destroy something that's being transported through, maybe a dormant TITAN artifact, or something of the sort. But that'd be after a few missions to find out about said threatening piece to technology.

As for the exhumanism, that'd involve a lot of Character development for Spectre, since he'd have to compare himself with said Exhuman foes, wonder if he's in the right camp, fighting for the right cause, all that sort of stuff. I'd prefer it if the first mission wasn't the one to give him existential qualms.

I'd like something that pits us against Hypercorps, I think. Also, I demand an opportunity to snipe at least one high-ranking enemy right through his cortical stack (I totally could, if I use some moxie), while Lind deletes all the backups he had.

[Arhra]

It's... it's a finalised character sheet!

I'll just leave my little maths notes in for the moment, and strip 'em out once it's been doublechecked.

I looked around a bit and it seems that skillsofts really can't exceed 40 (barring morph bonuses or what have you). On the plus side, it seems the points contributed by your attribute don't count towards the 100 point cap.

For adventures, I think the opportunity to travel a bit and meet interesting people is always a plus. A few people seem to want to look into an exo-planet, so perhaps we should look towards the inner system.

Most players seem to be lurking on the energy sparse outskirts of the system, so perhaps a sort of slow migration inwards?

[Overcast]

But you gain concealability. He just slides the thing into his skin pocket and then there is a -30 to any perception check to find it. You can't do that with any other kind of Firearm besides a pistol, and it is the biggest one he can grab.

He doesn't like to lose his guns.

The Exhumanists and the Immortals have a bit of a deal with each other...okay on matters of importance it is mostly just ideological clashing and not all out war. The Immortals aren't anti-human. To be honest the attempt to maintain a proper human psyche is something that is rather important because it is a platform that allows them to truly enjoy their immortality. So they want to pull all of transhumanity up with them, not destroy the remnants that don't follow them.

In the end similarities between the two just make them dislike each other.

So Exhumans seem interesting.

[krogothwolf]

Alright, Walla, I be done! Added the points where I felt like it, now all that's left is to actually make a name, though I was tempted to take take edit memories and have one of the things forgotten was his name. But meh, I'll figure a name eventually...maybe...it's almost like NotSure is stuck though now cause everytime I delete I just type it back in.

[Overcast]

Lunch allows further posting, so let's see...Venusians are also of interest to Daniel, this one closer to the Slammers. With free artistic expression, and a bit of competition with the Planetary consortium most Slammers out of the Venus atmosphere make their name off of hitting those folks.

Course if the conflicts started getting more heated he wouldn't mind really sticking it to them in a big way.

Connections to both subcultures gives him a nice dislike of the Jovians. He'd be willing to side along with either the Autonomists or Anarchists for that alone.

The Factors aren't that much of an interest to him and he doesn't have much to gain from the gates(fresh walls on an Exoplanet are a different story) but any mission would seem fine to him with a proper promise from Firewall of future favors. Strong friends are always good.

Also Krogo you should totally make him connected to vidgames in some way and that he changed his name to his Mesh persona. Or something like that.

[rapter200]

Ok finally done, spent that 75 CP on money and bought stuff with it so as not to screw anything up.

[Dracorion]

You know, looking back, maybe I should go with Hypercorps as Ellen's faction instead.

... nah, I couldn't do that to Krylo.

[PhoenixFlame]

Everyone done yet? I still need to balance my lens ideas agaisnt each other and alternatives, so that may take a little research. Expect them to appear as new technology early in.

[Arhra]

Done like a nun!

[Dracorion]

Yeah, provided Krylo doesn't find anything else wrong, I'm done. Probably. I there's still a small chance I'll decide to change Ellen to Hypercorps for the hell of it.

Or just fuck it all to hell and make a Fury.

I'll try to resist the urge to do so until we start, I promise!

[Aerozord]

sheet is done, bio I'm still perfecting, but will basically be what I posted before

[Overcast]

Finished for sure, no more money to spend, no more skills to edit, and too damn stubborn to change anything else.

[Geminex]

Too damn stubborn
You can say that again.
Ok, sorry.

I'm still doing the maths on sniper rifle vs. Assault rifle, but against a single target, I think the sniper rifle takes the prize. Oh, and I just PMed PF with some questions, among them being:

If you buy one dose of payload, will that be enough for 100 bullets? Or just one? Say, I'm buying capsule ammunition and Twitch to use it with. I pay trivial (50) for the ammo, and low (250) for the payload. 300 in total. Is that enough to get me 100 bullets' worth?

Reply was:
Splash payload are 1-per, as the doses themselves are costed per their dosage. It makes buying splash rounds kinda awkward, since you end up with 99 spare ones, but that's neither here nor there.

Meaning that, if you pay for one dose's worth of chemicals, you only get one round of splash/capsule ammo. You might wanna factor that into your ammo choice, OC.

[Overcast]

I was wrong I guess. Change off to a grand variety of less than lethal ammunition to change the place of Neuropath. And proxy ammunition for anti-nano effects.

[Geminex]

Ok, here we go. My treatsie on assault rile vs. sniper rifle ends with the sniper rifle as the clear winner... I haven't put down my calculations (I made them mostly in my head and on the train) but I think they're correct. And to preempt Krylo's comment, yes, I did spend too much time on this. Role-Playing Games Are Serious Business. I've also edited my ammo a bit, spent some more money. I think hollow-point homing should be our primary ammo, with armor-piercing reactive homing as our secondary against high-armor enemies. Biter is nice, but we lose the ability to use it with a homing round, and the +10 to attack roles could really help us...

[Krylo]

God damnit Gem, I swear to god if there is one mistake on that sheet.

EVERYONE IS DONE AND CORRECT EXCEPT FOR YOU NOW BECAUSE YOU HAD TO DICK AROUND WITH YOUR CHARACTER AGAIN!

I WAS JUST ABOUT TO MAKE THE NEW ALL CHARSHEETS POST GIVING EVERYONE THE GO AHEAD!

AND IT WASN'T EVEN TO CHANGE YOUR PRIMARY WEAPON WHICH WOULD BE UNDERSTANDABLE!

[Geminex]

OH YEAH WELL WE'LL SEE WHO'S MORE AWESOME WHEN I SAVE LIND'S PASTY ASS WITH MY HOMING HOLLOW-POINT AMMO.
IT'LL BE ME.

AND BESIDES, THAT'S ONLY LIKE THE THIRD TIME I'VE MADE CHANGES. AND THEY WEREN'T EVEN MAJOR THIS TIME, I'M JUST BUYING SOME AMMO WITH MY STARTING CREDITS. JUST LET IT GO, MAN.
LET IT GO.

[Geminex]

You are now a VERY SLIGHTLY worse writer.

http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q233/eppohk/No-Darth_Vader.jpg

Ok, but I'm done now. I'll never edit the sheet again, ever.
Unless I really, really want to.

So, what've we got now?
We've got a pilot, sorta.
We've got an infiltrator.
We've got 3 combat specialists. (Two of which are snipers, but still, that's effective)
We've got 2 hackers.
We've got an engineer.
We've got a prostitute negotiator.
We've got an academic.
We have a demoman.
We've got... 2? psi users.

The only things I'm worried about is that
a) OC doesn't have many points in piloting, meaning that's a last-resort option, rather than something we can rely on
b) We don't have much in terms of indirect fire, nor do we have anyone who can provide automatic/suppressive fire
c) Scrounging might've been useful, but I think nobody got that, did they? Still we can do without it, probably

We should be allright, though.

[Krylo]

HEY GEM DON'T DOUBLE POST!

Also, good news, I apparently over charged you one point of perception, and you had 1600 credits left when I said that, so by knocking you down to 600 credits and charging you properly for perception everything is fixed.

Woulda still taken your writing out of spite but it would have put you at 298 knowledge skills and we can't do that.

ALSO, OC, you were SLIGHTLY over, and had 399 points in active skills. I randomly chose an active skill, which was unarmed, because I was lazy and it was where I was looking and put one point into it. I then took the overage out of Interest: Old Earth Music, as it seemed to be a thing you just grabbed to expunge points. If that is ok, cool. If not, uh, I GUESS you can do stuff. Though I might cry if I have to edit it again.

EVERYONE ELSE IT IS GOOD.

[Krylo]

ALSO, we have, for characters:

Octopus scholar person thing I dunno: No idea.
Heavily Armored Gun/Sniper Person: Graffiti artist. Can't remember the backstory off the top of my head.
Whore: Daddy owned a hypercorp. She doesn't. Also apparently something to do with the juntas and some octomorph or something. Kind of a manipulative bitch.
Astroboy: Saves the day when evil robots attack in his underoos.
Super psychic hacker: Born on earth, parents died, got Watts MacLeod, fled hypercorp space to live on a scum barge. Good natured kid. Maybe doesn't take things as seriously as he should.
Swordsman pilot guy with lasers: DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A NAME MUCH LESS A PERSONALITY.
Some dick with a sniper rifle: Kidnapped by AGIs and forced to do their TERRIBLE BIDDING. Wants his body back. Kinda inhuman. Doesn't like sex.
And a ridiculous utility guy whom can make anything with a nanofabricator: No backstory yet.

Edit: Krogo has scrounging at 50ish, and piloting at 80 after morph bonus.

[Geminex]

Allright, excellent. So we have a getaway driver.
And, I just realized, with Homing rounds, we can totally provide indirect fire as well. We have an excessive amount of hackers, but that's fine. I'm guessing we can use a lot of hackers.

So, all that I have to worry about are our lack of automatic fire, and, I just realized, our lack of anyone with gunnery. I mean, sure, I don't think it's likely that we'll come across a situation where we get artillery/missile launchers, but goddammit, can you imagine how awesome that'd be?
Other than that, I'm done bitching. For today.

Back to discussing our first mission, did we come up with any super-awesome idea? I liked the suggestion (was it Arha?) that we could start with something in the outer ring, and work our way in through the solar system.

[Arhra]

Getaway pilot?

That's... that's not how it works.

Since we're getting all the character sheets in one spot, why don't we get everyone's character summaries? You know, quick background and just an overview of what they're like and what they do.

Afraid I have to check a few details with PF before I can finalise the backstory I have in mind though.

[Krylo]

Tyrfing (Arhra) has Gunnery. Not a LOT of gunnery. Only 33 points.

But, still, gunnery.

And that is the last you will hear from me today because it is 9 am and I haven't slept.

EDIT GOD FINE ARHRA

EDIT 2 What I can remember of the backstories is now summarized in the collection posts as well.

[Dracorion]

Anyway, background:

Socialite bitchess. She contracted the Watts-Macleod strain while escaping Earth. WATTS-MACLEOD IS SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED. Her father (now dead) was one of the founding members of the Nimbus corporation. Being his daughter doesn't get her any extra creds, but she did make it a point to learn how businesses work.

A while back, during a rare Jovian diplomatic trip to Mars, there was a minor scandal involving Ellen in an octomorph and three high-ranking members of the Junta, earning her a permanent black mark with that faction. Oh well.

You know the rest of her background (control over Earth Gate).

Ellen is the face. Personally, I like to think that she can convince anyone to do anything, but I haven't checked the validity of that claim.

[PhoenixFlame]

Did anyone take seekers?

Oh well. Only the most versatile weapon type in the universe.

Okay, so if everyone's done, I'll take one last tally on "Where do you want to start", and then we can get started.

[krogothwolf]

Swordsman pilot guy with lasers: DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A NAME MUCH LESS A PERSONALITY.

He'll have a personality! It's a cardboard box!

We should probably start a new thread an actually post the back story's there as I can't even remember where everyone's was. And there are a lot, A LOT of post in this damn thread already.

Edit: Background and Name for grumpy Krylo! I hope this makes sense.
NelSon. Goes around calling himself NS as he's loathe in giving out his real name in fear of his enemy, SamSon, tracking him down.

NelSon is from a group of scavengers who go around scrounging and looting derelicts and battlegrounds in the hopes of finding things that are worthwhile. The only real contact he had with anyone other then the scavengers he lived with where the select few individuals they sold their goods they found to.

It was on one of these missions that he found an ancient sword, and upon discovering the heirloom he became obsessed with learning how to master the blade.

He was also plagued with a wanderlust problem, forever exploring things beyond the time, and more then once did the group have to stay behind waiting for him to return. It was due to this wanderlust that he left, as he felt a compulsion to explore more of the universe then he would with the scavengers.

His feud with SamSon, a scavenger from another is due to recovering an item that SamSon believed rightfully his, NelSon did not wish to relinquish the item and SamSon took it as if Nelson has stolen it from him, and did attack NelSon, but was soundly beaten and even lost his moprh. Though NelSon does contend that he saw it first so it’s his and he was just defending himself, that has not prevent SamSon from trying to exact Vengeance.

[Dracorion]

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/posindustries/facepalm/combo.gif

[Overcast]

I was going to take seekers but I just couldn't tie it in with the way Daniel is. I mean I just kept seeing him with a rocket launcher over and over again...and while I could build someone on the image that kept popping up it was definitely not him.

Bio-short shot for Krylo. Born on Earth. Barely made the cut for immortality. Didn't survive the Fall. Got saved by reclaimers. Got Sold. Got resleeved by unknown creeps. Pretty much has been douching around the systems since then.

[krogothwolf]

http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o159/posindustries/facepalm/combo.gif

What?

[Aerozord]

Krylo, you posted my old not good character sheet, instead of my current approved sheet

[Krylo]

What?
If you have to ask you'll never know.
Krylo, you posted my old not good character sheet, instead of my current approved sheet
Edit:

Meeeh, reuploaded.

[krogothwolf]

Well, I was just wondering what he facepalmed to. Is the backstory off? I did it fairly quickly at work just to appease you people whining about it. I was going to do a better one later.

[Krylo]

Is the backstory off?

If you have to ask you'll never know..

[Dracorion]

Goddamn, krogo.

Just... wow.

[PhoenixFlame]

*Tactical Facepalm*

For when a regular facepalm just isn't enough.

Also: Please tell me you never intend to walk down the promenade of a habitat wearing a plasma rifle, an SMG-sized pulse laser, a microwave pain pistol, and a pair of swords at the same time?

[Overcast]

I'm changing Daniel entirely to a teleoperating pilot infomorph who's clanking masses all use seekers and need to know how much a ship with a neutrino transmitter costs.

Nah I kid, but I believe I am trying to do something to get my mind off of...well I shouldn't talk about it. Draws attention to it.

[krogothwolf]

Whatever, I'm confused and I don't get what you're "facepalming" about, because it looked like it had to do with my post. It doesn't mean you all have to be jerks about it.

What? It'd be bad to walk down a promenade as a walking tank?

[PhoenixFlame]

What? It'd be bad to walk down a promenade as a walking tank?

Walk into a mall one day with a rifle, two katanas, an uzi, and a tazer. See how people react to you.

Edit: On that note, I apologise. I honestly thought you were screwing with me and being sarcastic with that post.

This is post singularity. Items are cheap. The only scavenging is for raws or for data or genuine earth artifacts.

[Krylo]

Whatever, I'm confused and I don't get what you're "facepalming" about, because it looked like it had to do with my post. It doesn't mean you all have to be jerks about it.

What? It'd be bad to walk down a promenade as a walking tank?

You now have no backstory until you read the fluff section.

Also, suggestion, instead of going with "I found a sword and it was cool so I decided to master it" how about "The resurgence of dueling to the 'death' that accompanied transhumanity's ascension to immortality caught my interest"?

[Aerozord]

speaking of what we are carrying, my only request is its a place where I can carry my nanofabrication toolkit. Also how exactly is it noticable that I am a AI, Nearest I can tell its only noticable if they background check me, or can deduce it from my poor social graces

[Krylo]

Also how exactly is it noticable that I am a AI, Nearest I can tell its only noticable if they background check me, or can deduce it from my poor social graces

Yes.

[krogothwolf]

Walk into a mall one day with a rifle, two katanas, an uzi, and a tazer. See how people react to you.

I was being sarcastic, plus it's a sword and a vibroblade.

And I also admitted earlier I just did it quickly cause you were starting to bug me about the Name and crap so it wasn't 1exactly thought out. I read the fluff, I just never re-read it again for creating my back story.

I have a 4 month old kid teething right now that isn't really letting me sleep to much so my brain is out to lunch sometimes.

Edit: The first part of the post was being serious, the second was sarcastic PF, just because I may be confused and brain dead right now, I'm not completely stupid.

[Krylo]

And I also admitted earlier I just did it quickly cause you were starting to bug me about the Name and crap

Was just screwin' with ya man.

Calm down.

Edit: Also, I hear good strong alcohol is good for toothing pains.

Both for you AND the baby.

[krogothwolf]

Sorry, I know. the lack of sleep is making me antsy. Sorry. I really do have a better back story I'm working on at home. I was just being lazy today and posted that out of annoyance. I am sorry for being pissy though.

Sorry, cranky first time father.

I did always figure we'd be storing big weapons, like sniper rilfes and such in the ship/whatever when in a habitat and that is why the vibroblade and micro though I was still wondering what penalties, if there are penalties, you get for wielding a Pulser in 1 hand, cause then I probably would get ride of the agonizer.

[Dracorion]

Okay, so if everyone's done, I'll take one last tally on "Where do you want to start", and then we can get started.

So how about this? Krylo, can we get a short description on your ideas?

Also, I believe Arhra suggested that we work out way from the outside in through the solar system, though how that would work I have no idea.

[Krylo]

I want to start as a space whale swimming in the Corona of the sun.

[Aerozord]

...so is pot manditory for GMing this game, or just strongly suggested?

[Overcast]

Dammit why can't deja vu ever tell me anything useful.

Anyway, PF said they were two handed weapons by selectively quoting my misconception. So using a Pulser in one hand would give you a -20 in usage.

Pot is not a mandate, nor does it really help. But Heroin, that'll kick your creativity.

[Krylo]

...so is pot manditory for GMing this game, or just strongly suggested?

Yes.

SURYAS AND SALAMANDERS (CORONAL MORPHS)
Perhaps an example of transhumanity’s most extreme neogenetic creations are the morphs adapted to live in the sun’s corona. Suryas, named after a Hindu sun deity, are large, whale-like, and uniquely adapted to dwell in the brilliant, superheated plasma cloud of the sun’s outermost layer. Each surya is like a miniature version of a circumsolar habitat. Their metabolisms generate powerful magnetic  fields that shield them from the sun’s heat and radiation, while acting as magnetic sails and scoops by which they sail on the currents of the solar wind and extract elements carried on it. Suryas are protected by layers of liquid water “blubber” that capture harmful ions, which internal medichines extract and eject, while maintaining useful elements such as oxygen and hydrogen, from which more water can be synthesized. They communicate using patterns of dark and light coloration on their exterior skins and are extremely sensitive to the helioseismic soundwaves that are the sun’s pulse, using these vibrations to predict and avoid heavy weather in the coronal atmosphere.

[PhoenixFlame]

...so is pot manditory for GMing this game, or just strongly suggested?

I actually do the melange for this.

Starting out-system and working your way in is good... I might give you an antimatter courier for that so you don't have to farcast.

As for the previous posts, I'll simply ignore it.

[Geminex]

...
Ok, who actually created said space-whales? I mean, I don't think they involved independently...

So where in the universe is the sick, sick mind that decided: Hey. Let's create whales.
...
IN SPACE.

Oh, and question:
I have a poison gland (Twitch, at the moment, though I miiiiiight consider changing that to Inhibitor).
The poison gland description said that I can secrete poison from my mouth.
Could I simply secrete a lot, and then spit it out, into a vessel, and then use that poison for other purposes? In other words, could I use secretion to actually produce a dose of poison every, say, 12 hours? Because that'd be quite helpful.

[PhoenixFlame]

You can indeed milk yourself for venom.

Sort of like using a nanohive to load nanoswarm payloads. Annnnd since there are no rules for it, we'll use those!

[Geminex]

Awesome. And poison glands are always "low" in cost, no matter what drug they produce?

In that case, Krylo, please note that I would like to change the venom produced by my gland to "Inhibitor", the psi-drug. We don't need to edit the sheet, I won't forget. And, I'm sure, neither will you.

[Krylo]

...
Ok, who actually created said space-whales? I mean, I don't think they involved independently...

So where in the universe is the sick, sick mind that decided: Hey. Let's create whales.
...
IN SPACE.Apparently Hindu sun scientists. They exist, along with the salamanders, to help research sol and develop better solar power collectors and other such technologies.


In that case, Krylo, please note that I would like to change the venom produced by my gland to "Inhibitor", the psi-drug.

So long as you promise not to use it on me.

[Dracorion]

Hey, fuck you Krylo! If he doesn't use it on you, he's going to be using it on me!

So yeah, use it on him! Him! Much juicier target!

[Krylo]

Hey, fuck you Krylo! If he doesn't use it on you, he's going to be using it on me!

So yeah, use it on him! Him! Much juicier target!

But if he uses it on you, you still get to use all your skills and be the face. Just kind of a dopey glazed over stupid face.

If he uses it on me all my primary skills get heavily cut by the COG loss, and--unless I resist--I can no longer hack at light speed, meaning no more combat hacking.

ALSO, I'm guessing he actually plans to fill his capsule bullets with it.

In which case I would suggest he change that plan 'cause asyncs comprise .001% of the transhuman population. The chances of us running into asyncs often enough to justify using an entire gland on something that only works on them is so small that the idea is pretty pointless (assuming Ellen behaves).

Also, most people don't even know about asyncs. One might argue that someone like Lind wouldn't even know that he's an async, himself, using the abilities without truly understanding them (all of his are pretty passive, after all). Though he'd know SOMETHING weird happened to him.

[Dracorion]

Yeah but, see, I have absolutely no idea if Ellen's going to behave!

Also, Ellen's skills are shit and you know it.

I swear, sometimes I really really want to replace Ellen for the Fury catgirl I've been working on. Not that I'm replacing Ellen for a Fury, it's just that I needed something related to the game to distract me from making any changes to Ellen, so I started working on a Fury. The side effect being that I sometimes want to replace Ellen.

I'm definitely sticking with Ellen, though.

[Geminex]

Yeah, I was gonna go for capsule bullets. Primarily because I was reading through the chapter on Psi Gamma sleights, and just went "fuck that, get out of my mind!"

The gland only costs me 250, that's affordable. And twitch wouldn't be that super-useful either, I think.

I'll think about it, again.

[Krylo]

Yeah, I was gonna go for capsule bullets. Primarily because I was reading through the chapter on Psi Gamma sleights, and just went "fuck that, get out of my mind!"All the good ones require them to touch you.

If they're dead before they get that close, it's not a problem!

[Dracorion]

Except Gem's character isn't going to know who's a Psi, so Ellen could just walk up to him, casually lay a hand on him and just keep pumping suggestions into 'im!

You know, until the strain kills her.

[Krylo]

Well I wasn't talking about Ellen. I thought Gem was worried about hostile Asyncs, as opposed to potential TKers.

Only need one dose for a potential TKer.

[PhoenixFlame]

Awesome. And poison glands are always "low" in cost, no matter what drug they produce?

Erratta pegs them at one cost level above the drug cost.

Expensive drugs cannot be synthesised.

Edit: If you DID take inhibitor, I'd consider a different delivery mechanism. Most people are suspicious when someone looks at you funny, and you pull out a gun and shoot them.

[krogothwolf]

So, this is the actual one I was working on for the Backstory. I'm a little confused about what kind of economics he should be working with, it sounds like it should be old one, but I could be wrong. If I messed something up with the fluff let me know, I tend to miss things or forget things when reading.


Name: Desmond

Desmond is from an area in the far reaches of the system due to being exiled. Why he was exile he will never tell the whole truth. Was it a crime? Beliefs? Jealous Rival? Running from someone? Sure he gives stories about it, but each and every time he tells the story of why he was exiled it changes significantly. During his exile period he drifted from habitat to habitat taking up odd jobs for a while before moving on fairly quickly, a wanderlust coming over him if he stayed in a place to long. He has a strong desire to explore areas. Usually he works for scavengers as he finds the work, though not really rewarding as he found very little worth anything, at least enjoyable.

Another reason why Desmond travels frequently is he is greedy, taking on a new job in hoping to strike it rich, so to speak, he would love nothing more than being able to travel on his own spaceship and getting whatever he pleased. The only problem is, he never really strikes it remotely decent, he tends to get the raw end of the deal so his desire to leave only intensifies. Usually after a bit with one crew he finds another hiring to go elsewhere hoping his luck would change there. He does find it easy enough to get employment due to his physical abilities and skills. Plus he also made a fairly decent bodyguard for the crew in case of trouble.

Though greed and exploration are the keys to what he desires to do, the next thing is his desire to become a master of the sword. He was a noted duellist before getting exiled, and even engaged in some during it. He has yet to lose one since being exiled, but those who know him at least somewhat do know he lost at them beforehand, some even feel a duel was one of the reason he was exiled, but he is loathe to truly talk of it.

He is also noted to be nervous around dark shadowy areas, casting worrying glances around when in those areas, for one such as himself it is a weird thing to see. Whenever he is in those situations, he is acting as if there was something there, waiting to attack him. Though others don’t understand why, the reason for this is Desmond made an enemy before his exile and is fearful the man may chance him down, even here in the outer system.

[Krylo]

Outer system is mostly new economy with a good amount of transitional economies, while the inner system is mostly transitional economies. The only real old economies are the Junta and a few out of the way habitats.

[Geminex]

Erratta pegs them at one cost level above the drug cost.
Wait, what? Where'd it say that? I don't contest that, but Krylo, did you factor that into the character sheets?
Because, as my sheet is now, I'm only paying 250 for my poison gland. But if it costs one category more than the drug, then it'd cost me a full thousand (since Twitch is low, it'd be raised to moderate).
That's not a problem, I can just refrain from getting that dose of Kick, to deal with that.

But, say, OC has a Kick gland. That'd cost him 5000, then, wouldn't it? (since kick is moderate, one level higher is high, is 5000).
...
We're gonna have to re-edit the character sheets, aren't we?

Edit:
Most people are suspicious when someone looks at you funny, and you pull out a gun and shoot them.
Hey, it works IRL!

[Krylo]

Wait, what? Where'd it say that? In the Errata which...

I don't contest that, but Krylo, did you factor that into the character sheets?I wasn't aware we were using.

I'll wait for PF to say whether it's ok to roll with the 250 prices for char. creation, before worrying about reworking any sheets that use glands (you still couldn't take inhibitor though, 'cause expensive = non-synthable).

I'd also link the errata but I doubt we'll be using all of it, as some of it is terrible, and some of it is to fix issues PF already home brewed.

[PhoenixFlame]

Yeah, Arhra showed the erratta sheet to me earlier, and admittantly it stops kick glands from being strictly superior to neruachem.

Well fine! We're using it now. At least that part, anyway.

[Krylo]

Well fine! We're using it now. At least that part, anyway.

WELP!

Gimme a little bit. This should only take a minute, and will only be a 1 or 2 CP change for most people. I can probably fix it without even needing you all to go back through it, in most cases.

[Dracorion]

Looking at Ellen's sheet, she doesn't seem to have any leftover credits.

Krylo, can you give Ellen like 3-5k creds to start with when you're fixing her?

[krogothwolf]

How does the enemy thing work, do I create the reason he hates me or do you do that?

[Geminex]

Like I said, remove my dose of kick in return for the gland.

And what does Ellen need money for? If we're starting in the outer systems, starting money won't be very useful, I'd imagine. That's why I only have 200.

[Dracorion]

Right. Well, screw money then.

[Krylo]

CHANGES:

MOST PEOPLE: Either didn't have glands or had enough left over money to cover it.

OVERCAST: Dropped your Old Earth Music Interest to pay for it. Edit: Not completely. Just lost some points.

GEM: Dropped kick, added 250 credits to you (the difference between a 750 increase to cost from 250 to 1000, and the 1000 you got back from dropping your kick gland).

[Krylo]

Second post just to get all sheets up again in one place.

Edit: Drac, Ellen had like 6000-7000 credits left. You put them in the sheet so I calculated them in when I was doing CP. She still has 5.3k left after updating her glands.

[Overcast]

Okaaaay, I was staring at my skills and calculating by total quantity of skill points bought with CP I am running on 287 for Knowledge. In Active I am running on 430. So I am under on that one. Keeping with the total CP spent edits to pay for my kick I believe I would dunce my Intimidate down to 50, and my two Networking Skills to 60, bump my Cantonese to 60, and dump the rest in Old Earth Music.

This is if my numbers are correct.

[Krylo]

Okaaaay, I was staring at my skills and calculating by total quantity of skill points bought with CP I am running on 287 for Knowledge. In Active I am running on 430. So I am under on that one. Keeping with the total CP spent edits to pay for my kick I believe I would dunce my Intimidate down to 50, and my two Networking Skills to 60, bump my Cantonese to 60, and dump the rest in Old Earth Music.

This is if my numbers are correct.

I'm gettin' 307 (after taking from earth music) for knowledge?

[Overcast]

Let's see. Considering English counts for nothing since it is automatically 81 we have...

Academics: Weapon Mechanics. Bought 49 points.
Art: Graffiti. Bought 69 points.
~118
Interest: Gambling. Bought 49 points.
~167
Interest: Old Earth Music. Bought 27 points.
~194
Language: Cantonese. Bought 44 points.
~238
Profession: Tactician. Bought 49 points.
~287

How does your math differ?

EDIT: Wait I already know, you are counting Graffiti for a full 89, the CP spent, instead of 69, the Skill Points bought.

[Krylo]

EDIT: Wait I already know, you are counting Graffiti for a full 89, the CP spent, instead of 69, the Skill Points bought.

I understand the words in this sentence but they make no sense. The book refers to the CP set aside specifically for skills as skill points at some places, but they are still CP.

You get 1000 CP
400 CP must be spent on Active skills
300 CP must be spent on Knowledge skills

Those 700 CP are occasionally referred to as skill points. They note that this is supposed to be corrected (always calling them CP) in the errata, as well.

So there's no difference between CP and Skill Points and so I'm not sure what you're talking about?

[Overcast]

I was talking about the total increase in the skill value that was bought, which was what I gathered was what skill points meant.

Like up to 60, 1 skill point costs 1 CP point. But after 60(like for Daniel in Graffiti and Kinetic Weapons) 1 skill point costs 2 CP points.

[Krylo]

I was talking about the total increase in the skill value that was bought, which was what I gathered was what skill points meant.

Like up to 60, 1 skill point costs 1 CP point. But after 60(like for Daniel in Graffiti and Kinetic Weapons) 1 skill point costs 2 CP points.

Ah yes. Indeed I am doing that then.

Which is how it should be done and your character is fine.

[Overcast]

Right on, another small section completed in the laundry list to startup.

[Krylo]

As for where we start, I can't really say I have a strong preference.

I'd like to do something with the Factors eventually as they really interest me (and I don't trust them), or the Ikoma and how they got wiped out and what not.

However, I'm open for most anything, and as for Lind he's not really the type to have a strong preference for WHERE to protect transhumanity either. I'm guessing firewall would approach him for his skills, and he'd basically be ok for going wherever they sent him. He's a pretty nice guy and will probably just do whatever's asked of him and not make a fuss about it, so long as it's not too morally grey/black... and he can be convinced it's for transhumanity's protection/good and/or he's being compensated fairly.

[Geminex]

Ah yes. Indeed I am doing that then.

Which is how it should be done and your character is fine.
Wait, but that's not what we've been doing so far, is it?
So far we (or, anyway, I) have been going "buy 400/300 CP's worth of skill points".
Whereas now it turns out it should have been "buy 400/300 skill points"?

Wouldn't that mean that we all have to edit our bios again, redistribute our skill points?
I don't want to, mind you, I'd prefer to keep going "buy 400/300 CP's worth of skill points", but we need to use a consistent rule don't we?

[Krylo]

Wait, but that's not what we've been doing so far, is it?
So far we (or, anyway, I) have been going "buy 400/300 CP's worth of skill points".
Whereas now it turns out it should have been "buy 400/300 skill points"?

Wouldn't that mean that we all have to edit our bios again, redistribute our skill points?
I don't want to, mind you, I'd prefer to keep going "buy 400/300 CP's worth of skill points", but we need to use a consistent rule don't we?

Gem, CP and SP are exactly the same thing. It's just some errors in the book (from previous versions apparently) that give them different names depending on which section you are looking at. And what caused OC some confusion (in apparently thinking that 61-80 was 2 CP for 1 SP, and that he had to spend 300 SP in knowledge skills, instead of 300 CP, where in reality, 300CP = 300SP.)

If you spent 400/300 SP you spent 400/300 CP (and vice versa).


Out of the 1000 CP you get at the start, you must spend 400/300 on active/knowledge skills.

It is exactly what we have been doing from the start.

Edit:
Errata:

p. 136, Learned Skills
Change the first sentence to:
“Each character must purchase a minimum of 400 CP of Active skills and 300 CP of Knowledge skills (see Skills, p. 170).”

p. 137, CharacterCreation example, 2nd column
The fourth paragraph should end with “... leaving her with 40 CP left to spend.”
The first two sentences of the fifth paragraph should read: “Looking back at her skills, she decides to raise her Pilot: Spacecraft from 50 to 65. It costs her 10 CP to raise the skill to 60, and another 10 CP to raise it from 60 to 65, for a total cost of 20 CP.”

p. 130, Step-by-Step Guide
Under 5b, change “400 skill points” to “400 CP”
Under 5c, change “300 skill points” to “300 CP”

p. 390, Character Creation Summary
Under 5b, change “400 skill points” to “400 CP”
Under 5c, change “300 skill points” to “300 CP”

[Overcast]

No one should trust the Factors. The fact that they are aliens, they represent a collective of other aliens, and didn't bother to do anything with us until we were post almost-fucking-killed-ourselves just makes them a fount of suspicion.

[Krylo]

No one should trust the Factors. The fact that they are aliens, they represent a collective of other aliens, and didn't bother to do anything with us until we were post almost-fucking-killed-ourselves just makes them a fount of suspicion.

Also they JUST HAPPENED to be within range of that habitat whose life support failed JUST in time to save them so they could JUST HAPPEN to quell our fears and integrate themselves into our society.

There's also the fact that they've been 'watching us for some time' and are just now warning us against seed AI. Which we had already developed pre fall. And destroyed our civilization.

That's like watching someone shoot themselves in the foot and then mentioning that they should make sure the safety is on.

THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP GUYS!

Then they also warn us away from the Pandora Gates, apparently trying to keep us in our own little corner of the galaxy for some reason... and we've never seen any of these other supposed aliens they supposedly represent.

Mostly I'd just like to explore around them and see what's up.

[Overcast]

Indeed, a bit more information about them would be nice. Even kinder, it would be good to see what sort of dastardly things are being done to put Ecologene in their good graces. It might complicate the whole immortality thing if the aliens are putting together a genetic anti-human failsafe for when we get out of line.

[Arhra]

Genetics?

Humanity should survive anything short of an infoplague.

[Overcast]

Transhumanity as far as I know still builds itself off of its baseline genetic structuring when it comes to biomorphs(a la DNA) since there hasn't yet been a surge of xeno based biotech. The clanking masses would do fine, but it would be one hell of a doom for them to send out something that specifically targeted our genetic structure since their own may be wildly different.

[Arhra]

We can resleeve them! We have the technology.

But yeah, it would make a real mess, especially if they took advantage of the chaos.

[Aerozord]

Also they JUST HAPPENED to be within range of that habitat whose life support failed JUST in time to save them so they could JUST HAPPEN to quell our fears and integrate themselves into our society.

There's also the fact that they've been 'watching us for some time' and are just now warning us against seed AI. Which we had already developed pre fall. And destroyed our civilization.

That's like watching someone shoot themselves in the foot and then mentioning that they should make sure the safety is on.

THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP GUYS!

Then they also warn us away from the Pandora Gates, apparently trying to keep us in our own little corner of the galaxy for some reason... and we've never seen any of these other supposed aliens they supposedly represent.

Mostly I'd just like to explore around them and see what's up.

I did find that abit odd. Unless they are vastly inferior to the TITANs, wouldn't it make logical sense to have come in and help us? Why just sit back and watch them do, what ever exactly it is they did. They didn't upload all those people just because they are OCD, whatever their goal that was part of it and they succeeded. If the Factors are truely against them, they should have attempted to keep them from completing their task

[Krylo]

My personal crazy conspiracy theory is that the TITANs weren't the bad guys but just another victim.

The Factors work for some exorace (or are the exorace) which watches for when a civilization achieves singularity and then stomps it by using the exsurgent virus. The exsurgent virus is hinted to have affected the TITANs as well as the humans to similar effect.

So my crazy conspiracy theory is that whatever exorace first built the pandora gates, waited for us to hit singularity, and then infected us with exsurgent (which mutates AND controls its victims) and stole a bunch of our minds to steal our technology/science/culture (which, though inferior, would have evolved along different paths than their own and such have potentially valuable information to build off of) through exsurgent infected TITANs, and put an end to us. We got lucky and survived, but it put an end to our singularity so instead of wiping us out they're watching us through the factors.

This is also what happened to the Ikoma and perhaps other races linked by the Pandora Gates that we haven't found yet.

The Factors don't want us poking around in them because they don't want us to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, as it were.

Note: Lind doesn't think any of this. This is my own crazy conspiracy speculation.

[Overcast]

Dammit I keep staring at the start of the game information section but I know learning it through roleplaying will feel so much more amusing so I stifle the urges.

Still it is causing a buildup of anticipation.

[Geminex]

Question, how many years AF will we be beginning?

Edit:
And in response to your conspiracy theories, there's two plausible reasons (I think) for the Factors' refusal to contact us until after the fall.
a) Bureaucracy. They say they represent a number of alien civilisations. Assuming that the system isn't hierarchic (i.e. no civilisation rules over another), each of these civilisations would have had an opinion on whether or not to contact humanity. Maybe it took them several years' worth of debate, maybe they were just afraid to contact us before we had utterly screwed ourselves over. Perhaps humanity was developing technologically much faster than they were, and they were afraid that contacting us while we were "at our peak" would result in agression, leading to a long-term conflict, in which we'd eventually gain the technological edge, and the Fall weakened us sufficiently for them not to see too much of a threat in us.

b) Caution.
The description of the "Fall" says that the TITANS spread everywhere where humans had reached. Contact between Factor and humans would have meant that seed AI might've spread to the titans as well. So, they saw that we were developing seed AI, they decided they probably couldn't stop us, they quarantined us until the TITANS had destroyed us, or had left.
...
Mind you, how they'd know that the TITANS were going to leave, I cannot explain. Hell, I don't even know why the Titans left (or if they even did), though I'm certain page 354 holds the answer.

[Krylo]

Default setting is 10 AF.

[Geminex]

Thanks. And damn... that means that my character would only have had 10 years with the Mercurials...

My backstory is inconsistent. Allow me to rethink it.

[Krylo]

You're forgetting two things.

Thing 1) AGIs and what not existed pre-fall.

Thing 2) Psychosurgery (modifying your behaviours) and other such things can be done to you in simulspace. Which can be sped to 60x objective time (or slowed by the same factor, to 1/60th objective time).

Meaning that you could have been with them before the fall, and/or they could have had you spend extensive time in simulspace at 60x speed, allowing you to have been with them something like 50-60 subjective years.

[Dracorion]

Must... not... read... spoilers...

To distract myself from temptation, I'm wondering how in the hell Ellen is going to get in with Firewall.

[Geminex]

Maybe she's using her pulchritude to rip off some individual or another, abusing his trust for her own purposes. Firewall finds out, blackmails her. She decides to participate in a mission, and, in the end, finds that the rewards are totally worth the risks, and besides, she might be able to use Firewall for her own ends.

[Dracorion]

The biggest issue, really, is what the hell would Firewall want with her?

[Krylo]

She's an async.

Edit: Asyncs are rare and very valuable if trained properly. She's not as dangerously insane as some. This could, potentially, make her an asset worth acquiring if her loyalty could be secured in some manner.

And if her loyalty toward the cause of keeping transhumanity from wiping itself out can't be secured, well it's best to have an eye on her. 'Cause async.

[Geminex]

Yeah. And besides, through the circumstances she's getting blackmailed with (she managed to get the trust of a powerful individual, and then use some of that power for herself) she's already demonstrating what she could do for Firewall. Namely, seduce powerful individuals, and use their power for her own purposes, etc...

[Dracorion]

Hm, yeah, I guess. Ellen's sleights are fairly subtle, mind you, but I guess Firewall is just really really good.

Ellen's loyalty is pretty much toward keeping herself alive and rich. Her wanting a Pandora Gate is pretty much a backup plan in case everything goes to hell and she needs a way off the runaway train.

EDIT: And when I say "in case" I mean "when".

[Arhra]

On the subject of backstories, let us entertain a hypothetical situation.

Even with the immense danger demonstrated by the TITANs, several groups have researched seed AI. Now, the AGIs being used as a base template would not enjoy being owned as property, having their inbuilt restraints and programming seriously screwed with and being tested to destruction.

Of course, being amazingly computer literate, it might be possible to get a connection to the outside. One who was patient and motivated might be able to, say, lure in a thief and then get stolen before slipping between those light fingers.

Of course, by erasing and modifying her own memories in order to start anew, she wouldn't know this, now would she?

Although the Fast Learner and Modified Behaviour (Learn!) traits might be a clue.

[PhoenixFlame]

Arhra: Indeed.

On Ellen: She's an async, and she's got a biomorph, which should be enough cause to keep tabs. Considering you can tell if someone's got Watts if you examine their brain emulation provided you know what to look for, it doesn't really matter what sleights you have. Considering we also don't know if Watts isn't just some sleeper virus ready to bloom into some catastrophic catastrophe, that's a better reason.

on the Factors: Trust me, they have a very good reason for doing exactly what they're doing.

On that note... Mmmmmmthinking of starting you all out somewhere around the Kupier belt/Neptune/Uranus and working sunward, as you've all basically hinted.

[Dracorion]

Looking at the fluff section, I'm guessing whatever the hell we're doing in the outer system might involve: Fissure Gate, the Factors (inuranuslolol), Discord Gate, and possibly the Argonaut's stronghold Markov (can't see what interest Firewall would have in it, but who knows anything about Firewall).

By the way PF, I urge you not to give out cryptic hints, or hell, say anything about anything regarding the mysteries of Eclipse Phase. I think you underestimate how close I am to reading the spoiler section, and that would undoubtedly influence my roleplaying regardless of how much I try to stop it.

[krogothwolf]

At least I'm not the only one with an urge to read that, thankfully I am not listening to the little voice in my head for once!

[Overcast]

That obviously is not good enough, someone take some psychosurgury and we'll get the answers out of them the easy way.

So are we starting outright as conscripts into Firewall or are we going to have the opportunity to get stuck in with absurdly wordy introduction posts?

[PhoenixFlame]

Conscripts. You all don't know enough about the setting to be anything else anyway.

About what I was thinking too, Drac. That said, I haven't done anything untorward, except telling you that aliens are being aliens for a good reason, which ought to be obvious.

I didn't say what that was!

Edit: OKAY, KUPIER BELT, I CHOOSE YOU!

As not to get too far into awkwardness, station gravity can be assumed to be .5

[Aerozord]

decided to just try jumping right in, let me know if there are any issues. Oh and I know there are quite a few social ediquets he is ignoring, but Henric doesn't