Progress Update: art has progressed

 Some things that are done.

1) Hex Map for the solar system - so that people can easily calculate distances between Planets. AS well as create hex maps for new solar systems. 

2) Delta V Map of the Solar System - for those who use Delta V instead. 

3) Cover art has begun. It will be mixed media and 3d. 

4) the Roll Keep Dice function has been commissioned. The Exploding Dice, basic dice script etc... will all be published here and of course the Book will come with the Spreadsheet that will have a Basic World Building script. It just goes through the entire process of building a system. I dont have any time in my schedule to make one that can be more custom tailored. 

5) the d66 x6 (36 x6) Culture Aspect table. 

6) There is a flow chart that will be shared we used to make the Spreadsheet. 

Once the Google Sheet that generates the World is done I can check how good the mechanics are. 

BONUS things if it reaches ever level of Sale Target (with a Survey) 

1) More Art and maps. 

2) More tweaks to the World Generator Google Sheet.  

Things to do When published. 

1) Youtube Videos (with the Help of Nicco to edit and script it) using Google slides and OBS. Basically run through the basics of the system. 

2) Youtube Videos of the Combat Systems. 

3) Pay what you want for the Character Creation Cards. 

4) Character Creation Board Game, and a Youtube Video of it. 

Lessons Learned. 

1) The network and contacts to have Javascript + Google Sheet Commissioned. 

2) That I should probably do the FLOW CHART FIRST, before writing. 

3) Then feasibility of the Software - commissioning someone (most likely meloy) to plan future google Sheet and spreadsheets. 

4) That in the future I make a BOOK and it comes with tools to make prep EASY (google sheets). then I make a youtube video to explain it.  The videos are broken up by topic and is 5 mins long at the most and gets down to DEMONSTRATING a concept. 

Plans after this. 

1) I can start with my Audible Credits since October. 

2) I can start with Nebulous Fleet Command, since I plan to make Space Warfare easier and have a Procedural Fleet Builder - the GM can build the near accurate amount of Ships and the ECONOMIC requirements to maintain them. Of course this is all a bit on the harder scifi side - everything is with propulsions you can find in Simple Rockets and Kerbal Space. 

My Idea is that "What is the smallest Tool I can produce that people can have start having fun with?" With Javascript I'm not anymore as limited with purely spreadsheet funcitons. I can possibly make the ship building a FORM that generates a database of ships created. I could probably have a Visual front End - so Nicco and I can use our kitbashing 3d and make the visualized components. 

Imagine doing this with CEPHEUS engine and releasing a Spreadsheet people can Tweak. 

Hard Scifi Ships would now be more approachable. The trend that as an Open Source project someone will have tools to make it easier for them to PUSH BOUNDARIES. I was explaining to the OJTs how open source works; that we get to see other people Push the boundaries of our work and learn from them, and create a cycle where we all push the boundaries and grow. They take what you've built and quickly improve on it. And you take what theyve improved on and quickly improve on it. and collectively we are all better off. 

The ESCALATION with a harder scifi is more SCIENCE Explaining ART. More professionals from the science itself working with artist and game writers to make a more authentic feel. More People working on a Problem and giving their Divergent POV and experience. 

The Idea is that over the week we watch youtube about the topics, talk about it in the forums, read the books that came out, play with its tools - procedurally generating fluff and inspiration, then playing with the imperfect random things we generate.  Because we generate it with a few clicks we can quickly SCRAP it if need it, and generate new ideas. 

I'm excited for the diagrams about Javascript. a visualization of how the scripts all work for the future ojts - since i learned that one school doesnt teach Javascript and the other only teaches it in first year. Once the skill of visualizing CODE for teach is achieved we do it for GODOT and Python. Tools that allow us time strapped people to follow along and figure out how to code. 

OJTs and Software Project: my Distractions, Market or Product happens first?

 Its funny talking to 20-year-olds, about my World Generator because I believe by the time I'm 60 and they're 40 they're going to see the edge of what will be the Microgravity manufacturing as space race for orbital dominance will have long term orbital stay of 5 people per year to probably 20 or more. I reflect on my grandfather's short life at late 70s and early 80s and how I may not be around to see so many of what I'm waiting see in a hard scifi prediction. 

Its funny also because I encounter how rare and unlikely the audience for this may be, but the thing is with such works - do the audience appear first or do the products appear first? This is a deep marketing and product development philosophical question - and I believe ATTEMPTS - every attempt creates the Audience. The books that inspired me Created me and the other people realizing: "We want this, but more like this." So hopefully, our book and tools will trigger that "We want this, but more of this...". 

note that I've made it more conservative than the most common scifi, more conservative than most systems. Focusing on just Cislunar Space for a century and another century for the cislunar infrastructure to have an Industrial Complex to build Kilotons a year of vessels/ships. 

I wonder how crazy will my prediction look to 20-year-olds when this open-sourced project probably gets forgotten and they learn some Aerospace Industry terms and metrics only to hear about it 20 years from now. Sir Justin was way off, too conservative or worse too OPTIMISTIC! 

I get distracted explaining metallic hydrogen, gas giants, terrestrial worlds and lesser earths. Emphasizing that this Project is to allow those people who want a bit more hard SciFi in their Storytelling to have the tools and referenced (it links to the Wikipedia, which links to the papers and articles) information for those of us amateurs who are not satisfied with the Scifi and want to have a glimpse of the daunting science - even if we are hobbyists. 

It happens because I have to explain the types of stars and why they are not stable enough. Talking about accretion disks and possible reasons a space station would be set up in OBA stars. From Star generation, The ZONES and positions, to the worlds and how its a Looping script that generates Compion stars and additional Bodies until statistically improbable. 

 

Software Progress many problems - but art and the book is for Completion

I figured out how to do the software if it has to be on my own. My real problem is the dice which I forgot how to code. As well as I dont know how to make the loop that creates Keep High or Low Dice. 

So I hired some OJTs to set it up and there is a 10-20% chance of success, even with a senior developer guiding them. So I'm going to use the extra capacity of our senior developer (paid of course) to help with the project. Of course I plan to open source everything. This would probably cost me a huge sum. 

So Far What will people get:

1. First off A set of rules to build A Solar System procedurally and its inhabitants Culture and Political and economic condition. DONE, art and layout is finalized.
1. Power Structure and Source Based 
2. d66x6 Culture Feature Table - we identified 36 cultural features and 6 variables these cultural features can manifest differently. The goal is that the GM can use this to describe the inhabitants.  
3. Blender File to Proceeduraly Generate Planets as a 3D object they can use and Icosahedron 2D Map. Plus a youtube video how to use this.  
4. 2D Solar System map Inscape/Adobe Illustrator FILE with Delta V budgets of our Solar System. 
5. Hex Map of our Solar System which has a Variable Hex measure depending on the Position of the Hex Ring (so some hex rings is the Circumference of the Position divided by number of Hexes in that Ring)
6. Last the Google Sheet that allows the Generation of the Solar System in a few Clicks. Plus all the notes and Flow Charts we used to create it. Plus our notes and commenting so that people can alter the sheet to suit their own world building requirement. (To follow). 

Target price is probably 10usd. To break even I think ill need gold 😅. 

Who would want this Book and all its Products? 

1. Someone who is new to Scifi and Wanted something easier that the most dense World Building Books, someone who can handle 2 orders of complexity than the Current Cepheus Engine World Building System. 
2. Someone who will prepare the Worlds for their Players to Visit - not just grab a world from google image search but would probably render and tweak the world so its truly theirs. 
3. Someone who will use the Delta V maps - print it out on a TARP or on a VTT on a LARGE display and Insert their Artificial Habitats, Stations, Defenses Infra on the map since the Illustrator/Inkscape file is included. 

The products and materials are so Open, Nicco is going to produce his own version of the Maps with his world building in it. He can generate all the planets and details because all the templates are there for anyone to use. Hope anyone who finds the tools useful could show us any challenges of the material. 

Well make a discord for Customer Support - if anyone needs us to help with any changes and problems with the books and materials. 

Companion AI in Scifi

I can imagine settings where digital companies for mental health would be a right. An external memory of who we are - to better process the context of ourselves. 

as well as Various Habitats and colonies in the Sol System as well as outside of the sol system with Digital Companions. 

to imagine if the Adventures of the PCs are in the context of a Digitial Companion Observer. the shades of gray and the trails are framed by the Digitial Companion as though the Player is the Digital Companion to the PCs. 

Imagining a PC who had so much memory loss the Digital Companion rebuilt the PC from what it stored. Overlaying broken memories over assumptions of the Digital Companion. 

Mechwarrior Anachronisms and considerations

 

Notes after a lot of MWO with my team. 

1. Mechs wouldn't have exposed cockpits, it would be like a modern-day tank or even better built into the helmets of the pilots and monitors in the enclosed cockpit. 
2. Armor is not all ablative. if Armor Reduced Damage mechanic some weapons that are not up to the scale of vehicles and tanks would deal no damage. 
1. In MWO a 16 mico pulse laser mech would have a High damage output vs an ER larger laser. It can kill another Assault mech. should it?
2. If the mechanics change that bigger weapons is harder to protect against Zerg vs Protos or Swarm vs High-Quality units (far above the median) would be tricker and a more fun balance. Right now with the knowledge of drones - a ton of swarming Locusts or Fleas or Pirannah mechs would be more effective. Cost per Ton goes up as the mech goes up. its not a linear relationship. 
3. Right now in MWO I leveled up my Artic Cheata in a few games to 91 sp vs my heavier mechs. slower mechs just die against a light mech. In the real world, a lighter unit can penetrate heavier armor with a limited opportunity (Rockets). After which the opportunity is lost. 
3. When one imagines the Quadrillion usd industry of warfare and the amount of material. Imagine that 20ton "Light Mech" Required huge Open Pit mines on Earth or harvesting a ton of Silicate and Metalic asteroid ore. instead of the hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit of a soldier, its like taking more expensive tanks 

Reimagining Mech Combat in a Hard Scifi. 

Mechs are Quickly prototyped, a NON-mech culture will quickly improvise mechs if the terrain and logistics use need it. Mechs are practical in worlds with 0.8 atmosphere and areas with a thicker atmosphere that can provide concealment. 

The combat zone or context terrain is filled with ECM chaff and noise to make obrital superiority as negated as possible. Large Orbital Mass Drivers or Weapons Of Mass Destruction that can make the Low Planetary Orbit inhospitable is this big red button both sides are stopping themselves from pressing.  

Imagine a sector where a large number of worlds are currently contested. Especially when the worlds are heavily fragmented and those with Orbital Access profit from the conflicts. 

For every Ton of Mech there is about 2-3 Tons of Mobile Logistics and Support. a giga ton of mechs is about 2-3 gigaton of support. Several hundred Exaton of material was processed to build all that infra and hardware. 

1. Supply Lines are made up of Boring Machines, mobile factories and Mining tools. Mobile HQs move around a network of Terraforming Worm Tunnels. 
1. Non Conflict Zones - an opulent Monopoly of the Trading guilds are where all sides get to meet. A strict tit-for-tat and de-escalation policy - like prisoners exchange or surrendering are part of the terms to keep peace.  
2. 10-30 Tons - "Light Mechs". These are mechs like armored vehicles like the Oshkosh JLTV or Humvee. But they are designed to range about 500-800km on rough terrain. They carry only 2 pilots: driver and EW/gunner. The primary weapon is a 25mm with some special rounds like HEAT rounds mounted on a robotic Point Defense Turret. Up to 20% of its mass is ammunition. They can carry Missiles - missiles here can one-shot heavier mechs.
1. Some have anti-radar veil and materials and disruptive camo.  
3. 30-60 Tons "Medium Mechs" . There are a huge variety of specialized Medium mechs: from Missile/Drone Platforms (Drone platforms are EW platforms), Point Defense Platforms, to Laser Platforms OR a more high endurance Light Mech designed to range 2000km on a powerful reactor.  
1. These mechs tend to up a crew of 3-4. 
2. Missile Platforms are designed to remove Orbital probes and targets. 
3. Point Defense platforms are meant to defend these 
4. 70-100 tons are "Heavy Mechs". 50% of these mechs range from larger platforms of the Specialized Medium mechs to 50% are Supply mechs to Add double or triple the Light or Medium Mech operational range.  
5. 100+ Ton mechs are mostly mobile bases and hangars.   
   

What is interesting is that while the Mech Warrior may run a mech, support an logistics run small armies of drones and automated supply chain tools. Cepheus Engine TL 9 or Mneme TL 11ish would have these end to end supply chains making mech  warfare possible. 

Mech Warfare is only an outcome in Adverse Terrain Ground Combat where mechs would be engaging 5-10km away depending in the curvature of the world and the terrain. In most cases Orbital Superiority is key - but the Complex Worlds mean complex relationships and in this complexity something strange arises - like a world where mech pilots are a profession and there are daily raids into enemy territory as part of a long term strategy to either gain ground or divert attention for a particular strike. 

in this world 
Light mechs trying to sneak in to divert attention and resources for Medium mechs to make calculated strikes.  When heavy mechs appear its for pushes and calculated gambles that can be a set back to one side in years. Bases move, and where people think there are bases are Traps - of either a ready heavy lance or kill drones to displace the main base's position. 

Special Tech

1. Large Hypersonic Ground Missiles. mechs equipped with missiles that create a huge firing blast radius and can damage vehicles in its wake. Sometimes fired on railgun. Once fired the missile the effects can be felt before the sound and aftermath can be heard. 
2. Kill Drones (unpiloted mechs). Someone said "why not overwhelm the other side with Drones" which requires a lot of wireless connections - that can be hacked - Human Independent Operations and Augmented with Context Analysis (like hidden orders and event-triggered information) allows human-led teams to go deep into the territory and perform devastating actions.  Kill Drones are kept as patrols where EW superiority is guaranteed in a given location. 
3. EW Chaff or Natural Interference Active Radar or Sensors will find several gigatons of Chaff littering the battlefield make mechs invisible at a certain range. Also ACTIVE radar is a candle in the night. 
4. Wheeled Mechs. Light Mechs with a Single ATV wheel in the center is a common ATV mech. The legs fold up for the large but ultra light gyroscopic balanced wheel. It reduces the wear and tear of the leg joints. Some mechs fold into a cycle. 
5. Armored Personnel Carrier. Exoskeletons have about a 20-100km range depending on the TL level. Some mechs really serve as APCs carrying 100-150kg personnel and their kits to combat zones along with their Mules (mule sized mechs that carry supplies). Special forces with Invisibility cloaks and micronukes are still valuable tactical options. 

Hopefully Found a Developer

I'm busy with my ERPNext projects so I cannot learn Javascript (particularly Reactjs) to make the apps. Its also kinda my advocacy to get more filipinos have access to Open Source technology. The Bill of Materials System would be a FUN project to make an APp or a Spreadsheet for. ideally a Customized APP so other Game Designers can make their Vehicles, Mechs, Buildings, etc... using the Bill of materials system. 

Bill of materials is basically a Table where every row is a component and there are Columns for Cost, Weight, Volume, Power Requirement/Output, and Special Features. Creating a Google Sheet where game designers can put tables of their Components and their Rules for Building a Ship, Mech, Base, Station, etc... would be awesome for world builders like me.
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Bill of Materials is how most of construction and engineering view such projects - teach BOM gamification will help people have fund and be creative with it.