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VIII. (F)AQ

(F)AQ?
So far everything on this page is just “things we thought you might ask” and no one has asked any questions yet, so there can’t be any frequently asked questions right now.

Where’s the network comm?
There isn’t one, and there aren’t any super-communicators. Characters will receive civilian-grade space-laptops and space-cellphones shortly after arrival, with which they can set up space-Gmail and space-Skype and and space-text messages and space-Netflix as they choose. If they formally enlist with either the Earth or Colonial militaries, they’ll get military-grade space-laptops and space-cellphones. The giant robots also have communications systems, though god bless you if you want to go on space-Tumblr during a sortie. If you want to RP electronic communications, please just do so on the main comm. Private inboxes on a character’s journal are fine, but aren’t required, and will not count toward activity.

Is there time compression?
Yes. The compression ratio is 1 IC day to every 3 OOC days. Time compression is slightly harder to keep track of, but tends to encourage playing things out rather than just planning them in OOC posts. See the Calendar if you get confused about what IC day it is. The game starts on the IC date of January 1, 2516.

Can I switch factions.
Yes, although not until the fourth OOC week. See the Faction Switching page.

Can I app a non-human?
Yes. They’ll appear without modifications unless they’re bigger than 20 meters, in which case, they can’t be bigger than 20 meters.

However, there will be IC consequences. There are no sentient non-humans native to this world. Commander Hayes and Captain Tanaka will be open-minded about non-humans, but a visible non-human or talking dog in public at a non-military facility will get strange looks or possibly cause panic. Also, if you app a character who’s bigger than 4 meters, they’ll probably be stuck in the hangar until they trade in quartz for some sort of size-changing ability. Depending on how non-human the character is, they may also have trouble using those space-phones and space-laptops.

Why doesn’t the test drive have anything to do with the main game? Why can’t my character remember what happened during the test drive?
Secret metaplot reasons which will be revealed halfway through the game.

Isn’t this a ripoff of [canon name, probably a Gundam series]?
It definitely is.

What happened to the thing where you could bring your giant robot with you when you arrived?
On 11/22, after feedback and discussions with the people who provided support while this game was setting up, a decision was made to nix that mechanism in favor of placing more emphasis on this universe's grunt robots. This change was made for ease of gameplay, to reduce confusion, and because the game is really meant to have more of a space opera vibe than a hard mecha vibe. Apologies to anyone who has already sunk time into an application based on the old mechanism. There are not currently plans to make robots or fighters from home available.

Got something else?
Leave your question below. If it seems like it will be frequently asked, it will get copy-pasted up here!

Questions will not be screened, so that other people can learn from them. If you want to ask a question privately, please email openspacemods[at]gmail.

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If my character canonically has a space ship andor space vehicle of some kind, can they bring that with them?

Fighters like Vipers or X-Wings will come with characters on arrival.

Larger ships will not come with characters on arrival -- characters will need to bring them later by trading Quartz/Macguffins to the Clamshell/magic box to get the ship later. This is basically for size issues: ships don't scale down as easily as robots, and the Morning Star and Pericles have limited carrying/towing capacity. The cost of the trade-in will depend on the size of the ship, which can be set before you start saving Quartz by emailing the mod account.

As a rule of thumb for other types of space vehicles, if there's a bed or enough free space for a bed, it probably falls into the ship category rather than the fighter category.

what if the ship is also a mech, however, in the case of various sentai and power rangers teams?

Sorry to say, my only sentai knowledge is MMPR and Samurai Flamenco. Can you elaborate a little further? I want to say "the Pterodactyl would come with Kimberly" but I feel like you're actually asking about something else.

In Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, the core of their super robot, the Gokai Galleon, is also their home and base of operations. The other components store inside it like a Matroyshka doll. Meanwhile in Power Rangers in Space the Astro Megaship is both the team's home and primary means of transportation, but also their megazord.

In the first one, the components would come on arrival. The ship would have to come later, because it's a home and it sounds big. In the second one, it would have to come later, because it's a home and it sounds big. (This goes for Macross-class ships that turn into giant-giant mecha, too.)

The current rule definitely does give ship-people a small disadvantage at the beginning -- people with fighters get the morale boost of "hey my robot came with me!" when they arrive, and people with ships don't. But remember that the fighters don't function until the pilot has saved up five quartz for them, at which point the fighter regains basic functionality. With ships, it will cost more to save up for them (tentatively it'll be size proportional -- a 20 meter fighter takes five quartz to power, so a 100 meter ship takes twenty-five quartz to pull through the Clamshell), but they'll come through the Clamshell already having basic functionality. Now that I think about it, the "when your ship gets here, it will be working" isn't on the page about trade-ins and I should add it. So the disadvantage ends at the time of trade-in.

Okay, thank you. That was very informative.

i saw that characters with abilities will have to get them back with quartz and just wanted to be sure to clarify -- does that mean a character like steve rogers would come into the game skinny, regardless of canon point, and have to trade quartz to get back to his super soldiery buffness? and as far as characters like vampires, whose powers come with dietary restrictions, will those dietary restrictions remain, even if the powers don't?

and then i read the actual powers page and answered my own first question, whoops. i believe the second one stands, though? sorry, i got overeager!

Good question, hadn't thought about it yet!

For now, any drawback/difficulty/characteristic that makes things more difficult for a character than living like a normal human (like special diets) will be left up to player discretion. If the player thinks it would be more fun to play the difficulty of having to drink blood even without the perks of vampire-powers, the player can go that route. And vice-versa: if the player thinks it would be more difficult than fun, the player can have the character eat normal food until that person regains a vampire power.

If this rule turns out to be unmanageable, it can get changed later. But for now: if a drawback/difficulty/characteristic is connected with a superpower, it's player's choice on whether the character has the drawback/difficulty/characteristic on arrival or only regains the drawback/difficulty/characteristic when the character regains the associated superpower.

I'M SORRY I LIKE THIS PREMISE AND I HAVE A LOT OF QUESTIONS, ahaha...

1) If I wanted to app a Plot-PC, how much interaction can I have between that character and Earth-PCs and Colony-PCs? I am thinking of apping Chrono Harlaown (Lyrical Nanoha) as a Plot-PC and am wondering, in the highly unlikely event I ever get castmates, if I'd be able to communicate with those characters normally or if I'd have to dial that back. Attached to that question, while there's a concept of "Plot-PCs have less activity because they do less", is it an actual expectation that they show up less often? Or is it like the difference between civilizations and city-states in a game of Civ, where the latter are on the map but not competing to win the game?

2) In the Nanohaverse, magic is provided by a bodily organ called a Linker Core that's present in all magic-capable species, and can be built up like a muscle with training. Without a Linker Core, characters have are mundane and have no capacity for magic. So... by that token, what happens if I app Chrono in terms of his powers? The letter of the powers page says he keeps his Linker Core; the spirit says either it's drained dry and he needs to regain his capacity for magic, or he'd lose it outright. I'm good with any of the above, but it shapes how I use quartz.

3) Chrono specifically is an officer in the dimensional space navy at literally all canon points. If he tries to call HQ after he gets some regains, what happens? Does he get the dimensional calling equivalent of a busy signal or call-cannot-be-completed message? Would he just be calling forever until he stops trying? Or... does he get something?

I do also have some thoughts on how exactly I'd set up shop as a plot character, and I'm unsure how any of them would work, but... I'll stop here for now.

Edited (more words) 2015-11-15 15:56 (UTC)

1. The altered AC requirements aren't a requirement that they show up less, it's something that can be done if it's good for the plot. It's meant to enable stuff like "Bowser kidnaps Peach in February, and it takes until June for the protags to reach Bowser" without Bowser idling out in the middle. That said... Plot-PCs are meant to be more like recurring characters than main characters. If you want him to move on to the Morning Star or Pericles full time with castmates, you'd probably have to switch factions.

2. Any of those sound fine, so long as he only has the capabilities of a normal human when he arrives.

3. He won't get a response. Whether that manifests as a "call cannot be completed" or just no one picking up the phone is up to any player that tries.

That... actually brings up a question! Can Plot-PCs become Earth-PCs or Colony-PCs at some later point? Mostly for that reason in point one?

But more specifically, I'm thinking of an NPC that's a face for one faction, possibly as a military commander of some kind, or maybe CIC or a similar function. So a character that's frequently interacted with (like the pizza-delivery-guy Fry in the example ideas) but doesn't have freedom of action to actually DO stuff that often, not unlike your average Gundam bridge bunny. Is that a little more active than the Plot-PC concept calls for? ~~I do still have a dozen ideas for a Protag-PC, so if the answer is yes, that's fine too.~~

Yep.

I have a concern about the app caps for various factions, based on what I've seen in other games: as it is, it seems rather small, and that leads me to wonder if it's set in stone? My primary concern is that a single large cast would be able to dominate a faction (a canon roster of five would be one fifth of a respective faction and a 10th of the game) and a larger cast (say, Bleach for example) could have the potential to fill an entire faction on their own.

In asking that, of course, I'm not saying larger canons should be punished or restricted! Quite the opposite, in fact! I figure this would be better for everyone if we had some clarification.

My next question regarding the app caps would be whether or not reserves get a priority in that regard, or if the selectiveness of who gets in will be based on other qualifications? Is it first come first serve or will more individual qualities play a role who gets in?

First, it will be first-come-first-serve for the two protag factions. Reserves get a priority in acceptance if the reserver submits in the one-day reserve window. After that, reserves are on the same playing field as everyone else. I also realized that there’s no limit no reserves, and will go add that people can only reserve one character per app round.

Second, the Colony/PC protag-character app cap definitely isn’t set in stone long term – it will go up after the first month, though how much it goes up depends on the quantity and type of player plots that get submitted. But as for this round, the cap is going to stay around 50 protag-characters because I want to keep a close eye on the protag-ships for the first few weeks to make sure things get off to a good start, and also to make sure that Tanaka and Hayes are available if people want them.

Third and kind of related to that, I hadn't even thought about a cast cap, so thank you for bringing it up! I’ll think about this and try to make a decision about it within the next week.

Sorry for the delayed answer, but I did want to think it over.

Bearing in mind the small size of the game in the first round, the cast cap for the first round will be five characters between the protagonist Earth/Colony factions. Plot-PCs will not count toward the cast cap, although if a canon is popular enough to hit five characters in the first app round, those Plot-PCs will need to be pretty minor characters. The cast cap will rise as the overall character cap rises. I'll add this to the app FAQ shortly.

Are you familiar with the various Transformers canons? In many versions, the ability to assume an alternate mode is as much a natural, core ability to the species that's as core to them as any other natural ability. However, it would afford them certain advantages as well over other players. What would your call on this be?

I saw Bayformers and the movie with Orson Welles as Unicron, so I assume you're talking about them turning from cars into robots into cars again?

Shapeshifters will be stuck in one form (player choice on what form that is -- in this case, your call on whether they show up as a robot or as a car I guess) until they trade in for and regain a shapeshifting ability.

I see. Thank you for your answer.

This is a canon-specific question, so I hope you can bear with me for a second:

My current app plan for the first round is Simon, the protagonist of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. Simon's personally associated with the latter half of the Gurren Lagann in question, but it's completely possible to pilot the combined machine, Gurren Lagann, without a pilot assisting in Gurren (though it's more difficult, and it's likely he'd recruit someone in-game). Gurren has sweet stomach sunglasses and it's a powerful enough combat machine (melee only, as a note), but it's not remarkably special otherwise - it's a modified standard mecha stolen from the enemy military. Lagann, however, is special - it's capable of combining with any robot, ever. Asa trade-off, it's pretty small and has very little in the way of real combat ability (the combination gimmick is its real power). I'm not sure how likely it is that a Kamina, late-series Viral, or Rossiu would app into the game - I've seen one or two of the former, but not often, and neither of the latter two, and they're the only three associated with Gurren in any capacity whatsoever.

Basically, my question here is: would bringing in the Gurren Lagann in one piece (as it would be during his planned canon point) as a single mech be possible? I'd be perfectly willing to have to activate and upgrade them separately - that is, five quartz to active Lagann, five more to active Gurren, etc. This isn't a dealbreaker since Lagann can be combined with the standard-issue mecha if necessary, I'm just wondering for the sake of app-writing.

Simon can pull Gurren through the Clamshell later, but he would only have Lagann on arrival. The bring-a-mech rule is limited to one mech associated with the character -- and as you noted, Gurren is (1) an independently funtional mech and (2) spends a good chunk of the series being piloted by people who aren't Simon.

That makes sense! Thanks for the quick answer.

Hello!

I'm interested in this game with Asuka here, and I have a couple of questions. I'll start with the most obvious question, will Asuka be allowed to bring in Eva Unit 02 as her mech? Not only are the Evangelions are HUGE in size, but they're more classified as a bio weapon rather than a giant robot.

Now if the Evas are allowed, where would they gain their power source from? In the series, they're connected to power cables and while they're able to be disconnected from it, I believe they become limited and will eventually lose power. In 3.33, Unit 02 runs on a battery pack buuuut that's 3.33/rebuild logic.

My third question is regarding the A.T Field and if it's allowed. The A.T Field is what makes the Eva unstoppable and over powered. I am totally for limited it or cancelling the A.T Field out all together to keep things fair. Without the A.T Field, both Unit 02 and Asuka's physical body will receive all the damages (if you jump to 7:43 of that video I linked, you'll see the A.T field getting penetrated and Asuka gets fatally wounded. Warning: It's graphic.).

You have wonderful or terrible timing! After input and consultation with people who helped get the game off the ground, the bring-your-robot-from-home mechanic is actually being nixed. I apologize for any inconvenience this causes to your app plans.

Edited 2015-11-23 03:02 (UTC)

It's fine, so there's no need to apologize! I'm still looking forward to this game!

Plot-PC question.
I'd like to app Fang as a Plot-PC as the leader of a smuggling ring.
I read on your page somewhere that characters could be given a third option of joining a group like this, but I wanted to know the more inlaid details of what would be required if this were to happen.

Would this require the group to be more active so as to provide the characters who joined something to do, and would the group, at any time, need to become more involved in the ongoing war?

Yes, characters will have the option of defecting from the "protagonist routes" (the Terran/Colony Morning Star/Pericles) to take on more supporting-character roles like Plot-PCs. As to how active you want to be or how much to hand out -- let's say Fang has a group called Supersmugglers. Once protag-characters defect to Supersmugglers long-term (like, they formally switch factions, not if they're just doing a small mission for Supersmugglers), they lose their "protagonist" status. They stop being in the position where Supersmugglers is supposed to be providing things for them to do, and should switch to a place where they're generating world depth on their own. So you, as the person who started a Supersmugglers, wouldn't have any obligation to hand out plot to these people, because they aren't protags anymore. In other blunter words, you don't have any obligation to babysit people who join Supersmugglers. You and your new recruits can be hella active in the main plot if you want to be, or you can all disappear to Jupiter.

(With the caveat from the Plot-PC section that if you want Fang to have regained a whole lot of powers, you should run a plot proportional to the powers you get, and which makes use of those powers.)

Finally, there's no absolute obligation for a group to become involved in the war.

If that didn't make sense, please ask follow-up questions, because I'm not sure that it made sense.

No this makes perfect sense, and you actually gave me a plot idea with this information! Thank you very much. I can't wait to send in my application when they open up.

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