Sadists of the world unite..

[simo98]

only fly trading ships!

lets see how well your boarding goes with a single hermes for firepower

this way you can rely on missiles more than ever.. only looted ones of course

[someone else]

only fly trading ships!

you understimate the uberness of a mistral full of missiles... a TSM...

[Black Gryphon]

Any of the Terran/Aldrin starts. You can only fly a Terran or Aldrin ship. You can only buy new ships from Terra or Aldrin. You can buy second hand ships. Priority targets are Xenon and Kha'ak. To be attacked where ever encountered. You can only buy Argon factories until the Terran ones are available then you can only buy Terran.

[mattjenko]

Dead is Dead? Death is just the beginning. A Goner's tale:

A new philosophy is sweeping all before it in this universe. It is a credo which strikes at the heart of our belief system and causes a conflict in the duality of carefulness and abandon. The afflicted attempt to both seek out excitement and incorporate a risk aversion the longer they live. Brought to attention by the celebrated documentation of a single messianic creature, and as with most new religions, pursued and enjoyed by a devoted following, these creatures highlight, in ever increasing technicolour, the metaphysical problems associated with both Goner religion and the nature of what it is to be what we are.

Hate, callousness and a wanton disregard for the lives of others in our piratical times have forced a deep rethink of what it is to be Goner and what the fate of us all must be. The elevation of the individual and the search for personal wealth and fame are endemic and all conquering. The Good News falls on contorted, deaf, alien ears, and in this rejection it highlights the specificity of our emotions and feelings. How can we trust logic and reason when that logic and reason does not seem to be universal in scope. The creatures known as the Split do not value in the same way, and the violence exhibited by the strange, un-blessed, purple beings shake the notion of a universal truth and a universal reality to the very core.

I feel torn between what lies in front of my eyes and the Good News which nestles in my heart. I have been told to nurture the Good News all the more, and to worry less, but in these uncertain times, I cannot help but feel that our faith is becoming less relevant, despite how strong the flame within me burns. With almost divine providence, the Goner missionary zeal falls upon me now, as I have reached the age to spread my wings and show the universe just what it means to be Goner.

No killing by your own hand, everything to be done from Ranger command centre.

Anything else goes.

[simo98]

you understimate the uberness of a mistral full of missiles... a TSM...

ill have to try this


maybe the terran only character that people have talked about, but to the next level.

terran plot, all other races must be kept and enemy and killed on sight in or near terran space

[Olterin]

Hmm...

I'm nowhere near as good a player to make really competent suggestions, but anyway, here goes:

-Terran Defender start
-DiD
-You may personally fly only M5/M4/M3/M6 ships (includes the + variants)
-You may only trade with the Terrans (exception being any place for you to train marines or due to plot requirements [can't quite remember whether any plot requires actual trading])
-You may use only human (i.e. Argon) marines (egosoft, we need a way to get Terran marines )
-You may use only Terran tech/ships (yep, that's no factories for you until you finish the Aldrin missions ) - you may however NOT use the Aldrin ships (stupid Spitfyre/Springblossom )
-No jumpdrive use until you get access to the Torus unless required by plot (jumping to Aldrin comes to mind)
-You may capture non-Terran ships only to sell them, unless otherwise required by a plot you're doing (nope, no ATF ships for you )
-You have orders to engage the Xenon whenever it's prudent to do so
-You may not raise your Commonwealth races rank above your Terran rank, else you are suspected of treason and may only access Heretic's End until the ranks are lowered so that your Terran rank is higher than others again
-You may not use your suit's repair laser (something about having no idea how to properly fix your ship)
-You are to use M/AM launchers whenever possible (exception being one capital turret of your choice so you can mount either flak or anti-capital stuff)
-There shall be no haxploits (i.e. no cloning or other obvious stuff)
-If possible, no scripts (terran missiles are restriction enough, don't you think? )
-Piracy only allowed outside of Terran space (including Aldrin)


There, that should be a handy set of rules... right?
If I missed something... well, feel free to add it right in, hehe. Just some ideas.

[NUKLEAR-SLUG]

No usage of the suit repair laser...

Fair enough.

Maybe limit your non-ammo choices - say only PAC and IREs? And maybe flaks on larger ships. So on a Battleship all you get are EBCs, GCs and Flaks. I guess you need to balance practicality and sadism here. How about:
Class .......... Ammo based or
M5 ............ IRE
M4 ............ IRE
M3 ............ IRE, PAC
M6 ............ IRE, ID, IPG, PAC
M7 ............ PAC, ID, IPG, Flak
M1/2 ........ PAC, IPG, Flak, PRG

Yep, something like that sounds ok.

No killing by your own hand, everything to be done from Ranger command centre.

Tempting..

-There shall be no haxploits (i.e. no cloning or other obvious stuff)

Perish the thought..



Right I think this is what we're looking at currently.. and who to squarely lay the (blame) on.

Start: Terran Defender/Goner Witness not quite decided yet, both have attractions, but leaning toward Terran for reasons I'll keep to myself for now. (Delray/insolent1)

Start ship: Space suit and a pocketful of change. Eep! (Delray)

Combat: Untrained in the arts of war I've no idea how to fly a combat ship at present more than to get it from A -> B, so I'll be needing to hire mercenary fighterjocks to fight on my behalf. Let's see how rubbish this autopilot really is! (Megamolanius/mattjenko)

Ships: Predominantly going to use Teladi ships as Maphys seems to think they're rubbish. Besides quite frankly the Teladi will sell to anyone! If I can acquire others thru 'alternative' means, cap/second-hand/board/steal then good for me. (Maphys)

Missions: If I can do it, it can be done. Obviously not being able to do them myself the fight type will be troublesome until I can get enough of a fighter wing together to get out there and do it for me.

Plotlines: To be started at a given fightrank only. Which one tho? Same as missions otherwise tho. I wonder how an AI fleet will cope with FF..? (vbruzual)

Fightrank: Obviously to do the plots at a given OMG level I'll need to up this at somepoint when I can get 'taught' to fly a combat ship properly. Will need a target to aim for to get 'trained' tho. Free cash value/rank/accomplishment? (vbruzual)

Repairs: No repair-laser. Not a fighterjock, not a greasemonkey either. Better not ding anything. (Threesixtyci)

Weapons: Ammo-based where feasible. (Maphys)

Jumpdrives: Limited to specially designed ships due to power considerations. TM and above. (Maphys)

Boarding: No personal dropping of troops so if they can't sort it out among themselves then it ain't going to happen. Should make boarding a little trickier exercise. *Sends AI boarding fleet after target, hilarity ensues..*

Goals: Going to need at least one to achieve 'fighter-trained'. More suggestions welcomed. (BeidAmmikon)


Suggestions/poke-holes/crits/abuse.. Go for it.

[Rednoahl]

Suggestions/poke-holes/crits/abuse.. Go for it.

Looks like you'll be needing LOTS of missiles...

Could you fix the North Korea problem and whistle "the star spangled banner" while you're playing too?!?

[Alkadari]

Combat: Untrained in the arts of war I've no idea how to fly a combat ship at present more than to get it from A -> B, so I'll be needing to hire mercenary fighterjocks to fight on my behalf. Let's see how rubbish this autopilot really is! (Megamolanius/mattjenko)

Only addition I can think of to do this properly is to figure out some way to simulate paying said mercenaries... If they're risking life and limb to protect your bastu, they're probably going to insist on some form of payment on a regular schedule.

[xanosdarkpaw]

Combat: Untrained in the arts of war I've no idea how to fly a combat ship at present more than to get it from A -> B, so I'll be needing to hire mercenary fighterjocks to fight on my behalf. Let's see how rubbish this autopilot really is! (Megamolanius/mattjenko)

Only addition I can think of to do this properly is to figure out some way to simulate paying said mercenaries... If they're risking life and limb to protect your bastu, they're probably going to insist on some form of payment on a regular schedule.

could be solved by buying a freight load of quantum tubes or something else low space/high cost item and then blowing it up

[Nanook]

Fightrank: Obviously to do the plots at a given OMG level I'll need to up this at somepoint when I can get 'taught' to fly a combat ship properly. Will need a target to aim for to get 'trained' tho. Free cash value/rank/accomplishment? (vbruzual)

Here's an idea. Fight, but don't let your combat rank ever exceed your trade rank. Or maybe keep the fight rank a certain number of levels below the trade rank. Some obscure rule about Terrans not being allowed to kill for a living unless properly licensed, which you aren't. Therefore, in any combat, you're ostensibly 'defending' yourself, which is allowed, but if your fight rank ever gets above whatever level you decide in relation to your combat rank, it's 'obvious' you're no longer just a trader and you're taken into Terran custody for breaking the rules, and the game ends.

[1muvwndr]

Goals: Going to need at least one to achieve 'fighter-trained'. More suggestions welcomed. (BeidAmmikon)

Capping one specimen of the whole Xenon fleet for research purposes? Since they must be the as xenonest as possible they can only be acquired in Xenon Core 023. If you can accomplish this you get a free 5-hours military ship training coupon for your favorite orbital defense station!!! So you can fly your personal combat ship yourself!!!!

[chelo_boga]

Isnt all of this a bit harsh?

Why not do the old Squiddy rules instead? They are hard enough without turning the game into an exercise of frustration.

Besides, and Im sure a lot of people agree with me here, Its not how difficult your rules turn the game into, but how u tell the story that keeps so many of us reading it.

Anyway, whatever rules u choose I wish u the best of lucks!

[rabiddeity]

C'mon, if we were really sadistic we'd say he couldn't use missiles. Seeing how much N-S relies on missiles in his stories, that would really make life painful for him.

[Megamolanius]

As fighter rank is concerned its a bit silly that kills by ships you own aren't counted into that, its silly since you can never delegate responsibility. If you are responsible for say 1000 kills then anyone who doesn't take you seriously is a fool regardless of how you obtained those kills.
So personally I think it would be fair too 'cheat' fighter rank.

Spoiler

Show

There are quick vanilla ways to achieve this for example by cleaning up the pirate procession in the unknown sector between Mealstrom and Gain Star, i.e. applying a short time-out on your combat inability and go in with a M7m or M2.

If this is contrary to your game ethics or you deem it impractical then I second Nanook's idea of limiting the amount personal combat you are allowed.

[insolent1]

Isnt all of this a bit harsh?

Why not do the old Squiddy rules instead? They are hard enough without turning the game into an exercise of frustration.

Besides, and Im sure a lot of people agree with me here, Its not how difficult your rules turn the game into, but how u tell the story that keeps so many of us reading it.

Anyway, whatever rules u choose I wish u the best of lucks!

Agreed, no point limiting yourself too much and besides you spin a fine yarn regardless of your iron man rulez. Most of these kind of suggestions just increase the overall micromanagement in your game and what I think most people want is the exciting stuff ie Convoys

[Megamolanius]

Isnt all of this a bit harsh?

Why not do the old Squiddy rules instead? They are hard enough without turning the game into an exercise of frustration.

Besides, and Im sure a lot of people agree with me here, Its not how difficult your rules turn the game into, but how u tell the story that keeps so many of us reading it.

Anyway, whatever rules u choose I wish u the best of lucks!

Agreed, no point limiting yourself too much and besides you spin a fine yarn regardless of your iron man rulez. Most of these kind of suggestions just increase the overall micromanagement in your game and what I think most people want is the exciting stuff ie Convoys

Besides the start condition most of the rules aren't that exceptional. I know of at least one person in the forum (forgot his name) who played flying a TM and letting his wing do most of the combat, only flinging in the odd missile, and he seemed to enjoy his game.
There's probably quite a few people who are interested in carrier type of combat and I had the feeling that N-S in his last game contemplated it.

[reheat]

Try playing the original release un-patched buggy version of the game. In particular play in areas where you know it will crash a lot.

No scripts or cheats either. Just virgin unpatched game.


RAW!

[perkint]

Start ship: Space suit and a pocketful of change. Eep! (Delray)

Not sure how you're going to work that one

No ship, no ability to buy one and not allowed to cap one. I can only see this going one of three ways:

Predictable method (find that hard to believe, but I suspect N-S could still make a good tale of it)
Very short story
N-S is a bigger miracle worker than I already think he is!!!

Looking forward to seeing the tale, whichever

Tim

[Nanook]

There's two ways that could work:

A) Find a battered ship for sale somewhere. I've tried to go this route a number of times, and never found one before I ran out of air. I think it's based on your trade rank, and with none at the start, you're pretty much doomed.

B) Find a 'retrieve ship' mission and simply keep the ship. Major issue here isn't so much finding the mission as avoiding the consequences of keeping the ship. Any ship you find is going to be stripped and damaged, so getting it to safety would be an almost impossible task before time ran out and the cops came to blow it up.