Quazar

Finally got java working on this browser. So when ever I login from this computer, and when I have more than about 30 seconds, I'll log onto Live Chat. I hope to catch some of you other regulars there too!

I'll be looking forward to this one!

That'd work for me too. Check ICC.

This, version two of your post, is a lot better - more believable. Good work, canshow! This is fine for the moment because canshow is only using his assigned crew for both Daedalus and Prometheus. Once the current mission ends, canshow will report to his superiors for debriefing. After that, Insurgent Central Command will repossess Prometheus and give it's command to one of the many Insurgent Commanders on Spectre Fleet's waiting list for a ship of their own to command. canshow shouldn't get two ships if other Insurgents, of the same rank, get none. The only way for canshow to keep Prometheus beyond the current mission is for Sho, the player, to Role-Play ShoHashi, the character, giving Commander canshow command of a second ship, additional crew as needed, and the appropriate rank to command two starships, an Insurgent Captain I believe. If that happens, only then can canshow request that Prometheus be rebuilt into a heavy carrier. You made a good case for canshow being able to afford it. But it won't matter if canshow pays for it if ShoHashi can't spare the manpower. A lot extra! If that week includes the one day to ship parts (they can start tearing the cruiser apart while waiting) it only leaves six days for principal construction of the Battlecruiser Mark One. If it takes one thousand engineers fourteen days, you'd need about 2300 engineers for six days. See what I mean? It doesn't matter if canshow pays for the rebuild. Only ShoHashi can ok that much manpower. Admiral ShoHashi might grant Canshow's request for time off. But the rest of the message looks quite presumptious. ICV Daedalus' refitting looks fine. Let's wait on Prometheus until Sho posts next.

None of us has specified exactly what class of super cruiser Prometheus is. I say you decide, canshow. You can have it be a Starcarrier, Warmonger, any super cruiser class you like. Upgrades? Refits? Well let's see. Pravis, and the rest of Cyrian, is Mandorian territory, not Insurgent. They allow Spectre Fleet to have only a limited number of small outposts, not any large installations (starstations, starbases) - except New Frontier. The Mandorian government charges the Insurgent Central Command a high rent for each outpost and a steep lease for New Frontier. So Pravis does not have any Insurgent starbase, just several Man/Mil starbases. To do what Commander canshow asked, the Mandorians would charge far more than Spectre Fleet would at its own bases. New Frontier is equipped for full cap craft refits, but brand new starship construction is best left to the Insurgent space-born shipyards at Spectre HQ starstation in orbit of Anits/Trenis, in Credian territory. Insurgents don't really have territory of their own at all. The only way to enlarge a super cruiser into a heavy carrier, as you suggest, would be to completely dismantle the whole cruiser, add at least another three or four times that amount of hull material and carrier componentry, then reassemble the whole mess back up into a full on heavy carrier. That's about as practical as 'upgrading' a Chevy Avalanche into an M-1 Tank. It'd be better to scrap the original ship and just request a bigger one from the Insurgent shipyards. I don't see how ICC would approve either option, even if canshow could pay out of pocket. Plus you made it sound like it'd only take a few days. Such a task would take a thousand experienced engineers two weeks working day and night. It would divert too much material and manpower from other urgent projects. What about a refit for ICV Prometheus? If it's just modernizing current systems without adding other capabilities, that should be fine. canshow will still need either ShoHashi's approval of Fleet funds and refit schedule, or he'll need to swallow the cost himself. Even if canshow has supplemental income, that's still a heafty chunk of credits for an individual Insurgent commander. On top of that, there's no telling when Fleet Command will order ICV Daedalus on another mission. canshow wouldn't be able to adequately supervise the refit procedure. If canshow is a true Insurgent then even ICV Daedalus is not his personal starship at all; it belongs to The Insurgents as a whole who entrust it to canshow to carry out ICC's orders. No Insurgent may keep (for himself) what he uses Fleet resources to acquire, not without special permission. Acquiring Insurgent personnel over and beyond the amount authorized for an Insurgent heavy carrier is entirely out of canshow's control. I suggest you simply drop off ICV Prometheus at New Frontier and request new orders. Sho, I could have sent this as a PM, but I wanted you to see and critique it since it's your Alliance we're talking about.

I can start at 10am, your time any of those three days, Sho. Do we have a server?

I have updated my most recent post. I didn't quite jump my ship out of the system yet so that you guys have time to react. Please let me know if anything else needs to be cleaned up. This looks better, gentlemen. We'll see how it ends up.

I like the game name, Derek. It's good to see you back, Mano!

[rp] Only 14 of the 36 fighters New Frontier had launched made it to Pravis. In exchange, ECV Stormhammer had lost all its fighters and 5 pilots, and Commander Aerov's Man/Mer UCV-Gorgoth super cruiser had sustained extensive damage as well. Commander Prime lent eighteen engineers to Gorgoth's repair efforts and received his personnel back within minutes. Gorgoth's Commander Aerov had lost 12 of his 44 crew and 22 more were too injured to effect ship repairs. Needless to say, the remaining able-bodied ten were out-matched when canshow sent 25 Insurgent marines to capture UCV-Gorgoth. To limit his losses, Aerov surrendered his ship without a fight and, with canshow's permission, departed with all 32 of his surviving crew and sufficient food and supplies in both of UCV Gorgoth's shuttles. Commander canshow renamed UCV Gorgoth to ICV Prometheus and assigned half his crew to it. He ordered Prometheus to attack Stormhammer and Daedalus to attack Ashdod. Commander Prime offered to take in Aerov and his crew, and the merc accepted. Stormhammer then broke off its engagement with the 14 Insurgent fighters, just as Ashdod's two fighters took its place, and headed towards Prometheus. Commander Aerov's shuttles were faster than his former ship and managed to dock with Stormhammer just before Prometheus could open fire. Considering the new odds and the lives of his crew and guests, Tek decided to abandon the mission and relayed as much to Garrison. GCV Louisville had rammed Ashdod from behind and self-destructed, effectively disabling the once nimble Earthcom Starcruiser in the wake of Commander canshow's onslaut from ICV Daedalus. As ICV Prometheus and and the persuing 14 Insurgent fighters finaly depleted ECV Stormhammer's shields, Tek jumped away from his battle, towards Garrison's, and managed to catch Ashdod in Stormhammer's tractor beam just as Daedalus first three missiles ripped into Ashdod's already depleted hull armor. Rick Garrison's chief engineer Petrycki saw the nuclear core was about to overload, informed Garrison, and then ejected it. Commander Tek ordered Stormhammer out of the system via direct long-range hyperjump, intending to emerge somewhere in the Krynon starsystem. [/rp]

It's all here: http://www.geocities.com/quazar_2004/ What we do here is, in wider circles, called internet forum-based simming, but has traditionally been called RolePlay here. It's great fun and I invite anyone to join us any time. If you have any questions about the 3000ad simulation, we're here to help.

As a general RP rule, if a player needs to drop out for RL then the remaining players should either write his character out of the remainder of the story (eg. he gets called away on urgent orders), or they can collectively pitch in to play his character through the remainder of the story (which can substantially alter the outcome). I've made the latter choice, so this post should catch teknocack up to just before Canshow's post. [rp] Hadar-9/Cyrian ECV Stormhammer "Is everyone in place?" asked Commander Prime. "Yes, Commander. All medics and engineers are carrying sidearms and are patrolling the ship until the marines get back, whom are prep'ed for combat and ready to deploy as you ordered. All FCs ready to rock!" "Good, take us through the jumpgate." "Sir, we're being hailed by a merc super cruiser. They're offering to escort us past starstation New Frontier and assist in attacking the ICV Aries. They require payment in advance." Commander Tek Prime glanced down at the asking price on his comm console and said, "Offer them 80% of that and maintain our course. If they follow or verbally agree, then contact Ragnar÷k to enact funds transfer." "They've accepted our offer and are now cloaking." replied the comms officer. As the Firestorm Super Carrier transited the connection between the two jump portals (with the cloaked merc super cruiser close behind), its main computer realigned its navigation references to account for its changed position from one side of the Cyrian starsystem to the other. "Display the TacOps view of New Frontier station on the bridgeviewer." "Sir, they are launching two groups of 12 fighters. One is targeting us and the other is enroute to Pravis." said the tactical officer. "Ragnar÷k reports funds transfer complete and the mercs have acknowledged the receipt, Commander." added comms. "Acknowledged, comms. Tactical, launch all FCs. Have them intercept the first group of Insurgent fighters at the jumpgate. I think we can handle twelve Insurgent Defender fighters without our own support craft. Plus we have some extra help this time." Tek said with a sneer. ECV Stormhammer launched its fighter craft and powered up weapons and shields as several small jump anomalies formed all around from the approaching Insurgents. Tek transmitted a narrow beam message in the estimated direction of the cloaked merc cruiser, instructing them to either attack the Insurgents heading to Pravis or wait until Stormhammer's shields had dropped before rendering assistance to her. ---- Meanwhile, Commander Prime's group of small craft reached the Rinaal-to-Pravis jumpgate at the same time as NF-2. The FC-1 pilot frowned and spoke into his radio. "It looks like this group of Insurgents were ordered to rush to the aid of ICV Aries. They outnumber us 12 to 8. We cannot allow a single Insurgent through that gate, understood?" The other pilots acknowledged and opened fire as all 12 Insurgent Defender fighter craft of NF-2 turned on them. ---- NF-1 emerged from hyperspace and rapidly closed on ECV Stormhammer. "Load Perseus and Ralix missiles. Bring PTA and IOD online. Set PTA to 40% intensity and configure IOD for maximum recharge rate." "Yes sir." confirmed the tactical officer. The flight officer drew a breath, "Sir, our fighters have successfully engaged NF-2. None have made it to Pravis yet. Here comes NF-1 straight at us!" Tek calmly countered, "Target two missiles on the leading fighter." --Target Locked-- confirmed the weapons computer as laser shots began to pound Stormhammer's shields. "Fire." Tek Prime then ordered evasive pattern Delta Two as one of Stormhammer's missiles was shot down and the other found its mark. "Commander, that fighter's shields are down and it has sustained moderate damage. Our own shields are down to 76 percent." "Come about, target the next craft." Commander Prime said. Stormhammer's 12 PTA turrets managed to shoot down a few Insurgent missiles but plenty more found their mark, ripping the Vanguard Fleet carrier's shields down below 50 percent. "Fire IOD on that craft!" Tek gestured to a fighter quickly passing from bottom-left to top-right of the bridgeviewer. The Defender super fighter had almost completely recharged its own shields as ECV Stormhammer fired its 4 main guns, destroying the Insurgent craft with 5 bursts. Three other fighters were soon disabled as Stormhammer's shields dipped below 10 percent. "Helm, have we banked enough for two successive hyperjumps?" "Not yet, Commander. The second one will be charged in 12 seconds." the Flight Officer said. "We're running out of time!" said the Nav officer. "Tactical, target all turrets on craft behind us and launch three missiles at the one closest to our line-of-site ahead of us. Helm, target the Rinaal gate and ju-" Commander Tek said before the ship jarred to the side, sending some of the bridge crew flying from their chairs. -Warning! Damage. Shield integrity breached.- the computer calmly stated. Tek and the others picked themselves back up as the merc cruiser opened fire on the remaining 7 fighters of NF-1. ---- Meanwhile, at the Rinaal-to-Pravis jumpgate, FC-1 rushed at its nearest enemy and unloaded half of it's missiles just before passing the other craft. It repeated this on a second craft before its shields and weapons were disabled. Each Stormhammer pilot had already resigned to not making it back alive and was prepared to fight to the death. The pilot then rammed his craft into a third fighter but didn't eject in time - three kills from one weaker fighter! ECV Stormhammer's other fighters did not fare much better. ---- Aboard New Frontier, Commander Crossgrove saw that none of his Defenders were going to make it to ShoHashi, no thanks to that merc cruiser. "Stupid mercs go after the highest dollar" said Tyler. "That's not our concern, Lieutenant. Redirect ICV Daedalus from Capella to assist ICV Aries, and then launch NF-3. Order them to ram their way through to Pravis if they have to. We MUST get help TO Admiral ShoHashi. We'll still have plenty of capital and support craft to defend the station." ---- "Damage report." Commander Prime said. "Only three of our turrets and one IOD cannon are functioning. Shields are down, and dorsal armor has been depleted. We are venting reactor coolant. Minimal crew injuries thus far and engines remain operational." reported the chief engineer. "Minimal crew injuries thus far, Commander." added the medical officer. "Good, get every able-bodied person to work on repairs, even the marines. Let's see if their extra training pays off." ECV Stormhammer and the merc cruiser then jumped to the Pravis gate, with the lone surviving Defender from NF-1 in pursuit. The merc super cruiser had sustained damage similiar to the Earthcom Firestorm but significantly more casualties - however their engines and cloak were still online. While the two craft were in hyperspace, Commander Tek Prime took the opportunity to offer the mercs whatever parts and medical supplies he could spare and offered part of his superior manpower to effect repairs for them as well. The other commander gratefully accepted as they both exited hyperspace - just as the last of NF-3 passed through the gate. "Where did those Insurgent fighters come from, where are ours?" Prime asked. The tactical officer scanned TacOps and said, "Commander all our fighters have been destroyed - only 2 Defenders from NF-2 made it to Pravis. 3 of our pilots ejected and we are picking them up now. Those Insurgents we just saw are a third group of fighters launched from New Frontier station." Tek pounded his command chair in frustration as he realized that 5 of his pilots had given their lives to protect ECV Ashdod from New Frontier's Defenders. Now, 14 Insurgent fighters had made it through to Pravis. Just then, the last Defender from NF-1 self-destructed as it rammed ECV Stormhammer from behind. The explosion rocked the ship and destroyed two of her turrets, just 2 clicks from the gate. "Commander, this is the chief engineer. We need to stop and make repairs." "No time, chief! We must get help to Commander Garrison, if he's still alive. We have a lot of people repairing both ships already. Helm, take us through." -------------------- Pravis/Cyrian ECV Ashdod and GCV Louisville closed to within 50 clicks of ICV Aries. "Ms Dodds, load STS missiles. Bring shields and weapons to full power." "Sir, Aries has launched 4 fighters and is turning to attack us." reported Mrs Tolen from Navigaion. Commander Rick Garrison smirked, "Oh yeah? Launch OURS and open fire on Aries!" Louisville followed suit and fired on the Insurgent Megaron just as the three capital craft completed their first pass. 'So you decided not to jump after all, huh ShoHashi? Want to stay and play, right?' thought Rick. "Commander, two Insurgent Defenders have entered the Pravis region from Rinaal. Our fighters have disabled one of Aries' fighters." "Good have them break off and go after those two Defenders." "Commander, twelve more Insurgent fighters have entered the region from Rinaal." Skidmore said from helm as a missile impacted Ashdod's veltral shields. "Sir, an Insurgent capital craft has jumped in from Capella, designated ICV Deadalus." ShoHashi is the fleet leader; he'll call the whole fleet to protect himself if necessary. "ECV Stormhamer has jumped into the region." "ICV Deadalus has fired on a cloaked merc super cruiser escorting ECV Stormhammer." [/rp] I ran out of time to catch Garrison up as well (got pretty close though). Sho, feel free to play Commander Garrison's side of the fight with ShoHashi if you post again before me. Include whether or not Serondal's Mondo character succeeds in destroying GCV Louisville and how badly it damages ECV Ashdod.

Not quite, Sho. Tek Prime has to pass from Hadar-9, through Rinaal, to reach Pravis. So Recon 1's probe in Pravis will see Aries, Ashdod and Louisville close to the planet; but Tyler and Crossgrove will see Stormhammer on New Frontier's local sensors when it enters Rinaal enroute to Pravis. And we'll say that ECV Stormhammer enters Rinaal just as Recon 1's probe begins streaming telemetry from Pravis. So Commander Crossgrove should keep NF-1 in Rinaal to attack Tek Prime before he jumps to Pravis. But you don't need to modify your post, Sho. That would break my big post that's almost ready to go. Serondal, Canshow, good posting!

[rp] The Galcom Sunflash soon emerged from hyperspace close behind the Earthcom Starcruiser. Both heavy cruisers now closed to within 160 clicks of the Insurgent Megaron. Unlike most heavy cruisers, Ashdod had fighters instead of shuttles (one defining characteristic of the Euphorie-subclass configuration) and would no doubt suprise the other two commanders when it launched its own, now repaired, two fighter craft against a heavy carrier. Sure enough, Aries soon targeted the Pravis to Rinaal jumpgate and slowed its speed to rotate away from the planet. Dodds told Garrison she expected ShoHashi to deploy his four fighters just before entering hyperspace.... [/rp]

For those of us who post at work/school or who don't have the galaxy map handy, I found a copy Derek keeps right here on the site: http://www.3000ad.com/fleets/db/pics/galaxy_map_links.jpg [rp] Pravisz/Cyrian ECV Ashdod "Commander, Stormhammer's probe reports that Commander Prime and crew have just jumped from Tyrus-2/Krynon to Hadar-9/Cyrian. ETA 11 minutes." "Thank you, Dodds. Garrison out." Rick rounded the corridor's last corner to the bridge when he encountered Private First Class Leeta Burleigh, a rather large marine and the only woman on board bigger than Garrison. "At ease, Leeta. Where's Brock?" "He's already in the transporter drafting an assault plan from the Megaron-class schematics." "Good. As you were." "Yes, sir." the marine replied as they parted ways and Rick entered the bridge. "Commander on the br--" started Flight Officer Skidmore, "As you were." Garrison countered. "Status?" Tactical and First Officer Corporal Tracy Dodds relinquished the command chair to Commander Garrison and returned to her station at TacOps, as Comms Officer Lance Corporal Hidetoshi Kamezaki spoke up. "Chief Engineer Sarah Petrycki reports both fighters repaired and cleared to fly. Ashdod herself is battle ready as well. Doctor Kayla reports both pilots and all crew in adequate health and fit for combat duty." Medical Officer Corporal Kayla Tringad was the niece of ISS Fleet's Allun Tringad. "Good." Rick said, taking his seat. "Mr. Skidmore, target ICV Aries, lay in a combat intercept course and engage on my command." "Commander, we are picking up a Ter/Mil ship and receiving a message." "On screen." "This is Commander Bradley of GCV - Louisville, here to offer assistance as needed. Please keep us updated on the situation and instruct us to enter the conflict if the need arises." Rick briefly studied the GalCom Commander looking back at him from the other bridge. The man's uniform was slightly roughed up or otherwise aged and the commander himself had a number of facial cybernetic implants. Having gleaned what he needed, Rick replied, "Thank you, Commander Bradley. As you can see we're out gunned and up against the Insurgent flag ship no less." Rick paused then continued, "I've been ordered to extract an item of cargo from thier manifest and return it to Sol for study. Given our current odds I'd welcome any combat assistance you can provide as soon as possible. ECV Ashdod out." Rick turned to helm, "Mr. Skidmore, engage." ECV Ashdod's TacOps status changed from 'Patrol Pravis' to 'Strike ICV Aries' and the ship followed suit, now at 288 clicks from its target and closing, ETA 2 minutes. The Insurgent P21 Vandal had since redocked with Aries. "Mr. Kamezaki, inform the crew of our orders from Earth Command, and include attack strategy 14b." The comms officer sent out a text message to all crew and bridge staff . After reading the text from her console, Corporal Dodds looked across the bridge from her station at TacOps to the Nav console and noticed the look of concern from Lance Corporal Claire Tolen. "What is it, Claire? What's wrong?" she asked as Garrison also turned to his Nav Officer. "Permission to speak plainly, sir." she said. "Proceed." "Why did you not tell Commander Bradley that we are to capture the Insurgent Admiral?" "General Ridgeline wants to take credit, in the eyes of the UFN, for bringing down such a high profile enemy. If Galcom gets to him first, so the thought goes, then the UFN may cut our funding. If Commander Bradley thinks we're just after some cargo, then he won't try to jump the gun." "But he knows that's ShoHashi's ship anyway." interjected Flight Officer Lance Corporal Ryan Skidmore. "Won't he see right through your deception and deduce what our true plan is?" Garrison's First Officer glanced up at the closing distance to ICV Aries on the bridge viewer before offering a defence for her Commader. "It wasn't a deception, Ryan. We can grab some cargo while we're extracting the Admiral back to our ship. Attack strategy 14b is, in a nutshell, to fire off a few shots in concert with another light cruiser and then send a boarding party." Richard Garrison didn't like the prospect of playing into his superiors' political ambitions at the expense of his own crew's well being, which is why he had logged a formal protest with Fleet Command. He now wondered how close Commander Prime was as ECV Ashdod closed to within 200 clicks of ICV Aries, weapons and shields red hot! [/rp]

Serondal, Glad you could join us! Sho PMed me last week (on the 26th) after I forgot about this thread. Took me till Tuesday the 30th to check my e-mail and see his message. Now I'm waiting for him to reply here - weekends usually afford him the time to crank out a detailed response. In case he hasn't noticed our posts yet, I just fired off a PM. As a general rule for all forum activity, I may take as long as two weeks to reply. So be patient, we haven't forgotten. I saw your original post, Serondal, before you edited it, about which side you should play. Anything's fine, and what you've gone with should shake things up pretty good.

Thanks for the PM, Sho! [rp] Garrison entered Ashdod's flight deck as the two damaged fighters arrived. "Come to help repair, Commander?" asked Chief Engineer Corporal Sarah Petrycki. "That's right, Sarah." Rick didn't need to be told what to do. He soon had a tool kit and walked up to launch pad 1. A medic helped the pilot down from the cockpit. "Pilot, what is your name? What happened in Capella?" Rick asked. "I am Private First Class Helena Stadi. I was the second assistant leader of our group of fighters. We were taking some detailed low-level flyby scans of unknown settlements on the planet's surface when several insurgent fighters crested the nearby mountain range and opened fire. We knew we couldn't survive a sustained engagement so I ordered my fighter Squad back to space. Our group leader supported my tactical assessment and ordered our entire fighter Section back to Tyrus-2. But along the way, my wingman over there, and I sustained extensive damage and bodily injuries while covering the other fighters' retreat." Garrison asked, "Did the insurgent fighters give chase?" "Only to the jumpgate, sir." Garrison had worked several of his enlisted years as an engineer and already repaired the fighter's worst damaged systems. "Very well, PFC Stadi. Report to medibay and get cleaned up. We may need you again soon. You did good today, Helena." She returned Rick's smile and walked off the flight deck with the medic as Garrison turned his attention to the second fighter. It's pilot was badly injured and had already been carried off to medibay. "Sarah how are we on spare parts, ATM?" he asked as he recalibrated the craft's BIOS. "Looks like we've got enough for these repairs, sir, but I don't know what we'll need if we take Ashdod into combat." Rick nodded and continued. The work went fast with the help of Ashdod's system engineers and the flight engineers had already started to inspect the first fighter. Meanwhile back on the bridge,,,, Corporal Tracy Dodds watched the viewscreen with the rest of the bridge crew as the Insurgent P21 Vandal drew closer to their position. When it closed to within about 40 clicks, the fighter changed its target from Ashdod to Aries and slowly turned around. They knew the pilot had positively identified Ashdod as a Vanguard Fleet vessel. Now Dodds and the Insurgent commander needed to make a decision.... "Ma'am, incoming transmission from ISO." "On screen, and route it to Garrison." ------ From: Earth Command To: ECVs Stormhammer and Ashdod Subj: Attack Orders Commanders Prime and Garrison, You are hereby tasked with the neutralization or destruction of the ICV Aries and bring the Insurgent Fleet Admiral back to Sol to stand trial for his crimes against humanity. J Company is under attack by unknown forces in Lanix V, much to the dismay of the Zelons. You're on your own, gentlemen. I don't need to remind you how many lives you must safeguard through this operation; that's why we made you Commanders. Get the job done, and report to my office in person when you're finished. Regards, General Trevor Ridgeline First Assistant Wing Leader, Intelligence and Special Operations (ISO) Vanguard Fleet ------ Down on Ashdod's flight deck, Rick stood up from his work on the second fighter, dumbfounded by what he'd just read, banging his head into a sharp corner of the small craft's restored armor plating. "Ouch!" He said in double frustration. "This will have to do, Sarah. You flight engineers, suit up and cut your checklist short. You're going to pilot these craft yourselves." He pulled up his communicator and exited the flight deck. "Tracy, I'm on my way back to the bridge. Log my formal protest into comlink and prepare an away team. I don't like this one bit, but we'll proceed as ordered. What's Commander Prime's ETA?" Meanwhile down on the planet's surface.... Insurgent Lieutenant Thomas had intercepted both of General Ridgeline's messages with the outpost's new CIM and forwarded this critical intel to ShoHashi. It might just save his life, Thomas thought. [/rp] Serondal, I like your story; keep it coming. You're welcome to join in our thread too.

Congrats, Eclipse!

Member 47 turns 42 today! From what I hear, he's lately been hitting the books like me (college) as well as posting some movie reviews here on the forums. I wish a most heart felt happy birthday to one of this community's longest serving icons!

I hear ya, Sho! Just super busy ATM. Tek, has Cmdr Prime reached Rinaal yet?

That was fabulous, canshow! Have you ever heard of simming or play-by-post? That's what we do over in the RP forum. http://www.3000ad.com/forum/uploads/emoticons/default_wavey.gif' alt=':wavey:'> We'd welcome you to join our current story any time. Keep up the good work in this thread, too, canshow! I'll be back to read more.

[rp] ECV Ashdod Bridge Comms Officer Lance Corporal Hidetoshi Kamezaki intensely studied the constant chatter of external communications. Commercial, Tourist, and Journalist business thrived here in Mandorian space. In addition to radio traffic, several ships had passed through the region since Ashdod had first chanced upon ICV Aries. Suddenly, a clearly intentioned transmission emerged from the cybernetic blur. Kamezaki immediately rerouted it to first officer Corporal Tracy Dodds' terminal, as Garrison was not on the bridge. ---begin transmission--- From: ECV Stormhammer To: Sergeant Richard Garrison, Commander of ECV Ashdod Subj: Re: request tactical assistance Commander, We received your message and are enroute to Pravis from Tyrus-2 to assist. You were the first one on the scene so we follow your lead. ETA about 20 minutes. Sergeant First Class Jason McCraken Lieutenant Commander (first officer) of Firestorm-class ECV Stormhammer ---end transmission--- Tyrus-2 was in the Kandorian heartland of Krynon and a full three jumps from ECV Ashdod's position in Pravis/Cyrian. Ashdod's first officer Tracy Dodds read the message and called up all availabble info on ECV Stormhammer. 'They will follow our lead?' Dodds thought. 'Stormhammer's XO outranks my own Commander! Oh well, it's their Commander's call.' ECV Stormhammer had a solid service record and retained much of its crew from its commission date. Its CO and XO, Sergeant Major Teknocack Prime and Sergeant First Class Jason McCraken had both been assigned to Stormhammer a few weeks ago. Dodds pulled up Commander Prime's profile. Teknocack Prime had enlisted in Earth Command at the age of 18 and served at the Enlisted Training ranks of Recruit, Trainee, and Apprentice for a total of four years. He graduated with full academic honors and entered Vanguard Fleet service as an Elite Force Marine at age 22. The North American native demonstrated a natural mastery of snipping, close quarters combat, and hand-to-hand techniques that prompted his Squad Leader to repeatedly call upon Prime for the Bloc's most dangerous jobs. [ooc]Bloc is earthcom's term for a numbered group of personnel; galcom and the insurgents use the term 'unit' instead; (ee definition 2b of 'bloc' at merriam-webster.com.[/ooc] Prime quickly became a leader among his Marine peers and progressed through the Enlisted ranks of Private, Private First Class, Lance Corporal, and Corporal in the fastest allowed time of two years per rank. Concluding his enlisted career at thirty years of age, Tek was immediately admitted to Command School where he served two years at the instructional rank of Command Officer Candadate (CdOC), studying starship command and advanced battlefield doctrine. Upon graduation at age 32, Tek Prime (then a Sergeant) turned down an offer to command an unarmed transport of 14 personnel, and shortly thereafter accepted a staff officer's posting on a heavy carrier. Prime advanced through the Command Officer grades of Sergeant, Staff Sergeant, Sergeant First Class, and First Sergeant, again, according to the fastest allowed promotion schedule of two years per rank. During this time Tek met and befriended Jason McCraken. Paul Sherwin, Commander of Tek's ship, a First Sergeant, was promoted to Sergeant Major at the same time as Tek was promoted to First Sergeant. Prime, McCraken, and Sherwin become close friends and opted to continue to serve together on the same ship, though Tek was now qualified to command that heavy carrier. Then, just six short weeks ago, the heavy carrier was ambushed by Credian Raiders. The crew fought well but were out gunned with reinforcements too far away. The ship was destroyed and only Tek and Jason escaped alive. This experience would haunt the two men for the rest of their lives and instilled in them a deep hatred for the Credian government who failed to protect travelers through the Trenis starsystem. Around the same time, ECV Stormhammer's CO and XO were reassigned; so Vanguard Fleet gave its charge to Jason McCraken and the newly promoted Sergeant Major Teknocack Prime. Tek's service record had reached 22 years to date, making him 40 years of age when he received his first command. Corporal Tracy Dodds remenisced upon Commander Garrison's service record, which she had read quite thoroughly before. Richard Garrison, already a combat veteran along side his merc parents, served at the Enlisted Training ranks of Recruit, Trainee, and Apprentice for a total of four years, and graduated from Enlisted Training at age fourteen. He served as Private, Private First Class, Lance Corporal, and Corporal in the slowest allowed time of seven years per rank. After facing stiff competition for admittance, Rick served in Command School for two years at the instructional rank of Command Officer Candidate (CdOC) Upon graduation, he attained the rank of Sergeant at age forty four, with a service record of thirty years to date. Vanguard Fleet gave Garrison command of newly commissioned ECV Ashdod less than a month later. [/rp] Sorry for not advancing the current storyline. Tek, Sho, either one of you can make some decisions for my character if necessary. I'll be back for more.

Hi canshow, Welcome to 3000AD forums! Fighters, shuttles, ground vehicles, etc are used in 3000AD games like they'd be used in Star Trek or Star Wars. ... Something tells me that I did not adequately answer your question. Please elaborate.

Fixed!

Looking good guys! We're on thread page two now and approaching fourteen hundred reads. Thank you for your service to our country, Tek! When and where did you serve? Sho is a Marine. The real world experience the two of you can bring to the RPG is very important to me. Yes, please do offer your suggestions any time. The Earthcom structure takes a combination of RL Army and Marine rank names, and applies them to Vanguard Fleet in a completely new way. For now, I'll only use what we need for our story. Teknocack Prime commands a bigger ship than Rick Garrison - measured by personnel, not firepower - so, for this story, your character outranks mine! Unlike Galcom or the Insurgents, I do not intend for Earthcom to have a rank called Commander (because the RL army doesn't have it either). If it's ok with you two, I'd like to let Commander, in Vanguard Fleet, be a position - a form of address - not an Earthcom rank. BTW Tek, these are just character ranks. You and I as players are probably closer to higher Fleet positions than simple ship commanders. Don't worry about what your character said or thought. As we learn from each other and polish our writing styles, there are bound to be some inconsistencies. Please do not edit your first post for that reason. Leaving it the way it is will more clearly show our own learning progression as players. Besides, I gave you absolutely nothing to go on - no reference material stating what a Sergeant does in Earthcom (I'm basing my info off of this but don't get too carried away). So you were perfectly justified in how you adapted. Please continue to use Commander and Lieutenant Commander as forms of address. Likewise for myself on RL military issues. So far, I've been writing my posts to this topic from school, where I don't have access to UCSE. I agree with Tek. Thread loading times can detract some readers. (I knew this would happen from the beginning.) But starting a new topic is not necessary, Sho. The forum displays only twenty posts per thread page by default. So the thread loading time we have right now is the longest it will take (for guests anyway). Except that a logged in user may set his profile to view more than 20 posts at a time. But we can only limit the thread loading time so much and still include pics. Absolutely, Sho! Don't let snapping shots get in the way of advancing the storyline, but please do include pictures when you can. They're worth it! True, I've got a longer one coming, but check your PM first.