OOC

[Lance]

My shopping list includes like half the equipment list from binoculars to a comm server and yet it ended up at only 4400 credits.

[The_Wanderer]

My shopping list includes like half the equipment list from binoculars to a comm server and yet it ended up at only 4400 credits.

Also...it's important to remember that it's expensive to run a starship once you have one - let alone update it as desired.

[Lance]

The AI will own the starship

[Marullus]

Handling Consent.
Hey guys, I want to check in as players about how we want to handle Sem and her Symbiosis ability -- Playing at a table, we could check in iteratively, but with Play-by-Post it would really slow down posting. Sem has the ability to give extra actions to any characters (up to 1 per scene per character), to refresh Askor and Shion's Warrior class ability so they can use it twice in a scene, and to increase the group's capability by rolling her own actions with someone else's dice. To do so, she needs to establish Symbiosis concentually and switch that link to different people potentially each round of combat to spread the benefits across the group. I'd like to track consent for each character in my post headers so we don't have to stop and ask about consent during a scene. I think it is important that you all have individual control over your own comfort with consenting to her psychic contact with your character's brain.

The GM has expressed a desire for "GM Fiat" to address group unity. Under that idea, I'd like to assume our two-week downtime includes a montage of others getting to know each other and assumed comfort, which will include her demonstrating the capability. I propose that each character:

• Grow comfortable with Sem and the idea of her ability to connect psychicly and enhance their minds. (Assumed Consent is Yes, I connect in future scenes to give benefits)
• Have an explicit scene that we roleplay out to establish the character relationship.
• Identify as uncomfortable: the idea of this girl connecting to your brain is not okay, and definitely not in a stressful moment. (Assumed Consent is No, I don't connect in future scenes to give benefits)

Does that work for you? If you post your character's reactions in the IC thread, I'll tabulate and keep track. In my IC posts, I'll always include which individual she is connected to at that moment and a spoiler that provides what they're getting from it. Sem is also going to learn and adjust to the group - I intend to have her do this based on who she is connecting symbiotically with, adapting to group norms through them.

[shaidar]

I think that Jonas would be cautious, due to his background. So I think the second options would be good, if he could be shown the benefits and understand it's limits (ie you cant read his mind and learn about his life history uncontrolled) then he might be open to it.

[cybersavant]

I don't see Alix Conzweth agreeing to this contact.

[Marullus]

I don't see Alix Conzweth agreeing to this contact.

I didn't either.

[The Bindoner]

Katyusha will need persuading to accept the link. Her upbringing tells her to fear and distrust psychic powers. She isn't comfortable with her own.

I'm going to invest the skill points in raising Trade and Shoot from 0 to 1.

I haven't had time to look at spending yet, but a grav-bike sounds totally in character

Edit:

Upgrading Trade probably involves getting a bulk purchase discount on the bikes, among other things

[Marullus]

If Katyusha is conflicted enough over psychics that she hasn't accepted HERSELF, then this is a bigger plot point than a two week montage should fix.

So, to start the next episode, it looks like:

• Consent: Shion Kuznetsov, Askor Binshav
• Non-Consent: Alix Conzweth, Ekaterina Voronina-Sokolova
• Having a Scene to decide: Jonas Jones

Sound right?

We then decide during play. If there's a point where either Alix or Ekaterina has a breakthrough to trust Sem, let me know. If there's a juncture where there's something important enough to push the issue, we discuss IC.

[shaidar]

Note that the ship only has space for 1 bike, unless we get it modified.

With regards to Sem and the link. I've been considering this and I think, at least initially, Jonas would be a no. It's not because of a distrust of psionics, but more than he wants to keep his history private, both for his and everyone's safety. He also has serious trust issues from his background. I'm not saying that he won't decide yes later when he gets to know Sem more, but I don't think 2 weeks would be enough got this.

[Faanku]

Posted and updated my shopping list. Was considering getting a CFU for more hairy situations as well...
Also yeah, now that Shion has gone through the mindmeld she knows it's nothing to worry about.

[Faanku]

This is a favorite use of Nexus stuff for me. Sem's Borrowed Brilliance lets Sem make and maintain mods with her Main Actions as if Shion were making all the rolls. With Reflexive Action, she also allows Shion to make two rolls per scene instead of one. If she invites Sem back with her to continue this, she can potentially cut the 12 days of mods to 4 days.

Unfortunately, there are no rolls involved with building mods; they take a set amount of time that can only be reduced by a) working flat out (which is why you haven't seen Shion for these 2 weeks) and b) hiring an assistant with Fix-0 or higher (which Shion has also done). The 12.25 days she's spent modding her gear has already been quartered down from 7 weeks!
That said, if you want to spend 20 hours with Shion in the workshop she can Customise your armour for a +1 AC for only 500c.

[Marullus]

Note that the ship only has space for 1 bike, unless we get it modified.

I am confused - this shouldn't be true? The sample Free Merhant on page 104 (which should be similar to ours) has 160 tons of cargo space. Each motorcycle/gravbike occupies 1 ton. A gravcar occupies 40 tons. We have plenty of room for either. If we were concerned, we could spend 2.5K and 1 Mass for "Vehicle Transport Fittings" which cuts the tonnage of all vehicles in half for these calculations.

My shopping list includes like half the equipment list from binoculars to a comm server and yet it ended up at only 4400 credits.

We might want to pay 2K (no power, no mass) to stock a Ship's Locker fitting. This allows all normal gear needed for any missions for the whole crew. It is 10K to also add an Armory, allowing sufficient quantities of military grade weapons and armor for the whole crew as needed, and includes maintenance facilities for Shion to mod/maintain.

Unfortunately, there are no rolls involved with building mods; they take a set amount of time that can only be reduced by a) working flat out (which is why you haven't seen Shion for these 2 weeks) and b) hiring an assistant with Fix-0 or higher (which Shion has also done). The 12.25 days she's spent modding her gear has already been quartered down from 7 weeks!
That said, if you want to spend 20 hours with Shion in the workshop she can Customise your armour for a +1 AC for only 500c.

Awww shucks. Sem will still come along a few days for roleplay purposes if Shion allows, so we have that shared experience and Shion knows to ask her help in missions. Sem doesn't have any armor - she dodges like Neo from the Matrix. She will buy the same kind of combat rifle that Shion is coveting and modding, mirroring the more practiced warrior, and apply the Customized mod. (300+1000=1,300 credits?)

[The_Wanderer]

Handling Consent.
Hey guys, I want to check in as players about how we want to handle Sem and her Symbiosis ability -- Playing at a table, we could check in iteratively, but with Play-by-Post it would really slow down posting. Sem has the ability to give extra actions to any characters (up to 1 per scene per character), to refresh Askor and Shion's Warrior class ability so they can use it twice in a scene, and to increase the group's capability by rolling her own actions with someone else's dice. To do so, she needs to establish Symbiosis concentually and switch that link to different people potentially each round of combat to spread the benefits across the group. I'd like to track consent for each character in my post headers so we don't have to stop and ask about consent during a scene. I think it is important that you all have individual control over your own comfort with consenting to her psychic contact with your character's brain.

The GM has expressed a desire for "GM Fiat" to address group unity. Under that idea, I'd like to assume our two-week downtime includes a montage of others getting to know each other and assumed comfort, which will include her demonstrating the capability. I propose that each character:

• Grow comfortable with Sem and the idea of her ability to connect psychicly and enhance their minds. (Assumed Consent is Yes, I connect in future scenes to give benefits)
• Have an explicit scene that we roleplay out to establish the character relationship.
• Identify as uncomfortable: the idea of this girl connecting to your brain is not okay, and definitely not in a stressful moment. (Assumed Consent is No, I don't connect in future scenes to give benefits)

Does that work for you? If you post your character's reactions in the IC thread, I'll tabulate and keep track. In my IC posts, I'll always include which individual she is connected to at that moment and a spoiler that provides what they're getting from it. Sem is also going to learn and adjust to the group - I intend to have her do this based on who she is connecting symbiotically with, adapting to group norms through them.

I applaud the explicit consent conversation here.

I also want to clarify that when Marullus and I were talking about GM Fiat - it had to do with integrating Sem into the group - as in Marullus doesn't need to explain why Sem is traveling with the group, she just is.

[shaidar]

I may have misunderstood, but it was The_Wanderer who said we could only fit one grav bike on the ship.

[Faanku]

We might want to pay 2K (no power, no mass) to stock a Ship's Locker fitting. This allows all normal gear needed for any missions for the whole crew. It is 10K to also add an Armory, allowing sufficient quantities of military grade weapons and armor for the whole crew as needed, and includes maintenance facilities for Shion to mod/maintain.

Those prices are multiplied by 10 for frigate hulls, so 20k for Ship's Locker and 100k for the Armoury.
I always assumed that a dedicated Workshop mod was necessary to build and maintain mods, but that line in the Armoury description is intriguing. Maybe the Workshop's power and mass drain is the payoff for costing 1/20 the price? Or is the "integral maintenance facilities for its upkeep" in the Armoury's entry just flavour text? Makes me wonder why anyone with the money would ever bother with a Workshop when an Armoury takes up no space and comes with a plethora of heavy weaponry... Either way, having somewhere onboard to work is definitely a priority for Shion, she can work on things during spike drills that way and also avoid paying to rent workshops in downtime.

Awww shucks. Sem will still come along a few days for roleplay purposes if Shion allows, so we have that shared experience and Shion knows to ask her help in missions. Sem doesn't have any armor - she dodges like Neo from the Matrix. She will buy the same kind of combat rifle that Shion is coveting and modding, mirroring the more practiced warrior, and apply the Customized mod. (300+1000=1,300 credits?)

Will be 800 (300+500) as Shion pays half price for all mods thanks to her Tinkerer focus!

[The_Wanderer]

Note that the ship only has space for 1 bike, unless we get it modified.

I am confused - this shouldn't be true? The sample Free Merhant on page 104 (which should be similar to ours) has 160 tons of cargo space. Each motorcycle/gravbike occupies 1 ton. A gravcar occupies 40 tons. We have plenty of room for either. If we were concerned, we could spend 2.5K and 1 Mass for "Vehicle Transport Fittings" which cuts the tonnage of all vehicles in half for these calculations.

Yeah - don't be confused. The GM made a mistake when going between the Free Merchant as a hull type and the example Free Merchant and then misread the description of Cargo Space Fitting. I mean I was only off by about 279 tons! Here's a quick and dirty stat block for the Free Merchant the AI can buy:

Free Merchant Class
Offensive Capabilities
Reaper Battery+AB (3d4) Clumsy
AB = the gunner's BAB + INT/DEX + Shoot

Defensive Capabilities
Speed 3
AC14
Armor 2
HP 20 / 20
Other Specs
Minimum Crew: 1
Maximum Crew: # of PC's + 2
Power: 10 / 6 free
Mass: 15 / 14 free resulting in 280 tons of cargo space
Hardpoints: 2 / 1 free

Fittings
Genuine ICD-1 Spike Drive
Reaper Battery

[The_Wanderer]

I may have misunderstood, but it was The_Wanderer who said we could only fit one grav bike on the ship.

Not you...just me.

[Faanku]

Here's a quick and dirty stat block for the Free Merchant the AI can buy

Damn, when you said stripped out you meant it; I thought we were in the market for the example free merchant listed, not just a raw hull with a single weapon. And the guy had the absolutely balls on him to charge 1.2m! This thing's barely worth half that, and that's if the maintenance has been done in the last 6 months. I'm thinking we absolutely need to get involved with this purchase (and then check the wiring on the AI if it thinks this is a spaceworthy vessel).
On the plus side, this might let us tailor the ship to our needs somwhat.

[shaidar]

Yeah, it sounds like we might need to spend some time checking that things isn't a death trap.