Over the past couple of days, I have had chance to add more systems to the TSN Sandbox. After talking with Evans, I decided to focus on creating the Volantis system and Waypoint 52. Both were straightforward to add in, and only took a couple of hours work. No doubt there will be some bug I have missed, but after a little testing, I managed to iron out a few issues - mainly transition problems where I had missed renaming a variable.
With these two new systems added, it completes a loop though USFP controlled space. Now crews can set out on a patrol flight and visit several sectors in turn in a complete circuit. This was the main reason for focusing on these two systems. Next, I want to add in some more things to encounter in the patrol mode so that ships can set out on patrol with a GM and have to handle various enemies or situations. I was thinking of adding in some "suspicious" ships - cargo vessels behaving strangely or with strange readings when scanned. These would have to be then intercepted and dealt with by crews on their patrol. I was also thinking of increasing the presence of pirates across all systems so that players are bound to come in to contact with something as they transit USFP space. A patrol may only see one or two contacts, but potentially could come across many more if out for a longer period of time. Combined with the suspect vessels, it should add enough variety for patrols.
There have been a couple of suggestions on the Artemis forums about functions to add to the GM keys. One I am definitely going to look in to is the ability to switch between GM mode and Patrol mode during the mission. There are a few more keys to add in with new enemies from the TSN Expansion too. I was also thinking of something else I could do with the GM console, but don't want to go into that at the moment; it is just an idea, but one that could really be an exciting and engaging addition for crews.
All this is plans for the future however. I am holding off on doing anything with the GM keys until the release of the new GM GUI that is being added. When it is available, I am going to overhaul all the GM keys so that they use the new menus. I know the changes are really going to make a massive difference to the Sandbox in terms of its usability and personally I cannot wait until I can get started upgrading the sandbox code.
Other new mission script code that will make a difference and be added when available will be the ship name code. It will allow me to set the ship names in the script, no longer requiring the player to change the names. Both of the additions to the mission script code will make the sandbox much more user friendly and easy to access.
That's all for now!
Wednesday, 30 March 2016
Sunday, 22 November 2015
Personal Log - 231115-2236
The Cerberus campaign is finally over, and we've returned to the Promethean system. Its good to be home.
My quarters are just as I had left them. There was no need to take much with me, though it is not like I have a lot to move; a couple of dress uniforms, stationary, this place is pretty spartan. Its how I like it though.
The sight of shuttles and transports buzzing back and forth through the view screen is comforting. I can almost forget the last few months... so many good officers and crew lost... All told, we lost 137 personnel from our division. Looking through those lists of names, sending letters of condolence to relatives, it never becomes routine.
Now that we're back, the engineers are giving all the division ships a complete overhaul and repair. We can finally fix the combat damage properly, rather than the temporary patches we've had to make. The hulls of the Raven is pretty battered and the number of patches and bypasses to systems is pretty high. I am glad I've got the chance to get her to space dock and fixed up.
There has been some talk from engineering about trial runs with new energy systems too. Something about refinement of the denabite crystals or fusion power exchange manifolds or some such. If everything works as it does in the sims, the power plants on the division ships will be significantly more effective. Of course, there's a big jump between controlled sims in the lab and actual live test runs.
Were back to a fairly normal routine now. Command wants the division to pick up the patrols in the Cronus system again. According to intel reports, the hegemony presence across their border regions has been slowly building. There are reports of several resupply bases being constructed in Erebus system and few of the hegemony patrols have been sighted in the Cronus system. At the moment, we are getting more bother from pirates in Cronus, with hegemony forces not straying far from their own gate. Right now, its not too much to be concerned about though, just a situation to monitor.
Anyway, that's all for now. There is a stack of inspection reports to get through and repairs to authorise. Time to get back to work.
--End Personal Log--
Updates on the TSN Sandbox
I've picked up work on the TSN Sandbox again. I am trying to get into a routine of adding features, though finding the time is the main barrier to working on it. Yesterday, I was able to work on it for several hours, and fixed some issues that needed addressing.
The patrol mode has been tested a couple of times by the crew of the TSN Raven now and is working as expected. There was a major issue with pirates just not attacking, which I've now managed to fix. It took some work, and required stripping back and rebuilding each pirate's AI commands, but now they will hunt a player down when you enter the sector.
I'm not sure that I have posted an update here about the patrol mode. I had tried something similar in a previous version of the Sandbox, but found it too cumbersome to build in. After letting the idea stew for a period, I finally thought up of a way to integrate it within the new Sandbox. Basically, the code for spawning and setting AI is all isolated from the rest of the sandbox code, and then triggers in a particular sector activate it. I used a couple of variables cycling to randomly pick numbers and drew on them to set up coordinates as well as spawn chance. I have tweaked the spawn chance to get a decent balance, and think I have managed to get something that is acceptable.
Within the Sandbox, there are the pirates, kraliens, mixed hegemony fleets, heavier carrier fleets and command fleets. Different enemies can be encountered in different systems and sectors, and where those enemies spawn can be tailored. For example, enemies might spawn nearer a particular sector edge, such a pirates raiding into Cerberus sector 1 & 5, or might spawn at any random location in the sector, such as enemies in their own system. The next phase will be adding in more badlands and then adding in the Unakalhai and N'Tani to roam through them. There was also a request to add in some allied ships too, so I will look into that. I'd like to create some that have small missions built in, for example some with distress calls similar to what would be found in a normal solo or coop game, or some transport missions, picking up supplies.
Now that it is part of the Sandbox, in testing the TSN Raven has been running patrol simulations (we are still testing so don't want to make them 'proper missions' in case the script breaks) and search and destroy simulations into the Cronus and Erebus systems. Last night in our shift, we entered Erebus to hunt down and destroy enemy command fleets in order to disrupt their operations. The command fleets are small fleets of 3 or 4 ships, one of which is a special command ship (3000+ shields front and back) guarded by two or three other heavy ships (e.g leviathans, goliaths or carriers). For a single ship, they are pretty tough nuts to crack, and usually by the end of the combat, a lot of ordnance has been expended.
With these kinds of missions though, there has been an issue with the amount of time it takes to get places. Travelling at warp 1 all the way to the Erebus system takes ages, and often a ship has to stop and refuel multiple times on the way, particularly if the engage any enemies along the way. As a result, I've started exploring options on how to address the problem. There were a few different ideas that I was looking in to. One very simple idea was to give ships an infinite amount of energy, but in testing it just didn't feel right. Another option was to increase the energy gained from the FCS to reduce the amount of time refueling, but I felt this wouldn't combat the problem of having to stop frequently or travelling at warp 1. I opened up the discussion on the TSN forums and got a couple of ideas - advanced refuel point to gather supplies, a supply ship, special short cuts to systems, increasing ship's energy reserves - all were ideas suggested. One though was changing the efficiency of systems, something I think someone had mentioned a few months ago. So, I've started experimenting.
In the first trial, we just changed all system's efficiency to 1. In that test, the ships could move around at war 3 & 4 with little issue. At warp 1, no power was used at all, at warp 2, it was used 1 unit over several seconds. Warp 3 & 4 used energy at a much slower rate, but one that was noticeable. The next change lowered warp, impulse and maneouvre, but increased sensors, primary beams and torpedo systems. Shield were kept the same. In the trails with the TSN Raven, we could use warp 3 to get to Erebus system, crossing 7 or 8 sectors and using about 1/2 our energy reserves, and then attack a couple of enemy fleets before needing to stop to collect more fuel. We found that rather than having to manage energy, we were having to manage ordnance, heat on systems, damage, much more. The engineer reported that without the "downtime" provided by the fuel collection mode, they had to work harder to actually cool and manage systems, and in one of the first simulations, we actually had to abandon ship as we had taken damage to maneouvre systems and lost all damcon teams.
That is all for now. It has been quite a while since I updated this blog. For the most up-to-date information about the Sandbox, I post regularly on the Artemis forums, so check out the thread. You can download it there too! Oh, and I almost forgot, check out the Stellar Cartography too. It is an interactive map for the sandbox which can be used on any device. It makes for a pretty cool map tool to help navigate around the systems and sectors.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Battle Doctrine
Recently, I have been thinking about some of the strategies and tactics we utilise during GM mission. After a simulation or mission, crews usually debrief then the commanding officers meet briefly to review how the mission went. This often generates discussion and ideas about new tactics and strategies and there is a lot of reflection on the performance of the Division. There is also generally at lot of discussion before and after the shift between the senior officers. As a result, we are constantly tweaking and adapting how we play and making changes and improvements.
A couple of recent discussions and some reading of documents highlighted to me that, though we have developed pretty clear ways of dealing with different situations, tackling enemies and deployments of ships, we have very little reference material or records. Though we have combat orders and fleet attack patterns, there is no guide on when to use them, how they might be adapted, and no guidance either on how to coordinate battle groups and adapt to different situations. We have no document outlining our Battle Doctrine.
Battles doctrine is a term I've heard of before a long time ago, but reading a document recently brought it back to the forefront of my mind. A quick bit of research into the actual definition and usage of the term convinced me it was the thing I have been looking for. Rather than defining what to do in detail, battle doctrine are the guidelines of how to conduct actions, however are not hard and fast rules. As a result, they don't restrict you to a course of actions, rather they outline current thinking and approaches to provide ideas on what to do in certain situations. With this in mind, I have started a document to record our current battle doctrines.
The first part I have been recording is our use of scout ships acting as part of a battle group. Over the past few weeks, our campaign has prompted us to establish a new doctrine of using scouts to break up a particular type of enemy formation. This has been what I will describe as a 'Command formation'. In basic term, it has been a group of 3 Torgoth heavies, with massively boosted shields (3000+ in strength) escorted by up to 4 heavy Skaraan vessels, equipped with anti-torp/mine abilities (as well as several other elite abilities) and again, massively boosted shield (3000+). A single ship would find it impossible to tackle the formation, and it has takes the combined strength and coordination of all ships. The approach, although not new in game terms, had to be more clearly outlined, with the scouts carefully coordinating to lure the Skaraans away, and keep them distracted, whilst a battle group attacked the Torgoths with repeated bombardments and firing passes until they were destroyed. With the Torgoths destroyed, the Skaraans often leave the battle space.
There are a whole host of other things I want to include, such as when it would be more advantageous to divide ships and when to keep them together. We've also started deploying other ship types, namely a missile cruiser (a modded 'mk2' varient with a close range beam with just enough power to destroy a drone), and this is likely to spark a lot of new doctrine.
Personal Reflections
Whilst writing our new doctrines, I thought about how we do not follow certain ways of thinking. The main one that always used to cause debate was dragging monsters to enemy formations to more effectively destroy them. There are a couple of other things we don't utilise too, or things we do, like providing close escort, that make it more challenging or some may say, makes us less effective in combat. One such situation would be having a ship escort an ally by remaining within 8K rather than combating nearby enemies.
Justifying this to some has always been difficult. A simple thought occurred to me though. There are many who play the game. By that, I mean they search out all the best ways to defeat the hardest levels. All the tactics, tricks and quirks that mean you can defeat co-op and solo games on the highest difficulty settings. I have nothing against people or groups that want to do this. I'm impressed at the research and effort that people put in to this, now and in the past. I've never looked or intended to do this with the TSN RP Community though. The group's aims have never been to play at the highest possible level (level 11 at 300%). We aim instead to create stories, roleplay, to act and behave as TSN officers. It's not about playing the game, but taking part in the story. As a result, our battle doctrine is going to reflect that.
Often, when we've created stuff, we've shared it with the wider Artemis community. Some has been taken and used by others, which is always rewarding to see as we feel like we've made a contribution. There have been times when we have been met with critisism, and sometimes open hostility. I've been caught up with this in the past, trying to defend my position, and fending off insults and critisism seemingly designed to portray us in a particularly bad way. Its only been a vocal few, but it is still damaging to us as a group and personally too. I realise now though, that what we do is for us. If others adopt it, or think it's good, than that is great. But we never force our content on others, and if people don't like it, well who cares, it was made for us.
From a personal point of view, I am starting to share less and less with the wider community. The newest Sandbox is an example. I'm writing it for the TSN RP, and we've been using it for a while now but I've not shared it with the wider community because I've realised, I don't need to (I put out a poll as to who wanted it, felt stung at getting one response, and now realise I shouldn't be and don't really care!) It is all for us; our group; the TSN RP Community players!
For me, it's been quite liberating to feel like I am doing things for the group of people I play with. I know people in our group all appreciate the effort that everyone goes to: in creating a mod; designing and running missions; creating medals and awards; organising the night; running the teamspeak; having a website.... I feel like a weight has been lifted; I no longer feel like I have to compete with others or justify ideas, or see someone take them and critisise and 'improve' them. This is going to enable me to write this battle doctrine without feeling any anxiety over how it might be accepted by others outside the TSN.
I think it also highlights to me how cohesive and cooperative the leadership team of the TSN is as well. I feel confident that we have a shared vision and understanding of the direction we are taking and I respect the opinions and feedback of those in the leadership team.
Sunday, 27 September 2015
General Updates and News
It has been a long while since I last posted on this blog. I have had some difficulty with finding time to write, as well as finding something interesting to report. Now though, I feel I have left it too long, and so I will post whatever I can think of that will be of interest to you, the reader.
It seems recently that our numbers are once again beginning to pick up. During our last shift, we were able to deploy five ships with either 5 or 6 officers per ship, as well as one officer on the Command and Control deck (acting as our GM for the mission). This was similar last shift too, with five ships being deployed, the majority having 5-6 officers. Over the years that the TSN has been running, we seem to experience a lull during certain months, particularly in the summer. This is pure observation however, and we have no data to support this. To try and track our numbers more closely, I have taken the decision to have the duty officer enter a number of officers per shift on a simple form, and record and track the data on a spreadsheet. Though it will take time to see any trends, it is my hope that it will show where declines occur and where we have spikes in numbers. From this, we may be able to determine and predict when we are most likely to have lower or higher numbers, and design missions and campaigns around this (for example, if winter months are the more active time for us, then we can have mini campaigns through the summer, all the build up and then a major campaign during the winter).
The Intel Department, responsible for designing and running campaigns, are once again taking us through a major campaign in the Cerberus system. They have in fact designed two story arcs that are running parallel to one another and intertwine, the second story arc taking place in the Cronus system. In the Cerberus system, the 4th Light Division is currently dealing with an incursion by rebel Hegemony forces, under the leadership of a Torgoth general. Those forces are supported by mercenary forces in the form of the Euphini pirates, and N'Tani aliens, also encountered in the Euphini expanse. They are making fantastic use of both the new TSN Sandbox and the TSN mod to create diverse and exciting missions to play through.
The first missions of the campaign saw the Light Division facing insurmountable odds, fighting delaying actions and evacuating local sectors. Caught on the back foot, there was no option but to withdraw into Cerberus, evacuating personnel and abandoning TSN bases. Our last shift saw the Division deploy in force to disrupt a buildup of enemy forces in a nearby sector. With sensors limited to 8,000 units, the scouts TSN Hunter and TSN Valiant were invaluable in seeking out targets for the other three ships to attack. The Light Cruisers TSN Hawk and TSN Phoenix, along with the Battle Cruiser TSN Raven remain within close proximity of one another for mutual support, coordinating attacks against enemy fleets located and identified by the Hunter and Valiant.
Actions like these are excellent for stimulating new thoughts on strategy and tactics too. One issue that comes up often is how to handle extended combats against enemies. Last shift, we came across an enemy command vessels and its escort. These ships had extremely high shielding. In the combat, it was only possible to destroy one escort vessel, and this required the efforts of all five ships to achieve. The Hunter and Valiant distracted and harassed the other vessels, whilst the Phoenix, Raven and Hawk fired on the escort. It took several minutes of sustained fire from all three ships to weaken the shields of the escorting ship (a Skaraan class vessel), and then a final volley from a scout ship before it was destroyed. The action lasted long enough that the ship's had to disengage to refuel at least once during the combat. This has occurred before, and each time we come across the situation we are able to deal with it more easily than the last. Through these encounters, we have started to formulate a clearer approach to attacking such heavily armoured groups of ships and now have reached a point where a proper battle doctrine is being established to handle future encounters.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of promotions of junior officers to senior officers too. The most recent was last shift, with other promotions occurring two or three weeks previous. It is always one of the most challenging decisions on who to promote to a senior officer rank as it is traditional a major step up in the TSN RP Community. Though all officers are encouraged to participate and contribute to the community, when someone is promoted to the rank of senior officer, the focus shifts to the management and running of the community. When promoting an officer to a senior rank, the senior officers discuss and assess candidates of an extended period, and do not make such decisions lightly. To become part of the senior officer team is to become part of the decision making process that significantly impacts the direction of the community. In weekly senior officer meetings, decisions are made on everything from how to run the shift for the night, to who to promote. Over a longer period, decisions by the senior officers are made on wider issues such as promoting the community and increasing numbers, to balancing crews and ranks.
It seems recently that our numbers are once again beginning to pick up. During our last shift, we were able to deploy five ships with either 5 or 6 officers per ship, as well as one officer on the Command and Control deck (acting as our GM for the mission). This was similar last shift too, with five ships being deployed, the majority having 5-6 officers. Over the years that the TSN has been running, we seem to experience a lull during certain months, particularly in the summer. This is pure observation however, and we have no data to support this. To try and track our numbers more closely, I have taken the decision to have the duty officer enter a number of officers per shift on a simple form, and record and track the data on a spreadsheet. Though it will take time to see any trends, it is my hope that it will show where declines occur and where we have spikes in numbers. From this, we may be able to determine and predict when we are most likely to have lower or higher numbers, and design missions and campaigns around this (for example, if winter months are the more active time for us, then we can have mini campaigns through the summer, all the build up and then a major campaign during the winter).
The Intel Department, responsible for designing and running campaigns, are once again taking us through a major campaign in the Cerberus system. They have in fact designed two story arcs that are running parallel to one another and intertwine, the second story arc taking place in the Cronus system. In the Cerberus system, the 4th Light Division is currently dealing with an incursion by rebel Hegemony forces, under the leadership of a Torgoth general. Those forces are supported by mercenary forces in the form of the Euphini pirates, and N'Tani aliens, also encountered in the Euphini expanse. They are making fantastic use of both the new TSN Sandbox and the TSN mod to create diverse and exciting missions to play through.
The first missions of the campaign saw the Light Division facing insurmountable odds, fighting delaying actions and evacuating local sectors. Caught on the back foot, there was no option but to withdraw into Cerberus, evacuating personnel and abandoning TSN bases. Our last shift saw the Division deploy in force to disrupt a buildup of enemy forces in a nearby sector. With sensors limited to 8,000 units, the scouts TSN Hunter and TSN Valiant were invaluable in seeking out targets for the other three ships to attack. The Light Cruisers TSN Hawk and TSN Phoenix, along with the Battle Cruiser TSN Raven remain within close proximity of one another for mutual support, coordinating attacks against enemy fleets located and identified by the Hunter and Valiant.
Actions like these are excellent for stimulating new thoughts on strategy and tactics too. One issue that comes up often is how to handle extended combats against enemies. Last shift, we came across an enemy command vessels and its escort. These ships had extremely high shielding. In the combat, it was only possible to destroy one escort vessel, and this required the efforts of all five ships to achieve. The Hunter and Valiant distracted and harassed the other vessels, whilst the Phoenix, Raven and Hawk fired on the escort. It took several minutes of sustained fire from all three ships to weaken the shields of the escorting ship (a Skaraan class vessel), and then a final volley from a scout ship before it was destroyed. The action lasted long enough that the ship's had to disengage to refuel at least once during the combat. This has occurred before, and each time we come across the situation we are able to deal with it more easily than the last. Through these encounters, we have started to formulate a clearer approach to attacking such heavily armoured groups of ships and now have reached a point where a proper battle doctrine is being established to handle future encounters.
Over the past few weeks, there have been a number of promotions of junior officers to senior officers too. The most recent was last shift, with other promotions occurring two or three weeks previous. It is always one of the most challenging decisions on who to promote to a senior officer rank as it is traditional a major step up in the TSN RP Community. Though all officers are encouraged to participate and contribute to the community, when someone is promoted to the rank of senior officer, the focus shifts to the management and running of the community. When promoting an officer to a senior rank, the senior officers discuss and assess candidates of an extended period, and do not make such decisions lightly. To become part of the senior officer team is to become part of the decision making process that significantly impacts the direction of the community. In weekly senior officer meetings, decisions are made on everything from how to run the shift for the night, to who to promote. Over a longer period, decisions by the senior officers are made on wider issues such as promoting the community and increasing numbers, to balancing crews and ranks.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Building the TSN Canon & General Updates
The TSN Canon
Recently, there was a discussion on the TSN RP Community forums about developing the canon further in our group. It is something that really peaked my interest and there were some valid points made.
When our old website went down and we switched to a new site, we sadly lost a lot of the content that we had posted, though some was recovered. Since then, the canon on our site has been woefully scant. On the forums, someone wanted to know more about the canon and the universe as they wanted to begin writing personal logs and stories based in the TSN RP Universe. From what I understand, it was to be an extension to playing the game, something outside of the normal shift that they would gain enjoyment from. Personally, I thought it was an excellent idea, and the fact we have little canon posted and accessible was something that definitely needed working on. We have a stable group now, good supportive leaders with development group and well established protocols and procedures. With all this in place, and with the discussion on the forum, it seems an ideal time to make a push forward on the canon in our universe.
At the moment, there is a small group in the community who are helping bring together and write canon for our universe. It is small and select, and much of what is being written is away from the main site. My intention is to have a few people help out establish all the major stuff, drawing on and discussing ideas and suggestions from people in the whole community. This is being made available to people who want to write short stories and personal logs, so that they can use the ideas to build into their writing. When these are published, people reading them will be able to get a real feel for the TSN Universe and the lives people lead, without having to trawl through all the canon information written in the background. By keeping the canon stuff off the main site for now, any tweaks or edits can be done without people having to re-read and possibly get confused. Eventually though, when the canon is refined and established, I want to publish it on the main site so everyone has access. It is a process that I hope will help keep things consistent and mean that ideas are well thought out and fit together.
The canon itself is sticking closely to ideas from the main Artemis universe, but going into much more depth and including some of our own ideas, like the jump points and jump gates. There is information about general life as a citizen of the USFP from the kind of planets people live on, to the diversity of species that make up the member races of the USFP. There is also a lot of detail on life in the TSN, with particular points about being an officer including training, descriptions of a bridge, the kind of computer systems that are used on a day to day basis, living conditions and many other aspects of life. In addition to this, there is a whole host of information written about the technical and engineering side of ship operations, as well as some science/physics about the jump points and gate systems.
General Updates
With the extra time I have over the summer period, I have had the chance to work on the TSN Sandbox. I am in the process of upgrading it to Version 3. The reason I have moved to a new version number is because some of the fundamental workings of the Sandbox have changed.
The Sandbox now has "edge-to-edge" transitions. Basically, when all the player ships move to within 1000 of the edge of the sector, a transition occurs to a new, adjacent sector. Originally, there were nav points, but in this new version I have opted to go for the edge-to-edge so that a ship, particularly a solo vessel, could set a heading and effectively move from one end of a system to another without having to turn. With multiple ships, all of them have to be within 1000, so it is a matter of moving in formation, or waiting at the edge until the other ships get there.
There are a few new features for GMs too, including the ability to create the odd terrain feature, like minefields and black holes, as well as a radiation source and a couple of supply ships to re-stock ordnance on long range patrols.
And that's it for now! I know it has been a while since I last posted; I'll try to post more often as things of interest come up. Thanks for reading!
Recently, there was a discussion on the TSN RP Community forums about developing the canon further in our group. It is something that really peaked my interest and there were some valid points made.
When our old website went down and we switched to a new site, we sadly lost a lot of the content that we had posted, though some was recovered. Since then, the canon on our site has been woefully scant. On the forums, someone wanted to know more about the canon and the universe as they wanted to begin writing personal logs and stories based in the TSN RP Universe. From what I understand, it was to be an extension to playing the game, something outside of the normal shift that they would gain enjoyment from. Personally, I thought it was an excellent idea, and the fact we have little canon posted and accessible was something that definitely needed working on. We have a stable group now, good supportive leaders with development group and well established protocols and procedures. With all this in place, and with the discussion on the forum, it seems an ideal time to make a push forward on the canon in our universe.
At the moment, there is a small group in the community who are helping bring together and write canon for our universe. It is small and select, and much of what is being written is away from the main site. My intention is to have a few people help out establish all the major stuff, drawing on and discussing ideas and suggestions from people in the whole community. This is being made available to people who want to write short stories and personal logs, so that they can use the ideas to build into their writing. When these are published, people reading them will be able to get a real feel for the TSN Universe and the lives people lead, without having to trawl through all the canon information written in the background. By keeping the canon stuff off the main site for now, any tweaks or edits can be done without people having to re-read and possibly get confused. Eventually though, when the canon is refined and established, I want to publish it on the main site so everyone has access. It is a process that I hope will help keep things consistent and mean that ideas are well thought out and fit together.
The canon itself is sticking closely to ideas from the main Artemis universe, but going into much more depth and including some of our own ideas, like the jump points and jump gates. There is information about general life as a citizen of the USFP from the kind of planets people live on, to the diversity of species that make up the member races of the USFP. There is also a lot of detail on life in the TSN, with particular points about being an officer including training, descriptions of a bridge, the kind of computer systems that are used on a day to day basis, living conditions and many other aspects of life. In addition to this, there is a whole host of information written about the technical and engineering side of ship operations, as well as some science/physics about the jump points and gate systems.
General Updates
With the extra time I have over the summer period, I have had the chance to work on the TSN Sandbox. I am in the process of upgrading it to Version 3. The reason I have moved to a new version number is because some of the fundamental workings of the Sandbox have changed.
The Sandbox now has "edge-to-edge" transitions. Basically, when all the player ships move to within 1000 of the edge of the sector, a transition occurs to a new, adjacent sector. Originally, there were nav points, but in this new version I have opted to go for the edge-to-edge so that a ship, particularly a solo vessel, could set a heading and effectively move from one end of a system to another without having to turn. With multiple ships, all of them have to be within 1000, so it is a matter of moving in formation, or waiting at the edge until the other ships get there.
There are a few new features for GMs too, including the ability to create the odd terrain feature, like minefields and black holes, as well as a radiation source and a couple of supply ships to re-stock ordnance on long range patrols.
And that's it for now! I know it has been a while since I last posted; I'll try to post more often as things of interest come up. Thanks for reading!
Thursday, 19 February 2015
Updates: The Mod, Communication and Our History
Once again, it seems to have been some time since I last posted. There has been plenty happening in the TSN RP Community, so there is lots to write about.
The Mod
We have been running the mod for the past few weeks during duty shifts, and it has been a great success. To help people who first join us, a team of senior officers have put together an instructional video on installing the mod. Switching back and forth between the modded and unmodded game was also addressed and made simple with a simple enable/disable executable. So far, there have been no problems whatsoever with installing and running the mod on peoples computer, which has been a great relief. The next update to the mod is due soon, with the team responsible aiming to update it on a monthly cycle. This should keep things fresh and allow any tweaks or improvements to be made.
Scout Operations
In my last post, I mentioned about the role of the Scout during combat operations (missions). The operational procedures put in place work well. The captains of the Scout ships in our Division have reported that they are useful in defining what the Scout should be doing at a given time. We are still practising and getting used to using them, however they enable clear communication of the scouts role, quickly and effectively.
In-Game Communications
The new focus on combat operations is communications between ships within the Division. Although we communicate well between ships, allowing us to coordinate ships effectively, there has been some confusion as to who is communicating, and what people on the receiving end can or cannot hear. Sometimes, communications would be bridge to bridge (the captains would talk directly to the channel on TeamSpeak and the target channel). Sometimes though, communications would be sent via Comms Officers using a comms channel (setting up whisper keys to talk only to those on a Comms Server group). The confusion would arise when a comms officer did not know which orders were being sent bridge to bridge (and hence everyone could hear) and which were only sent to them through the Comms Server group. With assistance from the senior officers, a clear protocol was drafted to deal with the issues.
All ships in the Division are organised into small sub=groups called Battle Groups. These are teams of two ships that operate within an area in the sector (their Area of Operations). Between ships in the same Battle Group, the captains communicate bridge to bridge. This allows for quick communication, particularly in combat when both ships in the Battle Group are likely to be attacking the same enemy.
Each Battle Group has a lead vessel and when there are two Battle Groups operating together, the communication from one Battle Group to another is via the comms officers on these lead vessels. Usually, the messages give particular objectives, or an area of operations, examples include: defend DS2; Area of Operations is Grid A4 through B5; or, rendezvous with ships in Grid E3. Short orders such as these allow flexibility for the leader of the Battle Group to make decisions, but also means the overall commander all the ships knows where the Battle Group is located and what they are doing.
Scouts are organised into a separate group named "Support Elements" and are contacted via comms officers on the most senior ship (usually the flag ship). The operational procedures are used to give quick instructions to the Scout ship.
The Euphini Campaign
The Euphini Campaign is now underway, and is set to be a thrilling adventure. The GM team have really worked hard to get everything set up for this campaign and it is already proving to be a great experience. The background to the story is relatively straightforward - the USFP have sent the TSN into the Euphini Expanse to secure the system for future expansion. The 4th Light Division have been deployed to the system, relieving the 3rd Deep Space Escorts who had gone ahead to set up a base of operations. The thing is, the jump point into the system is unstable - engineers are still working on setting up the gate systems to allow travel to and from the system. This means that the Division is cut off from TSN Command most of the time. Supply convoys can make it through when the point is forced into alignment, but when it is out of alignment nothing can get through.
This all makes for a very interesting story arc. We can't fall back to an established system easily to get ships repaired should they take damage, or to resupply with ordnance, knowing that there is in infinite supply of both parts and weapons. Instead, we have to stockpile supplies and ordnance at our base of operations, the TSAF Asimov. Everything we use - ship parts, ordnance, even energy - drains these stockpiles on the Asimov. If we go out on a mission and come back having used all our ordnance, we are going to very quickly run out!
There is also special equipment that has been added into the mission script to enable us to really explore the area. Probes have to be launched into an adjoining sector to set up a nav point, and it is not until the following week that we can then actually enter it; comms buoys and sensor relays have to be deployed to secure an area; and there is a whole load of other equipment to search for anomalies, mine resources, collect samples from asteroid and much more! We actually have to plan our missions in advance, thinking carefully what to do, which makes for some really amazing game play. It has taken the whole game to a different level altogether.
Documenting our History
During our previous campaign, some of the actions that took place were documented to provide a history of what happened to the Division. Many of the records were left incomplete however, because it was only part way through that we started to record the campaign in more detail. This new campaign is being documented in much more depth though. Mission Briefing documents are created before each mission and given to senior officers and crews, detailing their objectives and summarising the mission. After each mission has been played, there are going to be uploaded to our site and released for any and all to view. Along with these are two written logs - one by the TSAF Asimov captain, and another written in character by me. Finally, there are video logs being kept of the actual missions themselves and uploaded. The intention is to create a really detailed record of the campaign so we can create a real history and look back at all we have done. If you want to check it out, it is all on our website:, under our new 'Campaign History' pages: http://www.terranstellarnavy.info/campaigns/
Awards and Medals
Some time ago, a system of awards and medals was designed. This gave something other than just a rank for officers in the Division to earn; from ribbons showing years of service, medals for actions taken during missions as well as pins showing someones level of expertise at a particular role. The greatest problem we had though was how to actually give these awards out and allow officers to see and track them. Now, with a new add on to our site, we have a way to award the medals, ribbons and pins, adding them to the officers profile on the site. This was the missing element, and should help kickstart the awards systems again.
Final Word
The TSN RP Community continues to grow. We have a strong team of officers leading the way, and committed members who make it all worth while. Looking back at where this all began as we approach our 2 year mark makes it clear how far we have come. When I set out to create this group, I wanted to build a lasting community of players, and to train crews who could work together better than any others. There have been ups and downs, times when it seemed that it would all collapse and fail, but the group has endured. It has faltered, but not fallen. Instead it had grown stronger and better than I could imagine. In two weeks time, we will be entering our 3rd year; I wonder what it will bring...
I am looking forward to it though!
The Mod
We have been running the mod for the past few weeks during duty shifts, and it has been a great success. To help people who first join us, a team of senior officers have put together an instructional video on installing the mod. Switching back and forth between the modded and unmodded game was also addressed and made simple with a simple enable/disable executable. So far, there have been no problems whatsoever with installing and running the mod on peoples computer, which has been a great relief. The next update to the mod is due soon, with the team responsible aiming to update it on a monthly cycle. This should keep things fresh and allow any tweaks or improvements to be made.
Scout Operations
In my last post, I mentioned about the role of the Scout during combat operations (missions). The operational procedures put in place work well. The captains of the Scout ships in our Division have reported that they are useful in defining what the Scout should be doing at a given time. We are still practising and getting used to using them, however they enable clear communication of the scouts role, quickly and effectively.
In-Game Communications
The new focus on combat operations is communications between ships within the Division. Although we communicate well between ships, allowing us to coordinate ships effectively, there has been some confusion as to who is communicating, and what people on the receiving end can or cannot hear. Sometimes, communications would be bridge to bridge (the captains would talk directly to the channel on TeamSpeak and the target channel). Sometimes though, communications would be sent via Comms Officers using a comms channel (setting up whisper keys to talk only to those on a Comms Server group). The confusion would arise when a comms officer did not know which orders were being sent bridge to bridge (and hence everyone could hear) and which were only sent to them through the Comms Server group. With assistance from the senior officers, a clear protocol was drafted to deal with the issues.
All ships in the Division are organised into small sub=groups called Battle Groups. These are teams of two ships that operate within an area in the sector (their Area of Operations). Between ships in the same Battle Group, the captains communicate bridge to bridge. This allows for quick communication, particularly in combat when both ships in the Battle Group are likely to be attacking the same enemy.
Each Battle Group has a lead vessel and when there are two Battle Groups operating together, the communication from one Battle Group to another is via the comms officers on these lead vessels. Usually, the messages give particular objectives, or an area of operations, examples include: defend DS2; Area of Operations is Grid A4 through B5; or, rendezvous with ships in Grid E3. Short orders such as these allow flexibility for the leader of the Battle Group to make decisions, but also means the overall commander all the ships knows where the Battle Group is located and what they are doing.
Scouts are organised into a separate group named "Support Elements" and are contacted via comms officers on the most senior ship (usually the flag ship). The operational procedures are used to give quick instructions to the Scout ship.
The Euphini Campaign
The Euphini Campaign is now underway, and is set to be a thrilling adventure. The GM team have really worked hard to get everything set up for this campaign and it is already proving to be a great experience. The background to the story is relatively straightforward - the USFP have sent the TSN into the Euphini Expanse to secure the system for future expansion. The 4th Light Division have been deployed to the system, relieving the 3rd Deep Space Escorts who had gone ahead to set up a base of operations. The thing is, the jump point into the system is unstable - engineers are still working on setting up the gate systems to allow travel to and from the system. This means that the Division is cut off from TSN Command most of the time. Supply convoys can make it through when the point is forced into alignment, but when it is out of alignment nothing can get through.
This all makes for a very interesting story arc. We can't fall back to an established system easily to get ships repaired should they take damage, or to resupply with ordnance, knowing that there is in infinite supply of both parts and weapons. Instead, we have to stockpile supplies and ordnance at our base of operations, the TSAF Asimov. Everything we use - ship parts, ordnance, even energy - drains these stockpiles on the Asimov. If we go out on a mission and come back having used all our ordnance, we are going to very quickly run out!
There is also special equipment that has been added into the mission script to enable us to really explore the area. Probes have to be launched into an adjoining sector to set up a nav point, and it is not until the following week that we can then actually enter it; comms buoys and sensor relays have to be deployed to secure an area; and there is a whole load of other equipment to search for anomalies, mine resources, collect samples from asteroid and much more! We actually have to plan our missions in advance, thinking carefully what to do, which makes for some really amazing game play. It has taken the whole game to a different level altogether.
Documenting our History
During our previous campaign, some of the actions that took place were documented to provide a history of what happened to the Division. Many of the records were left incomplete however, because it was only part way through that we started to record the campaign in more detail. This new campaign is being documented in much more depth though. Mission Briefing documents are created before each mission and given to senior officers and crews, detailing their objectives and summarising the mission. After each mission has been played, there are going to be uploaded to our site and released for any and all to view. Along with these are two written logs - one by the TSAF Asimov captain, and another written in character by me. Finally, there are video logs being kept of the actual missions themselves and uploaded. The intention is to create a really detailed record of the campaign so we can create a real history and look back at all we have done. If you want to check it out, it is all on our website:, under our new 'Campaign History' pages: http://www.terranstellarnavy.info/campaigns/
Awards and Medals
Some time ago, a system of awards and medals was designed. This gave something other than just a rank for officers in the Division to earn; from ribbons showing years of service, medals for actions taken during missions as well as pins showing someones level of expertise at a particular role. The greatest problem we had though was how to actually give these awards out and allow officers to see and track them. Now, with a new add on to our site, we have a way to award the medals, ribbons and pins, adding them to the officers profile on the site. This was the missing element, and should help kickstart the awards systems again.
Final Word
The TSN RP Community continues to grow. We have a strong team of officers leading the way, and committed members who make it all worth while. Looking back at where this all began as we approach our 2 year mark makes it clear how far we have come. When I set out to create this group, I wanted to build a lasting community of players, and to train crews who could work together better than any others. There have been ups and downs, times when it seemed that it would all collapse and fail, but the group has endured. It has faltered, but not fallen. Instead it had grown stronger and better than I could imagine. In two weeks time, we will be entering our 3rd year; I wonder what it will bring...
I am looking forward to it though!
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