Lorna could care less about sci-fi, or any fi for that matter... (unless it is WiFi) Don't ask her the difference between Star Trek and Star Wars, it's all the same to her. She just wants a marketable product where we can sell pixels.

Me on the other hand? I like Orson Scott Card, not just because of the social and psychological angst placed upon the soldiers who tortured Ender, but because the entire bleedin series was a satire... Speaker for the Dead was a wonderful narrative of the mindset of the Japaneese pre-Pearl Harbor. Not so much a fan of L Ron (although Battlefield was pretty ironic), was raised on Heinlein. I like the Stainless Steel Rat... love Douglas Adams.

The "model" for this game will be any of a number of Star Wars characters... Han Solo, the rogue in his ship flying hither and yon... Jabba the Hutt, forging a syndicate of galactic crime... Senator Palpatine, bidding to rule the universe... Admiral Ackbar, trying NOT to lead the navy into "a trap"... Boba Fett, sifting through the galaxy to hunt down targets for fun AND profit... hell, even the Jawas, scavenging wreckage to turn junk into funds... With the animated Clone Wars, we have some real good examples of soldiers and commanders. Every character in the story had a tale to tell, and each one can be lived out.

I've read so many sci-fi books that it would be impossible for me to say where any one theme comes from... everything from a "One Step Beyond" tale of a starship captain that comes across a burned out supernova (who's light would have reached the earth in the northern hemisphere around Dec 25, 0 B.C.) that bare a STRANGE resemblance the a certain Enterprising crew... to a mercenary troupe led by a hard ass with a heart of gold... I can't even tell you the authors of half of them, most I just remember a piece of a piece... space marines... mechs... mercs... (maybe that should be the name of the game... Mechs, Marines and Mercs, of my! [properly abbreviated M3oM])

The key to them all was that there was an epic setting for them to "live" in, and for us, that epic setting will be this game...

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To expand a little on your post, Azriphale, and go in a total different direction from my last post, the Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire is a classic case study that has been done for years... most likely from a couple years the event itself...

The thing about it is that it is such a rich venue to mine in... Gaius Julius vertually invented the troubles with the Gauls, then used them as a stepping stone for political power as he climbed over their broken bodies. He used bribery to subvert the unity of the clans, then offered to help them fight their battles so he could twine his fingers further and further into the homelands... if we come even HALF way to some of of the plans he had, we will be sitting pretty...

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DISCWORLD!

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To a bloody war and a quick promotion
"Gentlemen, when the enemy is committed to a mistake we must not interrupt him too soon."
Horatio Nelson

well i understand so to help build on your idea a bio tech structure that mines H3 can be placed around a gas giant wherever there is one in the universe Helium 3 can be used for fusion, you then make a hold on H3 as it is used for starflight drives, or an antimatter station much more volatile but also allot more powerfull, both could be used as power for the weapons and engines.
just two small time ways of negotiating so an army still needs power and youve got a monopoly over entire systems even.

there could be minerals that only occur in certain worlds yet have differing properties so a metal that imparts its surrounding environment with the opposing force ( so a heat sink it warms and diffuses heat while freezing at kelvins on the component or a hull with a layer of it can withstand greater energy attack but may easily be shredded by kinetics ).
or diamond silk worms that need to feed on some kind of plant specific to the colour of the sun or binary system.

and thanks heaps for replying so soon.

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Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, then beat you with experience.

Mineral distribution will be an issue, I am working on the system generation right now... I have a basic system gen working... I need to add variables to it, of course, but yes.. that is the idea... different systems/planets will have different mineral compositions, making them more or less valuable

As for replying so soon, this is my baby

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Mercury Retrograde, the chaos theory

Erazesur. '(eraze,' meaning 'on the ground,' and Welsh 'erw,'
meaning 'a piece of land)

Deimos (means "fear" in Greek).

Eris' daughter, spirit of lawlessness

Hands Solo (who is that anyway, lol)

Point of Origin (used to define pixels, author Lorna lol)

Ok, we are coming into the end of the contest... a final list will be prepared tonight based on the entries, and a winner will be determined... and we will be underway

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The contest is now closed, the final list of names can be found here

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there is allready a twisted metal series on ps dealing in cars and rockets/ machine guns.but the first car i drove ( and later crashed during a thrash ) was a 180 b so i love the idea of drifting a dato getting shot at.
but down the road is where this lies.

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Never argue with an idiot, they will only bring you down to their level, then beat you with experience.