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The Prancing Pony (Fellowship of the Ring Empire Thread)
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Well, I'm pleased to see that my last story brought a record quantity of praise, and only one actual resignation. So, to build on this success, without further ado, here is the next chapter:
Maturity
“Is there a problem?” said Downie.
“I gave you my baby daughter to look after, and what did you do?”
“Why are women always so angry? I took good care of her. I took her to a nearby universe, one with a good reputation, where she could get all the important inoculations, and then I brought her back in time for her bath, as you requested. What’s the problem?”
“I just wanted to know why she’s now TWENTY-TWO YEARS OLD!”
“Oh, that’s due to the time-dilation-polarity-thingy effect of metaversal travel. It’s all very scientific. It was just a few hours for you, but for Elentári and me, it was a couple of decades.”
“What did you call her?”
“Elentári. It means ‘queen of the stars’. You neglected to tell me what her name was, so I ended up giving her a new one.”
“I called her Katie.”
“How prosaic. Anyway, it’s a bit late to change it back now.”
“What the hell happened out there?”
“Oh, just the usual stuff...”
“So, it seems we... miscalculated when we sought to create a unison between your race and ours,” said the Drengin, who over the last few months had learned that war was not so much fun when you were on the side getting it in the neck.
“Did you?” said Downie, not really listening. “Elentári! Stop playing with blaster pistol! Antimatter weapons are not toys!”
“Have your give-peace-a-chance protesters prevailed, by any chance?”
“With me in charge there’s no need for peace protesters. There was a march yesterday, but they were carrying placards saying things like, ‘Let’s attack Sobok-Re!’ and ‘More wars for dilithium!’ Elentári, leave that weapons console alone! You just launched three missiles!”
“Arghk! You destroyed our Avatar!”
“Sorry about that. It’s a difficult age. Where were we?”
“I was begging for peace.”
“Were you? How very atypical of you. Very well. We’ll give you peace in exchange for, say, all your trade goods and techs.”
“Noo!”
“Well, it’s up to you, of course... Elentári, don’t put that in your mouth! That’s not food! It’s the Sanderian ambassador!”
Years passed...
“What are you doing, daddy?”
“I’m directing constructors. How was your day at school?”
“The other kids made fun of my ears.”
“Yeah, that’s kids for you. You know what’s wrong with this planet? No trolls. Nothing to frighten children with. Apart from the Yor, who say they want to see you liquidised and spread on toast, but I don’t think they really mean it.”
“Daddy, why do you and me have pointy ears.”
“How old are you, Elentári? Eight, eleven, something like that? I suppose it’s time you learned some of the facts of life. You’re what’s called a half-elf. Like Elrond. You remember Elrond, in that film I showed you?”
“Yeah. He was the boring one.”
“True. But being a half-elf is pretty cool. You get to choose whether to live life as an elf, or life as a human. If you choose to be an elf, you have the advantages of eternal life and youth and grace and beauty. If you choose otherwise, you’ll gradually turn into a human. The advantages of being human are... Err... Well, I’m sure there are some. They seem to get by.”
“Daddy, didn’t you once tell me that you build culture bases with groups of six constructors?”
“Yes?”
“So why are you sending them around in groups of five?”
“Yes, we were wondering about that too,” said the Torian ambassador, poking his head round the door.
“It’s... ah... a good luck charm. Five is a lucky number for elves.”
“Daddy, you’re not planning a Terror Star Alpha Strike, are you?” said Elentári.
“A what?” said the Torian.
“Nothing! Ha ha! Kids, eh? The things they say! No, I was planning that other one, whatsitcalled. A tech victory.”
“But daddy, you said they were took ages and were really boring!”
“Yes, but who wants to do things the quick way? Why would I want to win a quick, painless victory when I could win one through slow, grinding toil?”
Years passed...
“Dad, can we, like, use the party palace for the big shindig this weekend?”
“Hm? How were you planning to travel there?”
“I’ll use the corvette, duh!”
“And since when are you qualified to fly a spaceship?”
“Oh, come on! It’s, hello, space? There’s nothing to crash into!”
“I don’t know. Some of those blue swirly things look pretty dangerous. I’d better have a survey ship clear the way.”
“God! What is the matter with you?”
“Have it your own way. But I’m coming too. I’ll escort you in the Excalibur. That should keep you safe, in case any space monsters turn up.”
“Puhlease! Don’t you have an empire to run?”
“Yeah, but I’m not actually doing anything at the moment. I’m sitting around while my people research galactic creation. Can’t imagine why anyone would want to create another galaxy. Aren’t there enough as it is?”
“We don’t want you at our party!”
“Nonsense! A party without me is like an alliance without a leader! I’ll be the life and soul of the thing! I’ll entertain your friends with my music!”
“Argh! Just kill me now!”
Downie unleashed his war-harp, and strummed a few notes. “What, you don’t think I can be cool? I can do popular music. Listen to this: ‘I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad, the dreams in which I’m dying are the best I’ve ever had...’”
“Dad! That hasn’t been retro for ten years! Right now, it’s on the flip-side of cool! You are so totally an embarrassment!”
“Don’t talk to me like that! I’m ruler of half the galaxy!”
“Is this a bad time?” said the Torian ambassador, popping his head round the door.
“Yes!” they chorused.
“There is no way you’re coming to the party,” said Elentári. “I’m putting my foot down.”
“OK, kids, let’s have fun!” said Downie. “I’ve brought some balloons!”
“Oh, great,” said Elentári, with enough apathy to kill an Alexian.
“And I also brought some Virtual Reality Modules, Frictionless Clothing, Harmony Crystals, Ultra Spices, Artificial Slaves, and Aphrodisiacs.”
“Your dad is the coolest,” said Elentári’s current boyfriend, Jed. “You are way lucky.”
“I think he’s cute,” said her friend, Alison.
“I hate my life,” said Elentári.
Years passed. Parties came and went.
“You should come with us,” said Alison, floating softly off the floor.
“No!” said Elentári. “What about all our plans? We were going to hike around Altarian space for a year, then go to college. After we graduated, I was going to be a starship captain and you’d be the ship’s doctor!”
“Things change. I am going to... graduate... early.”
“But why?”
“It is time for mankind to cast off this mortal jelly, and venture beyond the final frontier. Join us.”
“I can’t! The singularity infusion treatment doesn’t work on my physiology!”
“That is because you are not fully human. You must strive to cast off your faery inheritance.”
“I don’t want to! I like being a half-elf! Half-elves are cool!”
“We are going to build a new universe.”
“Yeah? If universes are so great, how come you’re all leaving this one?”
Alison smiled indulgently, and dissolved.
“What’s the matter?” said Downie.
“It’s Alison,” said Elentári, half in tears.
“Oh, dear. What’s she done now?”
“She turned into a being of pure energy.”
“There, there. Look, it’s time you learned to accept the fact; humans always leave you. Sooner or later, they kick the bucket. Either that, or ascend into divinity. It amounts to much the same thing. Once the rest of the humans have transcended from this galaxy, we can go home.”
“This is my home!”
“No, not really. As long as you’re an elf, your home is in Middle-Earth.”
“I am kinda curious to meet my mother. What did you say her name was?”
“Milady. At least, that’s what I called her. Only problem is, she’ll be expecting you to be a lot smaller, and I’m in enough trouble with her already. So, here’s the plan: Find a nice human male who’s not ascended yet, get pregnant, and we palm the child off to your mother as if it was you.”
“No way! Anyway, wouldn’t she know the difference?”
“OK, we’ll clone a baby version of you in a Regenerator unit!”
“I am not cloning myself!”
“But it’ll make your mother feel better! It’ll be therapeutic”
“No! No more cloning, and no more jokes about cloning! Let’s... let’s just go home.”
“Uh huh,” said Milady, as Downie concluded his tale.
“You see?” he said. “There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything. There’s no need to be all cross and unreasonable.”
“You maniac! Thanks to you, I’ve missed the best years of my daughter’s life!”
“Oh, they weren’t so great. First she was stinky, then she was annoying, then she was cute but dim, then she was miserable and ungrateful, yada yada, adulthood.”
“How am I supposed to tell people she’s my daughter when she looks almost as old as me?”
“Take the long view. In twenty years time, you’ll be middle-aged and she’ll still look young.”
“Did you do this deliberately? Like back in Barad-Dur, when I asked you to do the dishes and you broke our best china plates so I wouldn’t ask again?”
“No! Perish the thought! Anyway, if you want to go through the motherhood thing without skipping the boring bits, I could always have a go at knocking you up again.”
“Fat chance.”
“Suit yourself. If I don’t see you again, take good care of Elentári. I have to go and challenge the world’s greatest wizard to a duel to the death.”
“...what did you say?”
           
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| Have you determined what it takes to have it (in bc or penalties)? |
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Not yet. I was busy with the above.
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OK, my prelimanary findings on good alignment gain, following experimentally colonising dozens of planets:
The only two relevant factors are the numerical size of the penalty and the morality weight. The penalty is a randomised value, with a maximum set by the event creator. It is the size of the randomised value, not the maximum, that is important. Generally speaking, a penalty of more than 50 will lead to an alignment change of ten, the maximum, while a penalty of six or less will lead to an alignment change of 1.
The 'morality weight' is a value between 1 and 5. According to my documentation, 'Morality Weight of 1 will greatly affect the civ's Morality, 5 will hardly affect it.'
I believe that the documentation is WRONG. I think that a weight of 5 leads to the biggest gain in alignment.
Some sample events:
Weight: 5
Penalty: 24 Morale
Alignment gain: 10
Weight: 1
Penalty: 38 morale
Alignment gain: 4.
Weight: 5
Penalty: 10 social production(or maybe BC?)
Alignment gain: 6.
So, when creating events, set weight to 5 and the penalty to 25 or more for big results. For maximum unfairly-easy alignment gain, sacrifice a few dozen BC for a gain of 10 morality.
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| So, when creating events, set weight to 5 and the penalty to 25 or more for big results. For maximum unfairly-easy alignment gain, sacrifice a few dozen BC for a gain of 10 morality. |
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Wouldn't be a good idea to post this kind of thing in the the Mods forum?
[Message Edited]
     
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I will, eventually. But I'm trying to attract traffic to this thread. I believe that this will lead to new recruits... somehow...
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| when the event happens is there anything that let you know what weight it has? |
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You could always look at the files, since it is text 
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| So, if I understand you correctly, I can set a very high bc value, and no matter what, the max change I'll get is a +10. If so that's good.If it is a ramdom value, if I set the max very high, the probability of having a higher value should increase. Have you noticed anything like this? |
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This is correct. I have data from twenty-two events to back up my theory. Of course, it's always possible I'm being misled by a hidden factor, like the planet's base PQ.
| I'm not sure I understand what is the morality weight. (when the event happens is there anything that let you know what weight it has?) |
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No, it's a hidden factor. You can find it in the files or with the GalCiv Writer. Presumably, you're supposed to give a big weight to things like PQ changes or empire-wide changes, and small weight for cash penalties.
[Message Edited]
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| and only one actual resignation. |
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 . I really enjoy those stories and normally i skip the stories written around here, these are great.
Btw. The findings in regards to the alignment are pretty disturbing. Just to make sure
generally speaking, a penalty of more than 50
will lead to an alignment change of ten, |
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does that mean a penalty of 50% PQ rates the same way as a penalty of 50bc (if we leave the weight out)
 
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Breaking News for the writer of our beloved newspaper.
3 way battle
11 Aldarian Empire Aldar 10 249 1283309
12 The Diplomats Spellforce 15 452 1210687
13 The Centurions Primipilus Alexus 2 208 1205491
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| does that mean a penalty of 50% PQ rates the same way as a penalty of 50bc (if we leave the weight out) |
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That is my theory. My new events will include one that gives you -100% PQ on every planet for an alignment bonus of 10. Now, there's a moral dilemma!
| I really enjoy those stories and normally i skip the stories written around here |
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Hm... Maybe if I restricted my stories to members only, through an elaborate encryption technique, I could boost recruitment?
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| Maybe if I restricted my stories to members only, through an elaborate encryption technique |
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  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Another great story, Downie! I am so looking forward to my daughter saying "Dad! That hasn’t been retro for ten years! Right now, it’s on the flip-side of cool! You are so totally an embarrassment!" 
I remember when I first started thinking of writing the original version of the Metaverse Review (called the Fellowship News, I think...) Ray mentioned that I should look up some of J4's GNN reports. I can honestly credit the Metaverse Review to J4's original efforts! Good luck with your new endeavour, J4!
  
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| I think just telling the story is more efficient. |
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Hasn't worked yet.
The tricky bit would be to find an encryption method so devious that even a traitor from within the Fellowship would be unable to pass the stories on to others. I'm currently favouring the invention of a proprietary graphics file format that can only be viewed through a program that I myself will code, and which is unlocked by a combination of your computer's IP address and unique registration ID. I may also require DNA samples.
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The number of new players to the game isn't particularly high. Why should it be, at this stage of the software lifecycle? I'm more interested in recruiting people who have been here a while. The number of people in the alliance is holding fairly steady at 85. The number of people posting on this thread is quite high at the moment, mostly visitors queuing up to heap accolades upon me, but nowhere near the number who are on the Raven's Claw thread. The number of people in the forums overall has no doubt fallen over the last few months, with the lower influx of new players and various veterans dropping out because they feel that everything worth saying about GalCiv has already been said.
| I'm seeing everything through Yor eyes |
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You are? Sounds like pretty extreme surgery.
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Anyway, my original encryption plan was nowhere near secure enough. I've realised that it would be child's play to simply photograph the screen with a digital camera and mail the shots to other people. So, to avoid this, I'm planning to store the stories as an animation of pulsating pixellated characters, meaningless in a single frame, but which over time can be interpreted successfully by a skilled observer.
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| Anyway, my original encryption plan was nowhere near secure enough. I've realised that it would be child's play to simply photograph the screen with a digital camera and mail the shots to other people. So, to avoid this, I'm planning to store the stories as an animation of pulsating pixellated characters, meaningless in a single frame, but which over time can be interpreted successfully by a skilled observer. |
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And the difference with using a digital camera ?
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#723
by Citizen Nastavnik - 2/26/2004 11:02:39 AM
| mostly visitors queuing up to heap accolades upon me |
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It must feel good hein?
| You are? Sounds like pretty extreme surgery. |
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It is more like a metamorphosis: the change happens little by little, so progressively that you barely notice it, and before you know it, everything is grey and black. But I guess that's the life of the average people, who depends on its salary for everything. But from time to time it is hard to bare, specially when there is much more work than what you are paid for (though I cannot really complain about my working conditions, but still, I do). And I cannot even refuse to do it, because it is a job that halp others, people in much more dire situations than me.
But still, working on week ends sucks...
    
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