So today I haven't yet done too terribly much, though I've done a little bit of thinking, refining the "What If" scenarios into a full episode (basically, Ruby has in her employ a vampire who goes by Oracle, with the power to visit, and it serves as a training episode because she learns vampiric skills from her full-vamp self [Glamors, mainly], refined battle techniques from another version of her, and renewed confidence in herself from seeing the world without her.), and also thinking up an episode where she'd undergo an interview. Mostly fluff and filler, doing some worldbuilding and whatnot, which I think would be good.
I also amused myself by playing around with the current incarnation of a fish-shaped origami that happens to also look vaguely spaceship-like. (You'd be surprised how much the profile of a fish and a starship have in common, though when you think about it, I suppose hydrodynamics have some similarity to aerodynamics and we tend to think of spaceships as being a combination of the two.) It started out no differently than previous incarnations of that paper (long story), with me profiling the ship's class and abilities. (Prior versions have been fighters, interceptors, and I think a bomber. This one was a cruise ship, meant for rapid long-distance travel.)
The standard fluff was there, as I described how it was far more dangerous than it looked. Viewed from the nose (front) in the position generally meant to be "flat" to the "ground", it has fairly tight maneuverability on the X-axis (side to side), but truly excels at the Y-axis (up/down), able to make near-instantaneous 360s, yet alone, a 180. Of course, that puts the ship upside-down--not a problem in space, but potentially an issue in a gravity-environment. (Also, while generally not an issue, it can still be slightly disorienting because ships DO have an internal sense of what should be "up" which is disrupted--something that can be adjusted to but which is still an issue.)
However, though not QUITE as sharp, its rotation around the Z axis is almost as fast. (Think rapid barrel rolls.) So it's maneuverable. It's the fastest for long-distance slipstream jumps, able to go longer in slipstream with greater accuracy and less cooldown time, plus an absolute master at making short-distance slipstream jumps, too. It's well-armored, such that the only thing capable of taking it down is heavy-weapons fire, save for hitting the exhaust port on the back, its one weak spot. This, however, is quite the weakness, because the ship--while lightning fast in slipstream and generally maneuverable--is for its size a fairly slow vessel in normal space, making it incredibly vulnerable to being surrounded.
A fact made worse by only having a single cannon as a weapon--mind you, a single cannon is able to rip any fighter to shreds with a direct hit, but they actually have to hit and with just the one, if outnumbered, they're screwed.
So in general, it's considered one of the weakest vessels in the fleet of the power that controls it. (I'm thinking a Republic, thanks to the markings on the origami paper.) Yes, weakest, in spite of its maneuverability, long-distance speed, cannon, and armor. That's because other vessels of its size have better armor (one is virtually invincible), better weapons (one has FOUR cannons not to mention a bundleload of missiles and smaller projectiles), faster low-combat speed, and still maintain decent slipstream capabilities. (I'm mainly thinking that the reason the war is even is that while the side with the cruisers has the far superior small-craft, the opposition has far-superior larger ships, and the sheer numbers needed to operate a fleet of that magnitude...including many, many more small-craft.) The cruiser's main purpose is to get someone from Point A to Point B as rapidly as possible, and that's pretty much ALL it was designed for.
...Still, though, some prefer to use it, because it makes an effective hit-and-run vehicle: jump in, hit the target, jump out, before they even know what struck them. They're speed is slow, but since their maneuverability in the Y plane is the best of any ship, and their maneuverability in the Z-plane is still one of the best, and their maneuverability in the X-plane isn't too shabby, they can hide their weak spot well, all the while picking off enemies one by one with well-placed shots. (Cruisers have good sensors, which technically can be damaged but have repair nanobots installed that will fix any damage to them in short order--so it's possible to blind a cruiser for a while, a secondary weak spot of sorts, but not for long.)
That wasn't my focus, though. My focus was on an elite pilot of one, sure, but he was transporting a VIP, when basically the entire enemy fleet showed up in a sector of space they had jumped to in order to stop them. They were forced to travel into a VAST section of space where long-distance jumps are impossible and only short-distance jumps could be made, the heart of the enemy's trap, and I decided it might make a good video game after finding out what they did. They pulled a Millennium Falcon a couple of times, with debris from a fight they won once and asteroids the second time, having laid a trap the first time and being desperate the second. (They had managed to outsmart the enemy by utilizing their superior jump capabilities, but again, entire enemy fleet, both fighters and big freakin' huge battleships spread out everywhere, albeit with focus in certain areas.)
The result of their second confrontation was that they decided to launch a surprise attack on a battleship, passing through their defenses, blasting a hole in the hull near (but not on) the bridge, and then blasting their way into the bridge, where they manage to subdue the crew non-lethally (reduce Oxygen levels to below-consciousness yet not lethal levels) and jump the battleship itself away into a safe-for-now corner of space...where they basically propose to the crew one of three options: help them and be both rewarded and respected, remain neutral as effective prisoners of war treated with extreme care and a guarantee of release upon their safe return home (basically, not betraying their nation but not impeding the goals of the VIP and the pilot), or fight and then die.
Surprisingly, most choose the first, though a lot choose the second. This is where the game proper would begin--the battleship would act as home "base", moving through space at the rate of the plot, with the cruiser serving as the player-controlled ship, which would go out and do its thing: the ace pilot would clear the route, acting as a distraction, while also thinning the enemy forces. The remains would be salvaged, repaired, and then (for a fee, because the crewmen are still uncertain of this whole "betray their nation" thing) repurposed as upgrades to the heavily-damaged-initially cruiser, first to get it back into shape and then taking things beyond that.
I thought it was a neat idea, at least.
I also amused myself by playing around with the current incarnation of a fish-shaped origami that happens to also look vaguely spaceship-like. (You'd be surprised how much the profile of a fish and a starship have in common, though when you think about it, I suppose hydrodynamics have some similarity to aerodynamics and we tend to think of spaceships as being a combination of the two.) It started out no differently than previous incarnations of that paper (long story), with me profiling the ship's class and abilities. (Prior versions have been fighters, interceptors, and I think a bomber. This one was a cruise ship, meant for rapid long-distance travel.)
The standard fluff was there, as I described how it was far more dangerous than it looked. Viewed from the nose (front) in the position generally meant to be "flat" to the "ground", it has fairly tight maneuverability on the X-axis (side to side), but truly excels at the Y-axis (up/down), able to make near-instantaneous 360s, yet alone, a 180. Of course, that puts the ship upside-down--not a problem in space, but potentially an issue in a gravity-environment. (Also, while generally not an issue, it can still be slightly disorienting because ships DO have an internal sense of what should be "up" which is disrupted--something that can be adjusted to but which is still an issue.)
However, though not QUITE as sharp, its rotation around the Z axis is almost as fast. (Think rapid barrel rolls.) So it's maneuverable. It's the fastest for long-distance slipstream jumps, able to go longer in slipstream with greater accuracy and less cooldown time, plus an absolute master at making short-distance slipstream jumps, too. It's well-armored, such that the only thing capable of taking it down is heavy-weapons fire, save for hitting the exhaust port on the back, its one weak spot. This, however, is quite the weakness, because the ship--while lightning fast in slipstream and generally maneuverable--is for its size a fairly slow vessel in normal space, making it incredibly vulnerable to being surrounded.
A fact made worse by only having a single cannon as a weapon--mind you, a single cannon is able to rip any fighter to shreds with a direct hit, but they actually have to hit and with just the one, if outnumbered, they're screwed.
So in general, it's considered one of the weakest vessels in the fleet of the power that controls it. (I'm thinking a Republic, thanks to the markings on the origami paper.) Yes, weakest, in spite of its maneuverability, long-distance speed, cannon, and armor. That's because other vessels of its size have better armor (one is virtually invincible), better weapons (one has FOUR cannons not to mention a bundleload of missiles and smaller projectiles), faster low-combat speed, and still maintain decent slipstream capabilities. (I'm mainly thinking that the reason the war is even is that while the side with the cruisers has the far superior small-craft, the opposition has far-superior larger ships, and the sheer numbers needed to operate a fleet of that magnitude...including many, many more small-craft.) The cruiser's main purpose is to get someone from Point A to Point B as rapidly as possible, and that's pretty much ALL it was designed for.
...Still, though, some prefer to use it, because it makes an effective hit-and-run vehicle: jump in, hit the target, jump out, before they even know what struck them. They're speed is slow, but since their maneuverability in the Y plane is the best of any ship, and their maneuverability in the Z-plane is still one of the best, and their maneuverability in the X-plane isn't too shabby, they can hide their weak spot well, all the while picking off enemies one by one with well-placed shots. (Cruisers have good sensors, which technically can be damaged but have repair nanobots installed that will fix any damage to them in short order--so it's possible to blind a cruiser for a while, a secondary weak spot of sorts, but not for long.)
That wasn't my focus, though. My focus was on an elite pilot of one, sure, but he was transporting a VIP, when basically the entire enemy fleet showed up in a sector of space they had jumped to in order to stop them. They were forced to travel into a VAST section of space where long-distance jumps are impossible and only short-distance jumps could be made, the heart of the enemy's trap, and I decided it might make a good video game after finding out what they did. They pulled a Millennium Falcon a couple of times, with debris from a fight they won once and asteroids the second time, having laid a trap the first time and being desperate the second. (They had managed to outsmart the enemy by utilizing their superior jump capabilities, but again, entire enemy fleet, both fighters and big freakin' huge battleships spread out everywhere, albeit with focus in certain areas.)
The result of their second confrontation was that they decided to launch a surprise attack on a battleship, passing through their defenses, blasting a hole in the hull near (but not on) the bridge, and then blasting their way into the bridge, where they manage to subdue the crew non-lethally (reduce Oxygen levels to below-consciousness yet not lethal levels) and jump the battleship itself away into a safe-for-now corner of space...where they basically propose to the crew one of three options: help them and be both rewarded and respected, remain neutral as effective prisoners of war treated with extreme care and a guarantee of release upon their safe return home (basically, not betraying their nation but not impeding the goals of the VIP and the pilot), or fight and then die.
Surprisingly, most choose the first, though a lot choose the second. This is where the game proper would begin--the battleship would act as home "base", moving through space at the rate of the plot, with the cruiser serving as the player-controlled ship, which would go out and do its thing: the ace pilot would clear the route, acting as a distraction, while also thinning the enemy forces. The remains would be salvaged, repaired, and then (for a fee, because the crewmen are still uncertain of this whole "betray their nation" thing) repurposed as upgrades to the heavily-damaged-initially cruiser, first to get it back into shape and then taking things beyond that.
I thought it was a neat idea, at least.
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