Blueblood [ OoC | PG-16 | Started | Not Accepting ]

[Raine]

Y'know, I keep wondering why everyone's trying so hard to be a non-conformist right from the start. It's like there's a global misconception that 'oh, if my character doesn't break / transcend the rules of the universe somehow, he's not worth writing'. 'Oh, the plot starts from that direction, clearly my character must do something else to set themselves apart'.

The 'main character starts out as a superhero' trope is more of a visual medium strategy - it does not translate well in purely written works (that are by nature longer in overall structure and less reliant on impressionism to captivate the audience). Good stories are mostly about everyday people (everyday in the sense of their respective universe) getting themselves in over their heads, and trying hard to accomplish their goals, armed only with the same qualities that those everyday people have. And yes, there are countless 'chosen one' stories where the protagonist does end up special - but in comparatively very few of those did they actually start out that way. In the vast majority of cases, they start off average (or commonly less than average, but that's a different story), so that when they do earn their 'chosen' status and powers, whatever they may be, it feels like they deserved them.

This applies doubly to community RPs, where your character isn't the main character; rather, he can be thought of as a part of a roster of equally important characters. In Warcraft III, Arthas beat Illidan. Your character can't be Arthas. Rather, your character will be one of the members of the raid party that defeats Illidan in World of Warcraft, and you have to work with that in mind. The more outlandish and special your character is, the more the story will gravitate towards him, and the more the story gravitates towards a few limited characters, the less likely the RP's success is.

tl;dr rather than write your character unique and special, try to make a character that earns the right to be unique and special. That means sometimes you just have to go with the flow, and your character can't be that special snowflake that's already shooting at the enemy when everyone else is still in their pajamas.

[this was not written in response to a specific post, just something that I thought was worth pointing out, after reading through some of the applications]

 

Is this really something you need to say here? I mean, this is very ranty for an OOC with no supporting evidence to justify it yet. The fact that our applications try to be special is just reflecting that we want to make interesting characters. This argument of yours just isn't relevant here right now. 

 

 

 

Our characters are either racists or morons. And a robot in this case.

 

Don't forget cray cray religious!

[Mugendramon]

Don't forget cray cray religious!

 

so racist and moro- *shot*

[Vector Nightmare]

Is this really something you need to say here? I mean, this is very ranty for an OOC with no supporting evidence to justify it yet. The fact that our applications try to be special is just reflecting that we want to make interesting characters. This argument of yours just isn't relevant here right now.

When the first reaction to "There's this ceremony, your characters are supposed to attend it" is "Can my character do something else?", I felt like this was worth pointing out.

What is also worth pointing out is that I only referred to characters being powerful / having special powers as an example; trying to write a total scrub as an academy graduate would be wrong for much the same reasons. Trying to 'stand out', make the story more about your character, bend the story to fit your character in it; this is mostly what I was talking about. And I'm already seeing several warning signs on several characters.

[Mugendramon]

When the first reaction to "There's this ceremony, your characters are supposed to attend it" is "Can my character do something else?", I felt like this was worth pointing out.

What is also worth pointing out is that I only referred to characters being powerful / having special powers as an example; trying to write a total scrub as an academy graduate would be wrong for much the same reasons. Trying to 'stand out', make the story more about your character, bend the story to fit your character in it; this is mostly what I was talking about. And I'm already seeing several warning signs on several characters.

 

If you're worried about the RP focusing more on certain characters or subplots then perhaps you should join the skype chat we've put up?

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

IC is up, and my Wi-Fi is still down. I may or may not walk to Starbucks to do a post. Leaning toward may.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

Lightning cannot travel through a vacuum... I think... so it wouldn't work in the majority of battles.

 

Damn... now how am I supposed to replace it?

[Aix]

Damn... now how am I supposed to replace it?

You could have a perfectly normal character without the lightning pizazz.

[BANZAI!!!!]

on another note, has anyone not gotten into the skype chat that wants to?

[Cray-Crow]

plenty of us are on it now, Zai.

[BANZAI!!!!]

plenty of us are on it now, Zai.

I know, i'm just cleaning house, so to speak.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

So... I am currently downloading a word processor for my phone, and will use that to write up a post. I will add all the fancy formatting stuff once i can access it on a computer.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

You could have a perfectly normal character without the lightning pizazz.

 

But then what's the point of having abilities?

 

...

 

Regardless, I've already got a perfectly normal character in mind. I'd rather have Verena have something special about her. Even if has nothing to do with lightning or electricity or anything along those lines :/

[Astolfo]

The point of abilities is for things normal.

Like fighting/piloting/etc, not superpowers. >_>

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Miracle: My Wi-Fi is working. Post incoming.

[BANZAI!!!!]

that took much too long to formulate, and im not sure how good it came out, but my post is up as well.

 

Mecha bios are coming tomorrow.

[Lunar Origins]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alright, guys, I'm making header images for characters, so if you want one, PM me!

[Cray-Crow]

im gonna be going out with the wife today, so i'll be gone for a decent portion of it, around five to six hours, im guessing.

 

will try to get in a post now.

[Lunar Origins]

 

Got Lore's header image finished, Cray, so here you are.

[BANZAI!!!!]

Did the federation standard units first, since they are, i'm assuming, going to be needed first. Bio's for the imperial units are coming next. [Spoiler= IF-INM003 Minerva ][spoiler=image][/spoiler]The more common variety of mech fielded by the Federation is the Minerva. A third generation machine, the Minerva is designed primarily to combat enemy mecha. As the first mech designed after the imperial Valkyrie was widely introduced, an emphasis was put on the Minerva's speed and maneuverability in order for it to attempt to keep up with and destroy the empire's casualty reducing Valkyries, as well as out maneuver enemy full-sized mechs.To do this, its frame has been designed to reduce mass and increase speed and acceleration at the cost of its armor, which is decidedly less heavy  than its predecessors', or its brother unit: Mars. This makes the Minerva extremely susceptible to sustained fire, and it therefore has to rely on its high speed and maneuverability to avoid damage.

 

For weapons, the Minerva comes equipped with four missile launchers mounted in its shoulders/wing assembly, as well as two unique, variable weapons systems. The first is the grappler shield mounted on the right arm. While solid shields are largely useless to mechs, the Minerva's Grappler shield is unique in that its primary function is as a melee weapon. The two blades mounted on the front end are able to extend outwards and function as a pincer weapon. As well, a light laser Gatling gun is mounted within the shield, between the pincer blades, and is excellent for both eating away at a grappled enemy's armor and shooting down incoming missiles. The second, and by far the most deadly weapon on the Minerva, is its hand-carried Driver Lance. In its normal mode, the Driver lance acts as a piercing melee weapon. once it punctures enemy armor, however, a large piston mounted on the lances hilt thrusts the entirety of the weapon's blade through the enemy similar to a giant pile driver. This attack is often aimed at an enemy cockpit, and as a result this weapon is feared by imperial pilots for the painful and gory deaths it can cause. The Driver Lance also has a secondary mode in which it can be converted into a railgun for mid-to-long range combat. This conversion is near-instantaneous, and The Minerva can swap between driver lance modes mid-battle with ease. The driver lance also mounts a removable combat knife for emergencies, in case the Minerva is in need of a second melee weapon.

 

In terms of its performance thus far in the war, the Minerva has proven itself time and again to be very effective against  Imperial Mecha. Although it isn't able to outrun most modern Valkyries as it was intended to do, its still fast enough to flank and out maneuver most of the Empire's full-sized units, and its versatile weapons allow it to adapt to most combat situations, and its long-range armaments have proven to be quite deadly against lightly armed Valkyries, so its speed deficiency against them is offset. Of course, its light armor has made it equally infamous among federation pilots, since Minerva casualties in large engagements tend to be quite high, especially when the empire fields higher-end models that can out-maneuver it.  [/spoiler]

 

[spoiler=IF-ASM003 Mars][spoiler=images][/spoiler]The Mars is the less common standard mech found within the Federation's ranks. Usually reserved for higher ranking pilots (although officers tend to operate their own custom machines), the Mars lives up to its namesake, and is feared throughout the galaxy for its raw power and its uncanny ability to decimate unprepared formations. Designed to target and destroy enemy ships with its heavy weapons, the Mars's equipment also lends itself quite well to destroying enemy full-sized mechs (although its a tad too slow to reliably target fast-moving Valkyries). As well, since its designed to take on ships as well as withstand enemy formations, its armor is a great degree thicker than its brother unit, Minerva.Like any mech, however, it will still fall to a large amount of sustained fire, although it is quite possibly the best armored production model in the galaxy. This armor makes it slower than a lot of its competition, however, and it is therefore more susceptible to enemy fire than other units might be.

 

The Mars's weapons are frightening, to say the least. In addition to light vulcan guns mounted in its head (mostly used for shooting out enemy optics or taking down missiles), and two laser blades stored in its wing binders, it comes equipped with two heavy weapons systems. The first is its shield mounted on the left arm. As well as being thick enough to withstand a good deal of punishment, the shield also mounts two medium laser cannons within itself, which fold out of the top of the shield when firing. They are capable of doing a decent amount of damage to any ship they target, and are quite deadly anti-mech weapons.  The sides of the shield are also bladed, and its front ends in a point, making the shield a useful melee weapon. However, the Mars's most powerful weapon is its Titan Blade: a variable weapons system similar to the Minerva's Driver Lance. The titan blade's primary function is as a giant laser blade emitter. This laser blade is nearly the height of the Mars itself, and is devastatingly effective at damaging the hulls of enemy ships. As well, it's quite useful for cleaving enemy mecha if they're slow enough to be caught by a swing of the very heavy weapon. The titan blade can, like the Driver lance, change into a ranged weapon and back mid-battle. Instead of a railgun, however, the titan blade converts to a heavy laser cannon, which is powerful enough to destroy an enemy mech with one direct hit, as well as do a great deal of damage to the hull of a capital ship.

 

The Mars has consistently proven itself to be devastatingly effective against the empire, and is a major contributor to the current state of the war. Its power is offset by its high cost, however, and as a result Mars units are reserved for elite squads or commanding officers. Their powerful weapons make them difficult adversaries to fight against, and combined with the usual skill of Mars pilots, this makes the mech positively deadly. Still, its not without weaknesses. Its lack of conventional weaponry means that it becomes less effective against units with anti-energy coating (although the sheer power of its laser weapons offsets this somewhat), and its slow speed means that massed Valkyrie units are actually an effective counter against it, since it has difficulty taking down many small targets. Lastly, its still a mech, and as a result is quite susceptible to sustained fire, just like any other mech. [/spoiler]

 

EDIT: Mars might need a nerf

[Lunar Origins]

We need someone besides Aix to NPC for mechs in combat, because I seriously doubt one person could write combat scenarios for 12 different people and keep flow.

[Raine]

I have a wonderful idea for a Haitian voodoo medium who would make an outstanding enemy general!

[BANZAI!!!!]

can we do antags yet? got me some enemy ace pilot ideas going.

[Vector Nightmare]

We've had one IC post to react to, and leaving aside the fact that people are already starting a war when the ceremony's barely two seconds over... now you want to introduce characters from the enemy side already? It seems to me like people are trying to move this way too fast... unless you guys are basically playing the whole thing via skype anyway.

[Raine]

We've had one IC post to react to, and leaving aside the fact that people are already starting a war when the ceremony's barely two seconds over... now you want to introduce characters from the enemy side already? It seems to me like people are trying to move this way too fast... unless you guys are basically playing the whole thing via skype anyway.

 

I realize, my suggestion was a joke. We should settle our characters into a somewhat reasonable position before we run away with fights or NPCS

[BANZAI!!!!]

We've had one IC post to react to, and leaving aside the fact that people are already starting a war when the ceremony's barely two seconds over... now you want to introduce characters from the enemy side already? It seems to me like people are trying to move this way too fast... unless you guys are basically playing the whole thing via skype anyway.

we're just excited vector. And i myself wouldn't be introducing any new characters until an appropriate time, anyway.

 

you know, you're welcome to join the skype chat. we're mostly just speculating and being morons there for fun, anyway.