What do you guys think we should do with these things? As some of you may be aware, I've made two articles in the past which were meant as a sort of guide towards RPing a race, or provide the players with some information as to how their race functions. Spoiler: Articles Glitch Article: Starbound - A basic guide to the inner workings of the Glitch By Professor Oak (IC/OOC) [Khaltor] | Starbound Roleplay Floran Article: Starbound - Floran Physiology In-Depth By Professor Oak ((IC/OOC)) [Khaltor] | Starbound Roleplay Now that Kaz has decided that perhaps it's time to start working on our own lore, we could make lore guides for the races, which would contain the history of the race, their culture and their physiology, though unless we have a clear idea of how we want to build further on what Chucklefish has provided us, perhaps it's best to keep some parts vague. ((I.E. Novakids)) Personally I'm more interested in the physiology of the races, albeit that Humans, Apex, Avians, Hylotl will be rather similar when it comes to physiology, perhaps with a few differences here and there, the Apex physiology can refer to their reverse evolution which caused them to evolve mentally but physically devolve into apes, the Avians can refer to their history where they were somewhat altered by a progenitor race (like Kluex was) and because of their avian origins (i mean birdlike, not the humanoids) their bones are hollow and perhaps therefor they're more prone to bone fractures and are generally a bit lighter than humans of their size and frame, as well as how Hylotl are used to moving in 3d space because they are generally used to life underwater, as well as a description of their amphibious life cycle (hylotl tadpoles/baby-forms are able to "breathe" underwater, they lose this ability when they mature however but it is made up for by their technology which allows them to survive in their underwater habitats, about how Florans are generally regarded as one of the more brutish races in the known galaxy, but that this is probably because of the environment they are raised in and that their physical prowess is most likely, aside from being a natural gift, is most likely also due to their lifestyles. What are you guys' thougts on this?
I personally agree with the idea of creating individual articles detailing each race and think that it could benefit Antares greatly. All players would have a common understanding of each race and that would leave little up to interpretation, which means fewer issues with the so-called "snowflake" characters (e.g., Xeno races that act likes Humans or characters that have absurd advantages or disadvantages over others due to the players' choice of race). This would also greatly help with the issue of racial backgrounds. As it is right now, we have very little lore on a majority of the races, and what we do know is constantly up for revision seeing as Chucklefish seems to have trouble deciding on anything lore-related (even if it is still an alpha). That could be fixed with a community-created background for each of the races, which could even spice up the setting a bit by including some conflict between races here and there. Those are my personal thoughts about it, I think it could be a great idea. also bird bones are usually pretty durable because theyre made of a denser material than normal bones
I also think this is a good idea, we can finally have some solid rules concerning the different species and their natural abilities. It will really help out alot of the new players as well, recently I've been seeing alot of florans not having the "natural" abilities that all other florans seem to have, which really breaks up the flow of RP, when you have to explain the lore to them. Not that this is there fault of course, just alot of starbound the lore isn't super accessible. Along with that, it might make RP easier and more consistent for some of the races that don't have alot of lore written on them. Mainly the Novakids. Don't even get me started on the Novakids
I've seen various ways people on OTHER RP servers have done their lore, and it always irked me... Example A: (because Kazyyk doesn't like it when we refer to other servers/communities by name) Humans: earth has been destroyed by the Eldritch Monstrosity (that's what i'm calling it), it is currently battling USCM forces on Earth's MOON, which is completely retarded because if the earth were to be destroyed the moon would be fucked anyway... USCM & main human civilisation are on Mars. Cloning: justified in the lore, you're allowed to clone characters. Species-Transfer: you can change your species on a whim with some high tech genetic manipulation bullshit. Floran lore: Florans are between 6 and 11 ft tall, there's 150+ different subspecies, depending on which form of plantlife they are based. I sort of like that idea (not the 11ft bullshit) but it's kinda "situational" and there's also aquatic Florans etc... So i'm not really a fan of their description/interpretation of Florans. Glitch lore: is a bit better, closer to canon, except the different subtypes of medieval, legionaire, viking, ... Glitch. And the other races are quite standard, but they all contain quite a lot of... Things that just don't make sense or I feel shouldn't be there. Example B: (sort of in a timeline, not putting the "dates" because that's sorta irrelevant. I've also left out some stuff so yeah...) Anodyne are the ancestors of the Novakid. Hylotl are the first race to reach FTL tech. (Sort of arbitrary, but okay?) Humans make first contact with Apex, get abducted for testing, become xenophobic. Humanity, inspired by the Apex Vestigi-Evo Process- attempt to create Human/Animal Hybrids through Genetic Manipulation. At first for cosmetic use, then for Military Applications; the Faunis were born. After the General Population learns of the Faunis, the Earth Government is forced to recognize the Faunis as their own unique Race. They set out amongst the stars, soon disappearing. ((Faunis are basically half-animal humans, like cat girls, fox girls, bull men, horse men/ whatever, i'm not particularly a fan of custom races...)) Humans start to terraform mars while Florans find and reverse engineer the Avian ship. Florans fuck up the Hylotl homeworld, all the while spreading. Earth is destroyed. A race of Reavers come into the universe, a cheap knock-off race to basically keep the Floran population in line and make it so that the Floran's trait of spreading super fast is kept in check by constant war against the Reavers. ((which is bull shit)) Avali (a custom race) and Novakids are discovered. So basically I don't really like the Faunis, the Avali and some of the things they did with the lore/history of the other races... Like creating an artificial pair of hedge shears to prune the Floran race... I liked server B more than Server A, when it came to combat mechanics. They have an intricate system which is based on a character sheet, skill points and ability scores, like table top rpgs, in order to level characters and have some form of combat mechanics which are relatively fair, considering they're r&g dependent and that there's a clear distinction between the combat capabilities of a level 1 character and a higher level character, as well as there is some form of economy and online "store" where you can buy equipment with virtual currency for your character. So aside from the fact that I /REALLY/ dislike the lore, their economy, mechanics and lore were quite... "Established", in the way that even if I dislike their lore, there was some form of lore to live by, there was a server canon present, which was interesting.
One thing I really don't like about starbound is the economy. First off, who in the hell is making pixels. I'm going to go out on a limb and say pixels are not just a digital currency (Kinda like bitcoin). So what government would be making them, along with that. Why would all races just accept "pixels" as the be all end all currency? Honestly, I think it would make alot more sense if all races had their own form of money, simply because there isn't really a galaxy wide government that could really enforce the use of a single form of currency...Although I admit, this would complicate many things and there would be a HUGE learning curve for everyone. Another real big issue is the price of things, mainly things made of metal...Now hear me out, i'm not saying that everything is overpriced on the server or starbound in general. But, the main thing i'm getting at is resources. If I was to buy some gold IRL right now, it would cost ALOT of money because there is a finite amount of gold we have, we can only mine on the Earth in this day and age. But with the technology in the starbound universe, we know that there are mining colonies everywhere. So if anybody is trying in character to mine and sell minerals, I honestly don't think that is something that we can base off real life... Just due to the massive influx of minerals that would be mined by opening up the whole universe to be mined...Just think that is something to think about, and consider when selling things on the server.
I think it works around the lines of credit chits or digitalised PDA transfers to be honest, for example... These are Republic Credits from Star Wars, they work as the currency, and are mostly credit chits, simple enough eh? Another option is completely digitalised currency, which would most likely be the explanation for pixels, that it's transferred like Online Banking, and you use your PDA to carry out the transfer through a Wireless Connection which your PDA automatically connects to upon entering a store.
I guess that could work most people only do digital transfers anyway, so I guess the closest real world counterpart would be the various cryptocurrencies out there. Although honestly, I wouldn't mind having some physical pixels for IC...But again, who could have the money to make a mint and distribute it across the universe.
I could write up some stuff when I get home. Could get some help from people who know details, etc etc
Economy Discussion, is over here guys. I know its relevant here, but we should try to keep things streamlined.
Can we actually allow the differences between the races mentioned in the lore, since part of the fun of a sci-fi setting the different aliens with different abilities. Glitch are able to scan and analyse objects and being tougher due to being made of metal. Maybe hylotl can breathe underwater Florans being physically stronger and faster than the other organic races, and able to manipulate and control plants. Apex being the second strongest organic race and also the smartest. Novakid being able to survive in space maybe? Not sure about the other races strength-wise , the lore only mentions how Apex possess great physical strength and how florans are stronger. etc
Some form of innate natural bias is nice, but that shouldn't stop someone from being allowed to create a special character, given that this character isn't unbalanced.
I would say the Hylotl's are the second most intelligent. Honestly I feel that the races should have their strengths, but also weakness. Take Apex (example: The more dynamic a race is with strength and weakness the more enjoyable they are. Goes with characters. They also should have strengths and weakness. Both phyiscally and mentally
It was an example and I was using a stereotype. Jeez calm down. You are not the end all be all of the Starbound race lore. As I said they are examples, suggestions, or prototypes of the races. I made some more examples or suggestions of the races: Racial Examples: Spoiler: Apex adjusted Strength: Physcial strong (not as strong as Florans) Physically able to jumper higher then other races (<- Racial Armor supports this) Run faster then other races. (<- Racial Armor supports this) Most intelligence of all races. Weakness: Natural Aquaphobia (fear of large bodies of water) Spoiler: Avian Strength: Have no finger prints Innate warriors Can glide to some extent but not fly (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Most Agile out of all the race. Weakness: Phsyically can't smile Phsycially weaker then all of the races. Natural Ophidiophobia (Fear of Snakes) Spoiler: Floran Strength: Physically stronger than most races Second fastest then other races Innately read binary Manipulate plants Can convert sunlight to energy (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Weakness: Most feared race out of other races. Natural Pyrophobia (Fear of Fire) Spoiler: Glitch Strength: Analyictial Physically most resilience than of races. Highest stamina out of all races. Fastest at doing repeative motions (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Third Strongest of other races. Weakness: Natural Ifestiophobia (Fear of Volcanos) Can't Swim, immediately sinks Spoiler: Hylotl Strength: Second most intelligent race Can natrually breath nderwater. (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Fastest swimmers of all races. (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Naturally Pacifist Weakness: Hate or Fear Florans Naturally Pacifist Spoiler: NovaKid Strength: Can Generate small amount of light (<- Racial Armor Supports this) Most Adpat race with fire arms. High Heat resistant Only race able to injest fuel. Weakness: Short attention spans/memory Physically weakest resilience of all races. This is a discussion but I think it should be advised that constructive criticism should be up held and resist from completely flaming ideas. Hence why this is a discussion.
I feel your suggested strengths and weaknesses for these races result in some races being far superior to others. The Apex, for example, only have a fear of water while they're physically more capable than the other races and are mentally superior as well. Then you have a race such as the Avians whose only real strength would be their agility. While being able to glide would be useful on rare occasions, it's not something that could really be put to use regularly. And just cuz I'm a bit of a bird nerd, Avians may be able to smile in a way. While their beaks are rigid, the corners of their beaks are likely more fleshy and able to be curved upwards in a smile. But that's up for discussion! While listing off strengths and weaknesses for the different races might result in some more dynamic roleplay, I fear it would only result in arguments when it comes to combat between two characters of different races. After all, we've even had issues with that in the past, which is why the rules now state that all races are equal in terms of survivability. Personally, I feel like it's better to keep all races equal in regards to mental and physical ability. That way, each player can choose how to play their characters however they want without fear of being told they have to play their Avian as a weakling, or their Apex as a muscly super-genius brute. Now, if some of the races were granted certain additional abilities that kept them separate but equal, that would seem more agreeable to me. For instance, I saw someone mention Glitch being able to scan and analyze objects, or Avians being able to glide, or Hylotl being able to breathe underwater. This prevents some races from becoming just outright superior compared to others.
Some races do have more strengths than others in combat, it's why florans won the floran/hylotl war. It's why Apex use floran DNA to make supersoldiers. Glitch are definitely tougher to kill and have the ability to scan and analyse objects, they are definitely the race with the most advantages.
I'm not arguing that Florans aren't more heavily prepared for combat early on, it's apart of their lifestyle so of course they'll be capable fighters. I'm only suggesting that we keep all races equal for the sake of equality. There's no harm in keeping all races equal, and the only real benefit in giving others certain advantages is so that characters of that race could be seen as superior when compared to characters of a "lesser" race.
I disagree, it's science fiction. The differences between races make them interesting. If everyone is the same what's the point in playing a roleplay server with different alien races. Some races evolved or were created with certain advantages other races don't have, that's life, and part of the lore. Mr human should be hesitant to pick a fight with people with people made of metal, or people with the strength of a gorilla. It makes sense.
This argument is getting stale, it has been going on for over a year now. Officially, in hopes of settling this peacefully and avoiding further arguments.... Florans are just as strong as any other race, In fact, ALL the races can be considered to have, for all intents and purposes, similar physical capabilities.
