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Without digging through the archives, I do have one question: Is it intentional for the Frigate to have so little warp? It only has a total of four, which gives it a maximum speed (ignoring skip warp) of 12, instead of the maximum seed of 16 for the others.

I expect that the issue is that making it six warp gives it a maximum speed of 18, which probably doesn't work as intended. Perhaps it should have a 1/4 movement rate instead of a 1/3 movement rate?

Anyway, the ship really stands out as being drastically slower than the others. (It's like the others are GW ships, but the Frigate is an Early Years ship. It's that slow.)

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Thursday, January 14, 2021 - 10:28 pm: Edit

Annex 7B - "Neutron Star. these are" should be "Neutron Star. These are" - Ken Kazinski, 14 Jan 2021

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, December 05, 2021 - 11:47 am: Edit

(SPN1.46) Module R107 - On page 23, "that he strange" should probably be "that the strange." -Ken Kazinski, 5 Dec 2021.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 02:12 pm: Edit

I was taking another look at Module R107 recently, and was minded of recent (or, at least, relatively recent) discussions elsewhere on the BBS, in terms of whether or not the Nicozians might one day qualify for inclusion in a "formal" C-module for SFB.

So, I was thinking about the way in which this faction is set up at present - and, perhaps, what (if any) changes could be made in order to make them into something approaching a "campaign compatible" empire, conjectural or otherwise.

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At present, the Nicozians are presented as a "random encounter" faction. None of the other Alpha Octant empires have confirmed the location of the Nicozian home star to date. Also, while their current set of playtest ships are presented as heavily-armed survey hulls - akin to the Federation Galactic Survey Cruiser, or the Romulan SparrowHawk-S* survey cruiser - the "insanity" caused by their separation from the Nicozian "group mind" works against their stated goal of finding a suitable non-rotating neutron star for their species to relocate to. And, of course, even if such a mission was successful in finding such a star, how are the Nicozians going to be able to actually carry out such an exodus?

In this, part of the issue stems from not knowing exactly how far away from one another each "individual" Nicozian can be from another in order to maintain the group mind. Is all of the crust of their home star covered, or only a portion where the species happens to congregate? Indeed, do they have to be in the crust itself, or can they be in orbit, or even elsewhere in the home system? And is there a "trans-light" portion of this connection, or is it limited to light-speed transmissions?

And, ultimately, is there - or, perhaps, could there be - some means of extending the network, beyond its "natural" limits?

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For comparison's sake, consider the Hivers, a bee-like species located over in the Omega Octant.

Whereas individual Hivers are about 50-75 centimetres in length, the Hive Queens that rule each Hive grow to somewhere between 15 to 20 metres in length.

Each Hive Queen maintains a pervasive mental network which extends across her entire Hive. Even in its "latent" state, this network provides certain in-game bonuses under (OR10.031). It is also possible to create "mental nodes" under (OD2.0) around the command staff of the largest Hiver ships.

That said, "large" for the Hivers (aside from their Queens) is a relative term; Hiver ships are two sizes smaller than those of most empires, though of course nowhere near as small as those of the Nicozians.

Beyond this, it's even possible for a Hive Queen to communicate directly with an individual Hiver in her mental network; this is rarely done, but was the means by which the Hivers gained access to particle phaser and particle beam technology (via captured Hiver crews in Vari space). It's also possible for Hive Queens to communicate with one another, not least to discuss matters affecting the species at large (such as when deciding how to respond to the Andromedan and Souldra invasions of the Sixth Cycle).

However, there is a fatal downside to all of this: under (OR10.032), should a Hive Queen be killed, close to 95% of her subjects cannot bear to live on in her absence, and act accordingly. Of those few Hivers (and Hiver ships) which survive, some seek new purpose by joining other Hives; others strike out on their own as pirates and marauders; and still others go rogue and lash out against friend and foe alike.

At present, it has yet to be defined how each Queen's mental network functions at a Federation and Empire level. Or rather, how the component networks of the individual Queens interlock across Hiver space at large.

-----

To go back to the Nicozians:

I was wondering if, for campaign purposes at least, one might consider whether or not there could be some sort of subspace-based extension of the group mind, which could create a broader volume if space in which the Nicozians could function "normally" without the problems faced by the historical survey fleet.

As in: say, if there was some sort of "group node" device - be it installed as a "standard" set of boxes on a given SSD; or, perhaps, treated more like a cloaking device, with a separate "hit-and-run" set of boxes - that, when active, maintains the link to the group mind.

These could vary in size and capability. For example: rather than having Flag bridge boxes, perhaps "command" and/or "leader" variant ships are given more of these boxes, and/or have a greater range at which they can operate away from the nearest "fixed" installation.

Similarly, Nicozian bases and colonies could install them also, and act as regional "anchor" nodes across a broad region of space. In F&E terms, each Nicozian base or colony would extend the network, but only a relatively short distance: say, only across the same hex it is placed in for smaller facilities, and only extending across the ring of adjacent hexes for larger ones?

Thus, a would-be "campaign-compatible" Nicozian empire would be akin to the Tholian Holdfast, in terms of how densely fortified it would be; yet be forced to take a slow and measured approach towards further expansion, so as to avoid outpacing the means by which the all-important group mind can be extended alongside it.

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So far as a would-be "campaign-compatible" Nicozian fleet goes:

I would suggest that a more "standardized" Nicozian fleet would not all have such things as special sensors, cargo boxes, or fabrication facilities. Rather, they would be set to match whichever role they would be expected to carry out as part of a star navy: as "line" ships (to perhaps include missile variants), as scouts, as minesweepers, and so on and so forth. They might still use the "historical" hull designs as survey ships, however.

That said, they would still not have certain "mission variants" used by most other factions: no commando ships, no carriers or PF tenders, and so on and so forth.

Plus, they'd need an entirely bespoke range of bases, civilian hulls, and other support variants, akin to how the Andromedans and Souldra are treated respectively.

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Historically-speaking, in the Alpha Octant at least, one could still say that the "real" Nicozians never developed such things, at least not prior to Y225, the "end" of the Alpha Octant timeline as recorded in the U.S. Air Force data tapes. Thus, any "campaign-compatible" rules and SSDs - to include the proposed "group node" devices - would be found only as simulator "Threat Files".

That said, there are neutron stars all over known space. Perhaps a "parallel evolution" of a Nicozian-esque species took place in a non-Alpha region of space - such as in Omega; in the Triangulum Galaxy; or in the Sargasso Storm Zone; or maybe in some other region entirely?

And, if so, perhaps that species developed both a set of "functionally identical" technologies to those seen with the Nicozians in Alpha, yet were somehow able to develop "group node" devices in order to expand into space as a "campaign-compatible" empire?

-----

In short: it might be possible to offer two "varieties" of playable Nicozians: the "random encounter" type as seen in Alpha, and a would-be "campaign-compatible" Nicozian-esque empire somewhere in non-Alpha space.

Does this sound in any way viable? Or, might there be some other means of pursuing this concept going forward?

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*In F&E terms, "Sparrowhawk-S" is the alternate designation used for the SparrowHawk-C scout cruiser, when it is assigned for use as a survey ship rather than as a heavy scout.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 02:29 pm: Edit

The above topic aside, it might one day be interesting to see a tactical encounter between Nicozian and Souldra ships.

On the one hand, since "standard-density" units cannot dock to Nicozian ships, there'd be no way for Souldra Black Shards to make contact - thus rendering the Nicozian fleet immune to Souldra vampirism. (Would a Black Shard attempting to "land" on a neutron star be crushed by the local gravity before it could threaten a "civilian" Nicozian population?)

On the other hand, once Souldra weapon attacks make it past the Nicozian shields and banks of Collapsium armour, there is the dark matter damage procedure to take account of. Note that dark matter damage can still destroy "excess damage" boxes under (OG10.134), so is capable of reducing Collapsium armour banks by this same measure.

Plus, there is the means by which Souldra ships can elect to concentrate their soul shield blocks against incoming weapons fire under (OG9.22), though this would be more useful in duels than in squadron or fleet engagements.

Much as is the case when both factions fight the Andromedans, there'd certainly be some unorthodox rule interactions to consider, should there be a reason (or opportunity) for them to fight one another.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 05:08 pm: Edit

The Principle problem I have with some of the proposed ideas is size. Gary noted this, then seemed to "run off the rails." It is not possible for boxes on a Nicozian ship to be susceptible in any way shape or form to a hit-and-run raid. The ship itself is smaller than your smallest baby of a crew, much less a trained adult. such a ship is not going to have node boxes large enough to be separately attacked, nor are bases going to have comparable space allowing such.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 06:13 pm: Edit

SPP,

You are, of course, quite correct, in terms of it being unwise to add a "hit-and-run" box onto a unit which cannot be subjected to hit-and-run raids by non-Nicozian empires. (Although there are suggestions on page 8 of Module R107 for how to handle such things in Nicozian "civil wars".)

In this case, I would then lean more towards the concept of having these would-be "group node" boxes take the place of Flag bridge boxes.

-----

As to where (and how) these node boxes would be of use; in the case of the proposed "campaign compatible" Nicozian setup, I would suggest the following:

If a given scenario takes place within the bounds of a pre-existing network of "group nodes" (from nearby bases and colonies), the Nicozian ships operate "normally"; as in, they are assumed to draw from a "latent" connection to the group mind via the local infrastructure set in place.

However, if a given scenario takes place beyond the bounds of a pre-existing network, there must be at least one "command" and/or "leader" ship in the task force at the start of the scenario; in which case, the "group node" boxes act to extend the group mind into a new area of space.

In so doing, perhaps there must be a tactical range limit between the "node" ship and the ship(s) being connected to, as well as a limit to the number of ships that can be linked to a given node box at once.

Indeed, perhaps there might be a difference between a given "node" ship's Command Rating and its "node capacity". As in, if a battle is taking place inside the group mind network, the "node" ship can lead a force equal to its Command Rating as normal. However, if operating outside of the group mind network, the "node" ship can link no more than, say, three ships (of equal or smaller Size Class) per node box on the SSD?

For example: if a would-be "destroyer leader" were given only one node box, it could be linked to no more than three other Nicozian ships, of Size Class 4 only. However, a would-be "command cruiser" could be given two node boxes, enabling it to be linked to as many as six other Nicozian ships, each of Size Class 3 or 4. In both cases, the linked ships must stay within a certain range of the "node" ship they are linked to, whatever that range is decided upon to be. And, again, these limits would apply solely for battles taking place beyond the pre-existing node network; the Command Ratings of the would-be "DDL" and "CC" would apply as normal within the node network.

-----

Which raises the question of what happens if the "node" ship is destroyed (or, at least, has its node boxes destroyed), in a battle taking place outside of the group mind network. Or, indeed, if a linked ship wanders outside of the range of the "node" ship mid-battle.

In which case, I would suggest that the formerly linked ships must either link to its original "node" ship (should it still be present) or to another "node" ship (should the original "node" ship have been destroyed, and should there be another one present with has enough node capacity to spare) within a period of, say, 32 (or 64?) impulses - or, if they cannot do so, must then attempt to disengage back to "safe" space.

Perhaps with a die roll at the start of each turn the fleeing ship is still on the map, to see if the ship's crew goes insane? (The longer the ship is still on the map, the more difficult it would be to "pass" this test, perhaps.)

As for the "node" ship itself: in case its own node boxes are destroyed, perhaps there might be a similar 32(or 64?)-impulse period in which it must repair at least one of its own node boxes, so that it can re-establish its own link back to the group mind (and, thereafter, re-connect other Nicozian ships to the group mind in turn). And, if it fails to do this, it too must attempt to flee to the nearest "safe" territory.

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On a side note: if a "campaign-compatible" Nicozian fleet were to be given a dedicated survey cruiser design - as in, one which goes beyond the survey capabilities possessed by the current crop of "historical" Nicozian SSDs - perhaps it also might be given such a "node" box, so as to extend the "safe" range at which it can operate in unclaimed space.

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In short, the onus on the "node" ships - beyond their "default" ability to use their respective Command Ratings to lead defensive forces inside Nicozian-held space - would be to facilitate raids or expansionist efforts into as-yet-unclaimed space. The flip side of this being that, if an enemy succeeds in assassinating such units, the ability of the Nicozians to threaten their neighbours becomes significantly diminished.

Does that seem like a reasonable concept for a would-be "campaign-compatible" Nicozian empire to operate under?

By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Tuesday, January 28, 2025 - 09:28 pm: Edit

Were ADB, Inc. to try to do a campaign compatible Nicozian Empire, I'd enjoy reading it and using it. On the other hand, within the limitations of them now, as they exist, I've enjoyed treating them as "Wandering Monsters," if you will, with the potential of a wise player trying to ally with them.

(So far, nobody whom I've gamed with has accepted the idea, but is it possible? Would some enterprising, legendary Captain negotiate with them to provide starmap locations of non-rotating neutron stars within his/her/its empire in exchange for mutual respect for rights for civilian passage through claimed territory?)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Friday, January 31, 2025 - 02:09 pm: Edit

There are examples of various species with divergent "settlement" needs finding ways to develop mutually beneficial partnerships. And, of course, cases where they find the concept of sharing to be somewhat more difficult to adopt.

While four of the five ISC member species have broadly comparable oxygen-nitrogen atmospheres, the Q'Naabians are more comfortable in Class-R (oxygen-chlorine) biospheres.

Out in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud, the Baduvai and Uthiki were a good case of the former: after a few initial conflicts, the two species formed an alliance once they realized that their interests converged. While the Baduvai were on the look out for Class-K/L/M/N?O worlds to establish colonies on, the Uthiki were more at home in Type-A (Jovian) gas giants. Indeed, there were cases in which the Baduvai and Uthiki would jointly colonize a shared star system - not least once the Uthiki Harmony became a semi-autonomous province of the Baduvai Imperium.

On the other hand, it's well known that the Hydrans found such an arrangement with the Klingons, the Hydrans, or even the Borak, to be ultimately intolerable. Although, I did suggest a "what-if" Hydran/Borak Commonwealth not all that long ago. But then, even in the historical timeline, the Hydrans still granted their Borak and "exile species" subjects a significant degree of self-rule, since they were able to make use of worlds that were difficult for the Hydran species to settle upon more directly.

Meanwhile, in Omega, recent issues of Captain's Log have added the concept of the Chlorophon Association - itself a symbiotic union between the tree-like Phons and the anteater-like Keepers - finding themselves in a similar situation to the Hydrans. As in, when the eras of Mæsron and Probr suzerainty over the Association ended, a number of "exile colonists" from those empires were left behind to be integrated into Chlorophon society.

And, in a roundabout way, I suppose one could say that the relationship between the Tholians and their various "enforcer species" back in the home galaxy was a case of one side making use of environments in which the other could not safely reside (and vice versa) - although the scales were decisively tipped in favour of the Tholians, at least prior to the Seltorian Revolt...

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So, in theory at least, it might be possible to consider whether or not a "campaign-compatible" Nicozian-esque faction would choose to go it alone - or, depending on the circumstances involved, whether they might form some sort of alliance or partnership with one or more species with divergent living conditions.

However, this might only work for a "sane" Nicozian faction, which can try to establish some manner of communication with other species. The historical Nicozians in Alpha probably don't have this option, on account of the insanity with which the crews of their survey ships are inevitably afflicted.

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Sunday, February 02, 2025 - 04:22 pm: Edit

I like some of your ideas, Gary. It seems to me that the Nicozians are more enjoyable as an empire, though an unusual one, rather than just as random monsters. If they ever found a non-rotating neutron star and they were all crazy, how would they contact the home world? The idea of nodes would help. Also, perhaps sending out enough ships in a fleet that it keeps the madness at bay. After losing enough ships and crews to madness, they might have tried something like these ideas. Years ago, I posted somewhere that the Nicos found they the world they were looking for. The idea is that perhaps, the home world is on the far side of Lyran space, while the new world in the the Omega sector, perhaps near the Hivers, etc. The Nicos would have to use large fleets to carry their whole population, protecting them from madness. However, the other races had bad experiences with crazy Nicos and weren't too friendly. And of course, no empire likes the idea of large fleets of alien ships travelling through their territory. Of course, This does nothing to endear the other races to the Nicos. So, there are chances for them to fight almost everybody. When they finally reach the new non-rotating neutron star, they are definitely not in a good mood. Does this idea have any merit?

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Monday, February 03, 2025 - 01:27 pm: Edit

Based on the data in R107, the bulk of recorded encounters with the Nicozians appear to have been by the Gorns (who were the first to make contact with them in Y171), the Federation, and the Kzintis. Although there have been a few encounters noted over in Lyran space and elsewhere.

Of course, assigning any sort of rhyme or reason to these respective frequencies of encounters might not be wise; indeed, even if the survey crews being sent out were "sane", they'd likely want to avoid giving too much away in terms of letting other empires back-trace them to where their home world happens to be.

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In any case, if the "historical" Nicozians were to one day become something other than a de facto set of "random encounters" - in the Alpha Octant, at least - it would have to avoid triggering any cascading effects in Federation and Empire terms.

The "logic" of F&E has effectively prevented there from being any "new" Alpha empires in the historical timeline for quite a while now, at least in the time periods covered by F&E scenarios to date. For example: the "lost empire" Carnivons and Paravians from Module C6 each trigger substantial border and order of battle changes in those alternate timelines in which they exist, as shown on the likes of "Mapsheet P".

So, were there to be a Nicozian "exodus fleet" of some sort (one which anyone else were to learn about, that is) it would have to happen at some point after the General War or the ISC Pacification. And possibly after the Andromedan War, also - unless the exodus route carried it through Andro-held territory, and away from the regions of space still held by the besieged Alpha empires at that point in time?

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Actually, if one wanted to tie a "campaign-compatible" Nicozian-esque empire to the historical Nicozians, as opposed to inventing a new "Nicozian-esque" species which just happened to develop along a parallel "biological" and technological course: perhaps one option could be to lean into the concept of the Vortex, from the cover fiction in Captain's Log #38.

Say, if a Nicozian survey ship (or flotilla of ships) were to pass through a Vortex into a new region of space - and, also, into a different time period - only to crash-land on a viable Neutron star. Over time, the descendants of the surviving crewbeings reach enough of a critical mass to manifest a new "group mind", separate from the one they left behind. Yet, it still takes more time to re-build something akin to a functioning civilization, let alone be able to return to space.

Indeed, as part of their adaptation to their new home star, and the means by which they were able to manifest this new group mind, perhaps these Nicozians "evolve" just differently enough from their ancestors to enable them to make the concept of a subspace-based group node viable, even if the "original" Nicozians end up not making such a developmental leap?

In short, this could be a way to have two historical Nicozian factions: the one we know of in the Alpha "off-map" - which might, or might not, one day attempt an "exodus" of some sort - plus a second one in a non-Alpha location, that is able to function as a deep space empire.

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 08:40 am: Edit

Gary: I'm not disagreeing with anything you write. After all, we are just throwing out ideas here. The reason that I mention the exodus is that is the whole point of Nico space exploration. If they ever found a suitable neutron star they would try to move everything they could to it. The section in R107.0 does say that their search was doomed. But this is a playtest product, so things can be changed. Perhaps a group of Nicos "evolve" to be able to live on a rotating neutron star. Since neither the Nico's nor the other races can use each others worlds, there really is no reason for them to fight. But if enough anger has been built up by the period when they were insane, they might still attack each other. The Nicos would never be a normal empire, but if there were an exodus, or something similar, it would be able to create battles, including fleet battles, between the Nicos and everyone else. Which makes the game more interesting.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 11:25 am: Edit

At the present time, the Nicozians have been able to benefit from the location of their home star not being known to other Alpha Octant empires - nor, presumably, to the likes of the Andromedans.

However, should their home star be located, they would need to establish a "fleet in being" in order to defend it. Which raises the question of how close to the home star their ships can stay without their crews going insane.

Further, should this location be determined, whichever Alpha empire is closest to it would be obliged to assign a border fleet in that direction, if only to keep tabs on the situation. (This need to assign a fleet to face a "new" border, and the knock-on effects doing this would have on other border fleets, are why Federation and Empire has pre-empted the addition of any more Alpha Octant empires of note in the time periods covered by the current crop of historical F&E scenarios - which, at this time of typing, run through to Spring Y188.)

Indeed, the same would be true in the event of a would-be exodus. If the Nicozians are lucky, they would be able to find a new home star which itself is unknown to the nearest neighbours. But if they aren't, they'd need to be able to secure and fortify such a location, in case their presence there would be contested - or even just to counter a new border fleet being assigned in their direction.

Further, should an exodus take place either during or after the Andromedan War, there might be a need for the Nicozians to develop first-generation X-ships - or perhaps even second-generation X-ships - in order to ward off opposing X1-ships or X2-ships (or intervening Andromedans and/or Xorkaelians).

In saying this, I by no means wish to argue that there couldn't be an historical Nicozian exodus in the Alpha Octant. That said, if only to avoid running into F&E-scale problems along the way, it would be best to set it in a time period when there is still enough leeway to account for any potential reaction by anyone the exiles might pass along the way to... wherever their new home might end up being.

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By the way, I had noted earlier in this thread that, since there is already a "pulse phaser" over in Module E2, it might be worth re-naming either that weapon or the one found in Module R107.

Thus, I was wondering if one could simply refer to this one as the "phaser-N" ("N" for "Nicozian")?

As an aside, were there to be some larger Nicozian bases at some point, ought there be a Nicozian equivalent to a phaser-4? Or, would it be more in-character for there not to be such a weapon, akin to how the Andromedans have to make do with phaser-2s on their bases?

Actually, perhaps the Nicozians could develop the equivalent of Borak phaser cannons - but only be able to mount them on bases with active positional stabilizers? While I would prefer to keep ship-mounted phaser-Cs as a Borak invention, I could see a base-mounted Nicozian phaser-C as a "logical" iterative step from the ship-mounted phasers they have at present.

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 11:34 am: Edit

Another possibility is to do to the Nicos what was done to the Carnivons, Paravians, and Borak--write an alternative history for them. In this they do find a home somewhere in established space, either Alpha or Omega, causing changes in the history. I think that the Nicos are an interesting race, and something more should be done with them.

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 11:52 am: Edit

A further idea is to get rid of the whole non-rotating star concept. In this case, the problem that the Nicos have is finding a neutron star at the right distance from a the neutron star so that it would replicate the conditions they had on their homeworld. This might be easier to do.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, February 05, 2025 - 08:27 pm: Edit

While it is certainly possible to go the alternate timeline route, as had been done for the "lost empire" Paravians and Carnivons in Alpha, I should note that the former historically emerge in force over in Omega, while the latter have been hinted as making it as far as the Sargasso Storm Zone. So even though their respective Alpha iterations require the use of alternate timelines in order to exist historically, they each get their own area in which to make an impact elsewhere in the setting.

That said, there is a fair question to ask: exactly where outside of Alpha is there still room - in our galaxy or elsewhere - for an historical Nicozian empire to emerge?

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Based on the descriptions that have been given about Sargasso, to date, this Galactic octant is defined by regular periods of heavy storm activity, during which the local factions are obliged to hunker down in widely-dispersed "clear" areas. Then, in the time gap between the end of one storm and the onset of the next, these factions burst out of their respective enclaves, in order to seize the resources they need to survive the next round of storms.

Carnivons aside, there is still plenty of room for a mix of "native" and "imported" factions to be assigned to Sargasso. Indeed, one could even put the Nicozian-held enclave in the same (relative) vicinity of the one held by the Carnivons - thus giving the two a convenient enemy to clash for resources with.

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Omega offers its own set of options, though finding a place for a Nicozian empire to operate "in the open" might require a little finesse.

So far as the "om-nap" Omega Octant goes, not all of the known empires have been presented in SFB terms quite just yet. Although, there are "unexplored" areas quite late into the timeline, so there could well be a Nicozian presence in one such area that the other Omega empires simply don't know about until a later Cycle in history.

Although, there is the "off-map" Phi Sector, where the Zosman home territories are located. Perhaps the Zosmans - who migrated to the Milky Way Galaxy from elsewhere - are in the rimward portion of the Phi Sector, and the Nicozians are closer to the Storm Zone?

Although, to double back on the idea of overlapping interests: perhaps the Nicozians could have an enclave inside of the Jindarian Freehold? Bruce Graw suggested that the Jindarians host a number of "exile" groups within the Freehold; perhaps there might be a viable Neutron star or two therein which might fit the bill?

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Beyond the Mlikky Way galaxy:

The LMC might be trickier, since it doesn't have a lot of "spare" room for new empires prior to Operation Unity.

Although, perhaps Triangulum might be a better option. There is even the local use of micro-thin Neutronium armour, so a faction which leaned into the use of Neutronium in it own way would not be entirely out of place...

M81 might not be a good option, though, even in the pre-conquest era. Technically it's possible to permit seeking weapons to exist out there, though ship-mounted special sensors would be off the table. That said, the pre-Revolt Tholians are not exactly known for their live-and-let-live policy...

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Thursday, February 06, 2025 - 04:30 pm: Edit

Interesting. I would prefer that the Nicos start out somewhere in or near the Alpha sector, and end up somewhere in or near the Omega sector. Because they lived on a neutron star no one noticed them till they began their search for a new home. So, the other empires saw only explorers and perhaps, if they found a suitable world to colonize, exodus ships and fleets. There would be not years long intense wars against them, but rather only occasional battles with the Nicos as they moved through other races spaces. That way, there is a legitimate reason to have them fight most of the Alpha and many Omega races, which makes for interesting gaming. This is just my preference. BTW, a friend of mind and I did a lot of playtesting the Nicos years ago. We had some ideas that we thought were worth testing. Is anyone playtesting the Nicos now?

By Stephen E Parrish (Steveparrish) on Thursday, February 06, 2025 - 04:34 pm: Edit

Interesting. I would prefer that the Nicos start out somewhere in or near the Alpha sector, and end up somewhere in or near the Omega sector. Because they lived on a neutron star no one noticed them till they began their search for a new home. So, the other empires saw only explorers and perhaps, if they found a suitable world to colonize, exodus ships and fleets. There would be not years long intense wars against them, but rather only occasional battles with the Nicos as they moved through other races spaces. That way, there is a legitimate reason to have them fight most of the Alpha and many Omega races, which makes for interesting gaming. This is just my preference. BTW, a friend of mind and I did a lot of playtesting the Nicos years ago. We had some ideas that we thought were worth testing. Is anyone playtesting the Nicos now?