Firstly, thank you for setting this thread up.


While Module C5 offers a fairly well-rounded look at the Lesser Magellanic Cloud as a distinct setting, there are a number of avenues for further exploration which could be addressed in a second LMC module.

I'll try and break them into separate categories, at least in terms of how I'd see things here.

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*Additional "modern" ships and units for the first five fleets.

We have a pair of new Jumokian ships in CL48, as well as a small number of ship classes mentioned, but not published, in C5 itself.

Plus, there are a few areas where certain gaps could be filled. One example I noted in another thread is a request for a couple of new survey ships.

And there are a few gunboat variants the Baduvai are noted as having historically, as well as the question over whether or not they ever did adopt Alpha-style warp booster packs in the Y200s (or Omega-style "volatile warp" engines in the Y210s).


*Fleshing out the Early Years.

While there are a handful of Y-series Baduvai and Eneen hulls in C5, the early Jumokian hulls which the Eneen of the time fought against have not been featured.

Nor, for that matter, have any W- or Y-era hulls been done up for the Maghadim or Uthiki. For the Maghadim in particular, there may be a useful role for such ships to play I'll go into more detail a bit later.

Also, it may be worth reconsidering some of the current Y-era hulls. In particular, I wonder if the current Eneen Y-ships might have a bit too much power at their discretion, since they have no reduction in HPR or impulse power compared to their "modern" refits. Unless they simply were that good in the Early Years, but paid for it by being unable to adapt these hulls to speed-30 tactical warp after the Battle of H'Gar.


*The Yrol Septs.

One of the two named factions not yet committed to print, the Yrol are said to operate hybrid-organic "vessels" (semi-mobile hulls merged with the bodies of semi-sentient life forms indigenous to their home nebula).

They are in the Uthiki's neck of the Magellanic woods, and are not too far away from the Baduvai side of the Neutral Worlds. So while they seem to avoid full-scale military adventurism, and have no major external invaders prior to the Andromedans, their main interaction with other fleets may be as raiders.


*The Chomak Community.

The star-faring power with the longest history in the LMC (not counting the Jindarians), the Chomak have a few hints in C5 as to their technology, their relations with the three Magellanic Powers, and their struggles against the Andromedan threat.

I had an idea posted elsewhere (further down this thread) as to how one might chart the developement of the Chomak, but I'm sure others may have their own visions as to how one might explain the history, economy, and technology of this faction.

(There had been arguments before about the source of the Chomak economy, due to some now-rejected ideas factored into an old map proposal. To put a long story short, I'd simply argue in favour of giving them an Alpha-esque collection of major and minor planets in their capital hex, and taking it from there.)


*A rival Early Years Core faction.

It's noted that the early Maghadim fought (and defeated) at least one other Core-based faction during their early expansion.

While nothing is known about what such an opponent might look like (or what any non-Maghadim species may have once existed in the Core region), such a faction could be a good mans of giving the Y-era Hives an historical opponent to clash with, even if the Maghadim would not venture beyond the Core radiation shell until much later in the timeline.


*The post-Unity history of the Cloud.

The post-Unity of the Cloud is still mostly unknown. But there are some tantalising clues in various places as to what might happen there in this new era, as well as how the Cloud itself goes from bring a bridge between galaxies to a stepping stone between galactic octants.

While it may be that this side of Magellanic history might have to wait until we see what is presented in Module X2, I would hope that such a development would open the door for a more thorough look at the position of the Cloud post-Unity, and a proper mapping out of the means by which it allowed the Alpha and Omega Octants to formally come into contact (in what the published Omega timeline refers to as the Mæsron Renaissance).


*LMC X-ships.

With these kind of discussions in mind, the technological aspect of these events may be reflected in the mans by which the LMC factions may, or may not, adopt first- or second-generation advanced technology.

Thanks to Module X1R, we already know that the Jindarian caravans in the LMC adopt X-tech post-Unity, but there was already a template of Alpha-Jindarian advanced technology for them to follow.

Exactly how X-tech woud work in the context of the C5 empires, or with the Yrol and Chomak, is another matter. (In the case of the Yrol, they may have to come up with some sort of alternative, akin to the "Sig-Tech" adopted by the Alunda Host over in Omega. That is, if there are any space-faring Yrol still around after Y202 in the first place.)

But I would like to think that not only would some form of X-tech be viable for these powers, it should be done in a way that makes its implementation unique relative to how Alpha X-ships operate (or how Omega X-ships may one day be shown to function).


*A new player post-Unity?

While the future-history of the LMC is still a mostly open canvas post-Unity, there's no need to say that no-one else may emerge as a new factor in this time period.

Perhaps the exchange of information with the crew of NCC-1382 USS Sakharov might inspire one or more Omega factions, like the Iridani or Chlorophons, to send their own long-range missions to the Cloud?

Or maybe a Bolosco colony fleet, distinct from the one which had arrived in the Omega Octant a century earlier, decides to settle in the LMC?

Possibly a less benign arrival, such as a Seltorian Nest Ship, could stir the pot.

Or there might be an entirely new faction (and technology type) to consider, akin to how the Echarri Dynasty sprang up on the Omega Octant map at the dawn of the Seventh Cycle. What their ultimate goals and intentions may be could be anyone's guess.

But if the ebb and flow shown on the various Omega maps are a bit more than the pre-invasion Magellanics had been used to, there's no reason to say that things might not look very different out there in the post-invasion era.

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In all, I'd say that there is enough ground out there to cover for at least one fairly solid expansion module set in the Lesser Magellanic Cloud.

However, in order for it to reach its fullest potential, perhaps it may have to wait until some of the big outstanding questions can be addressed during (or after) Module X2's formal development cycle.


So, any thoughts on the above?

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 06:45 pm: Edit

Conjectural DNs and BCHs for the Eneen and Baduvai.

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 - 11:16 pm: Edit

Speaking of DNs, one interesting setup could be to have some Maghadim engineering team propose a new, larger two-piece Size Class 3 hull, which could be upgraded into a pair of larger hull types using the small and large collars respectively.

At the very least, they could make for useful campaign conjectural variants, in the event that the Baduvai, Eneen, and Chomak were allowed to field conjectural heavy hulls of their own.

(According to (MS1.33), the Chomak reportedly had blueprints for several SC 2 hulls, but there are no reliable reports of any of them being fielded.)

By Norman Dizon (Normandizon) on Thursday, March 27, 2014 - 12:27 am: Edit

Our group wouldn't really find much use in Early Years LMC.

If you are going to look at the LMC Post Operation Unity, then you are probably talking about X and X2 technology. So I agree with Gary, that may need to wait a bit.

I suggest that the Chomak and Yrol be published in Module C5R. Looking at the Designer's Notes in Module C5, Ken Burnside states that as of April 1999, the Chomak existed in alpha draft and the Yrol existed in notes. I believe it is time for these two empires to be published.

Also, it would nice to see one or two pieces of new technology (weapons, systems, etc.). In other expansions, we have seen things like particle splitter torpedoes, whipcrack torpedoes, temporal elevators, and sabots (meaning one or two new things, but not a lot). Something new always adds value to the product. Not an entire chapter of new material, but one thing or two that may change the game a bit.

Of course, additional ships and types for the Magellanic empires already published in Module C5 would be nice too.

Lastly, a brand new empire or perhaps a new bad guy could really stir things up. But introducing such a thing might upset the balance and established history of the LMC. In addition, extensive playtesting would be required, so I doubt this one will happen (but you never know).

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Saturday, March 29, 2014 - 06:24 pm: Edit

One other option could be to work up an LMC-specific monster or two.

For example, I was thinking there could be a "mechanical" monster-vessel armed with heavy lasers as its heavy weapons, as opposed to the Phaser-4s you'd see featured on a Juggernaut Empire warship.

Being obliged to use the BANK system to manage different levels of laser fire could be a distinct challenge as monsters go, even before adding in any other distinguishing features to the mix.

By John Naylor (Johnn) on Sunday, March 30, 2014 - 05:26 pm: Edit

I'd like to see the two undefined empires (Chomak and Yrol) purely for completeness.
Going with SPP's view of the Chomak being a cyclic empire with rise and falls this could allow it to have a base level of technology for it's ships that was at a par with, or slightly lower than the other empires of the cloud, but with a few ships that had been found mothballed from previous cycles. So perhaps (in alpha terms) the majority of ships might be the equivalent of national guard ships, but supported by a few ships of anything from early general war to x-technology.
This could explain why they could warn off other empires and do things other empires couldn't, from memory circumnavigating the cloud and marauding through Andro occupied territory, but in the end were defeated by the Andro's.
Or perhaps they withdrew to their home territory due to a threat from another set of invaders (perhaps expelled from the Andro galaxy?)

By Gary Carney (Nerroth) on Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 06:23 pm: Edit

As a note concerning the "post-Unity" history of the Lesser Magellanic Cloud: certain portions of NCC-1821 USS Sakharov: Voyages of Discovery from Captain's Log #51 include a glimpse at this new era, at least from this fabled GSX's perspective.

But as noted above, any real effort at expanding further on the post-Unity era in the LMC will have to wait until at least after Module X2 is done.

By Richard B. Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Thursday, June 23, 2016 - 06:37 pm: Edit

Conjectural DNs are needed, imo.

By Charles Gray (Cgray34) on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 - 06:51 pm: Edit

I think conjectural SC2 ships would be a very good idea. As it is now, the LMC races are handicapped for any player generated campaigns where they appear as a playable race by their lack of SC2 ships.

By Shawn Gordon (Avrolancaster) on Saturday, January 18, 2020 - 06:47 pm: Edit

SC2?

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Saturday, January 18, 2020 - 07:01 pm: Edit

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Quote:

SC2?

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By Jeff Anderson (Jga) on Saturday, January 18, 2020 - 07:41 pm: Edit

As much as I'd love to see Magellanic SC2 ships, the "Color Text Background" said the nature of the LMC was such that the Cruisers filled the role of the SC2 ships, the Destroyers filled the role of Cruisers, and so on.

This was part of the overall vision Ken had for the LMC, and as a writer myself (albeit a rather poor one ), I want to respect his vision.

That said, I'm still hoping and waiting for the Chomak Community and Yrol Septs...