The Reconstruction of the Wrix

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

To commemorate the release of 6.21, I've decided to reconstruct the Wrix in the new version. Several years will have passed and some things will have changed, but the characters will still be there.

What will this entail? I will need to find a good enough system then SM in my Wrix with whatever industry I feel is appropriate. For a 'good' system I will be looking at how close it is to my previous Wrix home system. Of course, getting it exactly the same will be impossible, but hopefully I can reach as many of the following goals as I can.

-Binary star system (under certain very specific conditions, I will look at others)
-Two habitable planets around the primary (habitable = has a colony cost/realistic gravity)
-Two habitable planets around the secondary.
-Asteroid belt around the primary.
-A good number of uninhabitable moons in both the primary and secondary systems.
-Approximate distance of about 1bil km between primary and secondary (6 in system screen).

Of course I have almost no hope of even just reaching these 6 points, but if I can only get the first three I will consider it good enough.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

I have further refined my requirements. Systems are checked as follows:

1) Binary system. Alternatively Trinary or Quaternary with way out 3rd and 4th stars.

2) At least 2 habitable planets around the primary. This is a must due to needing both Wrixom and First Stop.

3) At least 1 habitable planet around the secondary.

4) Smallest distance possible between Primary and Secondary.

The last one is how I compare different systems. It seems the original Home was an abberation with its near adjacent binary stars. Well, I also look at the amount of moons and things available, more is always good. Asteroid belts are nice to have but not a necessity.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

After checking probably a hundred systems, I have found three possible candidates.

1) Tulikov - Binary
Distance: 18 (system view, for reference, originally it was 6)
Has a large asteroid belts in both of the planetary systems and plenty of moons and habitable planets. However, everything tends towards being a little low gravity with most under 0.6 gravity. This isn't a big problem, but it means I must either make my Wrix low-g wusses (bleh) or generate them on a higher g world, before moving them over. Feels a bit like cheating.

2) Lick - Terniary
Distance: 15
Has barely sufficient habitable planets and relatively few moons and other orbital bodies. No asteroid belts. The third star is not a problem as it is very dim and very distant at 19600 distance. Gravity is also low on all bodies. Interestingly enough, the 3rd star actually contains an additional two habitable planets. I'm just worried about a mineral crunch on this one.

3) Arecibo - Binary
Distance: 4
Large asteroid belt in the primary system and a small one around the secondary. Great variation in gravity here, with both a high-g and a low-g planet in each planetary system. This one seems extremely promising, but it has a few flaws. The secondary is a bit empty with only a single moon and 3 planets, the distance is perhaps a little too close and if I do pick this one, I will have to make the Wrix have extreme gravity tolerances (0.35 - 3) which could be a little strange.

I must say, I like the last one despite it's flaws. What do you guys think?

Edit: Feel free to post in this thread. I'm going to start a new one when I get started with the actual story.

[Panopticon]

I kinda like number 2, the name is amusing and I think a looming resource crisis is a good motivator for all kinds of exploratory adventures. The distant third star could even be played with, but something cool out there like HW minerals or a big ruin, and then figure out if you can get the Wrix there with any sort of economy.

3 is the follow up, it is more interesting than 1 and a varied grav tolerance is not a bad thing.

[Person012345]

I kind of like the sound of the first one.

[chrislocke2000]

I would agree on option 3 as the first choice and option 2 as the second. Given the nature of the wrix I don't think a huge gravity tolerance is much of an issue - their bodies are toughened by a history of fighting and needing to be stronger than the next hive.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

System #3: Arecibo



Today I took my first look at this system in the map viewer and the very first thought that I had was... what the hell? I had never thought that the system was this WIERD when I had generated it. The secondary, while not quite the innermost orbital body around the primary as it is beaten by two habitable planets that aren't shown, certainly is close to the center. This means that I would have the habitable zone in the relatively small area between the primary and secondary stars, with a ton of cold, dead planets, moons and asteroids outside for harvesting minerals. This would make my exodus not just easier, but perhaps even possible considering my low tech. All in all, this system rather intrigues me now, although at this time I haven't looked at the other two.

Not shown is the massive asteroid belt that starts right outside the screen. Think Kuiper belt, getting to it is just going to be a massive pain in the ass with low tech.

Edit: Think I'll do one of these a day, since I cannot start until my very last exam is finished on Tuesday the 4th.

[Ektoras]

I like either the second system either the third.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

Can't wait. Second system now.

System #2: Lick



Would be an awesome system to find exploring, but a little sparse for a home system. I can't help but worry that I'm going to run out of minerals before I can get properly offworld, especially if I want to waste time and resources doing an exodus first. On the upside, this system gives quite a lot of interesting storyline opportunities, despite its apparent emptiness. I just feel... safer with an asteroid belt.

Not shown is the third star. It is somewhere along the line of 0.3 LY out from the primary and will certainly take quite the expedition to reach at this level of technology. It is a dim star, but at just over 1m km across, it is about the size of our own sun, so no tiny brown dwarf this. I suppose it is certainly possible that the Wrix were unaware that it is a member of their own solar system and thought it was just another star (0.1 luminosity). Bit of a stretch since it would still probably be the brightest star in the heavens, but I suppose it would make sense for a race that never before had put any real effort into watching, much less mapping the stars.

Edit: Forgot to mention this before, but Lick has, real-estate wise, almost the exact same secondary as Arecibo; 3 planets and 1 moon. The only difference is that Arecibo has a small asteroid belt around the secondary, while Lick has nothing else.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

System #1: Tulikov



This system seems nice. Plenty asteroids, plenty planetoids, plenty everything really, including plenty of distance to travel between the primary and secondary. If I had to set up a home system for a new game this is definitely the one I would choose for maximum advantage, but that does not mean it would (necessarily) make a good home for the Wrix. If I were to attempt the exodus, the distance between the primary and the secondary will really hurt turnaround times. It is three times as far as the distance between the original two stars in the old game. There is certainly no way the Wrix would have been able to survey the planets of the secondary using only conventional engines.

All in all, I think this system, while interesting, is perhaps just a little too nice and a impossible at the same time. Not shown on the screenshot are the jump points. There are four of them, clustered together towards the Southeast which is a rather interesting setup I must say.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

After reading Paul M's Norther(n) Coalition AAR I have decided on starting with system 3, Arecibo. In his game I could clearly see the dangers of a mineral crunch in the relatively rich system of Sol, how much worse wouldn't it be in a sparse system like Lick? I barely have enough resources to fully explore my OWN solar system, much less a bunch of others.

I intend on copying the mineral quantities and availability exactly from my previous game for all the important planets (Wrixom, First Stop, Rube). The rest I will leave up to the random generator. Now, this might result in a few better finds, but it could also be worse. It is just too much effort to copy too many planets.

Efforts on this begin shortly.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

I need to get my eyes checked. I started modifying the mineral content, only to realize about halfway in that I was busy working on Tulikov, not Arecibo.  . Regardless, the correct system is open now and I shall begin again.

[Rabid_Cog (OP)]

Well. Interesting screwup on my part, I accidentalied a ruin on Wrixom. Not such a big deal, except there is no way I can find to REMOVE a ruin. It can only be re rolled. Any ideas? Or should I just rp it in now?

[Erik L]

Well. Interesting screwup on my part, I accidentalied a ruin on Wrixom. Not such a big deal, except there is no way I can find to REMOVE a ruin. It can only be re rolled. Any ideas? Or should I just rp it in now?

Go for it. Release the hordes of robotic defenders!

[Panopticon]

A ruin is always a good way to give your race a story reason to consider alien life and have a rational for being prepared, I'd say keep it.

Alternatively if you don't want to actually exploit the ruins, you could just ignore them and either treat them as an RP thing only, or just pretend they aren't there.