Jindarians in FC?

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:29 pm

Hi.

I recently picked up a copy of SFB Module F1, and was wondering about what, if any, kind of presence the Jindarian ships might one day have in Federation Commander.

The nomadic Jindarians live in Caravans of varying sizes, are scattered across most of known space (including the Alpha Octant, Omega Octant and Lesser Magellanic Cloud) and have apparently been in space for over 100,000 years!

Their ships come in two flavours.

The more traditional types are the 'metal-hull' vessels - from the Frigates and Destroyers (and their numerous variants) to the Light and Heavy Strike Cruisers (as it happens, I have Module X1R but not Module R6, so I don't know what the non-advanced-technology versions look like!) often seen at the vanguard of a Caravan's operations.

The more unorthodox types are the asteroid ships - vessels literally carved out of gigantic hunks of rock! These ships are at the heart of every Caravan, and while slow in comparison to the metal-hulls are very tough to crack. They have a number of variants, too, not least the mobile shipyards they use to build the metal-hulls (a template which was copied by the surviving forces of the Cloud in the wake of the Andromedan conquest).

Indeed, most Jindarian ships have a unique set of options you can fit them with - which in FC terms might involve mix-and-matching your own cargo, lab and other systems. (The asteroid ships have a wider variety than the metal-hulls in this regard.)

In terms of combat-oriented systems, the metal-hull ships are easier to port over, as all they need are rules for light and medium rail guns. However, the asteroid ships would require the heaviest rail gun option, as well as rules governing the repair of their armor (or rather, the shoring up of the sheer mass of the asteroid itself in the face of attack) and the operation of their anti-transporter fields. Plus, SFB has rules detailing the hazards of trying to board an un-scanned asteroid ship - would they need to be ported also?

Would anyone like to see the Jindarians - or, at least, a glimpse at the metal-hull ships - wander into Federation Commander?

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:41 pm

I think that they would be great; I've always liked the Jindarians.

Especially good would be the 'fleet actions' that would be fought by the Caravans, which would be easier with Fleet Scale.

wedge_hammersteel · Post by **wedge_hammersteel** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 5:54 pm

Why does it feel like I just sat through a commercial?

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 7:13 pm

wedge_hammersteel wrote:Why does it feel like I just sat through a commercial?

Hod K'el · Post by **Hod K'el** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:14 pm

wedge_hammersteel wrote:Why does it feel like I just sat through a commercial?

And I thought I was the only one...lol!

djdood · Post by **djdood** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:22 pm

I'm in no hurry to see the Jindos.

eblack · Post by **eblack** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:45 pm

Hod K'el wrote:
wedge_hammersteel wrote:Why does it feel like I just sat through a commercial?
And I thought I was the only one...lol!

It's like when the door-to-door (salesman, donation volunteer, etc) starts talking before you can get a word in the edge-wise and you wait through their spiel before you say "sorry, not interested" and feelreally bad that you just forced them to go through 3 minutes of recited hell.

Oh, and I wouldn't mind the Jindarians or any other of the non-standard races (sim races, etc) as part of an optional add-on.

Kang · Post by **Kang** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 8:49 pm

eblack wrote:It's like when the door-to-door (salesman, donation volunteer, etc) starts talking before you can get a word in the edge-wise and you wait through their spiel before you say "sorry, not interested" and feel really bad that you just forced them to go through 3 minutes of recited hell.

OT: Serves them right. You didn't force them; it was them that came to your door uninvited in the first place and didn't give you a chance to speak and forced you to listen to them!

Apologies if I came across as a pushy scumbag salesman. I was just being enthusiastic

terryoc · Post by **terryoc** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 5:41 am

I'm open to Jindarians. They like to fight in asteroid fields, and asteroids are fun.

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 3:55 am

Perhaps next time, I should send a PM to someone else, and see if they will ask the questions instead.

Maybe then, the point I was trying to make, and the information about the Jindarians (or whoever) I was trying to explain for those who may not already know who they are (and try to discuss what aspects of their SFB incarnation could or should be kept in an FC conversion) would be put across without sounding so unseemly.

Or maybe I should go back to that Omega conversion thread and not bother getting in anyone else's way.

Would that suit some of you better?

(I'd feel less bothered by such comments if I had actually come out to people's doors and pestered them about the Jindarians, or hijacked someone else's thread to try and mention them - rather than post a separate thread no-one was forced to look at, or read all the way through.)

mjwest · Post by **mjwest** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:06 am

There was no harm in asking for the Jindos, and I don't think anyone took offense at that. I figure the "salesman" comments were probably mostly due to the idea that a "please include XYZ" posts usually don't go quite into that detail on what XYZ really is.

As for the Jindos, from what I can see, they aren't a terribly popular empire in SFB. To be honest, I have not used them and only keep track of them because I have to. They also don't "fit" anywhere. They are more universal than even the Orion Pirates (i.e. they are everywhere), but they don't have any attachments. They are no one's friends; they are no one's enemies. They just are. Quite frankly, they just don't have a compelling storyline (so to speak).

I mean even the Andromedans are everyone's enemy. There is interaction and involvement. Granted, it is because they are trying to kill everyone. But they are involved and interact. The Jindos just sit there or pass through. In a way, the Jindos are more of a "monster" than an actual empire.

So, because of all of this, they are a hard empire to fit into anywhere. They just don't fit into any of the expansion, and are very unlikely to be able to stand on their own. I realize that the Vudar may seem to be less of a fit than even the Jindos, but the Vudar have some things going for them: They are involved in on the "scene", they have conventional systems, and they are interesting.

Carthaginian · Post by **Carthaginian** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 9:01 pm

A cool touch, I think, would be a single 'Jindo Monster Ship'- an asteroid ship that was a match for most small fleets- being added into the game via Communique.

How much of a possibility would that be?

Dal Downing · Post by **Dal Downing** » Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:26 pm

Carthaginian wrote:A cool touch, I think, would be a single 'Jindo Monster Ship'- an asteroid ship that was a match for most small fleets- being added into the game via Communique.

How much of a possibility would that be?

Its called a Planet Killer

No really by the time you did the Card and posted the Rules for Light and Heavy Rail Guns you have taken a large chunk of desgin time that could be used to push Hydrian Attack or War and Peace. Lets just let this one lay until SVC feels he is ready for them.

Nerroth · Post by **Nerroth** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 3:36 pm

Well, the Jindarians do have interesting roles to play...

...outside of the Alpha Octant.

In Omega, they have a Freehold, which was given a few hints at by Bruce Graw (or, at least, a few hints at what had been intended by the same, as opposed to what might actually make the cut one day) in his Omega's Lost Futures article from CL36.

More prominently (in terms of having published data) are the Jindarians in the Cloud. While their numbers are small (2-3 Caravans' worth) they do have a significant knock-on effect on the Magellanic powers, but in a somewhat unusual way. The Jumokian Pirates, who apparently offered their services now and then to the Jindarians as mercenaries, copied the Jindarian asteroid shipyard template for their own uses. Once the Magellanic survivors were driven into exile by the Andromedans, they in turn copied the Jumokian asteroid yard designs in order to survive the long years of exile.

Without their example, the Magellanics would likely have been dead and gone long before the arrival of Operation Unity.

Plus, even back in Alpha, they have been known to give Orions fits - and it's not entirely unknown for the Tholians to get somewhat 'confused' when they try to grab certain asteroids for use in webs!

Requete · Post by **Requete** » Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:43 pm

Nerroth wrote:Well, the Jindarians do have interesting roles to play...

...outside of the Alpha Octant.

That raises an interesting issue for me.

I wouldn't mind Jindarians in FedCom, and I thought Nerroth's long post above ("Billy Mays here! Jindarians are now just $19.95 plus shipping and handling. But wait, there's more!") was actually quite nice (not above a bit of ribbing, though). He explained them well and I've actually played in a game where they were adapted to FedCom via group house rules, and they seemed fine.

However, I'm one of those (maybe the only one? I don't really know) who has no interest in things outside of the "traditional" scope of the SFU... what I suppose people call the "Alpha Octant". I don't even want to hear about what lies beyond it. Andros are fine (well, aggravating but fine), but beyond that I say let's keep the "final frontier" an actual frontier.

The traditional SFU is fascinating to me and possesses that inexplicable alchemy that some cool settings just possess... it all works together and is quite exciting. But too often have I seen attempts to catch lightning in a bottle, and add in a whole new patch of material to a setting that really does nothing more than lame it up pretty significantly. I'd hate to have that happen with the SFU.