Here's one

A -Empire's- research convoy recently docked at one of our deep space outposts to replenish supplies. We exercised interplanetary law and performed a medical examination of the convoy. No infections were found, although one team accidentaly (:twisted:) stumbled accross some schematics which ill be of crucial importance to our -Techology- researchers. (xx Tetraquads of data have been duplicated)
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The Federation doesn't steal. That would be wrong. They stumble accross it.

I've just been reading this thread, and there is just one thing that I want to say: -

I AM A MATRESS OF EVIL NOT A MISTRESS, CVN-65!!!

Actually, I had noticed myself that I was logged in more than once quite a lot lately. I don't know why it is happening, and i'm not doing it on purpose (Coz I didn't know it was possible to log on more than once) - and so no, I am not trying to sway certain polls in one way or another!

Is it just a glitch, or have I clicked on something that I shouldn't have? I've read that other people have had this problem before.

...

I like the random occurances ideas, I'll have a go at thinking of some one day, but I can't at the moment coz i'm seething with rage!

Oh, and SonOfMogh, do you really think that just one of me is enough? Well we don't think so...

sorry... (:lol:)
and it's written in your signature

Where does the name Matress Of Evil come from anyway? I have a matress on my bed but it's far from evil.

My bed sometimes gives out a sort of evil squeaky sound. I don't think it's the matress though , maybe a loose screw. (or is it... )

Jeez, it's a scary thought. In every home there's an evil matress, waiting for you to fall asleep....

... so he can rise and post on this site

Yes...I wait until you fall asleep, and then I hijack your internet and post to my heart's content

Actually the name comes from the fact that a friend really did call me a Mistress Of Evil once coz I beat him in a fighting game, while playing as a girl...*ahem*

I rebelled and said the first thing that came into my head at the time - "I'M NOT A MISTRESS OF EVIL, I'M A MATRESS!!!" (We were sitting on my bed at the time) Matress Of Evil has been my nickname ever since.

I've got my revenge though. My friends' nickname is Authur Wonderbird (As insprired by a Geography lesson, and an urge to jump out of a window!)

However, another friend (Who is a girl) became the Mistress Of Evil shortly afterwards. (She's also the one who actually wrote the Borg rap that I typed up in the new trek series thread)

So that's the story of where the Matresses (And Mistresses) Of Evil came from, children.

That's cool to hear. I'm actually really glad there are groups of friends out there that are as wierd as me and my mates! My best mates name is currently Beanlegs.

Don't ask.

Then don't tell...

I was wondering if planets will still randomly face environmental changes, like they did in BOTF (Like an Oceanic planet has become a Polar planet) If this is going to be in the game, then you should suffer a massive drop in population (Even if the change is positive, like a Barren planet becomes a Terran one) because such a change would be the result of a shift in planetary rain bands, air pressure, jet streams, oceanic currents...basically huge Storms and Tsunami! (Or Droughts and Blizzards)

There would be huge upheveals on the planet - most life would probably be wiped out etc.

I think that on the plus side, you should get some sort of scientific bonus when this happens though - like a Biotech bonus or something, since this is such a rare event, and could help your terraforming researchers conduct research and experiments.

Perhaps the decrease in population could occur gradually over time, because people would also die of starvation, disease, drought etc. It would also give you time to send hospital ships, to try to help out - this could perhaps even give a very slight morale boost (Especially in the Federation)

If there is a positive change in the planet, and a new bonus occured (Like a new food bonus due to the 'creation' of an Oceanic, Jungle, or Terran planet) this bonus should also take a couple of turns before it applies (So plant and animal species have a chance to spread and multiply.

The planetary changes have also reminded me of another change - comet strikes. These always really annoyed me. In the advanced world of trek, where ships come and go from planets all the time, and the planet may be protected by planetary shields/orbital batteries, why were asteroid strikes even possible? Ships could just tractor them or phaser them to oblivion.

Perhaps the chances of strikes should be high in newly colonised worlds, but as they grow (And also when you build shields/orbital batteries) the chances should greatly reduce. Homesystems should also have virtually no chance of a strike, although the threat should still be there.

Also, since homesystems would be your busiest, and generally most heavily populated system, and you would have some sort of fleet and heavy defenses, I doubt a great big Comet or Asteroid would be able to set a collision course for say Earth, without it being monitored by your science stations, fleet or even telescopes!

Ah...there is no real explanation, other than the fact that they have never been explained, and my own personal explanation is a bit wrong.

I found a site that can explain things a bit, although it is aimed at shields from sci-fi in general, not just Star Trek: -



I guess this explains why people go flying whenever the shields are hit though.

Oh, and you posted while I was posting as well. I guess my point about needing a post warning is shown!

I do remember that in the episode that I mentioned earlier, the shuttle passed through a weak spot in the shields (Between the Nacelles, which has always been a weak point in Federation shields) Obviously, the shields on a planet will be beyond anything that even a Starbase would have. You have pretty much unlimited space for the generators, power supplies, internal radiation shielding (For the populace) etc. I know that they are weakened just because of the sheer amount of 'space' they have to cover, but the generators etc. more than make up for that.

Oh, thinking of that, have planetary shields ever been mentioned in trek? I can only remember them in things like Star Wars and Buck Rogers!

Things to look out for Matress;

1/The Cardassian Hideki smashing into DS9's shields at high impulse and exploding.

2/The Jenolan holding open massive space doors with her shields.

3/A section of a Romulan Valdore smashing into the shields of the Enterprise in Nemesis.

4/The shuttles smacking into each other and bouncing off one another's shields in the VOY ep Drive

etc etc etc.


Shields will most definitely stop physical collisions. It seems to depend upon the mass of the object in relation to the strength of the shields, as well as the propulsion involved.

Eg, if a Jem Hadar ship flies at full impulse into a Bird Of Prey it seems the shields are simply overloaded by energy and mass involved, same with the Enterprise and the Scimitar. However a piece of debris will bounce off fairly harmlessley. Obviously you'd lose your whole fleet by ramming all the time, which is why weapons are used.

Photons are physical objects, yet they do have shields, much like starships do, (hence the glow effect). This is how Lursa's Bird Of Prey was able to adjust the torpedo frequency to match the Enterprise's shields.

The relative shield strength is ultimately the main factor in determining what happens. The stronger your shields, the less effect that impacts will have. (And as in your examples, the more likely a ship will bounce off)

I remember that I read a really obscure account once of how the problem was overcome - I say obscure, coz I can't find it anymore!

Basically though, it mentions that shields are actually two levels of protection - one that protects the ship from from energy (Like weapons) and one that protects the ship from physical impacts.

The second one acts a bit like a Repulsion beam (An inverted Tractor beam, like Wesley made once) it stops the object from coming closer than the energy shields, so if in the instance of an explosive device, (Ie. Photons and Missiles) you stop them getting close o the ship, and once they detonate, they impact the energy shields instead.

I know that there has been no mention of these two levels of protection in Star Trek, but I personally think that this makes sense. Of course you will have to attack me with Klingon pain sticks, SonOfMogh for disputing canon Trek, and since you inevitably know more than me on this matter, I shall commence the activation of my cloaking device, and leave it to my Tal Shiar operatives to gain more info on the matter.

You stinkin romulan matress.

So.... are we all in agreement about this meteror issue?

Too often we start talking about other stuff before we decide on something

Not realy decided yet.

Is everyone happy with planetary shields? Or do you/we want orbital batteries? Or starships too?
Speak now!

Well like I said above, I think a LARGE number of orbital batteries (maybe like 15+) could stop a meteror. But lets say the planet has 8 batteries, and planetary shields, the batteries could break up the meteror into smaller chunks, that the planetary shields cound stop. But if the system only has planetary shields, these wouldnt do too much.

A starbase should be a big plus to the defense against a meteror, as well as any ships in that sector.

I think that any combination of the above should atleast slightly lessen the effects a meteror crash would have. The more of the above mentioned defenses, the greater your defense against the meteror would be. I dont know if I'm explineng this well, does everyone know what I mean?

How about: 4 OB/inhabited planet + shields. If there are no batteries 2 starships/inhabited planet!

just an idea...

...And I get what you mean, but how do you explain that to the game?

Right, say that an Asteroid/Comet has 100 points of destructability, and your defenses have a certain number of points that they take away from this number.

Once your defenses are over 100, the Asteroid/Comet would have no effect.

So what numbers would your defenses be assigned? I think that: -

A Starbase would have 25-45 points. (Other Stations would have numbers as well, based on their type)
Shields would be 20-40 points.
Orbital batteries would be 1-15 points each. (Remember, you will have many of them, so their numbers will add up)

And what about ships? Could they add to defense? So say: -
Non-combat would be 1-5 points points per ship (They could tractor it out of the way, or even sacrifice themselves!)
Fast attack would be 5-10 points per ship.
Command would be 10-20 points per ship.
Strike would be 25-40 points (Since I think they are pretty much designed for this sort of thing anyway)

For no damage to occur, you would need more than 100 points. These points can be obtained from any mix of the above - you could have 100 Orbital batteries if you want (If they are on 1 point) or a Starbase, Shields, 15 orbital batteries, and two Strike Cruisers (110 points, if assuming minimum points)

If you did not meet these requirements however, the number from your defenses, would be taken away from the 100 point Asteroid/Comet, and you would get damage based on this. So if you only have a shield (Minimum number) then the Asteroid/Comet would have 80 points. Therefore, it would do 80% of its' maximum possible damage.

There would also definitely need to be a warning 2-10 turns before the impact occurs. Perhaps this warning would only be in systems with a Command ship, or a Science vessel? (Federation Commands have good science capability, and science vessels would be able to plot the course of the Asteroid/Comet) Or would all ships be able to do it?

Or perhaps any system with a Station or scanner in it?

And what about having a special structure for this, like a Klingon Anti-Asteroid Artillery Canon, or a Federation Solar Body Protection Center?

These could all be counters for an Asteroid/Comet.