Science-fictionists! Lend me your brains!

[thehoodedsmack]

Hey, guys! I have a problem that some of you may be able to solve.

A group of friends at my university are working at making a space-based miniature tabletop combat game. Your standard tabletop fare: armies compete against one another for objectives and supremacy. In space! Cruisers, frigates, destroyers, whole fleets of ships, miniaturized and engaged in epic space warfare. Sounds cool, no?

Of course, we want to give it a feel of rich, interesting, and if possible, plausible, history. So we're currently on the hunt for inspiration for species to include in the game. Humanity is featured, and now what remains is creating some other cool races to play as.

But, and this is the key, we want to try to stay away from the trope of humanoid-races with slight alterations. See: Vulcans, or almost every Star Wars race. So I'm writing this up to ask if any of you have any ideas on fictional species' that would make for good interstellar combatants. There's no real incentive besides flexing your creative muscles, but I tell you what: if we ever go to distribution, I'll hunt you down and get you your royalties.

Anyone who wishes to contribute, feel free to be as brief or in-depth as you want. Any new ideas help. Thanks in advance!

[Patrickssj6]

Niggers and Japs.

Well it is kinda hard to think of races if not humanoid. What about animal like figures?

Damn you nature and your creativity, you have creates almost everything possible.

[thehoodedsmack]

Sorry, let me clarify. There's no real problem with humanoid in general, you have to give nature props for designing what works best. It's lazy things like "make the skin green" or "bigger ears" that aren't worth the effort. That said, I've seen far too many reptilian humanoids as well. I'm with you, it's a tough task designing new species.

[Warsaw]

Personally, I prefer my sci-fi to have as little aliens in it as possible, but I digress. I have one idea for an alien species but I claim all rights to it because I intend to use it at some point in the future as well. If you want to pay me royalties, fine by me. :D

Anyways, my life form is similar to a silicon-based squid. They evolved on a planet revolving around twin blue giants that is rich in silicon, water, and arsenic. They use their natural semi-conductive properties as a springboard for cybernetic augmentations; it's hard to tell where the flesh ends and the modification begins because it's so well-linked. Their scaly skin ranges in colour from pink to royal blue, turning green as they age. They are bio-luminescent because their world is tidal-locked and the day side is irradiated by the suns. Natural physiological layout gives them a central mass containing major organs, two eye stalks, and an integral mechanical breathing apparatus that all of them receive upon birth for breathing out of water. Radiating outward from this pear-shaped lobe are five limbs (I hate the word tentacles), no suckers. At 120 degrees apart, the primary three (two in front, one in back) are the principle locomotive devices. The other two are thin whisps with pads on the end used to extract electrical energy from "food" sources. However, they do not walk anymore, but instead to utilize another augmentation that creates a plasmagnetodynamc field under them, allowing them to "swim" in the air. They usually wear a ssilver-grey carapace armour since they are rather squishy.

On board their starships are water-filled tubes in lieu of corridors. This same water is also used to cool the reactor, so the reactor also directly serves as part of the life-support mechanism. Boarding actions by humans are impossible, so any hope of creating a spy vessel is dashed. However, a breach in the hull is even disastrous as water pressure is far greater than the air pressure required by land-based races in their ships. Also as a result of the aquatic corridors, their ships are massive and slow to accelerate compared to a terrestrial vessel of the same class. To compensate, they concentrate on armour quality and the firepower available to a single weapon as opposed to spreading it out over many weapons.

They are mildly telepathic. They are also asexual, but some possess "female" personalities and others possess "male" personalities.

If it helps, when I think of them I think of an organic Sentinel from "The Matrix."

As a side note, I hope you guys aren't putting fighters in this tabletop game. Fighters are a waste of resources in space.

[thehoodedsmack]

Personally, I prefer my sci-fi to have as little aliens in it as possible.

I completely agree. But we want to present a wide variety of ships and abilities.


As a side note, I hope you guys aren't putting fighters in this tabletop game. Fighters are a waste of resources in space.

Fighters have been proposed, but if we use them, they'd most likely be as full-squad miniatures. That is, you'd have an entire group of fighters on one base. See: Tyranid Ripper Swarms.

[Bodzilla]

you gotta have something from the insect world, preferable something based off a prayer mantis thats ground bound and much larger.

They come from a lush rainforest world and where the first species to develope the hive mentality due to their unrivaled ability to convey information through skin tones, antenna twitches and other minute undetectable body movements.
Overtime the hive mentality adapted and was manipulated as a means to control the less developed insectoids of their world.

Their world is heavily monsoonal and as a result is covered by large steep mountains that have formed over the continuous rainful, and the grinding of rivers for eons on their world. On these sharp inclines only moss, and small palms grow.
Plateaus pepper the landscape in a seemingly random way providing small pockets of enormous Trees which cannot Gain a foothold on the steep, rocky mountains that cover most of the planet. Each plateau due to it's isolation has unique flora with unusual medical properties.

Their movement is unparalleled with Hooks on their forearms and legs which where once for hunting adapting as an aid to climb the treacherous mountains that cover their planet.

overtime the hivemind extended it's reach and managed to ensnare most of the population of the planet... however it comes at a cost. The hivemind feeds off the spiritual energy of it's underlings and drains them of their stamina, this has led to Increased metabolism, and a population hard limit for the planet of 13 billion.

Human explorers crash landed on their planet and overtime where assimilated into the hivemind, where it learned of the other worlds. Using the knowledge of the humans they where able to repair and air tight the original human shuttles using a common Moss that grows on the sides of their mountains and took their first baby steps into space.

Eventually they learned to substitute the meagre metal of the humans with an element that occurs at the impact sites of their largest and most powerful waterfalls, and moved out into space to conquer otherworlds and increase the hiveminds sphere of influence.

They are the Xanthea of world 4387b.


That kinda what you had in mind?

[Warsaw]

I completely agree. But we want to present a wide variety of ships and abilities.



Fighters have been proposed, but if we use them, they'd most likely be as full-squad miniatures. That is, you'd have an entire group of fighters on one base. See: Tyranid Ripper Swarms.

With the fighters, I mean that there's no point in space. They are too tiny to mount weapons that can do damage unless you ram the enemy ship, at which point you were better off using a guided missile. They only even remotely feasible idea is using them as recon, but in space, you can see the enemy from any distance. Just throwing this stuff out there since you said you wanted it grounded in plausible ideas.

Also, I have another race I just came up with, but it's humanoid. Are humanoids strictly forbidden, even if there are enough significant changes?

Also, humans can present a wide variety of ships and abilities. I've honed this shit to an art man, no joke. I can give you three human factions I made up off the top of my head, each with their own unique approaches to space engagements, even within treaty-constrained warfare.

[thehoodedsmack]

Also, I have another race I just came up with, but it's humanoid. Are humanoids strictly forbidden, even if there are enough significant changes?

I won't turn any ideas away.

For example, by making minor alteration's to Bod's idea, the prospect of an assimilated insecto-human race sounds engaging. It gives an interesting inner-conflict regarding their place as an accident of evolution, as well as a connection to a hive-mind demanding resources for an overpopulated and undernourished world.

Any ideas you have, feel free to express them.

Edit: Also, factions play a part in the game. We'll try to have several within each race.

[Bodzilla]

~

[Bodzilla]

yo thehoodedsMack you got a steam?

[Hotrod]

I was about to post something to do with big insects, but seems like Bod took that idea already :P

On that note, here's an idea for another alien species that could be interesting to see, the Serocron (lame name, I know)

Originating on a world with gravity a bit weaker than Earth's, being at around 0.7 Gs, these beings have evolved to soar through the air using their giant leathery wings (sort of like a bat I suppose). They appear reptilian in nature, but are actually warm blooded mammals covered in thin fur ranging from dark grays to light browns in colour. Think of them sort of looking like a thin dinosaur with hair if you wish. Armed with vicious talons and sharp teeth these being are perfect predators on their world and are fearless in the face of danger. However, due to the lower gravity on their world, their bones are thin and can't take that much of a beating in a fight on the ground.

However, to compensate for this weakness, they are brilliant when it comes to defeating the enemy using unusual tactics. In a fight against them, it's impossible to guess what their next move will be. This ability to think quickly is instinctual, therefore any warrior could easily step up if the leader happens to fall in battle. (If you plan on using command ships that have some sort of advantages, maybe all of some of those could be transferred to another ship after death? I dunno)

The design of their ships are made to look frightening, in a similar fashion to the Narada from the new Star Trek movie, if you've seen it. They might not be the strongest ships out there, but they are damn fast and work better in large groups rather than alone (bonus for ships being near each other maybe?).

And I guess I can throw a little random info about their planet as well. They come from a small terrestrial planet similar to Earth in design (only about half it's mass though) with a gravity of 0.8 G's as mentioned before. It orbits a star just recently entering the red giant stage of it's life. The planet has two moons, the larger one being used as the primary shipyard due to it's high concentration of valuable resources.

So yeah, sorry if that was a bit messy, I took the look of one of my Spore creatures (how original, eh?) and wrote a quick story about them and how they could be used in a sci-fi game.

[thehoodedsmack]

yo thehoodedsMack you got a steam?

Yarp. It's thehoodedsmack.

I need a new e-handle...

Edit: For your idea, Hotrod, it sounds unlikely that a pre-agricultural (you do refer to them as predators) species could possess the technology, let alone the intellectual capacity, for space travel. That said, I would be interested in the implications of a sapient species that retained wings throughout its development.

[Bodzilla]

i thought it was lol, i've already added you but... your not online.....

[Warsaw]

^ What he said. It would be easier to discuss in real time.

E: Page ninja'd.

Anyways, my idea is for a divergent form of humanity. How far in the future does this take place? I'm not going to post it if it is fairly close because it would be infeasible.

As another side note, how come nobody has posted the obligatory machine race yet? You don't even have to try for this one.

[thehoodedsmack]

Anybody interested in further discussion is welcome to add me on Steam.

Edit: Keep posting here, I won't be responding until tomorrow, though.

[n00b1n8R]

Multiple ships and abilities can easily be represented while only using Humans. You just need to get the background right so you have factional differences (eg, 40K's chaos v Imperium). Also, you can have different organisations within a faction (Eg, 40K's space marine fleets vs an Adeptus Mechanicum fleet).

On a rules point, I'd suggest you guys check out Battlefleet Gothic (set in the 40K universe, fuck I'm such an insufferable fanboy!) and Full Thrust (Apparently a really good space combat game).

What are you guys using for models?

As for factions, you have the token hivemind swarm zilla mentioned, the token human(s), the token fallen race and the token RENEGADES. It's tried and true :P

[Warsaw]

This thread makes me giddy. I haven't gotten to talk serious sci-fi with anyone in a long time.

[Sever]

You need a race that doesn't use spaceships, but IS spaceships. I'm not talking sentient (ME's Reapers) or AI-infused (various Forerunner tech) mechanics, or even symbiotic hives containing drones that operate the greater colony's sub-functions (Starcraft's Zerg), I'm talking gargantuan creatures that naturally mimic spaceships in all ways possible.

============

The Naj developed within a vast, bright, resource-rich nebula, and thus were space-faring from their humble beginnings. They quickly developed from small, plankton-like, mainly-photosynthesizing creatures into full-fledged, spacecraft-sized, raw-resource-subsisting behemoths. They eventually used their chlorophyllic properties only to process whatever basic elements and minerals they consumed, due to the nebula's surplus of resources. Because of their uninhibited development, they soon depleted the nebula, unintentionally starving and killing all other developing lifeforms. Not only did this pose a major problem to their race, but it also left them harrowed and saddened by their undiscriminating destructive actions. them The Naj were then were forced to wander the galaxy, feeding by choice on burnt-out stars, comet trails, asteroid fields, and other lesser, life-devoid mineral pockets. Initially after abandoning their home-nebula, the Naj found that traveling in one large herd would be impossible, due to the fact that they were unable to find the vast resources needed to sustain their large numbers for even a short period of time without potentially denying developing life its chance to thrive. Thus, they broke into many smaller packs, parted ways, and began the 'Great Wandering', during which many packs encountered the other species of the galaxy.

When being initially observed and analyzed by the other species during their first contacts, the Naj appeared no different from any other massive, unmarked starcruiser, what with their dorsal mineral-enforced chitinous exoskeletons, ventral hangar-like ingestion funnels, interspersed chemical-burning propulsion emitters, numerous anterior full-spectral ocular systems, and even their posterior... waste disposal methods. To many species they were dismissed as little more than 'gigantic space cows', due to the only behavior perceived being their 'grazing' on mineral pockets and quickness to flee once the observers were discovered. Further studies and interactions proved the Naj to be a highly intelligent species, having rich individual cultures and philosophies. Even though each pack developed separately, they all retained the basic shared belief that all sentient life is to be respected, and thus the Naj initially tended to stray from encounters and confrontations with other species. That is not to say that they are in any way lacking in their combat abilities or zealous willingness to defend one of their own, just that they would rather coexist with the other species.

All of the Naj's combat abilities are drawn from their basic functions for locomotion, consumption, and communication.

The Naj use volatile chemical reactions to propel themselves through the void of space. Normally comparable to a starcruiser's engines, these propulsion systems can be 'flexed' to change the composition and intensity of the emitted chemical reactions, thus becoming high-energy beams capable of cutting even the strongest hulls, at the cost of a great energy expenditure and the overheating of its propulsion systems, leaving it 'dead in the water' for a period of time.

During the Naj's wanderings, many of the separate pack's photosynthetic properties have regained some of their diminished strength, but not enough to allow them to subsist on starlight alone, and thus they still must mainly subsist on found resources for their continued survival. Due to the lack of gravity, gathering space-dust in large quantities has been rather difficult for many other species throughout the galaxy. The Naj, however, have developed an elegant solution to this problem. Due to their massive scale, each Naj, by size alone, has a moderate gravitational pull to itself. However, each Naj has a series of super-dense molten 'core' that can be compressed and contracted to create a strong gravitational pull that affects everything within a substantial radius around itself, either draging it into the Naj's many ventral ingestion funnels or smashing it into the Naj's dorsal armor. Using this means of gravitational flux, a pack of Naj can quickly shatter and consume asteroid fields, other larger space debris, and even smaller hostile ships as long as the matter in question doesn't have significant mass.

The Naj communicate simple ideas, emotions, and 'phrases' through basic physiological color change. For more complex, intimate communication, they converse through directional spectral pulses, basically forming a fluctuating, reciprocating wavelength linked between one-another. Because the spectral pulse is being both emitted and received, a very limited amount of energy loss occurs. Two Naj can easily use this basic communication method to their advantage when taking on a single enemy ship by positioning themselves on either side of the vessel and bombarding its sensor and communication arrays with spectral pulses, thus rendering it 'blind' and 'deaf'.

============

Chew on that, bitchez.

[TVTyrant]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/designdev_beholder3.jpg

My personal favorite. Or go with something more like...
http://www.daviddarling.info/images/silicon_life.jpg
Which would be a silicon based life form, which many chemists argue is possible because they have the same number of possible attachments as carbon.

Another one thats possible would be a species that controls other lifeforms yeerk style by infecting the brain. This would be a reason for having a species whos bodies take the shape of a really aggressive body system in a sentient species (it would be unlikely that a well endowed physical creature would be sentient and develop tech that way. Why would you need tools when you can throw trucks and claw things to death?).

A species of sentient plans that build the core of the ships using their bodies. They would assemble the structure around themselves, and act within the ship together to pilot it. When they colonize a world they simply crash land onto the surface spreading spores that grow all over that planets surface.

Another idea would be small insects that use their pheromones to control much larger animals. They could command armies of medium sized creatures or control big animals to do physical labor. Think of the enemies from Gears of War, but controlled by an unseen force rather than the massively obvious captains.

If your story contains wormholes through dimensions, you could have a species that appears similarly to something like this:
http://gruumsh.sweb.cz/pitfiend_gfx.jpg
They could have a whole area in space they've decimated or what not and be a really interesting option. Remember that once you open up wormholes, everything is fair game in the sci-fi realm.

[Hotrod]

Edit: For your idea, Hotrod, it sounds unlikely that a pre-agricultural (you do refer to them as predators) species could possess the technology, let alone the intellectual capacity, for space travel. That said, I would be interested in the implications of a sapient species that retained wings throughout its development.
Sorry, I forgot to mention that they were predators in their distant past, which is where they got their ferocity and instinctual intelligence regarding outsmarting the enemy. I sort of jumped between their past and their present without any explanation, my bad :S

But yeah, they aren't pre-agricultural, hence why they have spaceships and all that :P

[TeeKup]

Smack, try creating your own "Hyper-Parasite." I.E. The Flood/Tyranids/Replicators/Necromorphs/Zerg, but try doing it in a way combined with Severs idea.

One of my favorite artists on Deviant Art (Phoenix-06 to be exact) Created one in an art piece that was organic space-faring crystalline like, that essentially consumed and corrupted planets. Here is the piece here:
http://phoenix-06.deviantart.com/art/Origin-143587396?q=gallery%3Aphoenix-06%2F271355&qo=34

Think outside the box...extensively. :D

E: More of Phoenix's stuff pertaining to Severs idea:
http://phoenix-06.deviantart.com/art/From-the-Black-141620039?q=gallery%3Aphoenix-06%2F271355&qo=38

[Cortexian]

Having a creature that naturally evolved as a space creature would be neat, no need for ships that way but if there were ever a ground battle they would need some kind of assistance due to gravity or something.

[Sever]

Fuck ground battles - they'd just glass and shatter the planet, then consume the dust.

[Warsaw]

That depends entirely on the motive.

[Dwood]

Having a creature that naturally evolved as a space creature would be neat, no need for ships that way but if there were ever a ground battle they would need some kind of assistance due to gravity or something.

What would be their tech level? They'd need -something- to keep them safe from stuff if not from missiles.

[Cortexian]

Hardened carapace or something that heals at a rapid rate, little mindless drone bugs that fly around it as a flak shield. Etc... Just make sure the more armored they are the more bulky and slow they are to maneuver. Could counter this with a thicker cloud of flak bugs, but this should impede attack damage since the thing can't see as well.

[Pooky]

Smack, try creating your own "Hyper-Parasite." I.E. The Flood/Tyranids/Replicators/Necromorphs/Zerg, but try doing it in a way combined with Severs idea.

One of my favorite artists on Deviant Art (Phoenix-06 to be exact) Created one in an art piece that was organic space-faring crystalline like, that essentially consumed and corrupted planets. Here is the piece here:
http://phoenix-06.deviantart.com/art/Origin-143587396?q=gallery%3Aphoenix-06%2F271355&qo=34

Sounds an awful lot like...

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6718/300pxphaaze.jpg

[Bodzilla]

guys i think it'd be more useful for Smack that instead of throwing out half thought out ideas (even if they are cool), but instead find an idea and try to give alot of backstory to it.
such as their existence, home worlds appearance behavioral patterns, culture and how they developed.

Based on the info you give them they should be able to figure out play styles, abilities ect so their game will be balanced later on. because lets be honest, we dont know alot about what they're trying to achieve and how it will even work.

We're just mainly helping them out with a codex of the origins of each species they might consider placing in the game :P

[thehoodedsmack]

Hey-ho, sorry I've been absent a few days, I've had a couple midterms. Let me give yo a quick update.

We're mulling over the idea of having the entire game human-based. That is to say, with post-human evolution derived from tens of thousands of years of separate colonization. I told Warsaw, so I'll tell everyone else, timeline is set at at least the 200th century. Or we may not. But the point is, if you have any thoughts of what humans will look like 20,000 years from now, on some far-off planet, throw it up.

On Sever's Space-Whales: Very cool, but may not lend itself to flow smoothly with the game mechanics of the other races. I would definitely like to include it, but perhaps as a special enemy-type for scenario games.

[Warsaw]

Hit me up on Steam if you want a refined skinny on future forms of humanity, better suited to the game. I don't feel comfortable posting it on an open board since it contains stuff I'd want to copyright later.

[Bodzilla]

in terms of evolution 20 000 years isnt that long.

you'll literally have skin tones and pointy ears and thats about it lol.

[Warsaw]

With technology, you would be surprised what can change. Differences in average temperature, disease, and gravity also have a huge impact over a relatively short amount of time.

[TVTyrant]

Also the fact that if it were over a longer period, there is the high probability that humans would be extinct. Just sayin...

[Botolf]

For the love of all that is holy, do NOT include humanoid aliens! [/majorpetpeeve]

I concur with Warsaw, as few aliens as possible. If you want a race or two aliens, go for a race that not only looks nothing like us, but also has a drastically different culture than us. You can already make human factions look and play drastically different from each other (in terms of machinery and art, etc), so aliens are only really necessary if you need something to provide even greater contrast. Aliens that are just ideological and cultural palette swaps of humans are kinda lame.

As for what these things could be like, what about ants? They're fascinating critters. You have a myriad of caste types (workers, soldiers with oversized mandibles, new queens with wings, mature queens that tower over all the others, etc), you have a huge number of individuals to bring to bear in combat, you have an ideological core (the good of the many ALWAYS outweigh the good of the few), and so on. Throw in some sci-fi staples such as these creatures being sapient, being able to survive in vacuum, and possessing some manner of biological defence mechanism (such as the projection of a lethal incendiary spray), and you've got a solid core for some space insect-oids.

[Warsaw]

I would suggest a myriad of human and human offshoots and maybe a single actual alien race. I also say make the alien race younger than humanity, because alien races always seem to be older, vaster, and far more advanced than humanity in most sci-fi universes. It gets old. Why can't we kick ass?

Also, ants would be the same as Tyranids, Arachnids, etc. I like the idea of a squid race because here on earth, squid have the potential to become a highly intelligent species. They are also very alien-looking. A crystalline race, however, also sounds very cool. Billions of tiny little self-replicating semiconductor crystals come together and evolve into a consciousness. Bits and pieces of it can break off to serve as a vessels for exploration, communication, and defense. It's quite an intriguing concept.

[ICEE]

What if the alien race was based off humanity? As in a small number of human explorers are stranded on an alien world, and never found. Over time, they evolve and adapt to their drastically different environment, and become genetically incompatible with humans, and look physically alien.

The world they are stranded on is heavily forested, and in the night, flesh eating beetles rise from the ground and consuming everything within a certain altitude. To survive, the original explorers had to make their lives in the thick canopy, only daring to descend during day time. The bodies of their offspring have evolved to accommodate their need to climb and swing, leaving them with lankier, elongated limbs and necks. Their skin is thicker and hairless (though it maintains its vast array of colors), their feet are like a second pair of hands, and their fingernails are thicker, more useful tools.

Despite their appearance, evolution has taken nothing from them in the intelligence department. They form a respectable metropolis within the treetops, and eventually eventually begin work on space exploration, using their ancestor's crashed ship as a model. Deep down, every member of this race has a nagging desire to get off this planet, as if they somehow know that it isn't their home.


If you don't use them, I will

[Warsaw]

That's exactly the sort of thing that we're talking about when we say "human offshoots" or "derivatives." But you don't even have to be stranded for that to take place. Were we to colonize Mars, the Martian humans would eventually look quite different than we do because of the lower gravity alone.