Finishing Adventure 0

[Sir Brad]

on Boxing day 2011 I started GMíng a solo of Adventurer 0, so for the past almost nine and a half years off and on.

took the character a bit over seventeen years and four months game time.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Congratulations!

 

[coliver988]

Congratulations! That's pretty epic.

 

[Sir Brad]

I'll admit that at times entire sectors where reduced to little more than bookkeeping exercises.

the character did hold on to every Cr of Adventure 0 pay, when away from Scout Infrastructure they first used their starting cash then after that moved on to money from other adventures and such.

 

[infojunky]

on Boxing day 2011 I started GMíng a solo of Adventurer 0, so for the past almost nine and a half years off and on.

took the character a bit over seventeen years and four months game time.

Majestic, something to do with my copious free time.

 

[King Midas]

on Boxing day 2011 I started GMíng a solo of Adventurer 0, so for the past almost nine and a half years off and on.

took the character a bit over seventeen years and four months game time.

Congrats! I tried doing that a couple of years ago. Didn't get anywhere near the end. Props to someone who succeeded.

There are several problems with The Scout Adventure. How did you deal with them?

First the physical one: There are half a dozen planets, on the spinward end, that cannot be reached by a jump 2 ship. Some can be reached if you allow drop tanks and there are drop tanks available at the arrival end: Others can only be reached by travelling off-map through the next sector. How did you survey them?

Social problem 1: This is the plummest assignment of plum assignments. Why did a Scout bigwig just give you that assignment rather than someone he has known and trusted for decades? Color me extremely skeptical of getting such a ticket from a bar fight.

Social problem 2: This is a ticket some people would kill for. How do the people angling for that assignment feel about you? I don't think anyone is going to come up and knife you, but if you disappeared on some backwater planet, I'm sure several people would be right there to conveniently take over the survey.

Political problem 1: There are people who would express extreme concern if their government was re-classified from Republic to Oligarchy or whatever. How did you roleplay this?

Political problem 2: In the Sword Worlds and Zho area, how did they react when your ship showed up: "Hi! You don't mind if I take some readings, and analyze your planet, do you?"

 

[coliver988]

"Social problem 2: This is a ticket some people would kill for. How do the people angling for that assignment feel about you? I don't think anyone is going to come up and knife you, but if you disappeared on some backwater planet, I'm sure several people would be right there to conveniently take over the survey."

I've a feeling that the offer would have been made to several ex-Scouts, over years. Things change and a single Scout on a multi-year mission may not be able to complete it. I would not be surprised if Scouts all over the Marches were asked to do this from all areas of he Marches. Space is big!

But now I need to dig out the book to see how it was actually presented. But still, kudos for actually finishing it!

 

[kilemall]

Hmm, why not DOZENS of teams doing the same thing?


Still cheaper then assigning permanent ships to it, and avoids the politics or potential bribery of getting/keeping UWP the same/improving.


Keeps the Central bureaucracy at bay- 'oh yes we are surveying, dozens of teams on it, yes we should get results in 10 years'.


Having dozens of teams also allows for different teams to come to different conclusions and explored from all angles. More likely to get the truth of the matter and weed out teams with an agenda.


From a player perspective, fun to see something like another team- 'say, those fellows are on a survey orbit like us. What's going on?'


As the multiple team thing sinks in, inevitably there will be other teams you like or hate, and competition to get your recommendations/survey through-particularly if there is a rejection clause in the contract or a reclassification really hurts/helps planets the players are involved with....

 

[King Midas]

"Social problem 2: This is a ticket some people would kill for. How do the people angling for that assignment feel about you? I don't think anyone is going to come up and knife you, but if you disappeared on some backwater planet, I'm sure several people would be right there to conveniently take over the survey."

I've a feeling that the offer would have been made to several ex-Scouts, over years. Things change and a single Scout on a multi-year mission may not be able to complete it. I would not be surprised if Scouts all over the Marches were asked to do this from all areas of he Marches. Space is big!

Another option is that this is not a dream ticket, but a nightmare one. "No thanks! Parson's ship exploded over Feri. Everick's ship disappeared after leaving Pavabid. Thomson and his crew all disappeared at Beck's World. Redmond got gutted in a back alley knife fight! I can list a dozen other dead scouts that took this offer. No! Thank you!"

The reason it is a goldmine assignment is that nobody will take it except the PCs!

 

[King Midas]

Or it could go the other way...

Hmm, why not DOZENS of teams doing the same thing?


Still cheaper then assigning permanent ships to it, and avoids the politics or potential bribery of getting/keeping UWP the same/improving.


Keeps the Central bureaucracy at bay- 'oh yes we are surveying, dozens of teams on it, yes we should get results in 10 years'.


Having dozens of teams also allows for different teams to come to different conclusions and explored from all angles. More likely to get the truth of the matter and weed out teams with an agenda.


From a player perspective, fun to see something like another team- 'say, those fellows are on a survey orbit like us. What's going on?'


As the multiple team thing sinks in, inevitably there will be other teams you like or hate, and competition to get your recommendations/survey through-particularly if there is a rejection clause in the contract or a reclassification really hurts/helps planets the players are involved with....

What you say is all true, and relevant...
But...
Following this to the logical conclusion, why not make "surveys" a part of the scout ship contract? So graded bounties on the various planets? Places with Scout bases like Regina and Hefry would be a pro forma requirement just to get refined fuel. Reports on places like Efate, Feri, or Aramanx would get a nominal fee, a cursory glance, and turned over MilInt. C, D, E, and X starports, particularly off the space lanes, and especially neutral ones, would get the full bonus in tens of thousands of Kilocreds.

On recurring enemies, my idea for rivals: Scout ships don't have names, only numbers, but they are named informally after their captain. The PC team would be not so friendly rivals with Piper's Pride, Norton's Folly, and Tubb's Tub; expies of the authors. :smirk: