Tales of Known Space

[JonSh]

Is anyone out there considering a "Tales of Known Space" (Larry Niven) mod? I've been waiting for Ultimate for Gold, and the STNG stuff, but it seems like the universe of Louis Wu and Beowulf Shaeffer might be perfect to play in. Just off the top of my head I can remember Humans, Kzinti, Trinocs, Slavers, Tnuctipun, Bandersnatchi, Pak, Kdatlyno, Pierson Puppeteers....and I know there were more.

I might like to work with a partner on this if anyone is interested, but it's not something I'd tackle alone

[Suicide Junkie]

You could add a one-per-ship component with 60,000 hitpoints...

[Ed Kolis]

Kzinti? Funny, I thought they were a little-known cat race from Star Trek...

[DirectorTsaarx]

Originally posted by Ed Kolis:
Kzinti? Funny, I thought they were a little-known cat race from Star Trek...

Actually, Star Trek "stole" them from Niven (well, sort of; Niven adapted a couple of his stories for the animated series for Star Trek, so they had permission at one point; but SFB got in trouble for using the Kzinti & renamed them).

As for modding Known Space into SE4: I like the idea; the main stumbling point is that each race had very few different types of ships, and ISTR that most people just bought one of the 4 standard puppeteer (General Products) hulls. Of course, since I've never read the Man-Kzin War series, just the original Niven stuff, maybe I'm incorrect.

You could at least mod in the Slaver stasis boxes by renaming the ruins and/or altering the description of the ruins...

There were also "Outsiders", who traded with everybody, but couldn't stand gravity so they stayed on their ships in deep space. If only we could get an AI to play a nomad race effectively...

Would we have to give the "Lucky" trait to the humans to represent the Teela Brown factor?

Actually, you might end up with multiple "human" empires, just to represent the fact that evolution diverged somewhat on the outlying colonies...

[Arkcon]

I wish I knew how much damage the ringworld laser did. We could have a special weapon (and the mount and the platform as well) that would only fit on the ringworld. 'Course it would only be funny if you didn't know it was there.

[Puke]

it could be done, but it could not be used to take out ships/planets/fleets anywhere in the system. it could only be used against targets that attack the ringworld.

all you would have to do is to make a weapon platform so large that it will only fit in the cargo space available on a ringworld or sphereworld, and make a mount sized for it.

of course, a planet with 25 facility slots devoted to cargo containers could probably hold one too, but it stands to reason that a planet devoted solely to this purpose would be just as effective as a ring world that supports one in its spare time. heck, with the appropriate cargo facilities, a ringworld might have several of them.

think of it, a 5GT weapon platform with a mount that does size*100 damage*500 range+20. or whatever.

[geoschmo]

I experimented with weapon platforms mounts that were exteremly long range once and it seems that I found there was an absolute limit to the range. I want to say they couldn't hit targets beyond 20 even though they should have been able to by definition, but I can't recall right now. I'll have to test it again.

Geo

[capnq]

Kzinti? Funny, I thought they were a little-known cat race from Star Trek

That's like thinking _Lord of the Rings_ is a D&D ripoff.

[Grandpa Kim]

The killer would be modding the Puppeteers.

Total cowards but incredibly advanced. You would have to give them a high tech start and frankly that would not be enough to equal their real power. Make them a neutral and put them in an unconnected system. If you have the bad luck to enter their system, well... just stick your head between your legs and kiss your a** goodbye! They want no-one to know where they live and will destroy you "down to the Last kitten" to hide their secret.

It would never occur to them to capture and use your people-- much too dangerous to allow near the peaceful Puppeteers!

So, if you know they are around, best you NOT look for them. In fact, encourage your enemies to look for them! This might be a major strategy when the Puppeteers are involved. I'd much rather fight the Kzinti!

Kim

[DavidG]

And don't forget to make those fusion drives a weapon too. Very usefull for frying overconfident Kzinti with psychics aboard.