Star Trek Simmers..

[Jim Phaserman 0]

I've done alot of sims. Chat based and PBeM, and also Message Board sims. One thing that has annoyed me is that alot of simmers are quite AFRAID to face their own Charactor's mortality. I mean, I understand this. as a Soldier myself (before some of you start saying, "But Jim, you're in the Navy, you're a SAILOR", Soldier is a term that can encompass ALL men and women who serve in their nations' armed forces), I understand the fear that accompanies facing one's mortality. I've seen simmers who's charactors have done things worthy of multiple Medals of Honor, but for some reason the ship is always in prestine condition and not one major charactor is seriously injured. in the one main sim I am in now, my brother and I, along with others, have conspired to make the Federation Civil War seem as realistic as possible. My buddy Billy did a post called "Letters" which follows the correspondences between a Young Marine and his family, from the time he reports to 1st Marine Division until his death. The second to last letter is the one letter noone wants (The infamous "To Whom It May Concern" letter), and the last is the citation for a Posthumous award. in the course of this sim, My charactor, Fleet Admiral James Millenhiem, has two ships, and during conflict story lines, always seems to end up having to visit sickbay. My charactor has been wounded in action many times. Probably the most shocking thing to alot of Superman-esque simmer personalities is actually what my Brother, Gary did. In one arc, his charactor did something outragous! He lost his bloody freakin' arm! In another arc, Gary's charactor took a laser-blast to the thigh, taking him out of action for weeks. But, what Gary just did takes the cake. He not only had his charactor face his own mortality, his Charactor up and died! This is the first time I've ever seen a simmer intentionally kill his own Charactor! It was also done in a rather heart-wrenching, cliff hanging manner. I'll save you the trouble of link-hopping and just post the death scene...

 

 

From USS Eros Sim, "Complying With Orders", 26 February 2006. Post takes place stardate 38602.26

 

Algiers: Leveling out at Angels 20, preparing to enter pattern for El

Zee.

 

Gary: Eagle One copies. 3 Flight, plow the road!

 

four fighters broke off and accelerated. they began firing phasers

and micro torpedoes into the forest below. Explosions marked Rebel

Anti-Aircraft possitions destroyed, or ground vehicles eradicated by

the fire.

 

Aboard USS Algiers, Bostwain's Mate 3rd Class Steve Sable watched the

flak come up. the ride aboard the large ship was bumpy, but he

remained at the Coxswain's station, guiding the craft in. At 5,000

feet, he engaged the Anti-graves and deployed the landing gear. Now

the fire really picked up. the ship was bounced around violently.

Sable hung on tight, but knew the Marines below were probably being

knocked around like they were a part of a giant pinball machine. 2500

feet, flare menuever. During the start of the flare, Sable and the

bridge crew lost sight of Eagle One, the small Valderan fighter that

had been leading them in. at 1,000 feet, the retrothrusters fired,

slowing the descent even further. the Comm Line, left open, suddenly

gave a loud burst of static. As the nose of the giant ship came down,

they saw nothing but a cloud of expanding gas and debris falling down

before them...

 

that was the end of "Complying with Orders". Leaves open a few possibilities of what happened. Here's the start of the next post, "Eagle One"

 

 

Algiers: USS Algiers to Eagle One. Please Respond. Eagle One, Please

Respond.

 

All that was audible over the comm lines was static. Eagle Squadron

remained silent, but flying their usual assignments.

 

Algiers: USS Algiers to Eagle One. Please Respond. Eagle one, please

respond.

 

The captain of the Algiers, a 35-year-old Lieutenant Commander,

looked over at the Comm operator.

 

Captain: Anything?

 

Comm: No sir. Just static.

 

Captain: Algiers to Eagle 2. Do you see Eagle One?

There was a long pause.

 

Captain: Eagle Squadron, does anyone see Eagle One?

 

Eagle 2: (Voice audibly distressed) Algiers, Eagle 2. Eagle One is

down.

 

Captain: (trying to sound hopeful) Down as in landed?

 

Eagle 2: Negative sir.

 

There was another long, painful pause.

 

Captain: Eagle Squadron, did anyone see an ejection seat?

 

One by one, the ten surviving Eagle Squadron pilots reported in. The

same thing: Negative.

 

 

Now, if that didn't hit you, the exchange at the end of Eagle One will...

 

 

...In orbit, the long-awaited reinforcements arrived. Jim and his ships

immediately went to work. The ships of the first fleet arrived, and

began to beat the Rebels back. The effects were felt on the ground,

as well. The landings resumed. 3rd Division, I Corps, 2nd Army, lead

by the brave men of the 7th California Brigade, arrived on the ground

to relieve the Stonewall Division. The Marines, however, did not fall

back. Rather, they welcomed the newcomers to their "Cozy little

fight". The fresh troops were all that was needed. The rebels fell

back. Within two days, the battle was won. When the casualties were

counted, it was shocking. The Stonewall division had entered the

battle with just over 26,000 men. When they embarked aboard the

Algiers a week later, they numbered just 10,360. Other Divisions that

had landed the first day were similarly battered. The fighters,

originally 370 in strength, were reduced to under 200. The Capitol

ships suffered as badly as the Infantry did. Of 300 2nd Fleet ships

engaged in the battle, 127 had been destroyed, and another 53 badly

damaged. All this, though, seemed to pale in comparison to what

General Williams was obliged to report to his superiors.

 

Jim: General, Did you find Admiral Phaserman?

 

Williams: Sir, It is with my deepest regrets that I must answer

negatively.

 

Jim: What?

 

Billy: He's Dead, Jim. I'm sorry.

 

 

Now, what that shows is not only the cost of that perticular battle, but that FADM Phaserman is indeed dead. The next post was one I did, where I filed the official reports: The battle, known as Bloody Sunday, cost over 300,000 lives altogether.

 

I think the Eros Sim is probably, as far as simulating the horrors of war, as close as you can get without actually being in battle. It's viewed from the vantage point of the Senior Officers, but will at times focus on the individual soldier, which is something else missing from alot of sims: Focus on the people actually doing the fighting. in this sim, we learn the names of some of the men and women who fight, and die. With the "Letters" Post, it paints a portrait of Corporal Gregory Lane's life. What his family is like. His sister is engaged when he first reports. He likes his Commanding Officer. he is saddened by the loss of his friends in combat. And, eventually, he meets a similar fate. on My ship, I had a charactor played by me, Lt. Kevin DeMorga, Tactical Officer. I spent months working on his charactor, Developing his personality. When the Sim's GM decided it would be cool to blow up my ship, I was obviously furious, but took the opportunity to give a face to the faceless soldiers who die every day, and Kevin DeMorga was that face. I see Simmers all the time avoid their charactors getting injured, and I really don't understand why. It takes something away from the realism of the sim. In Starfleet, people are going to get killed, even on seemingly "Safe" missions, yet many refuse to acknowledge that their charactor is as vulnerable as the Redshirt Ensigns. Even on the shows, the major charactors usually avoided death, the exceptions being Spock, Yar, and Dax. Worf and Nog both experienced devastating injuries, but for the most part, major charactors rarely if ever are wounded. That's unfortunately, not the reality of how things are.

[Wishfire 2]

Ah, you're refering to "god-modding," where no matter what happens the character gets out of situations unscathed.

 

"You're ship exploded!"

 

"I beamed out just in time."

 

"But you're a thousand light-years from any habitable worlds, and you have no other allied ships nearby..."

 

"My ship has a transporter range of 2,000 light-years."

 

B)

 

I participated in a board-based RPG where a lot of the participants had a bad habit of doing that. Out of spite, I created a new character, become allied with the worst of the god-modders, took damage in combat, and, while my ship was in an allied spacedock undergoing repairs... I self-destructed. Boy, were a lot of people pissed off.

 

I prefer keeping things going as realistically as possible. I hate it when other participants suddenly have "super powers."

[MrPsychic 1]

Since the simm I'm in takes place after the Dominion War, we've all dealt with the aftermath of it. Some people can get aggressive in tight situations, me, I have night terrors of it.

[fredbroca 0]

I play RPG's the old fashion way. A group of my friends get together once a month and play. We are doing dungeons and dragons right now. Even though my player has not died this campaign I have had them die all the time and yes I know people that use the rules to their advantage to make god like players. I have done it myself but I also so have done the compleat other way.

[Jim Phaserman 0]

Ah, you're refering to "god-modding," where no matter what happens the character gets out of situations unscathed.

 

"You're ship exploded!"

 

"I beamed out just in time."

 

"But you're a thousand light-years from any habitable worlds, and you have no other allied ships nearby..."

 

"My ship has a transporter range of 2,000 light-years."

 

<_<

 

I participated in a board-based RPG where a lot of the participants had a bad habit of doing that. Out of spite, I created a new character, become allied with the worst of the god-modders, took damage in combat, and, while my ship was in an allied spacedock undergoing repairs... I self-destructed. :P Boy, were a lot of people pissed off.

 

I prefer keeping things going as realistically as possible. I hate it when other participants suddenly have "super powers."

 

We have someone in our sim who's charactor is rather oddly Jedi-Like. in a STAR TREK SIM. It caused some friction when, during a big battle, I posted his ship actually losing it's shields and taking a hit on it's extraneously armored hull. I sim as a Valderan, and yeah, we aren't the most realistic species, but we certainly have no problem with getting ourselves killed. I frequently have my ships in the middle of the danger zone. I'm not the kind of commander who surrounds his flagship with "Expendable" escorts. My ship is always on point. The joke is that I do that so I can say that I was in the battle longer than anyone, therefor I have the most experience. There's been times when my flagship has had to be towed home. the Georgia, my present ship, for all it's size and firepower, is no better protected than say a Soveriegn class.

 

Also, something the Eros sim does frequently is get involved in the politics of the situation. For example, there was a battle where the ships of X-Fleet forced Starfleet, Klingon, and Valderan ships to quit a battle, and finished the battle themselves. THis pissed me off royally, because my strategy was actually working quite well. I couldn't argue about the fact that my ships were forced out, because the Fleet Commander (And Game Master) had given the Okay for the move, but I made up for it in the political aftermath. Valderans and Klingons don't like being forced out of a fight, and especially hate that when they are WINNING. I posted Chancellor Martok sending a message to X-Fleet High command that discussed their chemical composition in a rather unsavory manner.