9962 réponses à ce sujet

[fainmaca]

@Lillitheris: But it wasn't a case of power balance. It was simply the fact that Shepard and his team failed at all that this person was disputing. If anything, the opening to ME2 was more of a curb-stomp. I may be biased because its my story, but I can't see a cogent or reasonable argument in there at all.

Modifié par fainmaca, 29 juin 2012 - 10:41 .

[Drussius]

Holy cow! I go get some sleep, get up and do a few things with the kids, and come back to three new pages of discussion! I'm beginning to think I need to start surviving on coffee and energy drinks, because if I sleep, I miss out on all the great discussion with my wonderful fellow writers here!

And I have to agree with lill for the most part about any criticism being good if there's at least some explanation behind it. The only criticism that is absolutely useless in my eyes is criticism like: "It sucks. You shouldn't write." THAT is unhelpful. But otherwise, even if the criticism is outstandingly negative like what was given on the previous page, at least you can go back, look at the scene, and if you feel it's fine as is, you dismiss it. If you decide that maybe the enemies overcame the Normandy a little too easily, then you make a small tweak or two and move on. You don't have to agree with negative feedback, but it can sometimes make you think and decide that a change would improve the story.

[Drussius]

Oh. And my thoughts on AU's. I have no problem at all with them if they are well-written. One of my favorite fanfictions of all time (totally different franchise) was an AU. I actually loved the story behind it every bit as much as I loved the series it was based on. Perhaps even a bit more. So yes, in my view if done well, they can be fantastic.

[noxiuniversitas1]

Sigh, I really need to get back on my longer story tomorrow... so easily distracted...

[Obsidian Gryphon]

lillitheris wrote...

Drussius wrote...

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Actually, I wasn't questioning the political aspects of her given command but the validity of her skills to command a frigate (or even XO of it) because I'm already "trained"  in the doctrine that marines and navy officers are two different species.   Hence my going in circles about major/captain because they meant two different things to me.

Yep. ME definitely breaks the mold in that respect. And it certainly wouldn't make much sense with two separate command structures. Once you take into account that it's all one coherent force, it all makes a lot more sense.

This is what I keep trying to say! :happy:

Consider an aircraft carrier. All personnel (handwave) is Navy, but you have doctors, mechanics, flight operations crews, fighter pilots, helicopter pilots, MPs, even marine or SEAL contingents.

So we have a single CoC, but lots of specialization. In fact, I doubt that your average infantry specialist (‘marine’) would have much more ship training than where the mess hall is located. Conversely, fleet specialists will only have gone through basic (ground) combat training. Infantry officers will likely have more cross training in fleet ops, and perhaps have optional courses they can take. Perhaps one of the N courses even includes mandatory fleet operations studies at the frigate level because of the nature of their missions.

We could simply say that there are no Majors or Generals, and do away with the problem. They’re just aliases given to Captains and Rear Admirals who specialize in infantry operations. It could be simple pride or tradition or that, for example, there’s a common situation where a cruiser will have a Captain as CO or XO, and its ground operations team is large enough to have a Major (and likewise for dreadnought/RA/General)  — so it was thought it’d be simpler to maintain these aliases.

The two of you are making sense.   Still trying to get my head to that (though I'm still convinced Shep hadn't had enough navy training). Anyways, thanks Drussius and lillitheris, really appreciate the discussion and clarifications.

Drussius wrote...
An entirely different subject: Are barriers/shields in the ME universe supposed to be airtight? I've noticed several things in the games that suggest they can be made airtight (such as the end of ME2, when there's a huge hole in the side of the Normandy and yet people are in the room working, or in 3, where a shuttle is flown directly into Cerberus's fighter bay through the field over the door). I've been writing scenes on this assumption, that instead of docking bay doors and the like, there would just a barrier that protects from the vacuum outside. But I'm not sure if I missed something more specific in the codex somewhere.

Yes, I think the shield has the same function as a bulkhead. It provides additional protection if the hull is holed but I don't think docking bay doors would be totally removed. It's bad to just rely on one layer of shielding, powered by energy at that. Too, I doubt shields had the staying power to withstand hardhitting incoming projectiles from enemy fire.

I didn't see anything in the codex about ship shields, btw. Gonna take another look.

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 30 juin 2012 - 01:33 .

[Drussius]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Drussius wrote...
An entirely different subject: Are barriers/shields in the ME universe supposed to be airtight? I've noticed several things in the games that suggest they can be made airtight (such as the end of ME2, when there's a huge hole in the side of the Normandy and yet people are in the room working, or in 3, where a shuttle is flown directly into Cerberus's fighter bay through the field over the door). I've been writing scenes on this assumption, that instead of docking bay doors and the like, there would just a barrier that protects from the vacuum outside. But I'm not sure if I missed something more specific in the codex somewhere.

Yes, I think the shield has the same function as a bulkhead. It provides additional protection if the hull is holed but I don't think docking bay doors would be totally removed. It's bad to just rely on one layer of shielding, powered by energy at that. Too, I doubt shields had the staying power to withstand hardhitting incoming projectiles from enemy fire.

I didn't see anything in the codex about ship shields, btw. Gonna take another look.

I'm going on the assumption that shields are used to keep an atmosphere in many situtations. In fact, when I really looked closely at some of the loading scenes of the citadel, I have been forced to come to the conclusion that the various wards use this type of technology to retain their atmosphere. And in the first game, the normandy just flew through a blue field and docked, and then people got off the ship and were talking without helmets or protective gear with there on the walkway outside the ship. I'm sure many facilities would have emergency doors as a backup, but this seems to be the first choice of technology for this situation.

I looked through the codex in all three games and didn't see anything specific on this point. But thank you for the supporting opinion.

[fluffywalrus]

All this talk about military ranks and training has made me a bit tentative to really explore my Shep's military experiences, when I get to them. Well, that, and I'm only really familiar with Canadian Air Force and Army ranks, and the Systems Alliance hierarchy...while making some sense...it's still something I figure I'd probably mess up catastrophically.

Combine that with my urge to get to the Mass Effect timeline...and I'm going to have to mold my Shep well in the next chapters so that any gaps I leave will seem minimal.

Quick question: Bioware has done a relatively poor job providing information on a number of human colonies. It's cool if I potentially expand on that, right? I mean, absolutely no info on Amaterasu, Ferris Fields, Drasta, etc. are found in the game, so I may as well, right?

[Drussius]

fluffywalrus wrote...

All this talk about military ranks and training has made me a bit tentative to really explore my Shep's military experiences, when I get to them. Well, that, and I'm only really familiar with Canadian Air Force and Army ranks, and the Systems Alliance hierarchy...while making some sense...it's still something I figure I'd probably mess up catastrophically.

Combine that with my urge to get to the Mass Effect timeline...and I'm going to have to mold my Shep well in the next chapters so that any gaps I leave will seem minimal.

Quick question: Bioware has done a relatively poor job providing information on a number of human colonies. It's cool if I potentially expand on that, right? I mean, absolutely no info on Amaterasu, Ferris Fields, Drasta, etc. are found in the game, so I may as well, right?

All I know about Amaterasu is that Ashley's family was there and that it's a small colony. The only information on Ferris Fields is that the collectors abducted all the colonists. People all over the ship are talking about having family there during ME2.

As for Drasta... I had to go to the wiki for that one. Apparently it's a place with fresh air, clean rivers, a hospitable climate, and it was working entirely on the barter system until it was self-sufficient. It made them a less likely target for raiders, and even visitors had to bring goods or skills that could be bartered. All credit-transactions had to be done off-planet.


Edit: Forgot to answer the question at hand. I don't think anyone would complain about learning more about colonies. I myself am basing part of my story on a world that there isn't a lot of info about other than that it's a thriving colony and one of the first. And I'd love to see all kinds of things in the ME universe expanded upon.

Modifié par Drussius, 30 juin 2012 - 02:09 .

[Icyflare]

fluffywalrus wrote...

All this talk about military ranks and training has made me a bit tentative to really explore my Shep's military experiences, when I get to them. Well, that, and I'm only really familiar with Canadian Air Force and Army ranks, and the Systems Alliance hierarchy...while making some sense...it's still something I figure I'd probably mess up catastrophically.

Combine that with my urge to get to the Mass Effect timeline...and I'm going to have to mold my Shep well in the next chapters so that any gaps I leave will seem minimal.

Quick question: Bioware has done a relatively poor job providing information on a number of human colonies. It's cool if I potentially expand on that, right? I mean, absolutely no info on Amaterasu, Ferris Fields, Drasta, etc. are found in the game, so I may as well, right?

I say go for it in terms of exploring the colonies. I'm trying to figure out how to write my Shepard's childhood, but when I look up Mindoir, the most I get is: "It's a colony. Also, there were some batarians in 2170."  =/

I would love to hear your thoughts about how a colony out there would be run, especially the social-political aspects of it all. Is it government-funded or by private business? Is it a single guy running it all together or maybe a small council of leaders? Is it set on a planet or it is a dome in space somewhere? Too many ideas, not enough info on what's actually in a colony. It'd probably be similar to Horizon, actually, minus the seeker swarms.

Modifié par Icyflare, 30 juin 2012 - 04:01 .

[Drussius]

Icyflare wrote...

It'd probably be similar to Horizon, actually, minus the seeker swarms.

This is pretty much what I figured. It would start with some prefabricated buildings and the like so that people had someplace to stay while more permanent structures were built, and then would look similar to what we've seen in the few colonies shown to us in the games. Eden Prime, Horizon, and whatever-the-name-of-that-colony-where-we-found-Tali-and-Veetor-in-ME2-was (longest colony name ever!).

Of course the big ones like Eden Prime and Terra Nova would eventually become huge cities or would have multiple cities, but when someone mentions a "small colony" in a story or in the game, Horizon's layout is what my mind immediately jumps to.

[Icyflare]

The colony areas in the games have a very clean, minimalist look to them on the outside, except for Benning where you get that guy's dog tags. I have no experience in architecture or urban planning, but it looks to me as if there was a lot of communal housing on Eden Prime in ME3.

As a colony, the people there are probably shipping some sort of natural resources that the area is known for/saturated with. Since Mindoir is a farming community, I'm not quite sure what kind of crops/animals they'd have. I'd imagine at this point many crops have been turn into hybrids or have such extensive genetic modifications that they resemble the ones we have now. Animals too. There'd probably be cows and chickens in the future but of different breeds and raised in an alternative manner, according to space and resource limitations. Or am I thinking too much about this?

[dpMeggers]

fluffywalrus wrote...

All this talk about military ranks and training has made me a bit tentative to really explore my Shep's military experiences, when I get to them. Well, that, and I'm only really familiar with Canadian Air Force and Army ranks, and the Systems Alliance hierarchy...while making some sense...it's still something I figure I'd probably mess up catastrophically.

Combine that with my urge to get to the Mass Effect timeline...and I'm going to have to mold my Shep well in the next chapters so that any gaps I leave will seem minimal.

Quick question: Bioware has done a relatively poor job providing information on a number of human colonies. It's cool if I potentially expand on that, right? I mean, absolutely no info on Amaterasu, Ferris Fields, Drasta, etc. are found in the game, so I may as well, right?

As I said before regarding ranks, take what little we know, add something plausible, shrug a little and most people will accept it. I have Damon serving in the Fifth Fleet as part of a patrol unit before Akuze so that his experience is mainly shipside with ground deployment rather than mainly garrisons planetside.

Also Mass Effect Timeline if you're interested.

As for the colonies, as has been said before we don't know much about them. I'm inclined to disagree about the communal building on Eden Prime because we were moving through a Research Camp and a Spaceport there (Even in From Ashes they'd dug up a Prothean relic - which would indicate to me that they were looking for it). I think that the agricultural colonies would be more individual farms (although kibbutz models wouldn't be out of the question). I agree that generally the newer colonies will be inclined towards prefab. Colonies in the Terminus are trying to avoid Alliance interference so who knows what they're getting up to. Older colonies like Terra Nova and Elysium have capital cities (Scott and Illyria respectively) and Illyria is described as having a metropolitan downtown and quiet suburbs. Beyond that it's pretty open to interpretation.

[Meteo63]

Hey everyone, never posted here before, but I'm getting ready to start writing my own story now and I wanted to ask for a few pieces of advice. I'm gonna do a remake of ME3 because Bioware's version did not live up to my admittedly high expectations (they screwed up Cerberus, the Illusive Man's role, basically all the ME2 romances, the silly fetch quests, Liara's importance as the Shadow Broker, and many other things including their ending, especially the deux ex machina that is the Crucible and the Catalyst and the thematic problems of allowing Control and Synthesis to occur), and that does partially include many game mechanics as well.

I plan to include dialogue choices, morality decisions, some EMS or War Assets system (but redone so that they don't just lump all assets into the same number despite all being used for completely different things). My question is this: how do I present it to people? I am writing it under the very obvious assumption that this is a game where Shepard has many choices (dialogue, etc) and people in the game have the ability to make those choices. So I don't want to write it as prose, do I? Should I use a script/game summary style? I can't just have Shepard saying stuff (though Bioware broke their own rules with that stupid auto-dialogue) willy-nilly, I need to show it on some kind of dialogue wheel or something. And different events occur with different choices in ME3, so again, how do I present those multitude of possible events?

Additionally, how do I plan out a story from the Mass Effect style? I know sort of how to do a story traditionally, but Mass Effect should (as ME3 failed to do) have a branching story where decisions create drastically different results. For instance, I want to have the Collector Base create drastic consequences, such as the Illusive Man taking control of and finishing the Human-Reaper as a weapon against the other Reapers, or destroying the base denying you valuable data on Reaper structural weakness or information on how the Reapers control their slaves (Collectors). How much effect can/should these decisions have? Is it feasible to do two branching plots with extremely different things going on?

Again, I'm focusing on ME3 and redoing it as a game that includes the choices made (and clearly being visible so people see what's going on and what consequences may or may not occur) so the advantage is that I do not need to write out in prose action scenes to a significant degree. However, there will be lots of plot complexity and I hope to do dialogue choices, so prose may not be very good for that, especially if Shepard has three/four (not like Bioware's silly 2 choices) choices he can say, if his crew members have varying responses, and if I need to make lots of adjustments for different events/choices that occur. What structure or presentation works well for this?

[fluffywalrus]

Meteo63 wrote...

Hey everyone, never posted here before, but I'm getting ready to start writing my own story now and I wanted to ask for a few pieces of advice. I'm gonna do a remake of ME3 because Bioware's version did not live up to my admittedly high expectations (they screwed up Cerberus, the Illusive Man's role, basically all the ME2 romances, the silly fetch quests, Liara's importance as the Shadow Broker, and many other things including their ending, especially the deux ex machina that is the Crucible and the Catalyst and the thematic problems of allowing Control and Synthesis to occur), and that does partially include many game mechanics as well.

I plan to include dialogue choices, morality decisions, some EMS or War Assets system (but redone so that they don't just lump all assets into the same number despite all being used for completely different things). My question is this: how do I present it to people? I am writing it under the very obvious assumption that this is a game where Shepard has many choices (dialogue, etc) and people in the game have the ability to make those choices. So I don't want to write it as prose, do I? Should I use a script/game summary style? I can't just have Shepard saying stuff (though Bioware broke their own rules with that stupid auto-dialogue) willy-nilly, I need to show it on some kind of dialogue wheel or something. And different events occur with different choices in ME3, so again, how do I present those multitude of possible events?

Additionally, how do I plan out a story from the Mass Effect style? I know sort of how to do a story traditionally, but Mass Effect should (as ME3 failed to do) have a branching story where decisions create drastically different results. For instance, I want to have the Collector Base create drastic consequences, such as the Illusive Man taking control of and finishing the Human-Reaper as a weapon against the other Reapers, or destroying the base denying you valuable data on Reaper structural weakness or information on how the Reapers control their slaves (Collectors). How much effect can/should these decisions have? Is it feasible to do two branching plots with extremely different things going on?

Again, I'm focusing on ME3 and redoing it as a game that includes the choices made (and clearly being visible so people see what's going on and what consequences may or may not occur) so the advantage is that I do not need to write out in prose action scenes to a significant degree. However, there will be lots of plot complexity and I hope to do dialogue choices, so prose may not be very good for that, especially if Shepard has three/four (not like Bioware's silly 2 choices) choices he can say, if his crew members have varying responses, and if I need to make lots of adjustments for different events/choices that occur. What structure or presentation works well for this?

Are you planning to have reader input determine the progression of the plot?

If so, you'll need to take control of most, if not all, dialogue options. It's just not feasible to rely on reader input so often on so many things. Leave the important decisions up in the air, but the smaller, character-based ones, you write. It will be easier that way.

If you AREN'T talking about reader input at all, then...well, I'm not sure I understand what you're getting at. A text version of Mass Effect 3 complete with possible choices that you dictate? I'm not sure that's a compelling read.

[fluffywalrus]

dpMeggers wrote...

As for the colonies, as has been said before we don't know much about them. I'm inclined to disagree about the communal building on Eden Prime because we were moving through a Research Camp and a Spaceport there (Even in From Ashes they'd dug up a Prothean relic - which would indicate to me that they were looking for it). I think that the agricultural colonies would be more individual farms (although kibbutz models wouldn't be out of the question). I agree that generally the newer colonies will be inclined towards prefab. Colonies in the Terminus are trying to avoid Alliance interference so who knows what they're getting up to. Older colonies like Terra Nova and Elysium have capital cities (Scott and Illyria respectively) and Illyria is described as having a metropolitan downtown and quiet suburbs. Beyond that it's pretty open to interpretation.

Icyflare wrote...

The colony areas in the games have a
very clean, minimalist look to them on the outside, except for Benning
where you get that guy's dog tags. I have no experience in architecture
or urban planning, but it looks to me as if there was a lot of communal
housing on Eden Prime in ME3.

As a colony, the people there are
probably shipping some sort of natural resources that the area is known
for/saturated with. Since Mindoir is a farming community, I'm not quite
sure what kind of crops/animals they'd have. I'd imagine at this point
many crops have been turn into hybrids or have such extensive genetic
modifications that they resemble the ones we have now. Animals too.
There'd probably be cows and chickens in the future but of different
breeds and raised in an alternative manner, according to space and
resource limitations. Or am I thinking too much about this?

Thanks, it gives me something to think about, when I finally get to them.

[lillitheris]

fainmaca wrote...

@Lillitheris: But it wasn't a case of power balance. It was simply the fact that Shepard and his team failed at all that this person was disputing. If anything, the opening to ME2 was more of a curb-stomp. I may be biased because its my story, but I can't see a cogent or reasonable argument in there at all.

Drussius expanded earlier, but my point is that you don’t need to agree with the criticism. You review the relevant parts and decide whether you need to do anything about it. This will broadly have three results:

1. You find nothing wrong with it, and move on;
2. You understand the concern even if it’s not severe, and are more mindful of similar in the future;
3. You agree there is an actual problem, and take steps to fix it.

Modifié par lillitheris, 30 juin 2012 - 07:45 .

[LanceSolous13]

Hello everyone.

Glad to find a thread like this.

Starting a fanfic for the events following a High EMS Destory ending called "Mass Effect: Aftermath". I hope you read and enjoy it.

I suppose I should post my Bro!Shep info.

Vanguard
Colonist
I combined all the Service Histories into his backstory for a bit more interesting of a story later when the entire crew is gathered together.
And, as evident by the first chapter, He found love with Miranda.

[fluffywalrus]

LanceSolous13 wrote...

Hello everyone.

Glad to find a thread like this.

Starting a fanfic for the events following a High EMS Destory ending called "Mass Effect: Aftermath". I hope you read and enjoy it.

I suppose I should post my Bro!Shep info.

Vanguard
Colonist
I combined all the Service Histories into his backstory for a bit more interesting of a story later when the entire crew is gathered together.
And, as evident by the first chapter, He found love with Miranda.

Always nice to hear of new fanfics Welcome to the thread!

[LanceSolous13]

Thank you. So far, this forum has been rather welcoming. I like it.

[MidnightRaith]

Hell yeah! My rewrite powers finally got to working and I finished Chapter 2 for Striking like at 2:30 in the morning. I couldn't stop, it got a little heavy, not a lot, but I didn't want to lose the emotion I had going, so I stayed up a little later than I expected. I didn't plan to procrastinate like I did, but it turns out to actually work in my favor. I wasn't too far into the writing to not be able to scrap the characterization I had for Shepard, so I did that. I wasn't too thrilled with what I had, Shepard seemed a bit flat to me in my future plans so I slowed down my speed run in ME1 to help come up with a new characterization, and I feel like I've gotten one that really sticks now.

I also stupidly forgot to have hard saves before each of the conversations you have with Liara on my previous playthrough, so I had to get through the content to actually get those save since I didn't want to youtube them. I feel like it'd be better to be able to just load, go through the conversation and chose the proper responses on my own, pause, load and repeat so I can get to that semi-memorization I had for the first conversation in the first chapter. I seem to only have that one nearly memorized....

So, yeah, tomorrow I can start typing up Chapter 2, whoo!

[Spiritwolf1]

Finally got my story on Fan Fic, curse the two day wait, Also quick question regarding Asari. With this taking of the DNA, would pregnancy be immediate or could they just like store it somewhere for the future, just wondering cause it's not something done by a sexual act.

http://www.fanfictio...497/1/Turnabout

Modifié par Spiritwolf1, 30 juin 2012 - 07:59 .

[LanceSolous13]

http://social.biowar.../index/12880461

Posted the first Chapter of my Fic. Enjoy!

[fluffywalrus]

Spiritwolf1 wrote...

Finally got my story on Fan Fic, curse the two day wait, Also quick question regarding Ansari. With this taking of the DNA, would pregnancy be immediate or could they just like store it somewhere for the future, just wondering cause it's not something done by a sexual act.

http://www.fanfictio...497/1/Turnabout

Ansari?



Haha, anyway, I personally think that over a long time of melding, small bits of DNA are compiled, but the pregnancy only occurs when a large amount is pulled, so yeah...I figure immediate would be it, but there would be differences in the amount pulled between relatively unfamiliar pairings, and pairings who regularly meld.

Only reason I think this could be the case is because Asari who meld often can get to the Matron stage faster. It would make sense that the more they meld, the more DNA they compile for gene randomization(or whatever they do), and the more the body reacts to that level of experience and readiness for childbirth.

That's just my super uneducated speculation, but it's what I've been running with.

Also, nice avatar Glad to see someone else with taste

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 30 juin 2012 - 07:55 .

[Spiritwolf1]

LOL yeah it's like 4 in the morning here and I haven't had coffee

Modifié par Spiritwolf1, 30 juin 2012 - 07:58 .

[Drussius]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Also, nice avatar Glad to see someone else with taste

Asari and Quarians are great. Two of my favorite races in ME. But what's wrong with my Brogan, Wrex?