Okay, so I had tried to get something going for our gatherings at Otakon but it didn't happen - cons are like that - and as such I'd like to get together five more willing souls (maybe four if triangles is feeling okay) to play some
Artemis: Starship Bridge Simulator.What is this game?Artemis is basically a simulator of running a starship. Each player connects to a computer that is acting as the captain's station. The captain doesn't actually do anything on this station - they have an overlay and screens that display status, and can change visuals, but the actual running of the ship depends on the five bridge stations: Helm, Engineering, Weapons, Science, Communications. Each other person playing gets those stations.
So you're telling me I don't actually get to fly around the ship myself? Boooriiing.Think of it like this: this is basically LARPing Star Trek without the redshirting. Or something a little more realistic (casting aside the whole realism issue with starships, warp drive, beam weaponry, etc.) since these things are complicated to run. But if nothing else, it's a teamwork thing! How awesome would it be to unleash a perfectly-timed phaser volley on target as your helmsman brings the ship about to target torpedoes into the vulnerable spot? To sweat as damage control reports flood in as you maintain full weapons power and balancing shields to match against pursuers? Or to be the one having to make the tough call, to order lowering power to life support in a desperate gambit to take out an enemy cruiser?
Wow, that sure is a load of horse crap. It sounds like work.Technically Touhou is a series of small tasks writ large and danmaku, so clearly I won't be able to convince you to have some fun on a starship bridge with us. :-(
My computer sucks and I only have 56k. How do you plan to do this?Fortunately it's not a very graphics or network-intensive game, simply requiring video output at DX9 level or comparable. A modern integrated card should have a good shot at smooth gameplay. We'll get together on IRC, run a quick test or two, and maybe a training mission to see how well the crew works together given network latency. We'll communicate over Skype. If things run well we could even scale up in the future - who'd be interested in large-scale fleet missions, or even PvP?
Does this cost money?Drunk_Aya bought a license for which I paid him my share. I think I'm the only one who bought into it but that did entitle me to the game. The licensing is done purely on the honor system. If we make this happen and we all enjoy it, a $5 contribution for the cost of the license would be appreciated. I'll purchase it myself as soon as we have enough buy-in and commitment from players. So rest assured, you can play the game before making the dive as it were.
When are we going to do this? I'm ready to do my best Worf impression.Weekends are pretty much the only time for me. Friday nights tend to be date night for triangles and I but I can see about scheduling housework and such around our availability.
I want to be the captain!We'll draw numbers out of a virtual hat - as in rolling 1d6 by way of Keine on IRC. :V
Anyway, post or PM here. Check out the website above and the
Artemis Wiki for info. I'll try to answer questions as best I can or direct you to the best source if I can't.
