Still traveling the Stars

I am still here, haven't been swallowed by a black hole. Been busy with real life and chilling and gaming with some friends.

Also been busy getting everything up to date and that I want on a new laptop. hoping to be getting pics of all my ships here soon, though not making any promises.

Saturn Mining Company

Saturn Mining Company-

The Saturn Mining Company while a Terran based company it isn't part of the USF, operating as a free trade company.

Originally headquartered in the Sol system on the Saturn moon of Titan and a smaller operations on  various other Saturn Satellites. After Earth and its colonies joined the Star Trade Confederation the company seen its profits increase over 300% in the first two months. When the Floragian War started Saturn mining Company had already moved its Corporate headquarters to the Dyson System, an uninhabited star system comprised of 7 rocky mineral rich Mars sized planets and 3 Gas Giants, Dyson Alpha, Dyson Beta, and Dyson Epsilon.

Due to the wealth of the minerals and gasses in the Dyson System, the Saturn Mining Company soon became the largest Mining corporation in the known sectors. Their wealth did come at a cost, many smaller mining companies hired pirates to attack the Saturn mining Companies ships. Due to the attacks the Saturn Mining Company hired over a dozen free companies to operate as security, eventually buying most of them out, to become a permanent security force.

Currently the Saturn mining Company has three primary mining ship designs for their asteroid Mining operations:

The Rock Hound, a small exploratory ship used to do initial test mining on asteroids

The Hauler a medium sized mining ship that typically operates in groups of 4 or in conjunction with a set of Pick Axe class ships

The Pick Axe , a large mining ship that also doubles as a refinery before mined ore is loaded onto Cargo Freighters.

They also operate a many planetside mines, along with many gas colletion rigs mining gas in the Gas Giants.

Two Rock Hounds approaching asteroids being mined by a Pick Axe  (top right ship)and a Hauler (bottom left ship)

Pages Update

If you my fellow Bloggers and loyal followers haven't already checked out the Major Factions page. I have added the a couple of the main factions.

I have also posted Admiral Sean Squires to the Historical Figures and Key Players in the Campaign page.

Now for a cool space pic of two galaxies in the process of colliding

Another cool pic, this one is of another collision of galaxies

Finally a pic of Hoags Object, a ring galaxy

Gaming Mat

Well back a few weeks ago I decided I will need a gaming mat for my Starship Combat to take place, instead of a plain table top. I went and priced some of the options available, both w/ hexes and unhexed.

Ultimately I went the DIY route and purchased a 4-1/4ft by 6ft piece of black vinyl. I then had one of my friends help me paint it via the toothbrush splatter method. I then used red, blue and white spray paints to create a couple nebulas and whatnot. After everything had dried I touched the mat up here and there.

Now on to the pics of the mat by itself and then with some ships and other stuff on it.

The mat before touch-up/detailing

Escape Pod

Zerloon's Casino Docking Bay side

Two Dime Store Plastic ships, one on left was bashed w/ parts from another ship one on the right is stock

Zerloon's Casino, Orbital Thrusters and Zerloons Private Dockign bay

Irregular Miniatures DYE4 Light Cruiser, Natori Class

Mine Cluster

 Space Mine

Irregular Miniatures Generic Fighters

Squires Class Heavy Cruiser

Well its time for the Final Honorary Mention post from my Zombie Blogs Contest. This one goes to the Winner of the Contest: Sean. He has in addition to the prize of $10 in miniatures from a couple different manufacturers (he chose two of Studio Bergstroms Sing-On Praetor Pocket Destroyers) he also had the opportunity to have a Ship Class (plus a ship), just a ship, a Planet, a Planetary System, or a Starbase/Station named in his honor. He initially picked just a ship, though after talking with him I changed it to a Ship Class.


Ship Sanitation Specialist Crewman Sean Squires was serving aboard the USN Ship Greater Destiny, during a stand off against an Anakonzli (pronounced An-A-kon-zel-e) Dreadnaught. Crewman Squires ended up tripping over his untied laces, While trying to catch his balance he grabbed the Trash Disposal lever, jettisoning 1-1/2 tons of trash towards the enemy ship.

Due to a fluke in the enemy ships sensors, it didn't detect the trashball. The ball of trash ended up impacting the enemy ship and clogging the plasma exhaust vent, causing the plasma to back up in the ships system, causing a catastrophic explosion obliterating the ship and its crew. In order to try and cover up his incompetence Crewman Squires claimed that he launched the trash on purpose figuring that it was worth a shot, if it was detected they could claim that it was the automated trash disposal system that jettisoned the ball. His captain believed him, and put his name in for promotion.

The USN promoted him to tactical Fleet Commander of the 73rd Fleet. It was there that they realized he wasn't the tactical genius they were lead to believe when he lost 4 ships due to collisions during a routine rescue operation. the USN quickly "Promoted" him to the rank of Admiral and gave him a desk job, in which he had no true authority. 50 years later most members of the USN had forgotten that Admiral Squires was the cause of the accident of the 73rd Fleet, naming the first ship in the new line of Heavy Cruiser after him, the USNS-10275, The Admiral Squires, the first of 12 Squires Class Heavy Cruiser. The Admiral Squires has served with distinction as a Escort ship for the USF's Merchant Fleet, fending off numerous pirate raids and at least one Anakonzli battleship and 3 Destroyers.

Heres the Squires Class Heavy Cruiser:

The Squires Class Heavy Cruiser is an Amarillo Design Bureau/Mongoose Publishing Federation Light Cruiser/Texas-Class Light Cruiser from the Starline 2500 Line (model # MGP-31001). As with most my ships I am going for more of a minimalistic look, though I do still have some more of the ships details I plan on painting, and since I don't plan on playing in the Star Trek Universe I am not worried if the colors or markings are correct.

5150: Star Navy stats:
Admiral Squires
Class 4
Heavy Cruiser
Thrust 3
Hull Points 8
Shield 2
Guns 3
Missile 2
Hanger N/A
Anti-Aircraft 1
Cargo Bay 2 (For use with the Damage Control to the Disco Lounge and Whats in the Box? Cargo for Starships noncritical damage tables by Colgar6, these have no true game value other then for laughs)

To see what exactly Sean won in addition to the Ships Class being named after his check out his blog here http://seanswgcorner.blogspot.com/2013/06/what-i-won-from-doug.html

Spanky's Haul

Well its time for the next Honorable Mention post from my Zombie Blog's contest. This one goes to the Second Place Winner PapaSpanky. He chose to have a ship named after him. I have chosen to make it a merchant ship.

Spanky's Haul

Spanky's Haul started life as Yamamoto MF-1235 Multi-Purpose Merchant Carrier named the Silver N' Gold, in an ore hauler configuration owned by Jack Reynoldson, a contractor for the Jupiter Mining Consortium. Jack was a heavy drinker and a compulsive gambler. During one of his heavy drinking binges while he was gambling he bet the Silver N' Gold, and unfortunately he lost. The winner of the Port was a small time merchant that went by the name PapaSpanky, never giving his real name. Upon taking possession of the Silver N' Gold, PapaSpanky had the ship refitted for use as a Merchant Freighter, he also renamed it Spanky's Haul. Since acquiring the ship PapaSpanky's has been able to expand his merchant trade, while still piloting Spanky's Haul himself he has added 4 more Merchant Freighters to his fleet.

Heres the ship I am using for now as Spanky's Haul, its an Irregular Miniatures Independent Merchant Ship.

The ship is actually a gray color, while the gray you see in the pics is actually silver.

5150: Star Navy Stats

Spanky's Haul
Class 4
Merchant Freighter
Thrust 3
Hull Points 8
Shields 2
Guns 1
Cargo Bays 5 official, 3 secret which are used for smuggling goods, and each only have 1/4 the capacity of the other bays

Zerloon Casino, Luxury Center and Hotel

As part of the contest I ran to pick a name for my primary faction the second and third place winners would receive Honorary mention here and either a ship or starbase/space station named after them. Third place winner Zerloon wanted a station named after him so I decided to have it as an old asteroid mine turned casino. Just beware the Fluff below for the station is a draft and may not represent the final version.

 Zerloon Casin, Luxury Center and Hotel

Initially opened on an mined out asteroid by Commandant (Honorary) Lorenzo Zerloon as a place for the systems miners to go to gamble and relax, the Casino only took up a small portion of the asteroids interior. The remaining area was used by the Commandant as storage, As time progressed and more miners visited the Casino the Commandant realized he needed to expand his operations.

The first major addition was the Luxury Center, consisting of the brothel/massage parlor and some small holosuites. Word of the Casino reached the heads of the Mining companies, especially since 80% of all the miners spent their off time at the Casino. It was about this time that the Commadant was starting his next expansion, a Hotel. When J.R. Remington, owner of the Ouroborus Mining Consortium, head of the Casino, he approached the Commandant with a proposal to turn the Casino into a Luxury Resort.

The Commandant entered into a partnership with Remington. Remington would own 25% of the Casino and run the daily operations. Through the partnership the Asteroid housing the Casino was towed into orbit around the planet Resulan. Remington then had the Casino, hotel and Luxury Center gutted. Over the next 4 months The Commandant and Remington worked tirelessly going over the plans and supervising the construction of the New Casino, Luxury Center and Hotel. It was also during this time that the Commandant installed the "backdoor" his personal hanger bay on the asteroid, where its rumored that the Commandant has "flushed" certain individuals that have crossed him into space.

Upon the Grand Reopening the Casino floor expanded to 300 times the size it was. The Luxury Center also had new state of the art Holosuites, shops, parks, and restaurants put in, the most popular being the Planet View restaurant, giving its diners a beautiful view of Resulan while they eat. The Commandant also put in 2 hotels for his guests, the luxurious 5 star Remington, and the Miners Glory, a 3 star hotel catering more towards the miners of the system and their families. 



Now onto some pics of the Casino

 

Zeloon Casino- Yes it has been painted a Metallic Purple, I am thinking that in universe fluff a metallic purple metal will be a higher valued ore then gold, and that the Casino was painted using faux paint similar to how you see some Casinos using faux gold paint for some of the interior and exterior features.

 

 The Docking Bay for the planetary shuttles (on the right) along with the Planet View Restaurant (to the left of the docking bay)

 

The "rear" of the Casino, note the dark spot between the Orbital thrusters, this is Commandant Zerloon's private hanger.

Unfortunately the flash on the camera washed out a lot of the details. The Red Tower and Yellow Tower both house VIP and High Roller suites. The blue tower (the tallest one) houses The Commandant, and Remington's offices along with other offices and suites. The Teal and Green towers (short skinny ones) are both part of the staff housing. The Silver Tower above the Docking Bay is the sensor and communications array along with the shield generators. I am basically done, I may go back and do some touch up painting and adding some new details via paint.

Next up will either be the second place winners Honorary Mention or the Winners mention and background fluff, if I don't post a pic or two of my fleet so far.

Edit 13JUNE2013: some minor revising to fluff

5150: Star Navy Ship Record Sheet

I decided to fool around with Vampifans ATZ: Final Fade out Character Record sheets and turn them into a Ship Record Sheet. When printing this out on a standard sheet of printer paper (8-1/2"x11-in) there will be 4 per page. I intend to cut these out and glue them to the back of 3x5 Index Cards, so each ship will have its own card.



I have modified where I can incorporate some of the ships crew on the Record Sheet, this is more for aesthetics then actual game play at this time. I may eventually use it for a 5150: Star Navy/5150: Star Army crossover campaign, so that I know at a glance who the ships command/key personnel are

If you look at the Hull Points vs the systems you will notice I gave the ship 2 cargo bays (CB). I will be using the Cargo Bays as a Common System like the Bridge, Engine and Life Support on any non merchant ship, though I will limit the max # of base to Class/2 rounded down (so Class 3 =1 Bay, Class 4 &5 = 2 bays, Class 6=3 bays), Stations will have the max number of bays as Class*1.5 rounded up. Merchant ships will still use 1 CB= 1 Hull point. I see the Cargo Bays in the non-merchant ships as being a Storage area, and not being as large as those on a merchant ship. Cargo Bays will be used with Colgar6's "What's in the Box? Cargo for Starships" non-critical damage chart (in addition to his "Damage Control to the Disco Lounge" damage chart).

You can find the file here

Hopefully someone else finds this ship record sheet useful.

United Star Federation

Well the voting over on my other blog has finished. The winning name for my Primary Faction is The United Star Federation.


The United Star Federation was founded in the 2234, 75 years after the Terrans  (mankind) first met its first extraterrestrial race, the Dyphlans (Pronounced Die-Flan) when a Dyphlan geological survey ship came into orbit above the Europa Colony, requesting assistance in repairs to the ship. Reginald Roberts the Colony Governor is credited with welcoming the Dyphlans and opening up the ground work that later became the United Star Force.

The Dyphlans helped mankind with the development of Faster Then Light Drives and introduced them to the Star Trade Confederation, a loose trade alliance of 5 races, the Dyphlans, the Akkaram (pronounced Ak-aah-ram, the Volem (pronounced Vol-Em, the Cethlo (pronounced Seth-Lo), and the Jorgo (pronounced Jore-Go). The Star Alliance began trading with mankind.

In 2225 the Floragian (pronounced Flora-Gi-An) Empire after years of harassing the outposts and trade centers of the various races of the Star Trade Confederation sent an attack fleet to destroy the Unity Trade Station at the edge of the Sol System. By this time Unity had become the major trade center for both the Star Trade Confederation and other non allied races. With the destruction of Unity Trade Station the Star Trade Confederation and the various races who lost individuals in the Unity attack joined together to attack the Floragian Empire. The Floragian War, as it later became known, lasted 8 years with heavy loses on both sided before a Terran ship was able to slip past the Floragian defense line and launch an attack that destroyed the Floragian Shipyards and the ships docked there for repairs. Thus ending the war.

The Floragian Treaty signing in 2233 lead to the founding of the United Star Federation less then a year later, with the Floragians, the Star Confederation and 27 other races all joining. The USF is the governing branch, with its capitol on the Terran homeworld of Earth. While Earth is the official Capitol most of the government is located on Apideas Prime, only the President and his Cabinet residing on Earth. The Military Branch of the USF is the United Star Navy.

Knowing that they may be other Races out there that may be hostile towards the USF, the USN is tasked with defending the USF and taking the fight to those who threaten it, in addition to exploration of the galaxy and making contact with new races. The USN has proven while they wish to remain peaceful and treat new raced with diplomacy, they won't hesitate to fight if it comes down to it.


Edit 16JUNE2013: Changed the Faction name to United Star Federation from United Star Force after it was pointed out by a fried that United Star Force sounded more like a Military government, and if they were why would they have the United Star navy as part of their operations. United Star Federation sounded a lot friendlier and less militaristic.

Everyones Favorite Little Big Spaceship

Was bored and figured since I had a few minutes I would do a quick scratchbuild for a space ship.

I decided to do probably the worlds most famous and recognizable ship.

  

Granted its not perfect, being about 5mm high its not like it will be a daVinci or  even a Gold Demon contending model. I probably took all of 3 minutes to do this and that was waiting for the paint to dry,

For 5150 Star Navy I am thinking of using this as a Cruiser (Class 4 ship with 8 hull points. 7 points of Shields and 1 points of Anti-Aircraft  Batteries). The only reason I gave it the AA is because they are a defensive weapon.

Not sure what it would be in Full Thrust yet, will have to sit down and figure it out.

Now onto something not so familiar.

Over on the SCN forums (see link for Star Ranger Forums to the left) they are holding a Scratchbuilding contest. The Ship, Station, or Weapon should be between 6 and 8 inched long, and made of found materials, no parts from other ships, bitz, or parts from model kits, such as disposable razor, toothbrush, tic-tac container, etc...

I used parts from a Nebulizer mouth piece, gumball machine capsules and a little plastic monster that I found in the back of my vehicle.

I decided to build a space station, I am calling it Research Station 531.

Now here is the finished (for the most part) Station with two of the plastic dimestore ships, one primed black the other primed grey with some black added:

Welcome to Starbase Alpha Romeo Charlie (A.R.C.).

Here you will eventually be able to find background fluff for my Starship Project along with starship miniatures (as soon as I get some). If you are into Zombies check out my other blog Dougs land of the Dead, there I am running a contest in honor of starting this new blog up, You get to vote on the name of the primary faction that I will be using in my Starship Universe, and those who vote for the winning name will have their names put in a hat and one lucky person will win a Miniature of their choice from one of 6 manufacturers.

I am still deciding between Full Thrust or 5150 Star Navy as the rules I will be using, right now I am leaning more towards 5150, since I am already familiar with the Two Hour Wargames rule system.


I look forward to getting content on this blog and getting to know new gamers out there in Internetland.

Doug