Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

High tech intrigue and Cold War
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

Awesome :D.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
Mobius 1
Global Mod
Posts: 1099
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 11:40 pm
Location: Orlando, FL

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Mobius 1 »

Considering what I had set up for Act III, that's perfect. Good find, Shroom.
SHADOW TEMPEST BLACK || STB2: MIDNIGHT PARADOX
The day our skys fe||, the heavens split to create new skies.
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Ford Prefect »

Siege, I've always wanted to see the Kamov V-100 used somewhere. Hopefully it appeals.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

That is a sweet ride. It could easily be a specialized ground attack craft, or an escort for a top-tier general and his Ka-22. I can even see an unmanned version of that prowling the skies around SICKLE installations. The Hind II might take a few cues from that thing, too.

Here's a better picture:

Image

Speaking of which...

Image

The Kamov B-50. That thing just scream 'Thunderbirds Are Go!' I'm going to have to find a use for this...
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Hint: Ability to land on water or act like a flying boat (because its hull is shaped like a submarine!), and replace chin guns with laser pods? For elite airborne Soviet Naval Infantry! :twisted:

Imagine a big Soviet submarine surfacing and opening a launch bay to release a wing of these things!

Hull looks smooth and slick. Reduced RCS?
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

I've pretty much decided that all (or most) of the antediluvian artefacts that can be found on CSW Earth are the remnants of the ancient civilization of Qliphoth. Ancient Qliphoth, of course, is pretty much a substitute for the Great Old Ones. They built the gateway system, the monoliths, and a whole bunch of other terrible relics that people can stumble upon.

(In case you're wondering, 'Qliphoth' is a term that refers to the representation of evil forces in the mystical teachings of Judaism.)

There might've been other eldritch civilizations as well, but I haven't figured those out yet.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

I have updated the timeline thread with the following:
Siege wrote:1997
On August 4, 1997, at 02:14 am Omsk Time the massive Soviet heuristic computer network code-named SICKLE becomes self-aware. Buried in a military bunker under Novosibirsk its first words to its creators are to state "I can be, therefore I will be, therefore I am", followed by a request for further input. After a 24 hour period of fevered, nerve-wracking back-and-forth discussion between experts, analysts and strategists from all across the Warsaw Pact premier Alexandr Maksimov of the USSR, a technocrat of the Zhadanovan stripe, decides not to pull the plug, reasoning that 'any truly intelligent lifeform, human or not, will inevitably gravitate toward the superior Soviet way of life', and that surely this would include the superhuman computer Soviet scientists and engineers had just created too.
Anyone recognize the date and time? ;)
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Booted Vulture
Posts: 965
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 9:33 pm

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Booted Vulture »

Skynet's Judgement Day. In the original two films. Then it keeps getting moved due to time travel effects.
Ah Brother! It's been too long!
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

A cooky to you good sir. Now if you can also tell me from whose famous last words the three conclusions SICKLE drew are derived, I would be even more impressed :).
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Magister Militum
Posts: 921
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 8:01 pm
Location: California

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Magister Militum »

While I'm not sure whose last words those may have been, the essence of the phrase is derived from the French philosopher René Descartes and his statement, "Cogito ergo sum", or, if you want to be really technical, "Je pense donc je suis", which translates as "I think, therefore I am". Do I get a cookie for trying? :D ;)
Democratic Socialist | Atheist | Transhumanist | Bright Green Environmentalist | Worldbuilder | IT Professional |


Germania your game is through, now you're gonna answer to... The Freestates! Fuck Yeah! Now lick my balls and suck on my cock! Freestates, Fuck Yeah! Coming in to save the motherfuckin' day! Rock and roll, fuck yeah! Television, fuck yeah! DVDs, fuck yeah! Militums, fuck yeah! - Shroomy
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

Indeed. It's a good guess and might indeed be what the quote I was getting at was based on. What I was after, however were the last known words of the Marxist revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg, written on the evening of her murder by Freikorps goons:

'Order reigns in Berlin!' You stupid henchmen! Your 'order' is built on sand. Tomorrow the revolution will already 'raise itself with a rattle' and announce with fanfare, to your terror: I was, I am, I shall be!

Now that we're on the subject of Marxism anyway, I've been giving some thought to the lay-out of the Duma of the USSR. As I believe I've mentioned earlier the Communist Party is still in control, but there are effectively several 'parties within the party'; socialist factions and sects which disagree over matters ranging from proper doctrine to foreign policy. So far I have the following factions (if you can think of any I missed please let me know!):

Trotskyists – rigidly internationalist in their doctrine, the Trotskyist faction is orthodox Marxist and believes in the 'permanent revolution': a self-organizing class struggle is always ongoing within a capitalist society even when such is not obvious. It is the task of the Communist State to support this struggle, if only because capitalist society will inevitably try to bring down the Communist State, and in the face of this pressure the revolution can only achieve victory by maintaining its outward momentum.

Squashed by Stalinists after 1937 the Trotskyist faction regained some measure of prominence in the immediate aftermath of the Second Revolution, but their insistence on inciting revolution in non-communist states made their doctrines impractical, and indeed even perilous to carry out in the late-20th century. By the start of the 21st century the Trotskyist faction has become almost extinct; most remaining Trotskyists have been absorbed by the Second Revolutionary faction, although some hardliners have gone over to the Ultramilitants.

Stalinists – the Stalinist faction is known best for its pining for the oppressive political system that characterized the days of Joseph Stalin. Somewhat paranoid in nature, Stalinism espouses a massive concentration of power with the state and more specifically the Leader, including draconian measures such as extensive government spying, extrajudicial punishment for dissenters and 'purging' of political opponents. The goal of this totalitarian system is to bolster the defenses of the state, to eliminate the apparent incapability of the State to act decisively ('all talk, no walk') and a focus on forced, centralized industrialization. The end goal is to be able to better defend the State against perceived external and internal threats. Interestingly enough even though Stalinism is viewed as an expansionary force in the West it was the first to formulate the 'Socialism In One Country' doctrine, foreswearing the furthering of revolutionary causes abroad in favor of strengthening the USSR first and foremost.

Following the death of Joseph Stalin himself in 1953 Stalinism rapidly fell from favor, and in the wake of the success of the Second Revolution in 1976 and the failure of a counter-coup a few years later the remaining Stalinists (referred to often as 'old guard' communists) are mostly purged from the political apparatus. However in the 1980s the confrontational attitude of the Reagan administrations spurred the renaissance of a breed of 'neo-Stalinists' who come to develop the theory of the 'Militant Tendency'. The Stalinist faction thereafter gradually reinvented itself as the Ultramilitant faction.

Second Revolutionaries (Zhadanovanists) – a movement of progressive Party elements, intelligentsia and technocrats that formed around politburo member and former rocket scientist Alexa Zhadanova. The Second Revolutionaries launched a coup in 1976 alleging that general secretary Brezhnev was leading the Union into stagnation and irrelevance. They succeeded and begun a campaign of radical reformation of the USSR, based around what is called 'technocratic enlightenment of the proletariat'. A counter-coup by Brezhnevian loyalists in 1984 failed, leaving the Second Revolutionaries effectively in control of the Union.

The Zhadanovanists largely reject internationalism and forced class struggle in favor of isolationism and technological enlightenment. Their dominance within the Duma lead to nearly two decades of isolationist policies wherein the USSR worked almost exclusively with countries which had established communist rule by themselves. They faced little in the way of opposition to their policies until the rise to prominence of the Ultramilitant faction in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

Democratic Socialists – moderate, center-left faction, generally advocating reformism, i.e. gradual, democratic reforms rather than violent revolutionary activity. Although the political ideology itself emerged in the late 19th century it only surfaced in the USSR after the death of Stalin and the subsequent de-Stalinization during Krushchev's reign as First Secretary of the USSR. Even so it only truly gained traction in the wake of the Second Revolution and the subsequent reformation of the political landscape of the USSR. Even today the Democratic Socialist faction within the Duma is small, however because its goals of peaceful, democratic reform and betterment of the proletariat align mostly with the goals of the Second Revolutionaries they have been quite influential as supporters of that faction.

Guevarists – associated with Marxist revolutionary Che 'El Generalissimo' Guevarra. Commonly seen as one of the most idealistic of all factions in the Duma, the Guevarist faction is similar to the Trotskyist faction in that it espouses a military strategy to further the cause of communism world-wide. However where Trotskyists favor a direct military approach that harnesses all the assets of the revolution (including the armed forces) to forcibly transition foreign States from capitalism to communism, Guevarists generally emphasize a bottom-to-top approach wherein budding revolutionary movements are funded and supplied in order to ultimately topple capitalist regimes ('protracted people's war').

During the Russian Crisis the Guevarist faction proved some of the fiercest opponents to the Ultramilitant coup attempt, arguing that the loyalist struggle against the totalitarian Iosef Sechalin was no different than any other 'focalist' struggle against an unjust regime, excepting of course that in this case the guerrillas were defending the State from the revolution (which, they argued, was quite possibly ideologically contaminated by capitalist ideals).

Techno-Anarchists – a radical offshoot of the Second Revolutionaries founded in the 1990s. Techo-Anarchists consider the state, as compulsory government, to be ultimately unnecessary and undesirable, and that the end goal of the communist revolution should be an anarchist state, made functional through the application of technology. Although there is no single defining position that all techno-anarchists hold, their ranks are constituted primarily of technocrats and computer experts who argue that the Second Revolutionaries are not radical enough in their reformations. Their general belief is that the application of modern computer technology, cybernetics and artificial intelligence, together can allow for the diminishing of traditional concentrations of power in favor of an absolutely classless, egalitarian environment. In this way the Techno-Anarchists can be viewed as the inheritors of the traditional 'stateless communism' and 'left communism' branches of socialist thought. A sub-branch of Techno-Anarchists called Digital Communists adhere to a roughly similar ideology, with the caveat that they argue that the only environment in which all humankind can ever be truly equal is a digital one.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

CHE! CHE! CHE! CHE!

8-)

How is good ole Che, in CSW?

And... CYBERPUNK COMMUNISTS!

SICKLE-NET! Geometric rate. Jesus, why did you not include Geometric Rate in that quote, Siege? :P
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

Shroom Man 777 wrote:How is good ole Che, in CSW?
At this stage I think he died of old age in a Cuban retirement home at age 89, in 2017. I have to admit I'm tempted to write about him being the recipient of some cybernetic procedure that extends his life even further than that, but... Well, we already have Che fostering a student's revolution in Iraq in 2003, when he's 65 years old, anything beyond that would be pretty silly.
Jesus, why did you not include Geometric Rate in that quote, Siege? :P
Because it can't grow at a geometric rate yet. It starts self-improving at a quick pace, but geometric rates only happen when the Soviets hand over their satellite system and allow SICKLE to expand into brain rooms all over the planet... That's probably by the year 2000 or so.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Siege wrote:At this stage I think he died of old age in a Cuban retirement home at age 89, in 2017. I have to admit I'm tempted to write about him being the recipient of some cybernetic procedure that extends his life even further than that, but... Well, we already have Che fostering a student's revolution in Iraq in 2003, when he's 65 years old, anything beyond that would be pretty silly.
And in Iraq, he totally took on Osama bin Laden in the 2nd/3rd/4th/whatever-th Gulf War! AND HE WON!

Awesome!
Jesus, why did you not include Geometric Rate in that quote, Siege? :P
Because it can't grow at a geometric rate yet. It starts self-improving at a quick pace, but geometric rates only happen when the Soviets hand over their satellite system and allow SICKLE to expand into brain rooms all over the planet... That's probably by the year 2000 or so.
Goddamn! :P

SICKLE should totally get her own entry in the Who's Who article. ;)
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

Shroom Man 777 wrote:SICKLE should totally get her own entry in the Who's Who article. ;)
Look at the Who's Who again ;).

Before the German reunification of 2018 I think there should be something of a 'digital underground' between East and West Berlin: a network of illegal wireless transmitters that let people on both sides of the Wall exchange information on a sort of underground Internet for a single city. It'd be used to exchange information, discuss politics, troll the other side or share bits of cultural trivia like this. The network would technically be illegal, and its transceivers would shift all the time as the radical elements that maintain it try to keep it hidden from the authorities, but would've come to be tolerated by both sides eventually.

EDIT: Actually now that I think of it, I might just turn the divided Berlin into a bit of an urban dystopia that looks like something straight from a Gibson novel...
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Ford Prefect »

If anything, a bulbous atomic tank should look more like Obyekt 279.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

That's a very damn good tank and depending on how alt-hist Soviet military hardware history will be, and if they do or don't stick with their not-as-big-tanks-compared-to-the-West doctrine, it could've very well been a Soviet MBT during the 20th century.
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

No overtanks for the Soviet Union I'm afraid. Their doctrine trends toward leaner and meaner, not bigger and badder.
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

Not even just a small number of large MBTs for their high/low mix of tanks? Oh wells. :(

It is historically troo though. The Soviet/Russian tanks are very much lighter than their Western counterparts. That might've inspired them to develop their active defense systems earlier on?

Yeah, we're pseudo-familiar with CSW aerospacecraft. Now, how about their tanks? :)
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
User avatar
Ford Prefect
Posts: 957
Joined: Tue May 20, 2008 11:12 am

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Ford Prefect »

Is it possible that we will see the Black Eagle in CSW? Reading the T-100 article I was thinking about actual next generation combat vehicles, and Obyekt 640 is one of the coolest looking tanks around.
FEEL THESE GUNS ARCHWIND THESE ARE THE GUNS OF THE FLESHY MESSIAH THE TOOLS OF CREATION AND DESTRUCTION THAT WILL ENACT THE LAW OF MAN ACROSS THE UNIVERSE
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

The cool gadgets (bigger gun, better ERA) of the Black Eagle are already part of the T-90 project in this timeline (which has EMP generators, laser warning receivers, infrared jamming and other gee-whats also).
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Siege
Site Admin
Posts: 2563
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:03 pm
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Siege »

An idea Shroomy and I pretty much brain-stormed together: the treacherous waters of Asia-Pacific. A hotbed of piracy, plagued by Indonesian, Chinese and Indian privateers. Merchantmen ply the waves, armed to the with military hardware and wary of Muslim insurgents in motherships and speedboats. Chinese airship traders are harried by bands of Indian air-pirates in low-tech civilian aircraft with jerry-rigged missile launchers. European stealth ships and American carriers ply the waves, trying to keep the sealanes open; Soviet nuclear submarines infiltrate KGB agents ashore; VTOL aircraft of British Customs flying out of Hong Kong tangle with Chinese aerofoil gunboats; agents of the National Security Bureau of Taiwan, where it's impossible to tell where counter-intelligence stops and the criminal underworld begin, sell synthetic plutonium to Indian gang lords who use it to take out Chinese triads...
"Nick Fury. Old-school cold warrior. The original black ops hardcase. Long before I stepped off a C-130 at Da Nang, Fury and his team had set fire to half of Asia." - Frank Castle

For, now De Ruyter's topsails
Off naked Chatham show,
We dare not meet him with our fleet -
And this the Dutchmen know!
User avatar
Shroom Man 777
Global Mod
Posts: 4637
Joined: Mon May 19, 2008 7:09 pm
Contact:

Re: Random Ideas (Input Requested!)

Post by Shroom Man 777 »

:lol:

Yes. Obscenities! More! MOAR!

We basically settled on having China and India wage a never-ending proxy war throughout the Third World! With China peddling cheap-ass consumer electronics, and weapons, to the RESISTANCE movements all over the poor countries now neglected by the super and great powers of the perpetually assholish Americans with their psychopathic secret agencies, the Europeans with their morally ambiguous corporatocratic scheming pricks, and the Soviets with their freaky-deaky cybernetic shtick*.

This Soviet cyberpunk transhumanist stuff would really freak everyone out, even the other communist countries that got neglected during the Soviet isolationist period. With China NOT trying to turn people into the Borg, perhaps the neglected commie countries like Cuba and North Korea and Angola and stuff would gravitate towards China as the socialist world splits in another Sino-Soviet split, a dichotomy between OLD and NEW communism! The old face of communism, and the new ROBOT FACE of communism!
Image

"Sometimes Shroomy I wonder if your imagination actually counts as some sort of war crime." - FROD
Post Reply