Techy People, Assemble?

[looksfine]

Given recent in-game events, I and a few others have proposed a sort of player plot idea that I wanted to run by anybody else whose characters would have gotten in on the Science happening (I'm perfectly fine with handwaving or backtagging, if one so desires)...or any muns who might want to get in on it now, while the getting's still good.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: to my knowledge, there are two major experiments going on currently.  There is the studying of the virus that's infected the consoles, which has been the amazing work of Mike as seen here, as well as Aya's Network Post offering the resources of both Stark Industries and Wayne Enterprise Science Labs, and Subsequent Open Log in which she was given the idea by Clark and Donatello to create Foreign communicators based on the radio technology already available.  The latter has basically become her newest pet project, and the primary focus of my Plot Idea.

PLOT IDEA: Aya & company will have succeeded in creating a series of small hand-held radio systems that could be used for private communications between people too paranoid to use the Network.  However, to avoid turning this into a total deus ex machina Aya, I'm thinking of putting certain restrictions on it:

(1) Option One: A limited number of systems would be available ONLY to those who are involved in upcoming Hero groups working together against Malicant.

(2) Option Two: Any Individual who wants one will be welcome to come collect, but asked to keep broadcasts limited to only important messages.  This isn't meant to be a total Network Replacement, after all, since the entire Network falling completely silent would be incredibly suspicious to one of Malicant's intelligence.

(3) Option Three: Radios are distributed at leisure to whomever desires one, with no restrictions.  But with a significantly lower guarantee of maintained secrecy and encryption.  In other words, while encryptions might be safe from Malicant, any and all transmissions will be openly viewed/heard by anybody in possession of a Radio.

Of course, with any of these options, there is always the potential for enemy discovery later on.  Depending upon how it's received and how the game-wide plot goes.  I can say that with radios like these, because they're portable...there is the risk that a single person could lose or have theirs taken away.  And if the enemy gets their hands on them...well....


So, basically, before I do the final write-up request to set this in motion, I have two questions.  Who wants in, and which Option do you think would be best?

Comments

[andaway]

I am Al

I am in

I am voting for option 2

:V

[looksfine]

Hi Al,

Yay.

Noted.

[wherethestoryis]

Lee here. I vote option 2.

[looksfine]

That's two for 2 so far~

[oneofthegoodguys]

I would like for Mike to be involved, but it would have to be handwaved as I'll be on hiatus.

If I'm understanding correctly, Option Two is basically the radio but with the ability to reply? With the network now static free, that seems to make the most sense to keep it open and differentiate the tech.

[looksfine]

Basically, yes.

Just because the Network is static-free doesn't make it secure; but with a more reliable foreign-based technology at the ready--and one that would be portable, at that--I think it would open up a lot more Network Post options for individuals. Again, with the catch being that all posts and subsequent replies would be Public to all Foreigners,

Consider Mike involved, then. Just let me know if there was anything specific that should be mentioned regarding his involvement, otherwise I'll give him a generic "helped develop the technology" credit. (Since I don't htink the details would be all THAT necessary?)

[i_speak_softly]

I'm seeing a great opportunity here for Techies to collaborate with Strategists. Our tech-heads will happily build the biggest, awesomest radio system anybody could want, but their fantasies will probably involve huge repeater towers and wearable radio-watches for everybody OMG so cool. Some more strategy-minded characters could rein in the geekery by making sure the plans include a way of physically concealing the radios, a method for dividing up network traffic to mislead anyone monitoring that kind of thing, and so on.

We might want to handwave those conversations to keep the timeline to radio-completion moving forward, but getting some OOC input from muns of Strategists could be done quickly, and would lead to interesting CR, more plot involvement, and other good stuff.

[looksfine]

I was thinking so too, especially since Aya was working with Septimus during the Palace Siege and they're already acquainted.

Although Option Two seems to be working out so far, I don't see why they can't still come up with something for the Strategists as well. After all, between Don and Aya and the Green Lantern rings and Mike and the remaining stuff left over from Bruce and Tony's endeavors, there's a LOT Of different possibilities to work with here, And possibly even multiple radios.

I'm flexible.

And I was thinking to have this post up for a few more OOC days so that everybody has the chance to see it before putting in the official request, then making the announcement (approval pending) for the radios to be ready and available starting the very beginning of June. Which isn't to say we can't still plan from that point on. Or still handwave stuff OOCly.

[i_speak_softly]

Cool. Don will definitely want to consult Leo, probably ICly in a couple more tags on our thread. The mun is out of town this weekend, but I will point her in this direction when she gets back.

[looksfine]

The more Green People, the Merrier.

[duelkatana]

Hi there! Above-specified mun who is back from weekend business and has been pointed here as promised. We're still working on the thread Ami mentioned, but I'll drop some initial input here:

I like the idea of Techies and Strategists collaborating on this a lot. I imagine it would take some close working together simply because of the nature of the project - like Ami said, it would be best to strike a balance between efficiency and viability.

Put another way: the Techies know what can be done, while the Strategists know what should not be done if they want to stay under the radar. That will mean a lot of back and forth - the Techs might draw up plans and run them by the Strategists, who may then point out that this is a terrible place for a repeater tower; how hard would it make things to put it here instead, or take out these couple? Conversely, the Strats might propose some feature or other be implemented, only for the Techs to point out that with certain restrictions, it would be impossible. Etc, etc. All of this, I suspect, leaves much potential for in-depth conversation and maybe even a few arguments.

My point is, I think a project like this would require a lot of IC experimentation to strike that perfect balance. Any characters who get involved are likely to get quite familiar with each other just through trying to hammer out all the fine details. Which isn't to say it can't still be handwaved! Just something to keep in mind.

[looksfine]

Hello, Above-specified mun! I hope your business went well.

I agree with pretty much everything you said. I love the idea of having the groups collaborate together, as it not only makes things more interesting IC but opens up the possibilities for all sorts of CR combinations. Which is good, and exactly what we want!

How would you suggest this IC experimentation? A log, perhaps? After the initial wave of radios are established?

(The first wave of radios don't necessarily have to be the same ones that the Strategists end up using. Just saying.)

[duelkatana]

Hmm... a log might not be a bad idea. I think it would benefit us to get a concrete head count of everyone who does want to be involved, just so we know who we can contact in the future and be like "hey! our characters worked together on this thing, let's do more stuff!" because, y'know, big logs don't always go 100% as planned when everyone is trying to talk to everyone else.

Another idea is to submit it as a full player mission, so we get all of the spiffy, official bells and whistles, in-depth plotting for the whole process, etc. This would be good to do if those who want to get involved are down for the more hands-on approach, but not so much if we prefer handwaving it.

That said, I don't think this is the kind of thing we can totally handwave, so whether we spring for a bona-fide player mission or not, a log sounds great to me.

[looksfine]

Or we could do both?

Start with a sort of mingle log to get the attention of those who want in, in which IC character discussions of what each individual player has been working on--although Mike's mun will have to handwave, as I believe they're going to be on hiatus for most of the month but wanted Mike to get in on this--and basically establish contacts.

Once that has a chance to take off and we have a good idea of numbers, player missions can expand from there. Though I think that might be more on the Stratagists end than the Techies end, since the Stragists would be the more front-and-center offensive group.

(Though, if the numbers pan out, it might be interesting to assign a Strategist to a Technie for on-field communications, maybe?)

[duelkatana]

Oh, I like this idea. It will give us plenty of time to not only shake things out OOCly while still making progress ICly, but to collect people who want to be a part of it in the process.

As for the content of the mission log itself, I agree, that's something we'll just have to wait on until we see the numbers. Though I like your idea there too; a mix of field work and technical focus could be tricky to pull off, but I'm sure it's doable. On-field communications might work, or perhaps combat-able Strategists (or hell, any trustworthy CR either party might have brought along) could serve as escorts out on the field as the Techs work their engineering magic?

[backwordscompatible]

The content, I don't think, will be nearly as tricky as the management of the log itself. Once we know what we're going for and what we want to come out as a result. Of course it's not up to me, but I wouldn't recommend more than three people to a thread for this very reason, and two if possible. Modeled similarly to how the log Al put up is going. It's slow, but I feel as if things are happening. Which is what we need in a game like this. The consequences need to be FELT in a timely manner.

So, yeah, we'll start with the open mingle and work from there both OOCly and ICly.

[duelkatana]

I agree fully. It goes back to the numbers, but again, that's just a bridge we'll have to cross once we actually get to it. Better management of participants means more timely progression, and with the huge changes to the overall game currently being discussed, the quicker the better.

tl;dr, sounds like a plan.

[backwordscompatible]

Fabulous.

First week in June, then? Permission permitting, I was going to have Aya's announcement of the new radios on the first. Granted, I will be away at Anext the weekend of the 6th, but I'll be back Sunday, Monday latest eat to catch up on anything I might miss.

[duelkatana]

First week of June works for me! I'll hit up Don-mun as well regarding what we've talked about and see if she has any more input.

[looksfine]

cool, cool.

I'm easy to reach and online pretty much every day, so just drop me a quick note if anything changes~

[agentx13]

I don't know how much help Sharon could be - she's off on an undercover mission that will take roughly a month. She'd be glad to help any way she can, though, from making radios, coding them, or just collecting materials to make them.

She'd vote for option one, because she's mean and picky like that.

[looksfine]

We don't have to go into every last detail of who does what, but if you want to say that Sharon did all of the above, then I would be happy to include her in the credit.

Although her mean and picky option is going to be outruled at this rate, as most people seem to be going for option 2. Sorry, Sharon.