Scrum is pbta; Agile is Story Games.

Scrum is pbta; Agile is Story Games. Top-down GM centric games are waterfall. Developers are players, and an effective scrum master is essentially an MC.

That is; Scrum is a particular methodology that is lightweight, hackable, and designed to be there when you need it. It is a subset of story games, which are more a philosophy than a methodology. Scrum and pbta demand the players/developers have an agenda, and advocate for themselves.

Top-down GM centric games -- I'm looking at you, Dungeons & Dragons -- put more of the onus on the GM, and expect the players to follow along in the world the GM has built.

I've said this before. I find it more and more true as I practice being a Scrum Master (SM); I provide a structure, and the players developers drive.

Or, to phrase this another way: Most of my job is the same skill base as MCing Urban Shadows.

There's been a prompt going around regarding Jewish people who have changed our lives.

There's been a prompt going around regarding Jewish people who have changed our lives. This lead me to, at lunch, talking about the parenting style of a Jewish friend of mine.

This man has raised his children to question authority in all it's bullshit forms, including his own. Such that when his children seek to rebel, they say something like "father, I trust you implicitly and will do as you say", which really irks him.

One of these boys, when a teacher gave some nonsensically dumb instruction, asked to go to the Principal's office to discuss. The teacher refused and told the boy the sit down; the kid's response was "Or what .... you'll send me to the principal?"

The whole family goes on marches for the rights of others. He works on voter registration, and generally seems to care about others.

This is someone I know rather well, and many of you can likely guess who. I didn't have to look far.

NPR this morning allowed a fascist white supremacist to shout down there host while talking about birthright...

NPR this morning allowed a fascist white supremacist to shout down there host while talking about birthright citizenship. This was some asshole who works for that asshole.

I emailed, asking them to stop allowing these people on the show. And, of course, pointing out the host deserves better.

I figure if rpg.net can be anti-Trump, so can WAMU.

We played The Resistance: Avalon last night, with mostly new people.

We played The Resistance: Avalon last night, with mostly new people.

It felt a lot more like Shoutdown to Launch than Shoutdown usually does. And without the safety tools!

The group was 5 men, 2 women. Team Good shouted at each other -- a dude shouting down a woman -- while team evil kept mostly quiet, occasionally poking.

There's a metaphor in there somewhere. Something about how all it takes for evil to triumph is for good to fight among themselves.

An unpopular opinion I actually argued in a meeting: PPT is bad.

An unpopular opinion I actually argued in a meeting: PPT is bad. Instead, write things down with sentences. Paragraphs, even. There is little that can be explained in a ppt that cannot in a five paragraph essay.

Furthermore; PPT dictates a particular speed of presentation, minimizes conversation, and expects people to understand in an arbitrary and dumb way. There's no going back for clarification, and it magnifies some voices while further silencing others.

Instead, have out a few pages. Ask people to read. And to bring comments.

I picked up a Heinlein book I hadn't read in 20 years. From the library, of course.

I picked up a Heinlein book I hadn't read in 20 years. From the library, of course.

I had wanted Tunnel in the Sky, but the library doesn't have it. Instead, Farmer in the Sky.

What this is: 1950sh era boy life novel set in space. Eagle Scout Farmers on Gandymede.

I read 130 pages in one go. There's a good chance I'll finish it tomorrow.

The good: The style! The prose! Space is big! Communicating across distances is hard! Orbital mechanics are important, and thankfully simplified. Ecology is awesome. There's finances and economics to space! Woot, it almost makes sense and it's clear Heinlein is thinking about how to make this a reasonable scenario.

The bad: Girls and women are, at best, second-class characters. Our young protagonist lives with his dad, and has a dead mom. His dad remarries a woman with a daughter, which makes it possible for all four of them to migrate.

Our protagonist is running around being awesome on Ganymede, while his new sister is stuck in a hospital room. Boys are given perks and privileges girls are not, and this is considered acceptable by the narrative.

The weird: Engineers who don't know what'd happen if, while going very close to the speed of light, you increased acceleration. Answer: Mass increases as you get close to C, such that the energy required to increase velocity asymptotically approaches infinity as V approaches C.

I mostly understand that. What I don't understand is how two light rays emitted from an LED, both travelling at C away from the LED are also travelling at C relative to each other. That I cannot grasp.

The personal: It's clear I picked up some things from this and other Heinlein books. There's some dreadful arithmetic here, things I've been accustomed to through this and other novels.

Thoughts and comments, either on this or Heinlein or scifi?

Oxygen not Included: Cycle 53

Oxygen not Included: Cycle 53

... Discovered a chlorine vent. Dug to it. Now the base is filled with chlorine.

Upside: No one is sick.
Downside: Too much chrlorine such that I cannot even produce oxygen.

Starting over.

Sabrina would be much better if it was able 30% faster.

Sabrina would be much better if it was able 30% faster.

I enjoy the plot. The feminism is intersectional. It's just slow paced.

In other news: Gilmore Girls is about the right speed.

We are hosting Thanksgiving.

We are hosting Thanksgiving. It'll be 13 people: 9 adults, 4 kids. The oldest kid is 13, the youngest like 9 or so. We're arranging to not have a kid's table.

Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.

Some consumerist nonsense:
We do not have 13 plates. Well, we do now. We bought 4 more.
We do not have 13 forks. Well, we do now. We bought 4 more.
We do not have 13 spoons. Well, we do now. We bought 4 more.
We do not have 13 wine glasses. Well, we do now. We bought 4 more.

This pattern continues, and was relatively inexpensive. The above items were under $50. I'm actually really kinda impressed: mid-grade brand-named last for years stuff, and enough for a couple of people to be happy is under $50.

Then, we realized: We could use more cutting boards! Even in our normal life, we run out of cutting boards. And might as well have another Chef's knife.

Another $100. The cutting boards are all Epicurean, and the knife is from Victorinox.

Do you know about Victorinox? They make the third best knife, and are best known for working with the Swiss Army.

We're buying some more stuff, like a second card table so we can have everyone at a single table. No fucking kids table.

All food will be served family style, at the table. Had to buy a a thing to keep the table from getting hot, as apparently that's a problem.

--- anyway ---

No kids table. Everyone eating together. Enough cutting boards and knives, all dishwasher safe.

Someone else is bringing a turkey. We're providing all vegetarian foods, many gluten free.

What're we missing?

SABRINA SPOILERS

SABRINA SPOILERS
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SABRINA: Rory
The Cousin: Lorelie
The best friend: Lane
The mean aunt: Emily
The nice aunt: Richard
The boy friend: Dean
The mean girls: Paris + Crew

It's not a bad formula. It's a great formula.

We got surprise tickets to Board Game Geek Con!

We got surprise tickets to Board Game Geek Con!

Who else is going?

Like many (most? all?) of us, I did not win the lottery last night.

Like many (most? all?) of us, I did not win the lottery last night.

If I had won, I was going to fund my favorite charity, put sweat into the organizations I care about, take care of my family, and continue to hang out with my friends.

Instead, I am going to continue to do all of those things to the best of my ability while working for a profit.

A billion dollars would give me a lot more power and ability, but I'm doing pretty alright without it.

A lot of that is due to the birth lottery. I had the good fortune to have grandparents who had decent incomes, went to college, fought against totalitarianism, and raised good children who became my parents.

I'm not much of an outlier for my family. And if I was, there's a good chance that'd be due to luck, rather than virtue.

So, while a billion dollars would be nice ... I'm doing alright. And most of it has absolutely nothing to do with my actions.

When we win the lotto, some thoughts:

When we win the lotto, some thoughts:
- Fully fund give directly's 10 year longitudinal study.
- Work with the anti-bail organizational to pay for all bail in America, thus ending bail.
- run the for-profit prison system into the ground.

So, that's kinda the plan: Invest money in proving a MBI works with science, end bail, end private prisons.

Think a billion dollars is enough?

If the Federation was actually post scarcity ...

If the Federation was actually post scarcity ...

DS9 Se: Ep 18: Profit and Loss.

Cardassian school teacher: I'm a good school teacher, but not much of a shuttle pilot. Can you repair it?
Chief O'Brief: This is an old model shuttle. We'll scrap it and replicate you a new runabout. It'll take about five minutes. Thanks for stopping by the station!

--- end of episode ---

I'm not entirely convinced the federation creates more per capita wealth than the US; they just distribute it a lot more evenly.

In an agile meeting.

In an agile meeting.

colleague: Because we're running Jira cloud, if it gets hacked by Russia...
Me: Jira is running in the AWS cloud. If that gets hacked by Russia, we're all fucked anyhow. That's a bad argument, and you can do better.

But what do I know: I'm on NyQuil

... At the office today.

... At the office today.

Him: The podcast we did this weekend was hard because
Me: My weekly RPG is having similar issues. It's a playtest, and we're recording. So, claps for spikes. I did not know that worked.
Him: .... What RPG is it?
Me: ... a hack of Blades in the dark, which is a hack of Apocalypse World. Basically, magical children soldiers fighting for the last bastion of humanity.
Him: Magical girls?
Me: ... Exactly right.
...
Him: I love Fate.
Me: . Also, do you know Fiasco?
Him: I love fiasco.
Me: ... And camping?
Him: Eagle Scout.
...
Me: Let me tell you about Camp Nerdly.

Space RPGs.

Space RPGs.

Diaspora -- the fate hack, not the distributed social network making the G+ refugee situation a bit more tenable -- has some real inspirational starship building rules.

While I love them, I've always found them to be not quite what I want:
-- starship size is awesome and matters. In Diaspora, there's no size.
-- Tech level is granular. In Diaspora, there are only a few tech levels -- four capable of spaceships, 2 capable of interstellar ships. I'd rather a dozen or two tech levels.
-- The means of intersteller travel is very specific. While it's cool, it's not genre emulative in a meaningful sense. It's closest to The Expanse, but different.

Traveller has starship size and lots of tech levels, but I can never understand if there are points or whatever associated with tech level and size. It's all foggy to me, and there's probably a dozen different systems over the decades. The intersteller travel is much more genre emulative, but also chunky.

So, some thoughts:
1. Keep points-based. Points are cool.
2. Keep increasing points as levels go up, and making shit cheaper as TL goes up. Make this a formula, rather than charts.
3. Get rid of the cap on bonuses. Shit at the high levels is too expensive to buy anyway. This reduces a 2d grid to a 1D grid. Essentially, this becomes a formula.
4. Tone down EW. If we played the rules right, it is the best way to disable other ships, far outclassing torps or beams. That ain't right. Maybe have EW only work in the nearest one or two zones. So it becomes torps at long range, then lasers, then EW. Each has there best range.
5. Modify Trade into three tracks: Cargo, Pax, Message. So the primary ways to stay in the black are to carry stuff, people, or data. Succeed on any of these roles, and the ship keeps flying. Succeed on two, you get statch. Succeed on all three, you get scratch and something real interesting happens. Maybe this is a pick X on a list, whatever. Fail on all, you be fucked. [ I think Trade is interesting! ]
7. Jump capability is interesting, so let's add a Jump track. Higher the jump, the more times you can jump without refueling. In any system, fuel comes back but slow.
8. Emulating fiction suggests spaceships can enter atmo pretty easily at sufficient tech levels, so let's make a stunt for being able to enter atmo.

There's a couple different dimensions I judge jobs I could take on:

There's a couple different dimensions I judge jobs I could take on:
1. Pay, obviously
2. How the job feels - this is everything from commute to coworkers. All those subjective feelings.
3. effect the job has on the world - largely positive, neutral, or negative.

I've had jobs and positions with a lot of variety on these.

Current job pays a bit less than last job, but (2) and (3) are both so much higher. My highest on (1) had very low (2) and (3). This is the best (2) I've had, and quite possibly the best (3).

[ While ultimately what we're doing is something I'd rather we not have, here in reality it'll save the government a whole lot of money while producing better results. I can get behind that. ]

How do you judge your jobs? How is your job now?

Totally bought some lotto tickets.

Totally bought some lotto tickets.

What ever shall I do with a billion dollars?

I should* buy some powerball tickets.

I should* buy some powerball tickets.

I figure two bucks for a one in a billion or so chance of winning a billion or so dollars is a good deal, right?

Having emotional permission to anticipate what life would be like. See, I'd take the annuity, so that's ... what, 20 million a year or more, and it goes up as time goes on? So, I get the chance to think about what life'd be like with a check for 20 million bucks.

I figure we'd do a lot of travelling. See places of the world we've not hit yet. Do some politicking, most likely. Then open a board game cafe / coffee shop / pastry shop. Hire a barrista, a bartender for the late night crowd, and most def a games curator. Make sure we keep interesting games.

Then I'd just play some games that take little more than index cards. Maybe then I could get advance copies of the games I want, too.

Taxes would take some of it, sure. But even half of 20 million is still ten million. I figure we could live on that for a year, pretty damn easily.

And, of course, we'd put at least a million into government bonds or something similar. Emergency back up, never touch it money.

I guess the biggest change is we'd quit our jobs. No need to sweat for companies. That's a great way to opt out of being the working class.

And for most people, that's probably a much bigger deal. We both mostly like our jobs. We're paid well and our jobs aren't too stressful. They aren't likely to disappear, have benefits, and both probably make the world a better place. At least marginally. We've been lucky enough to have our option.

And that's a privilege way to many people do not have. With worker pay flat, stock dividends high, and the estate tax essentially gone, America is headed towards an aristocracy. Which is ultimately good for no one.

So, I guess I should( buy some power ball tickets!

*read as "should not"

At a party last night, I was somewhat needled for my vegetarianism.

At a party last night, I was somewhat needled for my vegetarianism. Which is kind of ok: I have canned and prepared responses.

This time, though: I got heckeled. That's not common!

Me: "... so I avoid meat for a bunch of the standard ethical and enviromental reasons, with some exceptions ... "
Heckler: But bacon is so good. Is bacon an exception?
Me: "... I have pretty bad reactions to bacon, so it's off the list anyway."
Heckler: Too bad, bacon is so good....
Me: ... I try to avoid eating things that want to be free anyway.
Heckler: They aren't human. And taste so good.

Me: "... ok. Fine. You're related to humans, yes?"
Heckler: what?...
Me: On a long enough timeline. You're related to humans, right?
Heckler: Sure?
Me: So what is the moral distinction between eating bacon and cannibalism? If humans tasted good, would you eat them?

His wife, later: My husband hates you because of that attack. He didn't want to play!
Me: .... That wasn't an attack.
Everyone else: You tried to justify eating pigs to William? His reaction sounds par for the course.

Apparently heckling a heckler is an attack now.

Liberated for discussion.

Liberated for discussion.

Reasonable article. More and more, I think the empire had more production capabilities than it knew what to do with - that tech in star Wars is so staggeringly efficient than building the death star wasn't a big deal.

The Stargate discussion is also good. Now, is the staff weapons were artillery, maybe.

Originally shared by Shawn H Corey

Here's an interesting thought: bullets travel faster than magic. You can't use magic to enhance guns because bullets outfly it. Whether this effects defensive spells or aiming is left as an exercise to the reader. 😉
https://mythcreants.com/blog/seven-common-problems-with-spec-fic-technology/#comment-386745

I've come down with the common cold.

I've come down with the common cold.

But, look at this list of things I have immediate access to that mitigate the effects:
-- hot running water. (!)
-- a variety of OTC pharmaceuticals
-- Food i do not need to make, delivered!
-- tissues
-- understanding bosses
-- temperature controlled environment
-- Netflix
-- covers, blankets, and a variety of foam-based soft things
-- SOAP

What'm I missing? These things are all amazing.

You can find me on Pluspora here:

You can find me on Pluspora here:
https://pluspora.com/people/553a6fc0b0b70136206800505608f9fe

Not sure if that's forever.
https://pluspora.com/people/553a6fc0b0b70136206800505608f9fe

I got summoned for Jury Duty! (Hooray!)

I got summoned for Jury Duty! (Hooray!)

I have specific goals for when I am on jury duty. Items to discuss. Ways to present myself to prosecutors.

But, here's what I actually want to discuss: Replacing elections with assignment by random lot.

That is: Choosing legislatures randomly. Choosing mayors randomly. Choosing Govenors randomly. Ensuring legislatures match the demographic makeup of those represented.

Moving away from the millionaire and billionaire's club and to something that is closer to representing the people.

It worked in Ireland for the abortion amendment; an unelected group chosen randomly. They voted 2/3rds to propose getting rid of the abortion ban. The country voted, and it was also 2/3rds: the unelected chosen by lot representatives of the people represented the people's will.

Jury Duty doesn't pay well. We'd want legislatures to pay well.

Maybe, oh, 2.5 to 3 times the average salary? And no repercussion if you don't show up?

That way, you'll have civic engagement most among those who make less than 2.5 times the average salary.

This is the collection where I seek other people's views, not the one where I stake out a position and hold it. That is intentional: What do you think of such a system?

Better or worse than the electoral college? Than gerrymandered districts?

When you've thought through that, ask: Is this feasible?

I bungled saying this to Patty Kirsch earlier this week. Here's what I was trying to go for:

I bungled saying this to Patty Kirsch earlier this week. Here's what I was trying to go for:

There are three classes of person within capitalism:
1. Capitalists. Owners of a company, who provide vision and no labor. Also: Leeches.
2. Management. Direct employees of the capitalists, whose job is to extract as much labor for as little cost as possible. Also: Class traitors.
3. Job doers. Employees of management. To act professionally is to privilege the desires of capitalists and management over your own health and family. Also: Dupes

In the interests of full disclosure: I like to think my job is a fourth category, an employees whose job is to fight management for the good of the employees and team. But, really, this is just a subset of (2).

I also like to think my particular company avoids the perils of (1) by being a non-profit. And that we escape the worst evils of (2) by having employees whose job is to fight management. And that (3) is less harmed than normal, due to the modifications to (1) and (2) above. As my management also provides labor, they are part of (3) as well. Our contract is such that it is in the interests of (1) to pay (3) as much as possible. The real world is, of course, muddled.

I don't know if that's true; it is though what I tell myself.

Anyway.

In a system where to not work is to starve or be homeless, work is not free.

Companies aren't families. Their relationship to employees is inherently fraught, and often parasitic. That sense of professionalism where we privilege the needs of the company over our own health or family is intentionally designed so that we will serve the needs of (1) over (3).

The feeling of camaraderie we have with the people we work with can be confused for friendship, but I think it is something very different. I have real friendships with the people I choose to be around, the organizations I join voluntarily, and the bonds I make based around my choices. My colleagues are people I am around (quite a lot!) because we all have our labor extracted against our will by the capitalistic class.

We have options with how to deal with this. We can ignore it. We can deny it. We can get angry. We can sabotage it from within. My suggestion is our duty to our family and others is to:
(A) Extract as much capital as possible from the capitalistic class, ie get paid as much as we can.
(B) While within this system, take care of other employees as much as we can.
(C) When possible, opt the fuck out.
(D) When safe, reduce the inherent information asymmetry and other ways (1) and (2) control (3). That means talking about time off, wages, and how much time is really spent working. Encouraging honesty and bravery among (3).

I may delete this post. It's about how I feel about capitalism. Again: The company I work for is different, as we're a non-profit and our management also do labor. And the nature of our contract is they want our salaries as high as possible.

First: thanks to Eric Willisson for spurring this. Thanks Big Bad Con for doing the real work.

First: thanks to Eric Willisson for spurring this. Thanks Big Bad Con for doing the real work.

I pitched having a completely optional game of practicing virtues. Do a thing, mark XP. Mark enough XP, get a cookie. Get enough cookies, get a harder assignment. Basically.

My boss loved it, and is going to have me pitch it to management. Which is awesome.

During the pitch, I mentioned I got it from gaming + Aristotle. Because that's really what this is: practicing practical virtue

If this nets me a raise or whatever, I'll give some money to BBC's favorite charity, whatever that is.

All my thoughts on space ships, star destroyers, etc always come back to the same published universe: Traveller.

All my thoughts on space ships, star destroyers, etc always come back to the same published universe: Traveller.

Every. Single. Time.

Now I'm reading PDF's on the Free Trader. Blueprints, designs, etc.

It's not perfect; the computers are measures in meters, there's an emphasis on squares instead of real measurements, and the crew size seems smaller than I want.

Still. Here's a 200t free trader.

Apparently ISDs can, among other things, enter atmosphere and be fine just a few hundred feet up.

Apparently ISDs can, among other things, enter atmosphere and be fine just a few hundred feet up.

What sort of engineering constraints does this imply, to have a mile-long space ship able to enter atmo seemingly without difficulty?

Economic status in star wars:

Economic status in star wars:

Rate the following:
1. Han Solo, owner and operator of a two-man light freighter. Very much in debt to big bad gangsters.

2.Uncle Owen & Aunt Beru, owner and operators of a family moisture farm in the desert. Money is tight, but they are able to expand the workforce each season.

3. Ben Kenobi, crazy old hermit who lives out beyond the Dune Sea

4. Princess Leia, of the peaceful world of Alderaan.

5. Darth Vader, strong right-hand of the Emperor.

6. Princess Leia, after Alderaan is destroyed by Darth Vader

7. Lando Calrissian, administrator of Cloud City, an orbital mining platform that is small enough to largely escape Imperial notice.

8. The Might Chewbacca, Han Solo's first mate.

My conjecture: These people are all rich in comparison to most people in the galaxy. They all have enough to eat, those with spaceships have enough cred for fuel, those with emplacements have enough to hire labor.

Even the farmers in star wars are gentry.

Due to how we have bastardized Jira, it is becoming less useful as a task board.

Due to how we have bastardized Jira, it is becoming less useful as a task board.

A few days ago, I said fuck it. I got out my most important tools:
-- post it notes, multiple colors
-- Sharpie, black
-- a wall

And I went to TOWN. The tickets are on the wall, showing where they are. It is immediately obvious where our pain points are, and it's lead me to an idea for solving some problems.

It also lead to this exchange:
Senior Dev: I hate Jira!
Me: That's because we're using it wrong.
Dev: ... what do you mean? It's so hard to say a ticket is ready for test.
Me, goes to board, picks up a stickie in "dev" move it to "test". BOOM!
Dev: ..... That's so much easier. Why can't we do that in Jira?
Me: We can. We're just using it wrong.
Dev: ..... ok, I'm on board. How do we fix it?

Pretty sure I'm sick.

Pretty sure I'm sick.

Pretty sure I'll WFH today.

People respond to incentives. I think I am, too.

What incentive is that?

I want to put together a few pages at work on how we do business.

I want to put together a few pages at work on how we do business.

When this was done before, there was talking of it being a "playbook".

Which got me thinking.

I think I'm going to do it as pbta playbooks.

Sign up now to be notified when the kickstarter goes live!

Originally shared by New Agenda Publishing

Sign up now to be notified when the kickstarter goes live!
https://mailchi.mp/b33e19748bf3/napub

Some crazy Star Wars thoughts while we wait for this whole thing to come crashing down.

Some crazy Star Wars thoughts while we wait for this whole thing to come crashing down.

Star Destroyers are the answer to ever-enbiggening military requirements during the Clone Wars, eventually simply containing all needs for a military venture under one command. As they have the entirity of an arsenal needed to take over a solar system, they become a one-stop solution to all military problems. Have some rebels? Send in an ISD. Some rebels get away from an ISD? Send a few ISDs. Vader lose his keys? Send an ISD. Need to subdue a population? ISD.

etc. An ISD is not mission-specific, but rather mission neutral.

Consider instead four smaller ships, each half the length of an ISD and each specializing. Dreadnought, carrier, Division transport, and supply ship. Each has a fraction of the capabilities of a star destroyer, except in one area where they meet an ISD. In all other areas, each of these four is lesser than an ISD.

For example:
ISD: 60 turbolasers / 72 starfighters / 9,000 troops / 40,000 cargo tons.

Dreadnought: 60 turbolasers / 12 starfighters / 250 troops / 2,000 cargo tons
Carrier: 10 turbolasers / 72 starfighters / 250 troops / 2,000 cargo tons
Transport: 10 turbolasers / 12 starfighters / 9,000 troops / 2,000 cargo tons
Cargo: 10 turbolasers / 12 starfighters / 250 troops / 9,000 troops

Now, imagine a a fifth vessel. While an ISD has the firepower to go versus a solar system, this may only be able to subdue a planet:
Victory Star Destroyer: 20 turbolasers / 24 starfighters / 1,500 troops / 8,000 cargo tons.

That is: At this level, there are specialist vessels and still room for a vessel that has a wide variety of missions it can take on. It would not be able to take on as wide or as deep a mission parameter as it's larger sibling. While an ISD has many ATATs, different weather gear for troops, specialist starfighters, and the firepower to decimate a small fleet, the Victory star destroyer is missing the specialist cases.

Finally: There could well be generalist-ships like a Star Destroyer at the 800, 400, 200, and even 100 meter ranges. Admittedly, at the 100 meter, the ship has one starfighter and barely deserves to be thought of the same.

Ships needed a crew of around 10 are in the 50 meter range. This includes Free Traders, Firefly, Pirate ships, etc. At best, you get two externally mounted shuttles as subsidiary craft, not dozes of star fighters.

.... You guys, for whatever reason my brain will not stop doing this math. Over and over again. It's like a fucking loop.

An ISD is 1,600 meters, 60 turbolasers, 72 star fighters, 9,000 troops and 37,000 crew.

An ISD is 1,600 meters, 60 turbolasers, 72 star fighters, 9,000 troops and 37,000 crew.

Should a pocket star destroyer be:
a) 200 meters, with 2 turbolasers, 10 quad laser cannons, 3 star fighters, 50 troops, and a crew of 250?
OR
b) 400 meters, with 10 turbolasers, 20 quad laser cannons, 12 star fighters, 250 troops, and a crew of a thousand?

I've got smaller versions of ships than that, but much smaller than this seems like force recon rather than a capital ship.

There are some potential solutions to this problem. Don't freak out. We've got time to figure it out.

There are some potential solutions to this problem. Don't freak out. We've got time to figure it out.

Originally shared by Aaron Griffin

An experiment:

https://mewe.com/join/the_great_g_rpg_exodus

I am, from time to time, some what obsessive.

I am, from time to time, some what obsessive.

An Imperial Star Destroyer (ISD) has 60 turbolasers, 60 ion cannons, 72 starfighters, 9,000 troops. It is 1,600 meters long. Years of consumeables onboard, an ability to dock with a Correlian Corvette in a menacing way, and take onboard ships larger than the Falcon without a problem.

That is: It is absurd. This isn't just a Dreadnought, it is a fleet onto itself. It is a carrier, destroyer, transport, and cargo ship all in one. With a crew of 37,000, it has the population of a small city.

So, I wondered: What happens if you go to one half the length, and have variants for carrier, destroyer, transport, and cargo? What if, at this size, there's also a "fleet" variant that is a carrier with firepower, troops, and ability to carry cargo, only on a smaller scale? That is, we get variants that specialize in carrying smaller ships, attacking, transporting troops, and transporting cargo.

What if we go to half of that? And half of that?

How far can we keep halving?

Assuming the same proportions, with each half of length you get 1/8th the interior volume. This goes: 1,600, 800, 400, 200, 100, 50, 25, 12.5 meters. That was my cutoff, as that's about the size of a TIE fighter.

It holds up; at 12.5 meters, you could have a single quad turbo laser, or room for 2 extra people, or room for 2 containers. Or, take the average and get a dual turbo laser, room for 1 pax, or the ability to haul one container.

The Falcon and Serenity both fall into the roughly 50 meters versions. With ten crew which, again, sounds about right. The Falcon was running on a skeleton crew.

I spent the early afternoon fun spreadsheeting. What'd you do?

Me, to the guy everone trusts; I've heard git integrates with our base program.

Me, to the guy everone trusts; I've heard git integrates with our base program. When you have time, can you research that?

Guy: yeah. It may be a while, but if that is true it would be a life saver.

.... Wait......

Guys boss, who is that guy what is the problem: you found a GitHub repository we can use?

Me:.... That's not exactly what I said, no. It looks like we could use git!

That guy: I live your excitement! What's your vision for how this would work?

Me:.... Gives a few relevant features of modern code design.

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I still don't know if he's dumb, oblivious to how condescending he is, or just hates anything he doesn't understand.

Any guesses?

Every other Wednesday, the sprint ends.

Every other Wednesday, the sprint ends.

Every other Wednesday, I facilitate about 4 hours of meetings. That's with the design team, the development team, the client, and a host of hangers-on.

Every other Wednesday, I wear myself out.

Every other Thursday, I am essentially useless. Emotionally drained, with difficulty focusing and sometimes keeping my eyes open.

This is one of those Thursdays.

Tell me something interesting.

There is a degree to which the following is true: My duty to my family is to acquire as much wealth from the market...

There is a degree to which the following is true: My duty to my family is to acquire as much wealth from the market as possible.

Which is to say: Always be interviewing. My job is to find the best-paying job, and bring in the moneys. So that we can do whatever we want with the money.

There's a degree to which that's true.

How is it false?

A few weeks ago, Tony Lower-Basch suggested Trump would be the new high water mark for the Republican party, in...

A few weeks ago, Tony Lower-Basch suggested Trump would be the new high water mark for the Republican party, in terms of morality, temperament, and fundamental understanding of politics.

It was easy to disagree. I reserved judgement, thinking he was probably overstating the case.

Then Kavanaugh showed up.

And Lindsay Graham disgraced himself. And Orrin Hatch was himself.

And they all made Trump seem reserved and calm.

We're doomed. This is the new Republican party, and it's only going to get worse from here. And they'll do anything to maintain there grip on power.

I only hope Princess Leia was right -- that the more they tighten their fingers, the more cities will slip through there fingers.