Hard Light Productions Forums
Hosted Projects - FS2 Required => Blue Planet => Topic started by: bigchunk1 on November 24, 2010, 12:54:59 am
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Without biasing the poll... each of the 3 UEF fleets has its own culture, command structure and place to call its home. Which one do you take a liking to the most? Do you find that one of the 3 fleets fits your personality, or do you just take a liking to the Admiral at the top? Do you empathise with any of the 3 fleets' situations, or do you agree with that fleet's strategy for handling the buntu-tev conflict? How about a specific character? Do you find that person to emulate the persona of that particular fleet as a whole?
There are many reasons why one of the 3 fleets can be your favorite, but the catch is you can only pick one!
"It is the way of things, you must choose." -Ken
I remember reading a nice bit of fiction which broke down the 3 fleets in terms of general attitude, home population's struggles etc. but I am unable to find it. If anyone knows what I am talking about let me know and I will update this post with links.
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There's a brief mention of fleet culture in Battuta's Ubuntu FAQ (http://blueplanet.hard-light.net/ubuntufaq13.html).
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First fleet is probably my favourite, can't really put my finger on why at the moment.
Admiral Calder on the other hand is a bloke I like. Go fast and hard.
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Second Fleet because Simms. :nervous:
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Gah, Simms is a *****, bro. :P
Also, I think I'm going to change my vote to go to the JRF. They were tough bastards.
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First. Sounds like they'd have the best cafeteria. But the second fleet probably has a better bar... hmm.... not sure then.
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I'd go with 3rd fleet. Their experiences say it all. They're awesome!
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First fleet: too passive
Second fleet: too hotshot
Third fleet: .... too destroyed
Can I vote for Fedayeen?
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3rd Fleet know what war is like. 2nd fleet has the gut to fight. 1rst fleet is hardly more than target practice - winning a pure defensive war against the GTVA war machine is pointless. My vote go to 3rd fleet, but it's close between it and 2nd.
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what matth said.
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3rd Fleet. Admiral Calder and Toutatis are cool! :D
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Its pretty close between 2nd and 3rd in my book, but i went with 2nd in the end as they regularly support the 3rd in operations, so they're only a good battle force but they're willing to support others in their efforts and don't try to hog all the glory for themselves. Though I imagine 3rd and 1st fleet are no different in that regard, and 3rd fleet was willing to essentially get themselves butchered to cover the Jupiter evacuations, so they're definitely not far at all behind.
I do prefer the "offensive only as last resort" and "think things through" mindset of the 1st Fleet, but as is shown in BP you can't hesitate when faced with a violent antagonist like the GTVA; you need people like in the 2nd and 3rd fleet willing to get out there and exploit the now. All Defensive and understanding normally, but if someone else invades or is extremely violent, take off the gloves and make 'em bleed.
Admiral Calder and Toutatis are cool! :D
Aye that was my favourite bit of the whole campaign, so he does deserve honourable mention. :)
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Calder and the Toutatis AND his fleet. They are the only ones that are able to stop Steele.
Or better said, they have a little chance.
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you mean to say that they'd have some chance if the 3rd fleet wasnt whacked around horribly during jovian skirmishes and ensuing evacuation...
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The man that has the balls to say "Tell Steele I'm coming for him," has my vote.
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Just some comments to balance the scale a bit. I think Admiral Byrne is misunderstood and I think in R2 the reasoning for his passiveness will become more clear. Also, 1st fleet keeps the UEF in the fight just as much as 2nd or 3rd fleet. In Darkest Hour, Steele launches a huge attack on Earth. If first fleet was off playing subspace chess with Serker team or something like that there would be little to keep the UEF infrastructure intact. I believe that would be the end of the war right there. Defense is deadly!
The interesting thing about the UEF military breakdown is that they all are playing an important part in the war, even though the Admirals disagree with one another.
And about first fleet culture, you gota love the rooks. Cockpit jockeys fresh out of school with attitude to spare. Kassim for example: Ubuntu vs. War, Cooperation vs. Barbarism, Thought vs Instinct. These ideas tear the character back and forth. Kassim might come off as immature, but he's hard not to identify with at some level. It's also true that 2nd and 3rd fleets have their rooks(or had them as the case may be), but from my understanding these fleets don't appear as 'green' for some reason.
And here's why Admiral Byrne is a good guy, he's calm. Not calm as in 'this guy doesn't get it' kind of calm rather more thoughtful. That's important when you are leader of a fleet. An informed mind and a stalwart resolve. Understated and underestimated.
Just being a counterweight, this does not mean I have a bias towards first fleet or anything like that. :nervous:
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Kassim has only one problem: For all his bravado, he really can't handle the stress.
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2nd fleet.
stained red blood.
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Kassim has only one problem: For all his bravado, he really can't handle the stress.
TBH, I didn't really *believe* Kassim, he didn't feel real to me. Or at least, the way I remember him, since his dialogue did change a little bit over the course of development. Having spoken to military pilots and watch them converse (more helpful than you'd think), I really couldn't take seriously the fact that he had come at the top of his flight school class and passed operational conversion. He did seem interesting though, which mitigated his dickishness.
It's also true that 2nd and 3rd fleets have their rooks(or had them as the case may be), but from my understanding these fleets don't appear as 'green' for some reason.
Well from memory, 2 and 3 fleets face the brunt of the combat, so there is a lot more 'sink or swim' going on. And experienced pilots get more experienced, as do those that survive. Downside being that they can't afford to rotate pilots off the line, which as anyone whose read their history books knows, is a recipe for disaster if it isn't rectified soon; as well as the factors that contribute to it. Solution: Win the war faster, dammit! :D
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Another reason for 2nd and especially 3rd fleets being less "green" is the asteriod belt. What little terrorist and pirate activity there was in Sol before the invasion was outside of the first fleets terretory of jurisdiction and thus the other two fleets had more battle experiance if you want to call it that.
As for Admiral Byrne: I got the impression that he puts all his hopes into the secret project. He doesn't fight to win, he fights to buy time for the secret project to finish and deliver them somehow....
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Definitely the first fleet. . . . Earth kicks ass cos I live there :) it's the main place to be and it has good English names like in the first division if I remember the orbat :)
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That's my reason as well :)
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Hugs :nod:
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What, no UEFg 道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名? Hello? Taoists? Anybody? We've already got the UEF Lao Tze.
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Names like those definitely would be interesting. o_o
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And for those of us who don't speak Unicode, what are those names?
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Hodeo is one right?
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I don't see unicode there, but some asian symbols.
.... not that this means I can read them any better though....
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I can read them... not really sure I understand what they mean though. Translation?
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Don't bother trying an online translator, it won't make much sense.
There's no real theme to UEF ship naming that I've seen. There's the Katana (a sword), the Lao-Tze (you should know this one), the Indus (a river), and the Altan Orde (which appears to be a very roundabout way of getting to "Golden Horde", as in, Ghenghis Khan).
If romanized that wouldn't fit on a nameplate, and in any case the voice actors would probably try to strangle you.
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Second Fleet. They're not as straight-laced as Third, and First Fleet under Byrne lacks any sort of testicular fortitude.
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Don't bother trying an online translator, it won't make much sense.
There's no real theme to UEF ship naming that I've seen. There's the Katana (a sword), the Lao-Tze (you should know this one), the Indus (a river), and the Altan Orde (which appears to be a very roundabout way of getting to "Golden Horde", as in, Ghenghis Khan).
If romanized that wouldn't fit on a nameplate, and in any case the voice actors would probably try to strangle you.
There are themes, but by intent, not universal ones. Rivers turn up a lot. Sanctus cruisers get named after towns, sometimes, or obscure Celtic deities.
It's a big Federation with a lot of interest groups and, from a storyteller's perspective, keeping coherent single themes screams of designer fiat rather than the organic growth of a real place and all its cultures.
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It's a big Federation with a lot of interest groups and, from a storyteller's perspective, keeping coherent single themes screams of designer fiat rather than the organic growth of a real place and all its cultures.
Or much more organized (and maybe slightly OCD-ish) leadership/command, which seems fairly unlike the UEF.
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And for those of us who don't speak Unicode, what are those names?
It's the opening verse from the Tao Te Ching, to be honest. I just wanted some long winded mumble jumbo, and that come to mind because of the UEF Lao Tze. Most Chinese place names are pretty short, and modern Chinese ship naming isn't that amazing or poetic, and I have no idea what say, the Ming dynasty named their ships.
Yea, I'm tired, my sense of humor ain't there. It seemed funny to me at the time.
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I didn't pay much attention to the Tao Te Ching, no wonder I didn't recognize it. XD
Anyway, like Battuta said, ship and location names are pretty diverse now in BP, and it feels natural.
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What, no UEFg 可道，非常道。名可名，非常名? Hello? Taoists? Anybody? We've already got the UEF Lao Tze.
You know, we could start a thread to list down a bunch of names that can be used for UEF ships...
And for those of us who don't speak Unicode, what are those names?
Those aren't names; they are sentences. However, my fluency in Chinese has been nuked to medieval levels since I hardly use it.
Anyway, like Battuta said, ship and location names are pretty diverse now in BP, and it feels natural.
I'm still waiting for an Oculus to be designated "Tonegawa"... :nervous:
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I didn't pay much attention to the Tao Te Ching, no wonder I didn't recognize it. XD
Anyway, like Battuta said, ship and location names are pretty diverse now in BP, and it feels natural.
I missed the first word, that might have contributed. :p But yea, I don't blame you, I suppose the Tao don't have the literacy significance of the classics and Confucian texts, is still a very important of spiritual life in China, Taiwan especially but also on the mainland, with the revival of spiritual life since 80s.
The diversity is nice. I am fond of British ship naming, it's quite bad-ass, location-naming make sense but gets predictable... with the UEF it's nice to see a bit of everything.
Or much more organized (and maybe slightly OCD-ish) leadership/command, which seems fairly unlike the UEF.
I think it makes for interesting sci-fi, and I understand military forces do need some common unifying ideology and symbolism, but at some level I find it difficult to accept that a multi-national space force will simply take names from one particular (and often obscure) mythology and apply it to everyone. In addition, while sci-fi fans generally appreciate and welcome Greek, Romantic and Celtic mythology, it's cool to someone doing some fresh and new.
I quite liked Renjian (lit. within humanity), though I'm not sure about the imaginary of the Orestes craving a beam through it hahaha
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Well at this rate I think that 'First Fleet' is going to be an exclusive sign of discerning taste :)
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Well at this rate I think that 'First Fleet' is going to be an exclusive sign of discerning taste :)
I thought everyone would go for first fleet TBH. :lol:
First fleet: too passive
Second fleet: too hotshot
Third fleet: .... too destroyed
Can I vote for Fedayeen?
I was going to add a "Meh, I roll with the Tevs" option, but I thought everyone would pick that too!
Fedayeen might have been a nice choice. The page that Darius linked has a section which says that the Fedayeen are one of the major reasons the GTVA started the war. They seem pretty interesting, but not a lot is known about them.
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First fleet: too passive
Second fleet: too hotshot
Third fleet: .... too destroyed
Can I vote for Fedayeen?
:wakka:
I still haven't voted. First Fleet feels too passive, even for me. On the other end of the scale is Third Fleet, which is too aggressive. Second Fleet isn't really in the middle - it's outside the scale of aggression and doesn't really fit in anywhere.
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Oh what the hell.
/me has voted.
I like Second Fleet more than First and Third, but that says so little because I don't usually have to pick and choose. On a scale of -10 to 10, with -10 being utter hate and 10 being absolute love, First Fleet would be -0.008, Second Fleet would be 0.001, and Third Fleet would be -0.003.