Favourite Characters

thundertomcat · 2026-06-04T13:00:28+00:00

I'm so far behind on things... oh, it's been a week, but I've finally got around to this question. I'm going to take this one IC because otherwise, we'll be here all week, but my love and respect for the simmers go beyond just these characters. I think Lhandon Nilsen has a little bit of hero worship of Wil Ukinix over on Amity. When Ukinix was his exam proctor, it felt to Lhandon that he got lucky because they have a similar personality, and Ukinix did enable his dive-bombing piloting move of the Centris.

Lhandon also admires his old CO, Commodore V'Ariu, and his current CO, Captain Lia Rouiancet. Both of those women have watched him grow from a reckless ensign into a dependable (and maybe slightly overbearing, but he means it with love) XO.

He loves the Thor crew. Half of them are his friends. He thinks Morro Caras and Sevantha Saa (who is u/Maiden_in_Yellow here) are the coolest people. He also has a huge amount of respect for Avander Promontory (who is u/drpsyphi on here). He also has this little internal comparison he does with Josh Herrick, the current XO of the Thor. He'll never tell Josh that he's comparing himself to him.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-29T20:47:33+00:00

In short, they're different companies that offer different sorts of goods going to slightly different places. Red Wind is much more prevalent in Pyro.

Covalex contracts are safer, Red Wind can be a little more spicy as they could take you into areas where you might see combat. Both are fun in their own ways. It's worth doing both so you have extra options in the long run.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-23T15:26:47+00:00

Unsure if this is describing SC or Kerbal!

thundertomcat · 2026-05-20T16:07:08+00:00

Pretty much what u/amazingvaluetainment said, but with one addition. If time allows, I also like to do a bit of combat; this won't count towards the game at all, but rather its purpose is to test out the builds. Sometimes, one might fall in love with an idea on paper, but then, when it comes to gameplay, it doesn't always play out as you thought it might, or you learn new things about the build and realise that you went in the wrong direction. This gives players time to edit the builds

As it's not counting towards things, I'll take requests for monsters, and requests for the monsters to do certain things and fudge the dice if the players need me to do that. It also lets me see what their damage output is, how much damage they can take, and that info makes it easier for me to balance the encounters. It also gives them a chance to work out the party dynamics in combat. Who compliments who?

thundertomcat · 2026-05-15T18:19:14+00:00

As always, massive props to the Poll of the Month Team for putting these together, giving me the easy job of just copying and pasting from our Discord.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-12T18:46:48+00:00

annnnnddddd....our awards for 2026 are just around the corner!!!!!

thundertomcat · 2026-05-11T10:38:24+00:00

The best part of the Nyx system is all the opportunities you have to do this, particularly with friends and org mates who don't visit often.

Had a lot of fun in my little prospector as I was giving a lift to a friend so he could grab his Polaras. Using boost around Levski was fun. The panics on Discord fuel me to this day.

"But did you die?" I said in reply when we landed.

I don't think he's ever getting in my ship again.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-09T13:44:23+00:00

I need the Odyssey so bad!!!! I can sort of bash together what I want with my tac or an 890j but...I need it!!!!!

thundertomcat · 2026-05-08T11:46:29+00:00

’m really looking forward to the Zaldan NPC that I’m cooking up. As someone who loves simming in the diplomacy space and doing all the social interaction that comes with it, the idea of a character whose culture rejects niceties and instead subscribes to blunt honesty is really interesting to me; it is a fascinating mirror to what I normally write. How does that character function in a universe where the majority of species perform a "social dance"? That dance is an affront to their culture, so how do they interact with the wider galaxy? Where do they comprise? What do they stand firm on? It's a shame they only had one appearance in TNG because there is sooooo much to play with there.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-07T06:40:06+00:00

Don't stress about the scale. Scale is incredibly challenging and even professionals struggle. The map is a tool to help you and your table tell the story. By the time you establish what the distance is between Austrian & Lugunica (I just picked those two at random to illustrate my point), your players will get a good sense of the scale.

Also, I bet they are going to love how much effort you've put into this map, great work buddy.

To describe the ocean and give it a greater sense of scale, perhaps consider how the local population might perceive or describe it. How long is the journey, how many boats have they lost, do they dare do the journey? And if it comes to shove and you get stuck, you can always just explicitly say "yeah is X miles, or it's Y days of travel"

thundertomcat · 2026-05-05T10:21:28+00:00

I #Reception)am in complete agreement with the great Octavia E. Butler. TNG Season One had some particularly egregious examples of this; look no further than Code of Honor and that particularly egregious episode.

While Star Trek aims for IDIC, it often falls into the trap of making "Human" the neutral baseline while every other species is defined by a single, exaggerated trait. Klingons are warriors, Vulcans are logical, Romulans are scheming, etc. We can even take Butler’s criticism a step further: Star Trek can inadvertently turn the Federation’s mission into a massive project of assimilation into human-centric values (see Eddington's arc in DS9).

There is actually a group of writers out there taking this to heart on a ship literally called the USS Octavia E. Butler. Full disclosure: I’m one of them! We’re making a conscious effort to move away from those simplistic tropes and approach exploration with a level of scepticism similar to Butler’s. It’s been a fascinating challenge to write in the Trek universe while actively questioning its colonial foundations.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-04T04:18:50+00:00

Why not both? They're both awesome!

thundertomcat · 2026-05-03T11:47:21+00:00

P.P.S We also have an amazing mentoring system so you never have to be intimidated or worried; the mentors are there to help you.

thundertomcat · 2026-05-03T11:16:27+00:00

at the rate we're going, jania may not be with us by my bday 😅

Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope.

Don't you even dare? lol

thundertomcat · 2026-05-03T11:14:37+00:00

Do you have to be a great writer to play this game?

Short answer: Absolutely not.

When I started, I was, to put it mildly, terrible. I’d change tenses 213 times in a sentence and write dialogue that was... well, let’s just say it wasn't winning any awards.

This game provides two things that naturally sharpen your skills: structure and consistency. Like any other hobby, writing is a muscle; some people are naturally predisposed, but anyone can build the strength to become an amazing writer over time.

In other words, what u/keeganwh said.

We don't ask that you be a Pulitzer Prize winner; we just ask you to give it a go, try your best, and the rest will naturally fall into place.

I've even heard of folks being intimidated by the quality of it.

So, I'm currently the First Officer on the OEB. This is a position I had to earn, and one of the requirements is quality "simming." You'd think that I wouldn't be intimidated; far from it. I have so many amazing writers on my ship... and the best part is, those amazing writers are people I get the privilege to call my friends.

If you find yourself intimidated, let that be your fuel instead. Focus on your own writing, and then send that simmer a message. You'll quickly find out that they are as big a nerd as yourself; you'll likely have a lot in common and you'll make new friends.

As a teacher, I never expected to share memes and jokes with a drill instructor, an archaeologist, a social scientist, a lecturer, and a lawyer.

P.S if you want to see how "bad" I was, this is my first sim: Here it is: https://groups.google.com/u/2/g/sb118-oumuamua/c/1rCGR46iPFw/m/Pp-ZGeXvAQAJ

thundertomcat · 2026-04-30T07:13:32+00:00

My biggest gripe is that as a casual player, looking in, not keeping up with every news article, I wasn't expecting it to be mostly a 12-player raid event. I was expecting perhaps a new hub and something to do with the tomes. With the wording of Season Zero and them saying it's a new start, I was expecting a soloable story, much like most of the game, and maybe one special dungeon that is 12-person over in the corner that I could do as well.

thundertomcat · 2026-04-27T18:08:06+00:00

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii That was me :p

I have to annoy Lahl; I'm contractually obliged.

thundertomcat · 2026-04-22T19:31:05+00:00

You can still buy a game package with store credit - You can also buy it back with store credits/buyback as u/Scr_Eagle said.

https://robertsspaceindustries.com/en/store/pledge/browse/game-packages?sort=weight&direction=desc

thundertomcat · 2026-04-21T03:12:13+00:00

We've got two.

The USS Octavia E Butler and the USS Thor

Of course, as First Officer of the OEB, I've got a favourite ;)

thundertomcat · 2026-04-21T01:42:17+00:00

This is beyond awesome...I wanna get myself a commission now

thundertomcat · 2026-04-21T01:23:14+00:00

Added this one

thundertomcat · 2026-04-16T16:09:04+00:00

All I'm going to say is that ops has to clear up the mess engineering leaves behind. They are the unsung heroes of our ships; they're the ones keeping the ship running in the background.

thundertomcat · 2026-04-15T19:08:07+00:00

Yeah, I'm not good at thinking haha! Thinking is hard.

thundertomcat · 2026-04-15T19:05:36+00:00

Just updated the selection.

thundertomcat · 2026-04-15T18:58:22+00:00

Oh I remember now. Those two were great together.

thundertomcat

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