Vanguardian Axis Revisited

While looking for all the space related photoshop content, it made me think about the Escape Velocity series again that inspired me to do this RP. It may be a bit dated by now, but it's still a nice, single player, action RPG based on space ship combat.

I bought and registered Escape Velocity Nova when it came out on the Mac, because... let's face it. Anyone who had a Mac computer had nothing but crap games back in the year 2000s. Only Ambrosia Software made decent games on the Mac then, IMO, and this one had a lot of depth. I'm kind of disappointed that they haven't made anymore, and also how.. at least, I don't think, my Mac registration code doesn't work for the Windows version of this game. There's plenty of competition for the genre now, and I don't think this game will fair well at the unchanged price of $30. At least you can play the game for free un-registered, but with some of the later content locked away.

Anyway, I wanted to touch up some more on the events of Vanguardian Axis, since it appears that people are most interested in what I had written in my last post about it, at least according to page views.

Last time, I spoke a bit of Grand Vanguard's technologies. Things like how the Axis Tower is the main power generator, and briefly mentioned about the Solar Trance Electro Panels. The STEP is a layer that regulates the amount of light that passes through to Vanguard City. It is its own energy source as well, working like solar batteries, and can simulate the sky in Earth by appearing blue during "day time mode", and be dark with simulated stars during "night time mode", if strong light is still supplying power to the STEP. It is strictly there for visual enhancement, as a city being exposed to a bright light source without enough atmosphere to reflect light will be unpleasant for its citizens.

Concept drawing from high school

There is also a thin, blue tube circling around the Axis Tower near the ceiling of Vanguard City. Those are a suction-based pod transport system with stations at each intersection for switching pods and exiting to the city below. Compared to the rest of the technology used in Grand Vanguard, the suction-based transportation is much more low-cost than the artificial gravity generators. Of course, artificial gravity is still used within the pod for a safer and smoother ride for the passengers while the pod is in rapid motion. Speed and low cost transportation helps a great deal with getting around the large city.

Cross section of Grand Vanguard

The city itself follows a fairly straight forward layout. Near the center is where all the big corporation buildings are. The outer-rims of the city mostly consists of residential buildings, from single homes to apartment complexes. Living within the city is a luxury, as the city is only about 1/4th of the whole station. The majority of workers for the star base, and smaller businesses reside just below the surface in the basement floors of the city. Between the corporation circle and the residential ring is where other businesses and commercial buildings are, such as food, retail, and other services.

Another thing to note within this RP is how tight security is within Grand Vanguard. This was set to reduce any trolls from causing any major problems within the RP, while having context within the RP as well. In order to enter the star base, you must have a registered ID Card. ID Scanner systems are all over the star base, making it easy to identify a person who enters each area within. Each scan will take a picture and DNA scan of the citizen to ensure that they are the rightful owners of the ID Cards, and any unsuccessful scan of a person of their ID Card will alert the authorities. These ID Cards are not only used for identification, but has other functions similar to debit cards, and are required for certain services within the star base.

Of course, Grand Vanguard is not the only place where Vanguardian Axis took place in, and here are the other star bases used for the RP.

Avantgarde Station

Vann Sky Station

Military Base: Mythril Legion

These other bases were ran by other people, so I don't quite have as much details in those as I do with Grand Vanguard. I believe Avantgarde was used as a storage and exporting base for asteroid mining, Vann Sky was a resort station for vacations, and the Mythril Legion was a mobile base for the military. With these star bases however, Vanguardian Axis has spread its territory further.

Clash of Ternion Battle.

Aside from Role Playing, there were actual games that we ran within the RP as well. There was a racing board game of sorts at one point, and a combat simulator that I programmed in Java to calculate the damages dealt by using the stats and formula from Super Robot Wars. It was my first, big Java program I made, which is to say, was rather messy and inefficient in its use of memory. Unfortunately, I don't think I have the code anymore, since it was written on Lappy. The outdated code, which is.. even worse, I guess, can be found here. 

During war time, this program was used a lot to determine the outcome of battles, and ultimately, what direction the RP would take depending on the results of the battles. It was definitely an interesting concept for many people; turning a working formula from Super Robot Wars to something like a table-top board game, online. Once I learn how to write a better program, I would like to do something as elaborate as this, once again.