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On RPGnow.com, the Starmada Compendium has gone platinum, meaning it's one of the top 0.2% best sellers!
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One final reason why 1901 is preferable to 1899:
BOOK TWO/CHAPTER TEN:
"Subsequently a peculiar luminous and sinuous marking appeared on the unillumined half of the inner planet, and almost simultaneously a faint dark mark of a similar sinuous character was detected upon a photograph of the Martian disk."
In order for option (A) to be correct, we have to assume the author is discussing the May 1905 opposition of Mars and Venus -- and at this time, Earth was directly between the two planets. To me, this means that talking about the "unillumined half" of the inner planet makes no sense, since the entire disc would have been dark when viewed from the Earth.
During the February 1907 Mars/Venus opposition (corresponding with option (C)), Earth was positioned such that Venus was half-full, and Mars was almost completely full. This better fits with the text.
And, going with the 1901 date for the Invasion, instead of 1899, allows us to use the following real-life tidbit from the New York Times:
"Early in December of 1900, we received from Lowell Observatory in Arizona a telegram that a shaft of light had been seen to project from Mars (the Lowell observatory makes a specialty of Mars) lasting seventy minutes. I wired these facts to Europe and sent out neostyle copies through this country. The observer there is a careful, reliable man and there is no reason to doubt that the light existed. It was given as from a well-known geographical point on Mars. That was all. Now the story has gone the world over. In Europe it is stated that I have been in communication with Mars, and all sorts of exaggerations have spring up. Whatever the light was, we have no means of knowing. Whether it had intelligence or not, no one can say. It is absolutely inexplicable."
We're assuming that it took the Martian cylinders about 3 months to get to Earth (the time between the opposition of February 1901 and the spring landings). It would probably take humans a bit longer to get there, at least at first.
Although this was my estimate when Iron Stars was first written, it may be somewhat incorrect. I'm such a geek, I think we can narrow this down further.
The clues:
BOOK ONE/CHAPTER ONE:
"During the opposition of 1894 a great light was seen on the illuminated part of the disk ... Peculiar markings, as yet unexplained, were seen near the site of that outbreak during the next two oppositions.
"The storm burst upon us six years ago now. As Mars approached opposition, Lavelle of Java set the wires of the astronomical exchange palpitating with the amazing intelligence of a huge outbreak of incandescent gas upon the planet."
...and...
BOOK TWO/CHAPTER 10:
"Seven months ago now, Venus and Mars were in alignment with the sun; that is to say, Mars was in opposition from the point of view of an observer on Venus."
Therefore:
(1) I read this to mean that the Invasion occurred following the third opposition from 1894, although it is possible it was after the second. These were in January 1899 and February 1901, respectively.
(2) It is stated explicitly that the Invasion was six years ago, from the viewpoint of the author. Further, Mars and Venus were in opposition "seven months ago". The three Mars-Venus oppositions after the start of 1905 were in May 1905, April 1906, and February 1907. These give possible authorship dates of December 1905, November 1906, and September 1907. Subtracting six years from each gives possible Invasion dates of December 1899, November 1900, and September 1901. Accounting for a three-month "rounding error" in the author's "six years" figure, we get ranges of:
(A) September 1899 through March 1900
(B) August 1900 through February 1901
(C) June through December 1901
Option (A) could be correct, although it is unlikely, as the opposition occurred eight months prior to the start of the indicated range, and while the text is not explicit, that seems too long of a gap between the observed launches on Mars and the landings.
Option (B) cannot be correct, as the Martian opposition only happened towards the very end of the indicated range.
That leaves option (C). The text states that the launches occurred as Mars "approached" opposition, so let's assume it was in late January or early February 1901. Further, while the text is not explicit about the time of year, it does say the landing occurred on a "warm night". This means earlier in the indicated range is more likely than later.
Therefore, I believe the Invasion happened during late July or early August of 1901, with a roughly six-month lapse from launch to landing.
I've added a poll to see what people think. To look at the site in either style, just add the following at the end of any URL:
?style=blue
?style=khaki
For example:
http://www.mj12games.com/?style=blue
http://www.mj12games.com/?style=khaki
It does look nice, if less "spacey" than the old one.
There has been agitation for a return to the bluish color scheme of the old site...
It's an easy thing, tho, now that I've mastered CSS and PHP.
Besides, Dan can always alter the formula (something tells me this one is just too simple for him anyway!
) so that the boards do not become to top heavy with Brass.
<sarcasm>
Hasn't history shown that the more Admirals/Generals/whatever, the more efficient the fighting force?
</sarcasm>
It's meaningless window dressing that may actually serve to cheapen the site overall, by causing competition over who makes more posts, which may serve to dilute the actual relevance of a topic.
Yeah, but it's meaningless window dressing with pretty badges! 
Some questions about the internal logic of the game to the game creators:
You are assuming there is logic involved -- a very dangerous assumption.
The ships in IS are build in the ground and they go up the atmosphere and into the aether by the use of their engines, right? And they go down again to refuel, re-arm and deliver cargo and load cargo. So why can't these ships fight in the atmosphere?
Actually, the ships are assembled in orbit from components built on the ground. The idea is that there are no "rocket engines" or such -- but Cavorite "blocks" gravity and makes it easy to make an (uncontrolled) ascent into orbit.
Technically, I suppose there's no in-universe reason why the ships couldn't fight in the atmosphere...
How much time would it take to a ship travel from Earth to Mars or Venus?
We're assuming that it took the Martian cylinders about 3 months to get to Earth (the time between the opposition of February 1901 and the spring landings). It would probably take humans a bit longer to get there, at least at first.
Are you planning to move the historical events to mirror our real story? 1st world war, the crash of '29, 2dn ww, etc?
The Great War is definitely on the list of Things to Come -- but the rest is either secret or undecided.
(FWIW, the opposition of August 22, 1924, will be/was closer than at any time in 300+ years...)
I clicked the link and saw what looked like an interesting, if somewhat distant background image...
You must've visited in the 30 seconds between my post to the forum and my activating the site.
"The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul."
-- G. K. Chesterton
Happy New Year to one and all!
Here's hoping the old year wasn't THAT bad, and that the new one brings hope, joy, and gaming...
With the new year, we've got a new look to the mj12games.com website. As with most things around here, it's not quite finished, but good enough to go public. Let me know what you think.
Finally... Piercing 1.4 (SMAE). Piercing +1 1.5 (Dreadnoughts).
Which is correct?
Piercing +1 is x1.4
Seems to me that Anti-Fighter Batteries should have been given the option to fire in either the Fighter Phase or the Ship Combat Phase, with AFBs being able to fire before the fighters attack their target.
This has got to be THE most-suggested rule -- ship weapons that get to go in the fighter phase...
Haven't yet decided if it breaks things too much, tho.
The ranks are indeed based on number of posts.
The specific breakpoints are top secret, but anyone who knows me is likely to figure 'em out. 
We did until yesterday...
What happened yesterday? (or, in this case, four days ago?)
Santa brought me an MP3 player....I was honestly shocked, as wives think that after a certain age that clothes are more important...
Tell me about it -- Santa hasn't brought me anything but clothes for three straight Christmases...
I got the gift of seeing the joy on my two little girls' faces when they woke me up to tell me Santa did indeed come.
Were there fears in the Crough household that Mr. Kringle might not appear?
Indeed. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate Christmas.
To the rest of you, happy Thursday.
I got clothes.
Unfortunately any game with a built in construction mechanic is AUTOMATICALLY subject to munchinization.
I certainly won't dispute this, nor do I disagree that it's much more fun to play setting-derived scenarios over "bring-n-bash" games ... but I will say that part of the point of Starmada is to ensure that even munchkin fleets are balanced.
I think it does relatively well. Even the occasional problems that crop up (e.g. range-30 weapons) are not inherently broken, they are just difficult to overcome unless you have the right counterbalance.
There are supposed to be 400px thumbnails inline. I don't know what's the problem.
...of all places, to visit the in-laws for Christmas. I have limited internet access for the next week, so try not to need me.
Merry Holidays to each and every one of you -- I hope Santa, Hanukkah Harry, and/or the Tooth Fairy bring you everything your heart desires.
If so, it's probably set up to reward those who tend to yammer more than others.
That, and an excuse to call myself "Admiral of the Fleet".
Hi:
What RPG do you thing goes well with the mechanics and universe of Iron Stars?
Well, mechanics-wise, I don't think there's anything on the market (yet ) that is similar to Iron Stars.
But setting/universe-wise, I can think of several:
Space 1889
Castle Falkenstein
For Faerie, Queen and Country
Victoriana
Age of Empire
Although these fall into the Victorian era, and not the Edwardian era of Iron Stars, they are far and away the best fits of the available games.
Added an avatar gallery... you can view it by going to your "User Control Panel" and selecting Profile > Edit avatar > Display gallery.
Changed the icons on the forums and topics, so it should be easier to tell which have had activity.
mj12games.com/forum → Posts by mj12games
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