The PPC Posting Board - Latest posts

Everything is quiet on the Thornbird's bridge. "Sidewall generators should be good to go as soon as we raise the wedge again," the engineering officer reports. "Assuming we don't get hit again."

"We've been lucky so far," the Tactical Officer chimes in. "One of Tango 2's missiles came close, but our decoy picked it off. We'll need to wait a turn if we want to deploy another one, though."

"Thrusters are online," Helm reports. "If we keep the wedge down and don't launch any more missiles, we should be able to keep out of any enemy sensor range."

"It looks like the convoy's lead ship has taken a hit," Comms says. "I think it's only their sensor array, though; the other ships should be able to cover for them. But Tango 3 is closing on them..."





Tango 2 know they've hit you - their missile telemetry went dead - so they currently know your location. But they have no way of knowing you've lowered your wedge; they think you could be anywhere in the larger hex, rather than knowing you're in the tiny one.

The fact that they know where you are means they know you paused to repair, though. That means they might guess you'll do the same again.

Remember that the number by your missiles indicates the number of hexes it can shift the end of its vector by. The central bird in your barrage eastwards is currently flying ballistic, with no remaining fuel.

Damage to the convoy is calculated slightly differently to everywhere else. They still get the coinflip, but they have no decoys or weapons. A roll of 2 or 3 will hit propulsion, while 4 or 5 hits sensors.

hS

... for the missile right in the middle of the firefight? It's the one with an orange 8 next to it, 1 NW of, uh... which one's Tango 2 again?

hS

There's a search bar on the top left of the main Board page. It doesn't show up on the replying pages or if you've clicked on an individual post. I don't know of a way to search and get only posts by a specific user, but if you search the name of the person you will get both posts by them and posts that mention them. It's frequently more helpful, as Aegis somewhat indirectly said, to search for a key word that you think appeared in the posts (or the titles of the posts) you're looking for (such as "Kelly" or "Purim RP" or "Death Star"). Keep them relatively short and you should have success.

There may be a way to use Google search to get posts by a specific user, but I don't know what it is. In addition, there are the Board archives: if you open those and use the Find function (ctrl+F on PC, not sure if it changes for Mac but I'd expect it to be command+F if it is different), you should be able to find everything on the page. The Board archives (or this set of them--I think there's another one that looks a lot like the T-Board? I've lost track of the link, though) can be found here. They currently go through 2016, going by what's on the page. There's also a page on how to use them, which may be helpful--they're basically giant Excel files, and can be a bit difficult to navigate.

Hope that helps.

~Zing

I have no comment on the meter; I lack the vocabulary. Some of the rhymes are a bit of a stretch, but I liked it! {= D

~Neshomeh

It looks an awful lot like you are saying Bramandin should be banned, in part, for being very bad at taking concrit, and for feeling - let's break out that word again - harassed when people keep trying to hit her with the same point that she either disagrees with or doesn't understand. I don't think that is reasonable.

I do not feel that, by and large, anyone has harassed or attacked Bramandin. I won't rule out there being individual posts which do so, but as a rule people have tried to deal with her fairly. Lots of people have gotten frustrated in doing so, per Hieronymus' context post, but that has not become the kind of attack she keeps describing it as.

However, I also am not aware of Bramandin harassing anyone prior to the incident that sparked this thread. She has been very bad at taking concrit, yes. She has lashed out when she feels attacked, yes. But this is the first time I am aware of that she engaged in actual harassment of another person.

Unless I am wrong - unless there is something that does fit that description - I feel the appropriate response is to make it clear what the problem is (which has been done by this thread), make it clear that any further incidents may result in a ban, and give Bramandin one last chance to prove that she can overcome her unspecified mental health issue and function as a member of this community.

As Hieronymus said: when Iximaz's mental health issue led to her flaming the entire PPC, we took that into consideration in our response. This is a very different situation - Bramandin's condition appears to be continuous, where Iximaz's breakdowns are only occasional - but we should have that same consideration.

One more chance. We gave it to Iximaz when she went off her meds, we gave it to July when she snapped after a 20-hour military shift, we give it to Scapegrace every time her self-control lets her down. Give it to Bramandin too. Let her have one last opportunity to surprise us all.

hS

For what it's worth, I think you're being too hard on yourself, and I'm sorry for not saying so sooner. Take care.

~Neshomeh

I believe you when you say you mean it. However, there are some aspects of your posts that look doubtful. In this latest one, most of it is fine, but then at the end you tack on a deflection:

> There are people I could say are obviously insincere, but let's not go there.

Too late, you already went there. If you didn't wish to divert our attention from you to other people, you shouldn't have said this at all.

And then a bit of what looks like petulance:

> Of course, I can't actually stop you from looking at it however you choose to.

As though it doesn't matter what you do; it's all just other people taking you wrong.

It does matter. This is my attempt to show you how you can better represent yourself to us if you wish to avoid clouding the waters in the future.

In your previous post, we've got some apparent evasion:

> and I see ways the incident could have been avoided with benefit of hindsight

That is some pretty vague wording that doesn't tell me if you're taking any responsibility yourself. It could very easily be read as "I see things other people could have done differently" instead of "I see things I could have done differently." You could even have said "I see ways all of us could have helped avoid the incident," and that would have been way better.

Same deal with:

> It's still my opinion that the whole thing was down to a series of miscommunications and misinterpretations.

Are you accepting responsibility for any of these misses yourself? You may be, but it's not clear from your words. You could just as easily be blaming the problems on some magical Internet demon messing with all your heads.

So, my advice to you is to make an effort to word things more directly to say what you actually mean. Less ambiguity will help a lot.

~Neshomeh

-Gravitic sensors have infinite range, and no interference from intervening wedges. Active sensors aren't disableable by weapons, and have a range of 2 hexes (increased to 3 for the Manticoran warship Thornbird).

-Your impeller drive can adjust your vector by two hexes. Your reaction thrusters have an effective acceleration of 1/2 hex, which is modelled as only being used on alternate turns.

-All missiles are being modelled as Apollos, meaning they're controlled in real-time to the point that they always strike at an effective angle. There's a coinflip to see if they get caught by the sidewalls - I actually didn't bother with this on the one missile hit we've had so far, because the missile came in so fast I figured Tango 1 wouldn't have time to maneuver against it. (Also I wanted to see something blow up. ^_^) But it'll be in place for every other strike.

Got a bit of a busy day today, so Turn 7 might not be up until tonight. Sorry, all!

hS

"Send it directly to Tango 2's wedge, send 1 and 3 directly east as well, we are gonna bomb the NWW, W, and SWW edge of their wedge."

The captain exams the damage readout.

"I'm not comfortable with dead shields, get them back up. We're gonna go dark in the mean time, bring down the wedge. When we light back up get the Convoy on the line!"

((Any distinction in the angle of attack of a missile? i.e. difference between fire arriving from the side or "up the kilt"/"down the throat" shots?))

((I assumed I was playing the role of GNS Alvarez. Should have double checked))

"You mean we don't have any weapons on board, exec?" asked Captain Elcalion, incredulously. "What sort of convoy only has one escort???"

"Adjust our vector to head south. We'll try and escape Tango 3 and break back across the hyper limit."

((What's the relative detection range of gravitics and active sensors? i.e. if a ship kills its wedge, at what distance can it be detected))

((Also also: what about maneuvering on reaction thrusters with the wedge down?))

HMS Thornbird shuddered from stem to stern, throwing Captain Comet nearly out of his seat. "We're hit!" the Engineering officer called out. "Sidewall generators are down - skipper, we've got no shields!"

"But we got them, too," the Chief of Security reported, an ugly edge to his voice. "Hit them right in the primary gravitic array - they're flying blind, captain. Until they take time to repair, Tango 2 is out of the engagement."

Elsewhere...

The XO looked warily at Captain Elcalion. "Um, sir," he said, "this is a freighter. We... we don't HAVE missiles..."





Tango 2 can now only see two spaces away from it. Enemy missiles are controlled by the ship nearest them, so the 7-point missile between you and T2 is also running blind. Your missile has 8 points left on its maneuvers.

Oh, and lasers ignore the coin-flip. At that range, they're going to go through your shields.

Elcalion - welcome aboard, Captain! But you're unarmed, I'm afraid. ;) (I can neither confirm nor deny extensive cribbing from Third Adler. But it looks like Captain Comet might have better luck than Alastair, despite facing longer odds!)

hS

Captain Elcalion reviewed the tactical plot in front of him. A well-built man of medium height with brown hair and eyes and a pale complexion.

"Exec, give me an update", he said in a measured tenor voice.

"Our lead ship, the HMS Thornbird, is engaging an enemy ship, sir! There are two other enemy cruisers in between us and the Thornbird. They appear to be trying to draw the enemy away from the convoy." replied the executive officer.

"Those poor, brave bastards," said the Captain, his voice taking on a husky edge from emotion. "We cannot let their sacrifice be in vain. Signal all units, change heading 45 degrees to port." ((i.e. move to the southwest)).

"Guns, fire all our missiles at a heading 15 degrees to the north of the nearest enemy ship. Let's see if we can't take one of them off the Thornbird's back".

"Signal the convoy. Prepare to re-enter hyper as soon as we cross back over the hyper limit".

Elcalion, assuming any resemblance to the Battle of Adler is entirely coincidental. Also yay! Honorverse. I'm re-reading Echoes of Honor at the moment.

Happy Star Wars Day to all!

In celebration: a poem (which formed my Facebook status today, in response to some comments from my friends who found my habit of posting on May the Fourth a bit... repetitive); they won't be saying that after this year!

(For bonus points: join in the argument as to what meter this poem is written in? Is it largely anapaestic with an initial iamb? Or amphibrachic with an occasional terminal iamb? This has been dividing my friends list, because my friends are just as big nerds as I am)

Wise Obi-Wan, grey-haired and weathered by age
Had long been in exile from Emperor's rage
Until Princess Leia in desperate appeal
Did Artoo and Threep'yo into peril most real
Send unto Kenobi to beg for his help
In helping their owner: bold Anakin's whelp;
Whiny Luke the brash farm boy who dreams of the stars
Yet blunders in danger in Mos Eisley's bars

There met they Han Solo, ace pilot and rogue
Whose space aged high fashion was always in vogue:
Bloodstripes on his trousers, a dark vest and white shirt;
As Greedo well knows this brave scoundrel shoots first.

Millennium Falcon his famed smugg'ling vessel
Which in less than twelve parsecs did jourmey to Kessel
Did leave then for Ald'raan from Bay Ninety Four
With our band of brave heroes ensconced safe aboard.

No hokey religion; just a blaster in hand
With Chewie the wookiee to make full their brave band
Was the view of Han Solo; his operative creed
But the wise Jedi Gen'ral to this disagreed.
To rescue the Princess from Imperial anger
Would require Jedi training to shield Luke from danger.
In the hold of the Falcon with training remote
Wise old Ben did impart Jedi learning by rote
'Trust your feelings' said he; to improve just 'let go'
And the seeds of Luke's skill with the Force did he sow.

Though Obi-Wan fell struck by Vader's red blade,
On Yavin did Luke hear from his old mentor's shade:
Remember, dear Luke, that the powerful Force
Shall always be with you upon May the Fourth!

Bramandin’s latest missions on the board.

Here, here, here and here you can watch Des, Ix and Tomash trying to help Bram when Bram believed that
a) she had already made sufficiently clear that she had abandoned those stories and
b) that by abandoning them she had also retracted them from PPC canon

It may be noteworthy that November, 15^th and November, 30^th were the only days between October and February when Bram showed up on the Board and nobody pointed back to her abandoned stories. (Yes, I scrolled through all the pages and took notes.)

Apparently I’m the only person who noticed what was going on, and I regret deeply that I didn’t try to clear this up earlier.

And maybe we can be as considerate of Bramandin’s condition as we are of Iximaz’s?

HG

You'll be pleasantly surprised, if the evidence is what you’re looking for. I know I would’ve been if I’d wanted to see the morass I found, or, rather, that Tomash pointed me to so I could actually look at what had happened in the past.

Permission thread from April of last year.
Your main problem here is that you seem to offer excuses for why other people's criticism isn't valid. I'm willing to accept that you didn't understand where they were coming from, but when your writing necessitates an entire thread of discussion regarding what you were thinking, there's usually a problem in your writing.

Also, you accuse both Iximaz and Desdendelle of yelling at you for “taking the prompts literally?” I think they were trying to explain that prompts don’t necessarily dictate the story to a T unless you want them to, but it looks like Huinesoron covered that.

Permission thread from May of last year.

Again, what I'm seeing from you isn't a request for a clarification, but, eventually, repeated protestations that you're incapable of doing what the community asks of you because of extenuating circumstances. These circumstances are understandable, but you can't change the rules for permission or writing missions when one person is inconvenienced by their circumstances. The shared universe has a few standards, and if you can't meet them, either suggest to us a workaround or find a way to meet them. A poor working environment does not excuse publishing poor writing. It seems to me like Des tried to explain this to you, and you either didn't understand or ignored him.

The only thing I can say for you here is that you didn’t openly harass anyone that time, from what I’ve seen.

February. Also of last year..

I'd like to give you credit for understanding what went wrong what I believe is the first time, but from what I've seen, you've repeated this behavior, so let's take the chance to clarify. In this and other threads, you have--within the same thread--requested that Iximaz not talk to you because she makes you uncomfortable, and give you a detailed explanation of what you've done wrong. Several times, you demonstrate a belligerent and downright hostile attitude toward those offering to explain to you what you've done wrong.

Rather than listen to Iximaz when she told you that you were being rude, you were openly hostile, as explained by Iximaz in this post. You responded to it with a comment that implied the entire PPC was somehow biased against you because of a mental disorder, when I’ve dug through these records and watched us give you every possible chance.

And watched you snap at them for it.

And then there’s this. Just. . . this.

This is your explanation for why Iximaz doesn't have to explain anything to you. Tomash has done so. Recently. Iximaz has done so--the whole Board has done so--repeatedly. In this post, Tomash very clearly, calmly, concisely—and many other adjectives ending in -ly that probably break the alliterative chain— lays out exactly what our problems are with your behaviors.

And you busted out caps lock on him for it, shouting that somehow the PPC wasn’t being fair to you.

To the PPC at large: In light of all of these past actions, I stand in favor of the immediate ban of Bramandin. Their apologies have been rendered meaningless by their continued wrongdoing in the face of multiple, clearly stated explanations of exactly what was wrong with what they were doing.

Bramandin is harassing Iximaz, a fellow member of the PPC, for an explanation, when they’ve plainly been given one several times. They’re demanding an apology from someone who tried being considerate, and, in the face of someone who obstinately refuses to actually listen, chose to step away from the conversation.

They provide excuses for their poor work, rather than improving said work’s quality, and either run away from concrit or spew out vitriolic caps lock for it, apparently randomly demanding explanations from those who have made it absolutely clear that they no longer wish to engage with Bramandin--which is actually reasonable, considering her reactions to everyone who has done so.

I think Bramandin is a hostile, toxic PPC member, and I don't think she should be allowed to continue.

We'll miss you, Key. Seconding Zing: take care of yourself.

-Alleb

P.S. If you don't mind, I'd still love to hear about Zachary's home 'verse; if and when you write more of it, feel free to send it over on Discord!

Good luck with your RL stuff.

I hope someday opening the Board and posting will no longer be nerve-wracking for you, but however things go, I wish you well.

~Zing

"This is our moment, men. Hopefully the first of many," He says through tented hands. "Adjust missile vectors, laser batteries. Do we still have Tuesday's lunch? Put that in one of the airlocks. Point 'em all at Tango 2. TARGET!"

Targeting reticles flash to life on the viewing screen, quickly aligning themselves over the enemy ship.

"Ready to fire on your command, sir!" Says the TO.

"Is the Missile Vector aligned to Tango 2?!"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Is Tuesday's lunch in the airlock?!"

The XO baps her personal console a few times. "Sir yes sir!" she says.

The Captain stands and points to the screen, "FIRE!"

There's a brief pause, before the the TO gives a thumbs up. "All weapons- and airlocks- have finished firing, weapons only soon."

"I for one do not want to sit here and watch as all our work be for naught. Center wedge over us and engage thrusters eastward! Send Missiles 1 through 3 in the general direction of Tangos 1 and 3!"

"Anything precise sir?" Asks the TO

"Surprise me."

I have some problems with anxiety -- not in those exact circumstances, but the general topic is familiar to me.

(For all I know, my mod powers have already been taken away for inactivity. . . just making it formal. I should have renounced it earlier, but the time when I wanted to was the time when all the mods were quitting, so I thought it would be too much if I did too. . .)

There were some incidents in the past where I think I very much did the wrong thing -- I did nothing to help with or subtly worsened a bad situation, or was simply socially clueless. I think there is a pattern: I consistently don't know what the best thing to do in social situations would be. I have been overconfident in my uninformed ideas. In sum, I don't think my input in this discussion would be useful, nor would I make a good chat moderator.

Additionally, I've had some minor Real Life stuff to deal with.

I do not like my past behavior here, and opening the Board is nerve-wracking (posting even more so), so I don't think I'll be back much.

It is generally positive (one simple tweak), but I don't want to post it for the whole Board to see. I don't know why my Internet connection is letting me post to the Board but not send emails. . . but I've saved it and it'll be on its way soonish.

--Key