MYZ: Ark OOC Discussion

[silverfoxdmt73]

We need to determine some details about your Ark - the home of the People - such as location, type, development levels etc...

First on the list is, what is the Ark and what does it look like.. There are a few suggestions on page 98 of the core book.

Airplane Wreck
Bridge
Farm
Gated Community
Junkyard
Mall
Oil Rig
Prison
Scrap Village
Shelter
Shipwreck
Skyscraper
Small Island
Subway Station
Trailer Park

Let me know if anyone has a preference, or I can just use one at random.

[RorytheRomulan]

I did not know we would be getting into a game designed to be harsh in environmental survivability, so an easier start would be nice. Preferably mainland. A shipwreck looks desirable for my character to have an opportunity to exercise his Mutation, but I think I would prefer a land oil rig. That could give us a fuel advantage early on, more than a crashed airliner or ship. We could potentially drill for years and trade it for food and water if we need it. It also provides that same source as a rudimentary fuel to power any innovations, if the Gearhead is serious about tech advancements. I think that's worth making ourselves a target.

I want the oil rig.

If you pick a subway station, I could change my name to Artyom and be mute the entire way through...

[ManWithDoor]

Regardless of the Location, we work on determining how many points we put into Food Supply, Technology, Culture, and Defense. So it's abstracted. If we go to an Oil Rig, we'd likely say low Food Supply/Culture, but high Technology and/or Defense. Which I'm fine with, we just need to prioritize feeding our people since we lose many people every 'Session' from starvation.

I like the Oil Rig idea. Definitely a place that people would want to hold to try to survive the apocalypse.

[silverfoxdmt73]

Projects are what you would need for that RorytheRomuan, but certainly in time you could unlock the potential of the Ark.

[Bohemond]

My concern with the oil rig is how rudimentary our technology may be. According to one of the flavor text excerpts, the Armageddon happened even before the Elder was born. So we're not talking about a zombie movie, where it's only been a few weeks/months. We're talking about possibly centuries of time. Building a steam engine to power the rig is a mid-to-upper level project. My concern is that we'd be focusing our Ark around a resource that we don't have the technology or manufacturing base to get much use out of.

I think we should focus on having some sort of reliable water source. I was initially going to propose an abandoned camping grounds/wilderness lodge preferably next to a large body of water. I concur that we need to develop our food supply, because the session body count is a constant population drain that we need to mitigate ASAP.

[silverfoxdmt73]

There's not so much of an impact on resources etc depending on the type of Ark, I think it's more of an image thing more than anything else.. You get to put a number of Development points into it at the beginning then choose different projects to undertake as a people.. It's really from then on that you get to vote/decide on different things to develop.. Finding different Artefacts out in the Zone helps with development too as does finding NPCs willing to help,

[RorytheRomulan]

Alright, well, aesthetically an oil rig looks like a desirable place to be. I guess what we put points into can a factor for its placement, like on the shore or near a lake or river.

[silverfoxdmt73]

I'm working on a map to use, we can decide on the specific location of your Ark soon.

[Bohemond]

So, I was looking up living quarters for land oil sites. It looks like it's mostly stackable trailers and the like. However, depending on where we are and how the landscape may have changed, there could feasibly be resources for building new structures and retrofitting new structures for residential living.

[ManWithDoor]

I'm thinking that as a Stalker I'd live more on the periphery of the Ark. Maybe an overturned empty fuel tank? Oh, or better yet a rusted out crane that I've build the equivalent of a tree-house in. So I've got a bit of an aerial view of our surroundings.