ULTRA Mini-Contest #2: Mar 27 to Apr 10 [Closed]

[Cralis]

Welcome to the second ULTRA Mini-Contest!

This mini contest is: BEST NEW GALACTIC ODDITY - Biological Category

This week though we are going to narrow the category down some. We want galactic oddities in a new category: biological oddities. These are creepy-crawly living creatures that aren't smart enough or numerous enough to be a race of their own, and that live in the depths of space in some fashion. I'm sure you've already realized that this category does not currently exist in the ULTRA rules...!

Parameters:
1. Must be a biological oddity - a life form. Robots, nanites, and the like don't count for this one.
2. It must live in space. It might like to hibernate in the summer of your type T world, but it needs to move around and live in space.
3. Must include rules for behavior. It doesn't have to be complex, but the SM does need to know how to the oddity will behave.

Good luck!

PS. Like you, most of us have played the "space monster" scenarios from Star Fleet Battles. We cannot accept any entries based on that work.

[Club]

First Entity


Hibernating Chestbursters - you discover a derelict hulk, floating through space. This is announced to the player identically as the 'derelict ship' oddity in H1.04.3, with the crew deceased. However, when the player attempts to use a shipyard or MS to analyze or refit the hulk, that shipyard and all attached HS must be written off. If , god forbid, the work is done by planetary industry, write off 10% of the planet's population before control is established. This cannot eliminate more than 10% of the empire's shipyard facilities at a time.

(three guesses what this is a cheap rip of - awww, you guessed)




Second entity.

The WP eaters - Each month, roll 14d. On a 1, a creature approaches a randomly chosen WP in the system and enters it. Instead of transiting, the WP disappears for 1d3 months, after which the WP opens and creature emerges back into the system it left, headed for deep space. These creatures can be killed, using the following statline
[2] AAAA(Ic?)Qa(Ic?) [*/*] (Speed is 4, but increases to 10 after emerging from WP; speed is halved after the destruction of the first 'engine.' Detection is per large unit under LOD)
If a creature is killed, the chance of occurrence is decreased to one on a D6, if another is killed the occurrence decreases to 1 on a D8, and so on through D10, D12, D20, and then no chance.
If a X system is in scan range on the creature's side of a WP when it closes (But not opens) any current ongoing research in this system for X, Xc, or any tech item in those branches get 1 free RP per occurrence. Multiple WP in this system may be closed at the same time.



Third entity

Energy Leech -The system is home to D12 energy leeches. The energy leech is an enormous creature that attaches itself to starships and drains them of all energy, up to and including heat energy above 30 kelvin. The CFN will not enter a system where energy leeches are known to be active. They are distinctive enough that individuals may be identified at scan range.

A leech's damage track consists of it's shields, followed by it's armor, followed by it's @ racks. If a leech loses it's last @ rack it explodes into finely minced gore. Roll 5D10 to determine the number of shields it has, 5D10 to determine the number of armor it has, 2D10 to determine the number of @ racks it has, and it's speed is equal to (10 minus 1d6). Roll each statistic separately for each creature. Each is armed with the equivalent of 1D3 Te, and counts as surrounded by a drive field. Detection is per large unit under LOD. They count as being equipped with mythic capital sensors, so can avoid most attempts to find them, and may find any and all suitable targets.

Each month, 1D4 energy leeches congregate and go to feed. Congregations will not attack in numbers greater than the ships they approach to attack (Losing individuals at the controlling player's discretion,) nor attack fleets with more HS than their collected @ rack capacity, nor fleets with ships that exceed the single largest @ capacity of a leech in the fleet, nor will any individual leech participate in attacks on fleets consisting solely of units that cannot fit in it's @ racks. If there are no targets that qualify during a month, no attack happens; If a fleet becomes an invalid target in the course of an attack, the leeches retreat if able. They count as having HS equal to their @ capacity for tractor purposes.

If an energy leech is in the hex of a unit it has tractored, that unit loses all shields and drive field. Next turn the leech attaches the ship to it's @ racks if able (Cooperation of the ship is not necessary for the procedure), and the ship dies with all aboard becoming corpsicles within seconds - not even ice races survive. A leech that has it's @ capacity full of ships, or that has lost an @, will attempt to retreat. If it cannot retreat (Be reasonable in this determination, everyone) it will attack other ships, abandoning it's current meals if necessary. A retreat by an individual might trigger a general retreat.

All ships hauled off by leeches will be discovered abandoned in the course of any system survey (Though the surveyors typically count as excellent targets.) Such hulks count as having been destroyed by E-beam fire, and must be repaired.

It is impossible for races less than EL 51 to determine the mechanism of energy drain.



(Frick. Took me so long to write this that I got logged out and almost lost it.)

[Club]

PS, don't bother giving me the extremis e-arc - I've already got an e-book for it, or will as soon as it releases

[Cralis]

PS, don't bother giving me the extremis e-arc - I've already got an e-book for it, or will as soon as it releases

Not a problem, the ULTRA mini-contests are ultimately a competition for copies of the new version of ULTRA and other goodies from the SDS

We finished filling out the rules, including a complete list of prizes and how the competition will work: viewtopic.php?f=52&t=937#p8366 (Procyon, if you go back to the contest rules this is a link to the second post)

[procyon]

Thank you, I know how much of a pain it can be to reinvent the wheel per se.

[Cralis]

CONTEST CLOSED!

[Cralis]

This contest has turned into an anomaly, with all three entries by the same person. But the good news is that he gave us a good spread of ideas, and at least one we want to use!

The entries are:
#1 Hibernating Chestbursters by Club
#2 WP Eaters by Club
#3 Energy Leech by Club

First place winner: (#3) Energy Leech by Club (8 tickets)

Runner Ups: (#2) WP Eaters by Club (4 tickets)

Additional Entries: (#1) Hibernating Chestbursters by Club (2 tickets)

You can see the running totals for the competition at viewtopic.php?f=52&t=1031#p9038

Congratulations Club!