I’m doing better this month! Not even into double digits this month and we’re actually looking at an updated Sitrep. Pretty sure this is a sign of the apocalypse. Which one mind you, is the tricky part. Fortunately for me however, I’ve managed to get through a few personal challenges unscathed, and that’s been a massive load off my back. And a lot less stress means that I’m able to actually spend more time to getting things done! It also means that I can burn the rest of my vacation time this year while not feeling like I’m abandoning the rest of my team. Which also translates into more Starfire time.
What’s happened so far
At the end of last month I finally got through my big hurdle at work that I had been more or less preparing for since early June; our internal operational audit. Basically, someone from corporate goes through all our processes and paperwork and decides if we’re doing things right or not. And the end result is that we passed. Well, what I’m responsible for did. Which means I don’t have to go have the entire thing get done to me again in a few months time. I cannot restate how much stress that is off my back.
The art that I mentioned last month is now done: that will be going up on the website with its own post next week. I imagine it should be of some interest to someone. It was to me! I’m also sending out another contract for some more art. Two more after that and I’ll have basic concept work done for all the major races in my universe. Which is actually a pretty nice milestone, all things considered.
What’s happening next?
August wasn’t going to be a month where a lot of work got done, in all honesty. Real life work made sure to suck up a lot of my sanity, so I didn’t make a LOT of progress. But I did manage to make some progress.
One of those other things that I got done on the side is an update to the Tabletop Simulator module that I made a few years back. Now that I started properly using it, it became rather clear that the background in the center made it impossible to see the hex lines. As well, there were no chits for gas giants, barren planets, or stars. So I went and pushed some updates to it.
1) Push the turn processing up to get everyone lined up and done 140
As mentioned in the July update, everyone’s caught up to 140, but the next press would be to get everyone rolled up to 142 to get everything lined up.
2) Set up and run the 3rd Battle of Elysium to a conclusion
As mentioned last month, I’m running this battle on my own via Tabletop Simulator. And that’s actually been going quite well! It also prompted me to do a few upgrades to the simulator module as mentioned above. As part of it, I did a little bit of work to map out the Elysian inner system, along with sensor coverage of both the approaching deWulf fleet and the planetary sensor grid. It’s one thing to look at the system data sheet, it’s another thing laid out. As with most things, laying it out visually lets you understand things far better.
- Initial run in-system, including flank reconnaissance to see if the strike force gets within launch range of Elysium
- Drone staging at the launch point. This will take approximately 20 hours, so I expect it to involve multiple gunboat strikes, and a rather spirited defense.
- The actual drone wave impact
- Follow-up operations. This may involve pulling back to rearm for a second drone strike (surprise! bet you didn’t see that coming…)
I can’t say much more right now about how far this mini-list is going. Because that would be giving away a little bit too much. If you want to see how far THIS has gone so far, then you’ll just have to keep an eye out for the story posts, I’m afraid!
3) Do a full overhaul and update of my map (as seen on Fleet Management Mk2) so it’s all on one well-organized map WITH space to expand
All of the mapping software has been installed and updated. So next steps is to start cracking open the software and getting to work.
4) Finish the writing work for Scenario Book 1 – The First Contact War
No new progress to report on this.
5) Go do a second pass on the artwork for Scenario Book 1, incorporating new details and design concepts over the past year
No additional work here has been done, but I’ve run across someone who might be able to do some more art for the internals on the book. No idea if it will actually work out, but it would be nice to have some art beyond just the 3d work that I’ve done.
6) Start fishing in my contacts to find someone who can do proofreading for Scenario Book
No new progress to report on this. Again, this is something that needs #4 to be done first before this can be seriously examined.
Dollarton Proxima Shipyards 