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24

The Starcaster Chronicles 07.24

May 12, 2020 by Tim

And that wraps up Starcaster issue #7. We will resume our regular update schedule on Friday.

In the meantime, if you’re jonesing for more Starcaster and would like to support the series, you can check out the Starcaster Patreon where we’ll be finishing issue #8 this month, and then onto issue #9!


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Graham Best
Graham Best
4 years ago

Wait… You’re not going to tell us if Severic ever found the blue case?!?

GUNnibal
GUNnibal
4 years ago
Reply to  Graham Best

The world HAS to know! If Tim ever shows us the ruins, I swear to God, there’d better be a blue case somewhere in the background =)

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
4 years ago
Reply to  GUNnibal

I see a blue case and they’re going to roast it black.

No colors anymore they want it to turn black.

Harold
Harold
4 years ago

Death from above

foducool
foducool
4 years ago

did someone call for an exterminatus?

The Legacy
The Legacy
4 years ago
Reply to  foducool

PURGE THE HERETIC. PURGE THE XENOS. THERE CAN ONLY BE DEATH. FOR THE EMPEROR!

The Legacy
The Legacy
4 years ago

I knew they were going to kill him.

I didn’t expect them to do the equivalent of firing a bazooka at an insect.

That’s *cold.*

Timmeh
Timmeh
4 years ago
Reply to  The Legacy

I actually think it is about to get very *very* hot

The Legacy
The Legacy
4 years ago
Reply to  Timmeh

Semantics. XD

Rolando
Rolando
4 years ago
Reply to  The Legacy

Insect? Even if the Dranglaex clearly outgun Severic’s mob, it’s still a top-tier interplanetary mafia.

Also, overkill is the smartest way to handle an enemy force. Minimizes your losses, and any chances at retaliation.

7eggert
7eggert
4 years ago
Reply to  Rolando

There is no overkill. There is “fire” and “reload”

The Legacy
The Legacy
4 years ago
Reply to  7eggert

Logistics brigades must love you at parties. 😛

7eggert
7eggert
4 years ago
Reply to  The Legacy

Google it and you’ll discover something you love.

The Legacy
The Legacy
4 years ago
Reply to  Rolando

I was referring to the man himself, not the mob.

Rolando
Rolando
4 years ago
Reply to  The Legacy

It’s obvious you cannot really attack the former without attacking the latter. That was implied, and pure common sense.

So, why bother thinking they’re attacking him only?

Humsterr
Humsterr
4 years ago

So, feds are about to find the fleet I take it

James Rye
James Rye
4 years ago
Reply to  Humsterr

By the worst way possible, losing an entire planet worth of production. Oh and ofc the loss of billions of lives, very tragic, yes yes.

BakaGrappler
BakaGrappler
4 years ago

Were there decisions in this Issue you didn’t agree with? Were there paths you wanted to solidify for the future? Do you want to harass Tim into making Sunspit the official drink of the Interspecies Splorthball League? Join us in Patreon and steer us into a Faster Arriving Future Content!

John Swift
John Swift
4 years ago

Wow, thats a bit overkill, maybe they should have split up the fleet? A war actively using starcasters would likely have no winners.

DDM_Reaper20
DDM_Reaper20
4 years ago
Reply to  John Swift

Splitting up the fleet would invite defeat in detail… They are killing two birds with one stone — starting their war of extermination while getting rid of an incompetent lackey.

Doodm4n
Doodm4n
4 years ago
Reply to  John Swift

MAD, Mutually Assured Destruction. Helped prevent a war between the United States and the Soviet Union for decades.

Blasting a planet from orbit without the Starcaster would effectively be keeping the war “conventional” instead of the Starcaster nuking.

Is an orbital bombardment a tad overkill to off one guy? Probably, but much like a spider in your car, bomb it from orbit, it is the only way to be sure.

Anon200
Anon200
4 years ago
Reply to  Doodm4n

Well to be fair they were gonna purge the universe of all the “failed” creations of that super race anyway so this is just moving up the time table/finishing failed minions

Rolando
Rolando
4 years ago
Reply to  Doodm4n

I already said something similar to this, to The Legacy above. It’s been established that Marko is the head of a top-tier interplanetary mafia. No small potatoes here, just huge and then even bigger. The Dranglaex are bringing so many guns to the battle because it’s not just the one guy, but also all the firepower he can recall to save his ass while sitting at his HQ. Considering he saw it coming, he probably recalled a substantial amount of extra guns to his side already. Also, overkill is just being smart. Reduces your losses and any chances at future… Read more »

Stephen M Schaefer
Stephen M Schaefer
4 years ago
Reply to  John Swift

No, it’s definitely better to use some of the physical munitions that they’ve spent a century preparing to use, rather than a godlike energy bracelet that apparently has infinite energy and consumes none of your resources, and is more effective.

Kit the Coyote
Kit the Coyote
4 years ago

Orbital Bombardment, when you care enough to send the very best.

Shecky
Shecky
4 years ago

Rain fire! … but sir we have some our own men…. just do it!

Ah the tell tail signs of a crazy person.

Seriously though I still don’t see how a star caster can be used from space without killing the user by destroying the pressurized vessel they are on. I’m sure it’s some sci-fi mumbo jumbo (I supercharged the ships systems, or I can shoot through this force field in one direction), but such an actual limitation would be a nice balance to the item.

SuperSyrias
SuperSyrias
4 years ago
Reply to  Shecky

ive got the feeling the star caster can sustain the user for a time, as well as giving them an energy based protective suit of sorts. Green Lantern style, basically. there is talk about the device not only being a “death beam” but also a “tool to create”. the user “only” has to understand and master it. my guess would be that if the fans manage to pick the choices that get Cort to finally train with the thing, he will be the first in quite a while to unlock the more benevolent properties. Again, Green Lanterns pretty often start… Read more »

Him.
Him.
4 years ago
Reply to  Shecky

The Starcaster wouldn’t have shot a blast of energy. These are used for creating planets, and that lets you also have a lot of abilities for destruction. I imagine bearer could “only” destabilize the core from a distance, causing the planet to explode in minutes if not sooner.

Also, the mob here are all guns for hire, I imagine that the Dragnalex don’t actually see them as part of their fleet. This is “get rid of a couple major loose ends and have some delightful destruction” instead of “nuke a planet we have a stake in just because we can”.

7eggert
7eggert
4 years ago
Reply to  Shecky

You can (actually and with 2020 technology) create a skinsuit-based space suit and a helmet. Even if the part above the hand gets damaged, you will only have a giant hickey on your hand.

Robk
Robk
4 years ago
Reply to  Shecky

I’m pretty sure a starcaster can do a lot more tricks than just “shoot a big laser”.

Boris Grigorov
Boris Grigorov
4 years ago

This really felt like it wasn’t enough (pages, that is).

JozMk.II
JozMk.II
4 years ago
Reply to  Boris Grigorov

I agree. But it was free, and the art and storyline are fine-quality if not exceptional, so I’m not going to complain.

Sayer
Sayer
4 years ago

Found the fleet!

James Rye
James Rye
4 years ago

Oh, I remember those two. They are the Dranglex emperor bro duo or something like that, right?

Heldarion
Heldarion
4 years ago

I kinda feel sorry for Severic

Cyrad
Cyrad
4 years ago

Good News: They don’t have to deal with Marko and the Syndicate anymore.
Bad News: Now they have three starcasters and two starship fleets after them

Leon
Leon
4 years ago

Ewww, alien Caliguls…….

Oddothello
Oddothello
4 years ago

Registered just to say this: Maybe he caught me on a bad day, but I am SO GOD DAMNED SICK AND TIRED of space navies being seen as the ‘End All’ of power. Yes, sure, if you have a vessel that can cross galaxies the weapons will be of parallel power, but you know what else would be? Defense. Just once I’d like to see something akin to the following: Fleet warps out right into the teeth of pretty standard defense of planetary object since they were seen coming literally light year away. So, this Starcaster series has a lot… Read more »

Oddothello
Oddothello
4 years ago
Reply to  Tim

You make a good point, but… (yeah we saw that coming) There’s a reason Navies (or tank battalions…or normal…battalion) have strategic limits. If I park a fleet in your harbor, I will destroy that city, non the continent, not even the coast. Oh and we’d see it coming, again, it’s not perfect defense (you’re right about that) but it near damn perfect intelligence today, now, with current tech. That would also have parallels. (Another annoyance with Sci-Fi, being entire fleets engaged in what amounts to a knife fight, but I digress) As for individual defenses, yep, not possible, but here… Read more »

GeorgeV
GeorgeV
4 years ago
Reply to  Oddothello

Isn’t that ‘strategic limits’ thing exactly what’s happening here? Given that is shaping up to be a galaxy-scale conflict, nuking one planet like this isn’t that big of a deal in the full scope of things. It’s basically the equivalent of taking out one harbor in a surprise attack. It’s not like this is ending the war in one stroke, it’s just the opening salvo. ‘We’d see it coming’ doesn’t really seem fair, as the scale of observation is vastly different. It’s a lot easier to monitor a finite Earth where you can hover satellites over it to keep a… Read more »

BakaGrappler
BakaGrappler
4 years ago
Reply to  Oddothello

It really just sounds to me like you have a chip on your shoulder where Sci-Fi is concerned.

Dentris
Dentris
4 years ago
Reply to  Tim

The Ender Saga is an excellent inspiration for battles and fleets that have to cross vast distance to reach their destination. The defenders always see the attacks coming, but it’s always a matter of “will renforcement reach us in time”. This specific series have to rely on sublight transportation between planets, and often have years if not decades to prepare for the invasions. This is not a perfect comparison because of FTL in Starcaster, but all the books are worth reading IMHO (my personal favorite sci-fi series)

7eggert
7eggert
4 years ago
Reply to  Oddothello

You can’t see a fleet that isn’t there yet. Any fleet capable of near-lightspeed can only be seen when they are in range of fire. That is, if they can’t teleport. Otherwise You’d need an active sensor array fully covering teleportation range and subspace communication for the alert.

LarryMcFly
LarryMcFly
4 years ago
Reply to  Oddothello

Then watch Deep Space Nine Season Episode 25/26 “What you leave behind”.
Although there is a fleet defending the planet too, the planetary defense practically does the job alone in destroying a good part of the attacking invasion force.

7egert
7egert
4 years ago
Reply to  LarryMcFly

I played the BOTF game. Orbital defense is nice and cheap but it only helps to a certain extent. Against *this* fleet here, OD does not help.

Eldest Gruff
Eldest Gruff
4 years ago
Reply to  Oddothello

Defense in space just really doesn’t make sense, as there are approach angles from every direction and it’s an issue, on an order of magnitude greater the further away you get from the planet. So honestly, the only defense you’d do is the planet’s own, in addition to whatever else you’d try to move. Read Ender’s Shadow; there’s a decent description of why defense in space makes zero sense. Also, I fear you don’t understand the basic concept of FTL travel, or even light speed travel. They weren’t seen “light years away;” that’s a measure of distance, not time, and… Read more »

Him.
Him.
4 years ago

“First step of conquering the galaxy: clean up loose ends before they betray you.”

Caillean
Caillean
4 years ago

Gooodbye, bluue sky! Goodbye – blu-u-ue sky! Goodbye…. goodbye… (Pink Floyd)

Trapsin
Trapsin
4 years ago

I reread the entire series, I really enjoy it. I did this on the last issue release as well. I just wanted to point out that when reading through there doesn’t seem to be any cover art for issue 4. I don’t know if it was oversight or not, but wanted to share since I don’t think the comment I left on page 1 of issue 4 will be seen.

Crestlinger
Crestlinger
4 years ago

You know they’re powerful when the only way to be sure is plan B for these guys.

Magnus Björnryd
Magnus Björnryd
4 years ago

Hmm, so to be able to read #8 and #9 you’ll need to be a patreon?

toughluck
toughluck
4 years ago

You can’t have FTL travel without FTL communications. Since we saw interdiction of vessels travelling at FTL speed (and advance warning that proceeding at FTL speed is not allowed), I presume some method of monitoring and detection is also present. Now, I fully agree that whether it’s actually effective or helpful is a whole another matter. The Federation may (or may not) have detected where the Dranglaex fleet went and that it’s about to bomb the planet back to the stone age, but reacting to it is pretty much impossible. Even if they actually responded, they would need to put… Read more »

Dreben
Dreben
4 years ago
Reply to  toughluck

“You can’t have FTL travel without FTL communications.”
I think that would be an interesting quirk of a scifi universe. You can transport matter FTL but the process screws with any sort of broadcasted information, so communication between star systems relies on the space pony express transporting physical media.

toughluck
toughluck
4 years ago
Reply to  Dreben

It could work. It reminds me of the Frontier-verse. It introduced a couple of awesome concepts: – The higher the ship mass, the longer it took to go through hyperspace, but it still needed a hyperdrive. This means a large fleet takes weeks (if not months) to arrive at a destination, while a nimble scout takes hours. – On departure and arrival, a hypercloud is present, which shows some details of the flight. Definitely the departure/arrival star system and time to take to destination. It was necessary for assassination missions. You knew when your target would leave port, you followed… Read more »

7eggert
7eggert
4 years ago

He didn’t want nor need to take that call.

Mousio
Mousio
4 years ago

Someone decided to go darth malak on this taris, it seems?.

Patrick Mnoholitny
Patrick Mnoholitny
4 years ago

huh, I am a little bit lost on these last 2 pages.. who are these guys and why are they attack the planet?