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HAL
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Senior RPA

Post Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2013 2:42 pm      Reply with quote

Ask, and I will answer!

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"Was a Niner once, then I took a gato bite t'th'knee," a bald, gaunt-faced lanky young fellow says a bit randomly as he looks his knee over.
eltanimras
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 5:13 am      Reply with quote

Demographics?

What percentage of Rust's population has some kind of minor cybernetics? How does that compare to, say, the percentage who suffer the consequence of some injury that could have been corrected by cybernetic means but wasn't?

Can we narrow down the relative prevalence of the races any more specifically than is already done by the wiki?

What about the relative vNPC numbers of the Families, non-member denizens of family-dominated turf, and residents of the southern slums?

Also, how tall is the Hyperion platform? And what's the approximate diameter of Rust -- how long would it take to cross the city on foot if you could do so unmolested?

p.s. Thank you!


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Moriarty
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 5:23 am      Reply with quote

Also, I've read/been told that there's a great deal of derelict housing in the slums.

The wiki also says that the population is generally stable and that Rust was built AFTER the prison break.

Which, in order for there to be lots of abandoned parts of the city, you'd have to have had a major decline in population at some point.

How does this work?


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starsignal
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just a page in someone's book

Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:02 am      Reply with quote

Sort of along the lines of Moriarty's question, is there any consensus on why the families were so low on resources and general proficiency at the start of the game? Personally I'm sort of skeptical that most people are magically discovering much new knowledge (as they learn crafts), and they had to learn all the theory from people who were educated, right?

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wilde
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Over Emote-tional

Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 8:26 am      Reply with quote

Moriarty wrote:
Also, I've read/been told that there's a great deal of derelict housing in the slums.

The wiki also says that the population is generally stable and that Rust was built AFTER the prison break.


Rust was built after the prison break, on part of the site of an existing outpost around Hyperion. Lots of the surrounding areas were badly damaged during the fighting, which is why a lot of the buildings are more makeshift but is also why things like the metro exist.

There are lots of derelict buildings because many people lack the skills and resources to repair them and because lots of them were badly built to begin with. People still live in lots of these, no matter the conditions although there are definitely some empty ones, much like in any city.

starsignal wrote:
Sort of along the lines of Moriarty's question, is there any consensus on why the families were so low on resources and general proficiency at the start of the game?


Bearing in mind the vNPC sections of the Families, it's probably safe to say that from an in game point of view they weren't really that badly off, it's just that supplies were being used in other areas and maybe there was a bit of a resource distribution blip.

I think a certain amount of OOC glossing over is needed here. The game started mid-story and we couldn't just give every clan a load of resources or give new characters skills/crafts.


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Moriarty
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:24 am      Reply with quote

wilde wrote:
Rust was built after the prison break, on part of the site of an existing outpost around Hyperion.


I'm still having trouble with this. Either most of Rust was built by the predecessors of the current denizens, or it was occupied - if it was built, then it's difficult to understand how significant portions of it are now deserted, considering that the population has remained relatively stable.

If it was occupied, if people simply settled into an outpost that was larger than they'd needed necessarily (though from the impression I've got from speaking to people and reading the wiki, I'd venture that likely only some of Rust was prebuilt, and that would likely be the best construction around - Market area maybe?) then that makes sense, but that's not the impression I've gotten.

Also, one does realize that not everything is going to fit perfectly what with how quickly the game was put out. But one does try and get the pieces to fit together as best as one can.


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The forum blight formerly known as Rivean
Hyriana
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 9:37 am      Reply with quote

Moriarty wrote:
wilde wrote:
Rust was built after the prison break, on part of the site of an existing outpost around Hyperion.


I'm still having trouble with this. Either most of Rust was built by the predecessors of the current denizens, or it was occupied - if it was built, then it's difficult to understand how significant portions of it are now deserted, considering that the population has remained relatively stable.


I'm not sure I see anywhere saying that it's deserted? Just because there isn't a vNPC in every room, it's generally assumed that there are slummers everywhere in my experience.

Derelict housing means broken down and in poor repair, not that no one lives there.


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Hyriana
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:02 am      Reply with quote

More of a general environment instead of lore question, but I see mentions places about things scurrying around in junk piles in room descriptions. What kind of wild(e)life does the gameworld have aside from rats, squicks, and up? Are there roaches, birds? Since it was a prison colony, did the Terrans really bother to set up an entire ecosystem or are the things that exist on world simply an accident of sneaky species?

Where did the walls around Rust come from? Were they from the original outpost? Are those all manned as part of the Market Watch as well (since the gates outside the Market still have guards)?

And a more flavour thing, was there ever a family (maybe one that's gone now) that ever had control of the Southside? The Niners and Reds are sort of right next to each other, but the Guard are off on their own without any real pressure. The only thing I've ever seen mentioned in game about it is that Southside is uncontrolled slumland.


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Moriarty
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Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:40 am      Reply with quote

Hyriana wrote:
I'm not sure I see anywhere saying that it's deserted? Just because there isn't a vNPC in every room, it's generally assumed that there are slummers everywhere in my experience.

Derelict housing means broken down and in poor repair, not that no one lives there.


I spent a great deal of time talking to several people (HAL among them) and reading the documentation yesterday - I got the impression that a not-insignificant portion of Rust is actually deserted. I could certainly be wrong in this understanding, or I may have been misinformed. I haven't actually seen any of the IG room descs.

Secondly, might I humbly suggest that we limit player interaction on this thread to questions and requests for clarifications? Because from my own experience yesterday, I heard things that were often contradictory from different players, and it might be best to allow HAL or other RPAs to conclusively and definitively answer questions without room for, 'Are you sure you have that right?'


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The forum blight formerly known as Rivean
HAL
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Senior RPA

Post Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 11:58 am      Reply with quote

First Batch of Replies!

Q. What are the demographics of Rust in relation to the various races?
A. Rust’s population is hard to pin down, but it is certainly less than 10,000 individuals. Of those, about 60% are Terran, 20% Martian, 15% Titan, and 5% Calistan.

Q. What percentage of Rust’s Population has some kind of minor cybernetic?
A. Low, probably less than 15%. Most often, when people are injured, they do not get cybernetics, simply because they are not valuable enough to repair. So, crippled slummers are probably a relatively common sight.

Q. How big are families, including vNPCs?
A. “Active Members” can usually be seen as just around what the actual PC numbers are, so around 40 or so, give or take. However, this is about 20% of the actual “bulk” of the family. Imagine families to really be a bit like peasant levies; people are constantly moving in and out of active duty, going back to their work or jobs, or just laying low after a bad run-in. When shit happens, there is likely a call for people to come up and pick up their guns, but really most of the time what you see is what you get for the actual power of that family.

Q. How about how many people are in Family turf, that are non-family?
A. It is a fairly disproportionate number. As our population is between 5-10k, under each family there are probably about two-thousand slummers and dependents. Remember that this population is dynamic, people are constantly moving from place to place, finding work and food.

Q. How about the Southern Slum?
A. A handful of thousands or so.

Q. So why do people tolerate the families?
A. The families provide a number of things. The main thing, however, is that they provide a modicum of protection against the chaos of day-to-day slum life. Within the areas outside of Family control, you often find small upstart gangs trying to duplicate what the Families have. These are dangerous groups, whose rise and fall is often marked by gunfire, so for Slummers having a more stable life is worth the “homage” costs that they often have to provide to the Families.

Q. How tall is the Hyperion Platform?
A. About the height of an American football stadium.

Q. What is the approximate diameter of Rust, how long would it take to cross it?
A. Oh, on a rough guess I’d say it’d take about an hour or two on foot, walking at a slow pace. It’s a couple city blocks in size. Not too large, but large enough to house perhaps 25k.

Q. How much of Rust is populated within the walls?
A. Despite the size of Rust, only portions of it are occupied consistently. There are corners, alleys, and entire blocks that have been abandoned. Most often, this takes the form of sparse occupation throughout an area, interspersed with abandoned or run-down buildings. This is perhaps most prevalent in the lower slums, and near the walls.

Q. So there has been population decline?
A. Absolutely. Remember, the Moon is dying. A hundred and twenty years ago, the places you visit to scavenge were not ruins. You might have heard stories, passed down through your family, of all the people on the moon before the Revolution. Entire cities have died, and Rust is simply the last, or one of the last, remaining holdouts against the encroaching ruin. This will become more clear in the upcoming reveal of the new Wilderness, but what Rust is now is only a partial occupation of a much larger settlement.

Q. So, why did we all suck in the beginning, but now we are flush?
A. There a boom times, and there are bust times. Cycles, so to speak. The boom times never last for very long, of course.

Q. Could you clarify what Rust was before?
A. Rust was both occupied and built. The wall, for instance, was clearly built by the current residents of the place. But the Metro? Clearly occupied. Most of the buildings were around in some form or another at occupation, though in the past hundred years they have been altered substantially.

Q. What sort of scurrying micro-fauna is about? Are there roaches, birds?
A. A few birds, possibly, but they would be incredibly rare. There are of course the rats and squicks, but on the smaller side there are roaches, mini-beetles (think elephant beetles), and other sort of mice and small hangers-on. As to why there are so many things like that for a Penal Colony, that’s up to speculation. Perhaps it wasn’t always one?

Q. Where did the walls of Rust come from?
A. They were built by the Market Guard with the assistance of the original occupiers of Rust shortly after the Revolution. They are built from scrap from the settlement itself. The gates, at least, are still manned by the Market Guard.

Q. Was there ever a family that controlled the Southside?

A. In the next Wilderness, you will likely see many unfamiliar-looking gang-marks. Over the course of 120 years, there have been hundreds of small gangs and families that have risen up and taken control of different parts of Rust. No doubt there have been Families in the southern slums, though not near as old or as powerful as the main 3 families, which, through luck or otherwise have managed to last for well over fifty years.


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"Was a Niner once, then I took a gato bite t'th'knee," a bald, gaunt-faced lanky young fellow says a bit randomly as he looks his knee over.
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