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 Ouze wrote:
What is the prior trope for the Webway / tunnel system in space? I don't know of one but I'm sure it exists.

I think the basic answer would probably be wormholes. Fiction wise I think Stargate could be a strong contender for inspiring the webway, and we could probably include the trope of "portals" if we would get broad enough.

I would keep in mind that the webway was artificially constructed whereas the cybel network is a natural phenomenon (if I read the novels right). The webway keeps the warp out, wheras traveling in the cybel network could expose you to the dangers within.

 Jimsolo wrote:
Is it appropriate to talk about the background in this thread, or the other one?

A miniatures game could have the best rules and most gorgeous models in the world, but without an engaging backstory, I'm not going to be interested in playing it. I'm a little unclear (and uncertain) about the setting for Maelstrom.

Yes, please discuss it. I've read some of it, but I am mostly waiting to read their novels to decide how I feel about the background.

(Currently, I'm just interpreting it as a rough draft for The Dreaming Void, which features an expanding void at the center of the Galaxy threatening to eat everything, corporate intrigue, religious fanatics, preparations to flee or fight, psychic powers in the void, and so on. To quote a strip joint bouncer, "That's close enough.")


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 HiveFleetPlastic wrote:
The weirdest part about the setting for me is how familiar everything is. For the most part, it seems like you could take the combatants from the box, say - okay, this takes place 15 years from the present day, on Earth - and it would work fine.

In the actual world we are looking at singularity probably occurring in less than a hundred years, but in Maelstrom's Edge we find ourselves thousands of years in the future and everything socially and technologically seems much the same as today, just with interstellar travel added on.

First of all, what does the singularity even mean to you? How will it change everything?

Second, most settings tend to downplay the really fundamental changes to society so that customers who aren't into bleep bloop can relate to them.

Third, we are only seeing snapshots of the working class in combat against militant extremists. For all we know, the rich could live like Jupiter Ascending villains or Like Stargate villains, completely separated from the trials of life their inferiors face every day.

Fourth, those robots and space bats look a bit more awesome than the ones that live on present day Earth.


Gates of Antares tried to go with huge societal changes, and we ended up with ugly rockmen. Sometimes it just doesn't work out.


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 darrkespur wrote:

 HiveFleetPlastic wrote:
The weirdest part about the setting for me is how familiar everything is. For the most part, it seems like you could take the combatants from the box, say - okay, this takes place 15 years from the present day, on Earth - and it would work fine.

In the actual world we are looking at singularity probably occurring in less than a hundred years, but in Maelstrom's Edge we find ourselves thousands of years in the future and everything socially and technologically seems much the same as today, just with interstellar travel added on.

We are going to explore this a bit more as we hopefully expand the universe. There was a singularity in the past that resulted in hundreds of years of war between the AIs and the free people of the galaxy, where countless billions died. When the war ended and the AIs were destroyed, it was decided that too prevent this ever happening again, the computational power of robots and computers would be heavily policed and any emergent AI destroyed before they could get too powerful.

That's why the Epirian drones are fairly limited in independent thought and require support from human handlers. Of course, with the Maelstrom disrupting interstellar travel and communication, it's becoming harder and harder to police the emergence of AI...

Oh. Uh... Ok then.

This explanation makes me less happy.




Edited at least twice.


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 insaniak wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:

That's annoying. Yes, Dune did it. Yes, 40k did it. That does not mean you need to do it too.

It wasn't done because other people had done it. It was done because an explanation was needed for the lack of evolution of AI.

How about, "turns out it's harder than we thought." Or just go with Star Wars' "AI? So what?" Approach.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The art is not retro. If anything, it could use fewer computer-enhanced techniques.

And saying it could be better does not mean I don't like it. I'll be keeping my rule book just for the precious, precious artwork.

It reminds me of stuff like the Void art, and some of the pieces reminds me of old Warzone art, thus retro stylistic basis with enhancement added.

 Ouze wrote:
What is the prior trope for the Webway / tunnel system in space? I don't know of one but I'm sure it exists.

Historically? Wouldn't that be a system of rivers or safe trading routes that allowed distant civilizations to trade? Maybe the railroad network later on, too?


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 CT GAMER wrote:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
The art is not retro. If anything, it could use fewer computer-enhanced techniques.

And saying it could be better does not mean I don't like it. I'll be keeping my rule book just for the precious, precious artwork.

It reminds me of stuff like the Void art, and some of the pieces reminds me of old Warzone art, thus retro stylistic basis with enhancement added.

I see what you're saying. I did enjoy the similarities to Warzone art.

The "AI turned out bad, warred with humanity, we barely survived and now we don't allow it" trope originated with Dune, AFAIK, and 40k and MEdge both use it. The Terminator movies also dip from the same well, and I'm sure there are others. Given that Dune is like the LotR of sci-fi, influencing nearly everything in the genre that's come since, I don't think I can count it as something MEdge copies from 40k. I don't perceive it as a significant element in 40k (it's not something I ever think of when I generally contemplate on the background), because 40k is so far from being an Sci-Fi setting, for my money. It's this incredibly overblown gothic space opera, which I love, but is substantially different in tone and priorities. While I don't think MEdge is genuinely "hard" Sci-Fi, I do think it's harder, by comparison, and its take on how we got from there to here is a little more coherent. And within that context, an explanation of why there isn't AI is a good thing to have.

I think there's a little bit of similarity between the Webway and the Cybel Network, but not much more than there would be between any two systems conceptualized off wormhole travel. I don't see anything like The Warp in MEdge.

There is a bit of similarity in terms of a setting where conflict is rife and every faction at odds, but I like that MEdge has more room for intra-factional battles. Two SM Chapters fighting has got to be something extraordinary and bizarre. Two different factions of the Epirian Corporate structure shooting it out could just represent a hostile takeover, or two Karist groups, a schism. I also think the nature of the threat(s) to humanity is distinct and has a different tone between the two settings.

 bocatt wrote:

 Jimsolo wrote:
Is it appropriate to talk about the background in this thread, or the other one?

A miniatures game could have the best rules and most gorgeous models in the world, but without an engaging backstory, I'm not going to be interested in playing it. I'm a little unclear (and uncertain) about the setting for Maelstrom.

So I've seen this, and I've seen "If a miniatures game has the best minis and the best backstory but if it doesn't have good rules I'm not interested" and I've seen yet other people saying "If a miniatures game has the best rules and the best backstory but if it doesn 't have good minis I'm not interested" and I'm over here just honestly curious where you all are getting these unreachable standards for a perfect miniatures game because so far no game has been perfect and I don't expect any to ever be (although I do hold my games to a pretty decent standard I think) and yet we are all still here, playing and arguing about miniature games.

I don't see that as an unreachable standard at all. I think different people are just providing excellent examples of how they have varying priorities, and you need to try to hit all of those areas of you want to appeal to a wide swath of miniature gaming fandom.

I think Lego and Yak and the guys are well aware of that, as fans themselves. Solid rules are important to them, so they have Jon on it working his ass off from the ground up on rules with the same exacting attention to detail and clarity that he's exerted for years helping make 40k more clear for tournaments which have used his work (and that's a lot, given that GW used some of his work in the 5th ed official FAQs, as I recall). Great minis, plastic multiparts in the best material, are important to them, so they've spent literally years working on making those happen, traveling to China and everyplace else they need to, learning about plastics production and distribution, meeting and learning from other companies and creators, etc. Terrain is important to them, and they're aware that making terrain yourself is both fun and one of the cheapest parts of the hobby, so they came up with the idea of the terrain detailing sprue to support and facilitate that. Good, compelling background is important to them, so they got actual published fiction writers (who happen to have backgrounds and education in the hard sciences) involved with and excited about the world, so they can produce actual books rather than just the kind of back-of-a-napkin scribblings one too-often sees in game supplements. Not saying it's Hugo-worthy, but it's important to a lot of gamers, so they're treating it as a high priority and investing real effort in it.

Obviously not everything's going to be the best version of something ever done, and different parts are going to be more or less appealing to different folks. But they're certainly putting in the effort to try for high quality in every area.

Just to clarify, the Maelstrom is more like a wildfire spreading through space, destroying everything it touches. It isn't something you can traverse or travel in, its a great big space energy fireball. Though, of course the Karists don't think you actually die if you are consumed by it with the right mindset..

The cybel network is a naturally occurring phenomenon and is a web of dark energy filaments which is binding the galaxy together (a current unanswered question in modern science). We just took that idea and ran with it.


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 warboss wrote:
I can't say I'm a fan of that twist either. I wouldn't have expected that given the drones previewed and I know that GW didn't invent the trope either but it's another feather in the cap that makes Maelstrom's Edge similar to 40k (the warp bleeding into realspace and threatening the galaxy with some cults worshiping it being the first one) and I'm not really sure how I feel on that without seeing the whole background myself.

I wouldn't worry too much, it is a footnote in the history of the galaxy. We have no AI factions and have no immediate plans for any, and none of us liked having AI companions and the other trappings involved with it in a far future setting. Make no mistake, this isn't some sort of technological dark age, they just don't develop that particular area of technology.

 Jimsolo wrote:

 bocatt wrote:

So I've seen this, and I've seen "If a miniatures game has the best minis and the best backstory but if it doesn't have good rules I'm not interested" and I've seen yet other people saying "If a miniatures game has the best rules and the best backstory but if it doesn 't have good minis I'm not interested" and I'm over here just honestly curious where you all are getting these unreachable standards for a perfect miniatures game because so far no game has been perfect and I don't expect any to ever be (although I do hold my games to a pretty decent standard I think) and yet we are all still here, playing and arguing about miniature games.

I don't have unreasonable standards for a perfect game, and it doesn't sound like anyone you're referring to does either; we all just have different aspects we consider important to a game we're willing to spend money on.

Furthermore, I don't think everyone is requiring greatness in each aspect. I don't think a desire for quality miniatures, functional rules, and an engaging backstory is unreasonable at all, or an 'unreachable' benchmark. Even if it is, I (and it sounds like the other two groups of people you mentioned) am willing to accept a loss in some categories in exchange for 'slightly-above-mediocrity' quality in the one we focus on.

Everyone has their own "thing". The background for this doesn't inspire me or interest me in the slightest (sorry guys!). If the figures are good in a game then that'll often work well enough for me to purchase it, but here, they aren't enough to carry the package. (I like the smaller ones of the Armoured guys while the Larger armoured guys and Epicurean Drones are ok - the rest I can pass on completely). If I have no interest in the background or most of the figures (hello, WarPath, Kings of War) then good enough rules can still get me in if I can proxy my preferred miniature figures. Because I forge my own narrative when I play games. I very happily play Kings of War with very few Mantic models involved, relative to other manufacturers (mostly the Undead, and some Ogres) and no thought given to the world of "Mantica".

If the rules turn out to be good here (and they look to be the most promising part of the package for me) and there's a way to proxy Space Marines and such in that works well, then I'll happily play it. At this point, I'd use Imperial Guard Models with Epicurean stats instead of the actual official models. The other guys' models might get a look in as a new alien faction or something, but I'd have to proxy those flying fish out with DE RazorWings or something that looked good.

Having read the kickstarter page and browsed the rules I'm interested but not necessarily sold. I love all the Karist designs. The corporation guys I think look pretty mediocre on the whole aside from the Drones which look fantastic.

The rules look okay, I always find it hard to tell from a read through if I'll like them. I'm slightly disappointed it's a d6 system with multiple combat resolution rolls due to personal preferences, although the initial hit rolls seem to have a certain elegance involved.

The background doesn't grip me. I'm surprised by some of the design comments. I think there's plenty of gritty sci fi with shades of grey on the market. That's not to say I'm not interested in more but it's not perhaps a huge draw. Realistic and believable are a different kettle of fish. I think it's practically impossible to do and include alien races, ftl, strange dark matter energy webs and giant galaxy ending explosions. Fun, especially fun visuals and abilities tend to be a big factor in wargames,leading to more outlandish settings. It's possible I misread this and you simply mean more internally consistent in which case go nuts.

I am slightly puzzled by the Maelstrom. If it's impossible to escape in any meaningful way what is the point of the conflict? I know, mankind (and presumably aliens) have a drive to survive, to fight the inevitable and maybe even make their last days comfortable, but as a player if everything is going to be swallowed whole then... Meh, I'm not that invested I guess? Also if the Karist believe that the Maelstrom ascends you to a new plane of existence why forcibly fight to convert people? Presumably there's more background here, no doubt only believers go to space heaven, but it just seems that they should all be flying headlong into the damn space storm. I'm also confused by the statement that the background will be dealing with real human problems, or problems we face now... As generally that's what fiction does, especially science fiction as a whole. Again maybe it's a reading comprehension fail.

As I say I'm interested, especially as it's a dakka project, though I admit I know nothing about the users and mods involved or their credentials.

I suppose I've been pretty negative in this thread, so let me share what I like about the minis:

The Drones I love. They look like mass-produced robots that are perfect for many settings, with classic ducted fans or robo-spider legs. They are spot on for what I would look for in a drone army. (I'll find a way to get treads on some of them eventually, too.)

The Karist Enclave Troopers are my favorite of the human units. They have a nicely armored look with optional tabletop shoulderpads for those who want them (I do). Their helmets look like they are full of sensors. I can easily inagine the wee-oomp wee-oomp sound they'd make scanning a room. Their weapons look suitably sci fi for any video game.

The Karist Tempest Elites have a sharper look to them. Fully armored, they look less human and more dangerous. Their helmets are very robotic and intimidating. They work better in my mind as cyborgs or robots. Looking at the sprues, the wrists might be difficult to fix without some detail loss, but not insurmountable. The weapons are frightfully huge.

The Minnows are very alien. As bizarre, gravity-defying cosmozoans, they are the love-them-or-hate-them unit. I love them. They look otherworldly. They will probably look good at other scales, too. In Attack Wing, they could easily pass for the kind of entities that try to mate with the Enterprise, for example.

The Scarecrow looks like a decent robot, but I haven't seen any good pictures of it yet.

The Epirians look pretty good as mooks. The sprue comes with 3 space assault rifes, 2 space shotguns, 2 space Ahnuld guns, and a helmetless head with a scouter, so it is a goldmine for conversions. The hands are designed to hold the weapons intact, which means it should be pretty easy to give them some leftover guns from the WGF survivor sprue for variety/scale, and if the shoulder pads are really unpleasant in real life a few arm swaps would make the kit a hit (for me). I wonder how WGF Shock Troop arms would look on them...

You can escape, but only away from the Maelstrom which appears to have originated from out the center of the Galaxy and it is moving out towards the edge. Since the Galaxy is pretty much "flat" everybody has to flee using the Promethious style of running away. Eventually they will run out of places to run to and run out of planets for resources. There is only so much room in the Galaxy, and as systems are lost it will get crowded.

 d-usa wrote:
You can escape, but only away from the Maelstrom which appears to have originated from out the center of the Galaxy and it is moving out towards the edge. Since the Galaxy is pretty much "flat" everybody has to flee using the Promethious style of running away. Eventually they will run out of places to run to and run out of planets for resources. There is only so much room in the Galaxy, and as systems are lost it will get crowded.

Pretty much this.

The total destruction of everything isn't going to happen overnight. The Maelstrom has taken 1000 years to get as far as it has now. So people will flee away from it, in the hope that it might eventually stop by itself, or that someone might find a way to stop it. And in the meantime, people are pushed progressively further out along the spiral arm, into a more crowded space with ever-decreasing resources.


(Although as a minor point of correction, the Maelstom originated in the 'center' of human space, not the center of the galaxy...)

Okay so you can escape and this cataclysm has taken 1000 years to get to the point where the game is introduced to us. So it's a slow moving thing? Is there this desperate need for resources? If it takes a millenia to become large then is it now just another facet of the rise and fall of space nations/religions/megacorps? It doesn't seem that it would effect much in a person's lifetime, unless it's leaping forward randomly or humanity is now extremely long lived.

It does accelerate and decelerate. The planet that the first book on was intended to be terraformed and have years and years of good, solid, resource producing life, but the Maelstrom accelerated in that direction and all of a sudden the land was worth nothing, families who had spent money intending to make oodles from valuable, untouched land now couldn't afford the skyrocketing prices for a ship off the planet to safety, broke refugees with nothing but the clothes on their backs and whatever family they could save from Edge-side further gummed up the processes and took up more time and resources, and all of a sudden you have a struggling world where, just a few years ago, it was on the rise. But the terraforming was still under way, the corporation still wants as many resources as possible before the planet is lost, so they are going to squeeze as much as they can out before they bug out.

Just to get clarification, there are paperback copies of the books at Salute yes?

Because I refuse to read digital media unless I have to.

Furthermore, those bunkers look great.

So far, only at Salute. I hope to buy some copies if they have any left over, but I'm afraid I may not be the first name on the list...

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
So far, only at Salute. I hope to buy some copies if they have any left over, but I'm afraid I may not be the first name on the list...

Ah. I put an ad up in a certain part of the website, hoping someone will see it and PM me. I'm hoping someone will buy a copy of both and ship them to me.

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:

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There has also been a whiff of accusation about the inspiration for Maelstrom's Edge that cannot safely be discussed in the original thread.

Scuzzy pointed out that the name, and possibly some of the thematic elements, of MEdge sound very similar to his own game, Vor: the Maelstrom. I am not familiar with that universe at all, so I can't really speak to the accuracy of his claims, but feel like they should be addressed. If you know much about Vor: TheM, please share your thoughts on the matter. Let's either validate the comparison or put a rightful end to it.

So, when I saw the KS announcement and the name, I actually thought it might be a relaunch of VOR, given the "Maelstrom" name. Watching the video, yeah, this reminds me a bit of VOR.

In VOR, planets get sucked into "the maelstrom", at which point they're sucked ever closer to their doom at the center of the maelstrom. Space within the maelstrom is not particularly pleasant, planets are semi-regularly destroyed by it.

I'm not able to suss what the Maelstrom is in MEdge, but a "giant space fireball" that destroys planets is vaguely reminiscent of VOR. I highly, highly doubt that MEdge intended to copy anything from VOR, but there are some similarities.

As for the rest of MEdge: it's not for me. Some of the Karist troops look sexy though.

The Scarecrows are a basically good idea executed poorly. The only good reason to have humanoid robots is to take advantage of their humanoid shape - either so they can be controlled like a human body would or so they can interact with the world like a human body would. Given the Epirians' use of a mental control interface and the likelihood that they would need to operate in built environments, both of these are useful features. But replacing one of the arms with a gun at the elbow interferes with that. The gun should either have replaced only the hand and not the entire forearm, so the wrist joint can be used to shoulder the weapon or turn it sideways if it needs to put weight on that arm, or it should have been in addition to the hand, like a vambrace-mounted weapon.

 motyak wrote:
It does accelerate and decelerate. The planet that the first book on was intended to be terraformed and have years and years of good, solid, resource producing life, but the Maelstrom accelerated in that direction and all of a sudden the land was worth nothing, families who had spent money intending to make oodles from valuable, untouched land now couldn't afford the skyrocketing prices for a ship off the planet to safety, broke refugees with nothing but the clothes on their backs and whatever family they could save from Edge-side further gummed up the processes and took up more time and resources, and all of a sudden you have a struggling world where, just a few years ago, it was on the rise. But the terraforming was still under way, the corporation still wants as many resources as possible before the planet is lost, so they are going to squeeze as much as they can out before they bug out.

Precisely this. The Maelstrom is pretty unpredictable. It can use cybel tunnels to spread must faster than in real space, it can be drawn forward by large cybel explosions on the Edge, and it moves faster in matter dense regions of space. Other times, it might unexplicably slow down in a particular area, or in rare circumstances even lap round a star system, cutting it off completely while the inhabitants await the end, watching a sky full of purple fire that is going to swallow them.

 AlexHolker wrote:
The Scarecrows are a basically good idea executed poorly. The only good reason to have humanoid robots is to take advantage of their humanoid shape - either so they can be controlled like a human body would or so they can interact with the world like a human body would.

Or, in the case of a large corporation, because someone high up in the foodchain decided it was a good idea and nobody at the time disliked their jobs enough to gainsay them.


There's also a bit of in-universe justification for the Scarecrow not being an ideally-designed combat unit, but I'm not sure if that's been covered officially yet.

 insaniak wrote:

 AlexHolker wrote:
The Scarecrows are a basically good idea executed poorly. The only good reason to have humanoid robots is to take advantage of their humanoid shape - either so they can be controlled like a human body would or so they can interact with the world like a human body would.

Or, in the case of a large corporation, because someone high up in the foodchain decided it was a good idea and nobody at the time disliked their jobs enough to gainsay them.


There's also a bit of in-universe justification for the Scarecrow not being an ideally-designed combat unit, but I'm not sure if that's been covered officially yet.

Doesn't the name kind of give it away? "Scarecrow"? As in "this doesn't really do the job as advertised but it does a good job of scaring away potential scavengers"? I can see the scarecrow bots being posted near Epirian interests and it doesn't matter how far they fall into disrepair (making them a cheap and elegant solution) because they were never meant to be top of the line fighting machines with the most efficient possible frame. They're meant to be scary, and shoulder mounted munitions and guns-for-hands screams stay away, to me. I'm sure it would cause the Epirians no amount of grief if the other sides ever figure out that the robots are just a bluff though. And maybe sometimes it's a double bluff. A scarecrow frame that really is efficiently designed, well maintained and armed to the teeth for protecting those sites that truly need it.

Just my 2c

What was the reasoning behind making this game? Dose the gaming world really need another doom & gloomy infused Sci fi game as this?

 Trondheim wrote:
What was the reasoning behind making this game? Dose the gaming world really need another doom & gloomy infused Sci fi game as this?

I've been wondering that for years. What will it take for wargaming to finally shake the, frankly overexploited, grimdark style of setting in favor of more "neutral" sci-fi universes, like Infinity's. It seems 9 out of 10 games are nihilistic affairs touching on the same limited range of tropes. I find it supremely dull at this point.

 -DE- wrote:

 Trondheim wrote:
What was the reasoning behind making this game? Dose the gaming world really need another doom & gloomy infused Sci fi game as this?

I've been wondering that for years. What will it take for wargaming to finally shake the, frankly overexploited, grimdark style of setting in favor of more "neutral" sci-fi universes, like Infinity's. It seems 9 out of 10 games are nihilistic affairs touching on the same limited range of tropes. I find it supremely dull at this point.

Good to hear I am not alone in thinking this, it would be nice with a setting not on the verge of complete meltdown. I wonder if the gaming culture is sometimes far too much into the whole end of the world type of mindsett, would go some way to explain why as you say 9 of 10 sci fi games looks and plays extremly dull. This is sadly looking to become one of those games just like the game MWGM launched

I think the Maelstrom could have been something that wasn't necessarily so universe-destroying as it was a game-changer. Perhaps it destroyed certain star systems or there was some perceived eventual threat, like global warming or something where total annihilation is not necessarily a given. It could still give rise to the Karists and set up for some massive wars are forces shift to deal with the new equation.

I feel in a lot of ways, MEdge is being positioned to take advantage of the fans leaving 40k. The environment feels similar so it's not such an alien switch for people who like the concept of 40k but don't like what the game has become. At least I know I am in that category, so I certainly can't be the only person. And in that regard, MEdge doesn't have to be an entirely new thing, just something that can grow into an entity better than what we've given with the currently dominant game.

I expect that for the folks on (or near) the Rim, the threat of Maelstrom is next to nothing, for them the main threat is from immigrants/refugees attempting to find new worlds to settle on. There are also likely to be functioning kingdoms, empires, republics, democracies, alien worlds etc, so It should be possible to have more non end of world games as well in the same setting....as the Rimmers follow the usual pattern of trying to take each others stuff.

 bocatt wrote:
Doesn't the name kind of give it away? "Scarecrow"? As in "this doesn't really do the job as advertised but it does a good job of scaring away potential scavengers"? I can see the scarecrow bots being posted near Epirian interests and it doesn't matter how far they fall into disrepair (making them a cheap and elegant solution) because they were never meant to be top of the line fighting machines with the most efficient possible frame. They're meant to be scary, and shoulder mounted munitions and guns-for-hands screams stay away, to me. I'm sure it would cause the Epirians no amount of grief if the other sides ever figure out that the robots are just a bluff though. And maybe sometimes it's a double bluff. A scarecrow frame that really is efficiently designed, well maintained and armed to the teeth for protecting those sites that truly need it.

The most efficient possible frame makes a better scarecrow than the Scarecrow does. A tankette is cheaper to manufacture, less prone to mechanical failure and even if it does fail, it hides it better. After all, a tankette sitting there with a thrown track still looks like a tankette, while a Scarecrow with a broken knee joint is flat on its face.

 EarloftheNorth wrote:
I expect that for the folks on (or near) the Rim, the threat of Maelstrom is next to nothing, for them the main threat is from immigrants/refugees attempting to find new worlds to settle on. There are also likely to be functioning kingdoms, empires, republics, democracies, alien worlds etc, so It should be possible to have more non end of world games as well in the same setting....as the Rimmers follow the usual pattern of trying to take each others stuff.

This is definitely true - the situation on worlds at the Edge is definitely grim, but due to the nature of the Maelstrom's expansion there are many worlds and even entire civilisations still unaffected by it, although the refugees streaming in from abandoned worlds are the first warning sign of what's to come. Although our setting is limited to one spiral arm of the galaxy, that's still a huge place with lots of worlds, and as we progress the game and storyline we hope to show you more of the setting, with alien worlds and other human cultures further away from the core of the galaxy still left to explore.

I think hopefully as people read more of our fiction and background, they'll find we've tried to make something that's a bit different. With any science fiction setting if you look hard enough you'll find elements that are shared with other universes (there's only so many ways you can travel faster than light, for instance), but I hope that we've made a setting that has so many influences and design elements that as people explore it they feel like it's a deep and unique place all of its own. The impending destruction of the Maelstrom is definitely a source of strife and conflict, but this was a motivating element we really wanted to include in our universe. A lot of wargames and battle-focused settings have very vague reasons for why factions were spending so much time in battle, and as a wargame is focused around combat, we felt that a central driving source of conflict would explain why our factions were fighting, as well as why you might have faction-on-faction battles.

That said, this central idea doesn't mean that everything is grimdark, or that there is no room for technological wonders or optimism. I'm a writer, and I want to have as many opportunities to tell good stories as I can. That requires a source of conflict (as conflict drives all good fiction), but also the freedom to explore as things move forward. We've only shown you a glimpse of what we've made already, and if things go well with our launch we hope to grow our game and universe to give more depth to our factions and the stories we tell. We also strive to make it internally consistent and rigorously designed. I hesitate to call it hard science fiction due to the expectations that brings on a setting - we still want to include a lot of things that make a space-based setting fun like FTL, aliens and advanced technology that doesn't exist yet, so we will be inventing some things that perhaps aren't entirely explained by current scientific laws. I'd probably call it 'harder' science fiction than what you see in many games, but not sacrificing the fun and potential of the stories we want to tell on the requirement to be ultra-factual.

We really appreciate everybody's comments and feedback, and we will be taking everything into account for the work we do on Maelstrom's Edge in the future. Creating a game is a long and complicated process, that involves many choices. We feel we've worked very hard to create the kind of game that we wanted to play - something with a deep setting with professional-quality fiction from the get-go, all-plastic, multipart models that each have several different weapon options and can be converted easily, whilst looking great on the tabletop, and a clear and fun tactical ruleset that featured 20-30 models a side but had a lot of the tactical choices you find in smaller skirmish games. We are very proud of what we've produced, and we feel that as a first-time company producing a kickstarter we've done everything we can to produce something of high quality that due to all the moulds and designs being done already, will get it into the hands of our backers as soon as possible. But we understand that there's a big range of things people are looking for in a game, from the style and size of the models to the type of setting and ruleset, and that the decisions and choices we've made in each case won't be everyone's cup of tea. We are very excited as gamers and fans by what we've created, and although it won't be the perfect fit for everyone's tastes, we hope that enough of you like what we've done that to give us a successful launch so that we can expand the world and miniatures of Maelstrom's Edge in the future.

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Regarding the Epirians and their chaps, I find it interesting that I keep seeing people describe them as wearing "assless" or "buttless" chaps, as if that's something weird or different from regular chaps. They're just normal chaps. That's what chaps are. Most chaps just cover the legs and don't cover the buttocks. People wear chaps to protect the legs, and they make sense if the Epirians are working on planets with a lot of thick brush or undergrowth. I don't know why some people seem to think they are some weird thing.