[Custom Setting] Retrograde

Ok, we are stopping to spam the thread with this.

Solodice..
I have some questions about the setting. I was reading through the primer and your stuff but i am not sure if i got stuff right.
As you mentioned no antigravity, so anything an ships / space stations happens in zero gravity?

The other question is the history of the setting.
Did you think about the Outer Space Treaty and what happend to it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Space_Treaty

Is it something never happend or something that got thrown out of the window at some point?

DrunkCorsair wrote:

I have some questions about the setting. I was reading through the primer and your stuff but i am not sure if i got stuff right.
As you mentioned no antigravity, so anything an ships / space stations happens in zero gravity?

Nope. So in Retrograde there's no artificial gravity generators or the like. There are ways to create gravity though and the to most common ones in Retrograde are rotational and constant thrust.

This gets more into the hard sci-fi side of things but rotational is basically spinning an object to create gravity. Now, only the inner surface of the object being spun will have gravity. The center will have a minimal amount of gravity making it a microgravity environment.

The most common man made habitats in Retrograde are the Stanford Torus and the O'Neill Cylinder. Additionally humans have figured out how to spin up asteroids, moonlets, and dwarf planets (building fusion rockets into them and firing them up) to get more favorable gravity on them. So the third most common space habitat in the setting is a Beehive which is a object that that has been tunneled into. If it has been spun up depends. Lastly there are Clusters which are asteroids and habitat components lashed together. Like Beehives it might have been artificially spun or left as is in microgravity.

Now with constant thrust the gravity comes from the engines of a ship maintaining a constant thrust equivalent to a certain G. The fusion engines in Retrograde can produce up to 1G or more thrust. Most travel ships travel at 0.3G for fuel efficiency and comfort for those that don't spend a lot of time on Earth. Now, to get the full benefits of this ships would need to be built like a skyscraper as the engines would be the force pulling you down. Now in Retrograde I did away with that for aesthetic reasons. If you've ever seen The Expanse it shows constant thrust being used.  

Quote :

Is it something never happend or something that got thrown out of the window at some point?

It was later ignored after a true race into the solar system began.

Now i get a better grasp of the technology in the setting.
Still have to watch the second season of The Expanse

It looks alot in line with movies like 2001: Odysse in Space and a lot of 50s Heinlein novels.

Maybe look up Farmer in the Sky. That could give you an idea for bigger space ships like container freighters now on earth.
The idea is to get the ship to a travel speed and spin the ship around its axis for gravity.

Solodice. . .

Will stick to "Rough Sketches" in a dedicated new folder in My Deviantart page; will be posted, there in the site, ONLY when "Officially Approved" and Art-Sanctioned. . .

Useful stuff for the Microgravity / Ship-Generated G to know, as many of the Images that I will have to draw will have characters bouncing around even inside Corridors (unless in a VERY powerful "Centripetal Toroid / O'Neill / Dreadnaught-Class Ship" kind of Artificial-G). . .

Have STILL some issues with linking with LINE and other kind of Comms (such as trying to post on THIS very site by Smartphone) but I'm slowly figuring it. . . . . !!!

Solodice. . .

Thanks for the EXTRA Rule Material. . .

Will be VERY useful to have a selection of Wargear and "Useful Stuff" for the Crew to select. . .

Will THOROUGHLY comb it for useful Skills & Talents too, and, very soon, start to create My character's sheet to be rewieved. . . . !!!

Some info on the reformed Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC).

The new territories being claimed by the US across the solar system would need to have their resources assessed as well as conserved and developed. This would require a vast amount of skilled and unskilled labor. Using the newly created civil service program the United States brought back the Civilian Conservation Corp to accomplish this job. It serves as an institution for skilled and unskilled labor who could participate in job training. Today the CCC is one of the largest non-military civil service programs.

This new CCC is a government institution whose role is the conservation and development of the United States natural resources in all of its territories. In additional to its old role the CCC has also diversified into remote construction projects in the solar system and serve as attachees, advisors, and/or partners on government contract work.

The most common groups of the CCC are the workers, field engineers, and the prisoner laborers.

Workers are the backbone of the CCC. The vast majority of workers coming into the CCC are high school students coming through the civil service pipeline. They are unskilled but for the CCC there isn’t much skill in using a shovel or pickaxe. Luckily for the workers the CCC is also a job training service. Classroom time is mandatory to help turn the unskilled labor into skilled labor. Workers can move their way up from swinging pickaxes to becoming vehicle and equipment operators and all the way to becoming apprentice field engineers. After their civil service contracts are up they can take this newly learned skills to help them with job prospects in the private sector or some might continue work for the CCC becoming full fledged field engineers.

Field engineers are the skilled labor force of the CCC. They are experts in their field and are considered some of the most rough and ready civilian engineers outside of the military. Beyond providing their expertise in the field the field engineers serve as the CCC’s officer corp in directing, mentoring, and educating the CCC’s unskilled workers. There are two types of field engineers in the CCC. Those that have received an education outside of the Corp and those that rise up through the ranks to become a field engineer.

Lastly there is the CCC’s prisoner laborers. This is a volunteer only position and is only available to non-violent offenders. The program was offered to shorten sentences and provide a way for state and federal convicts to gain valuable skills and to give back to society. Additionally, their records will be totally wiped clean after they serve their allotted time.

Just asking for some setting clarifications. . .

About Mercenary Holdings what are the "Merc Corps / Security Agencies" that could be the BEST contacts for My character to select as Contacts. . .??

You have yet described some rather interesting Merc Brigades, but they seems to be tight-knit groups based on a SINGLE Paramilitary Warship (so ALMOST a "Legal Warband" of Corsairs / Letter-Of-Marque Pirates !!). . .

Are there some rather LARGE holdings of Merc Contacts / Contracts like our RW "Blackwater" (in Vigilante groups have shady reputation, but are SO FILTHY RICH that they are practically an "American Zaibatsu" !!) or the "Lazarus Group" of Cyberpubk 2020 (allies of choice of Militech Corporation BUT honourable to a fault, putting Corp Name BEFORE monetary gain, and refusing to be TOO involved in the "Arasaka Vs. Militech Jihad" !!!). . . . .???

The only tight nit merc group on the list I put up is Willy's Rangers. Every other company though is a large holding.

The Hatchet Men are basically Blackwater times ten. The real life BW (or whatever they are calling themselves now) is owned by a guy named Prince... and the Hatchet Men are owned by someone named Prince... I'm not very subtle

So depending on what your character moral compass will decide on what contacts with what merc groups.

The biggest and/or well known security companies are thus:

Pinkerton Detective Agency - These guys never went away and a preferred force of the Zaibatsu and other corps. Well renown for putting down Unionite strikes and providing agents with very flexible motives. Their agents are also known for excellent private investigation work for all sorts of clients.

Argus Consultants - A subsidiary of the Argus suit manufacture. More focused on surveillance, information gathering, and of course consulting on security matters. Keep a low profile and prefer to stay out of the spotlight.

Sunz - A Ceres based company providing private investigation work all the way up to armed security. They are well known for being a no nonsense group and are their to be professionals. Also, they will hire just about anyone as long as they fit those criteria.

Sunz. . .Sunz. . .Sunz Detective Agency !!

Where I have YET heard this name

My character is a fervent Roman Catholic Christian so whatsoever Merc Group is O.K. for the Vatican Swiss Guard and/or Papal Gendarmerie is O.K. for Him. . .

Should NO ONE stand to those rather "Strict" moral compass then could be a potential "Plot Hook" with Brando De'Valenti wanting to start with the "Bucket" and the other four PC as a sort of "Seed Core" to create an "Upright Mercenary Company" of "Righteous Adventurers". . .

Not that my Character will try to suborn ideas and aims of the other Players; will be willing to help EVEN shady works for shady clients . . . . .unless they are ESPECIALLY Repulsive (a "Drug Smuggling" for Combat Pharmacopeia for ADULT Soldiers willing to take "Shortcuts" to better themselves will be accepted. . .grudgingly! Smuggling "Hooking Shit" to enslave Orphan Children for Pornography / Prostitution will result in a client shotgunned in the face. . .repeadetly !!!). . .

Open to discuss many possibilities of common ground. . . . . !!!

stevenart74 wrote:

My character is a fervent Roman Catholic Christian so whatsoever Merc Group is O.K. for the Vatican Swiss Guard and/or Papal Gendarmerie is O.K. for Him. . .

Should NO ONE stand to those rather "Strict" moral compass then could be a potential "Plot Hook" with Brando De'Valenti wanting to start with the "Bucket" and the other four PC as a sort of "Seed Core" to create an "Upright Mercenary Company" of "Righteous Adventurers". . .

Well, the Vatican doesn't do a whole lot when it comes to mercenary groups.

On the moral scale Willy's Rangers is the lightest gray while the Hatchet Men are the darkest of grays. W39, Star Phantoms, Gold Company, and the Free Brigades are all simply gray. All the merc companies are profit driven so making money is their first concern most of the time.

Well, in our Real World is RUMORED inside "Elite Circles" of the Carabinieri (the ones deputized to act as "Armed Enforcers" for the Italian Security Service) that FROM THE MIDDLE AGES the Vatican Swiss Guard dismiss their fanciful Coloured Uniforms and act as "Inquisition Stormtroopers" for the "Inner Circle" of the Papal State. . .

Could be "Da Vinci Code" kind of "Tinfoil Hat Conspiracies" but, amongst my personal knowledges (between Ex Carabinieri turned Private Vigilantes for RENOWNED institutions) is OFTEN reported that, when the Security of IMPORTANT Cardinals is concerned, there are "Apparitions" of mysterious well-armed "PMC Agents" often of Blonde hair and Cerulean eyes, speaking a good Italian, but with French / German accents. . .

In fact these "Elite Swiss Guard" kind of "Vatican Black Ops" are what Corvus Belli based their Powered Armour Panoceanian Elites. . . . .

So then, maybe my Character could have some "Vatican-In-Space" kind of Contacts that offer, sometimes, lucrative but risky "Sensible Target" ops . . . . .!!!

Are there further details of the Game Background that should be narrowed down for the start of the game. . .??

Such as the "Port of Call" where we usually put the "Bucket" on drydock maintenance. . .

Or the "Orbital Shop" were we are trusted customers and that accept our "Credit / Barter Stuff" at face value, to take nevessary supplies for our needs. . .

stevenart74 wrote:

Such as the "Port of Call" where we usually put the "Bucket" on drydock maintenance. . .

Or the "Orbital Shop" were we are trusted customers and that accept our "Credit / Barter Stuff" at face value, to take nevessary supplies for our needs. . .

Since it's a Freelancer ship it doesn't have a true home. Any port is a port of call...

Selling stuff is easy. There are shops and services all around the solar system. Some are more well known but every habitat, planet, moon, etc has places to sell and buy stuff from. Below are some of the most well known:

Queen's Rejects - Chariklo - Largest surplus supplier/curator in the solar system. Have everything from ships to guns and are licensed suppliers for Union Fitted and DUSTY suits. Can request orders from them through the SEARS Catalogue on the Net.

Rolling Stock - Fancy Pants Fleet - A converted bulk freighter that is the fleet's most prestigious trade house. They do business with everyone... and I mean anyone. Pirate, spies, freelancers, as long as you have money to buy, sell, or trade they don't care. Carcosa views Rolling Stock and Fancy Pants Fleet as a whole as a rival do to illicit business they aren't getting a cut from.

Carcosa will take anything that you have and has countless shops catered to all needs.

Since pirates were brought up I might as well go down the rough history of how space piracy began in Retrograde.

So piracy didn't exist until commercially available ships came along which was in the early 2020s. At that point is was mainly single ships or small squadrons raiding heavily trafficked vectors. It wasn't a major problem but any group that started to raise a big enough stink usually got a visit from one of the Big 4s navy.

The piracy in Retrograde's current time (2060) was born from one man: Nessien Abdula. Abdula was a simple shipjacker in the early 2030s (think carjacker but for space ships) leading his hand picked team from Mercury up to Saturn stealing ships and selling them off. Eventually Abdula went from stealing stationary and docked ships to taking them while in transit. He was damn good at it. His exploits were getting attention and soon he found himself with a cult following... one that brought along their own ships and swore loyalty to the man. Abdula and his followers were dubbed the Scourge. Abdula lead them like a well oiled machine. They struck fast, escaped even faster, and used Adbula's preferred methods of fear and aggression to do it time and time again. More then started to join the ranks of the Scourge... some hardened criminals or veteran pirates themselves but soon this pirate group was growing into something special... which wasn't good for the solar system.

In the 2040s there was only one organized pirate group and that was the Scourge. With the focus or the Big 4 being on the likes of Ceres during the Belt Secessionist Incident, CMJ Civil War, and frontier expansion the Scourge went unchecked. They raided the frontier lanes of Saturn and and later would launch deep raids into the inner system and even started to intercept traffic between Earth and Mars. Abdula became a warlord and swung his weight around in the criminal underworld like a hammer. Even Carcosa had to appease Abdula and his followers or face his wraith.

Eventually Abdula, with accumulated wealth and great connections, constructed a base on Charon named the Tyrant's Mansion. It was a fortress that could house 20 ships at a time in hardened hangers, had emplacements to fight off incoming ships, and was mainly built underground so it wasn't susceptible to orbital bombardments. Above it in orbits was dry docks for ship repairs and replenishment and an array of picket drones. To top it all off Abdula also commissioned a personnel ship for himself. In modern Retrograde times it would be classified as a pocket battleship and was known as the Slaughterhouse. It would become the flagship for the Scourge (which totaled around 50 or so ships now).

As the 2040s wore on the Belt Secessionist Incident and CMJ Civil War came to an end they finally saw the beast that the Scourge was. Through an unofficial agreement between the Big 4 the Scourge was to be combated at any cost.

The UK's Black Fleet (it patrolled Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto) had been going after the Scourge but they had meager means of fighting them (Black Fleet was and is still seen as the red headed step child among the fleet commands and it's where careers go to die). An influx of funds and equipment came their way and Black Fleet was ready to go toe to toe with the Scourge. The Soviet's Frontier Group assisted. Mercenary and security groups like the Star Phantoms, W39, Golden Company, and Pinkertons were hired to protect private interests from the Scourge. The massive pirate group found itself no longer unchecked, constantly attacked, and once soft targets were guarded by hired guns.

Abdula was starting to become desperate. Outside and internal forces were hammering away at him and eventually the pirate warlord made a last minute gamble of taking 40% of his fleet to try to make a massive raiding run within the Belt. It was the chance the Big 4 were waiting for and it was left to the American's to deliver the killing blow.

Abdula's large contingent was continuously tracked and monitored. It was predicted to pass by Jupiter's L5 zone. From there the USN devised Operation Flyswatter and it was to be carried out by the 7th Fleet. On January 4, 2051 the operation was a go and the 7th Fleet intercepted the Scourge. Only 10% of the Scourge made it out alive. The Slaughterhouse was present but there had been no confirmation if it was destroyed or not. Rumors also float around that Abdula escaped alive or he wasn't even there to begin with.

At the same-ish time that Operation Flyswatter was taking place the British launched an assault on Tyrant's Mansion. It involved two battle squadrons and three patrol squadrons from the 14th Fleet, the HMS Constantine carrier squadron from the 15th Fleet, and the whole of the Special Service Squadron (which was commanding the assault force of SBS, SAS, and soldiers from the 5th BEF).

The assault lasted two days as entrenched and die hard Scourge members made the Brits earn every inch. Eventually though the Scourge no longer existed but it's remnants did and that's where modern piracy mainly comes from in Retrograde.

Those remnants would be:

Thunder Children (15 ships)
Bloody Barons (15 ships)
Krakens (8 ships)
Sons of Plunder (8 ships)

New groups have popped up as well:

Orion Freebooters (6 ships)
Khan's Riders (6 ships)

Then there's the lone pirate ships that have made quite a splash:

Blitz (rouge Kriegsmarine battleship)
Theseus (last surviving Left Hand ship from the Belt Secessionist Incident)
Einstein's Brain (unknown where this ship came from or what it really is)
Widow (a name that has traveled from countless ships for decades but one thing is clear... every ship with the name has one mission... to kill)

Some new areas of thought I've been exploring with Retrograde is religion.

Religion is to humanity as peanut butter is to chocolate. Whether it's on a small grass roots scale to a massive organized scale. All the major religions we have today are present in retrograde. Christianity and Islam being the biggest and most prominent and they have spread out across the solar system as they did when exploration and colonization was taking place on Earth. There has also been the rise of some newer groups that have sprung up as well after 100 years of space travel.

Trinity Sect: The Soviet Union maintains a strict policy of being an atheist polity. Religious groups are heavily persecuted and actively targeted by the USSR to keep their power from rivaling that of the communist party. However, from the extensive genetic engineering that has been going on in the USSR a belief system was starting to be built around continuing to improve humanity and reach something new... something that could survive on alien planets and the cold reaches of space. It would require the body and mind to be changed but those two are also nothing without a soul. The soul drove it all and without it the changes would be worthless. This is what the Trinity Sect preaches and what the USSR heavily endorses. Some see it as a Transhumanist goal of seeing humanity becoming something better while others see it as a government back group to influence its population. The truth of it all? Well it falls in the middle.    

Walkers of the Dark: The creation of the Unionites wasn't the only thing that happened because of space travel. Like the during the Age of Sail, myths, legends, and beliefs were created during this Age of Space Travel. While many turned to their current beliefs to suppress their fears, inspire themselves, or deal with chaos others turned to the Walkers of the Dark. A grass roots group from the first colony on Luna (Armstrong) that built itself up on respecting the Dark. The Dark isn't a god or entity. It is space. Some call it a practical religion, others say its pagan, maybe it's not a religion at all, and many just find it cheesy and weird. What is true though is that Walkers have a special respect for their uncaring environment. They preach safety, caution, and respect. It's all wrapped up in myths and legends to hammer home their lessons and to many those myths and legends are real or real enough that they buy in. The Walkers of the Dark are a strong community and you'll find members all across the solar system and from all walks of life. Unionites, Corpos, military members, a freighter pilot, could all be one.

Back with some more setting stuff for Retrograde.

This time talking about freelancers in this setting. For how I see freelancers is this setting it's kind of a mix of shadowrunners with the traveling party from D&D. Now why I see it that way is that tying freelancers down to just being problem solvers removes some agency from players. There are ways to make money in Retrograde that don't revolve around just working for some shadowy client. It is the easiest way to make some dough but I still want to keep some sense of wonder and ability to explore without being to restrictive. The a key theme with the setting is based around humanities exploration and colonization of the solar system.

So now with the meta reasoning out of the way time to get into the lore of the freelancers. Who are freelancers? Well, it could be anyone. Freelancers can come from all walks of life. They could single operators, a small crew, or even a organization. What freelancers aren't though is tied to a certain polity or mega-corp. They might have certain alliances or biases for who they work for but they are open to taking on jobs from anyone. They are assets that can be used, abused, and provide great ways for others to keep deniable plausibility.

So why become a freelancer? First, you are your own boss or have a small hierarchy. Second, all the money you make goes right to your pockets. Third, one of the few ways of getting to see the solar system beyond working for a government, mega-corp, security group, or merc company. Fourth, get to meet interesting people and get involved in interesting problems.

Risks? A lot. You need a ship to travel around and they aren't cheap. There are many ways of getting one though. Some reputable and others not so much. Additionally, paying for upkeep on the ship, yourself, and a crew if you have one. The overhead can become killer if you aren't careful with your budgeting. Then there's also the possibility of being killed, jailed, tortured, and a lot of other stuff that could happen to you while on a job.

Difference between a mercenary, bounty hunter, and freelancer? Reputable mercenaries and bounty hunters are registered to legally carry out their work. Freelancers don't need nor really want to be registered but they can participate in things mercs and bounty hunters are involved in. They just might run into some trouble because they aren't truly registered to do the work legally. Freelancers can become registered mercs and bounty hunters but that stuff has a lot of paper work and red tape that comes with it.

Jobs? To many to name. Some freelancers are just truckers who take shipping jobs from smaller companies, special courier jobs, or the cast off work from the likes of the DTC. Some also might dabble in smuggling and the DTC and others (even though they won't say it was them) have jobs like that. Freelancers could also find themselves being hired as PIs, salvage crews, assassins, escorts, and so much more.

Well known freelancers? Well the most well known are crews from certain ships but some individuals have risen above the rest to being singled out. Listed below is a small list.

Nuclear Cowboy: Arguably the biggest crew and ship ran by freelancers in the solar system. This Moth-class frigate has a long history and has found itself involved in rather large amount of big historical events in history (Belt Secessionist Incident, Operation Flyswatter, Merc War, and currently the Heavenly Court Conflict). Since it's first appearance in 2037 the ship has been captained by two people: Connor Gliss (2037-2050) and Heather Ryan (2050-Present). Gliss was the original founder but he stepped down from captaining and retired from the freelance life. The crew then held a vote for the next captain. It was a short candidate list and the vote went to chief engineer Heather Ryan.

Love Punch: Who paints a Scheepbouwer Bulk-1 pink? Well the crew of Love Punch and the multi-millionaire playboy Danzel Forsberg who captains the ship of course. Forsberg is a well known name in Carcosa and Fancy Pants Fleet. The work that Love Punch is involved in is mostly shipping but for those that know better the best paying work they do is smuggling. While many freelancers engage in smuggling no one does it on the scale that the Love Punch does and where. Most smuggling is done within the belt and out to the frontier. Love Punch does it in the heavily policed and monitored areas of Earth/Luna and Mars. Having a very well connected and rich captain like Foreberg helps a lot but the crew of the ship are also incredibly good.

Minuteman: What began life as a Rocketboy's dream machine turned into the most sought after special courier in the solar system. The hull of Minuteman is a Hughes H-20 Goose but after years of modification it hardly resembles its stock look. Most know the Minuteman not for its freelancer escapades but rather it winning the Bull Run two seasons in a row (a feat that has never been done before or after). It helps that it's piloted/captained by the Kipling twins who are two Rocketboys with serious piloting skills.

For anyone that has stumbled across this or if you're Jeff (love you) this is still ongoing. Going to keep diving into the setting a bit more (talking about spaceships and how I design them from a fluff and mechanics aspect, same with space suits, and more).

So the fluff behind the space suit companies has already been discussed. I'll describe how I went about building them up mechanically and how each suit came to be. Will do two suit manufactures at a time so posts don't get so long and I don't wear eyeballs and attention out.

Retrograde Space Suits: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MuousiYmsnsRorXn2sJJiVoR1ewDhE2RTbOGBlQcMmo/edit?usp=sharing

General Systems (GS):

- Nothing is cheap.
- Best armor for every class of suit. Means they go one point above the max armor of their class.
- High tech modifications.
- Lack in durability.

Skin Suit: I made this suit to be the bare minimum that characters could have access to for a space suit. Why I made it a GS suit was to show their reach and how old the company is. The skin suit is found everywhere (licensed out to other manufacturers) and is cheap.

Hawk: Instead of being a pure combat suit wanted something that tied more into monitoring and better space flight capabilities. Fitted perfectly with an in game organization (US Navy's Force Security). One of the games better top tier combat suits that isn't restricted.

Rottweiler: The base I used for designing all other combat suits. The Rotty is super high tech and really gives you a big leg up in a fight. However, to even some things out mechanically the suit doesn't have redundancy built in so when something breaks its broke until fixed.

Myrmex: Already has a lot of military based suits for GS but any actual civilian suits was lacking. So the Myrmex was that remedy and is basically every engineers wet dream of a suit. Still resides by all the themes for GS suits but with more a purpose being used by civilians.

Stargazer: What's something a company like GS would try to cram into a suit? They always want high tech but I've given all the suits in their line up that. One thing I didn't give a suit was a fusion drives. In game GS makes much more then suits and they also make fusion drives. So the fusion (pun not intended) of a space suit and a fusion drive gets you the Stargazer.

Kommodo Dragon: The goal here was simple. Make the best heavy combat suit to ever grace the solar system.

Traveler:

- Utilitarian but with style
- Peculiar stock modification options
- No restricted suits
- Mid to high prices

Top Kick: Something more then a skin suit and more catered towards pilots. Was also the first Traveler suit where I saw that I could get a little stereotypical or weird with mod options. So I threw a quick draw holster on the Top Kick because what ace doesn't have his trust side arm with him? It also invoking some Han Solo imagery.

Utah: Going back to Traveler's roots and me trying to broaden the suit lines out to other sectors like extreme sports. Wanted to create something akin to high end sport gear but all packed into a space suit.

Cruiser Mk6: The Honda Civic of space suits is what I was going for. Something that could be seen as regular and common. However it being Traveler needed to spice things up and gave the suit an inbuilt limited AI assistant and some personal protection options like a holster and shock gloves because you should always be prepared!

GUS: If the Cruiser is the Honda Civic the GUS is a Ford pickup truck. Was also the base for all other utility suits. The peculiar mod on this suit is the grappler (grappling hook gun) which I envisioned as a tool used in emergencies or to traverse exteriors of ships and stations easier.

Shadow: The start of Traveler's high end selection. A stealth suit that anyone could get their hands on. Not a full blown combat suit but this thing is really good at staying hidden and sports mods you only find on restricted suits. Good for stealth characters or for a mission calling for it and you aren't in the military, a mercenary, or on a corporate payroll.

Red Rider: The next best unrestricted combat suit after the Hawk. It's not Rottweiler but its sure easier to get your hands on it and it can kick some serious ass when needed. Alongside the Shadow it also sports a Maglock System which lets suits with it pull off some magneto type bullshit. Among the interesting mods it has a mounting point for full sized guns or similar sized equipment and other non-combat suit options like a scanner and impact armor.

Ace: Like the lore says a Red Rider turned up to 11. It's the easiest attainable combat hard suit alongside the Bully (an oddity suit). To give it that Traveler flair and differentiate it from the other combat hard suits I gave it the Maglock System but also kind of followed up with giving it an improved drug delivery system. Hard suits do have drug injectors but I wanted to the Ace to be the Top Kick of hard suits. One where if you wanted to play a heavy drug using character or just wanted to take advantage of some drugs for a certain mission this suit would be a good candidate for them.

Business, Combat, Fashion (BCF):

- Business and paramilitary/military focus
- Good price range from affordable to extremely expensive
- A balance between GS and F-Solutions/PRMR

Alpha Combat Suit: Every budding mercenaries first combat suit, lol. Basically an entry level suit for those looking to get into the mercenary life or need a light combat suit. Didn't want to make it super fancy just enough to get the job done.

Sariman Classic: Needed to keep venturing out away from combat suits and the Sariman Classic was the idea of what a corporate drone would wear on a space walk. Also made it like the only suit a lot of corporate types use... leaving room for players to exploit that.

Beta Combat Suit: The big bro of the Alpha and once you have the money to afford it you should get it. One of the few unrestricted combat suits in the game. Cheaper than a Hawk and sporting more usual combat mods than a Red Rider. I wanted it to be the suit you'd find most mercenaries in.

Delta Combat Suit: The foil to GS' Rottweiler. It's still high tech but more durable. Depending on what one wants from a combat suit choosing between a Delta and Rottweiler might be hard.

Patchsuit: Was originally designed to be like a Sariman Classic but better but eventually morphed into something a bodyguard would use (which worked out much better). Knew a bodyguard suit should blend in, have a secret compartment, hidden armor, and have some stuff you'd find on high end combat suits. Not an unintended consequence that this suit is also a really good combat suit that's unrestricted either...

Executive: Those corporate board members or CEOs aren't going to roll in a Sariman Classic. That's like if they rode around in a low end BMW. Nah, those types are into a Rolls Royce. That's what I made the Executive with some cyberpunk flair making it a very useful suit in a firefight.

Omega Combat Suit: The cream of the crop for BCF combat suits. Wanted something close to the Kommodo Dragon but providing something different. Like the Delta it sports durability but also to make it different I saw it as a command and control unit so I gave it a sensor suit which would let it track and highlight targets (giving players attack bonuses).

F-Solutions/PRMR:

- Utilitarian to a fault
- Super tough and durable
- All civilian suits can be used in combat reliably
- On the opposite spectrum from GS
- They might be Soviet made suits but they are far from cheap (durability costs money)

SS-11: The Soviet Top Kick. Wanted a good introduction to what the company was all about. No sense of style but damn if this thing could take a beating even if was just a Class 2 suit.

Locus: Was expanding out on Class 2 suits and went into kind of a sports suit slant starting with the Utah. Now what about something that wasn't slick and refined? Sounds like an F-Solutions suit and in came the Locus. More along the lines of the outdoors guy that uses the tried and true military surplus instead. The image I used for the suit also influenced the idea of giving it two servo arms. That set it apart from all the other Class 2 suits.

Ramhorn: The do it all survivalist suit. Was the base Class 3 suit I used for designing all other F-Solution/PRMR suits. Base mods I gave all their Class 3's was an exoskeleton, redundancy, and a hardpoint. The Ramhorn I kind of saw as a popular pirate suit so I included some "non-civilian" mods but they could easily pass for something someone on the frontier would want.

Howler: Base idea was a prospectors suit where you can scan and track anything. However, the real role of the suit was to be able to track human targets so it was something bounty hunters would love.

Sasquatch: The super agile space flying boy of the Class 3 line. A bit boring being just that though so I incorporated some more survivalist options like color changing (change to black while in space or match the asteroid you just landed on) and a quickdraw holster.

SS-20: Wanted to show how the Soviets went the opposite direction of the western power and playing with some Cold War tropes. The SS-20 is a low tech suit but damn is it tough and very unlikely to breakdown... ever.

SS-26: Always struggled with how the Soviet special forces would leverage the SS-20. They needed something a bit more high tech and I already had some high tech soviet mods I could throw on a suit. So the SS-26 became that suit that shows the Soviets do indeed have good military technology but save it for more specialized units.

Kodiak: Something that straddles the line between civilian and combat suit. That's the whole point. It the premier frontier suit but it can be quickly leveraged as combat hard suit which rivals other hard suits designed for combat from the ground up.

SS-34: The idea was simple: A tank on two legs. High tech options be damned. It more then makes up for it in protection and firepower.

Union Fitted:

- Affordable
- Practical
- Low armor compared to other suits (had to make a sacrifice somewhere to keep these things cheap)
- The working man's brand (popular among the Unionite cultural group)

Worker Coveralls: A utility suit option that wasn't a Class 3. Simple and useful to those that don't need something like a GUS or Press Ganger. More options is always something I wanted even if the suit wasn't super dupper awesome.

Press Ganger: This is simply the construction workers suit and every construction worker in the solar system swears by them. The cheapest utility suit in the game and sports a bunch of super useful mods. It isn't going to save your ass in a firefight but it will let you fix your ship up or blend in with the right crowd.

Lifter: The idea was born from the lifter mech in Aliens. So essentially a forklift on two legs. I'll leave it to the players on how to use a more industrial suit to their needs...

Kilroy: Was part of my little Frontierland Recommendation update to the space suit catalogue. The idea of introducing more exploration/survival suits to the game. Wanted a suit that was basically an old camper. It's not fancy but it gets you from point A to point B, is reliable, and has some options those newer ones forgot about.

Hipp:

- Super hard to get but not restricted. The suits are just rare
- Sport a bunch of high end mods that they shouldn't have access to
- Marketed to rebels and criminals
- Mid to high prices

Riptide: Didn't have a hacker specific suit in the game and this was a perfect place to put it. The hacking stuff still needs to be fleshed out mechanically but the Riptide is the suit you want for hacking.

Miami Special: The suit Hunter S. Thompson would wear in Retrograde. Took the idea of a paranoid party animal and made it into a suit. Probably the best non-restricted combat suit you could get your hands. It's sporting bells and whistles, with some twists, that the Delta and Rottweiler have.

G-Man: E/M spectrum and tracking do hickey galore was the basic premise here. No longer is it the government or corporations that have a stranglehold on spying and monitoring. The G-man gives the player tools they really shouldn't have.

Capone: G-Man's counter opposite and from a lore perspective that was on purpose. Gameplay wise I wanted what the G-man gave to players but on the opposite spectrum.

Gun Nut: He got guns... lots of guns and a nice place to hide them all.

DUSTY:

- Hardsuit galore
- Very modular
- Mid to high end in pricing

David: One of the three none hardsuits that DUSTY makes. Was lacking a combat suit for the Brits and DUSTY felt like the right manufacturer to fill that need. At the same time I wanted to give something fun for none military characters. The David is a great light combat suit and one of the few suits in the game with 6 modification slots that isn't restricted. It's a great suit for characters that like options, modding their suits, or want to stand out with not having a BCF combat suit like everyone else.

Corineus: Another non hardsuit. This suit like the Riptide was me introducing more gameplay concepts into Retrograde. The Riptide was about hacking and the Corineus is about electronic warfare. It's designed to serve on the front line alongside the grunts in their combat suits. Basically this a combat hackers suit of choice if they can get their hands on it.

Arachne: The last of the non hardsuits that DUSTY makes. This was a new suit that I gave DUSTY as part of the Frontierland Recommendation update. I started introducing these more compact utility ships armed with waldos and I had this image of a cool looking spacesuit with them in my massive Retrograde pictures folder. Thought about which manufacturer would make that suit and DUSTY was the easy choice. The Arachne is basically a utility ship but spacesuit sized. It has four waldo arms that can cut, weld, and move pieces around with ease in microgravity. Also they're good for locomotion around a ship or station... image a pirate coming down a corridor in this suit using the waldos to move down it.

Atlas: Now we're onto the hardsuits. Atlas was a response to the Union Fitted Lifter. The Atlas is way more technology advanced than the Lifter but it's also much more expensive. This suit caters to those more interested in better mods and armor than a Lifter or looking for a high end industurial hardsuit.

Bunyan: The kind of utility suits. Based on a class 4 hardsuit chassis compared to other class 3 utility suits the Bunyan is tougher than the rest of them. It can go where class 3 suits really shouldn't go. So if a engineer character wants something tough, reliable, and has all the goodies of a utility suit the Bunyan is an option they should consider.

Goliath: The creme de la creme of hardsuits when it comes to modularity and ease of acquiring. The Goliath comes with the rare 6 mod slots. The base mods aren't bad and give it a lot of utility but the suit screams to be modded to your hearts content. It might not he a hot rod right out of the gate but you can make it one.

Gogmagog: DUSTY's lone combat hardsuit and it's a beast. I based it on this guy. It's not like the other combat hardsuits which are designed to be on the front line kicking ass and taking names. The Gogmagog is about superior fire support and is a walking artillery battery.

Argus:

- Slick and low profile
- Law enforcement centric
- Subterfuge and misdirection
- Mid to high end pricing

Copper: The suit of police forces across the solar system. It's a class 2 suit that looks like it has very little armor but that's not true. It's decently protected with hidden armor. The concept behind this suit was something that was disarming and didn't stick out. Great for police forces that aren't looking for a confrontation around every corner.

Vespucci: One of the Frontierland Recommendation suits and it was suit that I envisioned a corpo would be using out in the frontier. The Sariman Classic might do just fine for anything not past Jupiter. Past that gas giant things get a lot tougher and rougher in Retrograde. The Vespucci has everything a corpo would like and actually comes with thrusters when gravity isn't a given.

Highwayman: Is actually the latest suit I came up with. Argus didn't have a true combat suit and it felt a little weird that they didn't. So I gave them one with a Argus twist of course. The Highwayman is the suit tailored for special operations and undercover work on a battlefield. It comes with shape shifting technology letting it look like any other nations class 3 combat suit. It also comes with a lot of other spy like mods. All of this is on a suit with armor though and it can be used in a pinch when bullets start flying.

Gendarme: Designed for more hostile environments and where something like a Cooper won't cut it. It still retains a lot of police like mods so it still designed to keep the peace rather than just true suppression.

Spook: The suit that spies dream about. This thing can morph and shift into an class 1 to class 3 suit in the game. It lets it blend in anywhere. Need to infiltrate a mercenary group without one of suits they use? The spook will do. Need to look like a Press Ganger but you actually need armor in case things go sideways? The Spook can do that. Good luck on getting your hands on one if you're not part of an intelligence group.