Commonwealth Militia

Sometimes the front lines are right outside the airlock.

The Commonwealth Militia doesn’t get enough respect. Their funding and equipment take a back seat to the Fleet—those Star Carriers cost a lot of money. And they’re not as cool as the boys and girls of CHOC, flying around in their sleek corporate cruisers. But when warlords threaten a station, or when Slavers raid convoys, it’s the Militia that comes to help. This volunteer force is dedicated to a single goal: to keep the Commonwealth safe. Do you want to make a different? Join the Commonwealth Militia!

In the Transcendence universe, the Commonwealth Militia is like a cross between the FBI and the Coast Guard. Earth-bound countries have clear, defensible borders. But space is too big for borders. The border of the Commonwealth is the outside airlock of a station, and each of the thousands of stations in the Commonwealth has worry about its border. The Militia is charged with defending those stations and the navigation routes in between.

Service in the Militia is prestigious within the Commonwealth. Many people join for a few years and then use their experience and connections to get a civilian job. Thousands of political careers have started in the Militia. But it’s also dangerous. Even bands of outlaws can acquire ships and weapons to match the average Ronin or early Centurion models. When facing Sung Slavers or Dwarg zoanthropes, the Militia is wildly outclassed.

Every year there are calls for more funding, but other priorities always take precedence. Maybe one day the Corporations will kick in more money for defense, or at least lend out their fancy ships. Maybe one day the war with the Ares will end, and the Fleet can return to defend Commonwealth space. One day, maybe.

Until then, the Militia does what it always does: it keeps going out there, no matter what the odds. In every system, in every station, there are brave men and women who fly towards trouble instead of away. They are the force that keeps out the chaos of an indifferent universe, and that brings together the stations of the Commonwealth.

Militia Playthrough

1.9 has several new features for the Commonwealth Militia:

• All startons, including Starton Eridani, have a Militia headquarters that gives out missions for volunteers.

• We now show the player’s current rank at all Militia stations.

• Militia missions now pay a reward, in addition to earning XP.

In this video I play through several Militia missions and show off some of these features.

Future Ideas

There are many opportunities for future development:

More missions: As with any other part of the game, it would be great to have more Militia missions. It might be fun to create some complex missions. For example, imagine a rescue mission that reveals a mysterious Dwarg threat. Or a mission to figure out what happened to a dead station.

More characters: Most Militia missions are given out by a generic character. It would be great to create more interesting characters with distinctive personalities. Captain Gaul in Starton Eridani is a model for this.

Longer career: Right now there are only four Militia ranks (including volunteer). You can reach the highest rank (major) by completing only six missions. It would be great to add higher ranks (and create commensurate rewards).

New Militia capital ships: The Militia probably has some destroyer-class capital ships to patrol nav lanes and to defend systems without a fortress or starton. The player could encounter these ships in deep space and get missions. Or perhaps some missions require multiple capital ships.

Development Update

In the last week I worked on 1.9 Beta 3. I’d like to release it before the end of the year, and I’m getting close. I worked on the following:

• Finished the Ellen Quinn missions in Corporate Command.

• Added a status command for autons (so they report damage).

• Added icons for all missions (they show up in the mission list).

• Tweaked the defenders table for corporate stations (higher level stations now have a chance of a corporate cruiser defender).

• Adjusted stats for Quantumsphere disintegrator.

• Added interaction=”always” to pteravores, neuroplague, etc. See: API 51.

Join the Universe

What do you think of the Commonwealth Militia? Do you have any interesting mission ideas? Let me know in the comments below, or write to me: transcendence@kronosaur.com.

You can buy Transcendence on Steam or download a free version on our site. If you’re really brave you can download the development version and/or contribute to the code on GitHub.

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