Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

[Mr Bojangles]

...suddenly tens of thousands of angry Canucks were riding their Battle Moose into New York state...
.

Not to discount everything else you said, but I completely lost it here. I just can't get the image out of my head...

We don't know what elements go into a plasma foci's color

Kyber crystals, of course.

Of course, it makes so much sense. It was the Sith that destroyed the Bell!

[ShadowDragon8685]

I guess Tempo's phrasing could lead one to this conclusion, but I'd like to point out that nowhere in Tempo's speech does she say that the Loroi fired first.

Doesn't she say that she does not know who fired first? Or at least, that's what I got from Page 109; that everyone involved is dead, and the flight recorders are scrap metal/lost/vaporized, so it's impossible to know who fired first.

Either way, though, it seems pretty clear that the Umiak wanted the war, from how they subsequently rolled a giant invasion fleet. You don't put on goggles unless you're diving into the swimming pool, and you don't leave a giant invasion fleet lying around in wait just in case the other guys decide they want to have a shooting war. So if the Loroi fired first, I would suspect "manufactured incident" to provide the thinnest veneer of casus belli, and if the Loroi didn't shoot first, then it was just a straight-up case of the Hierarchy launching a surprise war of aggression.

...suddenly tens of thousands of angry Canucks were riding their Battle Moose into New York state...
.

Not to discount everything else you said, but I completely lost it here. I just can't get the image out of my head...

You're welcome, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip Beryl on your way out.

We don't know what elements go into a plasma foci's color

Kyber crystals, of course.

Of course, it makes so much sense. It was the Sith that destroyed the Bell!

So, if you used a Hurrikaine Crystal, would you get a purple plasma focus?
Either way, time to cue the music. No workshops in sight.

[Krulle]

...suddenly tens of thousands of angry Canucks were riding their Battle Moose into New York state...
.

Not to discount everything else you said, but I completely lost it here. I just can't get the image out of my head...

Let me make it worse:

SpoilerShow

Hope this one works. Teddy Roosevelt.

Swedish cavalry experimented with Moose

[ShadowDragon8685]

...suddenly tens of thousands of angry Canucks were riding their Battle Moose into New York state...
.

Not to discount everything else you said, but I completely lost it here. I just can't get the image out of my head...

Let me make it worse:

SpoilerShow

Hope this one works. Teddy Roosevelt.

Swedish cavalry experimented with Moose

So, the reasons basically boil down to "Moose are too smart and refused to do what you need them to do"?
...
Can't Loroi basically psychically control critters?

[Mr Bojangles]

...suddenly tens of thousands of angry Canucks were riding their Battle Moose into New York state...
.

Not to discount everything else you said, but I completely lost it here. I just can't get the image out of my head...

Let me make it worse:

SpoilerShow

Hope this one works. Teddy Roosevelt.

Swedish cavalry experimented with Moose

Holy shit, people tried to make Battle Moose an actual THING?! Krulle, you didn't make things worse, you made things better!

[Absalom]

Sure, but if the Historians were trying to play Umiak and Loroi off of each other - which is a great move in their position - or if they previously supported the Hierarchy, but decided they'd rather not be gobbled up by the fanatic collectivist bugs and backed the Loroi - then they would probably not give both sides plasma technology that can be easily identified as the same stuff.

And since we know they're super-advanced, I wouldn't really put it past them to be able to throw together an example plasma focus with entirely different technological lineage, invented out of whole cloth, for the Loroi to study; assuming that they don't actually have more than one Focus technology in their libraries.

According to Jim, in focus of the plasma used manipulation by certain forces in the plasma itself (electromagnetism? nuclear / quantum interaction? hell knows). That in itself means that "focus principle" - essentially a manipulation by other forces, or radically different mechanism application have known forces rather than banal replacement lenses on the sleeve.

I'm not so certain: Loroi weapons (with the conditional exception of the Wave Loom) are all discrete devices, whereas if I recall correctly the Historian system is an array of devices, effectively making Historian ships equivalent to a Loroi Pulse Cannon turned inside-out. I'd say that even if only in terms of diameter, that is a meaningful "change of lenses".

SpoilerShow

Hope this one works. Teddy Roosevelt.

... Of course he rode a moose, there's probably a law of physics that mandated of.

[cacambo43]

In the prologue, Captain Hamilton says they chose the coordinates Bellarmine travelled to (and Jardin, as narrator, mentions other "likely spots" for the other ships) based on "intel". Was this intel solely what they gathered from the Orgus or was there newer information? If so, how and when did they receive it? I would guess even an "innocuous" probe would have likely been intercepted by either the Umiak or the Loroi, but perhaps not? Or is there "classified" intel on secondary "alien" contacts after the Orgus that we don't know about yet?

CJSF

[Arioch]

In the prologue, Captain Hamilton says they chose the coordinates Bellarmine travelled to (and Jardin, as narrator, mentions other "likely spots" for the other ships) based on "intel". Was this intel solely what they gathered from the Orgus or was there newer information? If so, how and when did they receive it? I would guess even an "innocuous" probe would have likely been intercepted by either the Umiak or the Loroi, but perhaps not? Or is there "classified" intel on secondary "alien" contacts after the Orgus that we don't know about yet?

The target routes of the alien contact mission would have been based primarily on information gained from the Orgus. These scouts are the "probes"; Humanity doesn't have any unmanned long-range scouts that could have gone ahead, and if they did, then there probably wouldn't have been any need for the manned scouts in the first place.

Because information travels at the speed of a starship, it takes time for information to travel from one location to another. There is no way for leaders on Earth to know immediately what happened to the Bellarmine, nor for the Bellarmine or other scouts to know immediately what is happening on Earth. If there had been new sources of information since the launch of the alien contact mission, it's very unlikely that any of the scouts would know about it.

[cacambo43]

No, I get that, Arioch. I was just wondering if there was a secondary source of intel that Alex (and us) didn't/don't know about yet. For example, maybe one or more of the Orgus told Human authorities where or how to contact another race that knew more, but it was kept secret. Or maybe an intercepted alien wreck or transmission.

CJSF

[Username]

Arioch, I was wondering what color beam the Terran Mjolnir Cannon creates ?

I've checked the Insider weapons profiles page but it doesn't have even have an example of a Loroi Particle Cannon firing. Judging from the comic itself I see the loroi particle beams are pink. This leads me to wonder what color the Mjolnir Cannon would be (if we ever saw it fired).

I did do a search for the Mjolnir Cannon on the Forum and I didn't see anyone ever asking this question. (apologies if I was mistaken)

[Arioch]

No, I get that, Arioch. I was just wondering if there was a secondary source of intel that Alex (and us) didn't/don't know about yet. For example, maybe one or more of the Orgus told Human authorities where or how to contact another race that knew more, but it was kept secret. Or maybe an intercepted alien wreck or transmission.

I obviously wouldn't tell you if there was, but I think it's shoddy writing to bring in plot elements completely out of left field without some kind of appropriate hint or foreshadowing.

Arioch, I was wondering what color beam the Terran Mjolnir Cannon creates ?

It's reddish.

[RedDwarfIV]

Because information travels at the speed of a starship, it takes time for information to travel from one location to another.

I was thinking about this.

Is there anything preventing the employment of comm drones that hop between two star systems? The idea being that at each jump point, you have an unmanned comm station with a drone. A manned vessel sends a message (along with intended destination) to the comm station, which deploys the drone. The drone hops to the next system, passes the message to the comm station on that side, then the drone returns. The other comm station sends the message by radio to the comm station across the system, which repeats the process.

Doing it this way, you wouldn't need a manned 'courier' vessel in order to get reports home, unless you didn't want your trail of comm stations being followed, and the message would travel much faster.

A manned vessel out at the frontier would still be important, because that would be the one laying the comm stations in the first place.


Or are drones too unreliable even for this role?

[Arioch]

Because information travels at the speed of a starship, it takes time for information to travel from one location to another.

I was thinking about this.

Is there anything preventing the employment of comm drones that hop between two star systems? The idea being that at each jump point, you have an unmanned comm station with a drone. A manned vessel sends a message (along with intended destination) to the comm station, which deploys the drone. The drone hops to the next system, passes the message to the comm station on that side, then the drone returns. The other comm station sends the message by radio to the comm station across the system, which repeats the process.

Doing it this way, you wouldn't need a manned 'courier' vessel in order to get reports home, unless you didn't want your trail of comm stations being followed, and the message would travel much faster.

A manned vessel out at the frontier would still be important, because that would be the one laying the comm stations in the first place.

As described in the System Infrastructure page, both sides use courier relay networks, which consist of relay bases near the jump points, each with a stable of couriers, and which operates essentially in the manner that you suggest. Whether the couriers are manned or not is not relevant to the speed of the system.

[RedDwarfIV]

Because information travels at the speed of a starship, it takes time for information to travel from one location to another.

I was thinking about this.

Is there anything preventing the employment of comm drones that hop between two star systems? The idea being that at each jump point, you have an unmanned comm station with a drone. A manned vessel sends a message (along with intended destination) to the comm station, which deploys the drone. The drone hops to the next system, passes the message to the comm station on that side, then the drone returns. The other comm station sends the message by radio to the comm station across the system, which repeats the process.

Doing it this way, you wouldn't need a manned 'courier' vessel in order to get reports home, unless you didn't want your trail of comm stations being followed, and the message would travel much faster.

A manned vessel out at the frontier would still be important, because that would be the one laying the comm stations in the first place.

As described in the System Infrastructure page, both sides use courier relay networks, which consist of relay bases near the jump points, each with a stable of couriers, and which operates essentially in the manner that you suggest. Whether the couriers are manned or not is not relevant to the speed of the system.

Ah, cool!


I suggested the couriers and comm stations be unmanned because that way an exploration vessel could carry significantly more of them, and have them be operational as soon as they're dropped.

[Arioch]

The infrastructure needed to make a courier network function is substantial; the couriers need to be refueled and maintained, and so at least one of each two relay bases needs to be a substantial space station. So the courier network is something that you set up in your own territory, rather than something that an exploration vessel could drop out in uncharted territory.

[GeoModder]

From the look of things, it seems the Loroi are about to lose their courier network infrastructure in the Leido system.

Does the TCA maintain a sort of regular courier network along the main interstellar trade routes within their sphere of influence? Or does information goes along with whatever starship happens to go some place?

[Arioch]

Does the TCA maintain a sort of regular courier network along the main interstellar trade routes within their sphere of influence? Or does information goes along with whatever starship happens to go some place?

The latter.

[Username]

Does the TCA maintain a sort of regular courier network along the main interstellar trade routes within their sphere of influence? Or does information goes along with whatever starship happens to go some place?

The latter.

The TCA doesn't exactly have the same scale issue that would warrant such a system. However considering how slow they are compared to the rest of the galaxy maybe they are considering it ? Not having any reliable system for out of system communiques is a bit. . . naive?
Then again I don't know how regularly each TCA system gets traffic.

[icekatze]

hi hi

The TCA also, until recently, didn't really have need for an expensive system for detecting and relaying news about alien invasions. People were apparently already complaining about the cost of the TCA cruiser fleet, and its relative utility without any other power in space to challenge them, until the Orgus arrived anyway.

[Arioch]

There's pretty regular shipping traffic between 3 of the 4 inhabited systems. There are communications relays along these routes to speed things up and make message transfer more reliable; they don't base full-time couriers at these relays (as to this point there hasn't been a need), but mail vessels can coordinate to relay for periodic expected reports.