Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

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Arioch
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

cacambo43 wrote: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.
Username wrote:Arioch, I was wondering what color beam the Terran Mjolnir Cannon creates ?
It's reddish.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Arioch wrote: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?
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

RedDwarfIV wrote:
Arioch wrote: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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Arioch wrote:
RedDwarfIV wrote:
Arioch wrote: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.

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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.
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by 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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by 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?
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

GeoModder wrote: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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Username »

Arioch wrote:
GeoModder wrote: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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by 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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by 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.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by GeoModder »

Arioch wrote:..., but mail vessels can coordinate to relay for periodic expected reports.
There's a dedicated "Colonial Mail Service" running between the worlds of Humanity?
Is that something the TCA provides, or is it freelance based?
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Krulle »

It may be a mix: under the auspices of the Colonial Union / TCA, but the actual runs are outsourced to the cheapest bidder.

Just like many parcel services here do not do the runs themselves anymore, but have several contractors do it with their own vehicles.
All in the name the parcel service.
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by GeoModder »

Sounds like mail goes with the next ship to a certain destination then.
Email might be the simplest then: simply upload to the appropriate communications relay and then pass it on to the next ship making a jump.
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Krulle wrote:It may be a mix: under the auspices of the Colonial Union / TCA, but the actual runs are outsourced to the cheapest bidder.

Just like many parcel services here do not do the runs themselves anymore, but have several contractors do it with their own vehicles.
All in the name the parcel service.
GeoModder wrote:Sounds like mail goes with the next ship to a certain destination then.
Email might be the simplest then: simply upload to the appropriate communications relay and then pass it on to the next ship making a jump.
Yes, precisely. Any passing ship will automatically exchange email traffic and news with the communications relays. If there is something like an expected monthly report due and there are no regularly scheduled vessels, the TCA or local government can just hire a local ship to run out to the next system and grab it. The four inhabited human system are all very close together; Alpha Centauri is just one jump from Sol, Tau Ceti is two jumps from Sol, and 82 Eridani is three jumps from Tau Ceti, so retrieving a message is usually just one jump away.

Packages and physical mail items will generally hitch rides on transports carrying larger cargo, as was done with international mail before air travel. You can hire a private courier to transport a priority cargo, but of course this is expensive. I don't think there would be a need for a dedicated mail fleet up to this point. With the potential threat of alien incursion, a courier network may become necessary, but the TCA is juggling a lot of high priorities at this point.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by GabrielGABFonseca »

Hy Arioch, I'm very sorry if this has been asked before, but I was wondering about the state of piracy in TCU Space.

I do remember that prior to First Contact with the Orgus, the TCU had a "Shore Guard" kind of navy going on, so that does imply an illegal activity (space piracy?) of some kind, right?

The less exciting possibility being tax evasion, I guess. :p
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by GeoModder »

GabrielGABFonseca wrote:Hy Arioch, I'm very sorry if this has been asked before, but I was wondering about the state of piracy in TCU Space.

I do remember that prior to First Contact with the Orgus, the TCU had a "Shore Guard" kind of navy going on, so that does imply an illegal activity (space piracy?) of some kind, right?

The less exciting possibility being tax evasion, I guess. :p
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

You may be interested to look at the parts regarding piracy in the insider section on terrans.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Chekist_Felix »

I don't think is was asked, forgive me if it was, but... how colonial fleet uniform looks like? Like SC uniform with different patches?
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Chekist_Felix wrote:I don't think is was asked, forgive me if it was, but... how colonial fleet uniform looks like? Like SC uniform with different patches?
This is not quite up to date, but it looks a bit like this:

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Cthulhu »

Arioch wrote:
Chekist_Felix wrote:I don't think is was asked, forgive me if it was, but... how colonial fleet uniform looks like? Like SC uniform with different patches?
This is not quite up to date, but it looks a bit like this:
Would that be the on-duty or parade uniform? Also would that be an officer's or a crewman's uniform and would there be any distinction beside rank insignia?


A somewhat different question: what would be the MOO2 racial stats for Umiak and Loroi? I want to recreate them in-game. I'd try it out in your game, but there are no "space elves" there. :(
For example:
Umiak: Unification, +2 Production, Low gravity, Warlord, Poor Homeworld
Loroi: pretty much Elerians?

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