Cooler sentient ship

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2003-01-31 01:38pm

Who's the cooler sentient ship, in your opinion ?

( ex of sentient ships : most Culture ships, XMC Andromeda ...)

Sir Sirius · Post by **Sir Sirius** » 2003-01-31 01:54pm

The Discovery from 2001: A Space Odyssey, HAL rocks!

Sektor31 · Post by **Sektor31** » 2003-01-31 02:17pm

"Hello...Dave."

Or that Shadow hybrid in Crusade. In the technomage trilogy, Galen talks to it while it destroys an EF base.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-01-31 02:43pm

Moya
Too bad she doesn't talk

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-31 02:47pm

She does, on one occasion.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-01-31 03:21pm

John Boy Waltons from Battle Beyond The Stars

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-31 03:26pm

ROU Killing Time. It's pre-battle thoughts in Excession are great profound yet scary.

And does anyone else think the idea for Rommie was stolen from the Culture Novels?

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-31 03:41pm

Stormbringer wrote: And does anyone else think the idea for Rommie was stolen from the Culture Novels?

Nahh... it's not that original a concept. Besides Rommie's not smart enough

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-31 03:47pm

NecronLord wrote:
Stormbringer wrote: And does anyone else think the idea for Rommie was stolen from the Culture Novels?
Nahh... it's not that original a concept. Besides Rommie's not smart enough

I'll grant you that. But I was just struck at times by the similarities. Rommie is just like on the ships avatar's is described.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-31 04:03pm

Stormbringer wrote:
NecronLord wrote:
Stormbringer wrote: And does anyone else think the idea for Rommie was stolen from the Culture Novels?
Nahh... it's not that original a concept. Besides Rommie's not smart enough
I'll grant you that. But I was just struck at times by the similarities. Rommie is just like on the ships avatar's is described.

I thought culture Avatars tended to be silver skinned?

Stormbringer · Post by **Stormbringer** » 2003-01-31 04:08pm

NecronLord wrote:I thought culture Avatars tended to be silver skinned?

They're actually pretty individualized.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2003-01-31 04:15pm

Stormbringer wrote:
NecronLord wrote:I thought culture Avatars tended to be silver skinned?
They're actually pretty individualized.

What a surprise

. I just seem to think of it as a trend. Maybe it's just Masq (sp) / Lasting Damage.

XaLEv · Post by **XaLEv** » 2003-01-31 05:53pm

Yeah, Masaq' Hub is the only Mind we've seen with silver skinned humanoid avatars, IIRC.

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-01-31 06:36pm

Stormbringer wrote:
NecronLord wrote:I thought culture Avatars tended to be silver skinned?
They're actually pretty individualized.

Quite individualized.

The GSV Sleeper Service had Amorphia, who was a blonde... person... who looked like the perfect corss between male and female, without looking like either sex.

Staying with Sleeper, before the three minds that controlled the ship split up, they also had a female Avatar. The only reason we know about this one, however, is because she slept with one of the main characters before the story takes place.

Morat · Post by **Morat** » 2003-01-31 08:43pm

Coolest Ship: The GCU Grey Area (although the ROU Killing Time is a close second)

As for Rommie, I don't think she has much in common with Culture AI's. As I understand it, the avatar of a Culture ship is essentially just part of the ship (except in the comparatively rare instances when the Mind wants to have its avatar act autonomously). Rommie, on the other hand, is basically an autonomous android with a close connection to the ship. In fact, the ship can't forcefully take over the android avatar (although that isn't the case with most avatars).

Also, Culture ships only have one personality, AFAIK (unless you're talking about an orbital or a GSV). In Rommie's case, each avatar has its own individual variation of the main AI. For example, the OE Planetfall warfare bots are her "crankiest" avatars, whereas her hologram tends to be more motherly, and her android has a somewhat youthful personality.

I think the similarities pretty much end at the fact that they're both kinds of sentient ships.

Also, I believe that the idea for Rommie was one of the things that came from GR's original notes, which would predate the Culture books (I think).

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2003-02-01 12:24am

favorite ship with an avatar: Andromeda. Why? No real reason, just a preference.

As for Rommies operating principles, the AI core works alot like a simultaneous user login on an operating system, kind of. Each personality shares memory but has a seperate consciousness to allow it to work on multiple problems simultaneously without requiring too much focus of any given consciousness (which is nonsense since any problem anyone could think of would be near instantly completed by a computer 10,000 years moer advanced then any human computer to date).

Just be glad there arent grapefruit sized robots that fly around and shoot XRay lasers and micromissiles at people!

ben · Post by **ben** » 2003-02-01 12:46am

Singuler Quartet wrote:
Stormbringer wrote:
NecronLord wrote:I thought culture Avatars tended to be silver skinned?
They're actually pretty individualized.
Quite individualized.

The GSV Sleeper Service had Amorphia, who was a blonde... person... who looked like the perfect corss between male and female, without looking like either sex.

Staying with Sleeper, before the three minds that controlled the ship split up, they also had a female Avatar. The only reason we know about this one, however, is because she slept with one of the main characters before the story takes place.

*re-reads Excession* yup if that does not kicks ass i don't know what does. i remember reading that passage for the first time and falling off a chair laughing my ass off. Culture Minds are awesome things.

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2003-02-01 06:29am

IIRC Masaq had million of avatars. Shit, those Minds have perfected ubiquity !!!

My favorite has to be Grey Area, closely followed by Killing Time and Xenophobe.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-02-01 06:39am

Would Yukinojo from Tenchi Muyo! count?

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2003-02-01 06:40am

I am tempted to ask where I can find more info about the ROU Killing Time

That temptation has been duly processed and acted upon.

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2003-02-01 07:13am

I'd say either the Alpha-Synth Megarea or the sentient Xeelee ship that saved humanity. It was a nice one...

The Nomad · Post by **The Nomad** » 2003-02-01 07:16am

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:I am tempted to ask where I can find more info about the ROU Killing Time

That temptation has been duly processed and acted upon.

Read Excession

Evil Sadistic Bastard · Post by **Evil Sadistic Bastard** » 2003-02-01 08:24am

The Nomad wrote:
Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:I am tempted to ask where I can find more info about the ROU Killing Time

That temptation has been duly processed and acted upon.
Read Excession

Now the only problem is where to find Excession. My local library doesn't carry it and I don't have a lot of free time to go hunting for it in the national libraries.

Singular Quartet · Post by **Singular Quartet** » 2003-02-01 12:21pm

Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:
The Nomad wrote:
Evil Sadistic Bastard wrote:I am tempted to ask where I can find more info about the ROU Killing Time

That temptation has been duly processed and acted upon.
Read Excession
Now the only problem is where to find Excession. My local library doesn't carry it and I don't have a lot of free time to go hunting for it in the national libraries.

Any book store wiht a half-way decent sci-fi section should carry Excession. It the rest of the Culture books are the problem...

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-02-01 12:28pm

MAX from 'Flight of the Navigator'.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Cooler sentient ship

Cooler sentient ship

Totally agreed...