SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread II

[Steve]

Working on my end.

And I'm beginning to think siccing the Death Star on the Bragulans would be an improvement.

[Shroom Man 777]

If by 'improvement' you mean 'make the game/galaxy boring and less awesome/funny'.

Seriously though, shit, I can't even see my sig!

[Agent Sorchus]

Yes shroom don't worry. It's working.

[Shroom Man 777]

Very weird. Even my sig is not working on my end. I even made a testing post, even if you can't ask for help in testing.

[Dave]

Works both in this thread and in testing for me.
And as I recall I could see your thriller images fine. (I read that about six hours ago.)

And yes, I'll try to be more productive. University keeps me busy.

[RogueIce]

Very weird. Even my sig is not working on my end. I even made a testing post, even if you can't ask for help in testing.

My plan is working!

[KlavoHunter]

I liked the Thriller Zombie hivemind post better than the mindly-bogglingly ridiculously abusive old-folks homes.

[MKSheppard]

Steve:

Better fare than your usual SPACELESBIANPORN.

But.......wouldn't you turn your BFGs on just as you were about to carry out your attack? So that any ESPer agents that were in the security detail wouldn't be able to 'feel' the crosshairs on them from six miles away?

Etc.

[Simon_Jester]

It occurs to me that what they "feel" is a momentary flash of precognition: "holy fuck there is about to be a dangerous surplus of bullet in this area real soon." The fact that the shooter has anti-psi fields up does not mean that the consequences of their actions are indetectable.

Also, I submit that turning on a Blitzschlag field should be easily detectable by any esper in the general vicinity since it's supposed to be some kind of active jammer:

[Dr. Susie:]
"AAAAAH! THE STUPID! IT'S BACK! IT'S BAAACK!"

[points]

"That way."

So having it on significantly before firing the first shot may well give away that something is up, that some hostile entity is after you.

[MKSheppard]

So having it on significantly before firing the first shot may well give away that something is up, that some hostile entity is after you.

Or you could just turn on and off your BFG fields at random all over the place. There's a logical reason for regular people to have them, and not just Shepistanis or crazed assasins.

High ranking businessmen/military leaders/politicans, for one.

The game equivalent of Stuart wouldn't be let out into public without a working BFG, lest an ESPer pick his mind of goodies.

[Simon_Jester]

Wouldn't it be infinitely more logical to use the Altacaran Null Field, which does not produce an active observable signature, and which you appear to have never heard of despite repeated references to it both in and out of game?

Among other things, this does not reveal your exact position to suitable detection equipment, and does not needlessly harass and discommode random friendly espers.

Wearing a Blitzschlag Field generator in public would be the equivalent of having a big strobe light strapped to your head that causes seizures in epileptics. It's a public safety hazard and should be treated as such.

[MKSheppard]

Wouldn't it be infinitely more logical to use the Altacaran Null Field, which does not produce an active observable signature, and which you appear to have never heard of despite repeated references to it both in and out of game?

Among other things, this does not reveal your exact position to suitable detection equipment, and does not needlessly harass and discommode random friendly espers.

Fine, whatever.

This does raise the reason why the assassins were using BFGs, and not ANFs; if ANFs have these qualities which make it so great for assassins (no active broadcast and harassing random espers).

[Steve]

I imagined it that they activated them after taking their shots so they could make their escape without an ESPer picking up their thoughts, since that's when an ESPer would be actively scanning for such, as opposed to before the shots; it also would work out if met by ESPers with combat ability. As for detection even afterward, the portable BFGs don't emit a large field, just enough to encompass a person and their limb span. Druni finds them because she was already directing her attention to their vehicle pulling out of an alley. Sensing that there were no minds inside would come off as suspicious - well, on a world without plentiful CompInts.

One presumes in other situations she might have accidentally harassed some hard-working CompInt in an android body. Would've made for an awkward moment....

[Shroom Man 777]

Hahaha, Scron!

Nice one Simons.

[River pout]SIIIIMOOOOONNNNN![/River pouty]

[MKSheppard]

As for detection even afterward, the portable BFGs don't emit a large field, just enough to encompass a person and their limb span.

Clearly, they tried to get teh cheap knockoff BFGs instead of mil-grade ones straight from Shepistan.

That's what trying to save a few pennies on an assassination of a ruler does...

[Darkevilme]

As for detection even afterward, the portable BFGs don't emit a large field, just enough to encompass a person and their limb span.

Clearly, they tried to get teh cheap knockoff BFGs instead of mil-grade ones straight from Shepistan.

That's what trying to save a few pennies on an assassination of a ruler does...

Orr not every assassin is willing to wear power armour in order to be able to mount a proper infantry grade Blitzer device.

[Steve]

As for detection even afterward, the portable BFGs don't emit a large field, just enough to encompass a person and their limb span.

Clearly, they tried to get teh cheap knockoff BFGs instead of mil-grade ones straight from Shepistan.

That's what trying to save a few pennies on an assassination of a ruler does...

Why would man-portable BFGs generate fields any larger than stated? Their entire purpose would be to prevent telepathic intrusion of a soldier, any extra field space beyond the reasonable reach of the trooper is a waste.

[Darkevilme]

As for detection even afterward, the portable BFGs don't emit a large field, just enough to encompass a person and their limb span.

Clearly, they tried to get teh cheap knockoff BFGs instead of mil-grade ones straight from Shepistan.

That's what trying to save a few pennies on an assassination of a ruler does...

Why would man-portable BFGs generate fields any larger than stated? Their entire purpose would be to prevent telepathic intrusion of a soldier, any extra field space beyond the reasonable reach of the trooper is a waste.

Assuming they still have their active psi noise ability which causes discomfort for psychers and in light of the Shepistani republics passionate burning hatred of psychers, i'm gonna go with the possible answer of sheer spite.

[Shinn Langley Soryu]

Clearly, they tried to get teh cheap knockoff BFGs instead of mil-grade ones straight from Shepistan.

That's what trying to save a few pennies on an assassination of a ruler does...

Why would man-portable BFGs generate fields any larger than stated? Their entire purpose would be to prevent telepathic intrusion of a soldier, any extra field space beyond the reasonable reach of the trooper is a waste.

Assuming they still have their active psi noise ability which causes discomfort for psychers and in light of the Shepistani republics passionate burning hatred of psychers, i'm gonna go with the possible answer of sheer spite.

What about overlapping fields of coverage? If a squad of Shepistani troops have to move in close formation to take out a target and one of them gets his own personal BFG damaged by enemy fire, he can still be shielded as long as he sticks reasonably close to somebody whose BFG still works.

[Simon_Jester]

Given the way they're supposed to work, I'd expect damaging any one field generator to accomplish nothing when you're fighting an army full of them. If you're dealing with ten thousand tiny radio transmitters and you knock out one, you don't change the overall signal very much; the overlapping fringe effects of the rest of the army should cover you whether you have a generator on your person or not- as should larger, more powerful units mounted on support vehicles.

There's an intermediate range, I suppose, but the field generators are bulky enough that at some point the added insurance of wider coverage is vastly outweighed by the... well... weight.

[Shroom Man 777]

I wonder what Bragulan equivalent of BFGs are. Perhaps we surgerize Faraday cages into our soldiers' skulls.

[KlavoHunter]

Frankly I'm just fascinated to wonder what the incidence of ESPers in the Bragulan populace is...

[PeZook]

There are no espers on Bragule! The Solarians are impaling themselves on the gates of Bragule!

[Shroom Man 777]

Maybe reading Bragulan minds is also very difficult? Like how some species in Star Wars, like Hutts and Anakin Skywalker's Mom's Flying Proboscis-nosed Pimp, are immune to Jedi mind tricks?

[Darkevilme]

Maybe reading Bragulan minds is also very difficult? Like how some species in Star Wars, like Hutts and Anakin Skywalker's Mom's Flying Proboscis-nosed Pimp, are immune to Jedi mind tricks?

It's possible. Chamarrans for instance are psionically resistant as a side effect of having all psionic potential removed from their genome.