SDN Worlds 4 Commentary Thread V

[Steve]

Five Commentary threads to two story threads? We damn sure like to talk a lot.

[Shroom Man 777]

I see, so that is what metagaming means. For a second I had it confuzzled with meta-plot.

[Akhlut]

I see, so that is what metagaming means. For a second I had it confuzzled with meta-plot.

Wait wait wait. You mean there's an actual overarching plot?!?!? Shit, I've just been writing up random whackiness as the mood took me. Motherfucker.

[Simon_Jester]

[Looks at Prussian flagship]

Oooh, that's not gonna buff out of the paint...

[Chaotic Neutral]

[Looks at Prussian flagship]

Oooh, that's not gonna buff out of the paint...

Maybe if it's nanobot paint, you just need to reapply it?

[Darkevilme]

[Looks at Prussian flagship]

Oooh, that's not gonna buff out of the paint...

Maybe if it's nanobot paint, you just need to reapply it?

Okay seriously CN, if you actually put some of the effort you poured into inconsequentiual commentary into actually writing story posts you might have things like characters and culture people gave a damn about. This would go a long way towards making the MEH potentially likeable and which would in turn mean that someone, anyone, might actully miss it when it's gone.

[Master_Baerne]

[Looks at Prussian flagship]

Oooh, that's not gonna buff out of the paint...

Oh, I dunno. The Prussians are famously good at polishing things.

In other news, I'm back! And hard at work on something resembling a storypost!

[RogueIce]

Can I ask that no one one initiate any hostilities upon the MEH until I finish up my plot against them? I won't be attacking but I think it will give additional RP hooks for those assembling against CN to utilize.

For my part, I don't see anything happening until somewhere around March 3401, and that's if I can scrounge a coalition fleet together.

The main problem being is that I'm trying to do it off channel (at least initial contacts) regarding the whole casus belli bit so I don't tip anyone off. I figure for stuff like fleet movements and pre-positioning we can make some excuse like joint multinational exercises or whatever.

Another reason of course for the delay is so that we can get a chance to do some workups, so as to avoid (hopefully) the 'glitches' that occured during the Battle of Bannerman. Or at least as much as one can avoid glitches in any military operation.

[Shroom Man 777]

Public may not like a sudden war happening without them knowing why you are attacking the MEH. You must run propagandas alleging that the MEH has WMDs, NBCs, POWs and other TLAs.

[PeZook]

FL, if you decided to decloak the ship anyway, why not have the probe just transmit the information and self-destruct?

[Force Lord]

This probe isn't ordinary. Its AI, being more advanced, also makes it more prone to do...illogical things.

[Shroom Man 777]

Uh... yes, that makes perfect sense!

[PeZook]

This probe isn't ordinary. Its AI, being more advanced, also makes it more prone to do...illogical things.

And?

You don't have to ask it for permission to stick a huge quantum charge aboard

[Force Lord]

This probe isn't ordinary. Its AI, being more advanced, also makes it more prone to do...illogical things.

And?

You don't have to ask it for permission to stick a huge quantum charge aboard

Hey, these things are expensive! So much that it's actually forbidden to order stealth probes like these to self-destruct, at least until production picks up. Which takes time.

Besides, explosions can be detected.

[PeZook]

Are they more expensive than stealth destroyers?

[Siege]

Honestly, between the Centrality and the Chamarrans I genuinely don't know who's mishandling their spy ships worst.

[Force Lord]

Are they more expensive than stealth destroyers?

There's fewer stealth probes right now than stealth destroyers. Heck, I would say the Datton was lucky to recieve one.

[Simon_Jester]

URRA gunskimmer combat!

This probe isn't ordinary. Its AI, being more advanced, also makes it more prone to do...illogical things.

Uh... yes, that makes perfect sense!

Centralist prototype hardware tends to be pretty far out on the bleeding edge, Shroomy. Remember their ion cannons.

"Are you having trouble getting your ion cannon to work? I hear there's a pill for that nowadays..."

I imagine their stealth-probe AI suffers from the same problems. As a rough analysis, I suspect the following: the Centralist economy is quantity-over-quality oriented (by modern galactic standards). The science allows them to produce stuff that is top-of-the-line. They can build it; it will perform to spec under testing-range conditions. But systems reliability, doctrinal innovation, and institutional engineering skill often aren't up to implementing the designs that come out of the central planning boards.

So at the high end the Centralists wind up with a lot of stuff that's very, very capable... until things start going wrong in unforeseen ways. At the low end, they have tried and true stuff that's had the bugs worked out and doesn't have such problems.

Sort of like Bragule, only the Bragulans are smart enough not to try to build things their engineering establishment can't keep running reliably. Their tendency to commit grandiose folly runs in other directions, not so much toward superweapon design.

Are they more expensive than stealth destroyers?

There's fewer stealth probes right now than stealth destroyers. Heck, I would say the Datton was lucky to recieve one.

I wouldn't.

Honestly, between the Centrality and the Chamarrans I genuinely don't know who's mishandling their spy ships worst.

This is true. You never see Umerian stealth cutters screwing up this badly.

[Darkevilme]

This probe isn't ordinary. Its AI, being more advanced, also makes it more prone to do...illogical things.

And?

You don't have to ask it for permission to stick a huge quantum charge aboard

Hey, these things are expensive! So much that it's actually forbidden to order stealth probes like these to self-destruct, at least until production picks up. Which takes time.

Besides, explosions can be detected.

...the probe is considered more valuable than the ship that fired it, to the extent the ship that fired it must risk destruction and mission failure in order to retrieve it... *Rayarr and the crew of the Audacity all Nyah at the simultaneous headache this gives them* probes are supposed to be disposeable.

[Force Lord]

Well, maybe some higher-up with a grudge (the whole Pendleton business was quite embarrasing for the Centralists) decided to get rid of the Datton and it's crew, and so gave it bullshit restrictions to risk its safety. Who knows.

[Shroom Man 777]

Maybe the AI in the Datton is going crazy!



Callahan again!

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Honestly... has it every occured to anyone to use inertia and perhaps some passive sensors to do the job?

[PeZook]

Uh...yes?

That's why all those stealth ships are slowly travelling on really long orbits slowly adjusted via tiny burns of gravitic drives?

Well, maybe some higher-up with a grudge (the whole Pendleton business was quite embarrasing for the Centralists) decided to get rid of the Datton and it's crew, and so gave it bullshit restrictions to risk its safety. Who knows.

That...is actually quite possible. With these sorts of regimes, politics can sometimes override military practice. If some admiral got burned bad enough by Pendleton, he might have a really big grudge

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Uh...yes?

That's why all those stealth ships are slowly travelling on really long orbits slowly adjusted via tiny burns of gravitic drives?

They are obviously doing a bad job at it if they keep getting detected.

[Simon_Jester]

Well, maybe some higher-up with a grudge (the whole Pendleton business was quite embarrasing for the Centralists) decided to get rid of the Datton and it's crew, and so gave it bullshit restrictions to risk its safety. Who knows.

Hah.

Even wackier, that- they're taking the complicated solution of sending the ship on a suicide mission instead of the simple one of ordering the crew shot and taking the ship apart for spare parts and/or scrap metal.

You guys are cwaaazy. But entertainingly so.