Any sites for tech analysis to uber sci-fi races like Xeelee

[Rommie2006]

Just wondering,
Are there any sites out there with some sort of tech analysis dedicated to those uber sci-fi races like the Culture, Xeelee, etc.

NOW, don't flame at me for asking this question. I've read the Culture FAQ but find the resources somewhat lacking in details of their military, you know stuff like how many ships, industrial capacity, firepower, FTL capabilities, etc.

[Xon]

Nope. There was a request for an Xeelee FAQ for this forum, but no one was gotten around to writting one.

And most of my Xeelee Sequance books are off at friend's houses.

[septesix]

Xeeleeverse really need an FAQ.

Some weapons get blown out of proportion. (like Starbreaker), and others never get enough recognition (anitXeelee). It's too bad I only have a couple of Xeelee books and none of them are with me.

[The Nomad]

many ships, industrial capacity, firepower, FTL capabilities, etc.

Here are some basics on the Culture :

PoG : 50 000 Murderer-class GOUs ( heavy warship ) were built during the Idiran war. Effectors have a range of up to 20 000 light-years, while 2500 lys is considered relatively close for detection purposes.
Exc. : Torturer-class ROUs can pull out up to 100 trillion c in a microsecond-burst, with high probability of critical damage. Ship FTL rating is in fact the speed they can maintain 'more or less indefinitely' , aka from 10 to 200 kilolights. Plate-class GSVs can produce an absolute low-end limit of 6 warships a day. Extended fleet battle took 11 microseconds, stretched over a hundred light-years.
CP : 14,000 Orbitals ( most if not almost all of them Culture ), over 50 planets and major moons, 6 stars and IIRC hundreds of millions of ships were destroyed during the 50-years long Idiran war. Trillion km range for battle is common.
The State of the Art : the Culture can produce Niven-type Rings, and moving maps of the Galaxy accurate to within a meter, held within a sugar-lump-sized memory. There are over 1 million GCUs commissioned in the Milky Way at that time ( which is peace-time ~1000 years after the Idiran war, and IIRC by an Excession comment the Culture's actual ship-based activity has been steadily decreasing since said war ), any of which could turn Earth into a peanut-sized black hole, or meet GBE requirements with one or several CAM warheads.
LtW : while this is not explicitely stated, it is strongly implied that an Idiran ship or a fleet of Idiran ships could supernova a sun in short order, with no special weapon ( Two suns were supernovaed in a single battle ). It is explicitely stated that the Culture is underpopulated by choice, but I can't recall the number exactly.

[Dahak]

many ships, industrial capacity, firepower, FTL capabilities, etc.

Here are some basics on the Culture :
<snip>.

There already is a Culture sticky thread...

[Ghost Rider]

many ships, industrial capacity, firepower, FTL capabilities, etc.

Here are some basics on the Culture :
<snip>.

There already is a Culture sticky thread...

Which is locked and as the OP stated.

I've read the Culture FAQ but find the resources somewhat lacking in details of their military, you know stuff like how many ships, industrial capacity, firepower, FTL capabilities, etc.

[SHODAN]

Effectors have a range of up to 20 000 light-years, while 2500 lys is considered relatively close for detection purposes.

Civilian drone like Mawhrin-Skel can sustain one-way real-time link with LOU from 20 000 LY away. This has nothing to do with maxium effector range, or from what range they can perform precision work or be used as a weapon.

LOU Gunboat Diplomat announced it was 2500 light-years away from Gurgeh's orbital. I don't see how this can be turned into 'considered relatively close for detection purposes'.

Plate-class GSVs can produce an absolute low-end limit of 6 warships a day.

Mindless warships.

CP : 14,000 Orbitals ( most if not almost all of them Culture ), over 50 planets and major moons, 6 stars and IIRC hundreds of millions of ships were destroyed during the 50-years long Idiran war. Trillion km range for battle is common.

91 215 660 (+/- 200) ships ("all classes above interplanetary") were were lost during the war.

[SHODAN]

Forgot something.

Civilian drone like Mawhrin-Skel can sustain one-way real-time link with LOU from 20 000 LY away. This has nothing to do with maxium effector range, or from what range they can perform precision work or be used as a weapon.

PoG, pg. 66.

LOU Gunboat Diplomat announced it was 2500 light-years away from Gurgeh's orbital. I don't see how this can be turned into 'considered relatively close for detection purposes'.

PoG, pg. 69.

91 215 660 (+/- 200) ships ("all classes above interplanetary") were were lost during the war.

CB, pg. 462.

[The Nomad]

Civilian drone like Mawhrin-Skel can sustain one-way real-time link with LOU from 20 000 LY away. This has nothing to do with maxium effector range, or from what range they can perform precision work or be used as a weapon.

LOU Gunboat Diplomat announced it was 2500 light-years away from Gurgeh's orbital. I don't see how this can be turned into 'considered relatively close for detection purposes'.

It is considered a vastly sufficient range for a ship to throw a light-second wide sensing field. Considering the ranges at which Culture ships fight ( up to several light-years IIRC in the CP skirmish involving the two ROUs, though I don't have the quote at hand ) and the importance of sensor jamming ( stated IIRC in Excession with some examples such as a reference to a Deluger ship mimicking a Culture ship's signature ), it isn't too far-fetched to assume 'natural' effector abilities of that magnitude, though effective combat abilities would be much lower.

Mindless warships.

Functionnal warships anyway. Besides the Sleeper Service didn't have much of a choice : if they had had Minds it would have been necessary to convince them to rally its cause ( which would be rather awkward in its situation, and with over 90,000 warships even 1% dissidence would bring a lot of trouble ), so I don't think the lower limit for Mind-equipped ships will be much lower.
Nevertheless, for the purpose of vs debate, even mere AI cores would be more that enough to deal with most opponents ( remember, Idiran warships had non-sentient AI too, yet were perfectly capable of fighting sentient Culture ships ).


Anyway, I don't have the time to debate this now, so I think I'll just retract till May...