Simon_Jester wrote:Gotta say, Flash Stalin has a pretty kickass 'stache.
That thing's probably worth five or ten points in naval warfare by itself...
Alyrium Denryle wrote:Well, I mean reaching the other embassy staff. IIRC the distress signal relayed that the embassy was being attacked by the Shepistanis. Including "and is under psionic attack from within" would have been included had a telepath been there to jam said attack for even a few seconds--even on the comms operator only, and warn them of the assault. They have had had someone there who WAS telepathic, but if there was, he was quickly overwhelmed.
In light of FL's latest, they may not have- since (as Ranoideans well know) it is nigh-impossible for espers of any kind to operate in Shepistan under normal conditions, it would be an incredibly unpopular posting for telepaths, and also a bloody useless place to send them because they can't leave the embassy. The only reason to bother is to have a defense against telepathic infiltrators... and Shepistan is the last place in the galaxy you'd expect to see your embassy come under telepathic attack.
It may be that the Centralists rely so heavily on their own espers that their standard anti-psi defense is simply to have lots of experienced telepaths around; if an Amplitur tried such a stunt on their home territory said craboid might just get swarmed by weaker but numerous combat espers. But in Shepistan their normal defense isn't present... and they have no doctrine for how to defend an installation against psychic attack other than "put some of my own psychics there."
I think that would explain what happened.
Yep, that seems about right. We dont even have an embassy--we dont bother. It is not as if there is a hope of reasonable relations with the shepistanis anyway. We could not even rely on our own couriers. If we did have an embassy, we would not inflict it on our psionicists. The difference is, we also know how Vulnerable a non-psionicist is to telepathic intrusion because training in psionics and the ethics thereof etc is mandatory in school. The reason for that being that Ranoidean society, while paradise ( ), still has nasty individuals. Imagine telepathic rape would not be unheard of. Said training would be the equivalent of driver's ed and self defense rolled into one.
Null fields would be everywhere. EVERYWHERE.
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Alyrium Denryle wrote:...The difference is, we also know how Vulnerable a non-psionicist is to telepathic intrusion because training in psionics and the ethics thereof etc is mandatory in school...
I would honestly think that while this awareness might no be totally common among all citizens in a human society... it's not going to be nonexistent. Espers may be rare, but they're common enough to be a commonly used tool of the state- like, say, tanks. The average citizen might well be ignorant about the details of what tanks are capable of, what their limits and weaknesses are, and how they affect a battlefield. But the guys responsible for using them won't be.
Alyrium Denryle wrote:...The difference is, we also know how Vulnerable a non-psionicist is to telepathic intrusion because training in psionics and the ethics thereof etc is mandatory in school...
I would honestly think that while this awareness might no be totally common among all citizens in a human society... it's not going to be nonexistent. Espers may be rare, but they're common enough to be a commonly used tool of the state- like, say, tanks. The average citizen might well be ignorant about the details of what tanks are capable of, what their limits and weaknesses are, and how they affect a battlefield. But the guys responsible for using them won't be.
True. However that does not necessarily mean that they will have a tactical doctrine for dealing with the problem when their usual means is not available. For example: The US had (and I would argue still does not) a very poor tactical doctrine for asymmetrical warfare at the beginning of the Iraq war, despite supposedly having had ample opportunity to learn from Vietnam, and the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Yes; that's going to vary from nation to nation and time period to time period. What I'd expect is this:
The societies liable to be best at anti-psi defense are the ones where espers have a very high continuous presence (like Ranoidea or, in my opinion, the Centrality)... or a very low continuous presence, feeding national paranoia and making each individual instance of esper infiltration much more damaging and high-profile (like Shepistan).
Simon_Jester wrote:Yes; that's going to vary from nation to nation and time period to time period. What I'd expect is this:
The societies liable to be best at anti-psi defense are the ones where espers have a very high continuous presence (like Ranoidea or, in my opinion, the Centrality)... or a very low continuous presence, feeding national paranoia and making each individual instance of esper infiltration much more damaging and high-profile (like Shepistan).
I agree. However, how each one deals with it will be different. Those with a high continuous presence will have... organic defense. Those without it will cover everything in null and Blitzschlag fields... or use !SCIENCE!
GALE Force Biological Agent/
BOTM/Great Dolphin Conspiracy/ Entomology and Evolutionary Biology Subdirector:SD.net Dept. of Biological Sciences
There is Grandeur in the View of Life; it fills me with a Deep Wonder, and Intense Cynicism.
Hillery Clitnone is way more manner and draker than any Mandrake.
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
Is the Sirta Foundation a front for the Collectors?
*The Inquisition makes notes to investigate, and if necessary, purge the K-Zone of Sirta*
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Is the Sirta Foundation a front for the Collectors?
These are entirely unfounded rumors and conspiracy theories unworthy of mention.
JULY 20TH 1969 - The day the entire world was looking up
It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small. - NEIL ARMSTRONG, MISSION COMMANDER, APOLLO 11
Signature dedicated to the greatest achievement of mankind.
MILDLY DERANGED PHYSICIST does not mind BREAKING the SOUND BARRIER, because it is INSURED. - Simon_Jester considering the problems of hypersonic flight for Team L.A.M.E.
Fingolfin_Noldor wrote:Is the Sirta Foundation a front for the Collectors?
These are entirely unfounded rumors and conspiracy theories unworthy of mention.
Some among the Inquisition favour a "shoot first, then investigate later" strategy when dealing with possible threats.
But seriously, why Sirta?
STGOD: Byzantine Empire Your spirit, diseased as it is, refuses to allow you to give up, no matter what threats you face... and whatever wreckage you leave behind you.
Kreia
I never knew a Feelipini could build so fast. But then, we did not place time limits.
Da, but Shepistan couldn't meet the other demands in a timely fashion - such as solid evidence of the Amplitur, and promises not to be assholes or some such - and with the international community growing impatient, they had to do something soonish. So the task that looked like it would be finished last, the reconstruction of a whole embassy, was done first and fastest insteads! Now everyone will think Shepistan is doing 'something'.
"DO YOU WORSHIP HOMOSEXUALS?" - Curtis Saxton (source) shroom is a lovely boy and i wont hear a bad word against him - LUSY-CHAN! Shit! Man, I didn't think of that! It took Shroom to properly interpret the screams of dying people - PeZook Shroom, I read out the stuff you write about us. You are an endless supply of morale down here. :p - an OWS street medic Pink Sugar Heart Attack!
Heh. To borrow the top-page quote: "We must do something; this is something; therefore we must do it."
Say, Steve, are we ever going to make official the revised building time rules? It doesn't seem like there are any objections; I'd love to see some input on it but that's about it.
And whoever said the shepistanis were meanies? Some of our best imports are from the Umerians!
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Man Dawg we would help out with bioengineering and whatnot.
I assume the NDBs are limited to Monetgomery and not other planets, right?
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Also, I'm going to have to figure out a numbering system for the off-map sectors. Maybe AA-(-1)?
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
Lonestar wrote:I assume the NDBs are limited to Monetgomery and not other planets, right?
Yes; because the Amplituroid has not managed to escape it yet; and strict export/import bans have been put in regarding craboids.
"If scientists and inventors who develop disease cures and useful technologies don't get lifetime royalties, I'd like to know what fucking rationale you have for some guy getting lifetime royalties for writing an episode of Full House." - Mike Wong
"The present air situation in the Pacific is entirely the result of fighting a fifth rate air power." - U.S. Navy Memo - 24 July 1944
Simon_Jester wrote:
Say, Steve, are we ever going to make official the revised building time rules? It doesn't seem like there are any objections; I'd love to see some input on it but that's about it.
Sure, it's official.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
Simon_Jester wrote:
Say, Steve, are we ever going to make official the revised building time rules? It doesn't seem like there are any objections; I'd love to see some input on it but that's about it.
”A Radical is a man with both feet planted firmly in the air.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia
American Conservatism is about the exercise of personal responsibility without state interference in the lives of the citizenry..... unless, of course, it involves using the bludgeon of state power to suppress things Conservatives do not like.
DONALD J. TRUMP IS A SEDITIOUS TRAITOR AND MUST BE IMPEACHED
), still has nasty individuals. Imagine telepathic rape would not be unheard of. Said training would be the equivalent of driver's ed and self defense rolled into one. 
"
