Argument Thread OOC Future Tech Only

[Neo-Mekanta]

Pfft, I'd be the first you didn't know you had yet.

[The Origin Program]

Query:
I feel bad outing this, since it's a TG and all, but I feel like I need input. I just started up this nation and my first RP. So salutations and all that. Someone asked if they could get involved, but are claiming to have been spying on my nation until now due to its nature as a pre-spaceflight civilisation up until this first roleplay. Am I wrong in thinking this is, well, wrong? Since this is my first RP, I haven't exactly been able to do anything about it, and am starting off with quite a severe handicap.

If this is acceptable, I'll roll with it. Just wanted to get some advice.

[Milograd]

16:45 Feaz Also, could someone please post the following in the argument thread.

Yes. This is wrong. They can take no such action unless you give OOC permission. To do otherwise is what we call "God Modding", and is about the biggest sin one can commit.

[Vocenae]

Milograd ninja'd but I'm posting it anyway!

[Neo-Mekanta]

Depends what mister or miss 007 means by spying. If they were catching radio broadcasts, probably roll with it. Those go a long way and start early. Long range scans, depends how much they know, if they know the rough organization of landmasses and climate, that's not too bad. Anything involving sending probes and you can probably call shenanigans. That stuff is notable, even to primitive modern-equivalent nations. Likewise any nigh-omniscient scans from a lightyear away, that's usually the territory of god-like superpowers.

Real godlike superpowers, and not poseurs, tend to have been around long enough to know Defender's Prerogative, the old rule that damage taken, and I'd probably say knowledge is one of those things, is determined by the defender. So really, it's your call. If it's minor "yeah, we know what's on your top 100 charts, your cities, and such, stuff that's saturating the radiation bands around your world" I'd say go for it. Anything major, and there may be a problem.

Edit: Finished reading through the post. If they're saying they caught your lie, call bullshit. That was a quiet transition.

[Independent Colonial Union]

Edit: Finished reading through the post. If they're saying they caught your lie, call bullshit. That was a quiet transition.

Even if it wasn't, having someone claim "OMG I saw it all ur spees-AI" tends to fuck the RP right from the gate.

[YellowApple]

I'm planning on referencing bizarre geometries as one of the results of an FTL jump gone wrong, with wormholes pointing to different doors of the same room at bizarre angles.

Do it. If you hadn't noticed, all the cool kids have cosmic horror elements. Do you want to be one of the cool kids?

Doing it. Specifically, I've begun formulating some more details on how YellowApplan FTL works.

YellowApplans travel faster than light using what they call "superluminal transit systems". These come in two forms: "static" and "dynamic".

• Static superluminal transit systems are much like the portals in Quake. They're permanent fixtures, usually designed for pedestrians and small vehicles to pass through (though some are large enough for full-sized ships) and located in cities, settlements, and large capital ships. Such systems are composed of two gates (called "nodes") and a wormhole connecting them. Most nodes have a redundant power backup capacitor circuit in order to continue functioning at least for a minute or two after main power is cut, so as to avoid people being sliced in two when the node shuts off.
  
  • A variant of this is used for faster-than-light communication; basically, a static superluminal transit system node pair is created, with one node on a ship and the other in a larger ship. An ethernet cable is fed through the nodes and plugged into networking jacks on both ships, thus resulting in a 1-meter ethernet cable transmitting signals to ships that can be at any arbitrary position relative to each other - be it adjacent to each other or in entirely different universes.
• Dynamic superluminal transit systems are, well, dynamic. Dynamic systems are able to create two nodes at arbitrary points in spacetime, and are usually used by frigates and larger vessels to travel long distances instantaneously. They are generally more expensive in both mass and energy consumption to operate than static systems, however, due to the amount of processing power required to accurately calculate the correct dynamic nodes, not to mention that the dynamic nodes are less precisely-placed than static nodes, with precision decreasing as spacetime difference between the two nodes increases (meaning that one big jump would be useful to get to a general area - such as a galaxy cluster - and subsequently smaller and smaller jumps to narrow it down to galaxy to star cluster to star to destination. Since transit has to be calculated, it takes time for dynamic systems to be correctly configured for a successful and accurate jump - usually a couple of minutes for short hops, and several hours for long bounds across spacetime. Miscalculation often results in unexpected time travel. Said calculation can be avoided by creating each node manually rather than attempting to do so through the first node - i.e. a "portal gun" - though this would require access to both locations, rather than just the origin, and for long-distance jumps, a static system would be more effective.

I plan to use static systems to basically blend YellowApple into a giant metropolis; even though the whole nation is scattered across multiple universes, the use of static nodes enables it to appear as one giant entity that connects universes to one another. Cue bizarre architecture like recursive rooms, rooms perpendicular to one another, and swimming pools where swimming deep enough will cause you to swim to the surface of a completely different pool.

Also avoid unplugging nodes and plugging them back in unless you want the world's most ludicrously-advanced deli slicer.

[Ularn]

• Static superluminal transit systems are much like the portals in Quake. They're permanent fixtures, usually designed for pedestrians and small vehicles to pass through (though some are large enough for full-sized ships) and located in cities, settlements, and large capital ships. Such systems are composed of two gates (called "nodes") and a wormhole connecting them. Most nodes have a redundant power backup capacitor circuit in order to continue functioning at least for a minute or two after main power is cut, so as to avoid people being sliced in two when the node shuts off.
  
  • A variant of this is used for faster-than-light communication; basically, a static superluminal transit system node pair is created, with one node on a ship and the other in a larger ship. An ethernet cable is fed through the nodes and plugged into networking jacks on both ships, thus resulting in a 1-meter ethernet cable transmitting signals to ships that can be at any arbitrary position relative to each other - be it adjacent to each other or in entirely different universes.

Your FTL comms reminds me of this. Of course, mine works pretty much the same way.

http://xkcd.com/454/

[SquareDisc City]

My Glitch Wires would superficially be similar, but nothing is physically passed, or even can be passed, through them. You just connect each end to an appropriate device and the information passes over the Glitch Wire without any net transfer of energy or matter. This is what distinguishes Glitch Wires, which can be used liberally, from Glitch Roads which do permit matter and energy transfer but must be used sparingly or they bork the topology of spacetime as a side-effect.

[Sskiss]

I'm planning on referencing bizarre geometries as one of the results of an FTL jump gone wrong, with wormholes pointing to different doors of the same room at bizarre angles.

Do it. If you hadn't noticed, all the cool kids have cosmic horror elements. Do you want to be one of the cool kids?

Mekanta, I never really saw myself as one of the "cool kids" as you put it. However, I've always strived to create something original - or at least as original as I can make it. I certain "horror element" may exist with the Sskiss themselves being that element.

[Ularn]

I've finally figured on the approach for developing my RP nation. Rethan and I are planning an RP in a few weeks that'll bring the UIF into contact with the Pathogen, with the result that the entire Federation takes up arms to defeat it. Problem is, the UIF's not big enough to take on the Pathogen by itself, and half the rest of the galaxy's trying to pretend it doesn't exist or won't ever affect them. The federation need's the galaxy's help - whether they want to give it or not, so the result is that the UIF becomes heavily imperialist and ultimately turns into He Who Fights Monsters.

[Arthropoda Ingens]

[...] He Who Fights Monsters.

There's a legal requirement for anyone who resorts to using TVTropes, mandating that they include barely disguised paedophilia in their nation and saturate their population with moralising wannabe rapists.

Just saying.

[Ularn]

[...] He Who Fights Monsters.

There's a legal requirement for anyone who resorts to using TVTropes, mandating that they include barely disguised paedophilia in their nation and saturate their population with moralising wannabe rapists.

Just saying.

Have fun reading this part of my factbook then!

Also, I just read the site; I don't edit it

[YellowApple]

There's a legal requirement for anyone who resorts to using TVTropes, mandating that they include barely disguised paedophilia in their nation and saturate their population with moralising wannabe rapists.

Just saying.

Have fun reading this part of my factbook then!

Also, I just read the site; I don't edit it

Real men create their own damn TVTropes pages.

[Arthropoda Ingens]

That's just too sad for words.

[North Mack]

That's just too sad for words.

Is it too sad for interpretive dance?

[The 44th Indp Legion]

That's just too sad for words.

Is it too sad for interpretive dance?

A great many things are too sad for interpretive dance. Sadly, this often includes interpretive dance itself.

[YellowApple]

That's just too sad for words.

Yup. Sad that you ain't got one.

[Huerdae]

That's just too sad for words.

Yup. Sad that you ain't got one.

Actually, a number of people here were mentioned on TVTropes at one time. Maybe not to the level of Mekanta, but there were references. These were not created by those involved, either. Simply what fit for each nation in turn. To create one for yourself often is going to have an idealized version of your actual nation - many people may not agree.

[YellowApple]

Yup. Sad that you ain't got one.

Actually, a number of people here were mentioned on TVTropes at one time. Maybe not to the level of Mekanta, but there were references. These were not created by those involved, either. Simply what fit for each nation in turn. To create one for yourself often is going to have an idealized version of your actual nation - many people may not agree.

I'm aware that others have been mentioned (namely by being fully aware of the NationStates TVTropes page and the contents thereof). I mostly created it so I can actually use TVTropes to describe the tropes that pertain to YellowApple as I RP it (since nation trope threads in F&NI pop up quite often). Keeping it in the Roleplay namespace keeps it from cluttering the rest of TVTropes and makes it clear that it's just that: roleplay.

And if others don't agree with the contents, they can edit it. That's the beauty of TVTropes. However, I'm quite certain that few actually care about a TVTropes page for a nation.

[Feazanthia]

Just posting a reminder: if you want something mentioned on the State of the Galaxy update for May; send me a telegram with a short blurb on what it is, what quadrant taking place in, and a link to the thread in question.

[Neo-Mekanta]

Do it. If you hadn't noticed, all the cool kids have cosmic horror elements. Do you want to be one of the cool kids?

Mekanta, I never really saw myself as one of the "cool kids" as you put it. However, I've always strived to create something original - or at least as original as I can make it. I certain "horror element" may exist with the Sskiss themselves being that element.

Super-late reply!

You very much are one of the cool kids, and the Sskiss very much qualify.

You have a nation of predatory dinosaurs with space ships and guns. The prospect of facing them is horrifying. You're an interstellar nation so there's the cosmic. You might not bend the laws of reality over a table and make them squeal like a pig, but you very much count.

[Balrogga]

Mekanta, I never really saw myself as one of the "cool kids" as you put it. However, I've always strived to create something original - or at least as original as I can make it. I certain "horror element" may exist with the Sskiss themselves being that element.

Super-late reply!

You very much are one of the cool kids, and the Sskiss very much qualify.

You have a nation of predatory dinosaurs with space ships and guns. The prospect of facing them is horrifying. You're an interstellar nation so there's the cosmic. You might not bend the laws of reality over a table and make them squeal like a pig, but you very much count.

You have long sharp teeth and equally vicious claws. You eat meat exclusively. You are definitely not human nor are even remotely human in appearance or size. You do things for a purpose meatlings cannot fathom from their humanoid center of existence. You are nightmare made flesh for if people saw you in "reality" and had to interact with you and your non-human mindset, they would have reoccurring dreams.

Join ussss, you know you want to.

[Menelmacar]

Just posting a reminder: if you want something mentioned on the State of the Galaxy update for May; send me a telegram with a short blurb on what it is, what quadrant taking place in, and a link to the thread in question.

Somewhat disappointingly there doesn't appear to be any links in the April edition.

Further, which quadrant is which? On a map of the galaxy, where are the lines? Are we basically considering it equivalent to the Star Trek galaxy, where Sol straddles the Alpha/Beta border? How do I approach this given that Menelmacar has scattered, cherry-picked holdings all over the galaxy, no more contiguous than confetti scattered on the floor? (Technically, of course, nobody has contiguous holdings in space and borders are meaningless... but I mean, way, way less contiguous than normal.)

[Rethan]

Just posting a reminder: if you want something mentioned on the State of the Galaxy update for May; send me a telegram with a short blurb on what it is, what quadrant taking place in, and a link to the thread in question.

Somewhat disappointingly there doesn't appear to be any links in the April edition.

Further, which quadrant is which? On a map of the galaxy, where are the lines? Are we basically considering it equivalent to the Star Trek galaxy, where Sol straddles the Alpha/Beta border? How do I approach this given that Menelmacar has scattered, cherry-picked holdings all over the galaxy, no more contiguous than confetti scattered on the floor? (Technically, of course, nobody has contiguous holdings in space and borders are meaningless... but I mean, way, way less contiguous than normal.)

I believe the Quadrants are based on Star Trek, yes. This map I believe, more specifically (old, but still the right Quadrants). If your nation is scattered, then whenever a major event occurs make sure you explain in what part of the galaxy it effects. If it effects your nation as a whole then...I dunno. Let Feaz figure it out.