WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Discussion regarding the Outsider webcomic, science, technology and science fiction.

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dragoongfa
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by dragoongfa »

My guess:

The situation is about to SHTF and someone, probably Ashrain, will pull the shuttle's collective bacon off the frying pan.

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icekatze
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

Now that I think about it, I always assumed for some reason that the Loroi farseers couldn't see all the way across Umiak territory. I figured their range was limited, and I can't remember if there was some reason for thinking that or if I just assumed.

If the range of their farseers isn't that limited, and if Alex pointed out the location of the Orgus, and no farseers detected the Umiak invading that region of space, then they might have reason to believe that the Orgus territory and Terran territory part of a route that Umiak forces would use to bypass the Loroi defenses with their farseer proof ships. Could Terra already be under Umiak control? Dun dun dunnn!

harlequin2262
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by harlequin2262 »

IIRC they can see some distance across the steppes, but the Umiak mass their forces further behind their lines. Forces on the frontline are all detectable, but staging areas further back are too far away.

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Arioch
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Arioch »

harlequin2262 wrote:IIRC they can see some distance across the steppes, but the Umiak mass their forces further behind their lines. Forces on the frontline are all detectable, but staging areas further back are too far away.
Farseer range is not unlimited, but the issue in this case is not so much that they're farther away, but mainly that they're at populated planets, which mask the signatures of the ship crews.

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thicket
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by thicket »

Whale wrote:Image

"Oh no, my pikemen are being overrun by TANKS!"

Talon: "well you seem to be on Deity level....."

Arent
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Arent »

novius wrote:
Sweforce wrote:Naw.... Beryl looks definitely shocked. "Something odd" would just tickle her inquisitive mind. Like the previous poster I would expect that kind of look on someone facing an unexpected popup.

Something like "UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS" splashed across the display in big red letters.
Nope, I would say it's connected to the position of the earth. Maybe mythology says "there be dragons" or the area is off limits for Loroi for various reasons.

Arent
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Arent »

By the way, maybe there are real dragons. You know, in master of orion there were space dragons and crystals etc. Maybe the area is off limits because scout ships got lost repeatedly. I always lost my scout ships to these damn space dragons! :shock:

Krulle
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Krulle »

But where Dragons are, usually treasures can be found too.
Something like the Desolation of Smaug comes to my mind.

You have to cross the desolation to get to the treasure, which will also be well defended.
It may, in the tactical analyses of the Loroi, simply not be worth the effort. Preparing to cross a desert by assembling a large self-sustaining caravan, to corss the desert to look beyond.
That may simply be beyond the curiosity horizon of the Loroi.
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Razor One
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Razor One »

thicket wrote:
"Oh no, my pikemen tanks are being overrun by TANKS! PIKEMEN!"

Talon: "well you seem to be on Deity level....."
Fixed that for you.

It wouldn't be Civ if a Phalanx didn't beat a tank, Ghandi didn't nuke everything, and the entire world didn't hate you for absolutely no reason whatsoever. :P
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Imperator Sylvor
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Imperator Sylvor »

Arent wrote:By the way, maybe there are real dragons. You know, in master of orion there were space dragons and crystals etc. Maybe the area is off limits because scout ships got lost repeatedly. I always lost my scout ships to these damn space dragons! :shock:
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Image
Stellaris style space dragons?

Yes please!
"A learning experience is one of those things that say, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that'." - Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt
"It is sometimes an appropriate response to reality to go insane." - Philip K. Dick, VALIS

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GeoModder
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by GeoModder »

Razor One wrote:
thicket wrote:
"Oh no, my pikemen tanks are being overrun by TANKS! PIKEMEN!"

Talon: "well you seem to be on Deity level....."
Fixed that for you.

It wouldn't be Civ if a Phalanx didn't beat a tank, Ghandi didn't nuke everything, and the entire world didn't hate you for absolutely no reason whatsoever. :P
It's been a while since CivII, III, and IV. :P
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Razor One
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Razor One »

GeoModder wrote:
It's been a while since CivII, III, and IV. :P
Image

...

Now I feel old. So old. :cry:

Oh well. SMAC will take the pain away. SMAC will make everything better. SMAC is love. SMAC is life. :lol:
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Arent
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Arent »

Imperator Sylvor wrote:
Arent wrote:By the way, maybe there are real dragons. You know, in master of orion there were space dragons and crystals etc. Maybe the area is off limits because scout ships got lost repeatedly. I always lost my scout ships to these damn space dragons! :shock:
SpoilerShow
Image
Stellaris style space dragons?

Yes please!
Haha, yes. I just imagine a high tech galactic chart Beryl is looking at & then there is a little patch covered in dark clouds & a "there be dragons" sign on it. & then Alex is pointing to it (Can not read the Loroi letters) & says: "Earth is here".

Arent
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Arent »

Krulle wrote:But where Dragons are, usually treasures can be found too.
Something like the Desolation of Smaug comes to my mind.

You have to cross the desolation to get to the treasure, which will also be well defended.
It may, in the tactical analyses of the Loroi, simply not be worth the effort. Preparing to cross a desert by assembling a large self-sustaining caravan, to corss the desert to look beyond.
That may simply be beyond the curiosity horizon of the Loroi.
But that wouldn't explain why she is surprised.

On the other side, I just noticed that Alex hand is pretty close to her shoulder/on the back of the seat.
Maybe she is reacting to an unconscious touch.

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GeoModder
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by GeoModder »

Razor One wrote: Oh well. SMAC will take the pain away. SMAC will make everything better. SMAC is love. SMAC is life. :lol:
You're simply asking for a SMACX! :lol:
Image

Overkill Engine
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Overkill Engine »

Arent wrote: But that wouldn't explain why she is surprised.

Maybe a warning of an unidentified vessel approaching? (With weapons primed to finish what it started with the Bellamarine now that the shuttle is far enough away from the Tempest.)

novius
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by novius »

Arent wrote:
But that wouldn't explain why she is surprised.

On the other side, I just noticed that Alex hand is pretty close to her shoulder/on the back of the seat.
Maybe she is reacting to an unconscious touch.
Unconscious? From her reaction it would be like him copping a feel of her posterior full-on. After all, she seems to be standing again. Hilarious, but no. He surely has better manners than that.

Absalom
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by Absalom »

Arent wrote:By the way, maybe there are real dragons. You know, in master of orion there were space dragons and crystals etc. Maybe the area is off limits because scout ships got lost repeatedly. I always lost my scout ships to these damn space dragons! :shock:
Sadly, I think those ?whale? things that the Historians have are probably closest to dragons, and they're aquatic. Some sort of biomechanical post-natural living-ship remnants of the Soia era would be neat, but I think they would have been found by now if they existed.

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thicket
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by thicket »

Razor One wrote:It wouldn't be Civ if ...... Ghandi didn't nuke everything, ...... :P
"In the original Civilization, it was because of a bug. Each leader in the game had an “aggression” rating, and Gandhi - to best reflect his real-world persona - was given the lowest score possible, a 1, so low that he’d rarely if ever go out of his way to declare war on someone.

Only, there was a problem. When a player adopted democracy in Civilization, their aggression would be automatically reduced by 2. Code being code, if Gandhi went democratic his aggression wouldn’t go to -1, it looped back around to the ludicrously high figure of 255, making him as aggressive as a civilization could possibly be.
In later games this bug was obviously not an issue, but as a tribute/easter egg of sorts, parts of his white-hot rage have been kept around. In Civilization V, for example, while Gandhi’s regular diplomatic approach is more peaceful than other leaders, he’s also the most likely to go dropping a-bombs when pushed, with a nuke “rating” of 12 putting him well ahead of the competition (the next three most likely to go nuclear have a rating of 8, with most leaders around the 4-6 region)." https://kotaku.com/why-gandhi-is-such-a ... 18245?null

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orion1836
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Re: WIP Discussion (Part 1!)

Post by orion1836 »

A possible story direction occurred to me a long time ago, and seeing Beryl's shocked reaction brought it back to me: what if the shuttle gets shot down, and Alex and company have to survive on a hostile world?

This trip to Seren is supposed to take "many days." Weeks' worth of conversation on a shuttle does not make for a compelling story. Unless there's a time skip (possible), I don't think the good ship Highland-Seven is going to make it to the sector capital.

I'm going to laugh if that's what ends up happening. Even if it doesn't, it'd make for a good fic. I could see Alex vastly underestimating the Loroi's survival skills, not knowing about their caste initiation rites.

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