Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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Suederwind
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Suederwind »

1) The Umiak have some kind of telepaths from one of their allied races on their ships (do they?) which recognized Humaniti's Lotai, and figured out a way to use it.
2) An Umiak ship that took some Humans prisoners noticed that the Loroi were acting as if they're invisible, and eventually figured out that having a Human in your ship makes your ship invisible to far-sensing.
3) Alex himself is the reason Umiak cant be sensed - his presence in one of the ships of the Loroi fleet is enough to distract and confuse all Loroi far-sensing crew, and the Umiak claims to have developed a shield and to have used it to send fleets to Azimol are lies designed to use the fact that this particular Loroi fleet did not seem to notice them.
I thought about this, too. But there are a few things to consider:

1.) I think Arioch said that telepathy is an ability that only the Loroi have.
2.) How could they have observed that? If they were in a fight (which is what most likely will happen if Umiak and Loroi meet in the same system) this is very unlikely.
3.) An interesting possibility. Maybe having a male aboard is too distracting for the farseers? ;) Jokes aside: I think Tempo would have been not that friendly to him, if that would be the case. She stated that their "farsensing-device" could not detect _him_, no word about anyone else.

Considering those points above and taking a few other things from the forum and the insider into consideration, that leads me to a few questions myself (sorry if they don't fit completely into the "Loroi question" thread):

a.) What did the Umiak do on those Loroi planets they conquered, especially to the population?
b.) What remains did the Loroi find on the planets they conquered back from their enemies?
c.) How resistant are the Loroi to drugs, conditioning or brainwashing?
d.) Are there ways known to the Loroi or Umiak to "control" a person similar to this (in a much more advanced way, of course)?
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Suederwind wrote:a.) What did the Umiak do on those Loroi planets they conquered, especially to the population?
b.) What remains did the Loroi find on the planets they conquered back from their enemies?
c.) How resistant are the Loroi to drugs, conditioning or brainwashing?
d.) Are there ways known to the Loroi or Umiak to "control" a person similar to this (in a much more advanced way, of course)?
I think I can probably take a short-cut to where these questions are leading: the Umiak have had Loroi prisoners since the start of the war (25 years by this point), and they have studied them and interrogated them and pulled them apart and put them back together in about as many ways as you can possibly imagine. By this point, the Umiak know almost as much as the Loroi do about how telepathy works -- which to say, not very much. But they also know by this point nearly everything there is to know about Loroi biology, and it's well within the capabilities of Umiak technology to alter or to even grow their own Loroi. They have certainly done so in the past, and many times, as Tempo alludes to on page 56. A number of the refugees recovered from Seren and other recaptured planets had been tampered with or were outright constructs.

Although these attempts have angered the Loroi greatly, the Loroi have pretty effective tools to deal with them. Medical scanners can easily detect mechanical and surgical alterations, and telepathic probing gives a good chance to detect psychological tampering. Even so, the simpler safeguard is that (with a few notable exceptions) no one who has been under Umiak influence will ever again be allowed within a mile of anything sensitive. (With this in mind, I think you can see why some of the Loroi are very nervous about Alex. They don't know where he came from or where he's been, and he's immune to the telepathic probing that would prove that he's not an Umiak agent.)

However, even if we assume that the Loroi are as incompetent in security matters as the Federation (who allow androids who have gone crazy multiple times and former Borg puppets to continue to serve in critical, sensitive positions), in the hypothetical case that the Umiak somehow got a mole on one of the Loroi vessels, it's not clear to me how this mole would be able to interfere with a farseer without anyone knowing about it, much less all the farseers on three different strike groups.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by fredgiblet »

projekcja wrote:1) The Umiak have some kind of telepaths from one of their allied races on their ships (do they?) which recognized Humaniti's Lotai, and figured out a way to use it.
I believe that psi abilities are unique to the Loroi and my understanding is that the Loroi can train themselves to reduce or eliminate their psi signature, but it's difficult and not everyone can do it. Likely the Umiak have been aware of the idea for some time.
2) An Umiak ship that took some Humans prisoners noticed that the Loroi were acting as if they're invisible, and eventually figured out that having a Human in your ship makes your ship invisible to far-sensing.
This would have had to have been done in a matter of days. It's not impossible, but it's REALLY unlikely to me, especially considering that it would have to be a situation where the Loroi SHOULD react to them, which isn't likely to happen. Remember, the Loroi aren't going to send a fleet after every single signature they see, if they did the Umiak would be able to use that to bypass their defenses.
3) Alex himself is the reason Umiak cant be sensed - his presence in one of the ships of the Loroi fleet is enough to distract and confuse all Loroi far-sensing crew, and the Umiak claims to have developed a shield and to have used it to send fleets to Azimol are lies designed to use the fact that this particular Loroi fleet did not seem to notice them.
Plausible, but unlikely given the supposed trajectory of the story. If that was the case he'd just be shunted back to the opposite side of their space and dropped in a lab. He'd be far too damaging for them to allow near the front lines, supposedly the story is going to involve a turning point in the war, which will be difficult if he's hanging out in an apartment in the wrong side of Loroi space.
4) The far-sensing invisibility is the result of a precursor artifact (precursor meaning of any old origin, soia or otherwise), and Humaniti's recent arrival really is a coincidence, just like the Bellermine's destruction at the hand of a 3rd party right before their first encounter with the Loroi/Umiak.
Doesn't have to be a precursor artifact necessarily, but I think this is by far the most plausible option, other related possibilities are indoctrinated or vat-grown Loroi blasting static through amps.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Grayhome »

Does the Loroi Psi-amp amplify both telepathic and psychokinetic abilities at the same time? Or does it amplify only one or the other at any one time? Or can a psi-amp be modified to amplify both at the same time?

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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Arioch wrote:I think I can probably take a short-cut to where these questions are leading: the Umiak have had Loroi prisoners since the start of the war (25 years by this point), and they have studied them and interrogated them and pulled them apart and put them back together in about as many ways as you can possibly imagine. By this point, the Umiak know almost as much as the Loroi do about how telepathy works -- which to say, not very much. But they also know by this point nearly everything there is to know about Loroi biology, and it's well within the capabilities of Umiak technology to alter or to even grow their own Loroi. They have certainly done so in the past, and many times, as Tempo alludes to on page 56. A number of the refugees recovered from Seren and other recaptured planets had been tampered with or were outright constructs.
Ewwww! THIS is quite DARK! So I was correct about a Teidar faced with capture and potential - dissection, mutilation, and torture of herself and her Crewsisters rigging a anti-matter drive to blow them all back to the Spirits as a preferable fate than accept such a bad end!

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Grayhome wrote:Does the Loroi Psi-amp amplify both telepathic and psychokinetic abilities at the same time? Or does it amplify only one or the other at any one time? Or can a psi-amp be modified to amplify both at the same time?
They are different functions performed by different mechanical elements. It is possible for both types of elements to be integrated into a single device, but most wearable amplifiers perform either one function or the other.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Grayhome »

They are different functions performed by different mechanical elements. It is possible for both types of elements to be integrated into a single device, but most wearable amplifiers perform either one function or the other.
How much weight and bulk would have to be added to a Loroi's psionic amplifier for it to be able to amplify both her telepathic and psychokinetic abilities? Are such psionic amplifiers available for civilian purchase and use?

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Grayhome wrote:
They are different functions performed by different mechanical elements. It is possible for both types of elements to be integrated into a single device, but most wearable amplifiers perform either one function or the other.
How much weight and bulk would have to be added to a Loroi's psionic amplifier for it to be able to amplify both her telepathic and psychokinetic abilities? Are such psionic amplifiers available for civilian purchase and use?
Wearable amplifiers usually have to be custom-made for each user, and size and weight varies from individual to individual. Typically you would expect a dual-use amplifier to be twice the size of a single-use one, but size and weight are usually not the limiting factors. Amplifiers often have negative side effects, and so doubling up on amplification is usually not done.

Amplifiers are expensive and dangerous items, and the wearable variety are each created for a specific individual, so these are generally not things that a private citizen could walk into a store and buy. If an amplifier of some kind was required for a civilian job, it would be acquired and provided by the guild or order or company.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by sunphoenix »

Sweet! Nice to know I was also correct on how tricky and delicate Psi-amps are!

Can't wait to get a chance to showcase the 'little-modification' Sonnidezzi had the Doranzer Technician refugees make on her psi-amp to jury-rig it into "supposedly" giving her a Telepathic Assault-Offensive Sending ability she does not have ANY skill in... and how SPECTACULARLY BADLY that is going to BACKFIRE on her when she tries to use that 'little-modification'! HA! :)

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Hālian »

Does the talent have any subdivisions? It'd be rather awkward to trade in units of several thousand dollars each...
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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Have the Loroi invented devices that allow them or other allied races to possess telepathic or psycokenetic abilities? Psychotronic devices, as named by GURPS.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

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Can't wait to get a chance to showcase the 'little-modification' Sonnidezzi had the Doranzer Technician refugees make on her psi-amp to jury-rig it into "supposedly" giving her a Telepathic Assault-Offensive Sending ability she does not have ANY skill in... and how SPECTACULARLY BADLY that is going to BACKFIRE on her when she tries to use that 'little-modification'! HA! :)
GURPS would define a psi using any psi-device, especially a psi-amp, without the corresponding skill as either a (best possible scenario) automatic failure or (worst case scenario) suffering 2d6 burning damage directly to the brain every second until device was removed from the head. For a Loroi who is versed in psionics to do something so ridiculously and obviously fatal, especially with a technology that the Loroi did not themselves create but rather copied (apparently not very well) from the bones of a dead civilization would be criminally incompetent. The Loroi are not a creative or imaginative people and I would think that if Sonnidezzi went to a Doranzer Technician the technician would report her for trying to commit suicide via brain fry.

Gurps does describe psychotronic technology that would allow a psi or non-psi to utilize psionic powers or skills which they do not inherently possess, however I doubt the Loroi elite would be willing to upset their caste system so much as to produce devices that can simulate the abilities of those who have ruled at the top of the caste totem pole for millennia. For the ruling elite to allow the creation of such devices you mention would be counter productive for their status on the top.

Psi amps magnify psionic power, the psionic skill of that power is a separate skill entirely and must be diligently trained. Kind of like how physical strength is a characteristic, but learning to play baseball and basketball require two different sets of rules and skills to be developed. Sonnidezzi, as a trained psi-warrior, would know this and would never, ever attempt to tamper with her equipment. Ever. It would be like committing suicide, the psi-amp is a device hooked up to her brain and even the smallest modification could be decidedly lethal.

A viable alternative is that Sonnidezzi modified her psi-amp to increase both her telepathic and her psychokinetic power, instead of adding on a new skill. It would be risky but there is a war on and such a weapons mod would be allowed I think.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Carl Miller wrote:Does the talent have any subdivisions? It'd be rather awkward to trade in units of several thousand dollars each...
Yes, you can deal in fractions of a talent, but many small transactions between individuals will be done in some kind of local currency or caste/guild/corporation scrip.
Grayhome wrote:Have the Loroi invented devices that allow them or other allied races to possess telepathic or psycokenetic abilities? Psychotronic devices, as named by GURPS.
No.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by sunphoenix »

First of all... I get so weary of people calling the Loroi uncreative or incapable of scientific or even cultural examples of their own! The Loroi are not idiot savants... who can only poorly copy the principles of the previous ruined civilization. The Loroi DID get themselves back into space and built a stellar Empire ALL on their own! They may have indeed gotten more than a few clues from the ruins of the Soia civilization.. but point being.. the Loroi are a stellar civilization and despite how grand and wonderful the Soia were.. they are No MORE! All that is left of their 'Grand and so much better than everyone elses' civilization is RUINS! They don't even have the excuse of being destroyed by an enemy superior to them {as far as everyone knows... at least}!

The Umiak are FAR less creative than the Loroi and there is every reason to believe their current weapons tech and some of their technical advancements WERE most certainly NOT developed by the Umiak... unlike the Loroi who have indeed a complete working knowledge and the scientific skill base to design and build new technology of their own design {wave-loom device...!?!? 'nuff said!}!

I'm sure Arioch has the same views.

Second, now as for Sonnidezzi... we are NOT playing in the GURPS system, so the rules for tech and devices are NOT defined by that system. Sonnidezzi had a VERY good reason for asking such a dangerous modification by her Doranzer techs. She is the only Teidar left among her 30 remaining crewsisters. They are among potentially hostile humans and basically at their mercy as their Loroi warship was scuttled in combat with a Umiak warship. At the time the Loroi seemed to be the target of a telepathic entity which was terrorizing the crew WHO could offensively send and none of the 30 Loroi had Any training in Offensive Sending. They needed some means to strike back if the entity proved to be a deadly threat. Sonni being the only Teider present took it upon herself to have the Doranzer mod her already dual Psi Amp for both Telepathy and Psychokinesis boosting, to reduce its overall boosting power and try to rig it so she could focus her telepathy into a offensive sending... indeed against the Doranzer's better warnings ..but desperate times called for desperate measures! It was NOT Sonni's first choice.. but she was willing to risk it IF it meant choosing to sit idly by while some mad telepath assaulted and killed her crewsisters with her unable to do anything to fight back of defend them. The bulk of Sonni's Teidar talents are mostly psychokinetic and oddly enough.. {or perhaps sadly} among the current Loroi Sonni had the most potent telepathic talents even among them.

Well the Doranzer modification I had already decided was not going to work.. but not for them not trying! It was for the drama... of the moment to showcase that Sonni's risk taking would have ...some decidedly unfortunate results eventually. Luck runs out eventually! lol!

Sonni is indeed taking quite a few risks... riging their small shuttle's antimatter power-plant to self-destruct IF the humans tried to take advantage of them while they were refugees upon their ship, refusing to back down but demanding she at least be allowed to keep her sidearm blaster to protect her crewsisters as the chief of loroi security while onboard the human starship, following her Torrai Command directives in this situation.. in defiance to the Sorrin Second Officer because the actual Loroi Ship Captain {who already knows Sonni's Torai command directives} is in a coma from her injuries when their ship floundered, not to mention taking steps to use herself as bait to draw a stalking Umiak scout ship to capture her shuttle so she could sneak onboard and kill the Loroi prisoner telepath they were allegedly holding prisoner and using to track the Loroi refugees upon the human starship - a starship of humanity that Sonni knows is ABSOLUTELY no match for even a heavily damaged Umiak Scout ship!

YES MADNESS... for a single Teidar to take on such odds... but its what seemed to her as her only choice when she is effectively the sole protector. Most of the refugees are wounded Teonin {none of them combat pilots 'all were killed in battle'}, several shell-shocked Doranzer technicians who just lucky enough to not be in engineering and killed when the main engineering was hit killing all the chief engineering crew, a handful of Sorion {4 Exactly... one of whom was pregnant and ready to give birth!}, a couple Listel and 4 or so Mizol... with only three blaster rifles and 5 blaster pistols - including Sonni's to share among them! 30 loroi refugees picked up by a human warship by pure serendipity. Sonni's options were very limited.. so some dangerous risks were more acceptable than rolling over and doing nothing.
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Grayhome »

First of all... I get so weary of people calling the Loroi uncreative or incapable of scientific or even cultural examples of their own! The Loroi are not idiot savants... who can only poorly copy the principles of the previous ruined civilization. The Loroi DID get themselves back into space and built a stellar Empire ALL on their own! They may have indeed gotten more than a few clues from the ruins of the Soia civilization.. but point being.. the Loroi are a stellar civilization and despite how grand and wonderful the Soia were.. they are No MORE! All that is left of their 'Grand and so much better than everyone elses' civilization is RUINS! They don't even have the excuse of being destroyed by an enemy superior to them {as far as everyone knows... at least}!
The Loroi of Outsider are based upon the Elarians of the Master of Orion 4x pc game, they both have racial disadvantages towards research, Arioch has stated this multiple times. The Loroi are exactly like the Elerians in that they are low tech blitzers, dangerous at low tech levels from their beam attack and beam defense advantages (and the omniscience, a massive advantage). This advantage is severely limited midgame, when better weapons and targeting computers come into play, better tech that the Elerians and the Loroi cannot research quickly enough to catch up. Outsider verse has entered midgame, and the Loroi have begun to suffer from the tech advantages their foes now have.

Arioch has mentioned many times that the Loroi get their tech from the races that they have conquered or the races that have joined them or from their allies. They have therefore not built their empire
ALL on their own
they are still using lasers on turn 1000+. They are backwards as hell, Arioch has stated that the Loroi also think of mathematics and the sciences as alien and strange, something that must be grudgingly learned. The Loroi are good at fighting, bad at science and this will foil well with humans, who seem to be a creative democracy with a lot to offer the Loroi in terms of non-military tech. If the Loroi were creative, they would have little need for humanity and I don't think the story would get very far.
Loroi who have indeed a complete working knowledge and the scientific skill base to design and build new technology of their own design {wave-loom device...!?!? 'nuff said!}!
That is crappy version of a dumbed down weapon the Psilons-*cough* I mean Historians traded to the Loroi, along with plasma weapons.
4 Exactly... one of whom was pregnant and ready to give birth!

That really isn't much of a compliment when the species has been gene modded to be able to work while in pregnancy. Being amazed by that is like being amazed a space marine from the Warhammer universe can win an arm wrestling contest with an Imperial Guardsman. It's the gene/cyber/surgical mods doing the work there, not the individual. Also I find it curious and slightly alarming that all of the mods I have seen so far are extremely low tech, inexpensive, civilian level modifications that allow the Loroi to labor for longer periods of time (slave race), breed quickly (slave race), mature rapidly (slave race) need less food/water/air (slave race), live for 400 years and maintain youthful vigor (slave race) and have no musculature/skeleton/regeneration/improved reflexes mods. The precursors of the Outsider-verse are believed to have created spaceships the size of moons, when you hit that tech level you can bio-engineer some scary shit. Like things that would give the Tyranids, Zerg, Necromorphs and Xenomorphs a run for their money.

sunphenix I am not trying to insult you or be annoying, I really am not. I just have a very, very bad feeling after going through the GURPS bio-engineering books and picking out, one by one every advantage that Arioch has described to us the Loroi and Barsam possess. These advantages are very low tech, for the Soia were not interested in spending much time or money on their creations, this goes straight from neglectful precursors to "YOU ARE FILTH. WE CLEANSE." precursors.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by sunphoenix »

Hmmm.. Intriging. I'll admit... I have never played the 'Master of Orion' computer game so I'm very unfamiliar with anything to do with the parameters of that game. I have come late to such kind of gaming... as such things were just not available in my youth. I did not realize that Arioch had used GURPS definitions so thoroughly. Perhaps we should have used GURPS in our PbP game? I suggested we not use GURPS because is is something of a complex game system for posters who may not have much experience with sit-down gaming like and old campaigner like me. BESM seems a less rules intensive system that could be learned esily.

I was never a member of the old forums... so likely all this info has been discussed before by Arioch and other of which I am ignorant, my assessments have only been colored by what I've read in the comic which admittedly is very little. Guess I'll have to do some searches of this site to see if any of those discussion were migrated or repeated here.

From your list of definitions that is clearly strong evidence to point to the Loroi's lack of scientific proficiency... can't argue with the writer's own admissions. So they are more like "Psionic-Zentradaei" than actual cultured Space Elves... a pity. I guess that explains their warlike culture... though Arioch has said the Loroi have never started any of their wars with alien neighbors... they were always forced to defend themselves. How odd? I'd expect a more 'manifest-destiny' military expansionism with such a dark origin and lack of cultural or scientific racial heritage?
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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Zakharra »

The Loroi aren't the best at research and development, but they aren't slouches at it either. There are several castes that deal with that sort of thing and the Loroi have built their own empire. Some of ft with tech from other people they have encountered, from the remnants of Soia tech, but also a lot of it from their own creations and designs. You cannot have a long or effective interstellar empire if everything you have is built by someone else.

That being said, it looks like humans will be better at R&D than the Loroi. Especially considering we like long things because we want to know about it. How it works and fits into the universe. Just knowing something is possible and humanity can overcome it in time. Hell, give the humans an old ship that's out of date by Loroi modern standards but better than current human tech and watch the humans figure out how the thing works, reverse engineer it and make something completely new and surprising. As well as boosting humanity's tech base and survival chances. If we're given the time..

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by fredgiblet »

Grayhome wrote:they are still using lasers on turn 1000+. They are backwards as hell, Arioch has stated that the Loroi also think of mathematics and the sciences as alien and strange, something that must be grudgingly learned. The Loroi are good at fighting, bad at science and this will foil well with humans, who seem to be a creative democracy with a lot to offer the Loroi in terms of non-military tech. If the Loroi were creative, they would have little need for humanity and I don't think the story would get very far.
Lasers are admittedly still in use, but only for point defense, it's not like they are a backbone of the fleet.

I don't recall Arioch saying anything about science and the main problem they have with math is their painful choice of number system and language.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Grayhome »

The Loroi aren't the best at research and development, but they aren't slouches at it either. There are several castes that deal with that sort of thing and the Loroi have built their own empire.
GURPS measures the total development of the Loroi Empire as retarded. Literally. Retarded is the GURPS word for the speed of development Loroi civilization has gone through since they have achieved space travel. This makes sense to me at least as the Loroi are a feudal society which is completely and totally dependent upon picking through the remains of a hyper advanced civilization for all of their tech and cannot come up with anything on their own. Arioch has stated that to the Loroi, archeology is the better part of advancing their science. I see the Loroi as a bronze age society that has artificially managed to get to space-flight.

The only reason I can see the Loroi and other similar races being created with the specific gene/species modifications they currently have is for slave labor, food, and amusement. The Soia found out how to feed on sentient life forms for their own personal gain, there are multiple dark tech lines of science in the GURPS Ultra-Tech and Bio-Tech rulebooks which calls for the mass harvesting of such entities as component pieces to some very twisted technologies. Psionic Vampirismcan be used for such a use.
Lasers are admittedly still in use, but only for point defense, it's not like they are a backbone of the fleet.
The fact that lasers are used at all is sad and that point defense rockets are still being used by the Loroi makes it even more depressing. Those two technologies should have been made obsolete within the first century of Loroi development of the FTL drive. There are faaar better point defense technologies in Master of Orion 2 and GURPS, I really hope Arioch introduces them, devices like the Pulsar and the Lightning Field can devastate waves of missiles and fighters.

I hope we will be seeing the Humans using them at some point in the future, possibly even selling them to the Loroi. I also noted the new torpedo launchers being developed on the new battle cruisers the TCA are creating and I am thinking energy torpedoes, most likely anti-matter.

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Re: Miscellaneous Loroi question-and-answer thread

Post by Zakharra »

Grayhome wrote:
The Loroi aren't the best at research and development, but they aren't slouches at it either. There are several castes that deal with that sort of thing and the Loroi have built their own empire.
GURPS measures the total development of the Loroi Empire as retarded. Literally. Retarded is the GURPS word for the speed of development Loroi civilization has gone through since they have achieved space travel. This makes sense to me at least as the Loroi are a feudal society which is completely and totally dependent upon picking through the remains of a hyper advanced civilization for all of their tech and cannot come up with anything on their own. Arioch has stated that to the Loroi, archeology is the better part of advancing their science. I see the Loroi as a bronze age society that has artificially managed to get to space-flight.

The only reason I can see the Loroi and other similar races being created with the specific gene/species modifications they currently have is for slave labor, food, and amusement. The Soia found out how to feed on sentient life forms for their own personal gain, there are multiple dark tech lines of science in the GURPS Ultra-Tech and Bio-Tech rulebooks which calls for the mass harvesting of such entities as component pieces to some very twisted technologies. Psionic Vampirismcan be used for such a use.
They have managed to develop their own tech base in spite of, as fredgiblet says a rather bad numbering system. Try to imagine doing calculus on the ancient roman numeral system.
Lasers are admittedly still in use, but only for point defense, it's not like they are a backbone of the fleet.
The fact that lasers are used at all is sad and that point defense rockets are still being used by the Loroi makes it even more depressing. Those two technologies should have been made obsolete within the first century of Loroi development of the FTL drive. There are faaar better point defense technologies in Master of Orion 2 and GURPS, I really hope Arioch introduces them, devices like the Pulsar and the Lightning Field can devastate waves of missiles and fighters.

I hope we will be seeing the Humans using them at some point in the future, possibly even selling them to the Loroi. I also noted the new torpedo launchers being developed on the new battle cruisers the TCA are creating and I am thinking energy torpedoes, most likely anti-matter.

I don't see what makes lasers bad as point defense. It's a light speed weapon that would be good against missile weapons. Either in burst fire or hold for several seconds. Gravatonic weapons apparently aren't possible with the tech available and I have no idea what a Lightning Field is.

Any missile weapons the TCA develops will be considered obsolete for the time being. TCA flight and engine technology is woefully behind that of the Loroi.

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