Page 211: Grand Theft Umiak Cruiser

[Zorg56]

Well, linear infantry had smoothbore guns and accuracy was "i fart in your general direction" kind of thing, thats why it was linear infantry- number of shots meant more fore accuracy then shooter skill.
They did not fight well against rifled barrels with sights in the Crimean war 1853.
I dont say that loroi dont have devices for aiming their guns, but i am just concerned that if for whatever reason alex have one he cant use it properly.

[icekatze]

hi hi

I wouldn't put it past them to have a heads up reticle projected onto their helmet visor while the blaster is active. Since it's a beam weapon anyway, they don't even need to do any terribly difficult calculations to determine the point of impact.

Not sure what Alex is going to be able to accomplish when compared to an unsheathed, when it comes to taking control of the ship. But assuming they do take control, I expect he'll have some useful guidance on how to best use it to escape their predicament.

[inxsi]

Maybe Alex will get to show off some of his piloting skills if Talon and Spiral let him?

I wonder how much the other loroi are going to accomplish compared to an unsheathed and mizol, but will probably be something. I'm assuming that the umiak are not cloaked at this range from the loroi's senses.

[dragoongfa]

Generally speaking it is not advisable to have someone who is untrained in your operational procedures be part of a combat team. It's a recipe for disaster and there are plenty of examples of combat teams from different branches of the same nation failing to cooperate with one an other.

In this situation Alex is just a bit above dead weight in a combat situation because the Loroi can't afford to cut him loose and drop him (him being the reason they are there at the first place). The best thing the Loroi can expect of him is to sit back and not make himself a too obvious a target. Maybe they could give him a sidearm for self defence but I doubt they trust him enough for that.

We know that he has the pocket historian and if it helps him he could perhaps become 'the hacking' specialist of the team. Other than this the best he can do is to be either a mule for ammo or the wounded, maybe offer himself as a momentary distraction (not advisable at the slightest against cyborgs)

[Dan Wyatt]

Arioch, an edit is needed.
Change '...accompany me abord the enemy vessel' to 'aboard'.

[Arioch]

Arioch, an edit is needed.
Change '...accompany me abord the enemy vessel' to 'aboard'.

Thanks.

[CrimsonFALKE]

1. The Loroi weapons don't have familiar features like trigger guards or iron sights because they are meant to look futuristic and alien. We suppose that an ultra tech weapon has more advanced features. Iron sights are not the only type of sight.
2. Gun sights weren't a feature of regular military firearms until the late nineteenth century. Surely we are not to assume that nobody hit anything during the first 500 years of their use?

B well guns at the time were lined up and fired in huge volleys at a target with people aiming in general areas. Sniper were few and far between and often had made modifications to their own guns.

[Jagged]

Are they touching helmets to allow safe communication?

No snickering in the back, there!

[Arioch]

Are they touching helmets to allow safe communication?

Yes.

B well guns at the time were lined up and fired in huge volleys at a target with people aiming in general areas. Sniper were few and far between and often had made modifications to their own guns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_rifle

Rifles existed for more than a hundred years before the common adoption of gunsights.

...but I digress. This has very little to do with close-range pistol combat.

I'm not any kind of marksman, and my training is not military, but I can hit a moving target with a pistol... and the iron sights don't factor into the equation. I'm looking down the barrel and the target, not at the sights.

[Krulle]

Are they touching helmets to allow safe communication?

Yes.

I think Jagged knew that.
(Beryl instructed Alex accordingly: https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/outsider201.html )

Jagged just needed to give a context for the pubescent audience.
(his last line would otherwise be totally out of context)



And I wonder how long Alex has been dozing off, and how much time has passed in the meantime, before he bolted awake in panel 1.

And let's hope that in panel 1, the com was OFF.

(btw: the situation must be pretty safe for Beryl to have her helmet and suit lights to be switched on)

[Jagged]

I think Jagged knew that.

To be fair I wasn't 100% sure
Blame my dodgy memory

[Cthulhu]

As I said, military HUDs aren't a particularly new invention. They are used in fighter jets for quite some time now, but are currently too cumbersome for infantry usage. A TL 11 civilization should be able to put an advanced version of that into a standard helmet.

[CrimsonFALKE]

Are they touching helmets to allow safe communication?

Yes.

B well guns at the time were lined up and fired in huge volleys at a target with people aiming in general areas. Sniper were few and far between and often had made modifications to their own guns.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_rifle

Rifles existed for more than a hundred years before the common adoption of gunsights.

...but I digress. This has very little to do with close-range pistol combat.

I'm not any kind of marksman, and my training is not military, but I can hit a moving target with a pistol... and the iron sights don't factor into the equation. I'm looking down the barrel and the target, not at the sights.

Do the Loroi have a GTA or Saints Row style game to prepare for this operation?

[Mk_C]

As I said, military HUDs aren't a particularly new invention. They are used in fighter jets for quite some time now, but are currently too cumbersome for infantry usage. A TL 11 civilization should be able to put an advanced version of that into a standard helmet.

As we can see from the entire shuttle dash sequence, Talon's face in the Naam wide shot, and generally the entire Naam engagement - Loroi don't use them even for their own pilots or ops battlescapes. The HUDs we currently know and have have very little in common with HMDs like what you describe, and the latter have largely remained in experimental phase since their inception except for very specific devices with a very particular niche of manually operating off-boresight weapons (which eventually receded as those got better automation) and a few very controversial and underbaked daring solutions.

The idea is cool, but it's not without numerous major issues, and only time will tell if it actually can be implemented in the way you propose. Until then there is zero reasons to assume that Loroi should have stuff like that instead of just being better trained at using guns in close quarters with rapid, approximate aiming. Or even having naturally better visual calculus and hand-eye coordination to achieve bore alignment - the only reason humans even need iron sights is that our brains and hand-eye coordination are wired to catch and use sight alignment much better than most other indicators with similar functions.

[Cthulhu]

1. The HUDs that we currently have are indeed unsuitable for infantry combat. They are too bulky, not intuitive or intelligent enough, and require too much training for too little of a gain. The only thing that they achieve is to look cool in order to receive more funding. But in the future this might change.
2. A pilot may have eye implants, intelligent lenses, or a HUD projection on the inner side of the canopy. Or Arioch did not bother drawing this small detail?
3. However, such assistance might increase accuracy and actually reduce training times. I think that it might be well worth the effort, at least for the commander or/and Teidar.

[DevilDalek]

*Loroi watch on in growing horror as Alex goes 'Home Alone' on the bugs A$$es*

[CrimsonFALKE]

What should we commission for Halloween maybe a GTA style cover of the loroi?

[Cthulhu]

*Loroi watch on in growing horror as Alex goes 'Home Alone' on the bugs A$$es*

Since he is awakening his psi-potential, how about going Alfred Bester on their shelled posteriors?

What should we commission for Halloween maybe a GTA style cover of the loroi?

Yeah, either that or all of them as a DnD party. Alex will be the bard, I guess

[Arent]

What should we commission for Halloween maybe a GTA style cover of the loroi?

Mmh, well, you can't easily draw them sitting in an Umiak cruiser. You could draw a yellow car with an Umiak driving

Did you guys hear of the 40000 downvotes for the Saints Row trailer?

[Bamax]

As I said, military HUDs aren't a particularly new invention. They are used in fighter jets for quite some time now, but are currently too cumbersome for infantry usage. A TL 11 civilization should be able to put an advanced version of that into a standard helmet.

As we can see from the entire shuttle dash sequence, Talon's face in the Naam wide shot, and generally the entire Naam engagement - Loroi don't use them even for their own pilots or ops battlescapes. The HUDs we currently know and have have very little in common with HMDs like what you describe, and the latter have largely remained in experimental phase since their inception except for very specific devices with a very particular niche of manually operating off-boresight weapons (which eventually receded as those got better automation) and a few very controversial and underbaked daring solutions.

The idea is cool, but it's not without numerous major issues, and only time will tell if it actually can be implemented in the way you propose. Until then there is zero reasons to assume that Loroi should have stuff like that instead of just being better trained at using guns in close quarters with rapid, approximate aiming. Or even having naturally better visual calculus and hand-eye coordination to achieve bore alignment - the only reason humans even need iron sights is that our brains and hand-eye coordination are wired to catch and use sight alignment much better than most other indicators with similar functions.

I propose an amusing parody of the star trek TNG solution.

On several episodes it is noticable that the phaser beam shoots of an angle away from where the actor is pointing it... because TNG special effects goofed up.

But hey... let's roll with it anyway! Make it a feature?

How many Trek ships lack gun barrels and can fire at any angle?

Why not let the Loroi pistols have a forward sweeping firing arc... the gun can hit anything in that arc, even if they are not pointing straight at it, so long as the target is ahead and not to far yo either side ithe pistol will auto-lock on and fire when trigger is pulled.

How's THAT for high tech las-pistols?

Funny thing is, I was inspired by TNG mess ups with special effects, but it would make such pistols superior to IRL ones.