Insider, Updates

[Arioch]

Does the Loroi rumor mill suffer the same way the human one does--that is, does information warp the more minds it passes through? Or is sanzai a little more exacting in its transmission?

Any information system based on living minds isn't going to be perfect, but it has two important features that make it more accurate than a human gossip ring:

• Listel abilites are key to making the system work. The telepathic network has nodes who can remember in great detail not only the information, but where and when they got it from, which helps to reduce information drift, especially over time.
• It's much harder to exaggerate using telepathy than it is with speech. You can't be thinking "I'm worried that we lost the battle of XYZ" and then send "I know a guy who was at XYZ who said we lost." What the recipient would receive would be something like "I'm worried that we lost the battle of XYZ, and I'm making up a lie about it."

[bunnyboy]

Actually mass media (as a cheap entertainment for masses) is known for thousand years. The creek theaters were originally religious seremonies and teachings on purpose to release our emotions in controlled ways and cleans our souls. And the philosophes were talking a lot, how uncivilized masses liked more comedies than tragedies. But they were also writers and producers at themselves and some of them made new shows at every week.

[Arioch]

"Mass media" usually refers to something that can reach more than just a local audience; theater and stadium events are not mass media. Newspapers, magazines, radio, movies, television, recorded music & video, software and internet media are mass media.

[bunnyboy]

In the ancient point of view, it was the writing, what was art. The acting was only visual aid and originally they didn't even have any words, because everything was told and explained by chorus. You couldn't even recognize the actors because their masks. Excellent programs could be presented at many cities in whole mediterrae area in weeks. Some of them are presented in theaters even today.

[daelyte]

Well, the truthfulness of telepathy cuts both ways; it's very difficult to plan opposition to the government without them finding out about it, especially when the secret police can also read your mind.

There are many, many ways around that. Rogue individuals even without extensive planning and organization can still cause damage in a world with firearms and explosives. Acting through agents that have limited information - non-telepathic aliens, using non-telepathic signals, using drones and machinery, etc. Oh and suicide pills, as used to prevent interrogation even in our own world. Even if you can tell when someone is lying, doesn't tell you who or what questions to ask, although training no doubt helps a lot.

Armed civilian uprising would be a difficult proposition (the warrior class is almost half the population, trained to kill from childhood), and even passive resistance would be dealt with very severely -- calling a strike in wartime would be a serious crime, as you can probably imagine.

I didn't say the civilians would win, I said it would weaken the empire. Killing all the civilians wouldn't be a good option either, because then someone else would have to do the work. As it is, with the warrior class being such a large part of the population, many of them are probably already doing other things than fighting, such as administration, security, logistics, shipbuilding, healthcare, education, etc.

By passive resistance I meant just people under performing due to low morale, and you can't just kill off any worker that isn't 100% enthusiastic otherwise you'll soon have none left. Treating people as fairly as the circumstances allow is simply more efficient.

A strike in wartime would indeed be a serious crime, but that's exactly how india got its independence - the brits could have killed them all easily enough, but then they would have lost ww2 and they knew it. So they cut a deal.

Totalitarian governments can last a very long time using fear to keep their subjects in line, if they have the right tools and use them effectively.

The only case I can think of is the spartans, and they were scared shitless of a helot revolt. The helots were uneducated and had no clue just how vulnerable the spartans really were (unlike Loroi truthfulness), and the most independent probably just ran off to other lands which would act as a pressure valve.

What I meant before was that entertainment isn't tailored to the tastes of the civilian class because they aren't a separate culture; the civilians are raised in the same warrior-hero-worship culture as the warriors are, exposed to the same mythic warrior sagas and watching the same warrior athletic competitions.

Exactly, that's what I was getting at.

The emphasis will be mostly on locally-attended events, rather than mass-media, and the idolized athletes and performers will nearly all be warriors. However, such events will, of necessity, have been significantly scaled back since the start of the war.

Of course. Fireblade can't play pro TK basketball this season, she's busy killing bugs with her mind.

Now that you mention it, it would be pretty awesome to set up some minis. Seems like it'd be hard to do anything ground-based in the current war that doesn't defy canon, but might be neat to come up with some odd scenarios.

Maybe historical battles?

[fredgiblet]

By passive resistance I meant just people under performing due to low morale, and you can't just kill off any worker that isn't 100% enthusiastic otherwise you'll soon have none left.

The beatings will continue until morale improves.

[Hālian]

Fireblade… basketball

I misread as "baseball" and grabbed these:

[CaptainChaos]

Here's a question I've been curious about, what's Loroi humor like? Beryl, proved that there are somethings that the Loroi think are funny, so their not all a bunch of fatalistic warrior stoics. I assume that because of their telepathy their humor doesn't involve misunderstandings and I don't think slapstick would be a big draw, so that would leave what.... Situational comedies and witticism?

[Count Casimir]

Here's a question I've been curious about, what's Loroi humor like? Beryl, proved that there are somethings that the Loroi think are funny, so their not all a bunch of fatalistic warrior stoics. I assume that because of their telepathy their humor doesn't involve misunderstandings and I don't think slapstick would be a big draw, so that would leave what.... Situational comedies and witticism?

I would pay cash monies to watch a human comedian try to get a laugh out of a Loroi crowd with dirty jokes.

[Trantor]

http://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/w ... files.html

That´s a nice piece of work. Impressive damage numbers from the Historian Plasma Arrays.

[Jericho]

http://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/w ... files.html



Do the Historians have a wave loom device or do they think they don't need it (They can't really lack the technology to build one).

[Arioch]

Do the Historians have a wave loom device or do they think they don't need it (They can't really lack the technology to build one).

The Historians probably have all kinds of exotic weaponry that the Loroi don't know about. What the Loroi know of Historian weaponry is limited to that provided in the technology exchange, what they saw in limited action during the Umiak invasion of Historian space in 2139, and whatever Loroi intelligence has been able to dig up.

[Jericho]

Do the Historians have a wave loom device or do they think they don't need it (They can't really lack the technology to build one).

The Historians probably have all kinds of exotic weaponry that the Loroi don't know about. What the Loroi know of Historian weaponry is limited to that provided in the technology exchange, what they saw in limited action during the Umiak invasion of Historian space in 2139, and whatever Loroi intelligence has been able to dig up.

Come to think of it. The Historians probably just view this whole war as nothing more than a minor nuisance. Like two neighbors bickering about whose tree is blocking whose view.

Ah god damn it Loroi ... can't we have atleast two centurys of peace before you start a new war! It's four o'clock in the morning for f#¤ks sake .

[Hālian]

Hopefully at some point in the comic we get to see the Historian homelands — and more importantly their tech…

[Trantor]

One tactical question: Wouldn´t it been a good idea to charge the wave-loom device while chit-chatting with TIKKITIKK?
On page 69 we see they are about 1000 seconds (solon) away from intercept range, which after my calculations is well within the wave-looms range (assumed initial speed of low 100km/s due to the cloud; 28g acceleration = 114000km distance).
Let´s say a full hit inflicts a damage of 8x16=128 damage points on one superheavy, which has an armour-rating of 600, that would mean a significant damage of around 20%, enough to force it back to a repairshop, or, if the jump-device is hit, to even to abandon it.
Could this work, or is there a mistake in my thoughts?

[GeoModder]

Perhaps particle density in the Naam System is higher then recommended for safe operation of the weapon? Also, there appears to be an area of effect. For all we know, this is already so during the trajectory of a charge, and the screening squadron was still in front of the Tempest.

[Arioch]

One tactical question: Wouldn´t it been a good idea to charge the wave-loom device while chit-chatting with TIKKITIKK?
On page 69 we see they are about 1000 seconds (solon) away from intercept range, which after my calculations is well within the wave-looms range (assumed initial speed of low 100km/s due to the cloud; 28g acceleration = 114000km distance).
Let´s say a full hit inflicts a damage of 8x16=128 damage points on one superheavy, which has an armour-rating of 600, that would mean a significant damage of around 20%, enough to force it back to a repairshop, or, if the jump-device is hit, to even to abandon it.
Could this work, or is there a mistake in my thoughts?

Kikitik's second group was nowhere near Wave-Loom range, and they weren't accelerating and didn't have significant velocity relative to SG51 (as they weren't attacking).

The first Umiak group broke cover well beyond weapons range and with significant starting velocity. 114 Mm is within Umiak weapons range, so if the Umiak had been that close, both sides would have been firing the moment they became visible. It was not until after the Umiak had deployed gunboats and torpedoes (and the Loroi had had much discussion) that we see the Umiak entering pulse cannon range (~300 Mm) on page 76.

Also, the maximum acceleration of an Umiak group with heavies and tenders would be 24-25g (superheavies 20-22g), though that doesn't significantly change the equation.

If the question is "why didn't the Tempest fire the Wave-Loom at the first group?" the answer is that the Tempest's Wave-Loom is an unreliable weapon that limits the mobility of the firing ship, and so is generally only used against very hard targets or if the enemy has bunched up for some reason, and especially not used when Stillstorm is reserving the option to break and run.

[Jericho]

Will we ever see the wave loom fire .

[Trantor]

Ok, so far for the range. Are the damage numbers right, at least?

[Arioch]

Ok, so far for the range. Are the damage numbers right, at least?

Are you implying that the range numbers aren't right?

In order for the scenario to play out correctly, the Umiak have to be at least 1,000 Mm away when the time to intercept estimate was given. If they are accelerating at 24g for 18 minutes (a solon is about 1.1 seconds), then their initial velocity at the time of that estimate must have been at least 784 km/s. They would add an additional 258 km/s during the observed acceleration, for a crossing velocity of somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000 km/s when they reached SG51. That would only be about one-third typical system transit velocity, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were going much faster (and therefore started much farther away) -- every extra second the Umiak have to spend within 300Mm before they close to 100Mm is time they're going to be shot at without being able to shoot back, so keeping in mind that they never intended to match velocities (it was a hit and run attack), they'd want to approach at as high a speed as the circumstances permit.