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[AoshimaMichio]

Did pw say anything about whether the universal taxi accepts only integers for coordinates or can it take real numbers too? And how large numbers it will accept?

[Ozarck]

I haven't asked about real numbers, considering there are an infinite number of integers. I haven't asked about maximum values the machine can handle either. We have a 19x19x19 cube defined so far. That's 6859 universes, including our own. Prooooooobably enough for us to handle for now. not that I am opposed to my teammates testing out other numbers and whatnot.

[Radio Controlled]

Perhaps there is indeed an infinite amount of them, but each axis represents a certain (maybe vaguely defined) condition, and having too much or too little of it means the universe is unsuitable, making the search into a sort of optimization exercise (random example: amount of energy in a universe. Too little, and it cannot sustain life for long, but too much isn't livable either, so they have to find that 'sweet spot' between the extremes). This allows for an infinite amount of universes, but still only a small amount is usable, and makes the search a bit more involved than 'send probe, return probe, check results' at infinitum.

(At least, that's how I would do it.)

[Ozarck]

so far, the layout of universi seems random. Most are indeed "null," with the interesting ones sprinkled throughout.

So far we've found: what looks like a universe in the early stages of galactic formation, a pink slime universe, a universe filled with powerful gravitational fields which drop in power at short distances, a frigid universe of ghosts and destruction, a universe that causes something like alpha decay?, and a universe that corrodes and infects anything it touches.

Anyone notice that Dester only put ONE of these off limits so far?

[Empiricist]

I haven't been following ER for a bit. What have I missed? Have they found Maurice and prepared to court martial him in the middle of an eldritch god's digestive system yet?

[Radio Controlled]

I haven't been following ER for a bit. What have I missed? Have they found Maurice and prepared to court martial him in the middle of an eldritch god's digestive system yet?

We are hard at work on that. Divine retribution will not be denied.

((Hello, I am rather new to the forums, but I have decided to try my hand at this.))

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Trier Cirurgian
Age: 32
Gender: male
Appearance: 6’ 4” blue eyes, blonde hair, very thin, white skin
Personal information: Trier Cirurgian was a military doctor who was assigned to the HMRC after making some rather offensive remarks about the local Magister’s mother in response to the Magister requesting aid for a minor injury during a triage. Magister took offence to this and the doc woke up the next day to being court marshaled and shipped to HRMC for corroding the moral fiber of the men. It probably didn’t help his case that at the time the Cirurgian family had strong ties to the illegal gene-modding scene. So maybe he should be grateful he was just sent to the HRMC.
Reason assigned to HMRC:  Harming morale, accomplice to gene-modding, blasphemy

Stats
Strength: +1
Dexterity: 0
Endurance: +1
Charisma: -1
Mind: 0
Fate: -1
Intuition: 0
Skills
Handiwork: -1
Conventional Weapons: +1
Unconventional Weapons: -1
Exotic weapons: 0
Auxiliary systems: 0
Medical tech: +1
General Knowledge: 0

Hello there new meat! Another medic, just what we need (no really, we could use some more, judging by the distressing lack of them on our mission).

[syvarris]

@Radio

That's exactly what I had thought.  I suggested Ozark test out every axis in increments of four for the express purpose of testing if there were any consistent patterns tied to axis.  Sadly, his testing showed no correlation, and The Doctor verified that the numbers have no special meanings, at least for the universes we're messing with.

This does make me want to experiment with extremely distant universes (666,999,-666, anybody?), but I feel like that would probably either be nothing special, or very bad, rather than beneficial.  Ditto for digging around the machine to see if we can add more axises.

[AoshimaMichio]

666,-999,666 would be better.

[Radio Controlled]

Hmm. That's kinda unfortunate, makes the whole thing bit less interesting. Still, there could still be a system to all this, but perhaps it's more involved than just an optimization. Maybe you should ask what kind of parts are being moved around when you alter the input?

[AoshimaMichio]

Of course there's a system behind it. Just another generator. Maybe it works on same principle as the Number Gun?

[Nunzillor]

I have nothing but incredibly good feelings about M24.  I'm sure it will all go fine.

[piecewise]

Hmm. That's kinda unfortunate, makes the whole thing bit less interesting. Still, there could still be a system to all this, but perhaps it's more involved than just an optimization. Maybe you should ask what kind of parts are being moved around when you alter the input?

There is a system, it's just not what you thought it was. It's not one that can be gamed via the number inputs, so to speak. The numbers are arbitrary, the universes are not.

[Toaster]

Set them all to OVER NINE THOUSAND

[Moopli]

The system is defined by story needs, not by numbers. What we need is a parallel universe where we pick different numbers for the universes but get universes following the same broad-strokes progression. Of course, you haven't nearly hit enough universes to figure out what that progression is, but I imagine it'll slowly go further towards more interesting ones no matter what pattern you use for numbers.

The simple fact that you'll by mathematical necessity be picking more universes with small numbers (by an exponential distribution, more or less) if you want to explore 'evenly' will further confuse matters -- if your choices of universes are exponentially weighted (with sigma increasing over time), and piecewise's choices of how interesting universes will be are also exponentially-weighted (with sigma also increasing over time), then it could seem like he's making the higher-numbered universes more interesting when in fact that's just eerie convergence.

What I find interesting is that the machine can only explore a countably infinite number of different universes.

[Parisbre56]

Assuming there are different pseudorandom number generators or different functions and those numbers or a combination of those numbers are used to seed them, then by finding a pattern you could get universes that share a certain characteristic.

Speaking of overcomplicated solutions, are we going to get any more clues for the Doctor's cipher?