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[Radio Controlled]

Yeah, Paris was the one who said that.  I actually searched for the statement, to see if I'd already responded to it, but apparently I didn't because it was one lone sentence.

First issue I have with this is that it's a ship controlling other ships via Radio.  Not only would that involve lag, it's probably quite possible to reverse engineer.  Also, it would make the stealth ship very easy to detect.

Second issue I have with it is: why must we have a specialty ship with organics for this?  You could just have nearby ships radio commands to it, recieved via their own QECs.  That would allow for more redundancy, more ships to be controlled, and probably less lag (since the nearest ship would be the one controlling the wounded ship).  Also, Steve being distracted isn't an issue, because we could just train pilots who sit on Hephaestus and pilot ships via QEC.

The only role for this is commanding ships that've been affected by a QEC jammer.  I think it would be a good idea to build a few such ships, just in case, but not send them out with every fleet.  If something fishy happens, we can start sending the specialty ships to check it out.

Remember that it'd be a back-up plan, not a main usage one. Some lag, sure, but better than being left a dead in the water with no control (and I think the lag wouldn't be that bad, unless our ships are spaced ridiculously far apart at all times). Hacking is an issue, but can probably be dealt with sufficient security protocols (if each fleet has it's own password for it's own controller ship, then a single failure won't mean the system itself is compromised.

Why a ship with organics? Because if you rely on QEC's only, we revert to the 'single point of failure' problem. Having a controller on site solves that, while also solving some other possible issues. If a single ship's QEC is destroyed, then we can still keep the organic controller stealthed and route orders via another ship's QEC.

And I kinda think that if we wait until a QEC jammer has been used, it'll be too little too late to send out these command ships (who will need decades to get where needed). And if the UWM is halfwhat competent, they'll wait with using something like a QEC jammer until they can use it when it'll be most devastating (eg attack multiple points at once). I don't even think a ship like this would be that expensive: a couple stasis pods, some hexsand (and maybe something else) for stealth, and a good radio, and that's it. It can use sensor data from it's nearby fleet (or can be given decent sensors if needed).

Dear god guys it's not that hard.

We fuck off shipwide life support, give it a dedicated controller AI to control the ships functions and a non aging pilot who is kept alive and integrated into the ships systems that can guide the ship via nueral interface.

Think farscape with pilot and moiya.

Then again, dedicated controller AI isn't free. Every ship will get it's own QEC either way I think, so it's weighing extra QEC fuel against all the stuff needed for an on board controller. And the before stated risk of AI/pilot going rogue, though we might be able to screen for that and put in countermeasures.

The stealth ship idea is basically taking the organic controller out of each ship, stick a few onto 1 ship that's cloaked and let them take over when needed.


In the interest of keeping my promise to Xantalos and not making him wait any longer than necessary, I'm gonna assume the Hep people discussed things IC and complied to Miya's request if you haven't actually started the discussion within a few days.

[Xantalos]

Quickly, Heph people! You're going to have to do that most feared of things ... TALK IC

[Nikitian]

((Nik, if you want to be part of the RP, consider yourself one of the hephaestians CC'd.  We can just say that this stuff was handled after he got here, and handle the introductions later.  Fluid time and whatnot.))

Okay, sorry Heph people, but this is Maurice's endgame and so no taking part in discussions he would likely never be able to attend.
That is why I kept postponing initiating self as full Hephaestus admin - I first have to roll very, very well on [Fate] dice.
(Actually, that earlier IC message initially came out in discussion between me and Pyro, but it felt appropriate to share it about now.)

[syvarris]

Wait, what?  I checked  the on-ship thread, and I'm guessing you're plannjng on cutting the implant out yourself?  Isn't that a really bad idea?  Primarily because it'll probably auto-activate when being messed with?

Shouldn't you just go into the infirmary and have the Doctor cut it out?

[Nikitian]

Nah, nothing that drastic, if I can help that. Hopefully, I'll have help of the second only inmate aboard the Sword who has the "competence" at not rolling on mundane medical affairs.
Though if I won't - I still do have that wonderful tissue-parting knife that would be of immense help in this particular case.

[Parisbre56]

You don't actually need to cut out the entire implant, unless you really want to. If all you want is to make it unable to shock you, you could just cut the right part off. If it is possible, of course. You might want to ask Steve for the schematics for it and maybe a diagram showing where it is in your brain (maybe even gouge out someone's cameyes to use as X-Rays and magnifiers) so that you know what you're looking for and what to do with it.

[Radio Controlled]

Before I totally forget, here's current council consensus on that PEW weapon thing (note, not set in stone, subject to change, etc):

-about 12-15 tokens.

-3 fire modes:
regular HEP, needs no cooling, short range, wide beam.
Compressed shot, needs 1 'ammo' for cooling, this cools it enough so that it can safely refire by the time it's recharged, optimal range is medium, can just reach long but looses a bit of killing power. Can seriously damage a battlesuit on a good hit at optimal range, throws it back from force. If used sans cool plate, it melts to unusable slag.
Overcharge, medium to long, even more power (can one-shot battlesuit even at long range, and shoot right through at medium), weapon melts to slag and has a chance of exploding as well (on a bad roll or if no cooling plate is present to take at least some heat away).

-One can change from cooling plates to continuous cooling, but that increases weight even more and costs money.

-cost of plates: 2 plates for 3 tokens

-stat requirements: not applicable until new system. However, one needs at least a full exoskeleton to wear it (note: talking about current exoskeletons,  not the upgraded ones from Miya's Hep research) and even then it'll weigh you down and be unwieldy. A battlesuit can use it as it could most heavy weapons, but will still loose a bit of mobility (only a little, but obviously more than a battlesuit armed with a laser rifle).

Some concurrent council concern:
-Who would actually buy this? Is there any realistic market for this, and has this been checked yet in any way?


((PS: two triple alliteration combo bonus))

[Sean Mirrsen]

Before I totally forget, here's current council consensus on that PEW weapon thing (note, not set in stone, subject to change, etc):

-about 12-15 tokens.

-3 fire modes:
regular HEP, needs no cooling, short range, wide beam.
Compressed shot, needs 1 'ammo' for cooling, this cools it enough so that it can safely refire by the time it's recharged, optimal range is medium, can just reach long but looses a bit of killing power. Can seriously damage a battlesuit on a good hit at optimal range, throws it back from force. If used sans cool plate, it melts to unusable slag.
Overcharge, medium to long, even more power (can one-shot battlesuit even at long range, and shoot right through at medium), weapon melts to slag and has a chance of exploding as well (on a bad roll or if no cooling plate is present to take at least some heat away).

-One can change from cooling plates to continuous cooling, but that increases weight even more and costs money.

-cost of plates: 2 plates for 3 tokens

-stat requirements: not applicable until new system. However, one needs at least a full exoskeleton to wear it (note: talking about current exoskeletons,  not the upgraded ones from Miya's Hep research) and even then it'll weigh you down and be unwieldy. A battlesuit can use it as it could most heavy weapons, but will still loose a bit of mobility (only a little, but obviously more than a battlesuit armed with a laser rifle).

Sounds more or less alright. Is 12-15 the price difference between coldplate and cooling system versions? If not, what would it be for the latter?

Some concurrent council concern:
-Who would actually buy this? Is there any realistic market for this, and has this been checked yet in any way?

It has about as much of a realistic market as the LESHO, or the Fission Instigator. Better one than the Gauss Cannon. We won't know if it will have a niche of use until it's been through a proper field test. Theoretically, it could be bought by someone dedicating themselves to Heavy Weapon Support in a team of non-Battlesuited people, or anyone with a Battlesuit and a need for a high-damage secondary weapon with loose ammo requirements. (with something like a cutting laser or PSL being the primary) Anything that can one-shot a Battlesuit without tearing up half the city block it's in is bound to have a useful niche.

[Radio Controlled]

Sounds more or less alright. Is 12-15 the price difference between coldplate and cooling system versions? If not, what would it be for the latter?

Nah, it's the price range that's floating around. We can pin down a price once we can pin down stat requirements, aka once new system is implemented.

We haven't discussed weight or cost of the cooling system yet, was going to wait to bring that up until the base version is defined.

It has about as much of a realistic market as the LESHO, or the Fission Instigator. Better one than the Gauss Cannon. We won't know if it will have a niche of use until it's been through a proper field test. Theoretically, it could be bought by someone dedicating themselves to Heavy Weapon Support in a team of non-Battlesuited people, or anyone with a Battlesuit and a need for a high-damage secondary weapon with loose ammo requirements. (with something like a cutting laser or PSL being the primary) Anything that can one-shot a Battlesuit without tearing up half the city block it's in is bound to have a useful niche.

Hey, I've been considering buying a LESHO. Biggest problem would be that Miya is better suited for front line, due to heaviest armor, as opposed to fire support. Hmm.

Either way, I'm sure you can think of possible situations or builds that could use it. If I'm interpreting it correctly, I think it was more a question of whether somebody playing right now would be interested in ever buying it. Note that even if not, that wouldn't be grounds on bombing the project just yet, more a concern of 'should we (you, pw, the council) even bother with it?'.

[Comrade P.]

If by some kind of unbelievable luck I'll live long enough to accumulate that much tokens, PEW is the first thing I buy after Heavy Robot Body.

[Radio Controlled]

Darn Ruskies, always looking out for their own! 

Either way, that's good to hear, seems there's a market for it after all. Say Comrade, might I ask you why you personally would be interested in a PEW over a comparable item? Just curious.

[Comrade P.]

A possibility to fire off generator, while having ability to perform really devastating shots once in a while. I don't need all the power its closest analogues provide at all times, yet sometimes it is needed to bring large and nasty things down. But it is just sometimes, and for all the other smaller things I have a deathray with infinite ammo in my hands.
So far it looks like a deathray with variable "death" parameter, form Kill to Overkill. Why those who are able to bear it wouldn't want it?

[Radio Controlled]

In a realistic situation, the need to wait minutes is a massive downside though. This is lessened by the nature of ER combat, but still. And the fact that a weapon that encumbers a whole lot is also a big downside, since firing it in HEP mode doesn't have any advantage over a regular HEP that's smaller and lighter. So there's the risk of carrying around a lot of capability you never really need, for vastly higher cost and weight and size.

[Comrade P.]

In a realistic situation, the need to wait minutes is a massive downside though. This is lessened by the nature of ER combat, but still. And the fact that a weapon that encumbers a whole lot is also a big downside, since firing it in HEP mode doesn't have any advantage over a regular HEP that's smaller and lighter. So there's the risk of carrying around a lot of capability you never really need, for vastly higher cost and weight and size.

Yes, that is so. As it was mentioned before, that might be better off as a stationary weapon rather than mobile one. But that requires a field test for both mobile and stationary versions for justified comparison. And I expressed my willing to assist you in "mobile" part of it. I think in future I'll be using Sibilus as my primary weapon.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Yeah, btw, I'm all for making this thing into a gunship or stationary defense weapon, to say nothing of regular ship combat.

Also. Whenever a Council meeting happens again, can you bring up the option of having one (or two) integrated with a Battlesuit or Heavy Robot Body, as a sort of a "battlesuit killer" loadout? Since it works best as a battlesuit weapon so far, I think a lot of the logistical issues of it being a secondary weapon can be alleviated if it's built directly into the suit.

One way or the other, I think the PEW needs a field test, just to have it properly evaluated. Even if it's not going to see mass production in that particular form (given how long the next batch of missions could take), because Anton might be developing something newer in the same vein.

I mean, consider this. The HEP fires once a minute because that's how long it takes to accumulate enough energy to fire. The PEW has horrible heating issues because it tries to redirect too much energy at once with every shot. Obvious solution? See if the HEP can be made to fire continuously at whatever rate the power actually builds up. It'll be pitifully weak as a weapon by itself of course, at a sixtieth of its power, but then add the PEW's compression multiplier, and you're going to have... something's that's almost, but not quite, a cutting laser - more like an energy minigun, really - with a large, but manageable quantity of waste heat.

This way, you would not be screwed if you fire the weapon in combat, and would still have the option to charge a full minute for the devastating one-time blow.

Of course I've no idea if it's actually possible, but I'm going to try once PW opens the Heph thread once again. ^_^