A question of lore

[Cholmondely]

I do not want to think of the outcome when thargoids line up on the witchspace lobster...

Perhaps the Witchspace Lobster is in fact a Thargoid...

Heresy!

[Cody]

Perhaps the Witchspace Lobster is in fact a Thargoid...

Heresy!

Is it? The Lobsters hate us humans, and who can blame them. Not only do we eat them, we boil them alive first. The Thargoids are an implacable foe, who hate us for reasons of their own (though I suspect it's because they resent us for polluting Witchspace, which they regard as their domain).

[hiran]

I do not want to think of the outcome when thargoids line up on the witchspace lobster...

Perhaps the Witchspace Lobster is in fact a Thargoid...

Maye even the Thargoid queen? Master of all the warships' crews?

[Cody]

So...

• Mailships/Couriers
  Shamanistic spirit-jouneying
  Technomancy (divinatory)
  Sub-space (instantaneous)

Any other ideas for interstellar communications?
What about inter-octant communications?

[Redspear]

Any other ideas for interstellar communications?

Really, really loud shouting

[Cholmondely]

So...

• Mailships/Couriers
  Shamanistic spirit-jouneying
  Technomancy (divinatory)
  Sub-space (instantaneous)

Any other ideas for interstellar communications?
What about inter-octant communications?

What about the Tionisla Chronicle Array?

I think that inter-octant communications must be a no-go: couriers only (at 5,000₢+/galaxy) just to pay for the drive!

[Cody]

Really, really loud shouting

Clones of Stentor, eh? Is Oolite space empty, a vacuum? Or does something like Aether fill the void? When you zero your drives, what causes your ship to come to a halt? If memory serves, that didn't happen in Elite - your ship kept moving, but very slowly. Can anyone confirm that?

[Cholmondely]

Really, really loud shouting

Clones of Stentor, eh? Is Oolite space empty, a vacuum? Or does something like Aether fill the void? When you zero your drives, what causes your ship to come to a halt? If memory serves, that didn't happen in Elite - your ship kept moving, but very slowly. Can anyone confirm that?

Have a go yourself!

*https://archive.org/details/msdos_Elite_1987 (runs in your browser)
*http://www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite/index.htm (Flight Training Manual download)

[Milo]

Witchspace opens wormholes. Question is, can they transport information (if you push energy into one end, does it come out the other), or do you need to send something physical through it? Witchspace drive malfunctions drop the ship out of witchspace, which suggests that if you aren't actively sustaining the "phasing" or whatever it is the witchspace drive does, you can't continue through witchspace. I think this supports the mailship (or at least witchspace-drive-equipped carrier pigeon / comms drone) theory of inter-galactic communication.

On the other hand, maybe stable micro-wormholes can be maintained, and cables shoved through them, allowing for more continuous comms.

I think this is really a question for phkb. How does his email system work?

[Cholmondely]

Witchspace opens wormholes. Question is, can they transport information (if you push energy into one end, does it come out the other), or do you need to send something physical through it? Witchspace drive malfunctions drop the ship out of witchspace, which suggests that if you aren't actively sustaining the "phasing" or whatever it is the witchspace drive does, you can't continue through witchspace. I think this supports the mailship (or at least witchspace-drive-equipped carrier pigeon / comms drone) theory of inter-galactic communication.

On the other hand, maybe stable micro-wormholes can be maintained, and cables shoved through them, allowing for more continuous comms.

I think this is really a question for phkb. How does his email system work?

Is his email system inter-galactic? I had thought that it was merely intra-galactic.

[Redspear]

Really, really loud shouting

Clones of Stentor, eh? Is Oolite space empty, a vacuum? Or does something like Aether fill the void? When you zero your drives, what causes your ship to come to a halt? If memory serves, that didn't happen in Elite - your ship kept moving, but very slowly. Can anyone confirm that?

Don't know about your first reference but with ZX Spectrum Elite you very much appeared to come to a complete stop. In fact, combat was often (but not always) so easy that your ship could (to all intents and purposes) operate as a turrent, changing only your facing rather than your position, and still expect to be victorious.

[Cholmondely]

Really, really loud shouting

Clones of Stentor, eh? Is Oolite space empty, a vacuum? Or does something like Aether fill the void? When you zero your drives, what causes your ship to come to a halt? If memory serves, that didn't happen in Elite - your ship kept moving, but very slowly. Can anyone confirm that?

Don't know about your first reference

*Stentor coeruleus is a common freshwater protozoan which contains two different types of nuclei: a nodular macronucleus and several micronuclei: Stentor coeruleus, obtained from the Carolina Biological Supply Company, North Carolina, can be kept in mass culture and also in clone cultures. Stentor eat bacteria, and bacteria tend to be found around decomposing organic material, ... This mixing of genetic material prevents all individuals from being strict clones of the parent organism.
-- fills the aether space!

Or

*Stentor violins come with different sizes that are instrumental in fitting various kinds of users. There are sizes for children, people with small hands, and those with big paws.
-- beats shouting!

[Disembodied]

When you zero your drives, what causes your ship to come to a halt?

Because your ship isn't moving - it stays stationary while the engine drags local spacetime into the front of the ship and squirts it out the back.

[Redspear]

Because your ship isn't moving - it stays stationary while the engine drags local spacetime into the front of the ship and squirts it out the back.

So the more a ship sucks, the 'faster' it becomes?

If two ships are in close proximity and suck in opposite directions at sufficient speed... could they create a singularity?

Other stupid questions available upon request...

Stentor coeruleus is a common freshwater protozoan...

Thanks.

[Cody]

Or

Or Stentor, whose "voice was as powerful as fifty voices of other men".