Science Fiction Trivia

[Cody]

I did a bit of digging on the Wiki… and found two speeds for the ‘Sleeper Service’: 233,000c and 233,500c.

That discussion on the link… interesting but conjecture, I think. I’m a ‘Culture’ fan, but not to that extreme.
Loxley will get the book out later… page 247, I think.

[Diziet Sma]

Well, in the grand tradition of Culture ships, who often changed names, sometimes just to make a temporary point, the G.D. is now the "Attitude Adjuster"

[Loxley]

Okay, so on having a flip through the relevant pages, the Sleeper's speed tops out at around 233 and a half kilolights. That's the most specific figure given, after this other ships simply refer to the figure as 233. (Spot on there El Viejo.)

Since in the same passage, a superlifter that tops out at 221 is referred to as being faster than an ROU in short bursts I think we can probably discount the IMO rather inflated claims on the discussion thread. (Sorry Dizzy, but I really think these guys are getting a bit carried away.)

This just leaves the GCU Fate Amenable to Change which is moved 30 light years in less than a picosecond by the excession. It may not have moved under it's own power, but it still wanted to claim a record.

[Cody]

Thanks Loxley... that just leaves you needing to think up a question.

[Commander McLane]

Knowing nothing about the Culture series, all that sounds more than a little silly to me, starting with the idea that a couple of dozen ships placed across 21ly constitute a wave. How big are these ships? A considerable portion of a lightyear? If not, they would just be a few dozens of nothings in an incredibly vast area, with no connection whatsoever between each other.

Sci Fi writes have no sense of scale. (Which is—of course—true for Oolite as well.)

[Loxley]

It's true about the scale in much of sci-fi, although culture ships can effect things in 4 dimensions, distance and even obstructions often aren't a factor for them. Generally I prefer to just enjoy the story and not worry too much about the details mind you. ( I have similar opinions when it comes to gameplay versus scale and physics in Oolite as well.)

As for a question <cue violins> I just got back from the dentist and the novocaine's wearing off so this'll be a quick one <cut violins>.

Can you tell me in which Iain Banks novel someone is given an eventually fatal dental treatment, and at whose behest it was inflicted?

[Selezen]

Damn, I've read this one and I can't remember which one it is...

Consider Phlebas springs to mind but that's just a guess.

[Disembodied]

Can you tell me in which Iain Banks novel someone is given an eventually fatal dental treatment, and at whose behest it was inflicted?

That would be The Algebraist, and the nasty individual concerned would be the Archimandrite Luseferous ...

Knowing nothing about the Culture series, all that sounds more than a little silly to me, starting with the idea that a couple of dozen ships placed across 21ly constitute a wave. How big are these ships? A considerable portion of a lightyear? If not, they would just be a few dozens of nothings in an incredibly vast area, with no connection whatsoever between each other.

It's not so much their size as their reach. If you're only a couple of light-years away from a Culture ship, you need to be on your best behaviour ...

[Commander McLane]

It's not so much their size as their reach. If you're only a couple of light-years away from a Culture ship, you need to be on your best behaviour ...

So they simply have a beyond the impossible tracking system.

In Oolite with its rather small distances we get complaints of the I-am-in-the-right-system-and-I-know-that-my-target-is-there-as-well-but-I-can't-find-it-for-the-life-of-me type several times a week. Now imagine you would have to search for it across several light years.

[Disembodied]

So they simply have a beyond the impossible tracking system.

In Oolite with its rather small distances we get complaints of the I-am-in-the-right-system-and-I-know-that-my-target-is-there-as-well-but-I-can't-find-it-for-the-life-of-me type several times a week. Now imagine you would have to search for it across several light years.

If you also imagine you're an ultrasmart AI whose brain has to be packed into hyperspace just to get it all to fit, who simulates universes for fun, and who has a range of senses, weapons and effectors that penetrate well beyond normal spacetime, that takes the edge off a bit ... To all intents and purposes ships from the Culture teeter on the edge of (minor) godhood.

[Commander McLane]

To all intents and purposes ships from the Culture teeter on the edge of (minor) godhood.

I see.

[Loxley]

Disembodied is of course absolutely correct. Charming man that Luseferous.

Iain Banks has been writing really disturbing stuff since the Wasp Factory of course, although, for me, a certain section in "Use of Weapons" probably takes the cake.

[Cody]

Iain Banks has been writing really disturbing stuff since the Wasp Factory of course

That's a fact... I thought 'Complicity' was his darkest novel.
One of my favourites is 'The Bridge', which is almost sci-fi.

[DaddyHoggy]

Disembodied is of course absolutely correct. Charming man that Luseferous.

Iain Banks has been writing really disturbing stuff since the Wasp Factory of course, although, for me, a certain section in "Use of Weapons" probably takes the cake.

I haven't read Use of Weapons yet - it's on the shelf - but I lack the time.

Iain (M) Banks amazes me - his contemporary and Sci-Fi stuff are both wonderful and yet both utterly different from each other - how does he do it?

[Diziet Sma]

Iain (M) Banks amazes me - his contemporary and Sci-Fi stuff are both wonderful and yet both utterly different from each other - how does he do it?

What really bugs his fellow authors is how he churns out a best-seller a year, produced in a 2 month writing frenzy, then spends the other 10 months doing anything he damn-well pleases..