Well, we're baaack! BTW, I forgot to change the name on the header
back to Steve's last time I posted, so a bunch of his letters went out under
my name. Sorry. Any and all correspondence on p-p fusion and attitudes
toward GDW should be directed at Steve, those were his opinions, not mine.
The following are my opinions:
Wildstar lays out a starport system:
...I like it. I just read it, so I haven't had time to apply it to
anything yet. Gvurrdon may get the first application...
Rob Dean sez:
>I checked GEnie yesterday to see what the Internet rates are. GEnie is
>currently charging $0.30/5000bytes of information flow, either incoming
>or outgoing. So, getting the TML on GEnie is probalby going to cost
>about $45/month. So, watch those inclusions, folks.
Same rate Compu$erve charges. 'S why we're switching to PsiLink as
soon as they can mail us an order form...
Scott "2G" sez:
>About updating Trav:
>Well, the feel for the game comes from the era in which it was written.
>Take a look at the old Tech level advancement charts. The original
>appeared in '77 (25 Years ago), and to be frank, it shows. IMO, the
^^^^^^^^^^^^
So, Scott, how is TNE doing in 2002? Could you give us a report on
it? :)
>A couple of things in my private e-mail brought up cockpit design
>again. So, I just thought I'd post my updated version about
>cockpit design. I've changed a few things since you all saw it
last.
I still think that this is a nice idea for aircraft/vehicles & early
spacecraft, but mid-to-high tech spacecraft probably have cockpits that
look like the starship Enterprise or the Battlestar Galactica's. And the
pilot probably operates them by saying, "Beowulf, calculate and execute
insertion into a 1600 km parking orbit" or somesuch. Point being that the
computer probably handles the actual details of maneuvering for anything
bigger than an air/raft.
Bruce says:
>It would be interesting to have more robots around but two basic problems
>1. At what (AI) intelligence level do robots become Imperial citizens?
> This leads you off into splinter groups for the freedom of toasters and
> the end of slavery for all machines 8-}.
But of course! This makes things interesting... As referee, my job
isn't to adjudicate things so Imperial citizens don't have to make tricky
moral choices ... it's to make things interesting/entertaining/enjoyable.
Will A.I.s help do that? I think so, both in respect to themselves, and in
respect to society's reaction/adaptation to them.
>2. This is the one that prevents robots or aware machines from continuing
> after the VIRUS. On every planet where the VIRUS struck, one of the
> main methods of "getting even" with organic life-forms would be to take
> over all these robots and machines and kill everything. This will of
> course leave some phobias to any mechanical-self-mobile-machine. NOBODY,
> will want a robot around (as a cleaner, or waiter, or baby sitter, or
> mechanic, or doctor or dentist or anything). I think the GDW's VIRUS
> idea just shot robots in the foot.
So you've got worlds that were unaffected by the "virus" that still
use robotic technology, and worlds where everybody has a pretty severe
"Frankenstein complex". Some worlds might have had a Luddite reaction
to ALL hi-tech -- remember Andre Norton's "The Stars are Ours", where
the "Scientists" were blamed for the Big One, and anyone showing signs
of being educated was persecuted as an "evil" Scientist?
-- Cynthia (really!)