> From: nosnhoJ enaD [email removed]
> Re: Imperial and (general) human ship architecture...
>
> What about the whole "holo-dynamic" concept, where the controls are
> entirely computerized and, therefore, configurable. The general sense of
> MegaTrav (realistic or not :) was that every modern ship had such systems.
> Certainly such systems are nearly in our reach now (although whether we'd
> trust such a system built with today's technology is another question
> entirely...)...Of course, ours wouldn't be holographic :/
Well, there are control panels and control panels. I was speaking mainly
of how different races would build their joystick controls. Sure you can
have a holographic panel with reconfigurable positions for all the buttons,
but have you ever tried a flight simulator from a keyboard? SURE you can
do it, but it is a LOT harder. And a joystick is not something that can
be 'created' by a hologram.
> Oh, yeah: Although the "position sensing" idea is neat, wouldn't the
> Dolphins use their neural jacks?
The only reference to neural jacks I've seen says they were TL 15.
(What does TNE say? Anybody know?)
Dolphins (stuck in TL 14 Solomani space) may have to do without.
My idea came from the assumption that that is similar to the way that
the Type D Battledress and grav belts work (Though those would certainly
work with mechanical body postion sensors.)
Dolphins in Trav have fingers on their pectorals which is supposedly how
they operate their waldoes. But the original contact article isn't very
specific & has no illustrations. It makes no mention of neural jacks.
Actually, the way the original Contact article was written makes a Dolphin
starship crew Extremely unlikely. They come off as intelligent animals
rather than people. They are a long way from being on the level of
Brinn's _Startide Rising_.
- --
Scott 2G Kellogg
"Kellogg is just plain nuts!" -- H. Beam Piper