Kaz suggested that I post an thread to discuss the way our radios should work and make it canon. Seems like a good time to do it since it's looking more and more likely that we will have a wipe and a new sector coming soon. Huzzah! Basically, I'd think that handheld radios should not really have the power to go beyond a planet, that was Kaz's suggestion, and I personally think that's pretty fair. It'll happen on accident and OOCly from time to time(I still forget to change over sometimes), but probably it should be really be discouraged for IC interaction. I think that the only thing that should have the power to reach interstellar distances should be a ship with FTL capability, and maybe not even all of them either. So universal chat should, I think, be primarily a shipbound activity. (see what I did there!) Anyways, what do you guys and gals think? While we're at it, lets try and figure out how Starnet works too...does it use the ancient gates? Or is it more like a network of satellites that send signals over the interstellar distances? Discuss amongst yourselves!
I like this idea, personally, it would cut down on rampant galaxy chat from people planetside, as they would have to beam to their ship to send an IC radio message,
I think this means well, but is over-thinking a minor issue. Yes Galaxy Chat clutter can be bothersome, but, this is an annoying speedbump to roleplay and a touch unrealistic. 400 years, guys. We've gone from bows to Hadron Colliders in that time. Long distance communication is not a stretch. Good intention, wrong direction. If some people are spamming, ask them to use tells to whoever they're talking to.
I agree for the most part. I think the starnet should be a ship to ship/satellite to satellite communication. For ship to ship use a Tor type network that way it does not allow the ships to be tracked as well as ship side access to the network. I like the idea of a Mr. Universe or group of mysterious characters creating and maintaining the starnet. Here is the kick the current staff and admin are the mysterious characters if wanted.. Which this why they could add like some communication events, IC explain the site going down, under maintenance, and etc.
Haha, maybe maybe, would be a fun bit of fluff at least. But I never did like that most galaxy chat conversations would turn into weird spiteful pissing contests and insult fights, especially when florans were involved. I'm of the opinion that if you REALLY want to take part in a galaxy wide conversation you can at least get up and leave the bar to do it, rather than just randomly throwing in your two cents
Also lets not use the "gates". I have a beef with them. I have my reasons if you want to ask prepare for an ear full. IF the gate are to be used as part of the network in the new sector. Why wouldn't the core worlds have already figure how to use them? You would think that the most tech savvy core worlds would already use them for FTL communications. I personally say that no gates exist in the new sector. Something a long the lines of the anomaly destroyed them. [DOUBLEPOST=1439024504][/DOUBLEPOST]Okay here is a more refined idea. First off: NO GATES!!!!! Secondly use the previous idea of ship to ship FTL communication usage like Spec said in chat: Hence the more ships the faster the network, but for starts one ship decked out with communication equipment and server creates the first network. It is slow and information laggs to deliver, but as more ships, sats, and beacons become more and more the network speeds up. Really it is like the Geth from Mass Effect, minus the AI BS other then the Ship AI's
It's not terribly unrealistic. It's the distant future, and sure, there'll be all sorts of crazy sci-fi tech, but we may not necessarily have access to that tech. That tech would be expensive to manufacture, and the frontier didn't exactly have the best tech to begin with. Ignoring the anomaly bringing in better tech (which could be done later), I think it's sensible to restrict handheld radios to planets for both IC and OOC reasons. [DOUBLEPOST=1439024767][/DOUBLEPOST] Please create new threads for new topics. I understand how this can relate to the radios, but the idea of removing the gates entirely deserves it's own place for discussion instead of potentially derailing this thread. [DOUBLEPOST=1439024876][/DOUBLEPOST]I changed the title of the thread to reflect the StarNet discussion as well. Let's keep the thread focused on these two topics.
I think the easiest way to explain radios no longer working is the interference the cosmic anomaly has caused, large amounts of electro-magnetic radiation which now blocks galactic radios.
I generally delete off-topic posts, like this one, but I'll leave it for my reply. Essentially a good rule of thumb is: If it's something that could potentially start a heavy debate, it deserves it's own topic. [DOUBLEPOST=1439024992][/DOUBLEPOST] Why shouldn't radios work? That'd make communicating in-game a little too inconvenient, wouldn't it? Unless you mean like the handheld radios. So the shipbound radios use a different method of transmission, perhaps?
Why stop galaxy chat? It has it's place, doesn't it? How else are people going to locate others as new characters?
Galactic Radio is actually subspace tranmissions, not actually radios at all. The anomaly is a time/space affecting one, so naturally it would disrupt communications beyond it's borders. But not in our new Sector....problem solved!
It was mearly a suggestion if we decided to go down that path, I'd think there'd be a beacon for the most populated settlement though, to atleast draw people in.
Anomaly aside, I think communications would work within the zone. (ie: on planets) It's just that only the sophisticated communications technology installed on interstellar ships would have the capability to transmit across the zone in it's entirety at such speeds described by typing in the galaxy channel. I will admit, though, my motivations on Galaxy Chat being shipbound is mostly OOC to prevent it from being used as frequently as it has in the past. It should also be noted that with this kind of system, you would have to ignore any Galaxy Chat you see while you aren't in your ship, due to the different transmission methods used. (Handheld radios wouldn't be able to receive these kinds of signals and interpret them properly.) However, upon returning to your ship, you could play back the most recent transmissions. So it's not like you miss a transmission because you weren't in your ship when it was sent.
I'd like to just note that StarNet and ship to ship communications aren't the same thing. StarNet is a system of computers or devices (which can be found on ships or on planets) that wait to receive connections and return data or responses based on these connections. This is known as a server, which I'm sure you know. StarNet is made up of servers, as is the real life internet. Ship to Ship communication would be what we've been discussing in terms of just broadcasting voices over distance. Personally, I'm not fond of overly fleshing out StarNet and making it complex. I'm actually starting to think that it might be a good idea for Staff to run a group that canonically runs a central server to provide a website for online communication in the zone for everyone else, ala, our real forums. This would make IC moderation of posts make sense!
Assuming that I am not an idiot and fully aware that a the starnet and ship to ship communications are not the same thing. I believe I thought of an idea/suggestion, as to use the ship to ship communication in a previous post to bolster the network.. Aah there is it.
How the hell are people up right now? I'm only up because I'm working.. crazies. In regards to planet side radio: I agree we should restrict galaxy chat on planet. SP3TCR3's idea is good, however I would suppliment that with the availability to connect via console access to large planetside arrays. These arrays could be built and operated by the colonies and factions. Without them, GC can be restricted to shipboard units exclusivly. In regards to starnet: I agree with SP3CT3R and Yotan, large satellites and communication ships would be a perfect way to "build" it into the server. Perhaps these can be constructed in orbit of the colonies, or on nearby moons or asteroid fields. *Had to edit some mistakes made by my autocorrect
Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you. I was just making sure. I still think that we shouldn't make StarNet overly complex. [DOUBLEPOST=1439027579][/DOUBLEPOST] I know it sounds good on paper, but my gut is telling me it'll get messy and/or confusing over time.
