Reminds me of the methane intelligences from the Chanurverse.
thinking about the Drake Equation...
- Thread starter aramis
- Start date
I see you're from far far away land too!
That's optimism for ya!
12. "Ant" farms...
The more we find out about the evolution of Earth, the more that evolution resulting in us seems unlikely.
I ran across a recent revision (on YouTube) of the Drake equation that turned part of the math around to come to a rough minimal estimate of civilizations in the galaxy/universe. I'd not seen it looked at that way before.
Then last night I saw the most recent simulations for explaining the proto-Earth/Thea collison/creation of the moon. Seems Thea "most likely" started with an orbit around the Earth's trailing Lagrange point (well...the video seemed to show it in the trailing point. I suppose it could be eaither at the current level of investigation). That's yet again a more restrictive scenario than the original hypothesis, and there are good reasons to add the restriction to the scenario.
Right. And just how likely is a planet the size of Mars to end up orbiting the Lagrange point of a planet not quite the size of Earth? The possibility of that ought to account for a few more zeros in the Drake estimate.
I ran across a recent revision (on YouTube) of the Drake equation that turned part of the math around to come to a rough minimal estimate of civilizations in the galaxy/universe. I'd not seen it looked at that way before.
Then last night I saw the most recent simulations for explaining the proto-Earth/Thea collison/creation of the moon. Seems Thea "most likely" started with an orbit around the Earth's trailing Lagrange point (well...the video seemed to show it in the trailing point. I suppose it could be eaither at the current level of investigation). That's yet again a more restrictive scenario than the original hypothesis, and there are good reasons to add the restriction to the scenario.
Right. And just how likely is a planet the size of Mars to end up orbiting the Lagrange point of a planet not quite the size of Earth? The possibility of that ought to account for a few more zeros in the Drake estimate.
Aliens have come to earth looking for “pet rocks” from intercepted signals. Nowhere else in the universe has a sentient race domesticated a living lithosphere and xeno-litho-cultural anthropologists are flocking to Earth to attempt to be the first to observe this alleged bonding pair. So far they have thousands of hours of data on priestesss and their “crystals” to gather positive energy … but only speculation on the elusive “pet rocks”.
Academic studies, the way we do with wildlife, that is what happened in my universe, and they "fogged" the solar system like in three body problem, so even though we can see out, it is 20,000 years out of date. It actually breaks about 50 years ago, though we'll not see it for a while yet.
So, let me ask this.
Given all that's said here, how does Brilliant Lances fall short?
Let's disregard the design system for the moment, how does BL not live up to these requirements?
It has all of these things. Big guns, little guns, armor, "agility", "power points", missiles, point defense, ECM, ECCM, sensors, big hits crit small ship. Really big hits crit really big ships.
It has damage boxes, it can accommodate multiple systems, redundant systems, multiple spinals, etc.
If you want to just line fleets up ala HG and Let Fly, I'm sure it can manage that as well. Simplify the movement system, sure. Maybe Master Fire Directors are a bit fiddly, fine -- yank 'em out. Or line them up ala Battle Rider and crit each other to death.
Not suggesting its perfect, but seems to be the closest thing to a foundation that we have that can be tweaked vs just starting from scratch.
Because, lets be clear, this is not a "take LBB combat and 'fix' it", this is a goal driven design of a new combat system. The bathwater is gone, and the baby is clinging to the edge of the tub.
Given all that's said here, how does Brilliant Lances fall short?
Let's disregard the design system for the moment, how does BL not live up to these requirements?
It has all of these things. Big guns, little guns, armor, "agility", "power points", missiles, point defense, ECM, ECCM, sensors, big hits crit small ship. Really big hits crit really big ships.
It has damage boxes, it can accommodate multiple systems, redundant systems, multiple spinals, etc.
If you want to just line fleets up ala HG and Let Fly, I'm sure it can manage that as well. Simplify the movement system, sure. Maybe Master Fire Directors are a bit fiddly, fine -- yank 'em out. Or line them up ala Battle Rider and crit each other to death.
Not suggesting its perfect, but seems to be the closest thing to a foundation that we have that can be tweaked vs just starting from scratch.
Because, lets be clear, this is not a "take LBB combat and 'fix' it", this is a goal driven design of a new combat system. The bathwater is gone, and the baby is clinging to the edge of the tub.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
Two more possibilities:
The aliens have come not for trade so much, as to sell you something you don't need like magazine subscriptions in their impossible to read language...
The aliens have come to spread the "truth" and convert you into "True believers" whatever that may take...
The aliens have come not for trade so much, as to sell you something you don't need like magazine subscriptions in their impossible to read language...
The aliens have come to spread the "truth" and convert you into "True believers" whatever that may take...
Condottiere
SOC-14 5K
Maybe they're recruiting for their pyramid scheme, like their last visit.
Enoki
SOC-14 1K
Was that a pyramid scheme or a Ponzi scheme. Maybe this time they're selling timeshares on Regina...
...wow...
I put this on the COMPLETELY wrong thread. Should I copy it over or can the post be moved to the BCS thread?
That is the whole purpose of it. if one ignores the detectibility term, one gets how many civs.
Drake himself mentions this in an interview on TV in the late 1970's or early 1980's.
That is also foundational to his entire Uplift cycle. (It's good.) His assumptions and biases put there being at least several tens of thousands of civilizations in the galaxy, and the series of novels is a love-letter to the zoo hypothesis and an enslavement hypothesis all in one.
