What Was The Catastrophic Event That Caused The EW?

[aramis]

I write software and firmware for metal cutting machines and I have to deal with interfaces and writing all the time. I consider the Virus science handwavium akin to Star Trek science. Something that sounds good but quickly falls apart when you poke at it.

I was only able to automate a few things using basic at the time... but even then, Virus made so little sense that I chalked it up to Cymbeline Chip Psionics.

But both Virus and the Empress Wave are needless resets; it'd have been far better to just extend hard times into the Dark Times, then a new unification in 1300 or 1400.

TNE was, for a decade or so, my favored ruleset, but my least favorite setting timeframe. (My current campaign is hybrid CT/Striker/MT/T20. With a few T5-borrows. In 1107)

 

[estar]

I said, "If you were watching a show, and the pilot yells to the co-pilot I need 120 degrees of flaps or we're going to crash ..."
He got this confused/upset look, and said, "That's impossible, makes no sense to have flaps go like that. That line makes no sense."
I said, "It would kinda ruin the drama for the scene, right?"
And he grinned as he realized why programmers don't watch "Super Hacker" TV shows.

Back in the 2000s I was majorly into writing addon for Orbiter Space Simulator (free to download) including one where I emulated the functionality of the Mercery Space Capsule to the point where you could use most of the original NASA operational checklist. I didn't get quite a far with the Gemini Spacecraft but did enough so that it was accurate as far as orbital maneuvering goes.

So the whole experience left me hyperaware of how stuff worked in space as far as historical and current spacecraft goes. So while I can still enjoy stuff like Apollo 13, Gravity, For all Mankind, I also can instantly spot their "I need 120 degrees of flaps" moments as well. But I am willing to forgive those lapses if the story or the character interaction are top notch.

 

[Baroun Tardis]

Back in the 2000s I was majorly into writing addon for Orbiter Space Simulator (free to download) including one where I emulated the functionality of the Mercery Space Capsule to the point where you could use most of the original NASA operational checklist. I didn't get quite a far with the Gemini Spacecraft but did enough so that it was accurate as far as orbital maneuvering goes.

So the whole experience left me hyperaware of how stuff worked in space as far as historical and current spacecraft goes. So while I can still enjoy stuff like Apollo 13, Gravity, For all Mankind, I also can instantly spot their "I need 120 degrees of flaps" moments as well. But I am willing to forgive those lapses if the story or the character interaction are top notch.

When I put my "Sierra" 100-ton scout together in Second Life and later Open Sim, I really tried to get stuff accurate. Lot of things get simpler with higher tech, but I did end up reading the crew member introduction books for the Shuttle, the ISS and chunks of Apollo.
(The guidance computer on the Sierra has a DSKY and uses a lot of the AGC commands, for example)

Anyway... yeah, what you said, cubed and squared.

 

[GypsyComet]

I write software and firmware for metal cutting machines and I have to deal with interfaces and writing all the time. I consider the Virus science handwavium akin to Star Trek science. Something that sounds good but quickly falls apart when you poke at it.

Traveller being SCIENCE fiction vs science FICTION is an argument almost as old as the game itself. My signature block includes my opinion on the matter.

The 1248 version of the Wave (which is pointedly not Virus) was inconsistently described. The big reveal text has it as some sort of psychic warning, urging sophonts to get as far from the exploding galactic core as possible. Then the setting rules say it's basically an EMP that can be avoided by unplugging your appliances. Hence my quip about toasters.