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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:
If I had to guess it's because when you pull of that trick where you shoot a close wall and then face a group of enemies so the rays instagib them all you feel like a loving legend.
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Dec 23, 2022 15:16
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Slashrat posted:To be fair, it turned out to be a bad idea because they didn't anticipate that technology would develop to the point where it would become trivial to safely teleport the entire city and its population to some other location while leaving the superweapon intact The only thing I still remember about it is that one guy uses teleporter cloning to briefly but exponentially make enough copies of himself that "clones of this one guy" becomes a major demographic unto itself. I want to make some sort of joke about Endless Space's Horatio but TBH I can't really think of too much tech in ES that's actually lovely. Even the really goofy stuff apparently more or less works, like the thing where AI simulacra of the Emperor get put into every citizen's apartment. It is pretty whacky that FTL civilizations in ES2 have to do additional research to figure out how to make planes and tanks.
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Dec 23, 2022 16:29
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This is the inverse of talking about Battletech, where the default is that any given piece of tech is lovely.
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Dec 23, 2022 16:30
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Tulip posted:It is pretty whacky that FTL civilizations in ES2 have to do additional research to figure out how to make planes and tanks. Harry Turtledove wrote a story called The Road Not Taken, in which Earth is invaded by aliens utilizing FTL technology. However, it turns out that FTL technology is actually extremely simple, and most civilizations figure out somewhere around a Napoleonic era level of technology, so the aliens attack with cannons and matchlock rifles and are easily defeated.
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Dec 23, 2022 16:39
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SimonChris posted:Harry Turtledove wrote a story called The Road Not Taken, in which Earth is invaded by aliens utilizing FTL technology. However, it turns out that FTL technology is actually extremely simple, and most civilizations figure out somewhere around a Napoleonic era level of technology, so the aliens attack with cannons and matchlock rifles and are easily defeated. There's a sort-of sequel that's also good: Herbig-Haro https://summerblizzard.tistory.com/m/87
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Dec 23, 2022 22:27
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Feb 1, 2023 03:53
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I still don't know what the deal is with the three seashells
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Feb 2, 2023 21:45
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Mulaney Power Move posted:I still don't know what the deal is with the three seashells 
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Feb 2, 2023 21:54
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Mulaney Power Move posted:I still don't know what the deal is with the three seashells He doesn't know how to use the three seashells!
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Feb 5, 2023 04:50
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Fivemarks posted:The GTVA ships in Blue Planet are actually very not lovely. GTCv Bellerophon, AKA 'gently caress gently caress gently caress KILL IT KILL IT OH GOD OUR CAPITALS'  drat thing is pretty much just three gigantic beam weapons with an engine assembly strapped to the back. It even makes sense in the context of the lore. The Tevs got slapped around horribly by Shivan vessels with a heavy frontal weapon bias, and their new doctrine is essentially taking that to the logical conclusion while also slapping on enough armor to survive until their jump drives spool back up. Bloody Pom fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Feb 21, 2023 |
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Feb 21, 2023 21:05
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Bloody Pom posted:GTCv Bellerophon, AKA 'gently caress gently caress gently caress KILL IT KILL IT OH GOD OUR CAPITALS' Probably because, according to General Battuta/Seth Dickenson, who did a lot of the writing for it, its intentional writing that the Tevs are aping the Shivans with their new doctrine and ships.
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Feb 23, 2023 20:53
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I got reminded of that Deep Space Nine episode- In The Cards, thassit- where one plot point is that a crank scientist is developing some kind of 'cellular entertainment chamber' that he's convinced is the secret to halting ageing. It's not something you often see, but in-universe pseudoscience in a sci-fi setting is both really funny and incredibly fitting with a little thought, especially considering how much Star Trek especially has technology that's effectively magic, and ship components frequently pulling off ridiculous deus ex machinas that are never seen again.
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Mar 12, 2023 10:38
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His mistake was that he wasn't reversing the polarity of your cells, that would actually make you immortal
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Mar 12, 2023 11:07
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Hey, we don't know that it doesn't work. I find it interesting that Weyoun of all people shows genuine interest in it enough to offer the guy a job. Weyoun already has access to a form of immortality. Albeit maybe interested in seeing how long he can keep that body going.
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Mar 12, 2023 13:11
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I got reminded of that Deep Space Nine episode- In The Cards, thassit- where one plot point is that a crank scientist is developing some kind of 'cellular entertainment chamber' that he's convinced is the secret to halting ageing. Its especially fun that I can just hear immediately Bashir: So, what they are saying they'll do is [...], it's really quite fascinating Whoever he's talking to, maybe Kira: So does it work? Bashir: Oh no, not at all, its total nonsense. Dr. [] tried to do something similar twenty years ago, but tragically it killed everyone who tested it.
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Mar 12, 2023 18:26
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I mean, they don't even need it, since it's been demonstrated the transporter can just put you in a younger body.
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Mar 12, 2023 21:56
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Ghost Leviathan posted:It's not something you often see, but in-universe pseudoscience in a sci-fi setting is both really funny and incredibly fitting with a little thought, especially considering how much Star Trek especially has technology that's effectively magic, and ship components frequently pulling off ridiculous deus ex machinas that are never seen again. We've established that transporters can create perfect clones of people and also that they can undo aging. Both of these seem more important uses than, say, moving people from one location to another, and yet.
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Mar 13, 2023 16:02
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Phanatic posted:We've established that transporters can create perfect clones of people and also that they can undo aging. Both of these seem more important uses than, say, moving people from one location to another, and yet. "can" in very weird niche setups that can't be replicated.
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Mar 13, 2023 17:02
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Phanatic posted:We've established that transporters can create perfect clones of people and also that they can undo aging. Both of these seem more important uses than, say, moving people from one location to another, and yet. Wasn't it also a transporter "glitch" in the original Mirror, Mirror episode that got them to the other universe? Yeah, a lot of this stuff is all really glitchy and happenstance, but you'd think someone could spend some technobabble and change it from bug to feature.
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Mar 13, 2023 18:37
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CainFortea posted:"can" in very weird niche setups that can't be replicated. No reason they couldn't be replicated. Dr. Pulaski's got this disease that has caused her to age prematurely, they take a sample of her DNA from when she was young that morning, put them both into a transporter, and presto, they don't just cure the disease so that she's not aging faster anymore, she comes out of the transporter as her younger self. Literally everyone could just take a sample of their DNA when they're 18 and revert to being 18 at any later time. The accident that created Riker's clone also seems entirely replicable. And the fact that it was possible at all means that you can just copy the data anyway, so just by beaming someone somewhere you could simply choose to materialize multiple copies of them in different locations.
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Mar 13, 2023 18:55
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Perfect way to drop an army of disposable ‘clones’ on somebody.
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Mar 13, 2023 19:34
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These things are not done because it is quietly agreed to be in poor taste.
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Mar 13, 2023 19:47
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Sometimes I feel that the only thing keeping the Federation from overnight turning into transhuman gods on par with the various omnipotent energy beings they encounter is just, ironically, a deeply conserviative culture about really pushing the envelope with all the bullshit tech they have.
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Mar 13, 2023 19:48
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General Battuta posted:These things are not done because it is quietly agreed to be in poor taste. Forcibly relocating a native population so you can steal their planet because it gives off stop-aging-at-40 radiation is fine though.
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Mar 13, 2023 19:53
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Look at the crazy bullshit that happens when you use the transporter for just regular beaming. Now throw deliberately doing clones and stuff on top of that.
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Mar 13, 2023 20:08
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Phanatic posted:No reason they couldn't be replicated. Dr. Pulaski's got this disease that has caused her to age prematurely, they take a sample of her DNA from when she was young that morning, put them both into a transporter, and presto, they don't just cure the disease so that she's not aging faster anymore, she comes out of the transporter as her younger self. Literally everyone could just take a sample of their DNA when they're 18 and revert to being 18 at any later time. There is a huge reason they couldn't be duplicated. It would really suck if they could.
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Mar 13, 2023 20:45
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Asterite34 posted:Sometimes I feel that the only thing keeping the Federation from overnight turning into transhuman gods on par with the various omnipotent energy beings they encounter is just, ironically, a deeply conserviative culture about really pushing the envelope with all the bullshit tech they have. Utopia of Rules is overall Graber's worst book but the section where he describes the federation in terms of the mid-late USSR as an incredibly politically conservative culture where any political dissent has to be couched in terms of ethnic interest rather than just flatly "I think this is a better idea" is really cool
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Mar 13, 2023 20:55
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Man, you tell a couple fun, wacky sci-fi stories and then people demand that you declare all laws of reality null and void.
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Mar 13, 2023 23:43
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Asterite34 posted:Sometimes I feel that the only thing keeping the Federation from overnight turning into transhuman gods on par with the various omnipotent energy beings they encounter is just, ironically, a deeply conserviative culture about really pushing the envelope with all the bullshit tech they have. This is one of the world building principles Iain M. Banks used in his Culture series. The Culture is the Federation, with all the miracle tech embraced and taken to the full extent of what it would logically be capable of.
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Mar 14, 2023 08:30
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Lemniscate Blue posted:This is one of the world building principles Iain M. Banks used in his Culture series. The Culture is the Federation, with all the miracle tech embraced and taken to the full extent of what it would logically be capable of. I've read quite a bit of science fiction and had never heard of the culture until recently on SA
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Mar 14, 2023 21:24
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Phanatic posted:The accident that created Riker's clone also seems entirely replicable. And the fact that it was possible at all means that you can just copy the data anyway, so just by beaming someone somewhere you could simply choose to materialize multiple copies of them in different locations. I've come to prefer reading that episode as that the transporter accidentally grabbed a Riker from a slightly parallel timeline (which we know an unlimited number of them exist thanks to Parallels) and that Data and Geordi simply mis-interpreted the sensor data. The show timeline got an extra Riker, and the timeline he came from just records that Lt Riker's signal was tragically lost while beaming up from the surface.
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Mar 14, 2023 22:40
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Farmer Crack-rear end posted:I've come to prefer reading that episode as that the transporter accidentally grabbed a Riker from a slightly parallel timeline (which we know an unlimited number of them exist thanks to Parallels) and that Data and Geordi simply mis-interpreted the sensor data. The show timeline got an extra Riker, and the timeline he came from just records that Lt Riker's signal was tragically lost while beaming up from the surface. OMG, they Harry Kimmed him!
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Mar 15, 2023 14:47
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Phanatic posted:Forcibly relocating a native population so you can steal their planet because it gives off stop-aging-at-40 radiation is fine though. One of the books from the 70s had a planet where a virus(?) caused everyone under puberty to stop ageing and live for hundreds of years while anyone older than 13 died. It ended with the Enterprise crew finding a cure for the kids and them starting to age normally. So right there you have the start of a 'live forever' potion that just needs a bit of research to get it past the post. But, like 99.999% of all the cool and weird one-offs in Trek, it's put in a box and never heard from again.
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Mar 15, 2023 16:34
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As has been said many times stargate was sooo much better at remembering weird one off tech stuff existed than pretty much any ongoing sci-fi show (Fringe was pretty good at this too).
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Mar 15, 2023 16:40
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Megillah Gorilla posted:
I think the only thing in Trek that *wasn't* like that was the deal where using warp drive was doing something like eroding a barrier between subspace and real space and was going to destroy everything and it got exponentially worse the faster you went so they implemented a speed limit that could only be broken in emergencies. And subsequently they would make reference to it, but of course everything was an emergency so it's not like it had an effect, it's just something they referenced. My favorite was the one where there was this big secret archaeological conspiracy that had Picard creaming his uniform and the big reveal is it's an alien hologram telling the humans and the vulcans and the romulans and the klingons that they're all descendants of one ur-race. Well, loving duh, they all have the same number of fingers and look almost identical except for their foreheads and they can *interbreed* so *clearly* they're all close genetic relatives, this doesn't need to be "revealed" to anyone with even a casual awareness of biology, but yep, you built a whole episode based on how DNA works and then never reference it again.
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Mar 15, 2023 16:50
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I can think of ONE superscience thing that was introduced in Star Trek that feels like it should have been quietly forgotten, but actually comes up pretty regularly: that thing where you slingshot around the sun to travel back in time, and that one shows up in like episode 4 of the original series. They got a lot of mileage out of that, it even got into The Voyage Home! And it's not like it's super specialized knowledge only Kirk knew about it, I'm pretty sure it crops up a couple times later.
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Mar 15, 2023 17:05
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Asterite34 posted:I can think of ONE superscience thing that was introduced in Star Trek that feels like it should have been quietly forgotten, but actually comes up pretty regularly: that thing where you slingshot around the sun to travel back in time, and that one shows up in like episode 4 of the original series. They got a lot of mileage out of that, it even got into The Voyage Home! And it's not like it's super specialized knowledge only Kirk knew about it, I'm pretty sure it crops up a couple times later. Yeah, but it's still a case where the implications of that being so readily available aren't dealt with. First Contact had this whole thing where the Borg attacked Earth so they could go back in time and prevent first ontact and assimilate Earth in the past. But why would they need to fly to Earth first? Just slingshot around some other sun nearer to where they are where there's no Federation fleet to interfere, and *then* travel to Earth and assimilate it. If all you have to do is go fast enough to travel back in time in Trek, then any of the major players can do this any time they want to. Apparently it's just another uncouth thing to do that's universally frowned upon and so nobody does it. Except if they want to.
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Mar 15, 2023 17:30
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dr_rat posted:As has been said many times stargate was sooo much better at remembering weird one off tech stuff existed than pretty much any ongoing sci-fi show (Fringe was pretty good at this too). I mean, I didn't watch all of SG-1 but they seemed to forget details about their tech stuff all the time. LIke with the taser guns.
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Mar 15, 2023 17:44
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Farscape still had the absolute best galaxy-brain level call back during its run. There is a single one-shot episode where they encounter some raiders who come aboard the ship wearing these belts that shield them from being shot. Eventually the crew takes them out and you probably completely forgot about that episode. A season later, during one of the more important plot arcs, John and Aeryn get casually shot but then pop back up a little later in the episode, and Aeryn says something along the lines of "Wow these [raider's name] belts are great!", and you realize that of course the gang totally looted those raiders and are wearing their poo poo.
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Mar 15, 2023 18:14
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Anonymous Zebra posted:Farscape still had the absolute best galaxy-brain level call back during its run. There is a single one-shot episode where they encounter some raiders who come aboard the ship wearing these belts that shield them from being shot. Eventually the crew takes them out and you probably completely forgot about that episode. A season later, during one of the more important plot arcs, John and Aeryn get casually shot but then pop back up a little later in the episode, and Aeryn says something along the lines of "Wow these [raider's name] belts are great!", and you realize that of course the gang totally looted those raiders and are wearing their poo poo. Babylon 5 I think has that beat. In season 1 there's a weird alien device some old lady finds that can transfer "life energy" from one person to another. Over the course of the episode you learn that the aliens made it as a capitol punishment device, so that some murderer can literally give their life for benefit of the rest of society. She was using it to give up some of her own life to save people's life. 3 seasons later and an Important Character uses it and gives up his life to save the life of More Important Character. And this device was not mentioned or used in the intervening episodes.
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Mar 15, 2023 18:24
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