|
Cuntpunch posted:when it finally sees the traitor self-destruct in despair and ends it's assault - time passed: fractions of a second No, the ROU got its effectors into the traitor ship's Mind. It committed suicide because it was compelled to. That shows the power and cruelty of an ROU very well. If it got in that far the ROU was capable of tearing the enemy Mind apart by itself, but instead it made it rip itself apart. Very cool and one of the most telling scenes about the Minds in a book that's all about the scheming and manipulation the Minds get up to.
|
#
¿
Sep 26, 2009 17:33
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:15 |
|
|
It's mentioned that a Culture warship can convince an opponent to suicide. The scene before the suicide is the avenging ship starting its attack. Then there's an abrupt scene transition and the traitor suicides out of guilt. I'm reading that as "an attack is made" and "a possible result occurs". There's a setup and a punchline, so I believe it's an induced suicide. I can find sources for the skeptical.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 6, 2009 06:39
|
|
|
Sanford posted:On the topic of ship names, my friends and I loved this game at university. A few I remember (and apologies if these are actually from any of the books; it's been a long time) In Star Trek Online I have flown the: Ethics Gradient Different Tan Not Invented Here Zero Gravitas Tactical Grace The ship names have a limit, which is keeping me from several names I wanted to use.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 24, 2010 02:06
|
|
|
coffeetable posted:http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm Read this. It's the Cold War with weaponized Mythos creatures. Read the gently caress out of this, it has the XB-36 nuclear powered bombers, 300 megatons aimed right at Cthulhu. Like that'd help. Seriously, read that.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2010 08:33
|
|
|
One other thing about the humans in the Culture, some of them are as good as the Minds at analysis. I believe it's in Use of Weapons, one of the characters is an SC strategic analyst. She's one of a couple dozen people (out of trillions) who regularly outperforms a Mind at analysis tasks out of intuition, lucky genes or whatever. That's one reason why a group as coldbloodedly pragmatic as the Culture Minds will always keep humans around and as full members of the society: out of trillions of people you're going to get some geniuses who can perform at an amazingly high level. That, and if the Minds are anything like me or some of my friends, maybe they just love hosting parties.
|
|
#
¿
May 19, 2010 19:42
|
|
|
Flipswitch posted:With all of that said, I picked up Against A Dark Background earlier in the week but have yet to start it properly, I read the first two chapters and it seemed interesting enough, but RL stuff keeps getting in the way so I haven't had a proper chance to get into it, what are peoples (spoiler free!) thoughts on it before I start? AaDB is a fantastic caper story filled with unusual settings and situations.It's dark, edgy and action packed. It'd be an absolute bitch to film but I'd love to see HBO or Showtime tackle it as a big budget miniseries.
|
|
#
¿
May 30, 2010 15:49
|
|
|
MikeJF posted:That's a very odd title for a Culture book. Oh great, gas giant dwellers again.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 23, 2012 11:52
|
|
|
Prolonged Priapism posted:Ink Neither of those look enough like sex toys. Honestly.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 22, 2012 04:43
|
|
|
Barry Foster posted:I think it makes them seem a lot more godlike, seeing as we know they can be intimately concerned with billions of individuals at a time. My standard explanation for just how powerful Minds are, is that a GCU or Hub Mind can play a game of go and carry on a conversation with everyone aboard simultaneously, and still run itself effectively.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 2, 2012 03:18
|
|
|
Krinkle posted:So when Drone and knife missile are not synonyms. A drone is a person, a knife missile is a nonsentient submunition. They're smart enough to hunt a target, but Zakalwe still managed to trick one. Knife missiles extend fields and then fly really fast, cutting people to pieces.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 5, 2012 00:01
|
|
|
Pope Guilty posted:When I got to the end of Use of Weapons I felt like I'd been punched in the chest. Hell of an ending. It has my favorite epilogue to anything ever. And thanks for the extra one for Dark Background, that's one of my favorite re-reads since there are so many wonderful set pieces.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 4, 2013 04:14
|
|
|
Oh meatbags.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 3, 2013 16:31
|
|
|
Yes, Dragon is less dry. It doesn't use journals, it's conventional narrative style. The Black Company books start mixing up the annalist role in the later books, so the style will change. Not everyone likes the later annalists, but YMMV.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 10, 2013 18:59
|
|
|
gender illusionist posted:http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/jul/04/iain-banks-asteroid-name-galache A fitting tribute indeed. The Bridge doesn't get enough love. Sure, it's a little straightforward. It doesn't need a deep twist, just so long as it gets somewhere. What is brilliant is the journey. It's a neat setting, there's deep character insight, and the dreamscape that builds up is simply amazing. The Scotch brogue in one of the early chapters is Banks' best dialogue, once you 'hear' it in your head, it's perfect.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2013 08:15
|
|
|
Tuxedo Catfish posted:EDIT: Also I seriously doubt Flere-Imsaho was ever out of Special Circumstances. It's just a cover story. Which makes the animal torture just part of a cover story. Whose idea was that, and is it that big of an issue in the culture ? Maybe killing a non sentient humanely isn't consider immoral, just tasteless. Some drones do consider themselves above the meatbags, despite being at a nominal 1.0 standard with humans, or as close as an AI can get. The personalities seem to match. I just read Stonemouth. It's a drat good novel. It also has some elements of violence, torture and intimidation which I'm going to ponder some more and then try and relate it to the Culture books.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 18, 2013 08:23
|
|
|
Ugly In The Morning posted:What's a good place to go next? I have Against a Dark Background, but I'm jonesing for some Culture stuff. Against A Dark Background is dark, bleak, sad, and depressing. It's also packed with amazing set piece scenes that are (early) Banks at his best. I love it, your mileage may vary.
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2017 18:49
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 19:15 |
|
|
MikeJF posted:And so as not to build expectations, be aware that Inversions isn't usually published with 'A Culture Novel' on the front for a reason. It's not a Culture novel. But sometimes it does have that written there. Because. The Bridge has a reference to a knife missile if I recall correctly. And a Lazy Gun from AaDB is mentioned in some definitely Culture novel.
|
|
#
¿
May 26, 2017 04:36
|
|