I want to know how FTL communications work. =(
Magic.
I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.
Drift beacons, actually.
Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.
Close enough.
Close enough.Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.
Not exactly. In the reveal stream, they mentioned that the nearest thing they had to mechanical FTL communication, was essentially strapping a message to a guided missile with a Drift drive and launching that in the direction of wherever it was you want the message to go. They receive it, and send a message back the same way. Hardly instant communication between planets, especially across the Vast when you'd be looking at 10d6 days roundtrip.
The spell Sending, if it hasn't been given a planetary range in Starfinder, is still probably your best way of getting communication across the Galaxy.
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Close enough.Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.Not exactly. In the reveal stream, they mentioned that the nearest thing they had to mechanical FTL communication, was essentially strapping a message to a guided missile with a Drift drive and launching that in the direction of wherever it was you want the message to go. They receive it, and send a message back the same way. Hardly instant communication between planets, especially across the Vast when you'd be looking at 10d6 days roundtrip.
The spell Sending, if it hasn't been given a planetary range in Starfinder, is still probably your best way of getting communication across the Galaxy.
"Sir, a telegram missile has arrived for you."
"Have it explode in the dining parlor, if you would."
"At once, Sir. Shall I have our launcher readied to fire a response salvo?"
"I should think so!"
"Very good, Sir."
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"Sir, a telegram missile has arrived for you."
"Have it explode in the dining parlor, if you would."
"At once, Sir. Shall I have our launcher readied to fire a response salvo?"
"I should think so!"
"Very good, Sir."
<Klunk!> "Message for you sir!"
"No, it was just a dud. They're trying to kill us..."
Close enough.Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.Not exactly. In the reveal stream, they mentioned that the nearest thing they had to mechanical FTL communication, was essentially strapping a message to a guided missile with a Drift drive and launching that in the direction of wherever it was you want the message to go. They receive it, and send a message back the same way. Hardly instant communication between planets, especially across the Vast when you'd be looking at 10d6 days roundtrip.
The spell Sending, if it hasn't been given a planetary range in Starfinder, is still probably your best way of getting communication across the Galaxy.
If you're sending a message from somewhere in the Vast to somewhere else in the Vast, it would take 10d6 days roundtrip. If you're sending a message to Absalom Station, it only takes 1d6 days, no matter where you're sending it from, for a roundtrip of 6d6 days.
I really like the concept of delayed communication - it gives exploring the galaxy a wild west-style feeling.
If I remember correctly, traveling within a star system should only take 1d6 days. I would be cool with a 4th level or higher spell for instant communication within a star system, but hopefully it doesn't go farther than that.
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It also opens the possibility of a ship in the drift intercepting a drift beacon message. They can then alter the message and resend it, just destroy the beacon, or set up ambushes based on the communication. The issue is, that once you send the beacon out, you aren't guaranteed to know if it's going to reach its destination.
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If you're sending a message from somewhere in the Vast to somewhere else in the Vast, it would take 10d6 days roundtrip. If you're sending a message to Absalom Station, it only takes 1d6 days, no matter where you're sending it from, for a roundtrip of 6d6 days.Close enough.Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.Not exactly. In the reveal stream, they mentioned that the nearest thing they had to mechanical FTL communication, was essentially strapping a message to a guided missile with a Drift drive and launching that in the direction of wherever it was you want the message to go. They receive it, and send a message back the same way. Hardly instant communication between planets, especially across the Vast when you'd be looking at 10d6 days roundtrip.
The spell Sending, if it hasn't been given a planetary range in Starfinder, is still probably your best way of getting communication across the Galaxy.
Hmm... I feel like from the sounds of it, your best bet for relatively quick communication, is for you to send a communication to a central mailing box on Absolom Station, and forward it to wherever else you need it.
... Or... If you are have a weirdly specific circumstance where you don't need them to get the message quickly, but you need to get the reply quickly, you can send a message to them with the message "come meet me at Absolom station", or "send your reply to this mailing box at Absolom station", and pick up your reply there.
If you've got some manner of agreement to meet every so often, you can exchange information on a regular basis, only waiting up to 1d6 from each of you only needing that 1d6 to meet there, rather than having to wait for them to get the meetup message.
That last one kind of implies a lot of offworlders probably meet up on Absolom for no other reason than to discuss business on a regular basis. Like, a multi-stellar corp having its yearly branch meetup and review on Absolom so they only miss a month at most of business.
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Absalom Station is Casablanca. That works...
Starfinder's set-up on a lot of things is close to the notes I was making for my own setting - VERY close, in certain aspects, telling me I was on the right track. When it came to communications, I was torn between instantaneous and ship-speed. Now, ship-speed was a bit of a variable that depended on several factors, but ultimately was intended to replicate the "age of sail" feel. Given the fact I had a type of "drift beacon" that aided in making those jumps between systems, it made sense to me to have instantaneous communications if there was a beacon at each end - after all, the beacons were communicating constantly to provide navigational data so why not throw in access to the GalactiNet, too? So, you have age of sail travel speeds, but also the internet.
Well it also depends on the drift engine the message missile has. If it has a rating of 2, it could take as little as 12 hours to get the message to Absalom (though up to 3 days on the long end). Hoping that message missiles are faster than a regular ship, they probably have a rating even higher than that. Still may take days, but probably not 10d6 worth of days.
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Vendor - Fantasiapelit Tampere
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Sounding like broken record, but sweet jeebus did I like that her backstory was not super dramatic and that her ladylove is still alive, not killed, abjucted or vanished. And it is kinda weird that this seems to be like a exception in backgrounds.
I get it, drama and conflict are somewhat necessary for having a compelling character with something that drives them towards something. But it is nice to see not so dead loved ones in the backstories. So kudos for that!
This goes right there with Imrijka and space bug dad being one of my favorite backstories ever.
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Sounding like broken record, but sweet jeebus did I like that her backstory was not super dramatic and that her ladylove is still alive, not killed, abjucted or vanished. And it is kinda weird that this seems to be like a exception in backgrounds.
Hmm... I'm not sure if that word means the same thing it used to, but with the meaning I'm used to, meaning "girlfriend"... I've got to point one thing out.
Danese offered to resign his commission, but Raia refused.
Its easy to miss, but its there. A pronoun usage. It's only used once, but its still there.
I actually went back and checked because I read your comment, since for a second I thought Danese's gender wasn't mentioned at all and needed to be sure you weren't just making assumptions.
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It's there at least twice:
Raia was immediately enthralled with the exotic ryphorian and his silky white fur
There's no reason Sending wouldn't work, as even interplanar sending is possible -- as long as someone doesn't decide to Nerf the spell. (I'm still a bit miffed at the Greater Teleport vs. Interplanetary Teleport situation, the only Pathfinder spell ever guilty of the True Scotsman Fallacy ;-) NO range limit should really mean NO range limit, darn it!)
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There's no reason Sending wouldn't work, as even interplanar sending is possible -- as long as someone doesn't decide to Nerf the spell. (I'm still a bit miffed at the Greater Teleport vs. Interplanetary Teleport situation, the only Pathfinder spell ever guilty of the True Scotsman Fallacy ;-) NO range limit should really mean NO range limit, darn it!)
Leave my missile-grams alone!
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There's no reason Sending wouldn't work, as even interplanar sending is possible -- as long as someone doesn't decide to Nerf the spell. (I'm still a bit miffed at the Greater Teleport vs. Interplanetary Teleport situation, the only Pathfinder spell ever guilty of the True Scotsman Fallacy ;-) NO range limit should really mean NO range limit, darn it!)Even if the spell isn't nerfed, it requires a 7th-9th level spellcaster, which probably don't grow on trees, and it can only communicate 25 words back and forth per casting, which is not ideal. Especially when you consider that of the core classes, only two of them are spellcasters, and they only have access to six spell levels, so it might or might not require higher level spellcasters, and with higher levels of technology, there may be fewer magic-users.
Though personally, considering that Pathfinder is generally played on the scale of a single planet with some optional travel to other dimensions and occasionally other planets, I personally don't have a problem with the concept of spells that seemed to have no range limit on a planetary scale turning out to have a range limit when you scale up to the scale of a solar system, multiple solar systems, an entire galaxy, etc. Those are scales we humans have a hard time wrapping our heads around. Similarly, on Earth we often have nearly instantaneous communication with each other in many (though certainly not all) areas...but if we had people living on Mars (or in cloud cities on Venus), communication definitely wouldn't be as easy. And more so if we ever manage to colonize other star systems. But that's just my opinion.
While true, I'm fine with it, for the reason of limited experienced spellcasters as mentioned. 25 words to trade major news events on an instantaneous basis, which then spread by word of mouth, isn't that game breaking. Plus, people can lie and claim something came from a bona fide sender but is actually from a rumor mill to spread disinformation. It's not like the original sender who is cross-galaxy is around to defend their reputation. "Did your hear? First Seeker Jadnura is actually alive and had a sending sent! First Seeker Elsebo is really usurping the position..."
Talk about your "fake news incidents..." :D
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Kinda glad you didn't. Characters are not an element of spoken language. :P
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The inability to communicate instantaneously could result in unlimited great gaming hooks. I hope it is in the game.
Yeah, it's surprising how many older movies would have ended differently if the people involved had a working cell phone.
Eliminating the ability to just call to warn someone of information you've just uncovered (X is the killer/spy/shapeshifting alien!), or the ship to beam you out of there, or the police, or a cab, or an ambulance, or just a friend or family member, can really ramp up the tension.
Magical healing eliminating the drama of major injuries, resurrection trumping death scenes, divination negating the need for investigation and potentially wrecking any attempt at mystery and instant transportation allowing characters to bypass obstacles or planned encounters en-route are yet more major complications to narrative storytelling in science fiction or fantasy, and d20 has had to deal with all of them.
Since the Drift can only be accessed by technology, perhaps some of those magical effects suffer from interference via Drift Storms or something. Makes those dungeons extra dangerous. Maybe have it be a percentage roll, to see if the stuff works or not in that moment.
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I still wonder if the emergence of the drift has affected the ease of access to other dimensions, such as making the drift a new transition boundary or barrier between the prime material and other planes. It would help explain why previous magical means for long range travel or communications are no longer as viable as they used to be.
I don't think anything changed, honestly. We're still pretty unclear on whether Triune made or simply discovered the means by which to access the Drift. There's a good possibility that it was there all along, an empty void that existed since the dawn of time. If so, the boundaries wouldn't change any when the Drift drives were gifted.
The other methods of travel (shadow drives, extra planar short cuts, and generation ships) that were used before the Drift drives are still possible, but they require a lot of things your average person isn't willing to put up with.
Shadow drives, which let you dip into the plane of Shadow and cover vast stretches of space quickly are still slower than Drift drives at getting around. They also pack all the unpleasant side effects of being in the plane of Shadows.
Jumping into the Ethereal plane, and zipping along using the power of your mind requires a few things that make it impractical for mass use as well; your speed is determined by your Intelligence and you also need to be able to get into the Ethereal plane in the first place. In other words, you need to be a powerful spell caster, preferably with an Int focus. Sure you don't age while you're in there, so travel time means nothing to you, but it's still passing outside. It's a trip that basically means you're leaving behind everyone you knew and loved forever, because they'll be dust by the time you get to your destination.
Generation ships are typically a last resort in any setting. Who really wants to spend the rest of your life in confined spaces with grandma?
There are things like Interplanetary teleport, but those have requirements that aren't always feasible eaither. You, again, need to be a high level spell caster, and you need to know where you're going. Not exactly ideal when you're just trying to go new places you've never been, nor is it terribly expedient when trying to set up a colony, when you're essentially limited to what you and a few people can carry in your arms at a time. It also means you're building a colony that will be highly isolated, with their fate resting on the mage capable of teleportation not getting eaten by strange alien fauna, or flora even.
Then enter the Drift drive; cheap, reliable, user friendly. Doesn't require years of training, can get anywhere quickly, can be hooked up to any size of ship you like, so you can haul massive amounts of cargo, no nasty shadow side effects, quick enough that you can always be home in time for Christmas-analog.
It's not a matter of the other methods no longer existing, or not working, it comes down to simple humanoid laziness. Drifting is fast, cheap, easy, and its side effects don't effect the primary user directly. Sure, once in a while, you tear off a chunk of Hell and have some angry imps gumming on the windshield, but your ship got attacked by weird stuff in the Shadow plane, and the Ethereal plane too, so you can't really even complain about it. Random encounters are just a part of travel.
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Close enough.Drift beacons, actually.I want to know how FTL communications work. =(Magic.Not exactly. In the reveal stream, they mentioned that the nearest thing they had to mechanical FTL communication, was essentially strapping a message to a guided missile with a Drift drive and launching that in the direction of wherever it was you want the message to go. They receive it, and send a message back the same way. Hardly instant communication between planets, especially across the Vast when you'd be looking at 10d6 days roundtrip.
The spell Sending, if it hasn't been given a planetary range in Starfinder, is still probably your best way of getting communication across the Galaxy.
"Sir, a telegram missile has arrived for you."
"Have it explode in the dining parlor, if you would."
"At once, Sir. Shall I have our launcher readied to fire a response salvo?"
"I should think so!"
"Very good, Sir."
"Sir, I have the message."
"Ah excellent...what did it say?"
"Boom."
Interesting point about Raia's armor - historical breastplates end at about the same spot. So she has a totally normal breastplate, no big deal.
Also, from what they've said, armor can generally be environmentally sealed, so perhaps this is the unsealed state.
Interesting point about Raia's armor - historical breastplates end at about the same spot. So she has a totally normal breastplate, no big deal.
Also, from what they've said, armor can generally be environmentally sealed, so perhaps this is the unsealed state.
True, but then other armor protects the area below that point. Shes still got her guts exposed.
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True, but then other armor protects the area below that point. She's still got her guts exposed.
She's Lashunta 'though, do we know whether or not they even have guts? That lower torso area could be all unspecialized tissue storage or something. :) (Instead of being fat, Lashunta with extra unspecialized tissue just have comically extended torsos, like a foot long cat lying down and suddenly draping over the entire three foot coffee table, which is why Lashunta need armor gaps around the waist, to accommodate changes in torso length depending on diet and whatnot!)
Seriously, 'though, I agree about weird gender-specific gaps in armor coverage being weird. Valeros sure doesn't have his belly-button sticking out below his breastplate. If the artist had just covered that bit of exposed skin the same toxic green of her upper legs, it might be less dubious.
Eh, I like Raia's no-drama 'Nothing bad happened at home, I actually *want* to be out here!' backstory, but, artwise, I like Navasi better. Not because of the exposed midriff, but because Navasi doesn't wear green.
Green is weak to the point of unplayable. I've crunched the numbers, purple is clearly the optimal color. It's just math. If you're not playing purple, you're gaming wrong.
True, but then other armor protects the area below that point. Shes still got her guts exposed.Interesting point about Raia's armor - historical breastplates end at about the same spot. So she has a totally normal breastplate, no big deal.
Also, from what they've said, armor can generally be environmentally sealed, so perhaps this is the unsealed state.
My ballistic plates in my army vests always left the bottom of my abdomen exposed, coming all the way down presents problems with bending over and general flexibility. I was always very aware of that area of total vulnerability between the plate and the kevlar triangle covering the groin.
Eh, I like Raia's no-drama 'Nothing bad happened at home, I actually *want* to be out here!' backstory, but, artwise, I like Navasi better. Not because of the exposed midriff, but because Navasi doesn't wear green.
Green is weak to the point of unplayable. I've crunched the numbers, purple is clearly the optimal color. It's just math. If you're not playing purple, you're gaming wrong.
Set, I love your B5 Drazi -style point of view here and whole-heartedly and, while I love purple - I really do! (It's better than red or blue and many of others) - I must say that I, personally, am a green guy all the way. I mean there is a reason you see green on the average day more often than purple. I mean, come on, even nature is telling you something there.
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Set, I love your B5 Drazi -style point of view here and whole-heartedly and, while I love purple - I really do! (It's better than red or blue and many of others) - I must say that I, personally, am a green guy all the way. I mean there is a reason you see green on the average day more often than purple. I mean, come on, even nature is telling you something there.Eh, I like Raia's no-drama 'Nothing bad happened at home, I actually *want* to be out here!' backstory, but, artwise, I like Navasi better. Not because of the exposed midriff, but because Navasi doesn't wear green.
Green is weak to the point of unplayable. I've crunched the numbers, purple is clearly the optimal color. It's just math. If you're not playing purple, you're gaming wrong.
I stand with Purple Leader.
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I, personally, am a green guy all the way. I mean there is a reason you see green on the average day more often than purple. I mean, come on, even nature is telling you something there.
[silly tangent] Pssh. Nature. All plants and animals and weather. Strictly inferior to the outsider-y inhabitants (and environmental hazards) of just about every other plane of existence. That's why so few gods actually live in the 'natural' world, with all this sub-optimal green.
Outside of our dimension, there are shades of purple you don't even have names for. And it's glorious. [/silly tangent]
Set, I love your B5 Drazi -style point of view here and whole-heartedly and, while I love purple - I really do! (It's better than red or blue and many of others) - I must say that I, personally, am a green guy all the way. I mean there is a reason you see green on the average day more often than purple. I mean, come on, even nature is telling you something there.Eh, I like Raia's no-drama 'Nothing bad happened at home, I actually *want* to be out here!' backstory, but, artwise, I like Navasi better. Not because of the exposed midriff, but because Navasi doesn't wear green.
Green is weak to the point of unplayable. I've crunched the numbers, purple is clearly the optimal color. It's just math. If you're not playing purple, you're gaming wrong.
That argument is not going to work on programmers with such annoying health conditions as hayfever; green may as well be a warning signal that you're about to have a bad time in that case.
Under those conditions, assuming the color itself can activate a nocebo effect; it could very well be literally unplayable.
Set, I love your B5 Drazi -style point of view here and whole-heartedly and, while I love purple - I really do! (It's better than red or blue and many of others) - I must say that I, personally, am a green guy all the way. I mean there is a reason you see green on the average day more often than purple. I mean, come on, even nature is telling you something there.Eh, I like Raia's no-drama 'Nothing bad happened at home, I actually *want* to be out here!' backstory, but, artwise, I like Navasi better. Not because of the exposed midriff, but because Navasi doesn't wear green.
Green is weak to the point of unplayable. I've crunched the numbers, purple is clearly the optimal color. It's just math. If you're not playing purple, you're gaming wrong.
I think you will find the Fuchsia is the most powerful color.
Think about how rarely you see it. Clearly, there are not many things in this universe that can handle its sheer destructive potential.
More of a puce fellow myself...
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I wonder how easy it is to minimize the "techno" part if one wants someone who studies just magic. But that's for another blog post.
It turns out one can minimize, even nearly eliminate, the "techno" part with the right choices for magic hacks and spells known.
Thankies for answering questions Distant Scholar ^w^
I actually have an answer from the book on the armor. There are types of light armor that use force fields and ultra-high tech fibers to emulate daring modern fashions.
I actually have an answer from the book on the armor. There are types of light armor that use force fields and ultra-high tech fibers to emulate daring modern fashions.
This simply means our condemnation must be transferred from armor designers to clothing designers. Too much money and technology, too little style.
I blame the teenagers! Get out my asteroid field, ya vagrants!!
Thems fer minin' not shootin' dagnabbit!!!
Wait, so her boyfriend is not only a Ryphorian, but also a member of the Skyfire Legion?
Has she met his Dragonkin yet? And has Keskodai tried giving her any advice?
A most interesting read!