Pinkie has yet to find machine courage enough to show her Dolls face. Think one might well call her a yellow bellied coward if one were in a generous mood.
The city may be her face but the dolls are the physical representation. I still call chicken shit on her for not addressing the Noctis issue in her Centcomm persona Kali would have been in your face.
Actually.. Centcomm " Actual " refers to the AIS system - if you are talking to a Doll then its just Centcomm normally. any deviation from that is just a mistake on the part of the speaker.
So in #51 when Centcomm appears on Ada and Teedee's screen, is that the AIS simulating a doll face to be recognizable or was she in a doll? The background kind of hints at the former but the doll could be standing in front of a window or screen...
The point of the "Doll" is the comfort of the subject she is communicating with. It provides them with a focal point and "naturalizes" the conversation by allowing them to use non-verbal facial and body symbology in the discussion. Whether the doll is actual or a digital construct the end result is the same, ease of communications. In the case of Ada and Teedee, I'd suspect they are more comfortable with human communication modes than pure digital (at least for higher thought processes) and Centcomm was obliging them.
Generally if Cent is shown on a random data scatter or a plain background those are indicators of a artificial image being generated. Half the time Decimus thought he was talking to cent he was actually talking to a chatbot. smirks
antrik, it makes sense to use a chatbot, because once it is set up, it takes even less computing power. Even though one session would be a tiny amount of computing power, there are a huge number of nodes, reach requiring a small amount of traffic. It adds up. Most big systems use a main processor (brain) and many sub processors.
Large systems actually use dozens (mainframe) or hundreds of thousands (supercomputer) identical main cores.
When distributing a *single* large workload over many cores, communication overhead can be a problem. Running mostly independent processes on extra cores on the other hand doesn't pose any problems. Creating autonomous systems for that, instead of just upping the core count of the main system as necessary, seems like a waste of resources to me...
Usually sub processors are task specific. They aren't large systems, but smaller application-specific processors, and optimized software which in turn, optimizes communications with the main processor. Instead of controlling the details of a sub process, it will instruct the sub processor to execute a specific process or batch, which reduces the intercommunication to a fraction of what it would have been. It is common practice in large automation systems.
In this case, the chatbot could run autonomously, with a single command, or centcom could take over, and direct it by giving a command set such as VOCALIZE: word262;word12;phrase1172;word768. The chatbot processing would take care of the audio generation, and animation, which would otherwise require a lot more traffic.
Could a person think of it as, whether it is a doll, or an image on a screen, communicating with Centcomm Actual through a terminal? And that Centcomm actual simply has terminals of all types and kinds everywhere? There are doll terminals, screen terminals, laser turret terminals . . . all different kinds of communication. I mean reversing the sewage pumps and backing up your toilets could be considered a form of communication, right? :D
Weeeeell... While literally "terminal" just means "endpoint" I think, in IT it traditionally refers to a human I/O station consisting of a screen and some form of tactile input. I guess the definition *could* be stretched some to include the dolls (they are mostly for human I/O after all) -- but laser turrets are out of scope for sure :-)
What I was getting at, that whatever you do there, you are almost always interacting with Centcomm on some level. Even if you're just standing around, Centcomm knows about it.
What I was trying to get across was that a large part of human communication is through non-verbal means. Words and sentences gain much of their meaning through the reading of the visual clues given off by the speaker (refer to blind/deaf communications problems for more details).
For an AI that needs to deal with verbal/visual communications orientated beings (humans, both real and synthetic), it would NEED a visual component (face and body) to speak in an efficient manner. Hence the dolls.
Actually, an animated avatar on a screen/projection should be able to convey just as much non-verbal communication. I'd say it's more about feeling more natural for humans to interact with a physical manifestation.
(BTW, the point of 3Cs creators wanting her to have dolls was touched upon in LunaStar.)
I did expect Ada to help Noctis in some way, (because she's awesome), but I did not expect CentComm to allow it so easily. Things that make you go hmmmm. Noctis acted exactly as I would expect. Good on ya, Ada and Noctis!
@Centcomm-artist, the last two panels give a real sense of the place! Kudos!
I suspect that it was a test on Centcomm's part - if Ada defended her then the chances were higher that she was just a normal threat. If Ada sided with the security team then she knows not to trust the escort.
Ada is a good judge of people and, therefore, makes a good first line of defence.
I think you are onto something, HiFranc. CentComm knows (and to some degree, trusts Ada's judgment) Ada. So the fact she is willing to help her (especially after she tried to kill Dr. Silver) speaks volumes.
Agreed megados, Ada IS awesome (and beautiful). She tries to see the best in people, but it works both ways in that when she believes in you, you don't want to disappoint her. I'm thinking that is why TeeDee is paired with her.
That is good reasoning, HiFranc, and I think you have it right. It makes sense.
Yes, Stormwind, Ada is very compassionate, and so much so, that she brings out the best in anyone around her. She is as close to altruistic as anyone can get. Beautiful both inside and out.
Not only is Centcomm's face there for everyone to see, but by playing a familiar and expected role, she also simplifies the situation, making it all the more predictable ... and if there's one thing a combat AI is good at, it's running scenario's by brute force computing and come up with the best solution.
They're really playing directly into her hands, aren't they ?
Hah! I knew Noctis wouldn't leave Acantha's side. She'd take on the whole lot of them rather than do that. I guess it was Centy who gave the stand down order. Good move on her part. Maybe she's finally getting a bit of human common sense or she just considered the potential outcomes of restraining Noctis and figured 'WTF' let Ada ride herd on her.
Was there a command given to the big bruiser that I missed? Is the big bot also an NTSR robot, because it doesn't appear to have any NTSR insignia?
I can understand how Ada (as NTSR personnel) can give commands to NTSR robots, but military and police robots would, presumably, be outside of her chain of command, and thus not subject to her orders.
Of course, it's possible that standard New Troy practice for the police is to just pass anyone who chooses not to comply with their directives. We've already seen that they don't enjoy much of a reputation. ^_^
We've seen those 'radio' transmissions shown as word balloons with jagged tails in the recent past, but are not seeing them now. It's possible, of course, that the creatrices thought they made the panels too 'cluttered', or that they felt that leaving it out would heighten the tension for the readers. Or any number of other possibilities.
I, personally, think the possibility of armed response robots unilaterally deciding which orders to obey and which orders to spontaneously countermand all on their own is probably the single most tension-heightening choice they could make, but it is rather ... bold. Perhaps the robot will next offer to extract some of Noctis' eggs? ^_^
Ok, it's time to walk on eggs around Rose, as she's about to lay an egg over these puns. Ada's a good egg, will Noctis prove to be a tough egg to for her to crack? Or will she go over easy? Has Nova Roma put all their eggs in one basket with Acantha, or are there other contenders to the throne wait in the wings?
I appear to have egg on my face from all the previous typos, possibly from a few scrambled and fried neurons. On a slightly more serious note, do chickens still exist during this story? On the planet and/or off it?
Eh, you couldn't have known, I hadn't come out of my shell before and posted on this site. Also, this name I'm using isn't one I've been yoked to before.
@Centcomm, does Anne's boot in the last panel have pink, glowie trim for a reason? It's true we don't actually see her feet in any of the prior pages, but I think we get a hint of her boot-top on one previous page, and there was no indication of that that I saw.
Pretty sure All the Pickles has nailed it. High-gloss surfaces and lighting can interact in weird ways--I once did a pic of a character with a red motorcycle, and the red rendered as nail-polish mauve-pink until I went back and tweaked the surface settings.
Centcom can play "good cop, bad cop" all by herself if needed. Once again, anyone's opinion of her actions (other than maybe the Taylor's) are of no consequence, what is important is her achieving her goals within her parameters, and for that she will set up some calculated gambles when the rewards seem justified.
By the way, I find it ironic that Commie contemplates the lack of others' trust in her good intentions, while at the same time she does everything in her power to show her own distrust in Noctis's... :-)
@Gilrandir, one possibility is that CentComm may think that a modicum of good will toward the de facto head of an enemy city-state may ultimately pay off in helping to make that city-state cease to be a problem. If she treats Noctis respectfully, then that would be what Noctis would tell Acantha should it come up.
But then why not apply that principle consistently, @megados? I should think, if you want good will, then polite, respectful, but firm treatment by all concerned showing a coherent command structure and a willlingness to return peaceful conduct with amicable treatment goes much farther than playing "let's see what I can get away with" games while trying not to verge over the line into actual discourtesy.
But then, evidence often shows my own understanding of interpersonal relations to be lacking, so it is possible I am mistaken.
Actually? I think you touched on it there: It seems that CentComm lacks understanding of interpersonal relationships. I don't think she was trying to tweak Noctis, but rather, made a knee-jerk auto response to the threat level she perceived Noctis to be. Now, though, she sees Ada's complete lack of concern, and has decided to take Ada's cue, and try it her way. It appears that Ada has some influence, however slight, on her.
That is the trouble with interpersonal relationships: they don't always follow a cause-effect flowchart, or algorithm. Actions and responses vary with context.
Shes used to being called the villain .. she has many times BEEN the villain in truth and due to the way she feels or rather does not feel some emotions shes ok with this.
She understands sometimes you NEED to hate the boss.. its how you just work.
Also, now Noctis will see Ada as an accomplice, a friend and someone she can trust in.
Ada just became a balancing influence upon a highly dangerous combat android called Noctis. :)
I suspect Centcomm is quite pleased by Ada and her predictability.
So, CentComm plays bad cop, to get/let Ada play good cop. Noctis is satisfied, no worries. Well played, CentComm! Right now, I'm not hating the boss so much; she's not blowing stuff up!
CentComm (in my opinion) will be pleased by anyone's predictability. Even a horrifically vile individual who is reliably and predictably horrific and vile will be dealt with comparatively easily. Good, bad, quiescent those are probably of far less interest to her than how reliably her simulations and models can predict the behavior of individuals in question. After that, it's just a question of determining the desired results and applying the necessary leverage.
I guess that's where the understanding relationships comes in. She really doesn't know how to mollify Noctis, but she knows that Ada does. She doesn't care about emotions and feelings but she can get Ada to take care of that. She put up all the armaments, and if what she doesn't know about relationships matters, she has it covered.
D. Dehydrated (ala Megamind)
E. Waiting to be collected at Baggage Claim
F. Hammerspace
G. Hidden in Acantha's pants in order to get it past Customs
H. In Tennyo's possession ("Yoink! Won't she be surprised when she notices? Tee hee.")
I think it is supposed to be in her right hand, with the blade pointed straight back (forward?), but when I magnify it, it doesn't seem to be there, but her hand is positioned to hold it.
Gee, it appears Ada trusts pinkie about as much as pinkie has sense not to attempt to pull a stupid. I wonder why that is...
And yes, attempting to separate Noctis from Acantha so she could get away with something is the kind of stupid I was anticipating.
Now why would a self-righteous paranoid arrogant control freak with far too much power be 'accustomed to being cast in the role of villain', hmm, pinkie?
"Ha ha ha that robot thinks he's going to intimidate Noctis..."
No, that robot is part the military power of a city-state that could annihilate Noctis' entire civilization and leave no trace of it when they were done, and a small but noticeable chunk of that military power currently has Noctis as their primary target.
Whether or not she's "intimidated" is pretty much irrelevant to what would happen to her if CentComm decides to remove her from the equation.
That is kinda the point. As Acantha's guardian and protector, no show of force, no amount of firepower, nothing will sway her. If I needed a bodyguard, I would choose Noctis hands down.
Good point, megados. I would have chosen Columbina I think, as she seemed to be more personable. Since she is dead (curses at the EVIL duo) then Noctis would be a good one to keep you safe.
The key to finding a good bodyguard is to find someone/something that can keep your body alive, not guard it with their armored stomach after killing you.
I might have picked Columbina, Stormwind, except for reasons, including yours, I could not. She might be more apropos when attending events, but I think Noctis would be the more effective bodyguard.
Tangentially, I cannot imagine needing a bodyguard, since the only one I know of who intends me harm, is Rose, for my being an accessory to bad egg puns. In all honesty, I brought that on myself by my own actions, so I couldn't ask anyone to put themselves in harm's way to protect me from it.
I don't know. Noctis seemed to think Columbina was a BORN bodyguard, megados. Noctis commented "Columbina was a bodyguard, without question - best suited to defend, not to be directed to aggression."
Noctis as we've seen, and heard about (forty-eight Praetorians), is WELL suited to deal aggression to others. She would be great in an offensive, but she might let her aggression pull her out of position to actually PROTECT whomever she was supposed to be. Having said that though, she was still able to cover the rebels while moving to attack (blocking the shots with her sword even).
Though I agree with you megados. I can't envision myself ever being in a position where I would HAVE a bodyguard, let alone actually need it. As for the violent Rose, the bodyguard wouldn't do you much good, as she'll probably kill us all (for our punstorm) with our electric toothbrushes or something. :-D
You bring good arguments, Stormwind, and the choice is by no means an easy one. Of all the possible opinions on it, Noctis' probably carries the most weight. Takes one to know one, and all that. I have to be careful whenever I try to analyze her words, because . . . Noctis. "Columbina was a bodyguard, without question - best suited to defend, not to be directed to aggression." If I look at the first part, it seems to say that she is better suited to be a bodyguard than anything else. The second part tells me that her style is defensive, relying on blocking and disarming, rather than being on the offensive. That speaks of staying close to her charge. Nothing really speaks to whose skills are more honed.
You are probably right that Noctis has a larger AO, but she knows that her main task is keeping her charge(s) alive. I don't really think she would stray dangerously far. It would be difficult to pull her.
One thing not considered, is that Columbina would naturally be interacting with others, and participating, possibly making a would-be attacker more at ease, while a stoic Noctis would be more intimidating, possibly giving an assailant pause.
There are times where one would be better than another, so I guess I should not choose until I know just what the situation would be. I somehow think that both of them would agree that this would be the most prudent.
If the situation were to be certain-death-by-Rose, and caused by my participation in punstorms, I would choose no one, because no one deserves death by toothbrush! :D
I'm sorely tempted to make a tasteless remark referencing a certain situation where both Noctis and Columbina were part of the same bodyguard detail...
Just as an FYI for people who may have an interest: If you are reading this on 1 April 2017, be advised that Serpamia Flare has posted a special 'stealth update'. (That is, Comic Fury does not flag it as updated since the current page was apparently replaced, rather than a new page being inserted.) I don't know for how long this page will be visible before the regular art is restored, so check it out before it is gone if you have an interest in that sort of thing. I mention it here because @rufiangel is an occasional commentor here and (without meaning to speak for the creatrices) appears to be a "friend of the program".
Centcomm actual *is* the hangar.
Small semantic difference, but ...
Sheela has it right
When distributing a *single* large workload over many cores, communication overhead can be a problem. Running mostly independent processes on extra cores on the other hand doesn't pose any problems. Creating autonomous systems for that, instead of just upping the core count of the main system as necessary, seems like a waste of resources to me...
In this case, the chatbot could run autonomously, with a single command, or centcom could take over, and direct it by giving a command set such as VOCALIZE: word262;word12;phrase1172;word768. The chatbot processing would take care of the audio generation, and animation, which would otherwise require a lot more traffic.
For an AI that needs to deal with verbal/visual communications orientated beings (humans, both real and synthetic), it would NEED a visual component (face and body) to speak in an efficient manner. Hence the dolls.
(BTW, the point of 3Cs creators wanting her to have dolls was touched upon in LunaStar.)
@Centcomm-artist, the last two panels give a real sense of the place! Kudos!
Ada is a good judge of people and, therefore, makes a good first line of defence.
Agreed megados, Ada IS awesome (and beautiful). She tries to see the best in people, but it works both ways in that when she believes in you, you don't want to disappoint her. I'm thinking that is why TeeDee is paired with her.
Yes, Stormwind, Ada is very compassionate, and so much so, that she brings out the best in anyone around her. She is as close to altruistic as anyone can get. Beautiful both inside and out.
They're really playing directly into her hands, aren't they ?
I can understand how Ada (as NTSR personnel) can give commands to NTSR robots, but military and police robots would, presumably, be outside of her chain of command, and thus not subject to her orders.
Of course, it's possible that standard New Troy practice for the police is to just pass anyone who chooses not to comply with their directives. We've already seen that they don't enjoy much of a reputation. ^_^
I, personally, think the possibility of armed response robots unilaterally deciding which orders to obey and which orders to spontaneously countermand all on their own is probably the single most tension-heightening choice they could make, but it is rather ... bold. Perhaps the robot will next offer to extract some of Noctis' eggs? ^_^
>:)
(OK, that was silly... But it was just bEGGing to be said ;-) )
... they are eggzelent !
.. and now I'm hungry for fish! XD
"Role of villain", eh? Odd thing to think for someone who doesn't care about people's opinions...
But then, evidence often shows my own understanding of interpersonal relations to be lacking, so it is possible I am mistaken.
That is the trouble with interpersonal relationships: they don't always follow a cause-effect flowchart, or algorithm. Actions and responses vary with context.
She understands sometimes you NEED to hate the boss.. its how you just work.
Ada just became a balancing influence upon a highly dangerous combat android called Noctis. :)
I suspect Centcomm is quite pleased by Ada and her predictability.
B. Collapsible blade (by popiel!).
C. More compact travel version.
E. Waiting to be collected at Baggage Claim
F. Hammerspace
G. Hidden in Acantha's pants in order to get it past Customs
H. In Tennyo's possession ("Yoink! Won't she be surprised when she notices? Tee hee.")
Noctis really looks great in panel four... <3
@alt text: well, if it thinks that - or if it just had the command to try...
Agreed mjkj, GO ADA!!! :-D
And yes, attempting to separate Noctis from Acantha so she could get away with something is the kind of stupid I was anticipating.
Now why would a self-righteous paranoid arrogant control freak with far too much power be 'accustomed to being cast in the role of villain', hmm, pinkie?
No, that robot is part the military power of a city-state that could annihilate Noctis' entire civilization and leave no trace of it when they were done, and a small but noticeable chunk of that military power currently has Noctis as their primary target.
Whether or not she's "intimidated" is pretty much irrelevant to what would happen to her if CentComm decides to remove her from the equation.
But then, I'm hungry and it looks like a big meal wrapped in angry and sprinkled with berserk. :)
Tangentially, I cannot imagine needing a bodyguard, since the only one I know of who intends me harm, is Rose, for my being an accessory to bad egg puns. In all honesty, I brought that on myself by my own actions, so I couldn't ask anyone to put themselves in harm's way to protect me from it.
Noctis as we've seen, and heard about (forty-eight Praetorians), is WELL suited to deal aggression to others. She would be great in an offensive, but she might let her aggression pull her out of position to actually PROTECT whomever she was supposed to be. Having said that though, she was still able to cover the rebels while moving to attack (blocking the shots with her sword even).
Though I agree with you megados. I can't envision myself ever being in a position where I would HAVE a bodyguard, let alone actually need it. As for the violent Rose, the bodyguard wouldn't do you much good, as she'll probably kill us all (for our punstorm) with our electric toothbrushes or something. :-D
You are probably right that Noctis has a larger AO, but she knows that her main task is keeping her charge(s) alive. I don't really think she would stray dangerously far. It would be difficult to pull her.
One thing not considered, is that Columbina would naturally be interacting with others, and participating, possibly making a would-be attacker more at ease, while a stoic Noctis would be more intimidating, possibly giving an assailant pause.
There are times where one would be better than another, so I guess I should not choose until I know just what the situation would be. I somehow think that both of them would agree that this would be the most prudent.
If the situation were to be certain-death-by-Rose, and caused by my participation in punstorms, I would choose no one, because no one deserves death by toothbrush! :D
I'm glad that Ada is on her side <3
It's funny Cent-comm is the one I DEFINITELY don't trust in any of this X"D. ANY of it!
Although to be truthful she prefers thinking solutions especially when she is this outgunned.
That is all.