I'm sorry i really love you guys but we don't allow any real world politics on the page. so we maintain a zero tolerance policy, bitch about the prince or cent comm but please.. for the love of all that's holy don't mention anything to do with the real world socio political situation.
Maximus: Is there a problem Cassian Ophelia?
Ophelia: No sir.
Maximus: Good. After your debrief, I'd like you to join my staff in the recreation room. We'll binge watching the latest season of Galactic Frontiers.
No tracks when the attackers1 exited the area? I suspect that their shields wiped tracks clean.
More worrying is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any blood or small pieces of the tanks. That suggests to me that nanobots made sure that everything was used. Are there any left behind to consume any pursuers? Could the investigation team bring them back to New Rome?
1 Presumably the team and the tanks were used to make more of those
These aren't ordinary scavvers, I'm thinking. Stuff's gone right down to the molecular level? I wonder how granular their sensors' detection level goes. At that speed it might not be enough.
ok scan teck, is good.. but not that good.. ,, and they said nothing about blood...
so, the scavys took all teck, an organics.. unless they flew, (possible) there are tracks,, but not ones wing is looking for..
IE: "they came by car,, {no car} had to leave by car.!" no one told them the car was disassembled an 'walked' out...
It is difficult to imagine any kind of motivation our mystery entities could have for what we are seeing. One can easily imagine harvesting the tanks and other metal equipment for tech resources and raw materials — even if the tech is markedly inferior, refined Titanium is refined Titanium, rare earths are rare earths etc. And taking the good stuff, leaving the worthless bio-matter behind.
It is easy to imagine the harvesting the precious bio-matter. Long-chain, complex organic molecules with a wealth of information encoded at the molecular level. It is even plausible to imagine such super-advanced creatures so desperately hungry they would consume both in massive quantities. ...
But then, why leave the buildings? If you have magic nanofab, there has to be at least as much useful material to be had by pulping a residence as there is a resident. It seems far more likely a sanitized battlefield like this is not so much about what is being carried away as what is being left behind. Or not left behind in this case. Specifically, not leaving any intelligence behind for the enemy to process, which implies a paranoia and hostility level far greater than you would want to see with their tech advantage.
They're taking everything they fight, down to the smallest piece. Apart from Skeeter, which seems to be the oddest omission.
It's possible they're taking everything of what they feel is worth scavenging, but that still makes it interesting that the buildings aren't worth scavenging. I seem to recall the base that Ophelia had been hit in had a fairly large quantity of refined materials. Sure, once they're mixed together and molded, they may be a bit less refined, but recycling that stuff is still probably more efficient than starting out with crude oil.
I would suppose the decision on leaving the buildings would depend on their actual composition? They might not be made of as useful a material as we think they are.
SKEETER might have been classed the same as Feelie...'sufficiently neutralized'
Maybe some tech is too hazardous to recover ?
Like Feelie's 'bang pack' or SKEETER's unexpended but damaged and possibly unstable fusion grenades ?
Mind you, they did take the 'tank' but maybe it's weapons were only energy based and not explosive ?
taking weapons,, in desert storm,, we took any an all that could be useful , an blew up that we could not take..
an in gaming,, i tend to strip every thing, so as not to be used against me.. ("it's got one round." then ill use it wisely..)
..but i keep getting weird looks from the other characters ,, wen i strip the bad guys an hog tie em.. (with zip ties) .. especially in the Heros game. o.0
It looks like their sensors are scanning for radiation/exhaust/tracks left by vehicles...
The resolution probably isn't fine enough to pick up footprints at altitude and speed
Especially if the footprints had been brushed out or otherwise concealed, we've only seen Goldiebots walking
Even the ones that attacked the water plant were seen walking in cross-country.
Or possibly they used a vehicle with a shielded power plant ? Maybe a combustion engine with no 'signature'
yes..
so far all we have seen is "scouts".. Maybe the main force is like worker ant drones...
the scouts hit & neutralize.. then the drones glean swarm every thing... an then the scouts erase exit tracks...
an yeah this is the 24th century, no force "Walks" anymore...
Maybe I'm missing something obvious, but in this 24th (*edit: 39th) century setting, where we have seen anti-grav toys and vehicles, why could it not be hovercraft spiriting material and personnel away?
NO, NO NO NO!!! people can't drive in two dimensions now, FFS don't let them try three !!
On consideration, that should maybe be "they can't drive in three dimensions now"
If you count time as a dimension, 90% can't figure out what comes next
And none of them can be bothered to look 10 seconds down the road to see what's going to be coming next.
People around here drive with their eyes locked on their bumpers, never looking to either side or watching traffic
so my sarcasm didn't work..
in the 39th century "every one" has multi-tech scanners an some sort of "flying car"..
so no one would think that a force "walked" in striped the place an walked out...
an panel 3 confirms that.. "we aren't picking up any trails that would be left by '"Active vehicle power plants.'" so i COULD be standing a few yards outside the area with 20 Conestoga wagon & horses, under a modern camo netting (IR proof) an they would be none the wiser,,.. the obvious tracks are NOT tracks, because they DON'T fit modern (39th) tracks.!
But doesn't the rest of the dialogue point to shielding? The radiation pockets would sort of make it necessary, and if it keeps radiation out, it probably also keeps certain types of emissions in. . . . Alternatively, like you say, some other unconventional transportation is also possible. I was just going for the simplest explanation.
Maybe...I'm getting a few flashes of Super-Sabre, Vulcan and even a Scimitar too
Plus a few hints of Canberra and B-66
It's pretty well laid out for a ground attack aircraft, sort of like an SU-25 but different ;)
and.. it looks like S&Sage,, is spam botting... yesterday late had a little over 1k votes,, less than 10 hours they have over 6k,,.. humm nothing suspicious there...
happens every few months, some of the others do it too, usually around 1,000 a day but it seems to cap at about 25,000 'extra' maybe they're buying in bulk ?
Is the ranking worth that ? is it cost effective ?
I don't do much nowadays but I don't want to log in a hundred different accounts to add votes, let alone a thousand
yeah my (about) 50 votes every day takes an hour .. so math ... your 100 would take 2 hours,, if all variables stayed the same.. a 1000 would take just under 20 hours...
but that is the "right" way .. apparently spambot can do a 1000 in seconds.. o.0
You'd think the site could pick that up, but then again maybe they either don't care or even encourage it because big numbers make them look better too.
The tanks' telemetry would establish their whereabouts right up to the point that the telemetry quit working, so I'm sure they know Ophelia isn't lying about the where/when of the encounter.
I suppose now it's mostly a question about the adversary's capabilities. They took the stuff that was easily portable (for some definition of easy).
Their weapons didn't leave much of the soldiers they hit, so I'm guessing the bodies aren't gone for reasons of salvage. They're gone to deny Nova Roma intel about the weapons that hit them. The vehicles there was more left of, but it's not clear that there'd be much left that was reusable. Fancy layered tungsten/diamondoid armor, even if intact, is shaped like equipment that's probably not the equipment they have or want to use, and being able to recycle/reshape it requires specialized equipment and installation. It requires equipment a lot less specialized though, to identify it and evaluate its capabilities.
So I'm guessing that clearing out the vehicles and bodies is mainly an intel consideration; first denying the adversary intel about their own capabilities, and second gathering intel about the adversary's gear.
My question is what were they doing at that Gutter base in the first place. Their "glitchy" tactics possibly indicate intel that's waaaaay out of date, so it'd be worth looking up the history of that site and finding out what it was when it was built, back before it was a gutter base. The water distribution site they hit afterward could be based on intel they got at the gutter base, if their objective is to make the waste unlivable.
Here's an idea for next year's vote incentives...
How about a 2021 calendar ?
A different DC character each month
Doesn't even have to be new art, just a picture with a calendar page, saves all sorts of time that way
It could have all sorts of things for each month, the usual moon phases and major holidays for everyone, in DC and RL
Birthdates or 'construction' or 'reload' days for DC characters, staff and commenters who want to add theirs
Major events in DC history like "WW3 starts", "WW3 ends", "Lynn kidnapped", "Lynn rescued", "TeeDee meets the Murderturd"
"douchy's reign begins", "douchy becomes one with the ashpile of history"
etc, etc, etc. :)
Should be able to put something in for almost every day
The type of picture would be solely up to the creatrixes...and we know how that could go ;)
The author of the comic Skin Deep does a physical reward of some sort on her Patreon, apparently. It appears access to the tier opens every three months and people get pins if they're still in the tier at the end of the three months and then it starts again. There's a comment on her comic about it at the moment because apparently September is a valid starting month.
For physical goods doing some kind of staggered month thing seems like it might be a good idea, just to keep it from being too frequent and not too expensive on the pledge to still be financially viable for the artist.
WOW, really ? I'm getting a swelled head over here :)
I just thought it might be a quick and easy way to do a monthly vote incentive for the 'active' section on TopWeb
On second thought, maybe just stick with DC characters 'vital statistics'.
You've already seen what a scammer can do, no point giving them any RL information they don't need.
While I'm postulating...maybe one version for a vote incentive and another for Patreon.
The vote incentive can still be 'R" rated, the Patreon can be 'RR' ;)
A physical copy could be either/or but most people would just print whichever one they could get away with having around from an online page anyway and I don't know how many people would buy if they were sale items only, even pdf's for sale.
Still hoping for “The Topless Flowers of Ilium”. I’m just sayin’. (I suppose, as *Datachaser*’s Top 100 “power level” approaches 9000, I am technically super-sayin” ... but that’s a different series.)
"Topless" does not necessitate (though it does imply) the presence of other coverings. And, when I am fantasizing about sexy imaginary ladies, I prefer -- when possible -- a literary illusion. ^_^
I didn't really put anything political in it, and the only other poster was just venting about being pissed off. He wasn't discussing politics or the contents of the material. He mentioned the source of his anger, but no details of political nature, such as policy etc. Just sayin'
A no real world politics policy makes sense with as contentious as those discussions can quickly get.
I do look forward to getting to a day we've all taken more of a deep breath and can be more civil in such discussions, but no disagreements that today is not that day.
I think the General is going to be a lot less angry at her than many people seem to think.
The only thing she did wrong was under estimate a completely unknown threat. There was nothing really clear cut until the men started turning to dust.
*lol* does not want to be with a Cassian =P
@alt text: indeed...
Ophelia: No sir.
Maximus: Good. After your debrief, I'd like you to join my staff in the recreation room. We'll binge watching the latest season of Galactic Frontiers.
More worrying is the fact that there doesn’t seem to be any blood or small pieces of the tanks. That suggests to me that nanobots made sure that everything was used. Are there any left behind to consume any pursuers? Could the investigation team bring them back to New Rome?
1 Presumably the team and the tanks were used to make more of those
Re: Alt text, yes, it is kind of spooky.
I really like the cloud cover scenes/panels!
so, the scavys took all teck, an organics.. unless they flew, (possible) there are tracks,, but not ones wing is looking for..
IE: "they came by car,, {no car} had to leave by car.!" no one told them the car was disassembled an 'walked' out...
Those would not leave tracks, good for covert operations.
It is easy to imagine the harvesting the precious bio-matter. Long-chain, complex organic molecules with a wealth of information encoded at the molecular level. It is even plausible to imagine such super-advanced creatures so desperately hungry they would consume both in massive quantities. ...
But then, why leave the buildings? If you have magic nanofab, there has to be at least as much useful material to be had by pulping a residence as there is a resident. It seems far more likely a sanitized battlefield like this is not so much about what is being carried away as what is being left behind. Or not left behind in this case. Specifically, not leaving any intelligence behind for the enemy to process, which implies a paranoia and hostility level far greater than you would want to see with their tech advantage.
Eagerly awaiting the further unfolding of events.
They're taking everything they fight, down to the smallest piece. Apart from Skeeter, which seems to be the oddest omission.
It's possible they're taking everything of what they feel is worth scavenging, but that still makes it interesting that the buildings aren't worth scavenging. I seem to recall the base that Ophelia had been hit in had a fairly large quantity of refined materials. Sure, once they're mixed together and molded, they may be a bit less refined, but recycling that stuff is still probably more efficient than starting out with crude oil.
Maybe some tech is too hazardous to recover ?
Like Feelie's 'bang pack' or SKEETER's unexpended but damaged and possibly unstable fusion grenades ?
Mind you, they did take the 'tank' but maybe it's weapons were only energy based and not explosive ?
Recalling the comment "it's an APC with Delusions of Grandeur" also confirms my minority opinion.
an in gaming,, i tend to strip every thing, so as not to be used against me.. ("it's got one round." then ill use it wisely..)
The resolution probably isn't fine enough to pick up footprints at altitude and speed
Especially if the footprints had been brushed out or otherwise concealed, we've only seen Goldiebots walking
Even the ones that attacked the water plant were seen walking in cross-country.
Or possibly they used a vehicle with a shielded power plant ? Maybe a combustion engine with no 'signature'
so far all we have seen is "scouts".. Maybe the main force is like worker ant drones...
the scouts hit & neutralize.. then the drones glean swarm every thing... an then the scouts erase exit tracks...
an yeah this is the 24th century, no force "Walks" anymore...
On consideration, that should maybe be "they can't drive in three dimensions now"
If you count time as a dimension, 90% can't figure out what comes next
And none of them can be bothered to look 10 seconds down the road to see what's going to be coming next.
People around here drive with their eyes locked on their bumpers, never looking to either side or watching traffic
in the 39th century "every one" has multi-tech scanners an some sort of "flying car"..
so no one would think that a force "walked" in striped the place an walked out...
an panel 3 confirms that.. "we aren't picking up any trails that would be left by '"Active vehicle power plants.'" so i COULD be standing a few yards outside the area with 20 Conestoga wagon & horses, under a modern camo netting (IR proof) an they would be none the wiser,,.. the obvious tracks are NOT tracks, because they DON'T fit modern (39th) tracks.!
Plus a few hints of Canberra and B-66
It's pretty well laid out for a ground attack aircraft, sort of like an SU-25 but different ;)
Is the ranking worth that ? is it cost effective ?
I don't do much nowadays but I don't want to log in a hundred different accounts to add votes, let alone a thousand
but that is the "right" way .. apparently spambot can do a 1000 in seconds.. o.0
I suppose now it's mostly a question about the adversary's capabilities. They took the stuff that was easily portable (for some definition of easy).
Their weapons didn't leave much of the soldiers they hit, so I'm guessing the bodies aren't gone for reasons of salvage. They're gone to deny Nova Roma intel about the weapons that hit them. The vehicles there was more left of, but it's not clear that there'd be much left that was reusable. Fancy layered tungsten/diamondoid armor, even if intact, is shaped like equipment that's probably not the equipment they have or want to use, and being able to recycle/reshape it requires specialized equipment and installation. It requires equipment a lot less specialized though, to identify it and evaluate its capabilities.
So I'm guessing that clearing out the vehicles and bodies is mainly an intel consideration; first denying the adversary intel about their own capabilities, and second gathering intel about the adversary's gear.
My question is what were they doing at that Gutter base in the first place. Their "glitchy" tactics possibly indicate intel that's waaaaay out of date, so it'd be worth looking up the history of that site and finding out what it was when it was built, back before it was a gutter base. The water distribution site they hit afterward could be based on intel they got at the gutter base, if their objective is to make the waste unlivable.
How about a 2021 calendar ?
A different DC character each month
Doesn't even have to be new art, just a picture with a calendar page, saves all sorts of time that way
It could have all sorts of things for each month, the usual moon phases and major holidays for everyone, in DC and RL
Birthdates or 'construction' or 'reload' days for DC characters, staff and commenters who want to add theirs
Major events in DC history like "WW3 starts", "WW3 ends", "Lynn kidnapped", "Lynn rescued", "TeeDee meets the Murderturd"
"douchy's reign begins", "douchy becomes one with the ashpile of history"
etc, etc, etc. :)
Should be able to put something in for almost every day
The type of picture would be solely up to the creatrixes...and we know how that could go ;)
The idea of a physical item does seem interesting though
For physical goods doing some kind of staggered month thing seems like it might be a good idea, just to keep it from being too frequent and not too expensive on the pledge to still be financially viable for the artist.
I just thought it might be a quick and easy way to do a monthly vote incentive for the 'active' section on TopWeb
You've already seen what a scammer can do, no point giving them any RL information they don't need.
While I'm postulating...maybe one version for a vote incentive and another for Patreon.
The vote incentive can still be 'R" rated, the Patreon can be 'RR' ;)
A physical copy could be either/or but most people would just print whichever one they could get away with having around from an online page anyway and I don't know how many people would buy if they were sale items only, even pdf's for sale.
I do look forward to getting to a day we've all taken more of a deep breath and can be more civil in such discussions, but no disagreements that today is not that day.
The only thing she did wrong was under estimate a completely unknown threat. There was nothing really clear cut until the men started turning to dust.
Thoughts?