New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Page 37 of 50 FirstFirst ... 12272829303132333435363738394041424344454647 ... LastLast
Results 1,081 to 1,110 of 1489
  1. - Top - End - #1081
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    You'd have to assume the Pa'anuri already had a nearly working core generator that they just weren't using, though--the idea they could build such a thing within a few years is a bit hard to believe, especially when it's so much more powerful than the Milky Way one.

  2. - Top - End - #1082
    Eldritch Horror in the Playground Moderator
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    They effectively command the resources of an entire galaxy, as far as we know. Petey tries to 'play nice' around his meatspace neighbors, the Andromedans have no such compunctions aside from maintaining what are presumably baryonic slaves to be their workers. You could build a really big project really quickly when you simply through enough effort into it.

  3. - Top - End - #1083
    Orc in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    You'd have to assume the Pa'anuri already had a nearly working core generator that they just weren't using, though--the idea they could build such a thing within a few years is a bit hard to believe, especially when it's so much more powerful than the Milky Way one.
    While I can't speak as to why the Pa'anuri didn't have a core generator up and running, the power difference comes from the different sizes of the super massive black holes at the center of the galaxies: ~4 million solar masses for the Milky Way SMBH and 110-230 million solar masses for Andromeda's SMBH.
    The New Soulknife Handbook!
    Quote Originally Posted by Mercenary Pen View Post
    And there I was thinking that Midichlorian counts were a variety of force-sensitive hereditary noble- most notably Dooku.

  4. - Top - End - #1084
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Battleship789 View Post
    While I can't speak as to why the Pa'anuri didn't have a core generator up and running, the power difference comes from the different sizes of the super massive black holes at the center of the galaxies
    I'm aware of that, but since the Andromeda SMBH is so much more massive than the Milky Way's you'd expect it to also be significantly larger, and thus whatever generator apparatus the core generator consists of will also have to be larger.

  5. - Top - End - #1085
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Griffon

    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    Bristol, UK

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    I'm aware of that, but since the Andromeda SMBH is so much more massive than the Milky Way's you'd expect it to also be significantly larger, and thus whatever generator apparatus the core generator consists of will also have to be larger.
    Large in this sense isn't large on interstellar ranges. It's 4+ lightyears to the nearest star, the radius of a SMBH will be less than one light hour.
    The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.

  6. - Top - End - #1086
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by halfeye View Post
    Large in this sense isn't large on interstellar ranges. It's 4+ lightyears to the nearest star, the radius of a SMBH will be less than one light hour.
    Why does something have to be "large in interstellar terms" in order to take a long time to build? Let's go and tell those slackers who built the M62 that they should have taken way less than five years to build a mere 107 miles of road!

  7. - Top - End - #1087
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

    Join Date
    Feb 2015

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    M62? The globular cluster in Ophiuchus that is about 50 light years in radius?

  8. - Top - End - #1088
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme


  9. - Top - End - #1089
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Windscion's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    East Coast USA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    re: 2019/07/22
    Squick!

  10. - Top - End - #1090
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Chimera

    Join Date
    Dec 2015

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Windscion View Post
    re: 2019/07/22
    Squick!
    Yes, what a surprising turn of events. No one foresaw that hookup.

  11. - Top - End - #1091
    Eldritch Horror in the Playground Moderator
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    I'm sure they're just...sunbathing. Yeah.

  12. - Top - End - #1092
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Windscion's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    East Coast USA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie the Duck View Post
    Yes, what a surprising turn of events. No one foresaw that hookup.
    Oh I know it was pretty heavily telegraphed, but ... she was dating his Dad, ferchristsake.

  13. - Top - End - #1093
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2007

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Windscion View Post
    Oh I know it was pretty heavily telegraphed, but ... she was dating his Dad, ferchristsake.
    So Tagon is her type then. Between the medical tech they have and the fact they are now not having physical bodies at all, any age differences stop being an issue between adults.
    In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.

  14. - Top - End - #1094
    Orc in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2015
    Gender
    Female

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Radar View Post
    So Tagon is her type then. Between the medical tech they have and the fact they are now not having physical bodies at all, any age differences stop being an issue between adults.
    It's not that the age difference is creepy- everyone involved is older than 50, the age difference never really mattered in the first place. The creepy part is that we were told Murtaugh might have a thing for Karl, and then once he was out of the picture she decided Kaff was close enough.

  15. - Top - End - #1095
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by HorizonWalker View Post
    It's not that the age difference is creepy- everyone involved is older than 50, the age difference never really mattered in the first place. The creepy part is that we were told Murtaugh might have a thing for Karl, and then once he was out of the picture she decided Kaff was close enough.
    Don't see that being all that creepy, to be honest. This trip these mind-states are on (and remember, they *are* just mind-states in a computer, not actual people with physical bodies) has explicitly been said to be one-way. Even if it was not, the Murtaugh mind-state going on this trip would end up in a different body if it ever made it back to the Milky Way, so would only end up in competition for Karl's affections with Murtaugh Prime. That being the case, I think settling for the closest thing that will ever be available is perfectly reasonable.

  16. - Top - End - #1096
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Chimera

    Join Date
    Dec 2015

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    It'd also be a lot more troubling if someone found out they couldn't be with their 'One True Lovetm' and immediately decided to go with a 'good enough' substitute. However, this is all still in 'a thing for'/hooking up territory.

  17. - Top - End - #1097
    Ettin in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    From the very beginning when Murtagh was introduced to the Toughs I always felt she was going to be Kaff's love interest. And I saw Karl as trying to set that up With his "I want grandkids!" talk. Must have missed the flirting between them.
    The name is "tonberrian", even when it begins a sentence. It's magic, I ain't gotta 'splain why.

  18. - Top - End - #1098
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2018

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Sunday 28 July 2019
    Lily the Mutant Frogozoid

    Now, we know their species as Frogozoid.
    Level Point System 5E
    Poker Roll

    Tier 1 Master of All
    Tier 2 Lightning Bruiser
    Tier 3 Lethal Joke Character
    Tier 4 Master of None
    Tier 5 Crippling Overspecialization
    Tier 6 Joke Character

  19. - Top - End - #1099
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Max_Killjoy's Avatar

    Join Date
    May 2016
    Location
    The Lakes

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    "Aliens saved the dinosaurs because a mutant frogozoid tried to eat the stars."

    Can we save that for the next incarnation of the thread?
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

    The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.

  20. - Top - End - #1100
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2018

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    8/2/2019 - Crossed Eyed Unioc
    Quite a Metaphor
    Level Point System 5E
    Poker Roll

    Tier 1 Master of All
    Tier 2 Lightning Bruiser
    Tier 3 Lethal Joke Character
    Tier 4 Master of None
    Tier 5 Crippling Overspecialization
    Tier 6 Joke Character

  21. - Top - End - #1101
    Bugbear in the Playground
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Germany
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Flag Pins? How do you use Flag Pins in a 3D intergalactic surveillance model?

    Is the alien that dumb or that much of a genius?

  22. - Top - End - #1102
    Ettin in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2008
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    A better question is how he's going to have time to do anything with them. A ballpark estimation puts it into over a decade to put down all those pins - 100 million seconds is over three years by itself, and it's going to take longer than a second to put a pin in the correct location. And there are hundredS of million data points. I understand he's immortal, still a lot of time for a project.

    Methinks the holographic pins are a much, MUCH better idea.
    Last edited by tonberrian; 2019-08-10 at 11:54 PM.
    The name is "tonberrian", even when it begins a sentence. It's magic, I ain't gotta 'splain why.

  23. - Top - End - #1103
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Grey_Wolf_c's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2007

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by tonberrian View Post
    A better question is how he's going to have time to do anything with them. A ballpark estimation puts it into over a decade to put down all those pins - 100 million seconds is over three years by itself, and it's going to take longer than a second to put a pin in the correct location. And there are hundredS of million data points. I understand he's immortal, still a lot of time for a project.

    Methinks the holographic pins are a much, MUCH better idea.
    Presumably, he is not going to personally attempt to investigate all hundreds of millions of data points. Instead, he'll devote whatever amount of time he feels is required per point, and an extra couple of seconds on putting a pin at either end of the process. Or, alternatively, he will centre in a specific subsection of space, and use the pins to devise patterns, groupings or other metastructures in a visual way, because it sometimes does pay to operate in non-virtual environments.

    ETA: that is, if it wasn't a con, which it turns it was. But I stand by my general statement, as someone whose best work tends to happen at the pen-and-paper phase of the development.

    Grey Wolf
    Last edited by Grey_Wolf_c; 2019-08-11 at 10:04 PM.
    Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.
    There is a world of imagination
    Deep in the corners of your mind
    Where reality is an intruder
    And myth and legend thrive
    Quote Originally Posted by The Giant View Post
    But really, the important lesson here is this: Rather than making assumptions that don't fit with the text and then complaining about the text being wrong, why not just choose different assumptions that DO fit with the text?
    Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est

  24. - Top - End - #1104
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Chimera

    Join Date
    Dec 2015

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Grey_Wolf_c View Post
    ETA: that is, if it wasn't a con, which it turns it was. But I stand by my general statement, as someone whose best work tends to happen at the pen-and-paper phase of the development.
    It's a little strange -- when fabbers have been a thing in the strip for well over a decade and functional immortality has become a thing and the main cast is approaching saving the galaxy from 3 different fronts -- to see someone trying some basic nepotistic graft over a single shipment of physical goods. Reminds me of the earlier hand-to-mouth days for the mercenaries where enough money to eat out at a fancy restaurant was a couple week's plot. :-)

  25. - Top - End - #1105
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    May 2009

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Now I kind of wonder if they really did expect to find two hundred million ships, or if that was part of the scam.

    Besides, they're still paying people to do things. They're in a society that is transitioning to immortal and post material needs, but not, like, tomorrow. If it was announced everyone would live like this in ten years, what would you do until then? Probably still try to make money.
    Last edited by Kornaki; 2019-08-12 at 08:05 PM.

  26. - Top - End - #1106
    Colossus in the Playground
     
    BlackDragon

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Kornaki View Post
    Now I kind of wonder if they really did expect to find two hundred million ships, or if that was part of the scam.
    It would be far too easy for somebody else to check that--I assume the professor isn't the only person working on this, after all. Something like requisitioning absurd amounts of office supplies is a few easier scam to get away with, even though he failed to do that on this occasion.

  27. - Top - End - #1107
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    geoduck's Avatar

    Join Date
    Apr 2013
    Location
    Pacific NW
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    It would be far too easy for somebody else to check that--I assume the professor isn't the only person working on this, after all. Something like requisitioning absurd amounts of office supplies is a few easier scam to get away with, even though he failed to do that on this occasion.
    Just for the record, the would-be scammer is/was female.

  28. - Top - End - #1108
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Lizardfolk

    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    It took me longer than I would care to admit to realize that Kathryn had a paint brush in her pocket and why she had both it and the cookies.

  29. - Top - End - #1109
    Dwarf in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2014

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Lizard Lord View Post
    It took me longer than I would care to admit to realize that Kathryn had a paint brush in her pocket and why she had both it and the cookies.
    Thank you for pointing that out.
    I completely missed that, and was confused.

  30. - Top - End - #1110
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    Windscion's Avatar

    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    East Coast USA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

    Quote Originally Posted by Lizard Lord View Post
    It took me longer than I would care to admit to realize that Kathryn had a paint brush in her pocket and why she had both it and the cookies.
    So that's what the thing is that looks like a fake mustache. Thanks.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •