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Thread: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
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2022-01-31, 11:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2015
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- Germany
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
You know, the words "everything is fine. No one is in danger" usually translate to "time to run away screaming passed ten minutes ago", but I'm sure this guy is highly capable and knows what he is doing.
On a unrelated note, where's the escape pods?"If it lives it can be killed.
If it is dead it can be eaten."
Ronkong Coma "the way of the bookhunter" III Catacombium
(Walter Moers "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher")
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2022-01-31, 11:04 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Last edited by sihnfahl; 2022-01-31 at 11:05 AM.
May you get EXACTLY what you wish for.
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2022-01-31, 11:47 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2011
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2022-01-31, 11:59 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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- France
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
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2022-01-31, 12:00 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Last edited by sihnfahl; 2022-01-31 at 12:00 PM.
May you get EXACTLY what you wish for.
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2022-01-31, 12:02 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
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2022-01-31, 12:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2007
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2022-01-31, 12:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2004
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
He wants to replace the human workers with robots, the Union is trying to prevent that by demanding equal pay for robots, he retaliates by making the job miserable and the pay late so that human workers work less, the result is that the station becomes less and less functional to the point where life support systems may fail. And that's part of his plan.
Why?
Because life support failure would be a threat to the lives of the humans on board. And robots are programmed to act when human lives are threatened. And we know, and De Morel presumably also knows, that there are robots on the station, hiding from the workers. Basically, it's a blackmail. He's letting the situation rot until robots arrive to work for free, and the human workers will have to let the robots work for free because it's either that or risking death. And then he'll have replaced the workers with robots, without having to pay them.
The hydroponics may have been a proof of concept for the whole scheme. The plants were dying, a robot volunteered to do the work, without getting paid for it.Hark! An avatar drawn by Kate Beaton!
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2022-01-31, 12:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
So.. making the prediction now. Sam will end as replacement manager.
The next chapters will take place as he tries to get the station running again.thnx to Starwoof for the fine avatar
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2022-01-31, 01:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2015
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- Germany
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
"If it lives it can be killed.
If it is dead it can be eaten."
Ronkong Coma "the way of the bookhunter" III Catacombium
(Walter Moers "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher")
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2022-01-31, 08:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Location
- Bristol, UK
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2022-02-01, 02:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2005
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- Sydney, Australia
- Gender
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
I dunno. The story is about Sam (and Florence, and Helix). Florence is having a station-based story arc, and the robots wanting to build her (and themselves) a ship ties into that. Helix is happy where Sam is. And what more does Sam need than people to annoy and steal from, long corridors for being chased, and interesting terrain to be chased through? (And ice cream.) Looks like the station has all of those, plus a mystery to solve. What's the downside?
I'm pretty much the opposite of concise. If I fail to get to the point, please ask me and I'm happy to (attempt to) clarify.
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2022-02-01, 07:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
You might be right on the money here. This is the best case ruthless savings scenario for him. It also has a significant risk of blowing up in his face.
The space station has some owner (most likely Ecosystems Unlimited) and their reaction to the state of the station might be also important in how things would unfold. Since the station served its main purpose already, it might be of little value to the corporation, so when they see it in a run-down state and poor finances, they might opt to sell it off cheaply as a liability. The manager might be aiming to buy it off of them. If on the other hand they still have plans for the station, they might simply kick out the manager and put someone else in place before his plan to replace everyone with pay-less robots kicks in fully.
Sam was hired to investigate unusually high maintenance costs of the station, so whoever owns the station, is still interested in how it is run.
Also, I wanted to comment that being aware of ones own limitations and actually listen to experts is remarkably smart if you compare to many people who should never be given managerial positions.
edit: As I read the archives, it seems it's the station manager who asked for the costs investigation.Last edited by Radar; 2022-02-01 at 07:30 AM.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-02-01, 12:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Sam was hired to investigate unusually high maintenance costs of the station, so whoever owns the station, is still interested in how it is run.
It seems clear the current manager is going to be replaced.
Likely by evidence Sam uncover. In turn proving his own fitness for the position.thnx to Starwoof for the fine avatar
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2022-02-01, 01:09 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-02-14, 03:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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- France
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Is it really that easy?
Last edited by Fyraltari; 2022-02-14 at 03:52 AM.
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2022-02-14, 04:37 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
First, you have to know about this trick. Second of: you have to be helping Sam. For many people this would be too difficult to stomach. In many other situations, it might not be easy to find something to help Sam with. The workshop manager was lucky that Sam actually wanted something from him.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-02-23, 11:32 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2011
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Looks like we may have a candidate for next station administrator?
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2022-03-04, 07:28 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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2022-03-04, 08:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2021
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
And about the people who design everything. As a computer repair person, I don't know how many times the tear down procedures for a given device have made me want to throttle the person who designed it.
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2022-03-04, 01:23 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
At least you do not have it as bad as car mechanics. Changing a lightbulb should be a simple task anyone could do on a roadside, right?
I assume that the teardown procedure is often an afterthought once the design is mostly already decided based on other factors.In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-03-04, 06:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
In theory a well designed piece of electronics does not need to be taken apart. I remember a story from school about how TVs used to have easily accessible hardware. Then somebody designed a solid state TV tuner and put it in a TV such that it was impossible to repair. People were a bit leary until they heard that the TV never needed repair.
That said, computers do tend to have ongoing maintenance and upgrade cycles that require access to various internal parts. It is nice when the process is "remove cover to access part" instead of "remove the keyboard and motherboard to access part".
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2022-03-04, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
This actually reminds me how I was searching information on replacing broken keys (as in the actual piece detecting that you push the key - not the external piece of plastic) in my previous laptop: You have to pull all the hardware from the laptop to even get to the keyboard, which is basically a piece of foil with some electronics on it. Getting it out and putting a new one is too much of an ordeal to consider for me - there are external keyboards, they work, end of problem.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.
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2022-03-05, 08:25 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- DE
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
For my previous laptop, I looked up the procedure for changing that small battery for RTC and bios-settings.
About 3/4 of the laptop had to be taken appart, just to get at that battery
It is nice when the process is "remove cover to access part" instead of "remove the keyboard and motherboard to access part".-HaJo
FLW: Oh, no. We're being rescued. How embarrassing!
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2022-03-07, 08:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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- France
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Wait, if the station was built specifically for the moon project, how was that project it's "main source of income" why is the station making money at all, instead of simply being an expenditure for that project?
And maybe, if it's no longer needed and may not be viable any more, just scrap it?Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
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2022-03-07, 08:58 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Independent contractor.
And maybe, if it's no longer needed and may not be viable any more, just scrap it?
Seriously, that's a question any struggling business should at least quietly ask. I guess the question becomes, what exactly do they do out here now, and if they just shuttered themselves, who would suffer -- and/or would something else (perhaps more fly-by-night or expensive) spring up to service such and such an industry.
To be honest, I'm a little unclear on what industries exist in this universe. There appears to be terraforming interests, an AI company Florence wants to convince not to let her species disappear,... and then bakers and mayors and ice cream venders and so on that Sam gets to chase him. The in-between stuff is kind of not well fleshed out.
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2022-03-07, 09:11 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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- France
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
But there wasn't a station to contract to.
Seriously, that's a question any struggling business should at least quietly ask. I guess the question becomes, what exactly do they do out here now, and if they just shuttered themselves, who would suffer -- and/or would something else (perhaps more fly-by-night or expensive) spring up to service such and such an industry.
I think this would have made more sense if the station had been a pre-existing thing that had a sudden influx of money thanks to the moon project and is now struggling to get back to its original economy.Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
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2022-03-07, 10:19 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
I think an independent contractor bid on the task of supplying a necessary space station to the terraforming project.
What bugs me is that this problem should have been obvious frol day one. Either they thought they'd be more business opportunity in space that could fill the gap.(and in that case why were they wrong?) or the people who decided to have this thing built are very myopic in their planning.
I think this would have made more sense if the station had been a pre-existing thing that had a sudden influx of money thanks to the moon project and is now struggling to get back to its original economy.myopathymyopia necessary -- the planners saw the end of the money times, it's just that now there are a bunch (few? some?) people still there that don't want to move away* that would really like to keep the thing going (somehow). That undoubtedly fell into the planner's 'not my problem' bin.
*Although, honestly, why not?Last edited by Willie the Duck; 2022-03-07 at 03:03 PM.
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2022-03-07, 10:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
All the associated services and manpower beyond what Ecosystems has on the expense table.
The ancillaries that go along with it. For example, what is the likelihood that 'trade for spices' on the line item budget?
Then there's the settlers around the station that use it as a transfer point.
it's just that now there are a bunch (few? some?) people still there that don't want to move away* that would really like to keep the thing going (somehow). That undoubtedly fell into the planner's 'not my problem' bin.
*Although, honestly, why not?Last edited by sihnfahl; 2022-03-07 at 10:59 AM.
May you get EXACTLY what you wish for.
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2022-03-07, 12:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2007
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Which might be a piece of a solution. Currently there are not that many settlers as deep space or even an asteroid field are not exactly human-friendly environments. Robots on the other hand might be fine out there and with them becoming citizens, some might want to go out to explore the local star system and start building infrastructure around it.
In a war it doesn't matter who's right, only who's left.