Persistent, Niggling Questions

[NAHTMMM]

D&D Online is going to get keyboard-mashy, so that's out. Star Trek Online likewise. Those are the two "big name" RPGs I've played.

How about the Mardek series? I remember that being pretty good and the plot simple, though I didn't get past Chapter Two.

I'm looking at Kongregate's other RPG badges and a lot of them are point-and-click or platformers or other not-really-RPG genre stuff. I remember when everyone was bowled over by Sonny back when zombies were the new hip thing, it's not amazing but it's good.

The Epic Battle Fantasy series tends to have good mechanics, a good "starter" RPG series, but, uh, the little girl gets the Gainax treatment if you get my drift.

Oh yes! Flagstaff series is a good starter RPG. Simple and easy. Looks like you need the keyboard to pan the map.

[Nate the Great]

Flagstaff is a little too simple. Move, attack, heal. Move, attack, heal. I fail to see how that's fun.

Epic Battle Fantasy is a little better. If nothing else it's good training for juggling attacks and healing. I wish there was a little more "meat" to it, if you get my drift.

Thanks anyway.

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: What's the biggest difference between the spelling and pronunciation of a word that you've ever seen?

Today I re-encountered Goethe (pronounced "ger-teh"), although I know that's probably not the biggest difference between the two that I've encountered, it was still a catalyst.

[Nate the Great]

Inspired by today's Vlog Brothers videos...

PNQ: Do you pronounce .gif as "giff" (like "gift" without the "t") or "jiff" (like "jiffy" without the "y")? (henceforth "hard g" or "soft g")

I think it's supposed to be the former, but I use the latter, it just rolls of the tongue easier.

Wikipedia says that the creator intended soft g, while the Cambridge Dictionary says hard g. Merriam-Webster places hard g ahead of soft g.

The New York Times says take the cue from the "graphics" that the acronym is formed from and use hard g.

[Nate the Great]

I'm starting to get tired of my Kid Radd avatar, so it's time for a change...

PNQ: Does anyone remember my spinning Kataan probe avatar?

And more precisely where I can find it again? I can't seem to find it in my files. No wonder, that was over ten years and several computers ago.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching the SFDebris review of "The Trouble With Tribbles" again, and once again I wonder why Cyrano Jones would bother dealing with tribbles when he'll only make a couple sales before they multiply to the point of worthlessness...

PNQ: How about the following as a slight plot modification?

Quadrotriticale is a a recent invention, right? Of course the full effects on humanoids would've been studied before it was sent to Sherman's Planet, but what about the effects on tribbles?

Let's say that in their natural state tribbles age and reproduce at a safe rate: they're great pets! But what if you feed them quadrotriticale? Suddenly the tribbles' metabolism mutates to the point where they age to maturity very quickly and breed much larger litters.

Furthermore, what if it's not the normal quadrotriticale after all: it's the poison that Darvin added to it that mutates tribbles? He inadvertantly laid the seeds for his own exposure and defeat. This would be a plot twist that could've provided for an explanation why McCoy takes so long figuring things out: he's never seen the poison before so he wouldn't know it's effect on humanoids, much less tribbles.

Would this have worked?

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: Hey, Z, new avatar means new title, right? Until I can track down that spinning Kataan probe again I can tiptoe a little away from the air guitar.

PNQ2: When's the last time any of you jumped on your bed?

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: How much of the premise of Discovery requires its current placement in the timeline?

Not counting cameos from people who happen to have the same names as TOS characters (it's amazing how many Sareks and Harry Mudds there are, aren't there?), of course.

As a prelude to the following, I'm about to compliment Enterprise again, so feel free to mark your calendars before I go back into my groundhog hole for another year.

At least Enterprise talked about issues central to its placement in the timeline. What are the implications of entering the larger universe? What are the implications of being on a long-range mission when most ships you meet will have more advanced technology than yours? How will our laws and directives have to evolve as we learn more about the consequences of our actions? What can go wrong with first contact?

Does Discovery address questions like this that depend on being where it is in the timeline? Does it feel like we're evolving towards a place where it makes sense that Kirk/Spock/etc. can be on their adventures ten years from now? If both DIS and TOS were radio shows and we couldn't see the technology or uniforms, will the events being discussed mesh?

Or are the creators using the good will generated by names like "Sarek" and "Harry Mudd" to get viewers, just like they did with the Kelvinverse?

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching "The Way of the Warrior" again and notice that Kasidy says that Cestus III is eight weeks away at maximum warp...

PNQ1: Is that "maximum warp" for her ship specifically (i.e. her freighter can only go warp six or something), or is "maximum warp" just shorthand for the fastest any starship can go at the moment (i.e. warp 9.9)?
PNQ2: How large is the Federation in the 24th century?
PNQ3: Should there be a practical maximum size for a nation-state in terms of travel time?
PNQ4: In "Family Business" a one-way subspace transmission takes two weeks to get to DS9 from Cestus III, doesn't this seem odd (i.e. subspace should be way more than four times faster than maximum warp)?

Memory Alpha indicates that the Federation is eight thousand years across, which would be eight years of maximum warp according to the Voyager scale.

However, it seems reasonable that you could "slow down" Voyager and say that 1000 LY/yr is based on less than maximum possible warp. That is, if Voyager was in the Federation and could regularly stop at starbases for refit and maintenance it could go much faster than 1000 LY/yr. The slower speed is a result of the need for more frequent stops for maintenance.

So let's say that if supported by a network of starbases and regular supply stops at Federation worlds a starship can go 2000 LY/yr. That's still four years to travel across the whole thing.

As for the two week transmission from Cestus III, I hope that's a combination of outdated civilian subspace technology and some sort of black hole/nebula/subspace anomaly causing interference between here and there, and it really doesn't take that long to transmit a message across the Federation.

As an aside, I am appalled at the inconsistencies of how fast warp factors are, even if we limit ourselves to the 24th century (23rd century speeds being on a different scale is already well-known). And if you look at how Enterprise tortures the scale from episode to episode, it gets downright painful.

[Nate the Great]

So I'm watching "The Ascent" again, and Quark offers to teach Odo how to play fizzbin, claiming that "it's a very simple game".

Let's put aside the fact that Kirk made it up back in "A Piece of the Action", either he or the Iotians have had over a hundred years to defictionalize it.

PNQ: Were the rules simplified in the intervening decades, or was Quark being sarcastic, or are the rules simple from the Ferengi perspective?

It stands to reason that Ferengi games would be more complex, and that they'd be treated as training for business dealings as well as just entertainment.

[Nate the Great]

At intervals I try to make PNQ posts about how mishandled the Maquis were. I keep going off onto tangents (as I did today twice before I had to delete them), ranting about many different things. Let me try to keep things simple and relatively civil...

PNQ: Was the basic premise of the Maquis ever properly developed or even followed up on consistently?

In my opinion, no. Bulletpoints:
* Supposedly there were also Cardassian colonies left high and dry on the Federation side of the DMZ, but we never saw them (and for that matter, it was never stated whether or not the Federation became landlords to them). This would've provided for some interesting plots: Cardassian High Command asks how things are going and the colonies admit that the Federation has left them completely alone, not even trying to create their own colonies elsewhere on their planets. There couldn't have been one episode of DS9 based on this premise? It would've been useful leverage to make the Cardassians stop hassling the Federation colonists so much, right?
* Okay, the Cardassian colonies in the DMZ was mentioned, but only to tell us that the Cardassian military was secretly gave them weapons so they could hassle the Federation colonies. That sure seems like an act of war to me! Why not give this information to Starfleet and let them handle it?
* The Maquis kept demanding the rights and powers of a nation without ever actually owning the space that they claim. It seemed like every parsec was still "owned" by either the Federation or the Cardassian Empire, so the DMZ residents were either of no nation or of the nation of their landlords. All they could do was petition both sides to cede the territory to them.
* The Maquis kept complaining that Starfleet stop treating them like terrorists and refugees (even though they were). Eddington claimed that if left alone the Maquis would've focused all of their attention on the Cardassians. Yeah, that's a suicide mission, dude. He could never grasp the simple fact that his people could live "in paradise" had they just relocated to a Federation world in the first place.

You'll note that Voyager never really came up. It's well established how mishandled the Maquis were on that show. If the creators were so scared of the Starfleet officers looking like the bad guys the premise should've been not Starfleet and Maquis, but Starfleet and another group. A group that has their own morals and values that happen to be quite different from Starfleet, but still valid. Have the other ship be Vulcans with little experience with humans, or Ferengi, or Andorians, or Binars, or Klingons, or even another Delta Quadrant race that we've never seen before. Maybe tweak the Talaxian race to be a little less annoying. The possibilities are endless!

[Nate the Great]

Today I rediscovered the cliche: "In Europe 100 miles is a long way, in the U.S. 100 years is a long time."

PNQ: Have any of you been to Europe? How accurate is this?

[Nate the Great]

This one's been niggling at me off and on for years, but it came back today. Regarding Earth Station McKinley...

PNQ: What's the point of putting massive parts of the station on hinges to "grasp" a starship if the ship isn't actually docked to it?

All I can conclude is that the "fingers" create their own shield bubble to protect the ship inside.

But then you wonder what happened to Spacedock. At least that facility fully enclosed a number of ships (but don't ask me how Starfleet built the thing, it's just too big!)

As for the other single-ship spacedocks (lower-case "s"), at least those facilities could protect workbees, shuttles, and workers in EV suits within.

[Nate the Great]

I finally bit the bullet and signed up for Reddit...


PNQ1: Does anyone have communities that they'd like to recommend?
PNQ2: I don't intend to post for a long time, but any advice (do's and don't's) along those lines?

[Nate the Great]

Rewatching "The Most Toys"...

PNQ1: Why would Worf be promoted to Chief of Operations to replace Data?

It's a matter of training. Being COO requires science training that is on a completely different career track than tactical officers. I can understand either Data or Worf being transferred to Command to be first officer (take that, Eddington!), but being shunted into each others' jobs is just weird.

PNQ2: Why were Data and Kim called COO when they're really the Science Officer and O'Brien called COO when he's really the Engineering Officer?

I can sort of understand operations=engineering, but operations=science is just baffling.

Memory Alpha seems to treat "Operations" as a catchall for the goldshirt divisions-engineering, security, and tactical. This troubles me. So is the COO supposed to be an intermediate liason between the goldshirt senior officers and the first officer? What's the point?

PNQ3: Who else assumes that O'Brien was named Chief of Operations just so people could still call him "chief"?

It's not like "chief" is his rank or anything--oh, wait!

[Flying Gremlin]

It doesn't really help that Data is the first one we see, whom basically can do anything on the ship.

But the Ops officer can probably do whatever the writers want them to that particular episode.

[Nate the Great]

SFDebris again...


Do you pronounce it "muu-ga-two" or "muu-ga-toe"?

[Flying Gremlin]

Originally Posted by Nate the Great

Do you pronounce it "muu-ga-two" or "muu-ga-toe"?

I pronounce it "space dinner".

[Nate the Great]

The MECO remix of the Star Trek Love Theme.


PNQ: While I recognize a few bits here and there as being very TOS-like, where is the original version of the love theme from?

[Nate the Great]

PNQ: What is the most pompous alternative job title you've ever seen?


I don't mean your generic "'Secretary' is apparently sexist now, so let's call them 'Administrative Assistants'" scenario. There's this gas station chain called Maverick, and they call their cashiers "Adventure Guides".