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Topic: What happens to the devices on-board after Sa-Matra's destruction? (Read 10890 times)
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Valaggar
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Hey, I've just realized. Hayes says that the Spawner has a limited, self-contained power supply. Perhaps it was nearing depletion.
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Draxas
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He also says that there is no way to tell how long it will last, so that hardly seems valid.
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Valaggar
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He says "we cannot estimate". The Chmmr, being mechanical beings themselves, would be better at this job.
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Draxas
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Or perhaps not, since it's not their technology, and nobody would be particularly keen on having them disassemble it just to figure that out.
"Well, the good news is, we took apart the Portal Spawner and found out it has enough power to last 100 more years! The bad news is, we took the Portal Spawner apart, and have no idea how to put it back together."
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Valaggar
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What about a sci-fi-ish scan? You can scan an entire planet with the Vindicator, the Ur-Quan can too, there's no reason why the Chmmr couldn't scan a Spawner.
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Draxas
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Except they don't know what they're looking for. Planet scans have 3 distinct items of interest. Artifact scans, as our science reports tell us, run the whole gamut, and still often wind up coming to incomplete or incorrect conclusions (Any Ultron repair artifact is a good example).
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Valaggar
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'Cause there they couldn't see the big picture, 'cause everything was separated. This does not apply to the Spawner.
In fact, energy depletion would mean that something disappears from the Spawner, so you could measure it.
Unless the energy upon which the Spawner feeds is something extra-dimensional, and we are not solid enough to perceive it.
The don't-remove-it-to-increase-Zelnick's-chances explanation is indeed better, but the Chmmr are too calculated to take a risk so small into account (after all, Zelnick survived to much worse things), when a device so precious is in danger. I'd say that Fwiffo's certainly involved, rather.
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Draxas
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'Cause there they couldn't see the big picture, 'cause everything was separated. This does not apply to the Spawner.
In fact, energy depletion would mean that something disappears from the Spawner, so you could measure it.
Who would want to test such a thing aboard the starbase? You'd risk stranding the entire platform in an alien dimension.
Unless the energy upon which the Spawner feeds is something extra-dimensional, and we are not solid enough to perceive it.
A possibility. Who knows what the fuel source for this thing is (besides the Arilou, and they're not talking)? While it does suck up fuel like nothing else, the implication from the text is that fuel only serves to initiate the reaction.
The don't-remove-it-to-increase-Zelnick's-chances explanation is indeed better, but the Chmmr are too calculated to take a risk so small into account (after all, Zelnick survived to much worse things), when a device so precious is in danger. I'd say that Fwiffo's certainly involved, rather.
Or, if you're a slightly less skilled or less lucky pilot (or perhaps, not much of a diplomat), Fwiffo is very, very dead by that time. I think it's very hard to attribute a decision like this to someone who may not have even left Pluto in the first place (as you're never under any obligation to retrieve him in the first place).
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Valaggar
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Draxas:
1) They could make a little trip to HS (you can't use the Spawner in TS, it's too far from QuasiSpace)
3) Oops. I forgot that.
countchocula seems to have the right explanation here, IMHO.
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Draxas
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I don't know which is more likely: That the device stops working around when we've eitehr won or been cleansed, or that the device keeps working for a very long time. The reasoning behind the limited life is obvious, as it stops us from using the device to explore Quasispace. The reasoning behind the long lifespan is a little more obtuse, but makes a lot of sense when you think about it.
The Portal Spawner is just one device, allowing us the ability to transport just one (very large) ship through Quasispace. Being a valuable piece of working technology, it is considered much more useful on board a ship and intact than disassembled on some researcher's workbench. However, what happens when the device breaks down? Most likely, in an effort to get it working again, it gets taken apart and analyzed very carefully (and much more thoroughly than if it were intact) in an effort to get it working again. As a consequence, it is much more likely that we will figure out how it works, thus unlocking the gates of IDF research. Now, what is the one thing the Arilou warn us about more than anything else?
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Valaggar
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This would only be true in the case of an emergency such as the war against the Ur-Quan. In times of piece, the Spawner'd be much more valuable as an object of study, as a matrix for the production of many Spawners.
Plus, who said that we can find out how the Spawner works? It may require abilities beyond our (current) potential.
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Draxas
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Humans are remarkably resouceful, as the Arilou say. We'd find a way. The Androsynth did.
"Times of peace" is a relative term. Humanity will always have enemies, ones that persist even afte the Ur-Quan are gone. The VUX and Mycon certainly still want a piece of us. The Spawner would be immensely useful for speeding diplomatic missions, rescue efforts, or even surprise attacks. While this would generate quite a lot of interest in taking it apart for study, it would not be the most prudent action while it was still functional, especially since it provides the only opportunity to contact its creators on our terms, rather than the usual arrangement of them "visiting" us as they like.
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Valaggar
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The Androsynth found a way to USE those Precursor IDF artifacts.
As to the most prudent action - it depends. I'd say that both are possible in the same degree.
Also, maybe when the energy supply is empty, you can't study the Spawner anymore, since it's then just an inert bunch of useless materials, you don't have any way to see it working. The Arilou gave us the Spawner on their own will, so they surely knew that we won't be able to use it more than needed, and the most likely way to set this up is by limiting its power supply.
Plus, even if the energy supply is bigger, at some point the Spawner will STILL get dry, and then, the insidious dangers of IDF research will be upon us.
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Valaggar
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The Sun Device surely was left at the Starbase... it's an ancient Precursor artifact so it is very valuable.
As to the Spawner... Paul said in the 2007 IRC chat that Fwiffo will trigger the events in the sequel:
23:11 <@Meep-Eep> Is there anything else can you tell us about your new game?
23:12 <+PR3> I'd rather not say too much about the plot, except that Fwiffo's general paranoia, greed and lust for fame triggers the initial 'bad event' getting the player moving.
so he's alive and well and able to intervene to keep the Spawner onboard at the time of the end of SC2.
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Pages: 1 2 3 [4]
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