...as the footsteps of doom!

[Skeelzania]

I figure a few trillion tons of mass that you might have to turn at some point isn't something you want going at supersonic speeds. And 300m/s seems plenty fast to me; lets my Dreadnoughts cover their own length in 4.8 seconds.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure a comprehensive list of the enemy forces hasn't been posted. Its somewhere between "assload" and "gibber-inducing," from what I can tell.

[Otagia]

You do realise that the space shuttle moves at 7680 m/s, right? Anyway, there isn't really a top speed in space, just survivable acceleration, which is somewhere around 9g (17 when lying on their backs) for humans, and maybe 40g for unmanned ships (least durable component and all). Assuming, of course, that you don't have inertial dampeners, which I find silly but use anyway when others do.

[Skeelzania]

You do realise that the space shuttle moves at 7680 m/s, right?

Space shuttle's the size of a corvette in my fleet. Maybe I should have said "Acceleration" in reference to the ship's speed. If I remember correctly, you can just load that on indefinitely.

Like I said, the physics of this don't really interest me.

[Otagia]

Size has nothing to do with it, unless you're strapping the same sized rocket to everything.

[Skeelzania]

Never tried measuring the actual size of an Ishtar's engine. Though I know you could park a space shuttle, and probably its launchpad, comfortably inside one.

Looking back at the Wiki page for the Ishtars, which I wrote when I had some grasp of these things, I did indeed use acceleration. Meh, I never gave a speed in the thread, just locations. And I'm continuing with the notion that the Skeelzanian fleet is now bodily engaged with the Imperiatus front lines. Should have my post done in a few minutes.

[The Cerberus Alliance]

Alright. Kertai, the digisent that helps Anikar, is now going to use the BattleNet to coordinate a devastating attack on the Departed. However, he can only do so if you allow him very temporary control of your ships. He will use information he harvested from the Departed (as described in the post) that highlights all their weaknesses. Skeelzania and Zerstorendar will be the only ones for whom this will not be directly possible, but he will send you both everything you need to know. You all need to react to that request, and you can say no. However, whatever of your force remains will be in the same peril as it was before. Those who say yes will be able to save their remaining forces.

Dammit. I'm wanting to get this group destroyed... but I also know that ICly my fleet's more than likely going to take it up on it's offer.

Oh well. I'll get rid of those ships eventually.

[Kanuckistan]

I can dig up the post I made a few months back with some details, but I've already put some effort into measures to prevent exactly what Kertai is attempting, both hacking in through our comms and remote control.

You can't take the crew out of the loop - it's physically impossible.


EDIT:
Anyway, Ch'cye would be rather disinclined to agree without knowing the basic plan - she can still run away, afterall, and her ship is optimise for long range fighting, while you might be inclined to send it into close combat.


EDITEDIT:
Also, um, are we expected to post damage to the enemy, or what? 'cause I hate doing that; goes against all my instincts.

[Arenumberg]

Kanuck, Kertai is one of those epic type characters who has more about him than most would ever care to or will ever know, I understand your point but at the end of the day its not a malicious act, wouldnt you find it somewhat fun to, you know, have something get past your enigmatic defenses for once?

[Arizona Nova]

I figure a few trillion tons of mass that you might have to turn at some point isn't something you want going at supersonic speeds. And 300m/s seems plenty fast to me; lets my Dreadnoughts cover their own length in 4.8 seconds.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure a comprehensive list of the enemy forces hasn't been posted. Its somewhere between "assload" and "gibber-inducing," from what I can tell.

It's Battlefleet Plot Device. Their losses are inconsequential, as they can draw on a huge well anyway. Before the end, they must all be destroyed. The enemy will start taking damage - serious damage - after Kertai unleashes his master plan.

Kanuck, the point of Kertai doing this is that he is temporarily acting on the plot-device level with the enemy, and utilizing loopholes in the software and hardware. Your own systems can even start in on him and try to evict him even as he goes for it; it'll make things interesting. Seeing as you can just escape, though, it would make sense if your captain didn't feel the same urgent need to either fight or die, although this is still going to conflict, I would believe, with their horror at seeing them slaughter civilians from orbit.

Heh, TCA - you can still take losses (or have losses from the beginning of the battle) as it suits you.

[Kanuckistan]

Kanuck, the point of Kertai doing this is that he is temporarily acting on the plot-device level with the enemy, and utilizing loopholes in the software and hardware. Your own systems can even start in on him and try to evict him even as he goes for it; it'll make things interesting. Seeing as you can just escape, though, it would make sense if your captain didn't feel the same urgent need to either fight or die, although this is still going to conflict, I would believe, with their horror at seeing them slaughter civilians from orbit.

My comm systems aren't physicly connected to anything else, however. Including each other.

Found the post by the way - not comprehensive, but a decent summary:

The Kanuckistani approach to the problem - that is, running into someone whose computer tech is advanced enough to bypass your security - is an inversion of the challenge. Basicly, if a system is connected, directly or indirectly, to a potential intrusion vector, then it'll all be hardwired; totally inflexible, only physically capable of performing very specific task tasks, with everything broken down into simple roles. Wanna reprogram? Then you've got to physically rewire the system.

But you need flexibility, if only as a backup, so more traditional systems are connected via devices only capable of passing very specific information(ie, Input X is converted to Y = anything not in line with expectations becomes garbled nonsense) and run in otherwise isolation, with any input run on a virtual machine in isolation from the system it's physically on. We then have another system called "overwatch", which is disconnected from everything equipped with scanners capable of reading the state of it's assigned system - any intruder has no way of getting to the Overwatch system, or hiding from it. Overwatch may in turn have integrated means of dealing with malicious software, or in more sensitive applications, alerts an operator with physical access to the affected hardware - who then yanks it, and sends it down for analysis.

And of course my AIs are build with similar barriers - generally a three tiered system, taking the role of overwatch, with a second sub-sapient Overwatch above them.

So, yeah - I'm willing to bend things, but this is on par with "sneaking across an empty parking lot."

I'll just assume he'd know this(or close enough) and pretend he commed them regularly.

...and know that trying to hack into the computers of your security-paranoid ally's superweapon isn't exactly going to earn you many friends.