[Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie

apoc527 · 12-07-2011, 01:17 PM

Hello all,

I have some questions that I'm hoping some of you can answer for me regarding the IW setting and parachronic operations:

1. Does a conveyer have any means to move on its own? Does it depend on the conveyer? The "pod" that is pictured in the IW book doesn't seem to have an engine. It seems clear that a conveyer can be built with its own motive source, but how common is that?

2. Does a conveyer have to arrive in its destination in the same physical spot? Let's say I want to send a drone to the mid-Atlantic. Do I have to send my drone to the mid-Atlantic in Homeline and then have it jump? How can I do this if I need a projector? Are there floating projectors? In other words, if you can only jump to places where you are sitting in one timeline, how do you avoid arriving inside matter in another? How do you know that your arrival point is empty? This is especially difficult if projectors can only send conveyers that are sitting in or on them, as you have to have a projector built at a fairly "empty" spot, right?

3. Why does Homeline only have a 2 quanta range? Why can't it (or Centrum) built projectors in different quanta? Let's say there's an annihilated human population in a Q3 worldline. After much effort, IU transports enough material and personnel there to build a new projector. Wouldn't this projector have a theoretical 2 quanta range as well, allowing access to Q1? Why doesn't Centrum do this in order to gain access to Homeline? EDIT: Ok, I answered this one myself. I'm still unclear on the other two.

That's it for now. THese are just the questions that have been bugging me for some time.

THanks!

Fred Brackin · 12-07-2011, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apoc527

1. Does a conveyer have any means to move on its own?

2. Does a conveyer have to arrive in its destination in the same physical spot?

3. Why does Homeline only have a 2 quanta range? !

!. The parachronic drive provides no physical movement on it own, but it can be built into a vehicle which moves under another motive ssytem. See the Vigniette at thr sart of CH 1 of the IW book. there's a differnt vehicle carrying parachronics in HT too.

2. Yes, same spot. If that's an inconveninet spot for a 1 or 2 Quanta jump the projector has to e on a big ship or an oil platform.

3. Them is the rules. Projectors reach 2 Quanta and don't work even if built on other timelines. Infinity is afarid that one might work if built on Shikaku-Mon but that's not the sort of place where you can pull then God Gambit on the natives;.

David Johnston2 · 12-07-2011, 01:58 PM

Projectors don't work on most worlds because projectors are super science. It's the same reason why Homeline can't import Gernsback broadcast power technology. It doesn't work on Homeline or most other timelines.

RogerBW · 12-07-2011, 07:35 PM

Fred has answered your actual questions. I think this is possibly a good place to bring up the idea of a "staging" worldline, an empty world that Infinity is prepared to build on extensively. The idea is that you use a big projector to do the cross-quantum jump from Homeline to the staging world, then an in-quantum jump to whichever world you're actually going to. That way, (a) you don't need to ship mobile projectors all over Homeline, and (b) if you need to bail out of a world in a hurry you have somewhere to go that's on the same quantum.

apoc527 · 12-08-2011, 12:57 AM

Roger, that's a good idea and was where I was headed. I think I saw some other posts alluding to the same idea. Even if Homeline and Centrum are the only two worldlines (and possibly Shikaku-mon) where projectors work, it's helpful to limit yourself to intra-quantum jumps when possible.

blacksmith · 12-08-2011, 07:04 AM

Keep in mind that a conveyor needs to be precisely positioned for it to work as a different position would require several hundred thousand dollars of computer time at least to work out. So mobile conveyors are a bit like amphibious vehicles they have their use but are not generally the practical solution.

Staging worlds are useful for emergencies not real useful to for typical travel. A network of a projector sending to one spot in several worlds in a quantum and then using a conveyor within quantum to get to the right world would work. But going back to homelike it might be best to wait for a window.

Fred Brackin · 12-08-2011, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by apoc527

Roger, that's a good idea and was where I was headed. I think I saw some other posts alluding to the same idea. Even if Homeline and Centrum are the only two worldlines (and possibly Shikaku-mon) where projectors work, it's helpful to limit yourself to intra-quantum jumps when possible.

The usual riposte to the "staging world" cocnept is that Infinity is not sure how ell Centrum's spottign capability is and they are afraid that any outtime base within 2 quanta of Centrum could be located and then surprise attacked by conveyor.

Centrum, which _can_ detect (but not instantly locate) any jump within 2 quanta of its' own projectors is afraid Infinity can do it too (which it can't but Centrum doesn't know that). So for both sides the only secure bases are considered to be out of the other's reach.

Perhaps more useful from my perspective is the opposite idea. Desinate an emergnency pick-up world for any multi-Quantum mission. If something goes bad and you can't wait for your designated pick-up time you have to bug out for _some_ other world within your own current Qunatum.

You'll need some place and some time on another world in that Quantum where Homeline will be focussing a projector or you'll never get home. You might even have a whole lsit of alternate pck-up possibilites.

blacksmith · 12-08-2011, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

The usual riposte to the "staging world" cocnept is that Infinity is not sure how ell Centrum's spottign capability is and they are afraid that any outtime base within 2 quanta of Centrum could be located and then surprise attacked by conveyor.

Centrum, which _can_ detect (but not instantly locate) any jump within 2 quanta of its' own projectors is afraid Infinity can do it too (which it can't but Centrum doesn't know that). So for both sides the only secure bases are considered to be out of the other's reach.

Perhaps more useful from my perspective is the opposite idea. Desinate an emergnency pick-up world for any multi-Quantum mission. If something goes bad and you can't wait for your designated pick-up time you have to bug out for _some_ other world within your own current Qunatum.

You'll need some place and some time on another world in that Quantum where Homeline will be focussing a projector or you'll never get home. You might even have a whole lsit of alternate pck-up possibilites.

This depends on it being a hot war, the idea was that they would be unlikely to act dirrectly against each other to the extent of dirrectly attacking bases.

Fred Brackin · 12-08-2011, 07:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blacksmith

This depends on it being a hot war, the idea was that they would be unlikely to act dirrectly against each other to the extent of dirrectly attacking bases.

One of the foundations of it not being a hot war is each side's inablity to attack the other directly. If one side sets up a major, permanent base it could easily become an attractive target.

12-07-2011, 01:17 PM	#1
apoc527 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Seattle, WA	[Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie Hello all, I have some questions that I'm hoping some of you can answer for me regarding the IW setting and parachronic operations: 1. Does a conveyer have any means to move on its own? Does it depend on the conveyer? The "pod" that is pictured in the IW book doesn't seem to have an engine. It seems clear that a conveyer can be built with its own motive source, but how common is that? 2. Does a conveyer have to arrive in its destination in the same physical spot? Let's say I want to send a drone to the mid-Atlantic. Do I have to send my drone to the mid-Atlantic in Homeline and then have it jump? How can I do this if I need a projector? Are there floating projectors? In other words, if you can only jump to places where you are sitting in one timeline, how do you avoid arriving inside matter in another? How do you know that your arrival point is empty? This is especially difficult if projectors can only send conveyers that are sitting in or on them, as you have to have a projector built at a fairly "empty" spot, right? 3. Why does Homeline only have a 2 quanta range? Why can't it (or Centrum) built projectors in different quanta? Let's say there's an annihilated human population in a Q3 worldline. After much effort, IU transports enough material and personnel there to build a new projector. Wouldn't this projector have a theoretical 2 quanta range as well, allowing access to Q1? Why doesn't Centrum do this in order to gain access to Homeline? EDIT: Ok, I answered this one myself. I'm still unclear on the other two. That's it for now. THese are just the questions that have been bugging me for some time. THanks! Last edited by apoc527; 12-07-2011 at 01:27 PM.

12-07-2011, 01:58 PM	#3
David Johnston2 Join Date: Dec 2007	Re: [Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie Projectors don't work on most worlds because projectors are super science. It's the same reason why Homeline can't import Gernsback broadcast power technology. It doesn't work on Homeline or most other timelines.

12-07-2011, 07:35 PM	#4
RogerBW Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: near London, UK	Re: [Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie Fred has answered your actual questions. I think this is possibly a good place to bring up the idea of a "staging" worldline, an empty world that Infinity is prepared to build on extensively. The idea is that you use a big projector to do the cross-quantum jump from Homeline to the staging world, then an in-quantum jump to whichever world you're actually going to. That way, (a) you don't need to ship mobile projectors all over Homeline, and (b) if you need to bail out of a world in a hurry you have somewhere to go that's on the same quantum. __________________ Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23

12-08-2011, 12:57 AM	#5
apoc527 Join Date: Nov 2011 Location: Seattle, WA	Re: [Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie Roger, that's a good idea and was where I was headed. I think I saw some other posts alluding to the same idea. Even if Homeline and Centrum are the only two worldlines (and possibly Shikaku-mon) where projectors work, it's helpful to limit yourself to intra-quantum jumps when possible.

12-08-2011, 07:04 AM	#6
blacksmith Join Date: Aug 2005	Re: [Infinite Worlds] Parachronic operations questions from a newbie Keep in mind that a conveyor needs to be precisely positioned for it to work as a different position would require several hundred thousand dollars of computer time at least to work out. So mobile conveyors are a bit like amphibious vehicles they have their use but are not generally the practical solution. Staging worlds are useful for emergencies not real useful to for typical travel. A network of a projector sending to one spot in several worlds in a quantum and then using a conveyor within quantum to get to the right world would work. But going back to homelike it might be best to wait for a window.