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Jonos
Lieutenant
Joined: 14 Jul 2015
Posts: 79
Location: South Carolina
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 Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 8:32 pm Post subject: Technology question |
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I've run into a couple of questions. Not seriously game breaking or anything, just curiosities.
Is there a form of wireless technology in the Star Wars universe?
At the time of WEG writing wireless was in its infancy, but now it's hard to imagine life without it. I know that Star Wars was "A long time ago" so do they use something different, or is it a similar tech?
Also, when a character gets a comm frequency from someone, how is it that same frequency isn't in use by someone else? Is it a case of having so many billions of frequencies that it just isn't an issue?
When a character has a ship, does he register its name? I can't imagine an Imperial space traffic controller saying "Attention vessel 'Vader's Big Toe' you are appearing on our scanners..." I know they have transponder identities, so would they use those? What would they look like? Like modern day aircraft and boat reg numbers?
Just some thoughts...
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tetsuoh
Captain
Joined: 21 Jul 2010
Posts: 505
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Jonos wrote: | I've run into a couple of questions. Not seriously game breaking or anything, just curiosities.
Is there a form of wireless technology in the Star Wars universe? |
yes they do - or hyper- transceivers wouldn't work - or the holonet transceiver that the emperor uses to contact vader in a point to point holo call.
there are crap tons of examples from the antennas to commlinks themselves.
Even droid controllers are a form of it.
| Jonos wrote: |
At the time of WEG writing wireless was in its infancy, but now it's hard to imagine life without it. I know that Star Wars was "A long time ago" so do they use something different, or is it a similar tech? |
Who knows? This is whats great because the answer is : yes and no.
We're talking about a setting that includes the tech from millions of space fairing races - this means that their tech can and will be different - and can and will be fundamentally the same as someone elses - somewhere.
MATH gotta love it. Also once races come together you start to get a galactic standard - the tech that most races think works best for its price - this becomes the norm - and everything else is just extras you as a gm can feel free to throw in when you want. Atm that is comm frequencies and holonet frequencies - which in my game are all just handled as communications frequencies alongside the oddball stuff and just named quirky stuff - like "wow this guy is literally using a attax 12.6gig rad wave frequency? thats a light wavelength - anyone within 10km can see him pumping this thing into space.... whats he thinking?"
| Jonos wrote: |
Also, when a character gets a comm frequency from someone, how is it that same frequency isn't in use by someone else? Is it a case of having so many billions of frequencies that it just isn't an issue? |
Once I had a guy who for some unknown reason was able to hear a man on coruscant talking to his boss about the upcoming meeting and his presentation for the shareholders. (he was somehow on this guys comm ferq when he switched his on after landing.)
You can and will have odd things happen sooner or later no matter what kind of tech it is - like even today people waking up to find there phone line in use by someone from 4 states away, and people who still monitor radio frequencies that seem to just spout random words in binary every 5 minutes.... it can actually be kinda creepy sometimes.
| Jonos wrote: |
When a character has a ship, does he register its name? I can't imagine an Imperial space traffic controller saying "Attention vessel 'Vader's Big Toe' you are appearing on our scanners..." I know they have transponder identities, so would they use those? What would they look like? Like modern day aircraft and boat reg numbers? |
My Games:
In Republic or Imperial Space - yes - and they must have an Imperial or Republic ID to do so, and they must register the vessels transponder and its name. In imperial space there is a list of prohibitied words to be used in vessel titles.
Hutt space or Independant space - not really - Independants will take down your info for later use but dont require it to be registered as they have no agency controlling anything between systems usually. Tion and Hapes does, as well as Chiss space and a few others - but those are exceptions not the norm in my games. Hutt space if you have the credits then not only do they forget they just ID'ed your vessel upon planetary entry by its Imperial/Republic Codes - for some reason they have no record of a ship by that name in their bay - that ship is some other ship.
Hutts have a central ship's registration bureau - and it is required to be "listed" in its databanks if you operate in hutt space, If you get me.
BUT - thats just how I play things anyway. |
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Pel
Line Captain
Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 983
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:10 pm Post subject: |
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Most people have commlinks which can link to datapads and even ships. There's even a beckon call in Heir to the Empire, which turns properly equipped ships into drones (flyable via Ipad of course).
Commlinks have unique frequencies, or more likely they have unique access codes like phone numbers, or the SW data compression algorithms must be 'most impressive'.
Ships have unique engine signatures hardwired into their transponders and registered with BoSS (Bureau of Ships and Services). Kind of an Imperial DMV, if you can imagine that special hell. Changing engine signatures is as easy as slicing a secure Imperial database or actually modifying your engines, which is difficult and expensive, but cheaper than a one-way trip to Kessel.
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:24 pm Post subject: Re: Technology question |
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| Jonos wrote: | Is there a form of wireless technology in the Star Wars universe?
At the time of WEG writing wireless was in its infancy, but now it's hard to imagine life without it. I know that Star Wars was "A long time ago" so do they use something different, or is it a similar tech? |
The Emperor skyped with Vader via the holonet back in 1980, and there weren't any wires between Coruscant and Vader's command ship. You mean local internets? If the Star Wars galaxy has galactic-scale FTL internet, then IMO it is completely reasonable that systems, planets and cities may have smaller scale local versions as well. The Empire would likely try to stop any interstellar internets, but it would probably be impossible to police the local ones too much.
But it is funny to think about the advance of real world technology in relation to sci-fi. I used to think of WEG's datapad/pocket computer from 1987 to be not much more than a smaller version of the those things the miniskirted yeomans would have Captain Kirk sign with a stylus. But now I think of them as more like my tablet. These and communicators cost 100 credits each. It isn't beyond reason that there could exist in the Star Wars galaxy a combination of the communicator and the pocket computer into a smartphone, but I haven't gone that far in my own SW galaxy.
| Jonos wrote: | | Also, when a character gets a comm frequency from someone, how is it that same frequency isn't in use by someone else? Is it a case of having so many billions of frequencies that it just isn't an issue? |
I never thought about it too much but sure there could be thousands of frequencies, and more advanced communicators can probably monitor multiple frequencies simultaneously.
| Jonos wrote: | | When a character has a ship, does he register its name? I can't imagine an Imperial space traffic controller saying "Attention vessel 'Vader's Big Toe' you are appearing on our scanners..." I know they have transponder identities, so would they use those? What would they look like? Like modern day aircraft and boat reg numbers? |
Yes, see BoSS and WEG SW GM Screen Revised p. 32-34 for the registration forms and sample registration. I use all of that. BoSS has been a galactic institution since about 18,000 BBY, but in the Empire I imagine there would still be some restricted ship names just like there are certain personalized license plate numbers that are forbidden by my state's BMV. (If "Vader's Big Toe" could make it through the approval process, then I imagine that would at least bring unwanted attention upon the ship owner.)
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 11, 2015 11:56 pm Post subject: |
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This may interest you. By wireless, I'm assuming you are talking about local communications on a planetary scale like what we currently have in the modern world, while the above topic is more along lines of communication between planets, but it is worth looking through.
As for wireless? See Cloud City. Lando presses a button on his wrist unit. Half a city away, Lobot's eyes open. Lobot was obviously wired (wirelessly) into the computers and network of Cloud City, so the concept of wireless tech does exist. The important question is how much of it you wish to include.
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garhkal
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Joined: 17 Jul 2005
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Location: Reynoldsburg, Columbus, Ohio.
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| Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:55 am Post subject: Re: Technology question |
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| Jonos wrote: | I've run into a couple of questions. Not seriously game breaking or anything, just curiosities.
Is there a form of wireless technology in the Star Wars universe?
At the time of WEG writing wireless was in its infancy, but now it's hard to imagine life without it. I know that Star Wars was "A long time ago" so do they use something different, or is it a similar tech? |
Yes and no. Some computer systems and such would be wireless, but others would not for security purposes. Practically all communication devices are wireless, along with things like droid controlers, Ship recall beacons and such.
| Jonos wrote: | Also, when a character gets a comm frequency from someone, how is it that same frequency isn't in use by someone else? Is it a case of having so many billions of frequencies that it just isn't an issue?
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IMO the likely hood of cross freq contamination would be rather slim on one planet. However they might get confused if you head to another planet and use the same freq..
| Jonos wrote: | When a character has a ship, does he register its name? I can't imagine an Imperial space traffic controller saying "Attention vessel 'Vader's Big Toe' you are appearing on our scanners..." I know they have transponder identities, so would they use those? What would they look like? Like modern day aircraft and boat reg numbers?
Just some thoughts... |
Both. BoSS registries have both the transponder ID and ship's name listing used.
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CRMcNeill
Director of Engineering
Joined: 05 Apr 2010
Posts: 16320
Location: Redding System, California Sector, on the I-5 Hyperspace Route.
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| Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:53 pm Post subject: Re: Technology question |
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| Jonos wrote: | | Also, when a character gets a comm frequency from someone, how is it that same frequency isn't in use by someone else? Is it a case of having so many billions of frequencies that it just isn't an issue? |
Oddly enough, it really isn't. Granted, I don't really know that much about CB radio compared to some people, but I understand that when you start getting into sideband channels and such, you are looking at literally thousands of different channels, just on the CB radio bands alone. Then you start getting into encryption and digital signals and the number of simultaneous transmissions even on the same channel just skyrockets.
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"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.
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The Brain
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 03 Jun 2005
Posts: 242
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| Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 9:51 pm Post subject: Re: Technology question |
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| Jonos wrote: | I've run into a couple of questions. Not seriously game breaking or anything, just curiosities.
Is there a form of wireless technology in the Star Wars universe? |
Yes in Craken's Rebel Field Guide
Model: Crozo Industrial Products At-Computer Link
Type: Allows long-range transfer of information between
computer and cyborg
Cost: 500 (includes link with one computer), 100 for each
additional computer
Range: 1,000 meters
Cyber Points: 1 (add 1 for each computer beyond the first)
Game Notes: Cyborgs can make computer programming
rolls or give simple commands. At-Computer Link is linked
to a specific computer, but extra computers may be added.
Cyborgs can only manipulate simple operations on a ship,
such as things that a computer normally handles by
itself. Air locks can be opened, grappling hooks deployed
or released. Piloting and gunnery are far to sophisticated
operations to be run through the computer system.
Source: Cracken’s Rebel Field Guide (page 32)
| Jonos wrote: | When a character has a ship, does he register its name? I can't imagine an Imperial space traffic controller saying "Attention vessel 'Vader's Big Toe' you are appearing on our scanners..." I know they have transponder identities, so would they use those? What would they look like? Like modern day aircraft and boat reg numbers?
Just some thoughts... |
i would suppose the transponders would have the ship's name along with some long alphanumeric designation(e.g. LF-836D2899J03823KJ73) which most people wouldn't recognize of the top of their heads kinda like your car's VIN number. The sytem would most likely default display the registered name the is being squawked except for the odd instance that 2 ships with the same name are both being tracked at the same time. |
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Jonos
Lieutenant
Joined: 14 Jul 2015
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Location: South Carolina
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Pel
Line Captain
Joined: 10 May 2006
Posts: 983
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Wed Aug 12, 2015 11:04 pm Post subject: |
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The only dataslicing we see in the movies is Artoo via scomplink. That could be explained as either 70's & 80's audiences still lived in a very much wired world or maybe the basic functions and root interfaces of Cloud City, the Death Star, and the shield generator bunker are kept off the airwaves for an added bit of security.
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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
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Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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| Posted: Thu Aug 13, 2015 9:15 am Post subject: |
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| Jonos wrote: | | By wireless, I was thinking more along the lines of someone with a datapad being able to download information from it into another datapad without a cable. I know we have that now, and it isn't unreasonable to assume they have it in SW, but I didn't know if it was so common that it is taken for granted that everyone uses it. |
You mean without going through an internet with local wi-fi? Are you asking if datapads alone have the ability to transmit and receive data between themselves? I think my wife and I's old cell phones could do that, at a very short range. I don't think it would be unreasonable for datapads to have that ability in your SWU if you wanted them too. Qui-Gon plugged his mini blood sample kit into the bottom of his small handheld smart communicator and it transmitted data to Obi-Wan on the queen's ship.
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Last edited by Whill on Thu Aug 13, 2015 10:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Jonos
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Kytross
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 8:44 pm Post subject: |
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| In one of the Wraith squadron books Wes sent Wedge info wirelessly, datapad to datapad. |
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garhkal
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| Posted: Fri Oct 23, 2015 11:58 pm Post subject: |
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But iirc of that scene, he was in the same briefing room...
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JironGhrad
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 20 Jan 2016
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| Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| garhkal wrote: | | But iirc of that scene, he was in the same briefing room... |
True, but many devices still have IR capability on them too (or Bluetooth). My old Palm had an IR port where you'd line it up with another device about 18" apart and data was "beamed" between them. Samsung Galaxy tabs seem to have a similar port on one side also. |
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