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Whill
Dark Lord of the Jedi (Owner/Admin)
Joined: 14 Apr 2008
Posts: 10406
Location: Columbus, Ohio, USA, Earth, The Solar System, The Milky Way Galaxy
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 Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:27 am Post subject: |
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| JironGhrad wrote: | | 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. |
JironGhrad, welcome to the Pit!
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D+1
Cadet
Joined: 10 May 2015
Posts: 22
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| Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 1:04 am Post subject: |
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It isn't so much a question of whether the technology exists but how much you want your Star Wars universe to be about the technology rather than the characters. Obviously technology is cool and a SW world needs lots of it to be SW, but too much focus on technology - especially REAL WORLD technology - and it stops being Star Wars and becomes more like some other kind of SF setting.
Don't assume that all technology must be used to its fullest "logical" extent. Use it ONLY as far as is convenient or necessary. Leia didn't email the specs for the Death Star to the rebel command. She put it on a data storage device of some kind and eventually hid it inside R2D2. The gang didn't find out about the destruction of Alderaan on the news - they found out by flying into the debris field. Obi-wan transmits a report back to the council - but has to bounce it through Anakin. That wasn't REALLY because it didn't have the range but because it made a convenient way for Anakin and Padme to find out Obi-wan was in trouble. The rebels have deflector shields on Hoth strong enough to deflect Star Destroyer bombardment simply because it's a convenient excuse to have a ground assault.
The SW universe is crammed with technology that we'd kill for in the real world, but people still farm crops, not droids. If your speeder breaks you don't take it back to the dealer for warranty repairs - you fix it you damm self. You can fly from one side of the galaxy to the other - but you still do it in a rusty bucket-o-bolts held together with spit and baling wire. The world is full of blasters of ALL sizes but some people still launch artillery at tanks with a catapult and use shield generators carried by elephant-ish critters rather than a mechanical vehicle - and for the most part it works okay. Just about anything can be a repulsorlift capable vehicle but the world is still full of wheeled, tracked and legged transports of all kinds. Heck, even imperial stormtroopers will use local lizard-creatures as mounts, not speeders.
It isn't about the technology but what you're having the technology DO for your game setting. Don't let the technology replace requiring the characters to face and do interesting things - even when LOGIC says they shouldn't have to because of technology.
JMHO... |
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BluMax
Cadet
Joined: 19 Jan 2016
Posts: 23
Location: Farthest From
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| Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 9:15 am Post subject: |
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I remember Vader mentioning that the Death Star plans were beamed to the Tantive IV, which in its way makes the case against wireless - insecure and easily traceable, as mentioned upthread.
Otoh, I always thought it was neat the probe droid was able to transmit coded, visual information from Hoth many light years away to Vader's command ship. A bit like WW2, perhaps, in that military transmissions are all encrypted but each side has dedicated teams of codebreakers trying to get a leg up.
But I am reminded of Straczynski's comment about 'plot speed'; as long as tech makes the story work you can always justify it somehow. |
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JironGhrad
Lieutenant Commander
Joined: 20 Jan 2016
Posts: 152
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| Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 2:57 pm Post subject: |
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| BluMax wrote: | | I remember Vader mentioning that the Death Star plans were beamed to the Tantive IV |
He also said they "intercepted the transmission" with the implication being that it failed to arrive at its intended destination.
Given that "wifi" and other similar wireless tech hadn't been invented or at least made public at the time, he's referring to (effectively a) line-of-sight, narrow spectrum transmission (much like satellite communications).
That also provides an interesting plot hook: positioning a ship in a specific point in order to intercept important data and then finding the appropriate people to decode it. |
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Dredwulf60
Line Captain
Joined: 07 Jan 2016
Posts: 911
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| Posted: Sun Jan 24, 2016 2:06 pm Post subject: |
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| D+1 wrote: | It isn't so much a question of whether the technology exists but how much you want your Star Wars universe to be about the technology rather than the characters. Obviously technology is cool and a SW world needs lots of it to be SW, but too much focus on technology - especially REAL WORLD technology - and it stops being Star Wars and becomes more like some other kind of SF setting.
Don't assume that all technology must be used to its fullest "logical" extent. Use it ONLY as far as is convenient or necessary. Leia didn't email the specs for the Death Star to the rebel command. She put it on a data storage device of some kind and eventually hid it inside R2D2. The gang didn't find out about the destruction of Alderaan on the news - they found out by flying into the debris field. Obi-wan transmits a report back to the council - but has to bounce it through Anakin. That wasn't REALLY because it didn't have the range but because it made a convenient way for Anakin and Padme to find out Obi-wan was in trouble. The rebels have deflector shields on Hoth strong enough to deflect Star Destroyer bombardment simply because it's a convenient excuse to have a ground assault.
The SW universe is crammed with technology that we'd kill for in the real world, but people still farm crops, not droids. If your speeder breaks you don't take it back to the dealer for warranty repairs - you fix it you damm self. You can fly from one side of the galaxy to the other - but you still do it in a rusty bucket-o-bolts held together with spit and baling wire. The world is full of blasters of ALL sizes but some people still launch artillery at tanks with a catapult and use shield generators carried by elephant-ish critters rather than a mechanical vehicle - and for the most part it works okay. Just about anything can be a repulsorlift capable vehicle but the world is still full of wheeled, tracked and legged transports of all kinds. Heck, even imperial stormtroopers will use local lizard-creatures as mounts, not speeders.
It isn't about the technology but what you're having the technology DO for your game setting. Don't let the technology replace requiring the characters to face and do interesting things - even when LOGIC says they shouldn't have to because of technology.
JMHO... |
Agree so much.
When my players want to send a message to another planet they have to go down to the Imperial Public service office and record the message to be 'beamed' via the holonet. The transmission has to be short; every second has a credit amount. I rationalize it as the Star Wars version of sending a Telegram.
And the receiver has to go down to a similar office and pick up a download of the transmission; also at cost. And the players know that the transmissions are often scanned by imperial droids or personnel for sensitive information.
So the best way to get in touch with someone is to get in a starship and make the trip. |
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