Comlink usage... cell phone or hand held radio?

[Vanion]

During the course of the adventure, the players asked a valid question...

Can a simple comlink leave and store messages if the intended recipient cannot answer the comlink?

The concept of a comlink came about before cell phones and seems to have been more similar to a hand held radio (walkie talkie). At no time in any of the movies do we see a comlink store any messages (like voice mail on a cell phone). There are numerous times in the movies when such a feature would have been helpful if it existed. In episode II, we see Obi Wan use his ship's subspace radio to record a message and has it relayed. I've read where starship subspace radios are often referred to as "vehicle comlinks"... essentially high powered comlinks with some additional features.

I ruled that comlinks do have the ability to leave/store messages but I'm wondering if that may have been a mistake.

Secondly, one of the players wants to frequently use his comlink and his communications skill to "scan for any transmissions" that he can pick up. I told him that the simple comlink does not have enough advanced features to efficiently scan the millions of channels in order to pick up anything useful. I told him that he would need to purchase, at least, a military comlink.

Anyone have any thoughts on the two issues above... particularly the first one?

Thanks
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[Zarn]

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[Vanion]

I like the idea of a local "com-net" or "com-grid" in places where the technology level would be appropriate. Players would have to be within the operating range of the network... 50 kilometers for standard comlinks. But I like that they are running the risk that their recorded message could be recovered from the grid's storage/data bank.
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[garhkal]

[Naaman]

I think the settingalso bears more consideration:

I would asy that a star system is analogous to a real life city or county, while a sector might be like a country or continent and of course, the galaxy is analogous to the whole world.

So I would say that a personal comm device should factor in those comparisons when determining the capabilities and the range of those capabilities.

So jamming a whole planet might be possible in SW with the same logistical "ease" asjamming a city in real life (for example, positioning 10 or so ships around the planet that crate a blanket/umbrella between them that envelops the planet... or whatever).

[Dredwulf60]

One of my players last game had an interesting comment for another player who was trying to search out information on local corporations. He was under the impression that he'd just use the commlink to do a cursory search...aka 'Space Google'.

The other player admonished him.. "Hey..don't you know? Star Wars is the Space 1970's. There IS no space-google."

Which is of course the way I normally run things.

[Whill]

This is similar to the discussion about how much datapads and pocket computers are like our modern technologies. One thing that occurred to me in reading the OP - I have a smart phone but it doesn't store voicemails. They are stored on the local network, and I have to connect with the network to retrieve them. If I am outside of the network, I do not have access to the voicemails.

I think things like local 4G and wireless internet networks could exist in cities, planets, and even whole systems using normal radiation transmissions like on Earth. So there could be many individual space googles all over the galaxy. Of course whether these networks are free to the public, pay per use, or only available to subscribers would be up to each location.

I agree with what's been said about regular comlinks not being able to scan channels, and I don't feel they should have access to internets. I've always thought of regular comlinks to be like walkie talkies. However a "pocket computer" could be not unlike my smart phone with the ability to access local internets and possibly also comlink capability.
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[Vanion]

Some very good input. Thanks.
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[atgxtg]

[Rusharn]

For my Star Wars universe the standard comlink itself can't store any data. If you have a home in a large city you can pay for a data package so that anyone trying to call you can leave a voice mail or data file at your home that you can access with a data pad or in the case of a com link your voice mails. If you have a ship, when you dock at star ports of class III or higher you're automatically plugged into the local Data Pool unless you state otherwise and messages can be left at your start ship and if you have someone managing the communication station they can forward messages to you.

All city data nets and data pools have a 'Yellow Pages' like function but it is only good for the local star port or city, or if the planet is developed enough for the planet. To get a more 'google' style search option you need to go to the local archive building or library where you can pay to use the Galactic Data Net. This is where more detailed research can take place, but locations like that are typically under governmental oversight whether that is Empire, Republic or Local Authorities.

If there is no local data pool or data net then standard comlinks work like CB radio transmitters, though my current group as a custom protocal droid the mans their communication station on their ship so even on the primitive worlds if the players can't get a hold of each other but can get a hold of the ship they leave messages with their droid.

[MrNexx]

I'd say it varies, but device-to-device communcations seems to be the norm, with no noted capacity for messages. Consider ANH, where they're using the commlinks inside the Death Star to communicate with each other... that might have been processing through something like a central server (like a Skype call for two devices on the same wifi network), but they didn't seem to have a fear of being randomly overheard by others "on the same channel".

Of course, you have devices that have 12 buttons to play 12 prerecorded messages, and that's it.
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[Theodrim]

I take a "best/worst of both worlds" approach.

There's always the Holonet, which functions as the internet and modern digital communications, all the way up to trunks that exist along hyperspace lanes and the like. But...in the Empire era, it's under Imperial control which means access is, at best, dodgy, and at worst giving away your location and most sensitive communiques to the Empire.

Now, I do home-brew in that darknets that, in part, piggy-back off the Holonet do exist, but those exist mainly in the Corporate Sector, Outer Rim, Tapani Sector, Hutt space and the like, where criminality and villainy breeds. Not to mention, for groups like the Bothan spynet to go forth and play. Though, due to the sheer cost of setting up the infrastructure, outside those particularly wealthy and infamous sectors you're not going to find a darknet independent of the galactic Holonet (especially given the Empire would crap live rancor babies if they found out, which brings a whole new host of problems). And, like the real world, there would likely also be a "deep" Holonet.

Which means, (assuming a Rebel, privateer, or other "outside the mainstream" game) unless someone in the party is a major techie and highly specialized in computers and communications, the "old fashioned" way it is.

[Volar the Healer]

I would say no messages may be left on comlinks. One, because I never saw it in the movies, and two, it gives the droids something useful to do.

Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

I would say not even military comlinks can scan channels. The players should need to buy a scanner. We have those today for about 100 bucks, though only someone with communications skill could operate it.
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[garhkal]

Theo.. For that 'darknet' being set up to pigy back on the holonet..

Do you have the empire periodically scan chatter, to see if someone IS piggy backing? If so, do they shut them down or just moniter it?

Is it a high end comm's repair/comp repair rolls to put those darknets up, or is that more (A) comms engineering level work??
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