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RP Explanations for Features
This thread is meant to provide a roleplaying perspective to the ways in which many of the game's various features work. Enjoy.
Channel chat: CommNet channels are made "global" (that is, available throughout Known Space) by the existence of small transmitters located at each wormhole and station. These transmitters constantly keep a small, barely noticeable wormhole active at all times through which data and radio chatter (both audio and visual) is sent, creating a network of sorts that spreads across Known Space as we know it.
Private Messaging: Each pilot has a PIN, also known as a CharID. This PIN is used to relay targeting information as well as information about the pilot's profile. The ID can also be used to direct a message specifically to a single pilot by encoding it into the destination vector of the message.
Buddies, Mentors and the Login/off Notification: A special transponder code is used for pilots who are Mentoring others, as well as those pilots who wish to let others know when they are out and about. These transponder codes activate only when the ship is powered on, and are transmitted through the CommNet channels to those ships whose pilots have set their transceivers to listen for the codes of their friends or mentors.
Logging off and on: Characters never leave the game. When you log off, your character goes around and does things you are unable to do ingame normally: have a drink in the bar, go take a nap in a barracks, shop in the stores for a new flightsuit, etc. When you log in again, you regain control of your character.
Channel chat: CommNet channels are made "global" (that is, available throughout Known Space) by the existence of small transmitters located at each wormhole and station. These transmitters constantly keep a small, barely noticeable wormhole active at all times through which data and radio chatter (both audio and visual) is sent, creating a network of sorts that spreads across Known Space as we know it.
Private Messaging: Each pilot has a PIN, also known as a CharID. This PIN is used to relay targeting information as well as information about the pilot's profile. The ID can also be used to direct a message specifically to a single pilot by encoding it into the destination vector of the message.
Buddies, Mentors and the Login/off Notification: A special transponder code is used for pilots who are Mentoring others, as well as those pilots who wish to let others know when they are out and about. These transponder codes activate only when the ship is powered on, and are transmitted through the CommNet channels to those ships whose pilots have set their transceivers to listen for the codes of their friends or mentors.
Logging off and on: Characters never leave the game. When you log off, your character goes around and does things you are unable to do ingame normally: have a drink in the bar, go take a nap in a barracks, shop in the stores for a new flightsuit, etc. When you log in again, you regain control of your character.
Yeah as far as the Channel chat, in my story I called it the:
SWRS- Subspace Wormhole Relay System, or commonly known as "the Sewers"
SWRS- Subspace Wormhole Relay System, or commonly known as "the Sewers"
Oddly enough, these microwormholes are the only things that let ships without a pilot drive (almost all single-person fighters and light freighters) travel intersystem.
When the first gate on Terra II was being built, each convoy between there and earth needed a dedicated "Wormhole pilot" ship, which would open the hole ahead of the transports and hold it open for the 30 seconds or so necessary to pass.
When the Itani fled Serco Prime, they laid a chain of beacons at each wormhole they passed, breadcrumb-style. When the Neutrals left Serco Prime, they did the same.
These were the first specimens in what would become the relay beacon system. The way a beacon works is to maintain the tiny wormhole between systems constantly, allowing SWRS comm traffic to pass. When a ship comes within jump range (1000m of the beacon), it hails, and the device widens the hole enough for that ship to pass through, narrowing it again once the beacon at the other side reports that the ship has left its 1000m range.
Commonly, beacons in Serco and Itani space are owned by their respective nations, while UIT and unclaimed space beacons are owned by the reclusive Ineubis Corporation, spun off the UIT some five hundred years ago in a (rather shortsighted) plan to reduce taxes. It is rumored that Ineubis has fallen in league with Corvus Prime, but there has never been enough evidence to substantiate this.
When the first gate on Terra II was being built, each convoy between there and earth needed a dedicated "Wormhole pilot" ship, which would open the hole ahead of the transports and hold it open for the 30 seconds or so necessary to pass.
When the Itani fled Serco Prime, they laid a chain of beacons at each wormhole they passed, breadcrumb-style. When the Neutrals left Serco Prime, they did the same.
These were the first specimens in what would become the relay beacon system. The way a beacon works is to maintain the tiny wormhole between systems constantly, allowing SWRS comm traffic to pass. When a ship comes within jump range (1000m of the beacon), it hails, and the device widens the hole enough for that ship to pass through, narrowing it again once the beacon at the other side reports that the ship has left its 1000m range.
Commonly, beacons in Serco and Itani space are owned by their respective nations, while UIT and unclaimed space beacons are owned by the reclusive Ineubis Corporation, spun off the UIT some five hundred years ago in a (rather shortsighted) plan to reduce taxes. It is rumored that Ineubis has fallen in league with Corvus Prime, but there has never been enough evidence to substantiate this.