|
|
Post by writersblock on Aug 4, 2014 21:43:45 GMT
Ok, I play a lot of weird campaigns with people when we play Pally. A character type I have used in several high power Rifts ones is a variation of the Temporal Warrior, using the worlds of the Megaverse as other times/dimensions they have been to. This has allowed me stuff like having the Gallant as their energy weapon, the rail gun from Mutants in Avalon (fixed up of course) as a sniper rifle, etc. Anyway....
I have a question for you RT fanatics...
What effect do your think converting a vessel...say a MIO or Phase World shuttle/ship...to protoculture powered would have on the ships's operation, systems, etc...? Sure, there are the technical issues of even having the skills to do it, but putting that aside how do you think such things would affect the vessel?
|
|
|
|
Post by Jaymz on Aug 4, 2014 22:32:58 GMT
At best, extended longevity. Protoculture really was just a macguffin across the board. Besides to use protoculture power you either need protoculture cells, which would give you a few months, or a reflex furnace/reactor. Most other powerplants can't just be converted the way we'd like them to be  |
|
|
|
Post by MacrossMike on Aug 5, 2014 2:58:56 GMT
What effect do your think converting a vessel...say a MIO or Phase World shuttle/ship...to protoculture powered would have on the ships's operation, systems, etc...? Sure, there are the technical issues of even having the skills to do it, but putting that aside how do you think such things would affect the vessel? Assuming you're going with the original (and thus far, only) official definition of how "Protoculture" power works... I'd imagine it would pretty much fuck EVERYTHING up. Most technology, barring a few that I'm told exist in Star Wars, does not run on life force... that's the kind of power that protoculture fuels create, according to Macek's explanation. You could think of protoculture as working kind of like spells cast from HP instead of MP, and the Flowers of Life used in the fuel stock are the ones whose HP is being drained to produce the energy. Exactly how this is converted to some form of usable, mechanical energy isn't clear... but then, nothing in Robotech ever is. |
|
|
|
Post by Jaymz on Aug 5, 2014 3:31:09 GMT
Ah yes Ssi-ruuvi entechment technology.....that was......different.
|
|
|
|
Post by writersblock on Aug 5, 2014 21:40:02 GMT
Yeah, I realize it is a screwed up thing, but I always took the fact that the Cyclones could run off gasoline (at the cost of not being able to transform) as a sign there was very little difference in the actual tech; the actual mechanics of a RT machine was not that different than a conventionally powered version of the same.
I was also fascinated by the quasi-mystical, somewhat psychic effect Protoculture had on some things and some beings.
I can't help but consider some of the implications...
|
|
|
|
Post by Jaymz on Aug 5, 2014 23:46:04 GMT
I do not think the new edition allows for the gasoline replacement anymore even in just cycle mode....I'll have to double check.
|
|
|
|
Post by MacrossMike on Aug 6, 2014 14:11:52 GMT
Yeah, I realize it is a screwed up thing, but I always took the fact that the Cyclones could run off gasoline (at the cost of not being able to transform) as a sign there was very little difference in the actual tech; the actual mechanics of a RT machine was not that different than a conventionally powered version of the same. I was also fascinated by the quasi-mystical, somewhat psychic effect Protoculture had on some things and some beings. I can't help but consider some of the implications... Well, if you're dead set on using the New Generation mecha you could scrap the Robotech part and import them from MOSPEADA. In there, it's just a hydrogen fuel cell that gives the MOSPEADA and other Ride Armors 300-400km of driving range or about 30 minutes of combat time in Ride Armor mode. Also, the quasi-mystical somewhat-psychic thing is no longer a thing. That's one of the aspects Tommy cut out in the reboot. Now when you get a big whiff of spores and so on, you're just tripping balls, not becoming psychic temporarily. |
|
|
|
Post by writersblock on Aug 7, 2014 22:23:10 GMT
Did not know they had made those changes...that actually takes something away from it IMHO. I liked those sorts of aspects.
|
|
|
|
Post by MacrossMike on Aug 8, 2014 0:41:09 GMT
Did not know they had made those changes...that actually takes something away from it IMHO. I liked those sorts of aspects. They were trying to address some of the more common complaints about Robotech as a series... one of the chief complaints being the very wooly and unclear nature of the central macguffin "protoculture". The bio(life) energy thing is still there, but the quasi-mystical aspects of protoculture in Robotech are, depending on the specific aspect, either "no longer correct" or "never correct to begin with". The bits about shapings and so on were never canon, the man-machine empathic link thing was scrapped, likely due to the fanbase's general rejection of the novelizations and their "thinking cap". Since protoculture's still impossible to concoct a coherent explanation for, I think it was a step in the right direction but ultimately not a cure for what ails the concept. |
|
