James M over at Grognardia has an article about computers in Traveller. Star Frontiers, from that year of awesome computing 1981, suffers from the same problem.
Last year, though, I came across the concept that will reconcile the Star Frontiers computer rules with the way modern computers have far outstripped what they appear to do.
What's called a computer in Star Frontiers is an AI machine. Something like I'm using right now to type this blog post is just a piece of tech, and falls under the Technician's skills--like chronocoms, polyvoxes, etc.
If you need to reprogram, repair or deal with an intelligent machine, you need a Computer Specialist because they're just SO complex. That's also why the most powerful ones are as big as a house. It's still not very "realistic" but it seems to answer the question of why the rules work the way they do.
Elric at the End of Time
12 hours ago
No comments:
Post a Comment