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Post by fallen on Jan 26, 2017 22:23:32 GMT -5
xdesperado - agreed on all accounts. It also saves us from going through another drafting round of new officers, AND leaves a little wiggle room for future recruits.
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 16:33:11 GMT -5
 [ full sized image ] Happy to produce page 15! Took a short break to make sure the Star Traders 2 alpha got off the ground with a big bang, but I'm back on sketching pages today. First, to catch up on the last two polls -- On page 14 , the voting Patreon crew elected (A) Hand-off as Planned. On page 15, Captain Ava is voicing the prevailing argument of the voting block who elected to stay and rid the crew of the data cube -- that if they cut and run, then the bounty hunters will just keep coming. It's better to take the risk now and get the cube delivered, if its possible. On the latest officer poll , we ended up with 4 awesome choices for 2 male and 2 female officers. The voting was neck and neck--3 votes for everyone! In the end, I decided to just take all 4 Patreon-created characters onboard! This means we won't need another officer poll in the future, and now have a full complement of 6 Officers and 1 Captain. Running a smaller smuggling ship, the Vigilant, there isn't room for crew dogs on this boat and everyone lends a hand. Second, what's next?Ava's wounds have been septed and bound. Ace has discovered that someone is jamming the comm channels. It's got to be a short range jammer, something nearby. Another wrinkle in a fast approaching hand-off. Time to vote! From the cockpit, Ace will be able to quickly triangulate the source of the jammer. Depend on its source, he may be able to route more power into the ship's comm broadcaster to cut through the jamming noise. (A) From the Convoy - one of the crawlers in the incoming convoy has some serious electronics equipment mounted inside it, including a longer range jammer. That's either for the privacy of the meeting or it means there is going to be more trouble. (B) Bounty Hunter - the unnamed bounty hunter deployed a jamming device somewhere outside the ship to cover his entrance. Once located, it can be deactivated. (C) Sandstorm - ok, nobody mentioned this before but Lioka Cross is a dust ball desert world. Of course, it is prone to sandstorms. That's not a jammer, but powerful interference effect of a sandstorm that is rolling across the open desert. (D) Other ideas?Again, a huge thanks to all of our Patreons who make this free web comic possible! |
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Feb 26, 2017 16:41:50 GMT -5
I say that the jamming should be coming from the convoy. It would make sense that the contact would want privacy, especially if Hunters are coming after this data cube. If it's a trap, it also makes sense, because if you are going to ambush people, you don't want them transmitting distress signals.
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 16:46:41 GMT -5
I say that the jamming should be coming from the convoy. It would make sense that the contact would want privacy, especially if Hunters are coming after this data cube. If it's a trap, it also makes sense, because if you are going to ambush people, you don't want them transmitting distress signals. Gotta love a good choose your own adventure where you can screw your own team  As always, impeccable reasoning. One vote for A! |
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Post by Brutus Aurelius on Feb 26, 2017 16:49:10 GMT -5
I say that the jamming should be coming from the convoy. It would make sense that the contact would want privacy, especially if Hunters are coming after this data cube. If it's a trap, it also makes sense, because if you are going to ambush people, you don't want them transmitting distress signals. Gotta love a good choose your own adventure where you can screw your own team As always, impeccable reasoning. One vote for A! Hey, gotta be fair about things. Plus, that hunter seemed like a novice. I don't think he would have had the idea to jam their comms. |
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Post by xdesperado on Feb 26, 2017 16:52:38 GMT -5
Sandstorm
The Captain and crew have been having a bad day and just seems fitting that it be "one of those days" where even nature seems determined to make things rough for you.
My second vote would be that the bounty hunter hid a short range jammer on board.
Call me crazy but think it would be amusing if everyone has been overthinking the entire situation and that the handoff ends up being completely smooth and legitimate, while the bounty hunter being the sneaky duplicitous sort is actually the pawn of some 3rd party that has it in for both the Vigilant crew and the Prince.
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Post by grävling on Feb 26, 2017 16:58:14 GMT -5
Other ideas:
This is an equipment failure.
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 17:16:48 GMT -5
So, we're on:
(A) It's the convoy = +1 Vote
(C) Unexecpted Sandstorm (it's just one of those days) = +1 Vote
(E) Equipment failure = +1 Vote
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 18:01:49 GMT -5
So, we're on: (A) It's the convoy = +1 Vote (C) Unexecpted Sandstorm (it's just one of those days) = +1 Vote (E) Equipment failure = +1 Vote From the Patreon, we've picked up another 2 votes -- right now, sandstorm is leading. (A) It's the convoy = +1 Vote (C) Unexecpted Sandstorm (it's just one of those days) = +2 Votes (E) Equipment failure = +1 Vote (F) Nefarious activity by one of the crew = +1 Vote |
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Post by ntsheep on Feb 26, 2017 20:04:26 GMT -5
A+C
How does this work you ask?
Simple.
One of the crawlers has the name Sandstorm painted on the side.
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 20:59:43 GMT -5
A+C How does this work you ask? Simple. One of the crawlers has the name Sandstorm painted on the side. Lol, so be it. If the convoy is blasting the jammer, I'm on board with that. (A) It's the convoy = +2 Votes (C) Unexecpted Sandstorm (it's just one of those days) = +2 Votes (E) Equipment failure = +1 Vote (F) Nefarious activity by one of the crew = +1 Vote |
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Post by En1gma on Feb 26, 2017 22:21:03 GMT -5
Lol does Derrick have his thumb stuck on the damn transponder again?
I'm all seriousness, I'm going to go for the sandstorm option. Enough malice from people for me, I say this is just one of those days where everything goes wrong, this time it's the weather.
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 22:41:09 GMT -5
En1gma - things have definitely been "Off-Kilter" all day for this crew  (I think it will be the episode title) Sandstorm is taking a bit of a lead. Thanks to everyone for voting a huge thanks to our Patreons. This comic is helping me draw all sorts of things I would never get to, from perspectives I don't have time to experiment with. And hands. lol (A) It's the convoy = +2 Votes (C) Unexecpted Sandstorm (it's just one of those days) = +3 Votes (E) Equipment failure = +1 Vote (F) Nefarious activity by one of the crew = +1 Vote
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Post by wascalwywabbit on Feb 26, 2017 23:38:05 GMT -5
Wait a minute... in this just within ship interior comms?
I wouldn't think the sandstorm should effect that, though maybe..? Do ship to ship comms work? If it's just crew comms I'm gonna say it was likely equipment failure, either by accident or sabotage.
Maybe equipment damage AND a sandstorm are affecting two different comm systems to make it hard to pinpoint the failure...
Am I missing something obvious?
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Post by fallen on Feb 26, 2017 23:45:43 GMT -5
wascalwywabbit - I'm not a scientist so don't blame me? I tried to get this right, reading a few wikipedia pages, some stuff on security.stackexchange.com and looked at this old looking project report. I think, as in classic sci-fi, the atmo and particles of this planet cause much bigger electromagnetic disturbances in sandstorms that we might imagine on Earth. See the part about me-no-science good. In this case, we are talking about radio comms, because the missing members of the crew are all outside the ship atm. Derrick is in the crow's nest, a sniper hidey outside of the ship which is also isolated from internal intercomm. The other 3 military members of the crew are also currently outside (to be explained). I think that makes sense.
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(I think it will be the episode title) Sandstorm is taking a bit of a lead.