Using TF tech on Safehold...

Here is a subject that gets mentioned occasionally, but so far as I know has never been exhaustively discussed, at least in the past couple of years on the forum.

What sort of guidelines has there been to the use of TF tech on Safehold?

The use of PICAs has been constant with both Merlin and Nimue.

The use of snarcs and their parasites For recon...

The use of the skimmer for getting Merlin and Nimue to and fro along with a handful of times for other persons.

The use of the skimmer to destroy the NOG ship from which Thirsk's family is rescued.

The use of the med unit in the cave to check on Sharley's pregnacy and to treat Stefny's family in the aftermath of their rescue from the camp.

Implanting nanites in selected individuals to enhance healing and improve recovery time from wounds.

Battlesteel for Haarahld and Cayleb's armor along with Cayleb's sword.

Olyvya's "suit" enabling her to visit Nahrman in the cave.

Nahrmans downloading which preserves him in VR...

What else? Is there a pattern or guidelines here?

Don

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The two big ones:

1) It has to be kept hidden from orbiting sensors. IOW, if it has emissions that can't be mistaken for either natural phenomena or background noise, then it's not safe to use without possibly inviting a Rakurai strike.

2) It has to be kept hidden from the ignorant public. Which means it has to be disguised as innocuous natural and/or obviously mortal made objects. There's a bit of leeway here given the lack of actual forensic science (like the use of advanced chemical explosives), but nothing obviously "supernatural" should be going on, at least not anywhere they intend to leave live, credible witnesses to the event. On the flip side, entire fleets going up to mysterious magazine explosions or even just disappearing in a hurricane is verboten because it'd trip Safeholdian "supernatural!" alarms even if the individual events LOOK perfectly mundane.

evilauthor wrote:The two big ones:

1) It has to be kept hidden from orbiting sensors. IOW, if it has emissions that can't be mistaken for either natural phenomena or background noise, then it's not safe to use without possibly inviting a Rakurai strike.

2) It has to be kept hidden from the ignorant public. Which means it has to be disguised as innocuous natural and/or obviously mortal made objects. There's a bit of leeway here given the lack of actual forensic science (like the use of advanced chemical explosives), but nothing obviously "supernatural" should be going on, at least not anywhere they intend to leave live, credible witnesses to the event. On the flip side, entire fleets going up to mysterious magazine explosions or even just disappearing in a hurricane is verboten because it'd trip Safeholdian "supernatural!" alarms even if the individual events LOOK perfectly mundane.

I suspect that even though Merlin is concerned about his skimmer drawing the attention of the orbital sensors, there is really not a problem. The sensors are seeing the skimmer, but Merlin is slipping through the same loophole that the archangels made for themselves to keep the OBS from blowing their arses out of space.

Don

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n7axw wrote:I suspect that even though Merlin is concerned about his skimmer drawing the attention of the orbital sensors, there is really not a problem. The sensors are seeing the skimmer, but Merlin is slipping through the same loophole that the archangels made for themselves to keep the OBS from blowing their arses out of space.

Don

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Maybe. However, the angels never worried about stealth - they showed off, with great bloomin' glows to wow the rubes. Merlin, by contrast, keeps the recon skimmers and air lorries carefully stealthy. So they may well fall under the OBS's detection threshold rather than into an exception category. Certainly Merlin would mean to avoid detection rather than count on an exception categorization there, unless he can somehow count on the exception categorization being utterly secure.

Possibly there is that kind of exception categorization that would apply as a backstop, but the OBS has reacted to sufficiently un-stealthy potshots at it and hasn't reacted to far stealthier SNARC's - and recon skimmers - which suggests that it's the stealth doing the work in those cases.

JeffEngel wrote:

n7axw wrote:I suspect that even though Merlin is concerned about his skimmer drawing the attention of the orbital sensors, there is really not a problem. The sensors are seeing the skimmer, but Merlin is slipping through the same loophole that the archangels made for themselves to keep the OBS from blowing their arses out of space.

Don

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Possibly there is that kind of exception categorization that would apply as a backstop, but the OBS has reacted to sufficiently un-stealthy potshots at it and hasn't reacted to far stealthier SNARC's - and recon skimmers - which suggests that it's the stealth doing the work in those cases.

Is there textev of it reacting to anything? The only use that we have actual textev of is Alexandria and St. Khody's and those were directed. The rest is just discussion (Merlin and Nynian), we have no evidence regarding the circumstances of the actual occurrences that I am aware of, although the discussion implied to me that they were also directed attacks.

Keith_w wrote:Is there textev of it reacting to anything? The only use that we have actual textev of is Alexandria and St. Khody's and those were directed. The rest is just discussion (Merlin and Nynian), we have no evidence regarding the circumstances of the actual occurrences that I am aware of, although the discussion implied to me that they were also directed attacks.

Yes, there is. Merlin sent a snarc to scout a platform out and it was shot down.

Can't remember which book it was in but most likely OAR or BSRA.

Joat42 wrote:

Keith_w wrote:Is there textev of it reacting to anything? The only use that we have actual textev of is Alexandria and St. Khody's and those were directed. The rest is just discussion (Merlin and Nynian), we have no evidence regarding the circumstances of the actual occurrences that I am aware of, although the discussion implied to me that they were also directed attacks.

Yes, there is. Merlin sent a snarc to scout a platform out and it was shot down.

Can't remember which book it was in but most likely OAR or BSRA.

OAR. Owl actually tried to get in close twice, once heavily stealthed. Both attempts were detected and destroyed, by a beam weapon, iirc.

Don

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Joat42 wrote:

Keith_w wrote:Is there textev of it reacting to anything? The only use that we have actual textev of is Alexandria and St. Khody's and those were directed. The rest is just discussion (Merlin and Nynian), we have no evidence regarding the circumstances of the actual occurrences that I am aware of, although the discussion implied to me that they were also directed attacks.

Yes, there is. Merlin sent a snarc to scout a platform out and it was shot down.

Can't remember which book it was in but most likely OAR or BSRA.

However, that was the defenses, not the bombardment of planet segment.

You don't shoot a skimmer out of the air with kinetic weapons. Those are for pelting the ground. We know that the defensive package for the OBS uses beam weapons and possibly even guided missiles. That is how it would deal with a skinner.

Don

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Joat42 wrote:

Keith_w wrote:Is there textev of it reacting to anything? The only use that we have actual textev of is Alexandria and St. Khody's and those were directed. The rest is just discussion (Merlin and Nynian), we have no evidence regarding the circumstances of the actual occurrences that I am aware of, although the discussion implied to me that they were also directed attacks.

Yes, there is. Merlin sent a snarc to scout a platform out and it was shot down.

Can't remember which book it was in but most likely OAR or BSRA.

Sorry, let me be a little more explicit. There is no text evidence of the automated use of the the orbital bombardment system to bombard safehold.