OWL

Can Owl's manufacturing equipment increase his/its
processing power and memory ? After all it did build a new PICA. I am sure the raw materials can be supplied in
sufficient quantities for incremental increases.

TangoLima wrote:Can Owl's manufacturing equipment increase his/its
processing power and memory ? After all it did build a new PICA. I am sure the raw materials can be supplied in
sufficient quantities for incremental increases.

I'm sure OWL can build a "Big Brother" but would probably run into the problem of not being able upgrade itself without shutting down for the upgrade.

I was thinking more of an addition or annex to expand in
to. without a shutdown.

Hot plugging disks/memory/CPUs is fairly common today - I would assume that the TF would have extended those abilities.

Additionally, if OWL can build Merlin a new brain ...

Owl is a catastrophic single point of failure. It would wreak havoc on the whole effort if anything ever happened to him. For this reason I have pointed out several times that, certainly post-war, a main strategic goal should be to at least duplicate his processing, networking and fabricating facilities - in some other location preferably. The author obviously doesn't agree.

Story telling limitations to this point have precluded copying OWL. The 80 year period after 915 opens up the conflict parameters. The IC now has room to build their resistance to include building up the tech base sufficiently to defeat the OBS and any further awakening/returning command crew elements.

The IC needs to expand their high tech capabilities beyond Nimue's Cave. That means additional fabbers and computing capacity. I've contended that beginning another colony in the Barren Lands to do just that is a great place to start. Build a naval base out of Green Tree Island to watch both S Harchong and the new Barren Lands Colony. Daivyn is now married and will soon have heirs besides Irys. She is young enough to still "rough" it by starting a new colony. If the IC invites mostly Siddermarkian orphans raised in those CoC orphanages Nynian and Archbishop Maikel sponsored and educated in CoC schools, the majority of the new colonists will be predisposed to accepting whatever the CoC tells them. They will also be those with the least invested in the current safehold societ and CoGA doctrine.

In any case the colony doesn't have to have open terran tech. They simply have to have open minded colonists who will accept that "Uncle" Merlin's seijin friends frequent their new home. Perhaps even actually live nearby to avoid being seen by the rest of humanity. So, there might be more than a few unexplained events because of their frequent comings and goings. This will be more like the "seijin Merlin has visions" level of the IC revelation of the Truth. Using that as the first layer of their defense in depth, remotes can dig in and build well defended production centers deep under ground. Perhaps deep enough to survive KEW strikes.

With that as a production center, terran systems can be produced there to distribute elsewhere. Having the rumor that seijins frequent the place will explain why Charisian ships will bring all manner of raw materials and WIP products to the Barren Lands colony and ship out all sorts of undisclosed products to the rest of the Empire. Having Thirsk's children safeguarded nearby would add to the story's credibility.