Re: [GZG] Ixx Psychology & behaviour?

[Indy <indy.kochte@xxxxxxxxx>]

Okay, I know we're all having good fun with speculations on the Ixx, but I've got some semi-real world based thoughts to set some parameters about.

If the Ixx have these huge hive ships, how large are we speculating them to be? Size of one of our largest asteroids (~500 miles), size of the Moon, size of a dwarf planet, size of a terrestrial planet, or...?  Given a size, it is going to put out heat from the energies generated within. While some of that can be PSB'd into being being fed into the drives that propel this hive/world ship through space (FTL or sublight), there's still going to be detectable heat generated (unless you want to PSB some sort of mascing or shielding, but nothing is perfect in every spectrum; it'll be detectable somehow)

Earth, present day. Technology marches on. 18 years ago we made our first actual detection of an extrasolar planet around a main sequence star. In the past 18 years we have now detected over 300 of these things, and recent evidence suggests that we have hit the cusp of actually *imaging* planets around other stars (see also the recent Hubble images of a planet around Fomalhaut: http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2008/39/).

All this in 18 years. Pretty damned impressive, if you ask me.

So, given that we'd probably run into the Ixx in the FTVerse after the 2190s (probably after 2194, Siege of Sol), the technologies that astronomy science will have developed by this point, accelerated by the need to detect enemy/alien (i.e., K'V) *fleets* at some incredible distances, would mean that there will be some subset of astronomers who are maintaining sky surveys, very likely cooperative sky surveys between different solar systems (really nailing down parallax and distances to things, though these measurements would take months or more, not done overnight). This would then lend credence to the fact that we would be able to detect these hive/world ships at some level. These may never enter a main human system, but we should be able to track them at the very least. And being able to track them....well, I'll let you take it from here.

Mk

On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:27 PM, Ground Zero Games <jon@xxxxxxx> wrote:

>aye - I thought having different strands of Ixx would be fun, almost
>Ixx nationalities, which could then fight alongside or against
>existing forces...


Caveat: the following is NOT CANON in any way, just some thoughts I'd
been having that may or may not end up being used (I may still decide
to go off in another direction entirely...):

I'd mentioned some time earlier about the idea that the Ixx are
possibly a nomadic race, travelling around in HUUUUUGE generation
ships (OK, "Hiveships" for want of a better term) - these might have
FTL, or might just be travelling sublight and have just begun to
enter the fringes of the Human/Kra'Vak/Phalon spheres. The hiveships
would be very, very big, planetoid sized, with many millions of Ixx
and fleets of combat ships aboard each one. Now, maybe each hiveship
is a separate nest/nation/tribe/whatever, which will co-operate at
times for the good of the whole Ixx race, but at other times will
squabble and fight among themselves over resources, rivalries, power
and such.... ?

Jon (GZG)

>
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>From: mwsaber6@xxxxxxx
>To: gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Date: Wed, 3 Dec 2008 13:47:33 -0700
>Subject: Re: [GZG] Ixx Psychology & behaviour?
>
>.ExternalClass .EC_hmmessage P {padding:0px;} .ExternalClass
>body.EC_hmmessage {font-size:10pt;font-family:Verdana;}
>Ahh, those ants.  We have them in California.  They have the neat
>trait of these is that they all belong to the same "nest" (same
>phernomes).  Other species will attack other nest because of slight
>differences in the chemical signature.
>
>
>
>
>Michael Brown
><mailto:mwsaber6@msn>mwsaber6@msn
>
>
>From: <mailto:nonsense_factory@xxxxxxxxxxx>Andy Hemming
>Sent: Wednesday, December 03, 2008 9:17 AM
>To: <mailto:gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Subject: [GZG] Ixx Psychology & behaviour?
>
>Hey all,
>
>Saw this and thought of y'all
><http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1932509.stm>http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1932509.stm
>
>could it work? anything here for us? or is it a case of move along,
>nothing to see?
>
>lets see what this hive mind can achieve?
>
>Andy (hasnt even ordered any IXX yet!)
>
>
>Get Windows Live Messenger on your Mobile.
><http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/msnnkmgl0010000001ukm/direct/01/>Click
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>
>
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