Computers in Space Opera seem to be a reaction to the computers in Original Black Book Traveller, a game renowned for it's take on computer technology. (Short form: They were too conservative -- using PDP8 equivalant systems for a limited range of uses).
There's two kinds of computers in Space Opera. "Real" computers -- mainframes running Starships, often artificially intellegent, and Minicomps. Minicomps are laptops, PDAs, Tablets, and other small devices.
Programs for both include knowledge bases, expert rule based diagnostic and troubleshooting systems. The catalog of ship programs provide basic capabilities to operate the ship and various skill die mod bonus programs. All very good, but there's no internet or anything like that -- it's assumed there's one mainframe per ship, with a smaller backup system for emergencies.
Aside from the possibilities for AI NPCs in "the" computer system, there is a very limited vision for computer technology.
Oh, and Computer skills seem to be based more on the size of the computer than anything else. Back in the 80s no one envisioned Windows and Unix/Mac OSX/Linux running on every thing from handhelds to embeded systems, to workstations to big arse dedicated server systems.
This looks like a good opportunity to rule hack to me. I'll follow up on this in the future.
There's two kinds of computers in Space Opera. "Real" computers -- mainframes running Starships, often artificially intellegent, and Minicomps. Minicomps are laptops, PDAs, Tablets, and other small devices.
Programs for both include knowledge bases, expert rule based diagnostic and troubleshooting systems. The catalog of ship programs provide basic capabilities to operate the ship and various skill die mod bonus programs. All very good, but there's no internet or anything like that -- it's assumed there's one mainframe per ship, with a smaller backup system for emergencies.
Aside from the possibilities for AI NPCs in "the" computer system, there is a very limited vision for computer technology.
Oh, and Computer skills seem to be based more on the size of the computer than anything else. Back in the 80s no one envisioned Windows and Unix/Mac OSX/Linux running on every thing from handhelds to embeded systems, to workstations to big arse dedicated server systems.
This looks like a good opportunity to rule hack to me. I'll follow up on this in the future.
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