Communication Lore/Mechanic

[vylqun]

When i read through the devblog, the resurrection concept to be exact, i saw that u go with a multiverse lore.

That gives a great way to introduce a physically reasonable way of real-time communication over infiinite distances.

 

The Communication Sphere

 

The basic principle is that every communication device has a small dimensional gate through which it sends and recieves the communication data. The basic idea seems simple, but the hardware to recieve, collect and send the data in the other dimension has to be located in that specific seperate dimension, which limits the mass and size of the hardware.

That problem was solved with the invention of the communication sphere. The communication sphere is a spherical object with a diameter of a few meter, depending on its planned capacity.

 

How recieving and sending data works:

The surface of the communication sphere spreads every incomming radiation homogenous over its whole surface, that means if you aim with a high intensity, red laser at the surface, then the whole surface will glow in a low intensity red, which can then be detected with any sensor placed around the sphere. It works like an inverse integrating sphere.

So a communication device sends high intensity, directional radiation to the surface of the communication sphere, and any detector placed around the sphere can measure that radiation. That means any communication devide requires a strong transmitter and a very sensible transceiver. The sent data is encoded, thus even tho every detector placed around the communication sphere can recieve the data, they wont be able to decode it. (pretty much the same as a mobile phone)

The required sensity of the transceivers limits the distance to the communication sphere, thus the diameter of the sphere automatically limits the maximum amount of devices connected to it. That can be bypassed tho by using at least one communication device which gathers all information of one communication sphere and its transmitter sends it to the surface of a second communication sphere, linking them together.

 

All this would be useless tho if those communications spheres are still located in our normal space, because the speed of light and necessarity of a direct connection makes it impractical.

Thats where the extra dimension comes into play, the communication sphere is pushed into a small seperate dimension upon activation, it then opens dimensional gates in the proper distance to the surface (defined by the sensitivity of the transceivers) which connect to the dimensional gates of the communication devices in our dimension.

 

So the way the communication works is basically:

I. The communication device sends the data as laser  through its dimensional gate

II. The laser travels from the dimensional gate in the communication dimension to the surface of the communication sphere

III. The Laserlight is emitted homogenously from the whole surface of the sphere

IV. Each dimensional gate around the sphere recieves the low intensity radiation and sends it to its communication device

V. The communication device with the proper code decodes the information and contact between both communication devices is established.

 

And because pictures are always nice and catch attention i tried to picturize the communication sphere and dimensional gates with my limited skills

 

 

With that concept it would be possible for players to build those (extremely expensive) communication spheres, which would create a communication network for everyone linked to it, if there are several communication spheres and the players want to connect them together without building a new, bigger one, they can do so by linking them.

As long as no spy is within the communication network then the communication is completely secure, if a spy gets access to it then, ofc, they can try to hack into it. (for example if they infiltrated a ship or city and get access to a communication terminal with a dimensional gate linked to that communication sphere)

[NQ-Nyzaltar]

Hi Vylqun,

 

Your ideas for communication technology are very interesting.

However, it will be hardly applicable other than in Lore background.

When it comes to communication between players, as explained already in  this other topic about communication, many good ideas on paper don't work really well when put in practice. The main reason is the fact we can't rely on good faith from all players to respect the rules put in place if they're not forced to. In a game where PvP is present and strategy and reactivity is a decisive factor to win a battle, players will rely on media in real time and where they won't be bothered by the risk of seeing their communication network hacked by any opponent. If we implement a communication system and we say "Hey, here's the official communication network of the game, but be careful, some players with appropriate skills can hack into it and spy your communications" then you're pretty sure that many players will use only media like Teamspeak, Mumble, Skype or even a mailing system outside the game to coordinate their actions. There is no way to prevent that and we prefer avoiding to force players to use something they don't want.

 

Best Regards,

Nyzaltar.

[vylqun]

 

but be careful, some players with appropriate skills can hack into it and spy your communications" then you're pretty sure that many players will use only media like Teamspeak, Mumble, Skype or even a mailing system outside the game to coordinate their actions. There is no way to prevent that and we prefer avoiding to force players to use something they don't want.

 

 

thats a good point, and i too think, that what i wrote could most likely be only used for lore except maybe for the crafting of those communication spheres to create a new chat- or voice channel.