Elite: Lore

22 Aug 2020, 10:54am
Question: Are the covas systems 'intelligent A.I' i.e do they have personalities and memories? Or are they exactly how they are currently show ingame, a talking calculator, sat nav and alarm clock that can fly a star ship? Currently writing up a key logbook for the docks story for Ao, Rose and Tiberius, but the ship's covas system plays a big role and wanted to find out what in lore they are actually capable of
22 Aug 2020, 10:59am
Just like most science fiction stories, there are legally enforce limits on AI in Elite because of bad AI event number 4.

It doesn't stop a lot of writers having a cheeky computer. That maybe a played out trope, but its still fun.. like fart jokes.
22 Aug 2020, 2:55pm
The COVAS system is a Virtual Assistant. It is merely programed to provided feedback and answer specific questions, not think.

You could write about having an AI onboard your ship, but keep in mind that can carry consequences, both in regards to your safety if the AI goes rogue and what happens if you are discovered to be in possession of an AI.
22 Aug 2020, 3:11pm
Thanks for the heads up gents
22 Aug 2020, 5:51pm
Ao!Question: Are the covas systems 'intelligent A.I' i.e do they have personalities and memories? Or are they exactly how they are currently show ingame, a talking calculator, sat nav and alarm clock that can fly a star ship? Currently writing up a key logbook for the docks story for Ao, Rose and Tiberius, but the ship's covas system plays a big role and wanted to find out what in lore they are actually capable of


In the universe of Elite, AI is a near-taboo subject. The lore is extremely vague on the details, but it's hinted that AI was behind some kind of narrowly-avoided cataclysm in humanity's past. It's also hinted that functioning AI is virtually extinct.

In order for your character to be in possession of actual AI in a way that makes lore sense, he/she would have needed to find it first, which itself is no mean feat. Then they would need to have some kind of reason to want the company of an entity that very likely tried to exterminate humanity. It's problematic to say the least.


Last edit: 22 Aug 2020, 6:19pm
23 Aug 2020, 12:41am
On the topic, the image of the Achilles-type robot appears masculine & purposely artificial.

Is there any Lore which describes their aesthetics in any other way, & if they were constructed with an otherwise feminine appearance...

& here's the feather-ruffler & wave-maker... are they ever mentioned being developed, programmed, &/ used in or with the additional capacity as a "personal assistant", specifically, in the area of/with the abilities of a 'Pleasure-Unit'?

I mean, on those long, dark, lonely voyages out in "The Black"...
23 Aug 2020, 2:32am
FDev have never published floor plans of ED's ships, have they?

The reason why I'm asking is because I want parts of my next story to take place inside a large ship, preferably the Anaconda. I'd rather use existing floor plans if there are any; otherwise I will just pull my own out of thin air.
23 Aug 2020, 2:37am
Not as of yet. I'm sure there are a few fan-made blueprints. Have you seen the wonderful ship interiors on YouTube? They are well done. So far only the Sidewinder and Viper have been made, but are really awesome to watch.
23 Aug 2020, 2:52am
Yes, I've seen them. They're awesome indeed.
23 Aug 2020, 4:47am
SakashiroFDev have never published floor plans of ED's ships, have they?

The reason why I'm asking is because I want parts of my next story to take place inside a large ship, preferably the Anaconda. I'd rather use existing floor plans if there are any; otherwise I will just pull my own out of thin air.


Not as far as I'm aware, I have used the interiors of a conda on a few occasions and tried to keep the details vague where possible, but the few areas that I have expanded are the Central Corridor, Engine Room, Bridge and Medical Bay

The Crash of the Yamato
Mutiny Aboard the Yamato - The Ghost in the Machine

In my minds eye, the conda is three decks tall;
Bridge (Cockpit) and Combat Information Centre
Main Deck (Mid level, contains the main crew cabins, medical unit, mess, entrance to engineering, SRV bay, fighter hangar and server room, connected by the main corridor that runs down the centre of the ship
Lower Decks (Armoury, and cargo deck) Armoury being a small secure room for weapons and equipment, and the cargo deck is a large open room two decks tall with a gantry that runs around the outside half way up and doors going from this gantry to the lower deck, the four panel door on the front of the conda opens directly into the cargo deck.

Engineering has the most detail so far:
Three decks tall, located at the rear of the ship between the main drives and contains three huge drive cores (2 drives, 1 fsd) Engineering has a gantry around the outside on the upper level with a control station overlooking the engine room for the chief engineer.

Of course non of this is official but just what I can see in my minds eye when writing aboard the ship
23 Aug 2020, 4:49am
M. Lehman
Ao!Question: Are the covas systems 'intelligent A.I' i.e do they have personalities and memories? Or are they exactly how they are currently show ingame, a talking calculator, sat nav and alarm clock that can fly a star ship? Currently writing up a key logbook for the docks story for Ao, Rose and Tiberius, but the ship's covas system plays a big role and wanted to find out what in lore they are actually capable of



In the universe of Elite, AI is a near-taboo subject. The lore is extremely vague on the details, but it's hinted that AI was behind some kind of narrowly-avoided cataclysm in humanity's past. It's also hinted that functioning AI is virtually extinct.

In order for your character to be in possession of actual AI in a way that makes lore sense, he/she would have needed to find it first, which itself is no mean feat. Then they would need to have some kind of reason to want the company of an entity that very likely tried to exterminate humanity. It's problematic to say the least.


Fab, cheers, I'll have some explaining to do in a later logbook it would seem, I already have a story forming in regards to a background character that has been mentioned a few times but is largely a mystery aside from the rose tinted view of her family and subjects :3 Even then, after reading up more on the lore it would seem that the ban on A.I is not actually on artificial intelligence itself, but on machine sentience, an important distinction, so long as the ship's A.I is a 'program that imitates humans' rather than a 'sentient being in its own right' (a very difficult line to walk) it would be perfectly fine


Last edit: 23 Aug 2020, 5:17am
23 Aug 2020, 11:33am
Synthya WylderOn the topic, the image of the Achilles-type robot appears masculine & purposely artificial.

Is there any Lore which describes their aesthetics in any other way, & if they were constructed with an otherwise feminine appearance...

& here's the feather-ruffler & wave-maker... are they ever mentioned being developed, programmed, &/ used in or with the additional capacity as a "personal assistant", specifically, in the area of/with the abilities of a 'Pleasure-Unit'?

I mean, on those long, dark, lonely voyages out in "The Black"...


"Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon ..." someone would suggest it... "It had to be you"
23 Aug 2020, 11:55am
Descartes
Synthya WylderOn the topic, the image of the Achilles-type robot appears masculine & purposely artificial.

Is there any Lore which describes their aesthetics in any other way, & if they were constructed with an otherwise feminine appearance...

& here's the feather-ruffler & wave-maker... are they ever mentioned being developed, programmed, &/ used in or with the additional capacity as a "personal assistant", specifically, in the area of/with the abilities of a 'Pleasure-Unit'?

I mean, on those long, dark, lonely voyages out in "The Black"...



"Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon ..." someone would suggest it... "It had to be you"


Of course, would you expect anything different?

I can see it now... "The Sappho Model... designed to tend to your every need."


Last edit: 23 Aug 2020, 5:06pm
23 Aug 2020, 5:48pm
Huh...reading up on fcs in lore armaments compared to the Farragut and the Majestic, turns out player owned FCs actually have them outgunned, FCs having 20 Capital Class Mounts, the Farragut 16 and the Majestic 17.
Fcs (at least the drake class) are also over a kilometre larger than their counterparts.
If a Farragut at 2000m approximately has 7000 crew, It would be interesting to see how much more or less the carriers have


Last edit: 23 Aug 2020, 5:58pm
31 Aug 2020, 12:55am
The TAO of Exploration

The term "TAO" (道) is an ambiguous term that has various meanings stemming from its root in ancient and modern Chinese conceptual thinking, and made even more so now that the use of the term is used by western philosophers.

TAO relates to abstract concepts such as road, channel, path, principle. The generally accepted definition of the term in Chinese thought is the "The Way" and can be used as a noun, verb and sometimes an adjective.
In western thinking the term "way" is a vague expression and has various meanings or aspects:

1. The way we do something - practice or method
2. The way to some where - the path or route to a destination
3. The way to some thing - a measure of distance or time
4. The way it is or the way it is situated - the disposition of something in context to its environment

Exploring the vast distances of our galaxy, the "Milky Way", is an experience that, at this point of history, can only be done through an amazingly developed simulation called "Elite Dangerous".

In planning our journeys through the galaxy we set our destinations based on our motives, desires, experience or necessity to arrive at a certain place. These destinations hard code our "way" in terms of the four meanings detailed above.

Planning and executing our journeys is our practice, our destination, our time and as we travel and arrive, our situation. As an explorer I have learned over time that planning is one reality and execution of the plan is a completely different reality.

The hippy philosopher Robert Anton Wilson describes this dual reality as "the meal is not the menu" to demonstrate that our estimations and assumptions about the "way" we will do or achieve something are normally just that - estimates and assumptions only.

Our planned destinations in life (our situation) or place (location) are very much like all objectives, goals and milestones, the desired place we would like to be. Quite often our next opportunity or experience is provided not be our plan but by our experience on the journey. If you are a fatalist your you probably understand how synchronicity and subsequently our fate maybe determined by the messages or influences we gained from a specific experience on our journey.

In here lies our dilemma as journey persons, travellers and explorers.

Exploration or Mission?

An exploration by default has no goal other than the outcomes of exploration but if our desire or goal is for a destination, are we planning an Exploration? or we have planned a Mission?

In my experience I have found that desire for a destination flavors my experience of exploring. The process (way) of planning our journeys influences this outcome. I've learned that planning is my desired aspirational future reality based on assumptions and my own bias (based on my desires driven by my experience or lack of). The reality is that the planned journey requires to be about the journey. The planned destinations are only chalk markers that may require to be scrubbed, rearranged or left to another day.

When destinations drive my course, when rigid objectives form from my planning and become a "must" or when urgency or emergency drive me to be "there", I am on a mission.

Journeys with no destination is a common theme for heroes and anti heroes that we relate to in ancient and modern literature. Those not driven by desire to be "there" on "time". In this, the TAO concepts relates to other behavioural concepts such as "it's not if you win or lose, it's how you play the game" or "redemption or reward".

My advice for those who are beginning exploring, or those who feel they are on a mission rather than exploring, is to leave your destinations open, go where the road leads you, let the experience and return of information from your journey drive your next action.

There is no place of rest or calm other than our trajectory through space. That is the Way.



Last edit: 31 Aug 2020, 7:52am

Post a reply

You must be signed in to post here.
Discussion about Elite:Dangerous lore, universe and anything related...