Originally posted by sandwich:
On the other end of the spectrum would be an object completely composed of extremely long spikes, thereby giving the most surface area with the least amount of internal volume, minimizing the pressure differences.
Hmmm... spiky.... Shivan ships are spiky...
Oh yeah... also like (yarg! another ST reference
) the crystaline entity.
Originally posted by sandwich:
If that unknown factor is completely removed or explained away in a campaign, the Shivans will become just another enemy. Perhaps more powerful than the usual, but no longer will they be the devil we don't know.
Yeah, but so many of us do want to explain the Shivans. Even if our campaigns do try to explain them away and take away that terror factor, it's OK because we might not have any follow up campaigns, and (most importantly) it's not the official word from
, so they Shivans could still be mysterious because
hasn't taken away the mystery.
Also, about all of this hive-mind, multiple-hives, queen-bees, etc. I'd like to pull over some sci-fi references I made in the FS3 thread.
Originally posted by joek:
... You could consider them telepathic, or mentally linked via technology. Where as thinking this would make them "hive mind" as the Borg, it could also not. In "The Light of Other Days" (by Arthur C. Clarke & Stephen Baxter) and the "Forever..." series by Joe Haldeman ("Forever War", "Forever Peace", and "Forever Free"), the authors deal with the idea of people linking their minds together through technology. In both "The Light of Other Days" and "Forever Peace" people retain their individuality, but the mental link can provide them with like an Internet built into their minds. They can talk and discuss ideas with other people in fractions of a second. They can share memories and feelings of other people, while still having their own and their own individuality...
What I'm saying here is that a "collective" doesn't have to be hive like. Imagine having your own personality, but you can look up and know what every other personality in the collective is doing and thinking.
... although... with that idea, being communicative like that would allow for the Shivans to be more coordinated even in just fighter wings. Like flocks of birds or school of fish, they would all be able to turn at the same time and be much more effective than Alpha 1's wingmen
. So, maybe the Shivans aren't like that, or maybe, refering to after the Lucifer was destroyed, they are, but all the communication has to go through a hub to be as effective.
Joe.
------------------