Originally posted by Riven
What use would a comm node be if it took 1000 years to build? And if this was the case then they would be much more heavily guarded as the destruction of one could set the shivan advance back centurys.
You seem to be failing to get my point. You said that the comm nodes were built quickly. There is NO data to support that. The comm nodes could have taken 5 minutes, 5 years or 500 years for the shivans to build. We just don`t know!
Originally posted by Riven
As for the time taken to build one. It must employ similar technology to the knossos to comunicate between systems (this is theorised in a command breifing) so therefore it would give an idea to the complexety of such technology and how to implement it.
No it isn`t. In fact at no point in the game is the purpose of the Comm node revealed. If fact we only know that it is a shivan comm node cause if you open it in FRED that's what it's called.
If you saw something about it in a command briefing it was in a user created mission and is therefore not official.
Secondly it's also possible that the shivan comm nodes have NOTHING whatsoever to do with interstellar communication but are used for some sort of in-system broadcasting.
Furthermore it's fairly obvious that the GTVA is using some sort of faster than light communication in system. For all we know this form of communication can also be used for interstellar communication so it is possible that the shivan comm nodes don`t use subspace to send messages.
Again we simply do not know.