Poll

Are you tired of the HPG Network Blackout?

Yes
83 (59.7%)
No
49 (35.3%)
I've never known a BT universe without a blackout...
7 (5%)

Total Members Voted: 139

Author Topic: Anyone else sick of the blackout?  (Read 13500 times)

SteveRestless

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Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« on: 02 September 2019, 14:42:55 »
from a forward-most plot perspective, we've been stuck in a universe without Hyperpulse Communications for the better part of two decades. Am I the only one who's really ready to see the lights come back on, network traffic start flowing again?
Шонхорын хурдаар хурцлан давшъя, Чонын зоригоор асан дүрэлзэье, Тэнхээт морьдын туурайгаар нүргэе, Тамгат Чингисийн ухаанаар даръя | Let’s go faster than a falcon, Let’s burn with the wolf’s courage, Let’s roar with the hooves of strong horses, Let’s go with the wisdom of Tamgat Genghis - The Hu, Wolf Totem

Scotty

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #1 on: 02 September 2019, 14:44:34 »
To what end?
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SteveRestless

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #2 on: 02 September 2019, 14:49:10 »
Well, at it's core I can't help but see the Blackout as a meta-level means of trying to shrink the focus of the universe to set the stage for the original MW Dark Age contrivances. But beyond that I feel like there's a limit to how long you can hold together a star empire the size of the successor states without timely communication, and that realistically if it drags on much longer we would start seeing things fragment, fall apart to the sort of states you saw at the onset of space travel, the sort of smaller states that the FWL is comprised of.

I am dearly hoping that we get a return to Pre-Dark-Age Battletech Normalcy, the fortress down, the HPGs communicating again, the military industrial complex alive and well, with the advent of the ilClan.
Шонхорын хурдаар хурцлан давшъя, Чонын зоригоор асан дүрэлзэье, Тэнхээт морьдын туурайгаар нүргэе, Тамгат Чингисийн ухаанаар даръя | Let’s go faster than a falcon, Let’s burn with the wolf’s courage, Let’s roar with the hooves of strong horses, Let’s go with the wisdom of Tamgat Genghis - The Hu, Wolf Totem

Scotty

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #3 on: 02 September 2019, 15:22:13 »
So the end is to re-establish a previous status quo that you found comfortable.

Eh, I'll pass.
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Maniac Actual

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #4 on: 02 September 2019, 15:24:37 »
I am hoping for plot advancement period.  I agree with Steve generally - the blackout is a plot device that outlived it's usefulness five + years ago. More specifically, Il Clan was done in 2013.  There are no longer any acceptable reasons for the delay in its publication.  Almost everything CGL is putting out is lost in the past.  And while I am glad they are embracing the Harebrained game and (finally) kickstarter... Let's kickstart the timeline. 

GET THE !@#$% BOOK OUT.

And it better have a reason why the com net went down and the  fortress wall went up - and how they work.  It's past time for CGL to get the timeline moving.
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Sartris

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #5 on: 02 September 2019, 15:25:06 »
For me I want to see it go not for plot reasons but to remove a symbol of IP stagnation we’ve been waiting six years to resolve

GET THE !@#$% BOOK OUT.

And it better have a reason why the com net went down and the  fortress wall went up - and how they work.  It's past time for CGL to get the timeline moving.

Ive long been of the opinion with any kind of media that the weight of expectations because of a delay rarely fails to crush the anticipated product. I’m also of the opinion that no one will be happy with the explanations for the blackout because we’ve had so long to ruminate on it that any outcome will disappoint
« Last Edit: 02 September 2019, 15:28:58 by Sartris »

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Maniac Actual

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #6 on: 02 September 2019, 15:26:07 »
So the end is to re-establish a previous status quo that you found comfortable.

Eh, I'll pass.
No.  Not true at all.  Better an advancement I don't agree with that this continuous lost-in-the-past holding pattern that does no one at CGL or any of us ANY good.
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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #7 on: 02 September 2019, 15:27:11 »
For me I want to see it go not for plot reasons but to remove a symbol of IP stagnation we’ve been waiting six years to resolve

 :clap: :beer:
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Scotty

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #8 on: 02 September 2019, 15:27:57 »
No.  Not true at all.  Better an advancement I don't agree with that this continuous lost-in-the-past holding pattern that does no one at CGL or any of us ANY good.

The concept of "HPGs don't reliably work" has nothing to do with this, and we have no idea whether any iteration of IlClan would have reversed it.  We still don't.
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Ogra_Chief

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #9 on: 02 September 2019, 16:08:06 »
For me I want to see it go not for plot reasons but to remove a symbol of IP stagnation we’ve been waiting six years to resolve

Ive long been of the opinion with any kind of media that the weight of expectations because of a delay rarely fails to crush the anticipated product. I’m also of the opinion that no one will be happy with the explanations for the blackout because we’ve had so long to ruminate on it that any outcome will disappoint

A game of technological stagnation...
A timeline in perpetual stagnation...
An IP in stagnation...

There is irony here somewhere, if only I could see it clearly?   ???
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Lyran Wolf

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #10 on: 02 September 2019, 16:24:40 »
I don't know, the HPG blackout does increase the fog of war and offers some differing strategic concerns. 

I may be misremembering but I thought the entire concept of houses and nobility was set up specifically to combat communication distance and lag.  The local noble was specifically entrusted with the management of their local part of space and expected to manage things well enough on their own until the communication lag could be closed.

I am 100% on-board with everyone else who wants IlClan out though.  I may just have resigned myself to a different world now, and would be ok however the blackout is resolved.
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Maelwys

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #11 on: 02 September 2019, 16:25:56 »
I'm not necessarily saying it needs to be resolved, or fixed, but something needs to be done with it. Have some indication that the Blackout is actually affecting things in some meaningful way, rather than being something in the background.

Deadborder

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #12 on: 02 September 2019, 16:31:43 »
I'm sick of people still complaining about the blackout.

It's been seventeen years since the release of MWDA. Get over it, people.
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Crimson Dawn

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #13 on: 02 September 2019, 16:38:43 »
For me I have not really liked any of the story line since the end of the Twilight of the Clans series.  I guess moving forward is fine since I do not particularly like the current status quo so why not change it but considering the track record for so long to me the more the story goes on the less interested I am in it.  That is really sad since for me the books and story was all I knew of Battletch as I did not play the game until the past few years. 

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #14 on: 02 September 2019, 16:41:14 »
A game of technological stagnation...
A timeline in perpetual stagnation...
An IP in stagnation...

There is irony here somewhere, if only I could see it clearly?   ???

An unhappy coincidence at best. I’m pretty sure the record shows that I’ve soured on further timeline expansion if they continue to insist they can adequately service all of it.

I’m mostly looking for closure on the dark age blackout branch and a definitive statement on next steps for the line.

Get over it, people.

Likewise you have had seventeen years to get over people not getting over it. So... get over it?

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abou

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #15 on: 02 September 2019, 16:53:24 »
The big problem with the Blackout is that we aren't really any closer to discovering the why and the how. And WizKids seemed to borrow from JJ Abhrams' mystery box technique when conceiving it: it was there to move the plot and that was about it. However, it had such huge ramifications on the universe that not having a reason and clear actors behind it really hurts. It leaves things unsatisfying. And it left a mess for the Devs to figure out.

Everything hinges on ilClan. By comparison, from the universe's birth, ComStar always had a role to play. From the third GDL novel to the Warrior Trilogy and beyond, it meshed with what was whispered in the sourcebooks. We just haven't had that with Dark Age.

So yes, I agree it needs to be resolved. But ilClan should do that. At least I hope.

Maelwys

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #16 on: 02 September 2019, 17:07:21 »
I'm sick of people still complaining about the blackout.

It's been seventeen years since the release of MWDA. Get over it, people.

Its not the Blackout that most people seem to have a problem with. Its the lack of resolution or even seemingly caring about it/having it affect anything.

Its like if the Clan Invasion never had the Twilight of the Clans ending Or if the Jihad never had Operation Scour/Founding of the RotS. FCCW with the attack on New Avalon. It needs to have some sort of resolution. Its too big of a MacGuffin to just sit there. "Yeah, it happened. Now we won't mention it much."

DarkSpade

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #17 on: 02 September 2019, 17:17:24 »
With the majority of fiction available in print right now being Jihad or earlier, no, I'm not sick of the blackout.  If anything, I'd like to see more of it.  Do we have any post wall stories out there aside from game aids?  I'm talking novels and short stories.


Now the Jihad is a different story. I am so sick of fiction from that era.  There's a limit to how many stories I can read where the twist is "he was a Wobbie the whole time!" Got old real quick.
« Last Edit: 02 September 2019, 17:19:48 by DarkSpade »
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General308

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #18 on: 02 September 2019, 17:50:13 »
It really is past time to get the future of the story going again.  Were ever that may be.

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #19 on: 02 September 2019, 17:57:23 »
With the majority of fiction available in print right now being Jihad or earlier, no, I'm not sick of the blackout.  If anything, I'd like to see more of it.  Do we have any post wall stories out there aside from game aids?  I'm talking novels and short stories.

A Splinter of Hope and The Anvil were recently released as epubs and in a compiled PoD volume, about the FedSuns/Capellan conflict and Lyran/Jade Falcon one, as depicted in Shattered Fortress.  And Redemption Rift, a BattleCorps serial about Wolf's Dragoons and the Ryuken attacking the Federated Suns at the start of the fighting seen in Era Report 3145 is getting a PoD release soon.
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DarkSpade

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #20 on: 02 September 2019, 18:02:21 »
A Splinter of Hope and The Anvil were recently released as epubs and in a compiled PoD volume, about the FedSuns/Capellan conflict and Lyran/Jade Falcon one, as depicted in Shattered Fortress.  And Redemption Rift, a BattleCorps serial about Wolf's Dragoons and the Ryuken attacking the Federated Suns at the start of the fighting seen in Era Report 3145 is getting a PoD release soon.
:thumbsup:
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Col Toda

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #21 on: 02 September 2019, 18:06:47 »
As a plot device to ratchet paranoia and war drum fodder it was great . As a plot device killing the old business  model for Solaris VII so many warriors  became  available  for now better paying mercenary  work also great . Needing to last any longer than the 18-36 months  to achieve  the above terrible . In  18 to 36 months the powers that be would expand or create a black box network to mitigate  the loss of faster communication  and would  reduce the impact of the loss in the first place . If it was brought  back in 12-14 months or promised to would  not delay the desire to have a backup FTL com network  with the older tech . The Dark Age novels clearly  state black  box communication  was not affected  . The tech is small enough  to be on a satellite  package . Both the Draconis Combine : Republic of the Sphere and presumably  House Davian  used it or had a network  in place in case of Com Star interdiction  insurance. Both intelligence  services and military's  used it if they did not trust Com Star .

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #22 on: 02 September 2019, 18:32:27 »
i had sorta assumed it would go away with the next major arc and hadn't cared either way, but OP's griping has made me realize....i'd rather it stayed. i see no reason for anyone to trust the clanners running it or really anyone else, i fully expect both legit raids and flase flag actions on anyone's HPGs to cut their lines for political/strategic reasons, and i'm honestly sorta interested in going forward with a limited functional intersystem communications.

it's gonna be a wild time for those small-unit mercs looking for a job, i tell you. and that's my personal bread and butter. bring on the darkness!
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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #23 on: 02 September 2019, 18:47:18 »
i see no reason for anyone to trust the clanners running it or really anyone else,

Speaking as a fan of Clan Wolf, the Clans would only fix things long enough to break again in the next book ;)

If for anything else, just to give us a excuse to keep shooting each other with giant stompy robots.
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DOC_Agren

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #24 on: 02 September 2019, 20:01:23 »
the blackout kinda reminded me of GDW Traveller's Virus but less planed out
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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #25 on: 02 September 2019, 20:44:17 »
Truth of the matter is that we'd all just like regular new content; and not filler, but important, plot-moving content.

It's human nature.

monbvol

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #26 on: 02 September 2019, 21:37:07 »
Well large devastating conflicts did happen in setting before the HPG was even invented so I'm not really convinced the Blackout would have the consequences many seem to think.

Yes it is likely there'd be some growing pains in switching to other methods of communication but as mentioned it does seem to be largely sorted out.

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #27 on: 02 September 2019, 21:49:05 »
The blackout is no longer the primary motivation of conflict right now anyway.   
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pixelgeek

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #28 on: 02 September 2019, 21:49:56 »
I don't mind the Blackout but I wouldn't mind some more information about it and perhaps some threads about a solution or a search for the source.
« Last Edit: 02 September 2019, 21:52:47 by pixelgeek »

Maniac Actual

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Re: Anyone else sick of the blackout?
« Reply #29 on: 02 September 2019, 22:09:31 »
I'm sick of people still complaining about the blackout.

It's been seventeen years since the release of MWDA. Get over it, people.
With respect, no.  I never touched MWDA, and only got interested in the DA when CGL published era report 3145.  THEN I wanted to know what happaned.  After 5 - 6 years...... nothing.  Last GENCON I went to (2013) that was the "cannon event" - Alaric on Terra. Then it all went away.

Add to the fact that we have no idea how these universe altering technologies work, and.... yeah.  I want to know.  And I am not over it.  CGL teased me with a book 6 years ago.  It's time or them to put up or shut up, so to speak.
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