Andrew Janssen wrote: >> A system to send up to six set messages would be fairly easy to set up, >>though still rather expensive. With each additional possible message the >>system increases in complexity and cost, probably exponentially. I doubt that >>Cedonia could build a system to handle more than 24 messages. Would the >>government consider that enough for the expense involved? > > > 24 symbols/messages would probably work fine, at least for a > first-generation system. The idea is that the heliograph/beacons would > be used to send urgent messages, critically important information, while > the existing pony express system would be used to send detailed reports. My take on the subject. This is a nice idea. I see no fundamental reason why it shouldn't work as a signalling system. It is hideously expensive. The initial version required to send one message (basically, a pre-agreed "yes/no" from border to border) would require a complete set of watch towers, and a permanent staffing on them: there would have to be a constant watch over the other towers to capture the messages. And if one tower is down, the message will just stop there. Two analogies: in real world, it was only with the invention of telegraph that long range communication by other means than physically going over there because commonplace/reasonable. Before that, the pony express could still beat any other form of messaging. On Discworld, there are the claks towers, which as an idea is *very* similar to this. But it only works because the gargoyles are ideal workers for the towers. They can idly sit and watch for distant objects for days, and have the intelligence to interpret the messages. On Celandra, there's the magical option to communication, though. Lucia's priests, among others, know about teleportation. Other religions send *important* messages by servants in the Dreaming. Of course, this can be unreliable and dangerous. > As far as costs go, Cedonia has one of the largest economies in the > MidSea, and it's not as if this would all be done at once. I was > figuring on, as a ball-park estimate, needing at least five years to go > from Thalcedon to Tiraren, and at least fifteen to twenty years to > extend the network through all of Cedonia. Gamewise: let's make it a sing Very hard (-2) action to create the initial pilot. One Success is enough to prove it works. You don't have to invent anything new really. And there's always the magic option to enhance the mirrors (of course, this might not be available for Cedonia...). Then, a Strategic action (difficulity determined by the success in the pilot action) of 3 successes to create initial network from border to border. And another 10 successes to cover all essential centers. At which point the government would have the ability to send pre-agreed signals all over the country in a span of 1-2 days (accounting for delayes and breaks; extreme weather would be a problem). juuso ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
