chuck_starchaser wrote:Kilrathi Stealth technology being available in the black market is like talking about buying US stealth technology, or Patriot missiles, or SDI, in the black market. Makes no sense the kats would allow their most advance systems to escape their control.
Well, not to start argument, as I think Dilloh should pretty much follow your advise, but who said anything about allow?
The black market takes advantage of any and all security holes and there is no such thing as 100% security. At least not in our society.
Here's one example,
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/co ... 038041.htm
Those F-14's were acquired while the fighter was still in active service.
Never mind nuclear technology keeps getting leaked.
Or how the manufactures themselves may pose problems in security. Like this example,
http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003634.html
Hell the US is the biggest seller of technology and weapons in the world. We practically armed the Iraq and Afghanistan terrorists ourselves.
But the Kilrathi aren't human and at least one so called traitor turned out to be a double agent. So you could be right about them. Not to mention it would be a lot harder to be covert with an alien species than it is with your own.
However Privateer does suggest a black market does exist with them with both the sale of Salthi's and buying of catnip. So I wouldn't say it was out of the question. At least not for the older tech such as the skipper missile.
But you're right that we should keep it simple, just wanted to clarify how possible it was.
chuck_starchaser wrote:Anything else risks opening a Pandora's Box of questions, like "given that it is based on shield technology, and that shields are less effective in nebulas, shouldn't cloaks be less effective in nebulas, not more?". And that would be just for starters...
Actually we could just explain that by the fact the cloak doesn't interact physically with anything except sensors and light. The shields on the other hand would come into direct comflict with the gasses in the nebula.
It's like high frequency electricity, your nervous system isn't effected because the electricity is operating at a frequency that doesn't interfere with the frequency of your nervous system. So passes harmlessly through you.
All the cloak has to do is operate in a way that doesn't interact with the nebula to continue working and then the nebula's natural tendency to interfere with sensors would make the cloak more effective.
So I don't see that as a big problem explaining.
But like you said let's keep it simple and avoid having to answer such things as then we would have to explain exactly how it works and how it could avoid interacting with the nebula while the shields would and since that information was never officially given it would all just be conjecture.
Most people wouldn't want to think about it anyway.
Btw, just curious but are we sure about the Privateer timeline?
This,
http://www.wcnews.com/encyclopedia/show ... php?id=216
States the game starts in 2669 and the RF starts in 2670?
I know it's just a one year difference but if true then the confeds already had Stealth tech.
Unless Dilloh is setting this for pre-Privateer time period or at least before RF?
Or is that site wrong on the timeline?