September>December 2024: Nuclear winter has struck, leaving room for the N5

I think I see the disconnect here.

Look up "Suspension of Disbelief."

While you can do anything in a fictional setting, if you don't make it at least somewhat believable then you risk breaking that Suspension. And if you do that then it makes your setting feel cheap and shallow. Like when an Anime protagonist gets one-too-many unexplained power-ups, or a new character becomes proficient at something way too quickly.

The point being made is that JSA getting Alien tech better have a damn good reason, because the established lore is that nobody, not even Aleph, O-12, or PanO (with their vastly improved resources) has been able to duplicate it; at best there's a handful of Plasma Carbines and a single Plasma Rifle prototype. So how does this backwater grassroots resistance that has to borrow and steal all its guns and remotes figure it out?

They can come up with whatever reason they want, but it has better be a good one. And honestly, they're already on thin ice with JSA suddenly having the manpower to be considered a "full faction" after only 5 years. Babies don't grow up that fast, so where are all the extra troops coming from?

That's what @Errhile is getting at.

 

A weapon that wouldn't break or wouldn't need cleaning or tuning is magic? Well, that's very debattable...
Also, one could say that Voodoo tech is quite close to magic. Do you have a problem with Voodoo tech as it is integrated in Infinity?

 

So Pandora was a trojan horse...

 

In a universe like Infinity, a faction finding and being able to use alien tech is so unbelievable that it breaks suspension of disbelief for you? It surely doesn't for me, why would it?

Also, let's be honest for a second. Infinity isn't exactly a universe with great coherency, consistency and fine attention to details. I would say it's actually rather cheesy and chaotic, a feeling that is probably partly coming from the poor english writing of the fluff. So yeah, JSA getting to a new planet, finding alien tech and integrating it into its forces is not really something I would be astounded about.

 

Looks like I don't need to worry about getting her for my SP now.

What would be a good word for other factions getting the same thing happening to them with the JSA splitting off from YJ?

That's true there. It's always been a combination of things like Cyberpunk, anime, superheroes, and others. Also put together haphazardly way. I'm thinking more from a game play aspect and not so much the background. As said, anything can be justified in story. But in game, if everyone has the same tech, it can make for a boring game.

 

She was SHAS?!?!? (Clothing and Makeup implies that) Ok, that is awesome!

Also, loving the Unit videos! Showing how the models come together is so great!

EDIT: Sorry. She might just be another Ko Dali. Either way, that is a huge blow to faith in Aleph. I look forward to seeing the new fluff.

 

Ok I'm not the only one seeing it. At first I thought Nomads but yeah more CA looking.

 

Give me an example, will you?

That's exactly the point.

Voodoo Tech is Voodoo Tech because to Human Sphere, it is so advanced we have little idea on how that stuff works. Less ever - how to replicate the principle of its operation.

Sure, the guys who use it - CA and Tohaa - have the tech base to manufacture it and keep it operational. All the technicians, spare parts and manufacturing capability required. Which, let me stress it again, at least at the point of Shattergrounds, was considered beyond the Humanity's capacity.

Now, five years in-universe later (as we are told), someone has that tech, and has it available on the level where it can be field-deployed by an (granted, elite) military unit of a faction that five years ago was a minor power, just a notch above the grasroots guerilla movement @Delta57Dash mentioned.

I'm not saying it can not be, I'm saying it warrants an explaination. And I see it as being difficult to make a good one.
Of course, caveat, we haven't seen any explaination yet.

Maybe nanoscreen's tech got cracked by humanity so well, it was so obvious (once cracked) nowadays they toss in a free nanoscreen into every box of breakfast cereal... and we'll be seing it on every single unit in the game, eh? :P

 

An example from where? Real life?

Ok, so you do have a problem with magic in that universe and you don't have a problem with magic in that universe at the same time. That's confusing.

And for your example, the rule is called Nanoscreen. It doesn't mean that it will be that same tech as Shas, just that from a gameplay point of view, it's similar. Morats, JSA and Haqqislam have all the Religious rule, even though they have nothing in common. Could be the same. Also, don't be of bad faith. They are not "tossing in a free nanoscreen into every box of breakfast cereal", it's still only on an extremely tiny percentage of the minis and factions.

 

It could be. It could not. Depends on the reason the writers give.

As it stands, no other faction has been able to do it with vastly more resources. So maybe JSA got help from CA, or from Tohaa, or maybe Aleph/O-12 actually had some success and JSA stole it from them. Maybe humanity overall has finally started cracking Alien Tech and these previews of JSA are indicative of the human factions getting more of it overall in N5.

So yeah, there are legitimate reasons that could work. But "oh they dug up some tech and figure out how to use it" is not one of them. So far all the tidbits and rumors have been pointing in that direction, hence the concern that the CB writers are pulling a bit of a "Deus Ex Machina" just to give JSA more reasons to sell minis.

 

Obviously.

Please note - no non-Alien faction. Including JSA.
We're talking state of affairs as of Shattergrounds-era, end of N4. No-one of the Human Sphere actors has nanoscreen technology in N4.


N5 is 5 years down the line, and perhaps Human Sphere managed to crack the Nanoscreen's tech (or purchased the know-how from one or the other alien entity).

I agree, there are factions (PanO & Aleph being first on my list, YJ lower on the totem pole, though not impossible) who are far better suited to cracking the tech we are talking about.
JSA, indeed, is very, very improbable.

 

Or maybe, JSA made a trade deal with the EI. That would easily boost them to a major power. We just need to wait for the fluff to see if it is a good explanation.

 

Hmm, it would be interesting to see Obsidioin Medchanoids in JSA colors. Someone needs to keep all that Voodoo Tech running.

;) And the Japanese always had a soft spot for tentacled monstrosities. Though now, you'd have to keep an eye on your troops so they won't eat your contracted tentacled med/techs... ;)

 

Irrelevant then. Infinity is not real life. Why would our tech limitations apply to some alien futuristic tech?

You're not reading. The RULE could be called Nanoscreen, even if the device is not the actual alien Nanoscreen we know, but some human equipment with similar effect in game. Could be a completely different tech. Again, wait and see.

 

Not our tech limitations.

Third law of thermodynamics.

And let me remind you: even the Evolved Intelligence wasn't able to escape entropy. Its entire reason for existence is to find a way to transcend before entropy - in the form of the heat death of the Universe - catches up with it.

 

The third law of thermodynamics prevents JSA from finding and using some alien weapons in a futuristic universe? That's an interesting and quite groundbreaking interpretation of that law.

 

It totally puts in question sustainability of their use, if they don't have the logistics train to maintain it.
And using them in the first place is also doubtful, if they don't have the know-how.

But hey, if you prefer fictional universes in which the rule of cool is enough to make a technology work, who am I to dictate your tastes...?

 

I still want to know how the space bike floats