Cartoon/Comic Book SCIENCE, Technology, and Time

We are using a very comic-book/cartoon handling of both time and science in this game. That is, we are being realistic when it is fun and interesting to do so, but there are going to be times when real life physics, technology, and time keeping methods have to go right out of the window.

This is of a necessity in a game based primarily on toys, cartoons, and comic books. Our source material frequently employs Super-Science and Technology that does not behave in a particularly realistic manner.

One excellent example of this is Dead End's radar. In real life, while a radar can be used to pick up something in the air hundreds of miles away, the curvature of the Earth prevents it from picking up things that are on or near the ground that are farther away than a few dozen miles (less if the elevation of the radar transmitter is low, as it would be in a sports car). This fact is what jets in movies are doing when they talk about flying "below the radar horizon." They are flying so low to the ground (or water) that a ground-based radar would not be able to pick them up until they are quite close, effectively hiding beneath the radar's line of sight. This is not a limitation due to our own technological level, but the laws of physics itself. RF energy travels in more or less a straight line, unless it's been bounced off something or something like ducting (which will not be covered here) is involved.

Dead End, however, can map terrain that is up to 200 miles away. This does not only imply a really, really good radar. This implies a radar that ignores the laws of physics. I have illustrated this below in a highly accurate and painstakingly created diagram.

Similarly, some hand-waving must be accomplished in the treatment of time. We use time-skips here to get past the tedious portions. If you keep strict track of everything, you will notice that not all threads are actually at the same point in time. Despite this, all characters are able to communicate with each other over the various broadband threads. How is this possible? It's not. Just don't think very hard about it.

Finally, there are some things that realistic computers, machines, and robots are capable of that in-game Transformers are not. There are in-game restrictions on the sort of real time data-transferal methods allowed. For example, whole languages can be uploaded in moments, and yet schematics are described to take hours. Most Transformers are only able to transmit relatively low resolution image files of what they're seeing, and yet accurate solar or stellar positions are shared freely. When considered logically, do these discrepancies make any sense? No. However, they are included for plot and game balance reasons.

Languages and locations make it easier for characters to communicate and find each other, and those foster role-playing. However, being able to instantly transfer anything one character knows or sees to another character completely invalidates or marginalizes a whole class of characters (spies), and lessons the usefulness of any specialized sensors that some players have specifically requested in their applications. Further, you run into questions such as, "What is to prevent character X from sneaking into their enemy faction's base and instantly transmitting back everything they see and hear?" Finally, while the knowledge that an enemy may be listening on faction broadband channels can add excitement to a scene, if an opposing communications specialist is always listening, it would hamper the use of those channels and thus hamper RP itself.

In the end, the general rule of thumb over whether or not a character can be able to do something over datalink is to ask yourself the question, "Does this encourage role-play and make it easier for characters to interact? Or does this instead hamper role-play or create potentially unfair situations?" The answers to these questions, rather than realism, are the guiding force behind many generic "robot" abilities.

I hope you all have enjoyed this brief exploration into the world of comic book and cartoon physics. Thank you for your time (haha), and game on!