Astro Galaxy - a realistic space exploration game

Since the whole premise of the game is "earth is running low on resources, we need more!", I thought it could be a neat idea to have a "top miners" section. Could be just a simple new window in the earth's "Commodity Exchange" station. You click on it and see what player extracted how many total resources. Maybe you could even click on someone's name and see how many of what particular resource he/she extracted. I just think it would be interesting to compare mining statistics. 

That would mean the game would need a way to track every bit of resource that is mined and then record it with who mined it.  It probably could be done though if it was done at this moment everyone would be put at the same rank since it hasn't been keeping track.  Also there are other things I would rather see added in before this. In particular corp stations, aliens and an expansion of the galaxy beyond the 4th ring.  Still not a bad idea I guess.

I really don't like the idea of everyone being able to see what I am doing. 

It could make me a target of hose nasty pirates...

...giggle...

I have no idea what goes into building a browser game, so I have no idea how difficult this would be to code and implement. Obviously if this takes up to much time then it's not worth it, it's just a minor thing that I would somewhat enjoy. But if it could be easy to do and implement, it could be a nice feature. I mean, the game keeps track of all the solars you make and spend, might as well have a database entry every time you push the "unload" button in the mining module. Maybe it could even lead to competitions of some sort. "Whoever mines 50000 iron first gets a XXXX module Mk. X", etc.

I could see a use for this...it doesnt have to show how much or where you got it from but rank you based on mats sold @ Sol. And as you go up the ranks...so 0-100+ you would get a bonus for being a repeat/high volume customer to Sol. This would add more pay off for being a miner and make it more desirable to go that route.

I like the idea.

This could be extended to top number of: COM/SOS missions done, ships attacked, stations attacked/destroyed, etc.

Also a win ratio for attacking and defending would be nice. :)

I like the idea, but much more the additional ideas of JamJulLison!

If the game goes to a finite type of economic system (which i hear being discussed around the forums about closing down Sol for unlimited resources) , likely this concept will be a throw-off from a truly persistent player-driven economics game. E.G. If pilot john doe brings in 300m of uranium to be deposited/sold at Sol, then that system has +300m of uranium to be disposed  of, sold etc to other pilots. Then that pilot could get accredited with the supply of those resources (or as Aysle suggests, an aggregate volume display, or, a profit total.) Then we will see all sorts of stats come out such as: top hauler. top profiteer. top combat veteran. top pvp kills. (now it starts to resemble one of my all time favourite online games which sadly no longer exists) Weekly medals could be awarded for top corp of the week(or month) in economics, combat (npc/player) kills as well as individual medals for players (with some rewards perhaps for holding a temp accolade).
Lets face it, at the moment, for the top corp players its just "business as usual" with no real incentive to strive for. How big is big enough? <shrug> and for the smaller players they just look up to the top of the leaderboard and say, "Yeah, forget that. Will never have enough time to knock that off"

Good concept which can lead to much more fun and involvement with development!

Dadds

I personally would love finate amount of resources.  Though it would mean pirating would likely increase.  I myself would set up some mines, some protection around them and also be running raiding runs in other systems to try to increase my resource income.  It won't be about solars anymore either since it will become hard to actually get resources at Earth.

Dadds I agree. The business as usual gets boring too. I also understand the perspective of the little guys as well.  When I first joined, Goodperson was ranked number one, Morbius was high up and the other higher ups looked so high I thought I had no chance at getting there. lol

@JamJul yeah the tortoise and the hare story all over again. just plod on along and eventually you are rivaling top players power, and you suddenly find yourself in charge of a corporation! How did that happen? lol. It should be an example to everyone out there, that all you have to do is put together a few hours a day or week but do it consistently and with a game plan and they too can be on the leader boards. I would welcome some friendly rivalry up there.
I have no problems with increased piracy. It would give my guys a cause again to "go a-huntin' " Our weapons are getting over polished and moth-balled from lack of use.
finite systems slow gameplay down a heap, but....miners would have a reason to exist again. And also a reason to defend their territories again. A stake on some rare materials can mean you can develop tech and modules quicker than someone without it.
Rather than unlimited materials at Sol, if there was a timer system where mats would slowly build up over time and that build up was calculated on how many were online at the same time (eg more online the more mats per hour the system regenerated. call it npc mining and collection etc) Anything a player miner brought into system just helps bolster that resource availability. Eventually you could have factions with that system. the current Sol faction, and some other factions deep into outer space past explored or known systems. Player miners could then be encouraged to mine for their faction with certain build outs requiring mission materials. When all mats are received by a system, it builds a bonus such as a nano assembler/gatherer or such, which can bring added material bonuses per timer to your faction system. Naturally all warriors of that faction would defend their faction miners so that in turn they become stronger with more readily available resources. Suddenly we have a game which requires teamwork to succeed :)

In the current state of things if this happened, I likely would take 2 stances.  The first is setting up defense outpost in each of the quadrants in the known areas. Ring 1 mainly. I am making plans to do so already.  Though I will get GC approval first.  Their purpose is for helping to stop piracy in those areas. I have actually decided not to do any raiding there.   My 2nd stance though would be to begin pirating in rings 2 and onward. Though not quite sure how well that would work since it is hard to actually find anyone there lol.


The problem I foresee if this would be added in those is this would create a gap between higher ups and new players who just join.  Right now the gap can be closed with hard work.  If this is added in, new players aren't likely to ever catch up. To me that is a problem.  This is the sort of thing that if added in I think in fairness should require a server reset.  If that happened, I think those who had accounts before should at least receive an extra ship apon start up. to help make up for what they lost and to show appreciation to those players for sticking around after all that.  Of course if this happens I can't say what sort of playing style I will use.  I might load up one ship with mines and go far out while having another ship to stick around 0,0 to raid.  I do know it would be rough goings though. Even rougher then how things are now.  Though it might be more fun.

its actually the opposite JamJul. I am guessing with that quote that you are talking about my proposed finite materials available at sol. At early stages you dont need much mats to build stuff, where as at our levels you need thousands of mats to push up a module just one slot. With limited mats available, that would mean its would slow down our top end production while we generate enough resources to cater for our needs, while the newer players would easily harvest enough mats to build their smaller modules to "catch up" to our higher grade modules. It's an equilibrium of sorts which throttles the top players a bit in advancement. At the moment we can stroll into Sol, orbit around Earth and buy mats that can bump a titan class vessel build hundreds of marks up in a single purchase, if you have the cash (which we do). I alone generally leap frog my modules at around 50 marks per upgrade (for titan x 12 build slots = 600 marks of mats) without really batting an eyelid because it is nice, fat, round numbers. Those numbers would cause a new player to gag in awe at the resources required to purchase, store and build such infrastructures.
This is where the gap is at the moment between new and older players. Its just so darn easy to use unlimited resources (from a planet scenario that states we are running out of resources) to push up our modules to match our science levels.

Yeah the only people out that far are narley miners and advanced players. Neither are easy targets haha. Plus like the expanding ripple made in a pool of water, the bigger the ring, the more space you have to travel to find raiding targets. The 2nd ring is where the safe zone really begins at for players to get a good solid start without being found out too easily by raiders.

Your right early on things don't cost as much to build.  However consider this how it is now.  Sol System doesn't have hardly any resources as it is. 0,0 doesn't really have too much more good stuff left.  Those that also mine in these areas are also heavily raided.  Most new players right now don't make modules out of resources they mine. They just can't really get enough to do it.  Same goes with pirates who raid. Sure some gets used, but what can't be used is sold for solars. The solars are then spent on resources for modules.  As it is now they can also get solars from missions transporting passengers. That can also be used on resources.  That and raiding is how I got my start early on.    It is rough goings early on.  Now lets take away those infinite resources at Earth.   Every bit of resource they get will come from mining or raiding.  With raiding you take what you can get from those who are mining. Though there are many times they are just mining crap.  The miners on the other hand only really have crap to choose from and are starting to run short on that crap too. Solars are practically useless to them.  They will sit there struggling to get resources to make new modules. Upgrading modules isn't going to be much of an option either.  They won't have a real chance until they can get further out.  That is if they don't get frustrated and quit first.   Meanwhile the people at the top already have lots of ships, mines and other things to help them.  They are not going to have a problem setting up mining operations further out. They will be able to get the resources they need pretty easily. At least until res dries out in the outer areas.  Because of how much easier it is for them to get resources, they can push on further ahead and leave people who are just joining in the dust.   Yes it will take us more resources to build bigger modules and take us longer  But we will also be able to mine those resources much faster then the newbies and have a much better selection to choose from.  So our progress will be faster then theirs.

Other things to consider.  This will make SOS missions useless since Solars are no longer really needed.  Pirate's Nest which we can do left and right with our COM ships would be able to rack in more resources to help us. 

As for your comment to my 2nd stance.  That is very true.  However it gives me a chance to explore more for possible mining places lol.

Something I have been in the process of doing is preparing myself for the day resources do run out. If  reset isn't done, I plan on being ready so that I won't lag behind. I actually just finished designing a mining/com ship that is on her way out to the outer ring right now.

All i know is that from the outset of me starting the game, i have been an explorer and miner, with plans of self sufficiency away from Sol. That meant that i never went back to Sol for module upgrades or building mats at all. Only thing i needed to go back to sol for was to buy orbitals or upgrade/purchase new hulls. I also used sol to ferry escape pods back to sol for money. Solars are still useful for upgrading ships, buying ships and orbitals and of course for optimizations (which came later). I never bought any materials from Sol as i decided i would get all i needed from the natural minerals in space. I did all this and built a corp around that concept. Others in my crew focused on other areas, such as the cash rich comm missions and built their fleet up that way. Up until recently, i can be proud to say i didnt sell any materials, nor purchase any/many for my holdings and did few comms missions. Most of my income, fuel and module building came from passive mining and sos escape pods. I did it without fully understanding the dynamics of the game, just a resolve to play it that way. A lot of my team members grew bigger than me and faster than me, which was all good and proper. I have caught and by-passed all but 1 of those members now, just with constant gritty hard work and grind, daily. I suspect if i was to "pinch" all our corp ships back off my crew then my individual power would probably be as great as any in my corp overall, or close to it.
So i guess the point i make here is to say the only reason others got a faster jump on me within this game are those that used the bounties of unlimited resources at Sol for quick buildouts of modules by doing cash comms and even strip mining to sell "un-needed" mats for profit to purchase wanted mats. If they didnt have those limitless mats at their disposal, then my game model and style of play would certainly have put me in the front running much earlier than it is today.
Raiding has never come into the game with our corporation. It has never been necessary. Teamwork is what has built IMG up to its current level. Some good planning and cooperation between players which got us a foothold out beyond the control and influence of Sol Politics and its limitations. (that much i understood when i started the game, that if i could reach it, chances are, someone else has already been there and done that and likely left very slim pickings for a newer player. Only choice was to try to find some place in the quadrants where no one has been yet)
And for the new players out there, it is not that hard to "get out there" Just think outside the box a little. Fuel and cargo are the key factors. Early on you cant stow much on a vessel. Dont fill it up with fuel, but find an alternate fuel source which when converted yields much  more fuel per meter (look at any mat that can convert 3:1 ratio or better of fuel:mats. that way you can carry 3x the amount of fuel before having to stop for your given cargo space) put an orbital in your cargo for a base of operations and some extra cargo bays to deploy and pick a direction. A blind leap of faith haha.
The material abundance model i would like to see happen is one that a system builds up over time base on rarity. Every cycle of the timer increases a system's overall material availability. This can be modified with the number of active players online. 1 player online = 1x the rate, 2 player 2x the rate etc. (if factions comes into the game then that rate goes to your faction's system). Of course any miner requiring cash can boost this materials reserve up by selling materials to a system. This way cash is still needed to purchase available mats and hopefully it will deter bigger players from sitting around waiting for the mats to become available, as it will take much too long a time to waste waiting for the build up. Much better to mine the mats to build a bigger miner and go out and find the resources yourself. (yeah or increase raiding, which will give us anti-raider corps some more work hunting down pirates) A bounty system would also be a nice inclusion here where members can actually post rewards for wanted criminals and it goes into a pool for whoever is able to bring down the criminal.
What the system needs is the promised System Nova, so that when a system runs out of natural resources, it flashes up and distributes new resources out there, messing with our star maps already built. For those systems that dont Nova (known mapped sectors) then these systems need to somehow regenerate their materials over time so that there is always going to be something for everyone to discover and exploit for profit.

I know you were able to work hard like that and make it up like that.  But you guys aren't the average new player. The average new player doesn't think outside the box like that and are too unwilling to take that risk of going further out.  They also tend to quit when things start to look too hard.  Many don't even think to look at the forums.  A lot seem to quit while they are in the middle of the tutorial.  Others when they try to set up mining in 0,0 and get raided. Now there are those with common sense like you and I that learned quick that it would never be safe to really mine in 0,0.  We both took different directions in how we went about things but we were both successful because we learned things, read info on the forums. and was willing to put in hard work.  If people can't succeed right now how it is in the game, they are going to have an even harder time at it with finate resources. At least now they can do transport missions for extra solars to buy the resources.   Going about things your route is going to mean a lot harder work and willingness to take that plunge into the unknown. Something which so many new players don't want to do.  Hell some that have been around a while are still stuck between that and the first ring unwilling to move further out.  This is why removing the finate resources is going to cause newbies, to drop back further and us to pull ahead. The only way for it to be fair to everyone if that were added in would to be to force everyone to start fresh.  I would be willing to do that provided SirEmi at least gives the players who already had an account before hand an extra ship to start with. That right there would show how he appreciates us.    I do agree about the supernovas.  That does need to get implemented. Especially before any thing like this is added.

I personally find super noves a ridiculous idea for a game touting itself as realistic. it already has to deal with the fact that AUs are used completely wrong. Isn't an AU the distance from the sun to Earth? I will check that. :21:

At any rate, it makes more sense to simply have "new deposits/clouds" discovered on already existent bodies than to have stars exploding and new solar systems forming in the course of our lifetimes. I mean, c'mon, those things take millions of years to happen! Is everyone going to lose everything they have sitting around those systems when they explode? Why not just Keep It Simple Stupid and let the more realistically viable solution play out? In fact, why not make surface scanners a thing, and have players start finding their own deposits of resources on the system bodies in the first place?

I do agree normally it should take that long. Super Nova's aren't the most realistic idea but it would be better then nothing.  As for losing stuff.  From what SirEmi has told us when it is added in, we should have like a week's warning if our stuff is there that it is going nova. That is plenty of time to get our stuff out of there. It also enables us to sorta use novas as a weapon against people.  What I am wondering though is if ships there would be destroyed. There wouldn't exactly be a safe area to emergency warp to. lol. 

I guess we just gotta wait and see.

[IMG] is (according to rumor) investigating this phenom...

perhaps they have some more current intel?

IMG has a number of systems prepped for the release of the Super Nova feature. We have systems that are completely devoid of resources as well a number with 5-10-15-20% of total resources left.

We also have modules left in place to observe the effect. A number a brave ship captains have volunteered themselves as test cases to see the  effects on ships.

Hopefully soon we will see what the effects are. We reserve the right to limit the sharing of key tactical knowledge...

I like the ideas of BBGoode!

New deposites occasionally being found might be one thing. But as I gather it, our sensors detect all resources on a planets surface, under and above it.  Meaning there is no way it could hide it.  So them suddenly just popping up makes no sense story wise. Once a planet has been mined of all resources, just like in the real world that planet is screwed.

Adjusting that story 'glitch' (I find there is no coherent story line anyway) in the story is a hell of a lot easier to explain than super novas and new plantes forming in mere hours. What brand of LSD are you drinking like kool-aid?

The story is Earth is out of resources. Sol Corporation which seems to own Earth, highers on new pilots to go out in the stars to search for more resources.

As far as we can tell our sensors can detect all resources on, in or above a planet. That would mean it is impossible for there to be hidden resources.

As for supernovas. Well lets just pretend in this universe when a Super Nova occurs, time rapidly speeds up within the given area and new planets and stuff are born. Though I am assuming when a planet goes nova it is more like the new system sprouts nearby but not in the exact same spot.

I rest my case.
By the way, does this mean that Sol is gonna implode/explode soon too?  :confused:

Systems in 0,0 and the first ring (known systems) are not going to have supernovas. That is what SirEmi has said anyways.  I know I know.  We all want to blow up Sol from time to time lol

It seems, BBGoode, that perhaps you are reading too much into the game vs reality.
Here is a reality, WE cant possibly travel 16LY distance in a matter of minutes. Yet in the game i can do it easily. if i wanted to go crazy i could do it in a matter of seconds (based on my corp's current equipment and science techs).
Now, since the very basic concept of this type of space travel is already incredibly impossible (if it is not, please show me the math that allows it), i cant see why you have any objections to the rest of the concept with game the mechanics of "time/speed" mathematics.
The concept of a ultra-rare (i believe they call them type 1a and 1b, though many other factors can cause other stellar phenomenon to occur) star going supernova which in turn excites the cold gases in space to start more star births, as well as fuses elements which cant normally be produced in stellar systems normal life-cycles, is not only fact, its evidenced and accepted among the smarter of our scientists. The simple fact that gold exists, as well as platinum, uranium and other heavy element on our very planet which is not produced by our own sun is evidence enough that we picked up our rocky mantle and elements from the final breath of a dying (catastrophically dying) star or stars. (or maybe God put it all there to give us miners a hobby)
It is also known that the time line to this happening is relatively quick (in universal time) from birth to death for these stars to re-emergence of new stars (a few hundred million years)
So now we come to the crux of the matter, that it takes only mere weeks to accomplish this in game. Who would play a reality game where a game turn took 100 million years to play? We could all start it, but none of us would finish 1 turn lol. If i can travel at an incredibly fast (faster than light) speed, then why not have all the other stellar factors also accelerated to keep in some sort of equal time-line?
And i guess, to add some real math to ii lets look at einsteins special relativity theorum, about the faster you travel, the slower time moves outside of the vessel as observed from outside. Plug in the fact that i can move the same distance in 15mins that it takes the speed of light a whopping 15.86 years to accomplish, chances are by the time i reach my 15ly destination, a billion years (give or take, not going to run the calc here. will take too long haha) would have elapsed from an outside observer's point of view, thereby justifying in the time-line of the supernova and re-incarnation model.
Indeed, an AU (astronomical unit) is the distance measure from the earth to sol (invented because the earth is the centre of the universe and everything revolves around it :P) Not sure what you mean by used completely wrong though. I personally dont even look at an AU. if the road map says its 4.3AU to the system from safe point, who am i to argue? i just click on the engage button. The two dimensional imagery of the system is probably more concerning with the sizing ratios in screen for mind haha.
We can all poke fun at models and time-lines and reality, but in the end, come on guys, this is a game and it is already very slooooowwwwwww....dont bring in more doses of reality lol
"brought to you today by your local reality assessor"
Dadds.

To be fair we aren't moving faster then light. Our ships are creating artificial wormholes.  Though the time it takes for calculations doesn't always make sense since these are super computers we are talking about and the same trip shouldn't always take the same amount of time for it to calculate.

Hmmmm artificial meaning man-made from nature. Not ever seen a natural wormhole.
And why is my wormhole quicker or slower than your wormhole? lol. If its all about calculating when and where a worm hole will open up then the word "generator" needs to be replaced with "computer". If its all about having a more powerful generator then the WHG basically becomes a large power supply/energy generator only. If that was the case then opening a wormhole to jump me 2 miles or 200 ly should take the same amount of energy to open and remain stable, making larger calculations for longer plots incorrect. (since the wormhole concept states its 2 points connected together by the same space/time) Not to mention that out of all possible concepts, a wormhole is the most theoretical of everything about the possibility of space travel. There is no real mathematics in it at all, just a concept about bending space around time (or is it time around space) to make 2 points touch. Since even a black hole, which is a proven body and one of the most massive forces in a galaxy, exhibits no evidence to warp the fabric of space/time that much, then i wonder how on earth my little few thousand ton hull manages to pull enough gravity to cause a sinkwell in space/time to sink through to the other side lol
Also the calculations in game,  in opening a wormhole, is also the same basic mathematics on a larger scale that is applied to the FLT module, for "faster than light" which is an engine pushing the boundaries of lightspeed. This tends to make me want to believe its a fast "faster than light" engine rather than a generator of wormholes.
OK lets face it, none of us are physicists here (i am guessing) but we all have seen a lot of science fiction movies lol
My two favourite personal concepts would be a graviton drive or maybe a "dark matter" drive (its more modern concept/name). Both gravity and "dark matter" either exist or have been identified as existing in a real physical sense. (some clever boffin managed to get the universe onto a scale to weigh it and found it very light on and missing about 90% of its mass lol)
Now gravity is about the attraction of bodies, and dark matter is all about pushing gravity bodies away from each other. Here is a more conceivable form of harnessing a physical force for travel than theoretical wormholes. A graviton drive i see is not about how fast you can go, but turning off the attraction of bodies so that they move independently away from you at their particular speed through space. Perhaps that is what dark matter does?(i even looked at tachyons at one time for the concept of a tachyon drive, when i was but a mere teenager. I wonder where all those theses went? maybe they just got renamed to something else haha)
Anyway, if you look at generating this theoretical wormhole as requiring time to build up some sort of stabilizing, high energy discharge to produce a tunnel or connection between two points (still not sure how we then navigate into that event horizon though. are we drawn into it, or is it "impulse engines full steam ahead scotty!" or does it materialize on top of us to relocate to another place), then of course it would take the same time every time you try to open up a location to the same place. Its not the same as reducing the time finding your way there because you have been there once before lol. There is nothing simple about creating a "wormhole". I still like my model and concept of "travelling incredibly fast" to explain how things evolve and proposed to evolve in game lol

I for one always liked the idea of Hyperdrives. The star wars expanded universe really helped to explain and help us understand it a bit better.  While their ships are capable of lightspeed, there is a faster way to travel and it doesn't even exceed lightspeed. That is through hyperspace.  Hyperspace is actually sorta a different reality close to our own. Sort of like a private space highway.  The ships use hyperdrives to jump into hyperspace to reach places quicker.   There are things that effect hyperspace though.  Like gravity wells. Larger ones in particular.  It is possible to even create ships that can create powerful enough artificial gravity wells strong enough to pull people out of hyperspace. Precise calculations need to be made before jumping because accuracy is the key.  A screw up can cause a ship to fly into a star or a blackhole. Probably a few other things too. I can't exactly remember all the details on this though off the top of my head.  To me hyperspace seems to make some sort of sense at least.

I didn't bother with all that, the first sentence says it all.

"To be fair"...the game bills itself as "realistic." Those aren't my words. However, other than the cluster being somewhat accurate, and soon to be totally not accurate, given all the super novas in our future, it seems that a bit of re-creative energy might be in order, or discontinuing of the false advertising. Ultimately I don't care which. I just know that I would never paint myself into that kind of corner. There is too little to be gained by it. And most all of your credibility to be lost by it.The entire calling card of the advertisement is shot in the flash of one moment of intellectually laziness.

Just sayin.... B-)

Somantics. There is nothing "realistic" about star travel. Its a concept. If true reality is what you seek, and not a futuristic escapist game, go play WWII online or something like that if realism is what bothers you about this game. I am sure there are plenty of holes to pick in that storyline also regarding accuracy.
When we define realistic we get:
So if you first accept the possibility of space travel and space combat with futuristic weaponry and equipment then the game does sort of live up to its quote of "realistic" of what it achieves. The time line is sped up naturally to be playable as i mentioned earlier. We dont all want to wait 5 billion years for a supernova to happen (though at times it feels that long that i have been waiting for it to occur). The fact that everyone in the game has to follow the same timings to achieve their "moves" in game supports the concept of "what can be achieved or expected". Do a Google of the adj. "Realistic" and you will get so many varied definitions. i still recall a Jules Verne book labelled, "From the earth to the moon" Although the delivery of personnel is way different from the way it is really done, we can now say that it is "realistic" that we can put someone onto the moon and return them to earth. Back then it was only a concept.
OK realism requires physical laws to work correctly but if you accept the concept of worm hole travel and other such mathematically unproven or currently impossible methods of transportation, then the game does live up to the title of what can be achieved or expected. ie "realistic"
If you notice all my other postings regarding reality in game, you will understand that i am also picking small holes in the reality concept (i often refer it to "doctor who'ism" lol) particularly with this hangar bay tech just released, where i could feasibly stuff a titan class vessel into a scout ship sized hull with the right amount of tech. That sort of math i do debate on realism, but when it comes to the basic concept of the game, if you accept the possibility of space/stellar flight to begin with, the game does offer a practical idea on how to achieve this.
At the end of the day, Its a game. Not always a correct physical model of the way the universe works in reality, but an attempt by the author to rationalize how things could be done, if it was possible to actually propel oneself to even the nearest star "proxima centauri" which sadly doesnt get even a mention in the game ( its a little M class red dwarf in a tri-star system along with alpha and beta centauri. Trust me, its there but not on  any ingame star maps)

Sounds like you are trying to justify this. If something is dumb, I should follow that up with dumber to make it alright?
Put another way, two dumbs don't make a smart. Which is not the same as saying Stupid is as stupid does, man. Not that that has anything to do with this extremely elevated, if belicose, converstation of monumentally esoteric proportions when put into a relative juxtapostion with the existential authenticity of anything.
If you can figure out whether I said something or not, keep it to yourself. I don't want my head to hurt any more than it does. 0o

oooops hangon, i think my babel fish just dropped out. Sounded awfully like Vogan poetry to me LOL Let me run that through my translator again. (i am sure you will know from which ref that is from. No need to quote Douglas Adams here lol)
I guess though with my long winded "justification" is that i am playing in "HIS" universe which doest always comply to my "known real universe" models and mathematics.
The fact that i have jumped into some "quasi-realistic universe" where common science &  mathematical models no longer makes sense, we "uneducated" captains just have to compensate for the variation, work out the new universal rules and bend them to our needs and goals. I  merely accept "HIS" substitution for our "real world model" without need to justify, and wait until the swirling dust of "big bang" chaos eventually sorts it out into some sort of real model order :P Who is to say which reality is the real one? Are we dreaming our reality and living our dreams?
Sounds like a thinly disguised dialog to say "I talk too much and looking to pick a fight" lol
Now who is the one opening up a can of Philosophy? Use with caution, or we may lose most viewers haha

You need to get that headache fixed. I have a Hospital ship out there someplace. I will drop you an aspirin haha If pain persists, i can follow up with a dose of "nuke" :P
(who ever thought of the idea of sticking a small, slimy fish into ones auricle orifice anyway? Sounds like either a drunken dare at a party or perhaps a fetish experiment with unexpected results. Worst i have seen is goldfish swallowing haha)

Captain Dadds.