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Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)
Posted By: HopperDate: 6/3/13 6:16 a.m.

In Response To: Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!) (Dispatcher)

: But then we're right back to the already active MADDs.

All right, I like a challenge...

The "directed magnetic pulse" that knocked out the Automated Defenses clearly didn't cause any hardware or irreversible damage to the MADDs themselves, since a few circuit boards wouldn't fix that level of failure. So, it's reasonable to assume the actual drones are intact, but the equivalent of Leela-to-drone Wi-Fi was disabled instead. The ship couldn't coordinate the drones, or activate them remotely.

Yossarian can dig up the primary source, I'm sure, but I'll paraphrase: as expensive weapons built for defense, MADDs have a variety of sensors to detect incoming weapons fire and react. These sensors continue scanning even in a standby mode, and thus MADDs in the immediate vicinity of Pfhor violence respond to the intrusion. In most cases this is too late to save the civilians, because by the time the drones become a distraction the defenseless humans are dead, but you do catch the aftermath. Without the additional coordination of the ship-wide systems, the drones are unable to proactively engage the Pfhor before casualties happen.

You might ask why MADDs often activate in your presence, even when there's no shooting going on. Well, this is exactly why that suspicious, revolver-style cylinder exists on your clip-loaded pistol. The standard Marathon security-officer pistol contain a short-range radio signaling device, to alert all defense systems when the safety is released. This signal communicates independently with the MADDs, for just this sort of emergency when central communications are down. If you've re-engaged the safety, or you're in an area of unusually high radio interference, you can catch a drone still in standby mode.

Obviously there are no Marathon defense drones on Boomer, thus no need for the radio. That's why the rebuilt Marathon 2 pistol lacks that bulge.

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Pre-2004 Posts

Replies:

The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Dispatcher 6/1/13 11:58 a.m.
     Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Godot 6/1/13 12:18 p.m.
           Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Dispatcher 6/1/13 1:20 p.m.
                 Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)PerseusSpartacus 6/1/13 3:30 p.m.
     Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Hopper 6/1/13 12:34 p.m.
           Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Dispatcher 6/1/13 1:14 p.m.
                 Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Hopper 6/3/13 6:16 a.m.
                       Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Hopper 6/3/13 6:29 a.m.
                             Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)PerseusSpartacus 6/3/13 9:16 a.m.
                       Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Godot 6/3/13 6:34 a.m.
                       Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Dispatcher 6/3/13 6:44 a.m.
     Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Jabberwok 6/4/13 8:20 a.m.
           Re: The Blame Game (Not Blam!)Godot 6/4/13 8:32 a.m.

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Pre-2004 Posts

 

 

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