In Response To: Re: Maxwell equation use.... (vshields ash)
: why un-encrypted transmissions?
-The Covenant's history indicates that they generally tend to encounter races at low tech levels. IE: References to the major races joining the Covenant seem to capture them at an almost tribal level.
-Also, as we well know, the Covenant steal technology. They have little development of their own, save for the work of the Engineers. Encryption would require quite a bit of science, and it's something that the Engineers don't bother with (since it's more software and less hardware).
: why 128 bit encryption code, for a door that goes nowhere?
-When they stole Forerunner security locks, some locks could have been 128-bit. When the Covenant feel like locking a door for any reason at all, it might be one of a very small list of tools that they have to throw down. Cortana points out the seeming randomness in the battle net several times- to me, proof the Covenant are using a lot of stolen devices they don't fully understand. A higher-up says "lock down all the doors" and an Elite techie, much like a modern witless office tech employee, opens up his book of company-provided tools and makes his best guess at how to do it. A very ornate lock appears on a useless door- anyone familiar with the fun things that can happen with firewall setups when your company/university/etc has no clue what they're doing?
: why a tiny fleet to tackle the earth?
-In the "letters from the universe" (as well as in-game), Regret explains this explicitly. He basically wanted the glory of starting the Great Journey for hiself ahead of schedule, so he jumped with his core group of ships ahead of the main invasion force. Also, the Covenant didn't know the Humans inhabited Earth- they were looking for The Ark, and we were merely a pest they happened to encounter on the way. There's more in the works, I'm sure, but imagine if you were walking up to your religion's most holy shrine and you saw some vulgar-looking insects on the steps. [Depending on your religion, of course...] Wouldn't you take a moment out of your day to crush them? And why would you have any reason at all to believe that the insects evolved at the shrine and have always lived there since the beginning of their times, and why would you care even if you did? It's only natural to smash them and assume they've infested the monument.
: how did keyes arrive at halo1
-Fall of Reach: Cortana analyzed the rock from Cote'd'Azure, and found the deposits in the rock corresponded closely to a constellation of stars. The jump was not random at all- it was following a Forerunner guide marker to the location of a Halo.
: and he stopped a jump to make a perfect orbit...?
-Nope. There was quite a bit of maneuvering, as read in the books. By the time the game starts, Cortana is announcing her kill count from the Halo system.
...and it's breakfast time now.
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