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Author Topic: Eldar ship-to-ship communications  (Read 2876 times)

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Offline Eagle of the Stars

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Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« on: December 29, 2004, 12:08:07 PM »
I know that the  psychic void preceeding Tyranids can screw up all attempts to comunicate by Imperial astrotelepathy. Does this apply to eldar too? If so, when Iyanden was attacked, how were they able to communicate to their ships and the ships to each other?
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Offline Rasmus

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2004, 12:37:14 PM »
The Doom of the Eldar says nothing about any disruption on communications for the Eldar, even though the warp-shaow is present. Perhaps the punch through the interference, or use a different psychic "frequency".

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Offline Eagle of the Stars

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2004, 12:58:52 PM »
So the thought-talkers wouldnt experience the same difficulties as astropaths (nose bleeds, vomiting, mental insanity, head cumbustion, etc.)?
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Offline Rasmus

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2004, 01:09:23 PM »
Nothing was noted in the Doom of the Eldar; I don't think Eldars are affected by the Warp shadow in the same way as the humans are.

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Offline Wargamer

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2004, 01:22:45 PM »
It seems likely that they are immune (Eldar are the most powerful psykers in the universe), but even if they could, they might be using some sort of miniature webway...



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Offline Eagle of the Stars

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2004, 03:58:20 PM »
They are effected somwhat because it says: "Battling his way through the Tyranid's psychic blockade, Yriel swept to the aid of his people...".
How would it have affected them?
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Offline Kage2020

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2004, 11:01:34 PM »
This is one of those points where it is good to think in terms of keeping things simple.  There is a tendecy to try and differentiate between all the races and, therefore, the 'general' abilities of psykers because there is some general material requirement to keep the armies separate. 

So, what is 'astrotelepathy'?  Merely the ability to transmit over interstellar distances using telepathic abilities which, as we all know, eldar have.  The 'fluff' on secondary telepaths and Astropaths, however, suggests that there is some significance to the ability to transmit telepathic mesasges over interstellar distances.  What are the implications of this?  Well, one can reasonably assume that the eldar have the same kind of power (perhaps more) that human telepaths do (cf. Farseer) even if it takes them longer to develop this power.  Since it would likely use the same rough medium as humans (read: the warp) this means that it would be subject to the 'Shadow' of the Tyrannids...

Hang on, though.  The eldar have another form of communications, even though the 'communication' aspect (other than movement) is often down-played.  Yes, you guessed it!  It's the Webway.  The 'fluff' from even some of the bad BL novels - as well as the wonders of a reasoned consideration of the Webway itself when compared the othe other 'fluff' - indicates that it is used in this way.  But is it affected by the Shadow?  One would like to think that it can disrupt it since otherwise there would be no reasonable restrictions to Webway travel and that would be against the 'fluff' on the whole EoT... ;)

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Offline Rasmus

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2004, 06:06:29 AM »
They are effected somwhat because it says: "Battling his way through the Tyranid's psychic blockade, Yriel swept to the aid of his people...".
How would it have affected them?
  Possibly the range is affected as there is no lapse of communication betweenIyanden and its fleets as the Hive swoops in, but Yriel was cut off. this would assume that the Eldar are affected as far as range is concerned, but not as far as affecting their ability wholesale (as humans) as some sort of warning must have gotten through to Yriel lest he be blissfully unaware of what was happening.
   From this we can assume that the Eldar "astropathy" (or closes similar concept) while normally unaffected by distances, would be "blurred" in the warpshade of the Hive, on larget distances, but unaffected across shorter distances, at least a few lightminutes seem clear enough.

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Offline Eagle of the Stars

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #8 on: December 30, 2004, 04:49:22 PM »
Hang on, though.  The eldar have another form of communications, even though the 'communication' aspect (other than movement) is often down-played.  Yes, you guessed it!  It's the Webway.  The 'fluff' from even some of the bad BL novels - as well as the wonders of a reasoned consideration of the Webway itself when compared the othe other 'fluff' - indicates that it is used in this way.  But is it affected by the Shadow?  One would like to think that it can disrupt it since otherwise there would be no reasonable restrictions to Webway travel and that would be against the 'fluff' on the whole EoT... ;)

Do I interprit this right in that you're saying it doesn't affect the Webway?
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Offline Kage2020

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #9 on: December 30, 2004, 06:11:47 PM »
I'm not saying that it would be totally distortion free, just more so than astrotelepathy.  It also bypasses many of the problems...

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Offline Larandil

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #10 on: January 3, 2005, 07:07:35 AM »
They are effected somwhat because it says: "Battling his way through the Tyranid's psychic blockade, Yriel swept to the aid of his people...".
How would it have affected them?
I'll offer as an attempt at explaining: the Tyranids and their own psychic control network (a.k.a. "Hive Mind") produce a generous amount of "white noise" (to other races!) in the telepathic ether. Most psykers will have worked out ways to shield themselves against the background noise of surrounding people's thoughts and emotions, but the Tyranids emit enough "static" to drown out all but the most intense telepathic signals on interstellar range.

A human astropath who lets down his mental guard to listen to some long-range call from Terra (or call for help!) while the 'Nids are around will get so much "*critterchirp*" that his mind will take serious damage.
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Offline Wargamer

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Re: Eldar ship-to-ship communications
« Reply #11 on: January 3, 2005, 03:27:34 PM »
Actually, I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the Warp Shadow is not caused by Tyranid psycho-communication, as the destruction of Hive Ships does not diminish it.

Therefore, I can only assume two possible explanations:

1) The Outsider does it.

This explanation is really only for those who like to believe the C'tan do everything. Most people with any respect for fluff will ignore this.

2) Predatory evolution.

You have prey. Predator chases prey. Prey evolves to run faster, so Predator evolves too. In this case, Prey (ships) can flee to the Warp, which the Tyranids cannot do. Solution is simple: evolve a means to "block" the Warp, thereby preventing the Prey escaping. This fits in with the concept that the Hive Mind is projected ahead of a Tyranid fleet like a wave, rather than created by a specific Hive Ship. By creating a "blanket" distortion, all Tyranid ships can effectivly hunt, feed, and generally survive, regardless of how close they are to a Hive Ship.

This explanation also covers the "Vanguard" fleets, as they could potentially keep pace with the Warp Shadow, picking out stranded prey-ships and consuming them whilst the big ships head planet-side...



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