ffutures | Another of my old Lensman articles

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I'd really forgotten about this one - some thoughts on gaming "Civilization versus the Culture" - just thoughts on tactics etc., working from the assumption that the Culture (anarchic drug users) might not get on very well with Civilization (authoritarian drug-haters). It was published in the SF wargames fanzine Ragnarok, can't remember the exact date:

Kimball Kinnison and the Zwilniks of Doom

I seem to have decided that the Culture probably wins, which still seems plausible.

Crossposts: https://ffutures.livejournal.com/1451955.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

history_monk

Two things stand out. The Culture has teleportation ("displacement") technology, which is potentially extremely deadly against Civilization's style of technology. It also has the capability to stop hanging around near stars and move into the vast empty spaces between them, where Civilization has no ready means of detecting them.

From:

dragoness_e

Culture Minds are also capable of telepathy, or at least sufficiently advanced technology that is indistinguishable from psychic handwavium. They just consider it rude.

From:

ffutures

Definitely useful for intelligence, but it does mean that a Mind has to lurk somewhere near the target for long enough to identify the target and tune in to their brain activity and decode it. I doubt it's simple, even for a Mind, and it might turn out that the Lens lets Civilization psychics tune in on the Mind's thoughts.

From:

ffutures

Transporter / teleporter / displacement tech is a real game-changer, of course, which is why Star Trek had to cripple it so much. Given the Culture's resources displacing a few grams of antimatter into selected targets would be simple, and almost impossible to defend against. I don't think they'd want to do it every day, but certain targets (such as the Galactic Coordinator's office) would be very tempting, and I have no idea how Civilization could counter it.

Not so sure about the empty spaces - while Civilization is still heavily planet-orientated, they do have experience in looking for cloaked targets, so finding a Plate or something a few light years from the nearest star may not be impossible.

From:

history_monk

In a universe where inertialess travel is possible, the Culture will figure it out fairly quickly once they see it in action, depriving Civilization of that advantage.