Another question: how pod technology work is know to the masses, at least in some basic degree right?
I thought it was an interesting question. My response:
I would think that the workings of capsuleer tech are NOT widely known. Capsuleers in general seem to be either begrudgingly accepted by those with the power and influence commensurate to treating them as peers (high ups in the various organizations), or treated as mysterious barely-human near-monsters by planet-bound baseliners. A third group might be baseliner ship crews and officers, who might know enough about capsuleer tech to be jealous.
In the real world of today how many of us know how a radar system works? or a super computer? Hell how many people today (in the western world anyway) know anything about what goes on underneath their cars hood (or bonnet).
The masses probably know that the capsule allows the pilot to control all of his ship and that it downloads and transmits the pilots brain when it is destroyed and, well that’s about it I would think.
Wouldn’t surprise me if most capsuleers don’t even know how their tech works beyond the basics. although the basics for a capsuleer would be higher than for a baseliner.
Like Chan’aar said, most people don’t know much about how their car actually works, they might know that the engine burns gas, and that the gas makes things turn, and that the turning makes the thing go when they press certain pedals and pull certain leavers. (+ or - some level of detail) but the majority couldn’t tell you what all the parts do, or how they connect.
Baseliners would be like someone who hadn’t even SEEN a car, but are only vaguely aware of their existence, they might know that its a pod of some sort, maybe that its egg shaped, and that the capsuleer does… something… inside it that makes the ship go but thats probably it.
Hell, most have probably never even met a capsuleer, or seen anything more than a holophoto of one to ask. so if they even know that capsuleers have implants might be unlikely for your average person. although most probably do have a friend of a cousin who SWEARS they met one that one time. (upper echelons of society might know slightly more, since they would be more likely to rub shoulders with capsuleers)
I think I would disagree here. How many years has it been since capsule tech was first introduced? Capsule tech also introduced immortality, which is a huge deal to the masses or to anyone. If the public knows about that aspect, the basics should be pretty well understood for the curiosity.
IIRC something like 2 years of capsuleer training is spent on learning to use the capsule, so I’d think capsuleers are very knowledgeable about the capsule’s inner workings. Also, while Alpha Program capsuleers are an enigma to me, the older breed of capsuleers had to be exceptionally smart, as one of the requirements to become one. Because most players aren’t of Stephen Hawking -level intellect, most capsuleers on the IGS appear incredibly stupid (me included), but that’s not the actual lore, AFAIK.
So I’d expect a capsuleer at least to know almost every nut and bolt of a capsule, as much as they are understood by modern science. Especially as it is their gate to immortality and another world of sensory data and being.
As for the general public, I’d say @Chan_aar, @Bjorn_Tyrson and @Arnold_Kalashnikov hit the nail on the head - they know that it makes capsuleers immortal and able to control a starship alone, but not much else. And I’d say this is just for people who care about them - there are trillions of people who will never even see a capsuleer or how they affect their planets economy or such. We the capsuleers are kind of a big deal, but then again, most people would be more interested in just getting through another day than even thinking about us.
learning how to use something is not the same as learning HOW something works. you can learn how to operate a forklift in an afternoon, but still not know the first thing about the hydraulic physics that are behind how it operates.
I would also imagine that with how much more complicated operating a pod is, that the majority of those 2 years are spent re-training the neural pathways so that the pilot doesn’t accidentally jettison the entire crew the first time they need to sneeze, rather than on the finer points of exactly what pressure differential is required in the outer shell to trigger a burn. (I’m sure that it gets covered, but just because someone gets told something doesn’t mean they actually know it. think about how much information you learned in school that completely vanished the second your finals where done)
No, it’s not, but you need to literally learn how to turn yourself into a spaceship with this thing. I’d imagine a lot of capsuleers would like to understand and even need to understand how it works, before being able to use it right. They have specialists to operate specialist systems like doomsdays on their ships, and capsule is a specialist system they need to operate by themselves. It’s not just a “plug and play” interface.
and i’m sure your right, SOME do. just like there are some people who not only drive a car, but also know how to take one apart and rebuild it in their sleep, but this isn’t about the experts, this is about the average person.
and since all players, regardless of how much attention they pay to the lore or to RP are considered to be cannon to the universe. then its safe to assume that since most players don’t give a damn about the finer workings of pods and the mechanics behind them, then the majority of capsuleers on the whole don’t give a damn about it either regardless of if it did get covered in training or not. (empire capsuleers probably take things more seriously true, but that is no reason to assume they are all paragons of expertise.)
The title question, I just want to answer the following:
Little enough for some people to suggest an idea to bring to the game to somehow grab, for example, two tech 1 drones, tape them together and make a tech 2 drone.
But the average capsuleer isn’t an average person… And the Capsule isn’t, or at least wasn’t, something that just anyone could operate without extensive specialist training. It’s not like learning to drive a car, it is more akin to learning to fly an ultramodern fighter jet without computer assistance, because you are the computer and the jet, too.
I don’t think this is a case where we can or even should accept player ignorance / lack of knowledge as canon. A capsuleer, theoretically, has eidetic memory, super fast reflexes, can multitask like you wouldn’t believe and is enormously intelligent on top of having a world class athlete level of fitness. I’d suspect not one player actually is all of those, yet that’s what all the old and even recent lore sources (EVE: Source, for example) say.
Edit: The part of Source found on Google Books actually reads that “Once past prescreening, a candidate is given a thorough grounding on capsule and cloning technology.”
The common person doesn’t know anything more than the most obvious things, because it’s complicated science and machinery and if you don’t have reason to learn how it works, you don’t. But, like today, information accessibility is rather high in New Eden and so it would not be too hard for an interested party to go out and learn how it works. Ergo, it’s as understood as people want to understand it. We’re a sci-fi setting, not a medieval one. Capsuleers are powerful not because they’re some mysterious superhuman lifeform that few can understand but because they have power. A baseliner might be jealous of the capsuleer having superior genes, resources, intelligence, connections, influence, etc, but they’re ultimately still within the realm of understanding. Baseliners simply aren’t normally studied on the deeper workings of the technology without engaging in the appropriate research, just like with most people’s understanding of complicated science/computing/engineering/etc today.
To the question of if the capsuleer knows how it works? Absolutely.
Once past prescreening, a candidate is given a thorough grounding in capsule and cloning technology, as well as the specifics of what sets a capsule-fitted starship apart from a traditional, bridge-commanded vessel. He learns how to manage crews on varying sizes of ship, how to conduct basic maintenance, and myriad other tricks of the trade. The length of this book-learning phase varies between schools, though it is never less than one full year and very seldom more than two. The period culminates in a six-hour-long oral exam, during which the candidate’s depth of knowledge is assessed, as well as his ability to think on his feet and respond to unexpected sets of variables.
-EVE Source
Would a capsuleer know everything about the tech of the capsule (or the cloning systems)? No, probably not. That would be something only the people who actually build and perform regular maintenance on them would know entirely. But a capsuleer does understand most of the basic ins and outs of the technology.
More or less. CCP Falcon has often said that capsuleer training is like becoming a fighter pilot.
