Guide to telescience: Difference between revisions

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Guide to telescience (view source)

Revision as of 18:42, 18 December 2013

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→‎How to Rip a Hole in the Fabric of Space and Time Itself to Perform Useful Duties
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===How to Rip a Hole in the Fabric of Space and Time Itself to [[Beyond the impossible|Perform Useful Duties]]===
===How to Rip a Hole in the Fabric of Space and Time Itself to [[Beyond the impossible|Perform Useful Duties]]===
At round start, the telepad will be calibrated. That means the following: the Bearing setting will be offset to a random value between -10 and 10 degrees, and the Power setting will be offset randomly from -4 to 0. At this point, there are somewhere between 30 and 40 uses before it will have to be re-calibrated. Every time the crystals are re-calibrated, the remaining uses until calibration is needed again will be a random number between 30 and 40. When recalibrating, the bearing and power offsets will be re-rolled. These values do not stack, so they will always be within these ranges. To find out these offsets, you will need those little gizmos called [[GPS]]. The round starts with a number of them on the table in the [[Telescience Lab]]. Grab two, place one on the telepad and the other in your pocket.
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Grab 2 handheld [[GPS]] tools. Put one on your belt and one on the telepad. Now, choose a [[Telepad Control Console]] you want to use (most likely this will be the one in the [[Telescience Lab]]).
'''Now this next part requires some math and a calculator supporting square roots and inverse trigonometric functions, specifically asin() and atan().''' If you're incapable of math, ask yourself what the hell are you doing in the Research Division of the most high-tech space station ever build, and apply to [[Head of Personnel]] for the [[Clown]]'s job.


''Editors note: I don't actually have a clue how the math behind this is supposed to work, but here is a general idea how to use telescience''--[[User:Spike68|Spike68]] ([[User talk:Spike68|talk]]) 06:16, 23 November 2013 (CET)
First, let's find the power offset. It is most simply done by setting elevation to 45. Elevation set to 45 sets the sin(2*elevation) to 1 so the equation for the distance simplifies to (power^2)/10. For example if you teleport something with power 20, it should be (20^2)/10 = 40 tiles away. That's where the power offset comes in, as the GPS will actually be in ((power-offset)^2)/10, so, using the previous example and if the offset is, say, -4, the GPS will be actually ((20-4)^2)/10  = (16^2)/10 = 25.6 (rounded to 26) tiles away. So, to find out the power offset, you need to teleport the GPS with 45 elevation and see how far away it actually flies. Let's designate the GPS coordinates as X and Y, and the telepad coordinates as Xt and Yt. Then the formula for the distance from the telepad to the GPS is:
*distance = sqrt((Xt - X)^2 + (Yt - Y)^2)
and the equation for actually finding the offset is:
*((power-offset)^2)/10 = distance,  therefore (power-offset)^2 = distance*10, therefore '''power-offset = sqrt(distance*10)'''.


At round start, the telepad will be calibrated. At this point, there are somewhere between 30 and 40 uses before it will have to be re-calibrated. Every time the crystals are re-calibrated, the remaining uses until calibration is needed again will be a random number between 30 and 40. Also when recalibrating, the power will be offset between -4 and 0, and the rotation will be offset between -10 and 10 (most likely degrees). These values do not stack, so they will always be within these ranges. This is why you test, so you can judge which direction the machine will be offset.
So, to recollect, to find the power offset you need to:
*Teleport the GPS with settings 0 bearing, 45 elevation, 20 power.
*Using another GPS find out how far did it go in both x and y directions (say, it travelled X tiles on x axis and Y on y axis).
*Calculate the distance from the telepad to the GPS as sqrt(X^2 + Y^2)
*Multiply it by 10 and extract sqare root.
*What you see at your calc now is power minus offset. As the power was set to 20, to find offset, you need to substract the number you've got from 20. So, for example, if you got roughly 17, the offset is 3 (remember it can be only integer).


*Bearing
Now, to find the bearing offset. When you teleported the GPS, you might've noticed it didn't go precisely north, although the bearing was set to 0. The bearing offset is to blame. Once again, assume the GPS travelled X tiles west and Y tiles north. Then, by dividing X by Y, you get the tangent of the offset angle, and the angle itself can be calculated as *offset = atan(X/Y) (it's also integer, so feel free to round). Given the GPS travelled '''west''', that will be a positive offset that will be added to your bearing, so you have to compensate by substracting it from the bearing you will be setting. Inversly, if the GPS has gone '''east''', the offset is negative and you need to add it to the bearing.
The bearing setting on the telecommunications console determines the direction you are sending and receiving, where the telepad will be the origin. This setting can be set to 0 to 360 degrees (though 360 defaults to zero, since it's the same thing). Excluding possible '''rotation offset''', 0 would point north, 90 would point east, 180 would point south, and 270 would point west. At very short distances, the offset will not show any noticeable difference since calculations round to the center of a tile. The further you attempt to teleport, the more important it is to know the offset. If you are trying to find an angle, you can just count the tiles. Say you want to teleport something five tiles to the east and eight tiles north, you can calculate the degrees by calculating Tan<small>-1</small>(5/8) in radians (graphing calculators work well for this), which gives us 32.


*Elevation
Congratulations! Now that you know both offsets, you can teleport anything with some deadly precision or steal some high-secure items in the most stealthy fashion without having anyone see the GPS tools dancing around! So, how do you put that knowledge to use? Let's assume you want to teleport something X tiles west and Y tiles south. First, you again need to find the distance as '''sqrt(X^2 + Y^2)''' (let's designate it '''D'''). Now, set the power setting so that '''((power-offset)^2)/10''' (let's designate that number as '''Dmax''') was greater than your distance. (If you can't, you need to find you more bluespace crystals). Now, once the power is set, you need to adjust the bearing. '''Divide D by Dmax'''. As Dmax is greater, you'll get a number less than 1. You need to '''calculate the inverse sine from that number and then divide it by 2'''. In one formula,
(This part I do not fully understand, so bear with me)
*elevation = (asin(D/Dmax))/2.
The elevation setting can be set between 1 and 90 degrees. The elevation coupled with the power output determine how far from the origin the teleported object moves. This is where the '''power offset''' is important. The power basically acts as a kind of multiplier for the distance. Obviously if the multiplier is lower than one, then we don't travel further than one tile. Figuring out where your power is at one is the first step, so pick an easy bearing (0 for north is sufficient), and set the elevation to 1 degree. If the object doesn't travel any distance, try upping the power. If it travels too far, try lowering the power. Once the object only travels one tile, that's (approx) where the multiplier is at one. With the power multiplier at one, you can pick a rotation and and send/receive items up to 40 tiles away at 45 degrees elevation. (I think this is another tangent equation, which explains why at 90 degrees elevation the object travels less distance than at 45 degrees?) By bringing the power output up a notch, you can send items even further. But you will probably need more bluespace crystals for that.
Now to set the bearing, you'll need to calculate '''atan(Y/X)'''. You'll get a number between 0 and 90, which will be your bearing plus(or minus) offset '''but only if you're sending north and west!''' To send something along the same distances on X and Y, but in the other direction, you'll need to add a multiple of 90 degrees to it. So:
*To send north and west, don't add anything.
*To send south and west, add 90.
*To send south and east, add 180.
*To send north and east, add 270.
Now compensate for the bearing offset, punch those numbers in the computer and hit that Send (or Recieve) button! If you're not miscalculated and everything was done right, you should now have DAT FUKKEN DISK on the telepad or a maximum-yield bomb at the AI core. Enjoy your near-omnipotence, you've truly deserved it.


*Power
Sadly, every 30 to 40 teleportations (roughly) the [[Telepad]] will '''fizzle'''. This means you need to click  Recalibrate and start from step 1. Learn to recalibrate quickly, or you may end up in a heap of trouble.
At round start, the computer starts with three bluespace crystals installed. These can be removed by pressing the "Eject Crystals" button on the console, and put back in by clicking the computer with a crystal in hand. Science might be able to make more crystals. With each teleport, the machine actually uses the power setting plus the power offset power from the APC. Using more power, and teleporting further increases the time the teleporter has to cool down.


*Computer
Leave handy beacons around the station, and GPS units at interesting locations in space, and you can easily find them again. It's worth putting something down in the [[Medbay]] so you can quickly send the wounded and the dead there.
As of writing this, the computer cannot have its wires exposed to attach signalers for remote teleportations,


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Also, note that the maximum radius you can reach is proportional to power squared, so, with so much as three or four extra crystals, your reach extends immensely. Just insert them into the console and higher power will become available. This also amplifies the recharge time between teleports and the energy the telepad consumes from the room's APC.
|bgcolor1 = #ccccee
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|name = [[Telepad]]
|image = Telescience.gif
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Seems simple, right? Well, sadly, every ''30'' to ''40'' teleportations (roughly) the [[Telepad]] will '''fizzle'''. This means you need to start again from step one. Click recalibrate and find the difference, because that sucker just did the old switcharoo on you. Now it's '''miscalibrated''' and attempting to send anything through it would be an error of judgement at best! Usually this doesn't affect you, but it can happen at the worst of times, like when you need to recover the bomb, or bring back a teleported space explorer! Learn to recalibrate quickly, or you may end up in a heap of trouble.
 
Leave handy beacons around the station, and GPS units at interesting locations in space, and you can easily find them again. It's worth putting something down in the [[Medbay]] so you can quickly send the wounded and the dead there.


===Challenges for the Robust in All of Us===
===Challenges for the Robust in All of Us===
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