Posted by: Xaoc
« on: August 17, 2010, 02:53:45 PM »Quote from: "Steve Walmsley"
I don't mean from a programming sense. I mean in a real world sense. For example, how does a mine laid by a British minelayer in 1940 know the Germans are now our allies? When you lay a mine in Aurora, it could not realistically know about any changes in the political situation. That's why it is set to only ignore the race that laid it.
Steve
Ships are in contact with the central HQ(government, admiralty or what have you), I can't see why high tech mines couldn't have such communications as well. Sure communications like that could expose the mines to third party sensors, but the communications could be wide ranging(eg. the message is sent to all systems in range) and thus not pinpoint the location of the mines. The communication system is currently abstracted anyway and there is no form of electronic warfare that targets communications currently either(room for future expansion? Then again even current encryptions are unfeasible for decryption and without inside support via diplomacy or espionage it would take way too long to decrypt messages for it to be of tactical use). I'm of the mind that remotely updated IFF protocols are completely viable.