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253 lines
11 KiB
253 lines
11 KiB
***********************************************************************
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* Update to the B5 Technical Manual, last updated - 26/10/97 *
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* Last Episode Viewed: Episode 14 ( ? ), Season 4 *
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***********************************************************************
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This is update number: 12
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Update now only info on eps Season 4 after ep 2.
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(Updating all the time... if the above date is more than about one month
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old, and B5 is on show in the UK, find a new copy, see end)
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I retain the copyright on all original parts, 3rd party articles are
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credited where known, and (C) remains with author unless stated otherwise.
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NOTE TO U.S. READERS: I haven't seen much season 4 yet, so if sending me
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stuff relevant to this manual and season 4 please mark it as spoiler and
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include spoiler space!
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Story ideas, HTML links etc will not be found here, but...
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WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SOME COUNTRIES. THESE ARE
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NOT MARKED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
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Check the 'last viewed' above, if you haven't seen at least up to that
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episode, it is possible you will be spoiled.
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NEW / UPDATED LIST (last 5 local changes):
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1) New Web address. It'll stay here. Promise <kof>
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2) Major chnages to the workings of hyper space, white star 'lean', EA
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links, epsilion 3, EA molecular confinement, identicard cloning,
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sorted out this list.
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3) Draak, minbari handguns, transaltors for vorlon, vree, draak
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4) White Star jump engines, shadow cloud, centuri rifles, sigma 957 ships,
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------------------START OF UPDATE---------------
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Index
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~~~~~
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I Shadow
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II White Star / Minbari
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III Humen
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IV Vree
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V Minbari Cruisers
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VI Vorlon
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VII Metaphysics
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VIII First Ones
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VIV Narn
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X Centuri
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XI Draak
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XII Hyper Space **** STUNNING RELISATION ****
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XIII Misc
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End Where to get Further Updates
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Maintained by Thomas Chiverton <Falken@Bigfoot.com>
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Thanks to: J M S (how could I forget! )
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R.A.S.T.B5.M
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U.M.S.T.B5
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I
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The Shadows have developed a weapon called 'The Cloud'. It is
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gray/black and acts as a very large scale energy damper, on the scale of
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planets and more it can wipe out almost all energy production. It is
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invisable to (at least the White Star's / Vorlon's) sensors.
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Shadows use this to immobilize large fleets, or to calm a planet down before
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bombarding it with 'thousands of megatons times thousands of missiles'. These
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burrow down, almost into the mantle, before detonating, tearing the planet
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apart from the inside.
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Missiles: Long, thin and organing looking. Could be hollow too.
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II
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White Star class ships have automatic repair and other systems, and can
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be piloted by a single person if need be, provided that they 'don't run into
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any trouble'.
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Extreme cold shuts down the jump engines.
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Artifical gravity system offers a form of feed back during combat and
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other near-limit manouvers to indicate it is near it's design limits.
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This manifests as an appropriate centrifugal 'force'.
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There is some evidence that some of the fleet may have replaced their
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forward neutron cannon with a non-line of sight 'slice-n-dice' type
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ray. This may have been learnt during encounters with the Shadows, due
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to the Vorlon and hence evolving nature of the ship.
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Handguns: Silver, long barreled and elabortly designed.
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III
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Old style destroyers: Similar to Hyperion class. No rotating sections
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however. Has four forward and four backward pointing guns mounted in
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pairts on the top and bottom of the main body. These guns are very
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large, assumed heavy energy.
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PPG rifles: Long, ovel barrel, with a red laser sight mounted on top.
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Link: The molecular bonding system used to attach it to skin appears
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to fail under some conditions, pulling the hairs out of the wearers
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arm.
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Molecular Container: A substance harder than diamond, designed to be
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hardened around the object to be transported. The containment can only
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be broken using the appropiete molecule.
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Ienticards can be cloned, but this is a samll time operation as it is
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usualy easy to detect, and brings on a small fine as punishment.
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IV
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Vree look like shrimps in armor.
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Vree ships are shaped like discs, like the classic UFO shape. From their
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underside they fire many green dart shaped blasts, very rapidly. These are
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very effective against fighters.
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Vree ships: c. 400 m in diameter
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TRANSLATOR: Connected to the envirmoment suit, looks vaguly like a
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crystal ball held in a metal skelaton. Flashes when in use.
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V
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Also highly resilient to even large gun fire power, 3 Battle Crab death
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beams needed to disable one within a reasonable time frame.
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VI
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Vorlon's are able to wrap areas of hyperspace in on itself, effectively hiding
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their ships from passing ships. However, there is no physical method to stop
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other ships entering the bubble. They appear to use this to sneak up on
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targets. On passing through this bubble, a mottle blue web-work
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appears on the skin of the ship. Instruments appear to be confused by
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the curvature of hyperspace inside the bubble, making navigation
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difficult.
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Encounter Suits: Vorlon encounter suits can energize blue energy at the back
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of the up-sweeping ridge, and uses this as controlled lightning. Suits
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can also absorb, to a point, massive amounts of energy, whether electrical
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or as plasma (as in a PPG shot). Able to surround itself with a
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transperent dome able to reflect weapons fired at it.
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Vorlons true form is a large semi-transparent almost-fluid like being,
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but can project different images into each of those present.
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Vorlon bio-technology is advanced enough to modify humans with gills, and
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increased telepathic abilities.
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VORLON PLANET KILLERS (formally Big Ships):
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Huge, massive, gigantic- *BIG* etc. etc.
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Saucer shaped with blue edge and four massive reaching tendrils at the
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front. '3 or 4 miles across'.
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CAPABILITIES: Unknown. Hyperspace engines for certain, probably able to
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open a jump point, as it is probably responsible for the hyperspace 'folding'.
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Its fire power is the key feature of a Vorlon planet destroying raid. They
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emerge from hyperspace with just enough firepower to cover the planet killer,
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wipe out the target, and vanish.
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The firing sequence starts with the blue edge turning yellow in a sweeping
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band from the left and right. The bands meet in the middle, and project
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something forward, where it is guided and controlled by the tendrils before
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being fired.
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Ships appear to be either red/orange or green in colour.
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HEAVY CRUISERS: Larger version of cruisers, but with a single necelle shaped
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tear-drop protrusion on the top at the back. This appears to have many small
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yellow windows in it.
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CAPABILITIES: Jump point generator, hyperspace engines. More powerful version
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of a cruiser. Close in weapons ?
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OBSERVATION POST: In at least one case the Vorlons built a city on a large
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asteroid, and used it as an observation post. It had many close in and long
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range weapon systems to offer protection. The city was comprised of spires and
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saucers.
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TRANSLATOR: Worn on encounter suit, although Vorlons are telepathic
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and have no need of them ! POints of light flash on and off when used.
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VII
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The Babylon 5 universe operates on the (outdated ?) theory of 'Particular
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Time', that is there are particles ( called chronos ) that 'carry' time.
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This means it is possible to prevent chronos progress, trapping things in the
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'gap' between two instances, between the tick and the tock.
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VIII
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First One's ships are generally extremely big. They generally use non-standard
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jump points.
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The ships are extremely powerful. Three ones of various races were able
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to destroy a Vorlon Planet Killer in just a few seconds. Weapons fired are as
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varied as the races. There are Vorlon-like nexus-generated beams, which fire
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out at varying angles from the nexus, huge long pilers of energy, yellow
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electric like rays and many more.
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Sigma 957's: Fires from the base of the hemi-sphere, many bolts of
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thin lightning.
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VIV
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Narn Handguns: Rectangular, with three short barels one above each
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other. Fires orange/red shots.
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X
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Centuri Handguns: Shapped like long-bareled versions of Earth pistols,
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ornately decorated. Fires blue shots.
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Centuri Rifles: Long, with a blast shield to protect the firer, fire s
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white spheres.
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XI
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The Draak are dark servants of the Shadows, distintive by their weird
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smeared out look.
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MOTHERSHIP: Several tens of times longer than a White Star, the
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armour is very strong, the combined efforts of several White Stars not
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even scratching it !
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CAPABILITIES: Not yet known
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FIGHTER: A less organic looking Vorlon fighter, with a blue/green
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crystel held in the grip of four tendrils. This emmits a continuos
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green/blue ray, along which pulses travel. This must be powerful,
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because it managed to damage a White Star, although not seriously.
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CAPABILITIES: Powerful beam weapon.
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TRAVEL POD: Shaped like a tulip bulb, it opens two sets of four petals
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(inner and outer) while traverling, similar to a Vorlon ship.
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CAPABILITIES: Not yet known
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TRANSLATOR: A small tennis ball sized sphere that pulses.
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XII
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Not all real space co-ords are able to exit to hyper space. When a point is
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formed it settles itself at an appropiete real space co-ord (see Jump
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Gates) and links into hyper space. This means hyper space is a limited
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sub-set of all of the points in real space, so of course distances in
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hyper space are shorter, and now we don't need to worry about the
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1:many, many: 1 real space : hyper space thing and its attached
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probablistic problems.
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XIII
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The planetary slicer beam(s) on Epsilon 3 bear a similar look to the Shadows
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beam weapon. Epsilion 3 also has a weather control system.
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15 km/s seems to be a standard attack speed, for Humans and Minbari anyway.
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-------------------END OF UPDATE---------------
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Where to get a new copy of this document (order of usefulness):-
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WWW: http://www.home.ch/~spaw1791/b5index.htm (main site)
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http://www.mk.dmu.ac.uk/guests/b5/ (mirror)
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E-Mail: mail Falken@Bigfoot.com and ask to be added to the
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mailing list
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FTP: ftp.hyperion.com/pub/babylon-5/ (file name b5.tech.1)
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(Updated infrequently)
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Please note: Manual is in HTML form. The update is perodicly combined with
|
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the manual to update the manual. But this will not be done untill at
|
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least ep 412 has aired in the UK.
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Please also note: This document is not in anyway officially endorsed by JMS,
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Warner Brothers or anyone else involved in anyway with the B5 TV show.
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However, as this is a copyrighted document, I'd like to be informed if it
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is used by anyone in an official capacity, and/or is distributed beyond the
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realms of E-Mail, the Internet and BBS's (such as magazine disks,
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PD/Shareware, CD-ROM, etc.). Please keep this file together with the Manual.
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All trademarks etc. acknowledged, (C) 1997 Thomas Chiverton, except where
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other author is indicated in brackets.
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