Guest Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 The sciency way of saying "universal pocket translator that actually translates instead of playbacking xeno dialogue via a paper", without the need to stop the recording and then print out a transcript. Basically, the idea in my mind is that you can build one of these from R&D/recover them from one of the spots on the map that they spawn. When you carry and activate them, it essentially picks up on nearby dialogue said in any non-Basic language, and plays it back to the user. Sonic imprinters can also be configured to listen into specific frequencies by scanning it alongside your headset, thus picking up the frequency key you're currently listening into. Meaning, for example, if you're the HoS and you have skrell officers. You can technically hear the gossiping of the Skrellian officers if they decide to say something in Skrellian over the security comms net. The sonic imprinter would be configured to pick up on it and play back the translated dialogue to a local area. Example: Aelios Tup'Aronas warbles, "Qrbl, qxbtllqtl." The sonic imprinter buzzes, "Wew, lad." Radio configured example, in the case of which you want to spy on your non-human operatives: Jur Akirrir [#unk] mrowls, "Purrrpurrrpurrrpurrrpurrpurr." The sonic imprinter picks up the transmission from the [#unk] channel and garbles, "I find myself in a very delicate situation in which I fear there is no possible alternative to escape from, lest my person be inflicted upon with due yet unprecedented harm for attempting to find a different solution.
Owen Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 Seems like a neat idea but, would it play to everyone near the recorder or just the person holding the device?
Owen Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 If I was going to use it I would prefer that it would be like a whisper coming from the character so that people only on the tiles next to them would here it. I really don't want the whole room hearing everything repeated. Maybe it can be like the players farther away hear a small buzzing noise.
Guest Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 What if you could order special implants from cargo that need to be surgically put into the brain, and the automatically translate the language they're specialized in into Basic. This would make it a little harder to access the item that kind nulls the point of having a species language (sekrit species talk) and also includes medical in the process of getting it, and including people is nice. It could be called the Neural Sonic Transceiver or something.
Owen Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 I don't think that it would get rid of the point of having species language. I mean if they were made to be incredibly difficult to obtain or maybe you have to have a certain job to have it. But I don't think that they would be wide-spread and easy to get.
Skull132 Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 The name.... It has absolutely nothing to do with the device ;-; I was hoping to see a suggestion for a new mining/deconstruction tool, or for a brainwashing device. Also, I wonder how many complaints we'd get from aliens losing their koolkids passes.
Guest Posted December 19, 2015 Posted December 19, 2015 What if you could order special implants from cargo that need to be surgically put into the brain, and the automatically translate the language they're specialized in into Basic. This would make it a little harder to access the item that kind nulls the point of having a species language (sekrit species talk) and also includes medical in the process of getting it, and including people is nice. It could be called the Neural Sonic Transceiver or something. Yeah, but I'm not exactly comfortable with that, given that the more beneficial implants are way harder to counter and it seems to unintentionally pave the way for cybernetics. Sonic imprinter sensors are intended to be just like any other utility device you can carry that have vulnerabilities of their own. They could be EMP'd (in which they would literally asplode harmlessly, but you lose an sonic imprinter sensor), they could be stolen/mugged from their carrier. And so on. Once you lose that utility, you'd be hard-pressed to get it replaced. Xeno antagonists in particular would need to be very careful about their words in present company. And Skull, the name is actually just a reference to the device in KOTOR2, in which it's not only stylized as a device that can record and playback voices, it would also double as a xeno translator. Which was the protagonist's excuse for being able to converse with all of the aliens that do not speak Basic by default.
Owen Posted December 20, 2015 Posted December 20, 2015 What if you could order special implants from cargo that need to be surgically put into the brain, and the automatically translate the language they're specialized in into Basic. This would make it a little harder to access the item that kind nulls the point of having a species language (sekrit species talk) and also includes medical in the process of getting it, and including people is nice. It could be called the Neural Sonic Transceiver or something. Yeah, but I'm not exactly comfortable with that, given that the more beneficial implants are way harder to counter and it seems to unintentionally pave the way for cybernetics. Sonic imprinter sensors are intended to be just like any other utility device you can carry that have vulnerabilities of their own. They could be EMP'd (in which they would literally asplode harmlessly, but you lose an sonic imprinter sensor), they could be stolen/mugged from their carrier. And so on. Once you lose that utility, you'd be hard-pressed to get it replaced. Xeno antagonists in particular would need to be very careful about their words in present company. And Skull, the name is actually just a reference to the device in KOTOR2, in which it's not only stylized as a device that can record and playback voices, it would also double as a xeno translator. Which was the protagonist's excuse for being able to converse with all of the aliens that do not speak Basic by default. Alright, I am liking this the most right now. I was thinking that it would be small enough to fit in your pocket and it would be hard to detect unless someone is right next to you and can hear the machine telling you what the other species were saying. But honestly I think that any version of this idea would be a cool one so you can understand what other races are saying now.
EvilBrage Posted December 20, 2015 Posted December 20, 2015 How about just "universal translator." Boom, done. As for how loud it plays, why not either: A) Make it an encryption key for headsets so it just plays in your ear, or B) Have a volume button to control how loud the playback is.
Owen Posted December 20, 2015 Posted December 20, 2015 How about just "universal translator." Boom, done. As for how loud it plays, why not either: A) Make it an encryption key for headsets so it just plays in your ear, or B) Have a volume button to control how loud the playback is. I still would rather it be a handheld thing and can fit in your pocket. I like the whole idea of it being destroyed by an EMP. Volume, I would rather it work like whispers do. The encryption key seems like something that would be too hard for people to realize that you have a machine. I would want it to be noticeable if not rather obvious. I like the idea of it being able to be removed from a person easily so there is a good way to counter them.
XChrisUnknownX Posted December 25, 2015 Posted December 25, 2015 Can I throw in two cents? I think this actually a neat idea that you see in other sci fi. For simplicity sake we went the route of everyone must speak Tau Ceti basic, but even in old Sci Fi like Descent Freespace there was a squawker device that'd take in what an alien was saying and interpret [repeat] it for its human listener. Arguably, if these were "invented" the Tau Ceti basic rule could even be done away with in favor of pulling in the best and brightest non-humans.
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