Early Season 15.0 Production Update (new format!) (Patreon)

(I am going to try a new, longer, format for the Updates this season. Instead of short episode-by-episode updates, I will write three HUGE update posts, collecting and linking multiple episodes together, instead of rushing 10 short ones.
I was inspired by how much better I liked the double (or triple!) updates from last season, I can write about larger topics. The three updates will be:

• Early-season (you're reading it!)
• Mid-season (around 15.5)
• Late-season (15.9 or so)

I hope you like the idea, I'll gather your feedback at the end of the season to see if this has worked for us. Meanwhile, please comment on this post to tell me your thoughts!)

OK, on to the Update:

Hi friends, welcome to Season 15.0!

In addition to writing the season, I'm making Nia's shack map for you in the giveaway. Every week I'm adding new details, it's a fun project! Full details here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/nias-shack-map-97844409

Nia's grand plan

We're back on the Molly Hughes II, and on the longest Atlantic voyage yet!

When we first were introduced to Yeshi, crew and ship, Seth was hoping to rescue Arctica, then Antarctica. They travelled down the entire length of the Pacific, quite a voyage. Here's my map of their journey, from the Bering Strait, to Antarctica:

Whereas in season 5 there were many stretches of open ocean, this season the route follows the European and African coastline, where we'll find out much more about what has happened to the world...

Nia's Equatorial Relay plan is extraordinary, and to my knowledge, nothing like this has been attempted before. There is one very good reason for that: It's extremely expensive and a bad idea!

Cables work far more reliably for passing your signal down than relying upon the delicate proclivities of the atmosphere. Even under ideal circumstances, the data rate would be worse than the slowest of copper-based network links.

However, what option do they have, in the post-collapse world?

It was extremely challenging to work out if this plot point was even POSSIBLE, right up to the last minute I was worried if I was going to have to change things dramatically!

However, the propagation report is clear: IT IS POSSIBLE:

(have a look at the propagation around your house over at voacap.com!)

Scheduling Challenges

This is the other side of the coin of my weekly writing schedule. I publish only an episode ahead of what is published, as you lovely patrons know.

So, while this is superb for motivation (would I have written 15 seasons if I had to write whole seasons up front? Maybe, maybe not...), it's extremely dangerous for CONTINUITY.

While I can edit the early Patreon version in the week before it is public, that's quite a short correction window.

I have, in extraordinary circumstances, updated a public episode after it was published. This is possible because as a podcaster, I retain ownership of the actual audio files of my show, and can swap them out for corrected version. No such editing is possible on youtube, and is one of the many things I dislike about the unavoidable platform.

One emergency editing example that sticks in my mind was when I misgendered Lyosha, and no-one noticed for weeks! That was unacceptable, and I fixed it in a panic in the middle of the night after seeing a comment from an observant person. Ugh. At least it's easy to do, though. I had to delete and re-upload a new YouTube episode to fix that.

Rafi & Companion AIs

I'll start off by confirming: YES this is the same companion AI featured in the first episode of Lost Terminal Zero! That episode was public, so I will speak of it here, future Zero episodes will be for the Amiga tier and up.

Let me check my timeline to see how old Rafi is now...

RAFI IS 156 YEARS OLD

Wow, I'd not looked that up until now. How is he still alive and kicking? We will find out this season!

Companion AIs or robots are an old idea that has been around in fiction FOREVER:

R2D2 from Star Wars (1977)

Weebo from Flubber (1997)

WALL-E from WALL-E (2008)

Rabbit R1 (a real device planned for 2024)

I first realised you could just BUILD one of your own after watching the Hackaday Superconference in November 2019.

Jorvon Moss and Alex Glow demoed their wearable companions, and I LOVED the concept! (do watch their talk "Making Friends with Companion Bots" here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSQ0cRYMrfQ)

Jorvon says: "Companion robots are any robot you can take with you on any type of adventure"
Alex follows up that they're like: "A wizard's familiar, a creature that complements your personality, and also it's kinda nice to have as a friend, a helpful spirit."

This concept stuck in my brain for a few years, before finding the right Lost Terminal story to come into, and the rest is history!

Wrap-up and Thanks

I say it all the time, but it's true: The show likely wouldn't be possible without you lovely people supporting me. I hope you like how the new season has started, I'm excited to show you more of the world!

Talk to you soon,
Tris <3