cks you designed to be ~exotic~ or whatever, and those rabid jerks at Disney can only grit their teeth now!
Why Ch. 2 of Sufficently Advanced is taking so long, and why I've been a bit silent. · 11:37pm Oct 26th, 2013
The short? I've been quite busy, and given the choice, I think I make the most people happy by tapping away on my stories, rather than comments and favorites.
I'm working on the later as well, but might take a bit.
Anyway, I'm very proud off the reception the fic has gotten... but I wasn't very prepared about just how much stuff I've had to write on the side, just to keep things straight.
For a spoiler free example, I realize they haven't showed up in the fic proper yet, but these are the ages of the human main characters:
Rainbow Dash - 365
Rarity Bell - 356
Queen Pinkie - 345
Twilight Sparkle - 343
Fluttershy - 340
Applejack - 337
Lyra Heartstrings - 329
Trixie Lulamoon - 292
#13 (Will show up in next chapter) - 268
Blake Gregory - 78
And finally, #431 - 42
To save you the math, that is 2707 years for “The Mane Eight.” And 3085 if you count the others as well. I wanted to avoid the pitfall of having everybody in the cast be twenty something… only to realize why its so common. Eek.
That is a lot of history to get down on paper, even the highlights.
Since I’ve decided to keep the science as hard as possible means I have to read a lot as well, but I think it will be worth it in the end.
(I’m down to one big maybe, and one thing there is not even a theoretical way to do with todays science. I will spell this out in a future blogpost/bonus chapter.)
Anyway, I hope this gives people an idea why chapters might take awhile now at the start. I’ve noticed a few errors in Ch. 1 as well (It was blink and you missed it, but I actually gave the Captain his brothers name! That one, has already been fixed.) and I’ve figured out a much better life support system for the phylacteries, so the Magic Box of Nanites® is getting retconned down the line to a temporary one for the procedure.
Other than that, thanks for reading.
Good to know, I was starting to wonder how the next chapter was coming along.
If I have the patience to wait for Over the Edge and Through the Woods and Article 2 to update I can certainly wait for this one, but thanks all the same for the heads up.
Magic Box of Nanites, eh? Don't make it too magical, don't want these things to rise from the dead, right?
wait, box of nanites? I must've missed that.
1460138
The "tiny box" in the operation scene. The original intent was for it to be a complete and self supporting life-support...
Yeah, a bit much. Even with the 300 year tech advantage thing, it just passed the line completely into magic, but with a thin veneer of science.
...Granted, the new one is also complete and self-sufficient, but takes up most of the neck, not to mention it has a whee bit more to it then "Nano-machines! That'll work!"
1459727
010000100111001001100001011010010110111001110011001011100010111000101110
Seriously though, it was bugging me. And if it was bugging the author, then it just had to go. To be honest, I wasn't very happy with it from the beginning, but I simply couldn't figure out a better way.
Now that I have, however...
1456469
Hadn't heard about the first, thanks for the tip...
Even if I must admit, it is bittersweet to have my fic compeered to Article 2... and that comparison being the update schedule.
But seriously though, glad to know my fic has made an impression even now.
1461189 Nah, I'm not saying you're taking too long, just saying that I can wait for a quality story to update without giving up on it.
1461189 no, I don't think they'd be moaning that, but a nanite reconstructed brain usually fails to fully equate the original, no matter how hard you try. It's part of the reason mind transfers must be done while still alive, so the memory engrams can be synced in real-time to confirm. Otherwise you end up with a half brain, and if you've ever tried deleting half of your operating system files, you know just how bad things are by then. ;) recovery is possible, but very arduous.
1461327
It was just a joke, but you are correct.
What I meant was, that the insides of that box never had an explanation more in-dept then "Far future nano-tech." It was basically a tiny box of near magic nanites.
It might as well have had a lampshade about how ludicrous it was, by me calling it a Flux-capacitor with built-in Eye of Harmony and a Energon dispenser with optional Kong-Foo grip, or something.
The new system actually has stuff like oxygen generation, waste treatment, a source of emergency nourishment and so on. I'm actually looking forward to peoples reactions to it, rather then seeing it as a nagging irritant I'll have to re-think.
It even means that there is now a trade off! All that gear makes the neck of a phylactery more then a bit stiff. It's basically a 'glamor failure' that us very easy to spot if you know what your looking for, if I'm allowed to talk in tropes.
That means there is at least one actual advantage to finding a body you like and sticking to it, even if you've gone full-body.. (Pardon the pun.) That was not the case with the old system.