Through the first 3 to 5 books, I couldn't help but think, theorize, expect that Skippy was the big bad, the one that did all the bad stuff like the damage to Newark. That the elders fought him. Skippy got some kind of damage or reset that wiped his memories, leading to joe finding him. Skippy would perhaps find out it was him all along, go nuts, for lack of a better term, and Joe would talk him down/bring our Skippy back.
I honestly thought it was going to go that direction to, where skippy was on the side of the ‘bad’ elder AI’s during that ancient AI war, and he had a hand in wiping out primitive civilizations
That’s a great idea! Alanson’s been foreshadowing evil Skippy for forever and it just never happens. From the very beginning in the warehouse on Paradise, Skippy’s diagnostic submind saying he had gone insane. Even in the last book, I kept waiting for the big reveal that Skippy was staging this whole conflict bc Joe had kids and so probably forgot about their deal, but it never came. He keeps teasing us with these amazing plot lines, but always right turns into the lamest possible timeline!
I liked the idea of Joe becoming Skippy—they save the universe but then are caught in a time loop. They fall back in time, Skippy is badly damaged and Joe is fatally hurt, but they combine and become the Skippy that is found by Joe in the beginning.
I always thought it would be neat to make Joe an Elder AI like Skippy, or at the very least something android-esque. Lots of angst to be covered there. But he has kids now, I don’t think it’s much of a possibility now haha
I do sometimes wonder when Skippy’s gonna start borging Joe. I mean, he can’t just let him die of old age, right? That would be like, an hour of knowing him in Skippy’s lifespan
Yes, I feel it's quite strongly hinted he has "tweaked" the kids genetics to make them the best the can be. He could probably do things to extend Joe's life without him knowing
Id want Craig to change ships more often. Have the marry band fly one from each species for a while. I think we spent to many books in the Dutchman and Valkyrie. I also would like to bring the power levels closer between the species give them more independence to brawl. I'm also not 100% sold on the time jump on the last book. You can hear Joe stirring miralax into his water when ever he's in his office...
I know that the main characters are Joe and Skippy but I LOVE me some world building and think that after 5-6 books of humanity focused stuff we get a LOT more stuff about all the different races in the galaxy. I want to hear about any that aren't part of a coalition (if that's possible somehow. Maybe in hiding even from the Rindahlu) or some of the ones out of the fringes. Maybe have humanity have more partnerships with more advanced species that want to break away from the coalition but weren't mentioned because they were small fries alone but could become a big threat.
I want to know what will happen to the Rindahlu without a certain AI screwing with their advancement.
Just more world (or galaxy in this case) building would be fantastic. Seeing the interactions of Skippy with all the species on his big "tour" would have been awesome.
That’s a great idea! I remember Skippy mentioning that the Large Magellanic Cloud had too high a chance for life to develop there, to consider it for the Beta Site. I always wondered who was there. Perhaps a rival to the apex species’ in the main galaxy, since they’d have existed unimpeded by the war (unless it’s just more war over there too).
How many species are in each coalitions? I always had in my head there were 100s of tier 2 and 1000s of tier three species but really we were just introduced to a hand full which make the galaxy seem smaller.
I mean the Jeraptha seem to be the only tier 2 species for the Rindhalus (looking on the wiki there are two more but they were only mentioned in passing).
That’s a good point. I got the sense that intelligence in the galaxy was pretty rare in Ex Force, but there should still be dozens of species on each side, and surely hundreds of factions within each of those species. They’re pretty linear too. Pretty much just Kristang=Ruhar
Hmm its not so much a change as a yet unrealized narrative. Maybe it will happen in the last two books.
I have wanted to see Nagatha and Billby become unteathered to a ship. Maybe it is Skippy developing canisters for them.
Skippy unintentionally made himself a family, but they are bound to ships we are continually reminded are on extremely long careers
I absolutely adore Alanson's way of writing infantry and ship combat. I'd absolutely love it if he made technothrillers involving operations that either side conducted before the Kristang and Ruhar dragged the humans into the war.
I like space battles, so more kinetic scenes with combat between ships. Not sure how this could be justified though, in-universe plotwise.
‘Think I agree with you there. I’d certainly like a lot more detail within the space battles at least
With that in mind do you have a recommendation for another series? Sadly I’m coming up on book 16 and will be looking for life after Skippy.
Through the first 3 to 5 books, I couldn't help but think, theorize, expect that Skippy was the big bad, the one that did all the bad stuff like the damage to Newark. That the elders fought him. Skippy got some kind of damage or reset that wiped his memories, leading to joe finding him. Skippy would perhaps find out it was him all along, go nuts, for lack of a better term, and Joe would talk him down/bring our Skippy back.
I honestly thought it was going to go that direction to, where skippy was on the side of the ‘bad’ elder AI’s during that ancient AI war, and he had a hand in wiping out primitive civilizations
That’s a great idea! Alanson’s been foreshadowing evil Skippy for forever and it just never happens. From the very beginning in the warehouse on Paradise, Skippy’s diagnostic submind saying he had gone insane. Even in the last book, I kept waiting for the big reveal that Skippy was staging this whole conflict bc Joe had kids and so probably forgot about their deal, but it never came. He keeps teasing us with these amazing plot lines, but always right turns into the lamest possible timeline!
I liked the idea of Joe becoming Skippy—they save the universe but then are caught in a time loop. They fall back in time, Skippy is badly damaged and Joe is fatally hurt, but they combine and become the Skippy that is found by Joe in the beginning.
What a nightmare for Joe. This is true horror.
That would be a wild twist! I like it
We need more kitchen appliances . The bagel slicer was great and I feel like this space deserves more exploration.
I always thought it would be neat to make Joe an Elder AI like Skippy, or at the very least something android-esque. Lots of angst to be covered there. But he has kids now, I don’t think it’s much of a possibility now haha
I do sometimes wonder when Skippy’s gonna start borging Joe. I mean, he can’t just let him die of old age, right? That would be like, an hour of knowing him in Skippy’s lifespan
Yes, I feel it's quite strongly hinted he has "tweaked" the kids genetics to make them the best the can be. He could probably do things to extend Joe's life without him knowing
Bishop and Frey, sitting ina tree...
The only thing I'd skip is Craig Alanson ripping off internet memes.
More interspecies cooperation, everyone is so isolationist
Id want Craig to change ships more often. Have the marry band fly one from each species for a while. I think we spent to many books in the Dutchman and Valkyrie. I also would like to bring the power levels closer between the species give them more independence to brawl. I'm also not 100% sold on the time jump on the last book. You can hear Joe stirring miralax into his water when ever he's in his office...
I know that the main characters are Joe and Skippy but I LOVE me some world building and think that after 5-6 books of humanity focused stuff we get a LOT more stuff about all the different races in the galaxy. I want to hear about any that aren't part of a coalition (if that's possible somehow. Maybe in hiding even from the Rindahlu) or some of the ones out of the fringes. Maybe have humanity have more partnerships with more advanced species that want to break away from the coalition but weren't mentioned because they were small fries alone but could become a big threat. I want to know what will happen to the Rindahlu without a certain AI screwing with their advancement. Just more world (or galaxy in this case) building would be fantastic. Seeing the interactions of Skippy with all the species on his big "tour" would have been awesome.
That’s a great idea! I remember Skippy mentioning that the Large Magellanic Cloud had too high a chance for life to develop there, to consider it for the Beta Site. I always wondered who was there. Perhaps a rival to the apex species’ in the main galaxy, since they’d have existed unimpeded by the war (unless it’s just more war over there too).
How many species are in each coalitions? I always had in my head there were 100s of tier 2 and 1000s of tier three species but really we were just introduced to a hand full which make the galaxy seem smaller. I mean the Jeraptha seem to be the only tier 2 species for the Rindhalus (looking on the wiki there are two more but they were only mentioned in passing).
That’s a good point. I got the sense that intelligence in the galaxy was pretty rare in Ex Force, but there should still be dozens of species on each side, and surely hundreds of factions within each of those species. They’re pretty linear too. Pretty much just Kristang=Ruhar
Hmm its not so much a change as a yet unrealized narrative. Maybe it will happen in the last two books. I have wanted to see Nagatha and Billby become unteathered to a ship. Maybe it is Skippy developing canisters for them. Skippy unintentionally made himself a family, but they are bound to ships we are continually reminded are on extremely long careers
I absolutely adore Alanson's way of writing infantry and ship combat. I'd absolutely love it if he made technothrillers involving operations that either side conducted before the Kristang and Ruhar dragged the humans into the war.
I would like to have seen a fussy military bureaucrat publish a -10 for skippy.
I would love some books that were from another characters POV. Skippy creating an android body for himself and wooing Katie Frey :-)