• GeorgieGeorge357

    Too many words! ;) But you do get better at the words-to-page ratio after this.

    • Thanks George. It’s funny. Most readers read through the whole archive. Those who don’t, stop at this page. Which makes me feel bad, because I really do get better at toning down the dialogue after this.

      Plus I keep looking at it to see how I could edit it, cut down the number of words, and keep coming up without any ideas.

  • Legendary Sisters

    Are the plug-suits smart?

    • These undersuits? A little. Not horribly so, but they do have sensors and stuff that the power suits can plug in to.

    • In one of our old science articles we talk a bit more about the next “version” of those suits. Things like internally studded with a ridiculous amount of sensors, the ability to constrict in bands to act as a tourniquet passively (by detecting drops in pressure due to punctures etc) and a slew of other stuffs. Maybe later we’ll re-write them (I wrote them so they suck not like what Dan does) and make sure to finish the transfer of the science stuff.

    • I just remembered that we had already written a science article in story (by a Minervan scientist) about the suits and the armor he puts on next page: http://demonarchives.com/powered-armor-part-3-project-oracle/

      • Wow… I just re-read that… I forgot how long that particular segment took me… not to mention how long for Dan to edit my horrible prose.

        • Lloyd

          Just found this via a link on a topwebcomics vote. Liking it so far, despite other’s complaints about too much prose. Minor edit suggestion about my pet peeve, correct use of “then” vs. “than.” Panel 6, “… more critical to the cause THAN some armored grunts. …” Thank you for an interesting web comic.

          • Thanks, Lloyd! It’s good to hear. I can’t remember If I’d noticed that particular spelling error yet or not, but I am planning on doing some text edits on this (and surrounding) pages.

            Do let me know what you think about the rest of the story :)

  • Delta-v

    Hmm, yeah, you’ve got almost as many words here as the next two pages, combined, and they’re both pretty wordy, too-nothing like some later pages with little or no dialog at all . I can see why the less literate would give up here.

    On the other hand, you’d have to redraw the whole chapter, add about three more pages of talking heads, or leave out a lot of things the readers will need to know for later. Nasty choices, all. I guess you’ll just have to hope that the readers will take this as a personal challenge, a hill to get over to reach the greener pastures of action and excitement on the other side.

    For all you waverers, keep this in mind: Jane gets to harass the crap out ot Tenzin. You’ve GOTTA see it! :)

  • nightgaunt

    In the heat an umbrella is a logical idea. What parasols are for.

    • NickDA

      not very manly though… parasol makes me think pink lace :D

  • PhoenixRenaissance

    With all of that snark I thought she was human but AI certainly deserve personality as well.

    • Adriano #WR

      They do u-u
      I mean, advanced AI.
      Because nowadays…

  • Adriano #WR

    Oh my God, she’s an AI. I didn’t guessed x)

    • Assuming no sarcasm, good :) I was purposefully trying to be a little vague. No reason to make it overly obvious right at first :D

      Welcome to our comment section. I hope to hear from you more :D

      • Adriano #WR

        No, I wasn’t sarcastic, just dumb me x)
        There were a few clues, like when she knows where his clothes ly. I first though she has been in his bedroom to know it xDDD

        Thank you ! I’ll be happy to comment more :)

        And you can thank the advertisements on other webcomics. It’s due to them if I am here now :D I don’t regret it !!!

        • Excellent. Always good to know that those advertisements work :D

          • Demetri Ermak

            There are also fans translating the pages in Russian and pasting links as well, that’s where I came from.
            Really like it this far.

          • Glad to see you here :D Did you see the acomics.ru one or the pikabu.ru one? @disqus_8XKHAw4roh:disqus has been working with us to make an official Russian translation and been posting it over on acomics, but today I saw that another fan took it upon his/herself to make the one on pikabu. It’s pretty flattering, and it’s been fun to see all the visitors from Russia today. I’d love to hear more from you on other pages about what you enjoy :)

          • Demetri Ermak

            It’s the Pikabu one, but they posted the links to both acomics and here. I think it’s just someone reblogging it.
            Actually I made it to Chapter 1 Page 11 by now. If I was living in a world of raiders, I’d carry a sidearm with me at all times, and something like an SMG if I was to leave the walls of a city. But hey, they can feel themself too safe.

  • Eagle

    I don’t see anything wrong with having a lot of words on a page, if they’re doing something, instead of just sitting around on the dole. You’re telling a story, and frankly, it would have been hard to add more visuals to the exchange, and only a few places where the dialog could be tightened more. Don’t worry about the amount of words. If you want to drive yourself crazy, go look at how many Miller was putting into some pages of TDKR.

    • Good to hear that it isn’t TOO overwhelming. I am happier with the balance Seba and I find in later chapters, though.

      Hope to hear more from you as you keep reading :D

      • theRoUS

        Besides, Tenzin can always punch through any wall of text.

  • The words work, and counteracts the annoyance I felt with the hopeless meatbag ramblings drowning the mission brief. But not many readers are going to be retired Engineer staff pukes. Seriously, good balance, and the “HMR” helps establish the character. Plus, no coffee….

    • Thanks :D

      I need to make a cabinet of readers with military experience to ask questions :D

  • l33tninja

    So is “Jane” based off of Jane from Speaker for the Dead?

    • In large part, yes. In my world, that book exists, and Jane (when a brand new AI) read it, identified with the character, and adopted her persona a bit :)

      • l33tninja

        Jane was my favorite character in Speaker, so I’m on board.

        • Same for me :D When I started thinking of a snarky AI assistant for Tenzin, I couldn’t get Jane out of my head, so eventually I just ran with it XD Now I have a running bit of a gag where most AI assistants have the names of 20th century media AIs :D

        • Adriano

          I’m so glad I’m not the only one who liked her!

  • Adriano

    Omg looking at this page brings SO MUCH painful memories

    Dan, I hate you. Sincerely, one of your biggest fan.

  • Adriano

    “Ask Viktor to…”
    DEM FEELS

  • Henrik Svantesson

    Makes you wonder why they still put grunts in the line of fire - even if you don’t trust the AI to not take over the world, you can have bots with fire-control assigned to a commander. Then again, if you have general AI, it you may not trust those things to not be hackable and overrides overwritten.

    Then again again, humans are hardly that much more less hackable (persuadable) than a bot when you’re superintelligent.