GrS 16:5:24 All hail the new boss--same as the old boss

Only 16 years after the Great Resynchronization, and we've got a new emperor, so naturally, some toadies are insisting we start all over again at year one. No thanks, I'm sticking with the GrS dates for now. It took me long enough to make all the mods to our software as it is.

Baktoid Combat Automata, always eager to jam an upgrade in, needed or not, are of course adding support for the new dating scheme to their products. Want to see lousy Baktoid software coding in practice? Ask a battledroid when he was constructed, and then ask "What's that in GrS notation?" He'll be stuck there for five minutes while he works it out.

It appears Emperor Palpatine is going to keep the core of the old Techno Union around. That's my group, started by the Confederacy of Independent Systems, or Separatists, as they're mostly known these days. So I've gone from being a lowly Separatist tech to a lowly Imperial tech! Actually, I won't deny there's been some attrition--in fact, most of the senior members were wiped out, including Wat Tambor, my boss. He was murdered^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hlawfully executed on Mustafar by Palpatine's new right hand man, Darth Vader, some weird guy who they say breathes funny and wears black armor all the time, helmet included.

Somehow, I've been kept around, even though not everyone trusts us Bothans. With all the attrition, I'm now the senior tech, so Palpatine's made me an Elite Technician, in charge of the Emperor's secret projects. I hope that doesn't mean I'll have to stop writing my journal though!

GrS 0:1:8 The Great Resynchronization

So a week into this goofy new dating system that the Republic Measures & Standards Bureau wants everyone to use. They're calling it the Great Resynchronization. Yes, great. I wish they had some inkling of how this mucks with the inventory and supplies-ordering system we've been working on for Baktoid Combat Automata.

Speaking of Baktoid, I just got back from Geonosis, where I sat in on a review of the B1 battle droid, their latest "autonomous" battle droid.

They weren't kidding when they opened by saying that the catch-phrase during the design of these droids was "quantity over quality." If the prototype they had in the boardroom during the review was any indication, they've definitely gone for low cost above any other consideration. I'm only as strong as the next Bothan, but I was able to pull both arms off the prototype, to everyone's annoyance. They're only held on via electromagnets, if you can believe that.

I wasn't impressed, and let the folks from Baktoid know it--I criticized the cheap armor, the substandard weaponry, and the shoddiness of the limb attachment. "I wouldn't bet on an army of these guys to destroy a bunch of Gungans," I said derisively.

Oh, and another thing--they've maintained the central control idea. When I pointed out that building in some small amount of independence, might be good, in case the control ships were attacked and destroyed, I was told that the control ships would be safely tucked away in orbit. "Right," I said, "because no invaded planet would ever launch starfighters." "Exactly," responded the Baktoid people. "The battle droids will quickly move to ground all spaceflight on the planet."

I suggested maybe building in some redundancy, having fewer droids per control ship, or maybe a backup control ship you could fail over to. They rejected all my suggestions, saying production is proceeding on these droids, but they promised to take some of my ideas under advisement for the next revision.

Sigh. They have no respect for us Techno Union types.