CRT Monitors In Lucrecia's Base

As you know, our beloved game takes place in the 24th century. However, I can't help but notice the CRT monitors used in what looks like an office overlooking the hangar area of Lucrecia's base, set up with two of these ancient monitors, one of which is used to display our good friend Clay while his portable device is not with us on a mission.

www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/41706-i...shot-base-screen.jpg

Obviously, CRT monitors were in widespread use at the time the game was made, but that explanation isn't very satisfying. What I'd like to know is why we'd use CRT monitors in the 24th century, despite having fusion power, spaceships with sophisticated and automated self-repair mechanisms, and near-instantaneous travel via capsule drives.

My challenge, should you choose to accept it, is to come up with an explanation that fits in with the game's established background information.

Well, Lucrecia's Base is pretty old and was abandoned a long time ago by Cal's grandma - so it might have been the thought of the developers to have outdated technology in there.

The prison also uses these monitors a long time later, though:



My best guess is that the dev's just went with the thing that was most familiar at the time or they just thought "Well, the prison doesn't need fancy technology, it's just a damn prison".

I think Lucrecia's base has this rugged, muddy, ghostly feeling to it. Having shiny flatscreens in there wouldn't really fit the mood.

The prison monitors may house additional technology, since they look huge even for 90s standards. Of course, it doesn't seem to do much good when the guard is sleeping on the job. One wonders how the story would have gone if the guards knew what they were doing. :lol:

I agree with you about the old, eerie atmosphere of the base. There's just one problem with that though. Smith seems like the type to want all the latest hardware. It seems strange that he didn't upgrade the old monitors too, considering he is able to attach the command section to an old tug.

Maybe Clay liked the look of the old monitors, or something.

Well, *maybe* the old base as a whole is just too much for him. After all, screens that fit exactly into the consoles aren't just lying around, they would have to be produced - either by outside parties or my the base itself. However, while Lucretia's Base surely has production capabilities (it's a biobomber, after all), the facilities would need to a) be activated and b) know how to build the desired machinery.

So all in all, Smith might be going for "good enough at the moment", just like Lucretia's pirates before him.

After all, you can't really see if Smith hasn't already swapped out the old tubes with shiny LCD's and just kept the housing

Challenge accepted!
I gave this considerable thought some time ago, and arrived at a very enticing solution.
In Lucrecia's will, she says the Biobombers were sent out from earth centuries ago. That would put them in the late 21st century or early 22nd. Also, they were completely unmanned, designed to have their mission fulfilled decades before people even got to where they were. They could use old, cheap monitors to reduce construction costs since no one would even be looking at them anyway. And I think that a station that big and complex would be expensive, so no need to raise the cost further.
Same thing goes for the bridge workstations in I-war1. Smaller, older stuff = cheaper ship. Also equals harder job for the crew though.
Also, they may not have been able to come up with anything cool enough to replace them.

--IronDuke