Something else that demonstrates that the licensed game was written for the TV show, not the books, is the mismatch with the opening fiction written by James SA Corey. That brings home some of the critical logistics involved in space travel - the crew are worried about water, air and (shedding) heat. They decide to turn ice prospector, risking limited fuel and potentially dangerous heat buildup, as a way to turn a quick buck.

But the licensed game doesn't even have rules or a discussion on life support systems on the ship or the effects of a deteriorating shipboard environment. Despite the fact that the books make clear time and again consideration of environmental systems are borderline religious in their sanctity for Belters.

Every online discussion of the setting seems to touch on the "why are there no fighters/interceptors" (there actually was a pair of stealth fighters defending the Thoth spin station in the first book), but there's a more fundamental one I haven't seen.

Namely, where are the robots? All the elements needed already exist in setting, you have AI and expert systems that could drive an autonomous mechanised body. There's bionics, power armour and mech frames. The advantages of a robot crewmate are obvious - they don't need to breathe, drink, eat or sleep. They can withstand environments humans can't.

So their absence is a clear design choice by the authors of the books.

I don't recall AI in the books or movies, Kiero. Unless you count the fucking black slime nonsense.

Quote from: Kyle Aaron on March 26, 2022, 02:34:17 AM
I don't recall AI in the books or movies, Kiero. Unless you count the fucking black slime nonsense.

There's AI in the books all the time. What do you think they're doing when they "talk" to the ship's computer and expert systems? What do you think is targeting and firing the PDCs under their normal mode of operation (without human intervention)? Or torpedoes, for that matter.

It's not self-aware, but it's more than capable of running a mechanised body. They look to have deliberately designed them as human-in-the-loop, but that's still AI. It's not a great leap for someone who doesn't care about the implicit ban on true AI to develop it with everything already available in the setting.