Thanks for the suggestions, Bob.
As for Kodachi, spoiled - yes. Meta... not quite so much. She's talented as a martial artist in her own right, but in fights where she and Miyuki were to go at it Miyuki would come out on top, easily. Kodachi's specialty is simply being her conniving, backstabbing self - all part-and-parcel with her being raised as a Yakuza Princess as was discussed in an earlier thread. She adds an interesting dynamic because she'll use ruthless strong-arm tactics that the others may be reluctant to use. And she has to be kept around because she's a compromise between several Yakuza families to keep them all from going to war.
(As you may recall, the idea goes that Rei's father asked of his Yakuza contacts that Zeke be taken care of because he doesn't like the idea of Zeke and Rei dating - bad for his image among the hardliners in the Diet. Zeke is a friend of Sousuke and when Sousuke gets mixed up in the mess as well, his friends among the Yakuza are not pleased and a Yakuza war nearly breaks out. Principal Kuno, secretely a Yakuza using Nerima as a recruiting ground, offers a compromise: his daughter, Kodachi, will try to woo the boy away from Rei and everyone else will cease hostilities.)
Jorlem: Yes in the sense that the AI tech and internal structure is derived from these armslaves. The miniature armslaves, however, are still far more powerful and quicker than a human, plus they have the advantage of being fully armored and carry heavy caliber weapons. A Persocon, however, would serve a much different purpose - robotic bodyguards hidden in plain sight. Bonus for being attractive and... anatomically correct. The tiny versions like Sumomo would have a much simpler AI - nowhere near the likes of Chi who would have creative thinking and problem solving abilities. Sumomo would be purely reactive while Chi is proactive. Plus Sumomo and her like would be strictly assistants with a side interest in protecting their master. Chi would be a bodyguard first, an assistant second, and a bed-mate last.
Necratoid, armslave tech does not translate into rocket science. Think about it for a second. The primary goal of the SSA is to provide a cheap alternative to other space agencies for lifting repair crews to service satellites in orbit. The price-point is that lifting a crew to service said satellites and extend their lifetimes by doing so is cheaper than buying new satellites to constantly replace the ones that break down.
And there is nothing weak-sauce about being able to lift personnel into orbit. At this time there are only two nations in the world that does that and it is the USA and the Russian Federation.
As for the reason why they use older tech with new spins... why not? The primary differences are in the materials used for construction: lighter weight, stronger, and less expensive. This can be derived from armslave tech. Some of the chemistry can be as well... Their head chemist, Mihara, is loopy enough to be a whispered for certain. And while a lot of their 'advancements' are still considered quite feasible by the Real World, you don't exactly see evidence of it in FMP. Things like the skin-tight space suits, for example. (The nearest equivalent I can think of in any mecha-anime would be the plugsuits from NGE.) Really, nothing in FMP translates into advancements for space exploration, unless your talking about militarization. Hell, even the reactors used in more advanced armslaves would only be useful for long-term space flights, such as trips to the Outer System.
One final clue to the puzzle, and possible the final nail in the coffin: the Tuatha de Dannan uses Harpoon missiles as their primary anti-ship missile. This missile has been around for decades! So why not use some snazzy new super-missile? Possibly because the Harpoon is reliable and cost effective - the two biggest things to worry about when man-lifting. I wouldn't put it past MYTHRIL to be working on some newer model missile system, but until they actually put it to use in the field...
So, anyhow... the SSA wants cheap, reliable, and lightweight orbiters. Computers and radio equipment could be made smaller using Whisper-Tech... but there is the question of its reliability. Plus, does an upstart private sector space agency even have access to a Whispered? Mihara would be a fluke that got under the radar, and her specialty is chemistry - the SSA would have to have special connections to get more than one Whispered.
So, instead they go with older tech that is very reliable. Sure, it means some of it is quite heavy - we still use vacuum tubes here on my ship because transistors simply cannot handle the kind of power the radio equipment demands. And even if you had some kind of Whisper-Tech transistors that could, I bet they'd still be a bit on the bulky side, if only to handle the kind of wattage the transceivers need. Oh, and these vacuum tubes? Even in the rough conditions we deal with out here in the open sea, they'll last about four years handling loads in the neighborhood of a thousand watts. That's the kind of reliability you want when dealing with man-lifting.
Now, we can work with the idea that the SSA does have some long-term goals in mind for cheap man-lifting such as linear-rail launch systems, more compact computers and radio equipment, and other goodies... but these would be items that come as their company and their pilots grow up together. Especially if MYTHRIL contracts out to them for their lifting purposes. (After all, those high-end toys of theirs are expensive. It's nice to be able to use a cheap solution here and there to save some money.)
As for the girls... C'mon, man. We'll have them intersect with the story line when the girls are sixteen - same age as Zeke and the others. By then we can say that the orbiters have gotten lighter, but the girls have unavoidably gotten heavier as they've grown, and the SSA, already past their initial growing pains, are looking into other lifting options such as linear rail tech.
And BTW: you really need to see this series. The seeming foibles aside, it has it's moments of awesome and its moments of Awwwwww. (Mild Spoiler: Such as the one with the flight director spilling his guts about how he wanted to becomes an astronaut after seeing the Moon Landings, but found that he couldn't due to a heart condition, and telling Yukari and Matsuri that they should let others hopes and dreams be what carries them when their own are not enough.)
As for Kodachi, spoiled - yes. Meta... not quite so much. She's talented as a martial artist in her own right, but in fights where she and Miyuki were to go at it Miyuki would come out on top, easily. Kodachi's specialty is simply being her conniving, backstabbing self - all part-and-parcel with her being raised as a Yakuza Princess as was discussed in an earlier thread. She adds an interesting dynamic because she'll use ruthless strong-arm tactics that the others may be reluctant to use. And she has to be kept around because she's a compromise between several Yakuza families to keep them all from going to war.
(As you may recall, the idea goes that Rei's father asked of his Yakuza contacts that Zeke be taken care of because he doesn't like the idea of Zeke and Rei dating - bad for his image among the hardliners in the Diet. Zeke is a friend of Sousuke and when Sousuke gets mixed up in the mess as well, his friends among the Yakuza are not pleased and a Yakuza war nearly breaks out. Principal Kuno, secretely a Yakuza using Nerima as a recruiting ground, offers a compromise: his daughter, Kodachi, will try to woo the boy away from Rei and everyone else will cease hostilities.)
Jorlem: Yes in the sense that the AI tech and internal structure is derived from these armslaves. The miniature armslaves, however, are still far more powerful and quicker than a human, plus they have the advantage of being fully armored and carry heavy caliber weapons. A Persocon, however, would serve a much different purpose - robotic bodyguards hidden in plain sight. Bonus for being attractive and... anatomically correct. The tiny versions like Sumomo would have a much simpler AI - nowhere near the likes of Chi who would have creative thinking and problem solving abilities. Sumomo would be purely reactive while Chi is proactive. Plus Sumomo and her like would be strictly assistants with a side interest in protecting their master. Chi would be a bodyguard first, an assistant second, and a bed-mate last.
Necratoid, armslave tech does not translate into rocket science. Think about it for a second. The primary goal of the SSA is to provide a cheap alternative to other space agencies for lifting repair crews to service satellites in orbit. The price-point is that lifting a crew to service said satellites and extend their lifetimes by doing so is cheaper than buying new satellites to constantly replace the ones that break down.
And there is nothing weak-sauce about being able to lift personnel into orbit. At this time there are only two nations in the world that does that and it is the USA and the Russian Federation.
As for the reason why they use older tech with new spins... why not? The primary differences are in the materials used for construction: lighter weight, stronger, and less expensive. This can be derived from armslave tech. Some of the chemistry can be as well... Their head chemist, Mihara, is loopy enough to be a whispered for certain. And while a lot of their 'advancements' are still considered quite feasible by the Real World, you don't exactly see evidence of it in FMP. Things like the skin-tight space suits, for example. (The nearest equivalent I can think of in any mecha-anime would be the plugsuits from NGE.) Really, nothing in FMP translates into advancements for space exploration, unless your talking about militarization. Hell, even the reactors used in more advanced armslaves would only be useful for long-term space flights, such as trips to the Outer System.
One final clue to the puzzle, and possible the final nail in the coffin: the Tuatha de Dannan uses Harpoon missiles as their primary anti-ship missile. This missile has been around for decades! So why not use some snazzy new super-missile? Possibly because the Harpoon is reliable and cost effective - the two biggest things to worry about when man-lifting. I wouldn't put it past MYTHRIL to be working on some newer model missile system, but until they actually put it to use in the field...
So, anyhow... the SSA wants cheap, reliable, and lightweight orbiters. Computers and radio equipment could be made smaller using Whisper-Tech... but there is the question of its reliability. Plus, does an upstart private sector space agency even have access to a Whispered? Mihara would be a fluke that got under the radar, and her specialty is chemistry - the SSA would have to have special connections to get more than one Whispered.
So, instead they go with older tech that is very reliable. Sure, it means some of it is quite heavy - we still use vacuum tubes here on my ship because transistors simply cannot handle the kind of power the radio equipment demands. And even if you had some kind of Whisper-Tech transistors that could, I bet they'd still be a bit on the bulky side, if only to handle the kind of wattage the transceivers need. Oh, and these vacuum tubes? Even in the rough conditions we deal with out here in the open sea, they'll last about four years handling loads in the neighborhood of a thousand watts. That's the kind of reliability you want when dealing with man-lifting.
Now, we can work with the idea that the SSA does have some long-term goals in mind for cheap man-lifting such as linear-rail launch systems, more compact computers and radio equipment, and other goodies... but these would be items that come as their company and their pilots grow up together. Especially if MYTHRIL contracts out to them for their lifting purposes. (After all, those high-end toys of theirs are expensive. It's nice to be able to use a cheap solution here and there to save some money.)
As for the girls... C'mon, man. We'll have them intersect with the story line when the girls are sixteen - same age as Zeke and the others. By then we can say that the orbiters have gotten lighter, but the girls have unavoidably gotten heavier as they've grown, and the SSA, already past their initial growing pains, are looking into other lifting options such as linear rail tech.
And BTW: you really need to see this series. The seeming foibles aside, it has it's moments of awesome and its moments of Awwwwww. (Mild Spoiler: Such as the one with the flight director spilling his guts about how he wanted to becomes an astronaut after seeing the Moon Landings, but found that he couldn't due to a heart condition, and telling Yukari and Matsuri that they should let others hopes and dreams be what carries them when their own are not enough.)