Talk:Cycle

Time

I think the 50 years ago comes from a scan on Corruption, it's somewhere. But anyways, this aimed my attention towards the "cycles" and time system in Metroid. Is there some guide on how it works? It feels like sometimes cycles meant days and others they meant years. --Malake256 ^{{Talk | Contribs}} 20:40, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I added a header, hope you don't mind. ;) Anyways, yes, the Galactic Federation Data entitled "Tallon IV Incident" indicates that the Leviathan struck about 50 years ago. As far as cycles go, I really have no idea. If you look at the Space Pirate Logs, they are separated into different "cycles" with time stamps such as "05.422.1" (in cycle 5), "06.989.8" (in cycle 6), and "Log 07.013.6" (in cycle 7). What's more, different races in the galaxy may use the word "cycle" to measure time differently, perhaps because "cycle" has to do with how long it takes their planet or moon to orbit its gravity center. But the Space Pirate Data of MP3 doesn't make mention of "cycles" at all, but does use the phrase "stellar years." So as I sit here rambling, my answer is, I dunno, I'll look into it. Preferably, I'd like to find something official-y, because there is a ton of speculation on the web. Wikitroid also has an article on "Cycles," if you want to look at what data they've gathered about it. —Embyr 75  ^--Talk-- 20:57, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Ooh, this is interesting:

Fact: The Space Pirates in Metroid Prime recorded the fall of Zebes, the discovery of phazon, and their experiments on Tallon IV. The Space Pirates unfortunately measure their calendar in 'cycles', which could be anything. However, Zebes fell at the end of Cycle 9; the last Space Pirate log entry is in Cycle 11.

Fact: The Space Pirates recordings on Aether occur in cycle values lower than those on Tallon IV.

This suggests that Metroid Prime 2 occurred in a different cycle system or 'year' than Metroid Prime.

Found this on MDb. —Embyr 75  ^--Talk-- 21:01, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

That is very neat indeed! You edit conflicted me as I was about to point out the same thing: Ah, there's the entry. When I played through Prime, it felt like a cycle was on par with a day or maybe a short week of some sort. Maybe the days on Talon IV are long or something. But in Echoes, it was pretty confusing. I took it to be a year equivalent. They refer to the wise old Luminoth as being centicycles old, and the dead bodies having had been there for decacycles. In this case, either the Luminoth live and die quickly or their bodies are crazy resilient against decomposition. Corruption seems to have dropped the cycle thing for sure. I forgot the header :[ --Malake256 ^{{Talk | Contribs}} 21:05, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I see three potentially meanings for cycle, a rotational cycle (day, unlikely), a lunar cycle (just going by Earth here, but around a month), or a solar cycle (year). As for guides, I don't think there are any, we'll just have to try to figure it out. I doubt it's a day, going by a couple entries. "Though aggressive, we were able to implement these changes in a cycle" (Meta Ridley) "If Command's predictions are half true, we shall rise dominant of this sector within a deca-cycle." (Phazon Program). Those, plus the info Emybr put, seem to suggest either a month or a year, I'm personally thinking lunar cycle is the most likely. As for the wikitroid article, as usual no references in the article so use that information cautiously. MK 21:06, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Are there any references to moons on Tallon IV and Aether? --Malake256 ^{{Talk | Contribs}} 21:21, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Hmm. Good point. I don't believe so. Tallon IV definitely doesn't on its spatial schematic. In fact, Aether is a rogue planet, meaning it might take it a loooooong time to make some kind of rotation, and it wouldn't be a solar rotation, either. Also, sorry for causing a conflict lol. —Embyr 75  ^--Talk-- 21:27, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm just noticing that the Federation never once mentions cycles, so they are exclusive to the Luminoth and the Pirates. Considering the rogue planet, the only literal "cycle" that I can think of is its rotation on its own axis, the same measure as our Earth day, though by the looks of it an Aetherian day is reallly long. Hey wait a second, how can their days be long if they were supposed to have stable plains and forests. Wait, how can they have any of that stuff with no sun! Oh fiction! --Malake256 ^{{Talk | Contribs}} 21:36, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Read your scan data, man! ;) Also, being rogue doesn't mean it doesn't orbit something. Even our sun is orbiting something (presumably a black hole at the center of the galaxy). Or perhaps they measure time independent of orbiting something. Maybe they measure it by the rate of decay of... something. The halflife of some isotope or other, perhaps? They are super smart. And they lived among the stars a looong time before they found Aether. I'm assuming they measured time before they had a home planet in some way, as well. —Embyr 75  ^--Talk-- 21:44, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

I'm gonna go ahead and move this discussion to Talk:Cycle if that's ok, since this is an obscure place for this discussion. —Embyr 75  ^--Talk-- 21:54, 17 July 2013 (UTC)

Go right ahead. MK 21:55, 17 July 2013 (UTC)