EVE Fiction

There's one aspect of this whole cloning thing that kinda bothers me if I think about it too hard:

what, exactly, is stopping a capsuleer from maintaining multiple, simultaneously active clones? Given that memory recording doesn't have to destroy the brain (as proven by jump cloning) it seems like kind of an arbitrary limitation that only one of the 6 bodies this character maintains can be active at a time. Is there anything in fiction that says multiple selves at once can make a person mentally unstable or some such thing? Or maybe there's a law stating that capsuleers can't just go clog up the clone bays churning out an army of clones? But then why would null pilots care about the restriction? Gaaaah!

Anyway, that's always kinda bugged me. Any insight anyone can provide would be appreciated.

I thought it might be something like that. Still bugs me, though, because it doesn't apply to anyone operating in null sec. I mean, if null entities were abusing clone tech it would explain how billions of pirates and fanatics can die every day and yet their factions continue to exist. What about null players, though? Yes, I know it's an obvious technical limitation (you won't have multiple active characters unless you pay to dual-client) but it seems like there should be an explanation that applies to everyone, not just law-abiding empire capsuleers.

The limitation really comes of the fact that having multiple active clones is considered a bad thing by almost everyone. There really isn't a good analogy for this in any real-life situation, but suffice to say that it is considered a line that nobody should ever cross, and crossing it will cause anyone and everyone to come down on your head to stop it.

You also have to keep in mind that although CONCORD only polices high-sec space, they do send strike teams into 0.0, and I doubt they'd have any qualms about trying to drop one on a capsuleer who tries to make multiples of himself.

Because nothing will stop your own clone from killing you so he can declare himself the original. Unlike the Broker, who could control the clones in a sort of hivemind, what you're suggesting is creatin a bunch of independent copies of a capsuleer and releasing them to the world without any mean of ensuring that they won't turn on you if they consider it the better choice.

Has anyone here read the manga “Akumetsu”? If not I strongly encourage you to do so. It deals with the question at hand and illustrates rather nicely why having multiple clones of yourself is an awesome idea. Granted, upon death these clones’ memories can be (and often are) transfered into a single body, creating evermore knowledgeable and thus powerful clones but even without that feature this would prove to be an extremely useful tool.

Reasons for what exactly? Having multiple clones? Well, for one there is the aforementioned bonus of amassing the knowledge and experiences of dozens if not hundreds of human beings and molding them into one. The protagonist of the story sends his clones all around the world and they lead all kinds of different lives. A benefit of this is that he (well, every clone) is proficient in all sorts of professions and has all sorts of skills.
Other than that (disregarding said mechanism) there is the advantage in combat situations and the like. Who else would make a better teammate than you yourself (whom you know best)? As such you could, for example, communicate much better with each other. Then there is the sense of unity among your group. Obviously you all are essentially one and the same so your team has no or at least far less problems with loyalty, trust, motivation or such.
Furthermore, principally having clones of him- or herself enables any individual to advance his/her goals far more efficiently than without them or other partners instead. Imagine the work that you could get done with multiple versions of yourself.

Or you and your clone both trying to get the other to work so they can go to bed?