Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

[CptWinters]

That seems unlikely at this point. We still don't know if what Kikitik said to Stillstorm is true—he may himself be operating under certain orders based on presupposed conditions that are currently "true" for him, but that are not actually occurring for one reason or another. Personally, I find surety quite convincing, and I seriously doubt that things are going well for the Loroi, though we will have to wait and see.

[fredgiblet]

In response to spoiler, I shall spoiler in kind:

SpoilerShow

So we aren't going to see Jardin and his Loroi entourage meeting with the refuel vehicle any time soon then? That would have been interesting, though I'd assume a Loroi transport would reach TCA space much faster. What with FTL being the fast part, and cross-system trips being slow, and Loroi STL drives being much more capable.

It's likely that an entourage will be dispatched to meet the Prabhu, it's unlikely that Alex will be onboard. Sending him back carries little value, keeping him here means that they get to squeeze more information from him, and if push comes to shove and the negotiations don't work out they have someone to experiment with.

[Mr.Tucker]

I'm 100% sure this has been asked before but I can't find it: if the Orgus are more advanced, can't we just reverse engineer their dammed drive tech to improve our own? Maybe with their help. Or are they technologically equal to us?

[Arioch]

I'm 100% sure this has been asked before but I can't find it: if the Orgus are more advanced, can't we just reverse engineer their dammed drive tech to improve our own? Maybe with their help. Or are they technologically equal to us?

The Orgus are marginally more advanced (less than a full tech generation ahead of humanity), and Human engineers are definitely studying the Orgus vessel, but it will take years of development before such efforts bear practical fruit. The Orgus ship didn't have any of the key technologies that humans are missing (taimat reactors, floater drives, screens, or plasma weaponry).

[Mr.Tucker]

Thanks for clarifying that. One last question: I can't seem to understand the difference between America and Victory class heavy cruisers. Do Americas become Victory class after the Mjolnir conversion, or are the Americas simply brought up to date, while the Victory is separate (but designed along a similar frame). It says India is still under construction below the America class entry, but I thought India was redesigned as a Victory class?

[fredgiblet]

The Victory appears to be heavily modified, it's faster, drops the mass drivers in exchange for lazors and missile tubes and comes stock with the Mjolnir. Given the positioning of the Mjolnir I don't think that that's what adds the length to the Victory, so I think they are totally separate classes at this point, just based on a common design (like the Mig-23 and 27).

My expectation is that the India was far enough along in construction that it couldn't be converted efficiently, so it's being finished as an America, while Antarctica was early enough along that they were able to do a major redesign without issue.

A related question, is India going to be built with a Mjolnir, or is it going to be converted afterwards?

[Arioch]

The Victory battlecruiser is a new class that's derived from the America-class heavy cruiser, and built on the keel of the canceled heavy cruiser Antarctica. (This is analogous to the 1922 US conversions of the unfinished battlecruisers Lexington and Saratoga into aircraft carriers after the signing of the Washington naval limitation treaties.) The Victory is 55m longer and has significantly more engine power, primarily to better accommodate the Mjolnir cannon (the forward shuttle bay sacrificed to the Mjolnir has been restored, and the increased engine power allows for a greater rate of fire), in addition to the other changes fredgiblet mentioned.



As fredgiblet suggests, the India was farther along and so it was felt that it would be more cost-effective to complete her as an America-refit (with the Mjolnir module), rather than another Victory-class.

[fredgiblet]

What's the rate of fire on the Victory-class Mjolnir?

Also, you said the shuttle bay has been restored, but I don't see a new bump at the bottom, does that mean that the Mjolnir actually IS part of the hull extension?

[Jericho]

What inspiried the design for terran ships?

They look rather similar to the dagger class fighter from freelancer

[Arioch]

What's the rate of fire on the Victory-class Mjolnir?

I haven't worked out the charge time of the Mjolnir, but since the Victory has 50% more engine power than the America, the charge time should be reduced by at least a third. There are probably other improvements to energy transmission infrastructure and heat management that further increase rate of fire.

Also, you said the shuttle bay has been restored, but I don't see a new bump at the bottom, does that mean that the Mjolnir actually IS part of the hull extension?

The new shuttle bay doors are directly forward of the Mjolnir's muzzle. It's a very rough sketch.

What inspiried the design for terran ships? They look rather similar to the dagger class fighter from freelancer

I don't see the resemblance, but regardless, I haven't played Freelancer. The Terran ship designs have a lot of influences, but they aren't based on anything in particular.

[Mr.Tucker]

I love the fact that TCA ships have an evolutionary feel to them: earlier ones being more for policing, whereas post-Orgus ones feature dramatically increased capabilities (easy to imagine the TCA scrambling to kickstart their mothballed projects). Wouldn't that make the Victory the most modern TCA vessel, as opposed to the Arcadia (which still sports mass drivers) ? Also....Freeman Class Fire Support Destroyer ? I can easily imagine a sort of gun-with-an-engine, kinda like the Firelance frigates in Homeworld. Just mate an oversized Mjolnir with an engine, energy management systems, attitude thrusters , and some measly tin can for the crew compartment. It wouldn't be pretty, but it would be useful (or would it be fire support in the classical sense of target acquisition, designation, telemetry, etc? )

[fredgiblet]

They look rather similar to the dagger class fighter from freelancer

SpoilerShow

Now I want to play it again. Dick.

[Username]

I was thinking, if the Historians are so advanced because they supposedly retained a lot of Soia tech. What are the chances that humanity could stumble upon a abandoned Soia outpost or significant artifact and get a huge tech uplift over time ?

I find it hard to believe that the Soia cataclysm would be so thorough as to not miss a single a planet.

I would think that the longer we could keep the existence of such a discovery from the Loroi and Umiak the more prepared we could be.

[RedDwarfIV]

'Freeman'. Exactly the right name for a badass spacecraft that uses advanced weapons to play whack-an-alien with.

[Jericho]

Now I want to play it again. Dick.

Nah hold that and wait for star citizen instead. If Robert get around to releasing it instead of adding more content.

I was thinking, if the Historians are so advanced because they supposedly retained a lot of Soia tech. What are the chances that humanity could stumble upon a abandoned Soia outpost or significant artifact and get a huge tech uplift over time ?

I find it hard to believe that the Soia cataclysm would be so thorough as to not miss a single a planet.

I would think that the longer we could keep the existence of such a discovery from the Loroi and Umiak the more prepared we could be.

Tough it is conceivable that a scout ship heading in to deep space and back with alien artifacts might go unnoticed it would not bring something revolutionary to humanity in such a small scale.

What you need in order to elevate humanity two tech levels higher so they can compete with the other races (ignoring infrastructure, fleet size, training) is a major colony still relatively intact for salvaging (it needs to contain antimatter power sources at least). Let’s say that such a thing exists in deep space and the scout corps has found it. They map it; they scan it, record it and ship as much as they can back home.

Okay first: unless we are the fritzl of the intergalactic community i doubt we would be able to hide where our sudden tech boost came from. I mean what exactly are we going to say when the loroi pop up over our fence "Morning neighbor! Where did you get that neat plasma weapon, looks nothing like anything we've got, oh you found it lying around... where? Oh somewhere huh... how did you find it? You just got lucky, all right... when did you plan to tell us, we're friends right? You can probably see where this is going.

Second: the probabilities of finding key technologies like that are very small. it would require major excavation efforts on our part (movement of personnel, equipment etc). Now what are you planning to say to the loroi (or umiak) when they pop up over our fence and say "Hello neighbor! planning a road trip? Why am I not invited? Where are you going? Why do you need all this science equipment? You can see where this is going.


Now this whole concept of deep space archeology is something I’ve toyed with for a fanfiction I’ll probably never write: I call it OUTCASTS.

The whole idea was that a group of misfits from the union and beyond is on a mission to a far remote planet which the historians believe holds something of great interest to them and they want the crew to retrieve it discretely and return it to them. Problem is the outposts defense system is still online and they get shot down and trapped on the planet’s surface. They face the dangers of the outpost (robots, turrets, traps) and find the treasure! an old starship still functioning dating back millions of years. After they conveniently manages to get the ship online they fly off and become famous space pirates whose exiting and erotic adventures will become a bestselling book series in the local cluster for centuries to come.

The characters would have been a series of people whose only unifying quality is their desire to escape their society of birth:

The rebel: A human former officer in the scout corps with a severe anti-authoritarian streak. A mathematical savant who can understand umiak speech without a translator. He has two robotic prosthetics on his legs due to an experiment gone wrong which gave him a burning passion for cybernetics and other stuff. He has also had one of his arms replaced with a combat graded cybernetic-prosthetic after a bar fight with a mean spirited delrias female and although he nearly lost his life he calls it a draw because while she got his arm he still got one of her eyes in the process. His motivation in the series is officially to get away from all the cowards and traitors in the TCA but really is to get away from everything that reminds him of his brother who died aboard the bellarmine during the first contact mission with the loroi. He is the captain of the mission.

The Butler: A unusally pacifistic delrias who was fed up with what he felt was a primitive and ultimataly futile culture of his people. Seeing the mission as his chance to escape his home he jumped aboard without question. He's the best friend of the human and the one who stopped the female delrias from tearing of his head off in anger. they are inseparable and prepared to stand back to back in any conflict. Even though he claims to despise violence he is a ruthless and efficient killer when the need arises, a veteran from many duels he has never lost a single one and is rightfully feared by those who know him. On the ship he is the navigator but he loves to cook and spend a lot of time preparing good and healthy meals for the rest of the crew (although his meals mostly consists of meat leading to a lot of constipation).

The mute or Muse i can't decide: A Loroi telepathic mute whose scars aren’t just in her soul. From an early age she had very little contact with other loroi and what contact she did have was often taunts and bullying. as an adolescent she spent her time as a house servant for a veteran Teidar instructor on deinar whom she holds in very high regard. Still she was a talented engineer and managed to get off world aboard a barsam courier vessel who took her to a space station where she met a human and a delrias who needed a skilled engineer for a mission far away from loroi space she volunteered her services for food and shelter and transport. As the engineer onboard she is rarely seen without her writing block where she draws schematics on her freetime.

The survivor: an Umiak veteran determined to stay alive and find a way for his species to escape extinction at the hands of the loroi. He hides aboard their ship (the new one) and serves as a tireless custodian. He has a hard time getting along with the rest of the crew except for the rebel who he has bonded with the help of music (yes I’m lame that way). He's the Mr. Handy aboard the ship and likes to sleep in the ventilation system.

Either way there was a lot more characters i thought of but i think i've rambled on enough as it is. To summarise getting technology is not the problem, the problem is political. We will most likely be upplifted by the many new races who would love to see a new ally grow in the union (if the umiak wins we're screwed so lets hope for loroi). The question is whether or not we wish to integrate in the union or not and if the loroi trusts us enough to let their guard down or not. Who is worse the nissek ( who they don't trust even now) or us (who they don't know at all) and the decision of how to deal with us must be made rather quickly because in a few decades humanity is going to be a very big powerhouse in the cluster both technologically and industially (mars is a jewel in this regard) and as a people we have a habit to be very tribal and aggresive.

[Charlie]

I was thinking, if the Historians are so advanced because they supposedly retained a lot of Soia tech. What are the chances that humanity could stumble upon a abandoned Soia outpost or significant artifact and get a huge tech uplift over time ?

I find it hard to believe that the Soia cataclysm would be so thorough as to not miss a single a planet.

I would think that the longer we could keep the existence of such a discovery from the Loroi and Umiak the more prepared we could be.

+1
If Mass Effect has taught me anything about Aliens, even Reapers can`t scrub everything clean.

'Freeman'. Exactly the right name for a badass spacecraft that uses advanced weapons to play whack-an-alien with.

"The right ship in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."
How would the Science team add on crowbar based weapons?

[RedDwarfIV]

'Freeman'. Exactly the right name for a badass spacecraft that uses advanced weapons to play whack-an-alien with.

"The right ship in the wrong place can make all the difference in the world."
How would the Science team add on crowbar based weapons?

A gravity gun, obviously. They pick up the crowbars and fling them at near-lightspeed.

[Roeben]

There is a resemblance to the dagger, but it has to be seen from the side, not a diagonal angle.

To me, the ships look like a mix between Freelancers Dromedary and the homeworld Taiidan cruiser.

[RedDwarfIV]

I was surprised by their design when I first read Outsider because they are eerily similar to my own. I'm not accusing Arioch of anything, since Outsider was started well before I started drawing spacecraft. It's just wierd.

One of mine:


The big differences are in technology though. My ones have D-jump or Alcubierre-White warp drives for FTL, require centrifuges for artificial gravity, and are built in sections which are fixed together later [generally, 'Command', 'Centrifuge' and 'Engine' sections.] They're also a LOT bigger. The spacecraft shown above is just over 1KM long.

[Roeben]

I'm sorry, that looks like any of the above pictures? I'm lost.