Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

[Mk_C]

Imagine not expecting 2160 Disney to be an all-powerful interplanetary dominion holding more sway than the TCA, with the true secret purpose behind Scout Corps' TF-32 assignment being discovery of new markets to push Disney+.

Only the US version of crony capitalism allows for the trademarking of widely used 'words' and 'items'; try to do the same in the E.U. for example and you will be laughed out of the room. In the end the gamble may pay off for a little while because a lot of Disney's properties have been milked to death; Mickey Mouse and co are simply not profitable enough to bother even if the legal battles weren't in the way.

UK and the reality of Space Marines (tm) would like to have a word.

[dragoongfa]

Imagine not expecting 2160 Disney to be an all-powerful interplanetary dominion holding more sway than the TCA, with the true secret purpose behind Scout Corps' TF-32 assignment being discovery of new markets to push Disney+.

It's uncertain if Disney can survive the upcoming years due to the Covid lockdown of their theme parks and the subpar expected performance of all their IP lineups going forward. Hell, they may as well have killed Star Wars as a movie franchise with only the streaming based Mandalorian 'spinoff' being able to give some much needed CPR to it; provided they don't fuck things up there again.

Streaming stuff is also going to be rocky going forth because everyone and their mother is trying to put their foot in, resulting in streaming becoming all the more expensive if someone wants to watch every good show out there. IIRC someone crunched the numbers and the combined expense of subscribing to all streaming platforms that produce original content goes up to the 4 digits yearly.

UK and the reality of Space Marines (tm) would like to have a word.

Bad example, fact is that when someone mentions Space Marines they mean Warhammer 40k, at least in the current cultural landscape. As a phrase it exists solely because of said franchise. Better example would be their trademark for 'Warhammer' but that is being challenged right now iirc, it is up renewal in a couple of years and with Brexit the UK based trademarks are now harder to pass muster throughout the world.

[MBehave]

Drone patrols that are on orbital paths between planets could maintain patrols for a very long time slingshotting around planets and only using fuel to make minor course corrections. It would be far less resource intensive then manned ships or fighters.

Drones dont have the problem of life support.
It takes the same amount of fuel to send a drone 1000km at 20km/s stop and return as it does to send it 1000000km at 20km/s stop and return.

I doubt a fighter has the endurance to patrol at days' end.

Sure, but that's for a straight-forward course and back. The whole reason a patrol is out is deterrence.
A drone needing to send and receive commands from light-minutes, if not hours, is a waste of resources.
And in Outsider we are talking about system-wide responsabilities.

[Quickdraw101]

When looking at the Mjlonir Module, would it be correct to say that it's a strong enough weapon that should it land a hit on a Loroi or Umial vessel, it could cause severe or catastrophic damage with a direct hit? Or is it equivalent to a standard plasma focus weapon the Loroi are familiar with, meaning one hit won't do much of anything?

[Arioch]

When looking at the Mjlonir Module, would it be correct to say that it's a strong enough weapon that should it land a hit on a Loroi or Umial vessel, it could cause severe or catastrophic damage with a direct hit? Or is it equivalent to a standard plasma focus weapon the Loroi are familiar with, meaning one hit won't do much of anything?

The damage potential of the various weapons are detailed here:
https://well-of-souls.com/outsider/weap ... icle_beams

[GrandAdmiralFox]

Crossposting from the Loroi thread:

The fact that terran ships are restricted to hydrogen fuel doesn't meant that the loroi doesn't use it. I strongly suspect that they use this widely avalible and cheap fuel when able. As such I suspect that this is common on most civilian vessels not involved in supplying warships at the frontline.

Given the likelihood that they're using fusion rockets? I doubt they would be using hydrogen, largely because it balloons their ships far too quickly (1 metric ton of (liquid) hydrogen has a volume of 14.12m^3, (liquid) helium is 6.25m^3, liquid water has 1m^3, and (liquid) methane has 2.3585m^3... you can see the difference is huge here) and, as I said before, has a poor thrust-to-weight ratio when it is all said and done.

[Sweforce]

Crossposting from the Loroi thread:

The fact that terran ships are restricted to hydrogen fuel doesn't meant that the loroi doesn't use it. I strongly suspect that they use this widely avalible and cheap fuel when able. As such I suspect that this is common on most civilian vessels not involved in supplying warships at the frontline.

Given the likelihood that they're using fusion rockets? I doubt they would be using hydrogen, largely because it balloons their ships far too quickly (1 metric ton of (liquid) hydrogen has a volume of 14.12m^3, (liquid) helium is 6.25m^3, liquid water has 1m^3, and (liquid) methane has 2.3585m^3... you can see the difference is huge here) and, as I said before, has a poor thrust-to-weight ratio when it is all said and done.

But it is cheap and require no strategic recources. It is bit like some freight ships during WW1 where still using sails and horses where still widely used during WW2, even for military logistics. Especially strapped for fuel Germany did this.

[GrandAdmiralFox]

Crossposting from the Loroi thread:

The fact that terran ships are restricted to hydrogen fuel doesn't meant that the loroi doesn't use it. I strongly suspect that they use this widely avalible and cheap fuel when able. As such I suspect that this is common on most civilian vessels not involved in supplying warships at the frontline.

Given the likelihood that they're using fusion rockets? I doubt they would be using hydrogen, largely because it balloons their ships far too quickly (1 metric ton of (liquid) hydrogen has a volume of 14.12m^3, (liquid) helium is 6.25m^3, liquid water has 1m^3, and (liquid) methane has 2.3585m^3... you can see the difference is huge here) and, as I said before, has a poor thrust-to-weight ratio when it is all said and done.

But it is cheap and require no strategic recources. It is bit like some freight ships during WW1 where still using sails and horses where still widely used during WW2, even for military logistics. Especially strapped for fuel Germany did this.

When you actually get into the nitty-gritty of it... hydrogen is expensive in everything else that matters. It's too voluminous (14 cubic meters is a lot) and the square-cubed law is a harsh mistress (meaning a ship has less armor than ships with more compact volumes).

Water is far more useful than hydrogen despite its mass.

[Sweforce]

Crossposting from the Loroi thread:

Given the likelihood that they're using fusion rockets? I doubt they would be using hydrogen, largely because it balloons their ships far too quickly (1 metric ton of (liquid) hydrogen has a volume of 14.12m^3, (liquid) helium is 6.25m^3, liquid water has 1m^3, and (liquid) methane has 2.3585m^3... you can see the difference is huge here) and, as I said before, has a poor thrust-to-weight ratio when it is all said and done.

But it is cheap and require no strategic recources. It is bit like some freight ships during WW1 where still using sails and horses where still widely used during WW2, even for military logistics. Especially strapped for fuel Germany did this.

When you actually get into the nitty-gritty of it... hydrogen is expensive in everything else that matters. It's too voluminous (14 cubic meters is a lot) and the square-cubed law is a harsh mistress (meaning a ship has less armor than ships with more compact volumes).

Water is far more useful than hydrogen despite its mass.

I was thinking of the fuel used by the humanity in the Outsider setting. It was not tanks full of water that blew up at the second hit on the Bellarmine.

[Mk_C]

Crossposting from the Loroi thread:
Given the likelihood that they're using fusion rockets? I doubt they would be using hydrogen, largely because it balloons their ships far too quickly (1 metric ton of (liquid) hydrogen has a volume of 14.12m^3, (liquid) helium is 6.25m^3, liquid water has 1m^3, and (liquid) methane has 2.3585m^3... you can see the difference is huge here) and, as I said before, has a poor thrust-to-weight ratio when it is all said and done.

The Bellarmine's main tanks would have been liquid hydrogen, fuel for a fusion drive.

[MBehave]

With outsider tech its in theory possible to store hydrogen at high densities.
need to assume artificial gravity follows normal gravity rules, its not a force and energy is not lost or gained in total its a zerosum system.

Storing hydrogen can be done by gravity compression, further the compression itself would represent an energy storage method for ships effectively a battery so even if main power is lost as long as the containment/gravity compression system is not damaged it would continue to function. With the gravity system allowing the hydrogen to expand to extract energy, compressing it uses energy, maintaining compression does neither as it isn't a "force."

The amount of energy you could in theory store in such a system would be staggering approaching 1:1 with fusion at near fusion igniting levels of compression.
Upper safe limit for hydrogen compression storage before fusion is about 40g cm/3, it could also explain why the Bellarmine blew up, losing gravity compression on its hydrogen tanks even at say 1g m/3(1 ton per m3) would be destructive.

Tiamat could actually be anti hydrogen stored in such a manner.

[Mk_C]

the compression itself would represent an energy storage method for ships effectively a battery so even if main power is lost as long as the containment/gravity compression system is not damaged it would continue to function.

Curiously enough, we know that the gravity control system on the Bennet-class is stoopidly robust - as Jardin, Kirkland and the rest of the damage control team are still walking around after the ship was cut in half, lost it's main power, air pressure on most decks, and even most of the emergency lighting.

[boldilocks]

the compression itself would represent an energy storage method for ships effectively a battery so even if main power is lost as long as the containment/gravity compression system is not damaged it would continue to function.

Curiously enough, we know that the gravity control system on the Bennet-class is stoopidly robust - as Jardin, Kirkland and the rest of the damage control team are still walking around after the ship was cut in half, lost it's main power, air pressure on most decks, and even most of the emergency lighting.

Could be magnetized suit boots.

[Dan Wyatt]

Imagine not expecting 2160 Disney to be an all-powerful interplanetary dominion holding more sway than the TCA, with the true secret purpose behind Scout Corps' TF-32 assignment being discovery of new markets to push Disney+.

Only the US version of crony capitalism allows for the trademarking of widely used 'words' and 'items'; try to do the same in the E.U. for example and you will be laughed out of the room. In the end the gamble may pay off for a little while because a lot of Disney's properties have been milked to death; Mickey Mouse and co are simply not profitable enough to bother even if the legal battles weren't in the way.

UK and the reality of Space Marines (tm) would like to have a word.

Mickey Mouse Death Squads

[Roeben]

We know what loroi smell like to humans.

What do humans smell like to loroi, equivalently?

Inquiring minds need to know.

[GeoModder]

What do humans smell like to loroi, equivalently?

To Tenoins hailing from Taben, low tide!

[Mk_C]

What do humans smell like to loroi, equivalently?

Like salt, ofc.

Yes, NaCl is odorless - for humans, that is.

[Werra]

According to many East Asians, humans often smell like milk.

[boldilocks]

According to many East Asians, humans often smell like milk.

Indeed, I have often heard east asians comment on this on those rare occasions when they happen to interact with humans

[jterlecki]

I was thinking, not every aspect of science and technology advances at the same rate. What would be the area of science and tech that humans are most advanced in?