So, there's this huge fleet bearing down on one of my planets, and the populace is in a mad panic. They're wanting to book a ticket on the next galleon heading out, but alas, there are no seats to be had. They want off the planet so bad that they want me to launch them at warp 11 via mass drivers.

How come I can't? Zoids are not AR - they're not afraid to fly.

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hmmm... interesting idea... could we not use this for suicide commando's?

Packet Physics suicide commandos:

you can load colonists in a packet... the result is a mass of bloody pulp arriving at the destination, but the mass would still be the same...

result would be a packet that is unstoppable by intercepting it with a freighter to take the minerals off the packet...

one ton colonist packets could be used via this method to provide with intel ....

go PP ....

(I'm an IT and AR fan myself, but this could be fun)

Sjoerd Hidde

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Well, I've been planning to do something like that with the Supernova RDL. Packet Physics won't be in the standard game (no mass packets) but I assume that the RDL "hooks" are still extant and they could be added back in with a bit of skill. Now PP could be able to send troop packets with a certain percentage of troops killed by impact and the rest invading (it ain't perfect) - in addition to standard packet bombardment. Now since there are no freighters, you'd have to make a way to intercept packets in defense - my thought is to make them attackable in battle as a ship, with hitpoints of say 100 per kiloton - so they'd be tough to kill but even if you didn't smash the whole thing you could destoy enough to lessen the impact. Also I imagine you could put components on the packet, ie shields, cloaks, or perhaps even weapons - but being unable to maneuver they'd have a hard time defending themselves if they were caught.
Of course all of this is contingent on whether Supernova gets released in our lifetimes and how verstaile the RDL actually is in respect to this. For all I know, Jeff might just love this idea and decide to hold up the game for another couple months to implement it - I promise I won't complain if so. He's been really good wrt listening to people's ideas (the practical ones anyway) and that's too hard to find these days in any sort of design/development field.

[Updated on: Fri, 11 April 2003 12:37]

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freakyboy wrote on Fri, 11 April 2003 00:08

1 Zoidian x 121 light years per year = huge forces applied to the Zoidian body. In other words launch them at warp 11 and they'll arrive embedded into the mass packet much like cars embed themselves into buildings if they hit the building at 121 miles per hour.

Bah, Zoids are immune to gravity, temperature, and radiation - They're hardy souls alright; they can take just about anything. A bit of rapid deceleration like warp 11 to zero in .0000016 nanoseconds shouldn't upset them too much. Um, that is if my mathematical equasion is correct.

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Steve1 wrote on Fri, 18 April 2003 10:43

....will convert them to hard working slaves for our Germanium mines....

Judging by the fleets of OBRM mining ships orbiting several planets, I'd say the noroMs should have focused their technology on ways to make their germanium mines more productive. Or, is that where the Zoid miners come in? Our miners certainly could show those lazy morons a thing or two about mining. Of course, such hard labor has rendered 94% of our population infertile. I guess that's why those virulent noroMs have such an aversion to working the mines.

Quote:

Your children and your childrens children will however have the same rights as all other noroM citizens. So please do develop the technology to packet your citizens our way - we shall welcome them with open mechanical receiving arms.

The LAST thing you need is more citizens! Jeez, the noroMs probably outnumber the rest of the world combined! No, we wanna packet them back to the more recessed Zoid colonies. They're...um, voters.

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zoid wrote on Fri, 11 April 2003 23:44

freakyboy wrote on Fri, 11 April 2003 00:08 1 Zoidian x 121 light years per year = huge forces applied to the Zoidian body. In other words launch them at warp 11 and they'll arrive embedded into the mass packet much like cars embed themselves into buildings if they hit the building at 121 miles per hour. Bah, Zoids are immune to gravity, temperature, and radiation - They're hardy souls alright; they can take just about anything. A bit of rapid deceleration like warp 11 to zero in .0000016 nanoseconds shouldn't upset them too much. Um, that is if my mathematical equasion is correct.

121 ly per year = 121 x light speed = 36,274,887,418 m/s
given it travels half the distant the first year, I'll give you 1/2 year of acceleration.
.5 years = 15,778,462 s
acceleration = 36,274,887,418 m/s / 15,778,462 s = 2,300 m/s^2 (2 sig figures)

1.00 G is 9.8 m/s^2, your colonists would endure ~234 Gs for about 1/2 a year. The surface gravity of our sun is 28 Gs. Perhaps it could be approached by the surface gravity of a very dense white dwarf. It is nothing close to that of a neutron star though. During the very short journey into such an body as a neutron star, objects or gases would begin to approach the speed of light. If you could live there... I would be most impressed

To accelerate or decelerate from or to warp 11 in a small time frame could easily exceed the forces binding atoms together, making it quite impossible to survive with anything that looks remotely like what you started with.

BackBlast

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BackBlast wrote on Thu, 01 May 2003 22:37

zoid wrote on Fri, 11 April 2003 23:44 freakyboy wrote on Fri, 11 April 2003 00:08 1 Zoidian x 121 light years per year = huge forces applied to the Zoidian body. In other words launch them at warp 11 and they'll arrive embedded into the mass packet much like cars embed themselves into buildings if they hit the building at 121 miles per hour. Bah, Zoids are immune to gravity, temperature, and radiation - They're hardy souls alright; they can take just about anything. A bit of rapid deceleration like warp 11 to zero in .0000016 nanoseconds shouldn't upset them too much. Um, that is if my mathematical equasion is correct. 121 ly per year = 121 x light speed = 36,274,887,418 m/s given it travels half the distant the first year, I'll give you 1/2 year of acceleration. .5 years = 15,778,462 s acceleration = 36,274,887,418 m/s / 15,778,462 s = 2,300 m/s^2 (2 sig figures) 1.00 G is 9.8 m/s^2, your colonists would endure ~234 Gs for about 1/2 a year. The surface gravity of our sun is 28 Gs. Perhaps it could be approached by the surface gravity of a very dense white dwarf. It is nothing close to that of a neutron star though. During the very short journey into such an body as a neutron star, objects or gases would begin to approach the speed of light. If you could live there... I would be most impressed To accelerate or decelerate from or to warp 11 in a small time frame could easily exceed the forces binding atoms together, making it quite impossible to survive with anything that looks remotely like what you started with. BackBlast

Wow! Lookit all them numbers and symbols and stuff! "If you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with BS." I'm not sure which category all this falls into, but I'm impressed anyways.

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Based upon our limited knowledge of ancient GST theory we have found gravity to be irrelevant with respect to speeds exceeding light. Forget gravity. Matter described in electromagnetical and gravitational fields makes it most difficult to travel at speeds exceeding light and therein lies your problem. How is it that you travel even at warp 10 without this primitive knowledge in the first place?
We have found that expanding spacetime is much better. The space vacuum is governed by an absolute time underlying the space-time continuum. Therefore no threat on causality by superluminal processes exists.
Our study of wormholes, tachyons and black holes has been the key to success. A simple wormhole whereas a shortcut is made by warping space (folding the paper) to connect two points that used to be separated. To achieve this you’ll need a ring of negative energy wrapped around the ship as the negative mass has negative inertia. Having travelled through many wormholes we know that speeds exceeding far beyond warp 10 are not only possible but historical. And our colonists have always arrived intact with no evidence of molecular splattering upon arrival. Although we have had a couple of arrivals that said they were looking forward to having lunch yesterday.

So forget gravity, gravity sucks. But then again there is the dark sucker theory which proves that dark is faster than light.

First, the basis of the Dark Sucker Theory is that electric bulbs suck dark. For example, take the Dark Sucker in the room you are in. There is much less dark right next to it than there is elsewhere. The larger the Dark Sucker, the greater its capacity to suck dark. Dark Suckers in a parking lot have a much greater capacity to suck dark than the ones in a room.

So with all things, Dark Suckers don't last forever. Once they are full of dark, they can no longer suck. This is proven by the dark spot on a full Dark Sucker.

A candle is a primitive Dark Sucker. A new candle has a white wick. You can see that after the first use, the wick turns black, representing all the dark that has been sucked into it. If you put a pencil next to the wick of an operating candle, it will turn black. This is because it got in the way of the dark flowing into the candle. One of the disadvantages of these primitive Dark Suckers is their limited range.

There are also portable Dark Suckers. In these, the bulbs can't handle all the dark by themselves and must be aided by a Dark Storage Unit. When the Dark Storage Unit is full, it must be either emptied or replaced before the portable Dark Sucker can operate again.

Dark has mass. When dark goes into a Dark Sucker, friction from the mass generates heat. Thus, it is not wise to touch an operating Dark Sucker. Candles present a special problem as the mass must travel into a solid wick instead of through clear glass. This generates a great amount of heat and therefore it's not wise to touch an operating candle.

Also, dark is heavier than light. If you were to swim just below the surface of the lake, you would see a lot of light. If you were to slowly swim deeper and deeper, you would notice it getting darker and darker. When you get really deep, you would be in total darkness. This is because the heavier dark sinks to the bottom of the lake and the lighter light floats at the top. The is why it is called light.

Finally, we must prove that dark is faster than light. If you were to stand in a lit room in front of a closed, dark closet, and slowly opened the closet door, you would see the light slowly enter the closet. But since dark is so fast, you would not be able to see the dark leave the closet.

Next time you see an electric bulb, remember that it is a Dark Sucker.

[Updated on: Fri, 02 May 2003 11:07]

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I know somebody that has entirely too much free time

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All the entirely accurate math regarding acceleration and the effects of g forces is applicable in the universe we find ourselves IRL. However, the Stars! universe obviously has a different set of Laws of Physics.

The acceleration effects described for the mass packet would apply as well for the acceleration of a space ship from zero to warp10. For that matter, the description of the acceleration deconstructing matter would apply as well to Ironium as to population. So obviously there are other, as yet undiscovered by us, laws of physics involved here.

My understanding of the Stars! description of warp drives is that they are inertialess. You go from here to there via skips through space, rather than through space itself, sort of like a series of directed WHs. Given this, I'm not sure why one couldn't load a packet with population and fire them.

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vonKreedon wrote on Fri, 02 May 2003 12:45

My understanding of the Stars! description of warp drives is that they are inertialess. You go from here to there via skips through space, rather than through space itself, sort of like a series of directed WHs. Given this, I'm not sure why one couldn't load a packet with population and fire them.

If they have no inertia then why do they do damage when they hit? Also, why do they do more damage at higher warp speeds?

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BlueTurbit wrote on Fri, 02 May 2003 07:35

So forget gravity, gravity sucks. But then again there is the dark sucker theory which proves that dark is faster than light.............................................Next time you see an electric bulb, remember that it is a Dark Sucker.

I really enjoyed the whole "dark sucker" theory, BlueTurbit. Very entertaining - I laughed my butt off.

You're "King of the BS'ers" in my book.

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Quote:

If they have no inertia then why do they do damage when they hit? Also, why do they do more damage at higher warp speeds?

Uhhh... well that's a darn good question, isn't it

The ways of the Jeff are at times mysterious, or perhaps simply not entirely consistent.

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OOMatter wrote on Fri, 02 May 2003 13:20

vonKreedon wrote on Fri, 02 May 2003 12:45 My understanding of the Stars! description of warp drives is that they are inertialess. You go from here to there via skips through space, rather than through space itself, sort of like a series of directed WHs. Given this, I'm not sure why one couldn't load a packet with population and fire them. If they have no inertia then why do they do damage when they hit? Also, why do they do more damage at higher warp speeds?

Yeah. And then there's those creepy little AR boogers. How come they start falling apart "due to the rigors of warp speed travel"?

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freakyboy wrote on Sat, 03 May 2003 03:45

The "Rigors" of warp travel relates to the dementia felt by all races who travel at warp speeds. While travelling at warp for some god unknown reason all races get this unstoppable urge to watch daytime chat shows like Montel, Ricky and other such tripe. Most races (with some training) can endure this torture for extended periods and as such they can survive such torment. The AR species is slightly weaker of mind and as such on occasion one will utter words like "you go gurl" and as such the other individuals on board have no choice but to shoot the unfortunate soul or they will poison the gene pool.

That was seriously funny, my friend!

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freakyboy wrote on Sat, 03 May 2003 06:45

On a secondary note... if light bulbs are dark suckers... are black holes dark blowers?

Yes, they are. Actually when you think about it it makes a lot of sense. After all if the dark suckers are sucking so much dark, how come they never just suck all of the dark out of the universe. I mean, you have all of the stars sucking dark 24/7 and yet there never seems to be a shortage of it. The reason for this is what you said, black holes.

Now you may ask, why do these black holes blow dark and not some other substance like, say, cheese. Well the answer to this is very simple. Becuase black holes are so unique (as Steven Wright said "Black holes are where God divided by zero") they need to expel a unique substance. Dark is the only substance unique enough to qualify, sadly cheese is just too common.

Now as I look at the list of smilies a thought pops into my head. The dark sucker is labeled idea. This is because when your brain is filled with dark you are not able to think properly. Therefore you need a temporary dark sucker to help you think. Thus, the saying actually should not be "a light bulb just came on in my head" but rather should be "the dark was just sucked out of my head."

Now I could go on for hours explaining the mysteries of dark but many of the questions that I would be answering are best left to profesional thinkers (or at least the terminally insane) and besides my brain is starting to hurt for the dark sucker is almost finished.

[edit: Sorry for pulling up this old topic but I just couldn't resist.]

[Updated on: Tue, 17 June 2003 23:04]

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