Recent content by Gentleman John

In the science fiction source I have read that uses TDX (James Blish's 'Cities in Flight' series), it is to do with the molecules in the explosive compound being 'polarised' so that the effects of the blast are maximised at right-angles to the local gravitic field. Whether it is something that...

I think it's going to be a while before things get back to normal. But, if they are going to have face-to-face games, I'll be there as I have been every other year. Online games, not so much. It's harder to judge reactions.

Given the latest news ... ? If they can sort out gaming space and games, I'll be going. However, according to the most recent infodump the Hilton is going to be shut for refurbishment, the con will only have halls 2 & 3, and they are not letting referees submit games yet. It's definitely a...

Marc Miller originally wanted Traveller to have an 'Age of Sail' feel to it, and decided to emulate this by having the main method of communications be limited to the speed of the fastest courier. You can change this if you want, but it will significantly alter the way the game runs, compared to...

If you're talking about Russia's attempt to emulate Project Pluto (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Pluto), then it's more likely that the recent incident was a failure of the propulsion unit. The Tory-class engines intended for Pluto were operating on the bleeding edge of materials...

And there were the sleeper ships that colonised the Islands sectors. That would support the view that low berths could be used to keep somebody alive for centuries at a stretch.

TNE mentioned people who had survived in low berths in automated shelters since the release of the Virus. So, we could be talking 75+ years here.

That's just life imitating art. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_KXgFpguE0

Perhaps something like one of these designs? http://www.astronautix.com/l/lunarflyers.html

You're welcome.

The ship - and the fireball - are essentially free-floating in space. There is no ground plane, merely areas of different electrical potential. Is the ship at a higher or lower potential than the plasma from the explosion (caused by vapourisation of bomb casing, unfissioned nuclear material...

EMP only happens if there is a sufficient density of molecules for the Compton Effect to be significant. Then you need a ground plane for the charge to drop to. You tend to get neither of those in free space. Of course, if you were to build an implosive field generator and mount it on a...

In the past I've toyed with various ideas on clones. At the minute I lean towards a model based on random recombination of DNA to ensure a variety in the supply of new citizens. But there's no reason why Friend Computer would not maintain a database of appropriate DNA templates. There's a lot of...

Although I'm sure they will paint it any colour you like!

Depends on the circumstances of use, really. With ground bursts the major detection methods are seismic and overpressure. With airbursts below a certain altitude, the effect radius of the EMP will be less than the effects of flash, heat and radiation. It is only above certain altitudes that the...