Recent content by rinku

Power Shovel. Also, just because a shovel is a work multiplier for moving soil, doesn't mean it's one for moving regolith. Use the appropriate equipment for the task at hand. PICK and shovel, on the other hand...

As a point, as listed in High Guard, Ion cannons are not available in turrets, so you already have a limiter there for most pirates. Since they need a military grade weapons mount (Barbette or Bay), only those pirates with access to military grade resources would be expected to have them...

That is literally how they have to work. Potentially you could just have it as a stunt ability of Repulsor bays.

The radar is sending continually and the return signals are arriving continually, so you don't need to worry much about the outgoing signal time, even at longer distances. What matters is the time the bounce takes to return (or the passive EM signal to reach the attacker), the time it takes to...

Yes. That is indeed how shooting works. But too far away and a beam laser is just a big spotlight.

Archery is actually quite relevant here, since the issue with shooting at space ranges - even with lasers - is that there's an appreciable delay between when you see where the target was and when the shot arrives. It may only be a fraction of a second, but M-Drives shunt around ships fast enough...

I think a full dTon is excessive, given that the overhead for a fully functional breakaway hull is only 2%. Earlier in the thread I suggested 1 ton per 10 staterooms to make staterooms ejectable. Aside from "most commercial starships are usually 100D from habitation", the other situation where...

What, and pass up the opportunity for a memorable cloak room NPC? Never!

It's fair to posit that most regulations would be based around being within 100D of a populated world. Commercial starships are very rarely anywhere else.

Devil's advocate impels me to suggest them as primarily for those situations where proximity to the vessel is no longer good, such as a developing onboard radiation hazard. Rescue balls and emergency suits aren't normally equipped with much in the way of thrust; I could see a case for a one-use...

Pretty much no reason. The point is even made in the Starship Operator's Manual. In practical terms, the equivalent of lifeboats would be rescue balls and emergency space suits.

Actually, that sign probably should say "at no charge." There's always a cost.

That would be an average status joint. This was upmarket. ;)

Also, seen at an upmarket starport bar: "NO WEAPONS, NO BODY ARMOUR, NO VACC SUITS. Kindly check yours into the cloak room. Courtesy clothing in a range of tasteful styles and colours is available at no cost."

Janet: "I don't like robots with too many brains..." Frank: "I DIDN'T make him for YOU!" one song later Janet: "I'm a robot fa-aaan!"