2300AD, thoughts and wishes
- Thread starter Colin
- Start date
Colin
Mongoose
A nickel-iron asteroid, to be exact, impacting at about 20 km/s. 50m in diameter, hits the atmosphere with a force of roughly 2.5 megatons. Asteroid breaks up in the atmosphere, but is not significantly dispersed. Crater is about 1.62 km in diameter, and about 350 m deep. At 50km, the impact would have been felt as a light earthquake, with some blast noise. No thermal effects.
Colin said:
Why not have it just hit a (not too highly populated) region in France itself? That'd be about as statistically unlikely as it hitting the Sahara after all.
You sure about the damage though? That sounds about the same size as the Barringer crater in Arizona (a.k.a. "Meteor Crater"), so maybe looking that up would give more info.
Colin
Mongoose
Information came from the University of Arizona impact simulator. I had it hit in the Sahara so that it isn't a world-shattering (or at least city-shattering) event. It's fluff, designed to explain how the post-Twilight world started down the road to space exploitation and exploration.
Joi Sourcebook
Mongoose
This ticks all my boxes - still compatible with original version (for those who want to retain it) yet credible as a "real" future history. Excellent.Colin said:
Colin
Mongoose
Huh. A couple of well-placed strikes could trigger a doomsday scenario. It reads like "Dr. Strangelove":
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand?currentPage=1
(edited for complete failure at pasting a URL...)
http://www.wired.com/politics/security/magazine/17-10/mf_deadhand?currentPage=1
(edited for complete failure at pasting a URL...)
Colin said:
Assuming it worked. I read somewhere that estimates placed the readiness of Soviet ICBM and IRBM's (which dates the estimates to pre-the IRBM ban treaty) at about 30-50%, due to equipment failure, poor maintenance and lack of spare parts. Granted, even on their worst day, 30% of armageddon is still plenty to meet in a dark alley.
G.
More of a human in the loop failsafe. I find it quite humourous how the author goes on about the 'secret' - its pretty obvious actually - and security officials always deny knowledge not revealed in the past (duh). Not to mention that it completely ignores the reality of submarine-based platforms and the Soviet equivalent airforces. Uhm, actually quite closely mimicks U.S. doctrines = a threat is pointless if one knows one can call it without penalty. MADD doesn't depend on bluffing...Colin said:
As for accidently triggering a retailitory strike based on space impacts - the signature of an impactor is quite significantly different (in time impulse, wave pattern) from a nuclear one. Even without a human in the loop, automated systems would have to be (dangerously - think earthquakes) pathetic not to be able to accomodate this (not to mention lack of radiation signature).
And much more likely to have an impact (pun intended). Besides - no one else but France will care (national holidays may be established in other countries...).EDG said:
Colin
Mongoose
Moving right along...
2300AD has a power plant type of MHD Turbine. the way it's described in the rules, it's a hydrogen/oxygen-burning gas turbine with an MHD stage to get additional power out of the system. 2300AD also manages to turn it into a rocket by throwing fuel at it...
Is this feasible at all? It's cool, lord knows I'm a fan of jet engines in space... but would it work as described?
2300AD has a power plant type of MHD Turbine. the way it's described in the rules, it's a hydrogen/oxygen-burning gas turbine with an MHD stage to get additional power out of the system. 2300AD also manages to turn it into a rocket by throwing fuel at it...
Is this feasible at all? It's cool, lord knows I'm a fan of jet engines in space... but would it work as described?
Doc.Savage
Mongoose
Because during the late unpleasantness ofthe 1860's the last major demographic that were big tea drinkers, Southron Planters, couldn't get the real thing, so they made do with herbal tinctures heavily sweetened to hide the bitter. The war and the blockade ended, the preference for over-sweetened 'tea' remained.
Why were Southron Planters the last Anglophile tea drinking demographic? Something to do with the even earlier unpleasantries in 1812 and the 1770's. And a quite self conscious attempt to purge the general culture of specifically English (and therefore unpatriotic) memes. See Mr. Webster and his dictionary.
Why were Southron Planters the last Anglophile tea drinking demographic? Something to do with the even earlier unpleasantries in 1812 and the 1770's. And a quite self conscious attempt to purge the general culture of specifically English (and therefore unpatriotic) memes. See Mr. Webster and his dictionary.
gloomhound said:
Colin
Mongoose
2300AD modifies characteristics according to body type and homeworld gravity.
Here's ho I want to carry that forward into Mongoose Traveller
Body Type
Ectomorph -1 STR, +1 Dex
Normal
Endomorph -1 DEX, +1 END
Mesomorph +1 STR, -1 DEX
Homeworld Gravity
Zero Gee (0G-0.3G) -2 STR, -2 DEX
Low Gee (0.3-0.7G -1 STR, -1 DEX
Normal (0.7-1.2G) - -
High Gee (1.2-1.8G) +1 STR, +1 END
Extreme Gee (1.8G+) +2 STR, +1 END, -1 DEX
King DNAM +2 STR, +2 END, -1 DEX
So a resident of King who rolled 777 for physical stats would end up with B5A
Here's ho I want to carry that forward into Mongoose Traveller
Body Type
Ectomorph -1 STR, +1 Dex
Normal
Endomorph -1 DEX, +1 END
Mesomorph +1 STR, -1 DEX
Homeworld Gravity
Zero Gee (0G-0.3G) -2 STR, -2 DEX
Low Gee (0.3-0.7G -1 STR, -1 DEX
Normal (0.7-1.2G) - -
High Gee (1.2-1.8G) +1 STR, +1 END
Extreme Gee (1.8G+) +2 STR, +1 END, -1 DEX
King DNAM +2 STR, +2 END, -1 DEX
So a resident of King who rolled 777 for physical stats would end up with B5A
Colin said:
Do we really need that though? Why not go the other way and say something like "if you have low str and high dex, then you're an Ectomorph, if you have low dex and high end then you're an Endomorph, and if you have high str and low dex then you're a Mesomorph"?
Is it really even important to distinguish between the body types in the first place?
Lord High Munchkin
Mongoose
Somatotypes are fun! (OK they have been pretty thoroughly trashed in modern psychological thought—but are OK in a game).
Why not have them, after all there are "fashions" in the "non-hard" sciences just as in hem-lines (shoulder-pads still look stupid though).
I like them in 2300AD.
Bear in mind though that any gravity much above normal should reduce END as it is not good for the human body and frame.
Why not have them, after all there are "fashions" in the "non-hard" sciences just as in hem-lines (shoulder-pads still look stupid though).
I like them in 2300AD.
Bear in mind though that any gravity much above normal should reduce END as it is not good for the human body and frame.
Doc.Savage
Mongoose
Colin said:
I read an SF story once where there were turbo-scramjets that went from air breathing jet to ram rocket to pure rocket mode. If I recall correctly the turbine assembly rotated forward like a rifle bolt on locking lugs to seal the intake. Or something like that.
In the AH of the story the US and Russia are post war allies and both sides are trying to crack the problem. Us Yanks keep throwing money at overly complicated dilating irises to close the intake, and then the Ruskies say; 'why don't we close the intake like we seal the breach of rifle?'
I'm not an engineer mind, that description just stuck with me.
steffworthington
Mongoose
Nope. There is too little a defined border between Earths atmosphere and space. With either propulsion there would always be a problem of ignition.
Try here for the most practical current space propulsion system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ion_thruster
Maybe mesons... or better still (and more stable) my money is on photons:
http://www.eetindia.co.in/ART_8800480919_1800010_NT_502b5a91.HTM
theres also this: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-67656.html
Sadly I cant find the original article. Considering the leap of tech in the last 80 years.. I'd be surprised it were as conventional as petrochemically reactive thrust in 300.
:roll:Colin said:
MHD turbines work by the passage of a conducting fluid through a standing magnetic field, thus generating a charge. they are an alternative to conventional steam turbines for generation of electricity. One thing to bear in mind is that a fission or fusion reactor does not produce electricity - it produces heat. Most reactors heat up a fluid, which then heats up pressurised water which turns to pressurised steam which runs through a steam turbine to actually generate the electricity.
So, in an our theoretical combustion MHD turbine (or MHD generator) the fluid would be the plasma from the combustion exhaust for the H/O turbine (it could also equally be a standard gas turbine). You could then dope this up to use as a thruster and hook the turbine shaft up to a standard dynamo. The H/O turbine would work better for a spaceship, though, as you can run it in a closed cycle, cracking the water exhaust back into hydrogen and oxygen.
Liquid metal generators (MHD generator rather than MHD Turbine), using lithium or sodium, for instance, are regarded as more reliable for closed loop situations such as you would need for a starship.
I guess the key here is that an MHD generator is used to generate electricity much like a steam turbine is, to run a stutterwarp in this instance. You need a moving, charged fluid of some kind to get the generator running. This fluid can take a number of forms, and can be provided a number of ways.
G.
