Need some help with a plot device

[CosmicGamer]

Just a solar flare or solar flare with a coronal mass ejection?

I'm in no way a scientist. Wouldn't a nuclear bomb exhibit similar effects? Without more detail I don't know if fooling someone into thinking it's a solar flare and not a man-made occurrence works for you. I guess there's the possibility that a strong enough electromagnetic pulse from a nuclear bomb could cause the prominences to shift and produce a solar flare.

The Darrians toyed with producing stellar flares and thus stumbled on the secret of the star trigger and the flares devastated their civilization.

 

[Lemnoc]

Some stars are natural flare stars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare_star

Most stars seem to flare periodically and randomly, if that works. No addt'l player explanation needed.

If you need to induce a flare, a sufficiently powerful high-energy laser (x-ray, gamma ray) could probably induce one given enough time and focus.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

As Cosmic Gamer suggested, The Darrians. Outside of ancient tech, they're the only "Cannon" known civilization that's had the technological ability to mess with stars. If your plot involves a massive solar flare wiping out a base of some kind, or causing damage to a planet, then I would go with "stolen" Darrian technology. I'm not sure how mongoose handles it, but in some write ups the authors suggest that the Darrians have lost that tech, or simply had an ancient device and claimed it as their own). In any case it's either Darrian or "Ancient" tech. Other than a natural occurrence / freak accident.

 

[AndrewW]

I'm not sure how mongoose handles it, but in some write ups the authors suggest that the Darrians have lost that tech, or simply had an ancient device and claimed it as their own). In any case it's either Darrian or "Ancient" tech. Other than a natural occurrence / freak accident.

The Darrians don't have the technology, they did it once but have been unable to repeat it.

 

[Nathan Brazil]

Campaign 1: Secrets of the Ancients has one of the Sons of Grandfather (darned those kids) destabilizing a star roasting/sterilizing millions of sentients. The original text was free from Mongoose.
That's canon even though it occurs around -300000. Or it might be a Patrick Duffy Dallas season...

 

[phavoc]

Unless you've got a stupendously stupidly powerful device, you can't get a star to even feel a nuclear device detonation. You would probably have better luck accelerating to a % of lightspeed and smacking the star with a very large object... but even that might not even be felt by the star.

If you need a flare as a plot device, just have one occur. There are very few "good" reasons to be close to a star.. however if you need to 'encourage' the PC's, there are a number of scenarios that might work, such as:

1) the star is going through an elevated activity phase. the PC's ship has been hired by a scientist or planet to closely survey the star and the scans need to be done at close range.

2) the players are responding to a distress call from another ship, and are forced to come in closer to the star

3) the players scanner picked up a derelict falling into the star... a windfall if they can salvage the ship in time

4) the players ship suffers a mechanical failure and is falling into the star, and there is race to fix the ship, or get rescued, before they suffer radiation poisoning or the ship is destroyed.

the players might be delivering cargo or passengers to a planet close to the moon (like mercury is to Sol). that's a reason to get the players closer to the star for the other scenarios to kick in.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

I'm not sure how mongoose handles it, but in some write ups the authors suggest that the Darrians have lost that tech, or simply had an ancient device and claimed it as their own). In any case it's either Darrian or "Ancient" tech. Other than a natural occurrence / freak accident.

The Darrians don't have the technology, they did it once but have been unable to repeat it.

Depends on what the GM wants to do with it. GURPS, MGT, T20, and the others all have slightly different versions of the Darrian Star Trigger, history/lore etc... A good GM will use the 30 years + of pretend future history of this invented sci-fi/fantasy game to do what he wants. I gave the only other option on something besides "the ancients". Depending on what version of Darrian history you choose to incorporate into your TU gardensnake, Adrew is right and you can't use the Darrian angle. Andrew is probably one of the most well educated traveller game/lore/historians on the boards, but I simply disagree. Do what you want and have fun.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Sounds like an Evil Scientist plot.

Mad genius has developed a way to predict flares a few hours ahead and has decided to get rich, so he broadcasts a mesage saying pay my or I will make the sun go Nova, I will demonstrate my power at (insert time and day here).

Then at the exact second a flare goes off. How does the planetary goverment react.

Calling Mr Bashir.

 

[Lemnoc]

Well, again, you don’t have to go to the Darrians or Grandfather, but a flare device could probably be constructed at TL11. Build your positronium gamma laser and point it at the surface of the sun for a while. The extra joules are going to eventually wildly excite the nuclear process and boil into a flare. Probably would take hours or days of focus, but just point and click.

http://www.examiner.com/article/x-ray-laser-reaches-3-6-million-degrees
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228442.500-how-to-build-a-gammaray-laser-with-antimatter-hybrid.html

 

[Jak Nazryth]

Well, again, you don’t have to go to the Darrians or Grandfather, but a flare device could probably be constructed at TL11. Build your positronium gamma laser and point it at the surface of the sun for a while. The extra joules are going to eventually wildly excite the nuclear process and boil into a flare. Probably would take hours or days of focus, but just point and click.

http://www.examiner.com/article/x-ray-laser-reaches-3-6-million-degrees
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228442.500-how-to-build-a-gammaray-laser-with-antimatter-hybrid.html

Not sure what a positronium gamma laser is, but works for me. Maybe Lemnoc knows the secret of the start trigger! :shock: :lol:

 

[AndrewW]

Depending on what version of Darrian history you choose to incorporate into your TU gardensnake, Adrew is right and you can't use the Darrian angle.

Oh not saying you can't use it, just giving the Mongoose version. It's your universe you are free to use whatever devices you need.

If you want some rogue Darrian scientist recreating the experiment and testing it out on a star orbiting a planet he's mad at cause they denied him citizenship or something feel free to do so. Of course the experiment might be a failure and instead of causing another Maghiz.

Andrew is probably one of the most well educated traveller game/lore/historians on the boards, but I simply disagree.

Not sure about that.

Do what you want and have fun.

Agreed.

 

[Captain Jonah]

I'm not sure how mongoose handles it, but in some write ups the authors suggest that the Darrians have lost that tech, or simply had an ancient device and claimed it as their own). In any case it's either Darrian or "Ancient" tech. Other than a natural occurrence / freak accident.

The Darrians don't have the technology, they did it once but have been unable to repeat it.

Andrew is probably one of the most well educated traveller game/lore/historians on the boards,

Cough Cough

Are we talking about the same flying toaster here :lol:

 

[FallingPhoenix]

Well, again, you don’t have to go to the Darrians or Grandfather, but a flare device could probably be constructed at TL11. Build your positronium gamma laser and point it at the surface of the sun for a while. The extra joules are going to eventually wildly excite the nuclear process and boil into a flare. Probably would take hours or days of focus, but just point and click.

Seems to me that would have to be an awfully big laser... Of course, I'm of the opinion that given the size of your typical sun-like star, you could throw the entire earth into it at high velocity and it would barely hiccup, if anything.

On the other hand, if you're near a red dwarf or another star that's much smaller than your typical sun-like star, it could be a lot more feasible.

 

[Jak Nazryth]

I think if the Government balanced the budget and paid the debt to zero, that would cause a solar flare capable of wiping out all life as we know it.

 

[phavoc]

A nuclear device wouldn't work... but maybe if you created an anti-matter bomb, stuffed it into a shielded ship that you accelerated to a heft % of C, then slammed it into the star and before it vaporized it detonated under the service and caused a flare...

Or, maybe go a little low brow and just come up with a device that is able to manipulate magnetic fields and when its gets close enough to the sun it destabilizes a relatively "small" area of the sun and when a natural flare occurs the plasma is directed along the path of the magnetic field and is ejected from the corona in the direction you want it to go?

 

[Lemnoc]

Seems to me that would have to be an awfully big laser... Of course, I'm of the opinion that given the size of your typical sun-like star, you could throw the entire earth into it at high velocity and it would barely hiccup, if anything.

I think you are confusing powerful with big. Yes, undoubtedly an x-ray or gamma ray laser, focused for hours on solar plasma, would require lots and lots of power. But we're not talking here about blowing up a sun. We're talking about cooking up a plasma imbalance that can eventually erupt into a solar flare of some size. If you heated a patch of solar surface plasma to the heat at the interior of a star, it would feed on itself (chain reaction) and you would eventually create such an imbalance.

Essentially, a star is kept in a tight balance between its gravity collapsing inward and fusion heat providing outward equilibrium. Likely it doesn't take as much fiddling as you might think to generate a hiccup. A falling planet or a bomb doesn't have duration... and I think that's key.

http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v6/n12/full/nphys1790.html

 

[2330ADUSA1]

What I would do, since this is SciFi Game, state that a large probe the size of a Pinnace needs to be launched and with is a device that ignite some Undefined element (You the GM name it like Galatic Anti-Neutronic Flux) or (Proto-Matter) and then define the reaction as the following when detonated in the outer corona of a sun...!!!

It is a game and all the SciFi tech needs not to be explained in full...the point is the plot and fun factor, not the hard crunch of techno bable...that lets face it is stuff that no one truely really knows for sure if it would work or how it might work.

Just go with it Mr GM....Roleplay...it is fun...try a little