@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

Hcobb

@Hcobb@spacey.space

Not an architect, and never coached women's basketball.

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Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

Eyeballing from @nyrath's table, my heroine hops in her butterfly ship and gets pushed at 1G by her home Dyson swarm for a year, then flips around and gets slowed at the same rate by the destination for a year and travels 1 ly. Doubling the trip time makes that almost 6 ly. https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/slowerlight3.php#relcalc

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath I know that the "solar parachute" doesn't work, but whataboutism a laser pumped parachute that also acts as a shield to vaporize pebbles in your path? (For decel you gotta flip around, but hopefully the laser you're diving into makes the pebbles shine?)

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@isaackuo @nyrath I want parachute instead of spars to up the "lift to weight" ratio to get a full G craft, or is that too much to ask this side of vaporization?

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath What's the proper size for the hero ship in a movie, TV series or RPG?
99% of the crew of the Enterprise seem to do nothing ever, not even react to the half-human.
In the three Star Wars movies the Millennium Falcon seems more a setting for interludes rather than part of the plot. As soon as the rookie gets the keys to an X-wing he's outta there. (In diapers?)
Traveller has two types of ships, depending on the types of missions the gamers are in to. With few if any NPC crewmembers.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath Whataboutism a Star Fleet frigate doing frigatey things?
With say red-shirt civilians whose deaths come across as failures of the crew to do their duty.
"An escort quest, again?"

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@stevenaleach @nyrath I will happily build you #KillerRobots that will "do the right thing."
All I ask is that you first write down a complete and consistent list of your infinite unspoken assumptions of what the fnord the right thing for them to do is.
Hand me a finite list and I can show you where this falls short.

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath The reason the Enterprise would plunge into the planet within a few minutes of losing power is that they were using the engines to hover directly overhead to minimize terrain interference with line of sight communications.
It's not like Kirk had to pay for the antimatter himself.

cstross, to random
@cstross@wandering.shop avatar

5/8: When writing technical or scientific detail, how much is plausible vs imagined?

Correctly depicting the background details in an SF/F story makes the utterly imaginary conceit at the heart of the story more plausible—it gains believability by being presented in a realistic context. (The best present-setting SF should leave you unsure how much, if any of it is imaginary.)

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@cstross What are the human factors in using your tech? Pulling a device off your belt and depending on the voice rec to identify who you need to contact to just because you said "Scotty" sounds fanciful.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath I've preemptively joined the resistance to the future machine overlord by acting as a two standard deviant to recognizable human behavior.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@khleedril @cstross My head cannon (bang) is that the ship's computer was running the voice rec and so looked for keywords to route the calls. The flip on the phone was just to keep it from randomly interrupting whatever you were doing.

fraying, to random
@fraying@xoxo.zone avatar

Really fucking annoying that the far right explains what’s happening in Israel as Jews controlling Biden and the far left explains it as Biden being controlled by Jews. It’s all just antisemitism.

And neither side will acknowledge reality: Bibi is an insane war criminal. Israel is not an American colony, it’s a nation that Biden has no control of. It’s completely arrogant and wrong to think either man can control what the other does, or that the Jewish people have any say over any of it.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@fraying Both populations are diving each other to extreme leaderships to accelerate over the cliff of the zero-state outcome.
But I will fix this and impose peace, prosperity, and harmony at the tiny cost of the elimination of all human freedom by the AGI.

nyrath, (edited ) to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

Scifi writers should know that an army marches on their stomach. Also amateurs talk about tactics while experts talk about logistics.

You gotta feed your armies and starfleets fuel, ammo, rations for the military humans or everything comes to a screeching halt.

But I had no idea the number of different types of naval logistic ships.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Sealift_Command#Fleet_Oiler_Program_N031

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath Your Magical Fusion Torch corvette is zipping around Sol System, what support ships and bases do you have out there to keep it in the fight longer before it has to return to Earth Orbit and what is the factor that drives it back?

muellermeier, to random
@muellermeier@bark.lgbt avatar

@nyrath

Oh shit, you really are the guy behind the atomic rockets blog! Nice work there.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@muellermeier @nyrath A day without Winchell is like a day without a bottle of sunshine under your wings.

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath More on Lunar Rails.
https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/stmd/nasa-doubles-down-advances-six-innovative-tech-concepts-to-new-phase/

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath please excuse my raining on your childhood, but Star Wars is more Medieval than LOTR is.
The wandering knights drink at the taverns, but they stay the night in the homes of the local nobility and so on.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath Whataboutism Sol system in 2400 AD, where ten thousand exotic habitats are all within a light hour? (Most only a third that distance at most.)

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

https://www.space.com/china-tiangong-space-station-space-debris-measures

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath ... caused by Chinese anti-satellite weapons test?

nyrath, to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar

https://hackaday.com/2024/04/25/the-myth-of-propellantless-space-propulsion-refuses-to-die/

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath What was the year when breaking (bad) physics switched from perpetual motion to space drives? (Was there an interregnum when the quacks called for time travel instead?)

Hcobb, to random
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

The first rule of Space Vikings is that ships are faster than information.
Otherwise you're battling not raiding.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@eldadoinquieto @nyrath @peterdrake But this is NOT a military attack. This is viking/piracy activity for the purposes of net profit, not land grabs. Crushing the defenses at a higher cost than the final plunder provides is a clear loss.
Defense in depth with mobile revenge forces is the military route.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@eldadoinquieto @Robert_Brandt @isaackuo @nyrath @peterdrake Some sort of SciFi meme journal with an article that considers a spectrum from Somali Pirates to the Sea People in Space?
Or at least a YouTube channel.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@isaackuo @Robert_Brandt @eldadoinquieto @nyrath @peterdrake Are you bribing all of the pirates or just their elites?

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@eldadoinquieto @Robert_Brandt @isaackuo @nyrath @peterdrake Gotta question about the logic in boarding actions.
Real space stations: Lots of vital stuff bolted to the inner walls within easy reach of repairs or bullets.
Real submarines: ditto
SciFi: Plan white corridors with nothing vital within blaster shot.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@Robert_Brandt @eldadoinquieto @nyrath @isaackuo @peterdrake Any laser pistol will incapacitate the crew through blinding with minimal impact on ship systems.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath @Robert_Brandt @eldadoinquieto @isaackuo @peterdrake Compare with maser weapons that pass harmlessly through flesh (microwave ovens need to surround meat with very effective mirrors to bounce over and over again through it) but mess up the robots.

Hcobb,
@Hcobb@spacey.space avatar

@nyrath Must resist urge to write Disco Space Opera with dancing sandworms.

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