tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post1193063466766615278..comments2012-08-11T20:14:15.334-07:00Comments on Engineering a Universe: The Crongus Wars: Guncraft Diplomacy: Rough Draft Design of Basic Combat Spacecraft for HumanitySabersonichttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-65732140800198446732012-08-06T14:27:19.063-07:002012-08-06T14:27:19.063-07:00Well I figured that I should balance the cons to t...Well I figured that I should balance the cons to the pros of the technology in the setting, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullmetal_Alchemist" rel="nofollow">equivalent exchange</a> and all that. Figured that it'll actually make it seem realistic with minimal techno-babble involved.<br /><br />As for the near-stable FTL of space opera of this setting, allow me to direct <a href="http://cronguswars.blogspot.com/2012/04/there-and-back-again-hyperspace-dives.html#HWDS" rel="nofollow">this particular web article of Human Superluminal Technology</a>. Feel free to comment further there.Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-76072189899686827262012-08-06T08:13:09.905-07:002012-08-06T08:13:09.905-07:00I like the things written. :)
If it is an operati...I like the things written. :)<br /><br />If it is an operatic setting, are there FTL stuff?TOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07714038528716438776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-20791187372965412492012-08-01T13:12:38.531-07:002012-08-01T13:12:38.531-07:00Oh well it's quite simple really. Other than g...Oh well it's quite simple really. Other than greater kinetic impact compared to a neutralized particle beam of equal output and have a slightly greater Force Wall "cascade" that damages said systems, they aren't. <br /><br />They have an effective operational range that is effectively face-to-face in warcraft combat, are not naturally self-sustaining without an electromagnetic barrel extending from the physical castor, require actual "munitions" instead of just electrical input, don't cause as high an electromagnetic "burst" upon impact like particle beams, and are influenced by gravitational fields greater than particle beams (of course, I could be wrong on this one. No idea how much influence gravity has on said bolt when within the extended electromagnetic field.) resulting in shallow ballistic paths.<br /><br />The only reason why there are no neutralized particle beam point defense turrets upon warcrafts is two fold: The Particle Accelerator core layout has a minimal bore diameter that doesn't suit the kind of characteristics that would be required for a point defense turret unlike the Laser core layout. Additionally a localized neutralized particle accelerator turret, or even a charged particle accelerator turret, would be too bulky and massive for its role as point defense and would be a massive maintenance nightmare to survive them all. The plasma castor point defense turret, on the other hand, is much more compact in comparison.Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-47185295708250233822012-08-01T00:20:27.290-07:002012-08-01T00:20:27.290-07:00And why this plasma is better than a particle beam...And why this plasma is better than a particle beam?TOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07714038528716438776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-87930068439383279622012-07-31T23:36:06.765-07:002012-07-31T23:36:06.765-07:00Well Quantum-based computing does allow for the ty...Well Quantum-based computing does allow for the type of sapience emergence that many have feared would happen with conventional binary computing. And considering that the amount of computing power needed to keep spacecraft and starcraft operations routine would probably equal mass of not only the CPU but also the support structure, I can only assume that future Quantum Computers would be noticeably lighter than contemporary computer systems.<br /><br />Though now that I think about it, even if the warcraft doesn't become sapient it would have a different "experience" compared to a warcraft of the same model and class. Not exactly the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mentors" rel="nofollow">Mentor</a> in a story but it does have some interesting elements now that the possibility comes up.<br /><br />Still, any civilization/sapient species able to master particle physics enough to weaponize them as seen in the standard Space Opera should be able to have a Quantum Computer onboard spacecraft and starcraft, though considering the setting of this universe, much of the standard quantum computing technology utilized can't be easily micronized as in the Golden Age.<br /><br />And speaking of particle physics, the real differences between ranged plasma castors and neutralized particle beam cannon is in the generation and projection of said energy bolts. For particle cannons, the actual particle accelerator is stored deep within the warcraft in question and routed to the remote turret emitters for lack of a better term and are electrically neutral to reduce the electromagnetic bloom and maximize the effective range of said bolt. They are, in effect, self-sustaining. <br /><br />Point Defense Plasma Weapons are different in that the electromagnetic field extends beyond the physical barrel to keep the effects of Blooming from the plasma bolt until it impacts the target. Said electromagnetic field can only extend as far as a kilometer and the distance of said electromagnetic field between the castor and the target must be adjusted. Otherwise said target impacting the field at such high speeds, and with Force Walls to boot, would damage the mechanism. Additionally, the plasma generation equipment isn't stored deep within the spacecraft itself and routed to the turret but rather within or at least in extremely close proximity to it. The only thing critical to the Plasma Point Defense turret's operation, when it comes to generating said bolt, that could be stored deep within the vehicle is electricity. There have been attempts to store the hydrogen fuel and pump it into the turret, but due to safety issues <a href="http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/plasmaguns.html" rel="nofollow">they're just fed via hydrogen capsules not unlike a chaingun</a>.Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-35358209884714379612012-07-31T02:50:22.768-07:002012-07-31T02:50:22.768-07:00To be exact, such computer systems that would have...To be exact, such computer systems that would have to make such decisions as well as repetition and rapid fire calculations in one box would be borderline sapient and emerging sapience from collective experience is bound to come up eventually if given enough time. "<br /><br />Well, we connected millions of compus, and they didnt became spaient, as e-brains dont evolve like living beings.<br />While i still like old SFs like The Moon is a harsh mistress, that took this assumption, as a programmer i think its outdated a bit.<br />But of course future computers can have a different kind of mechanism, that can evolve, like quantum processor or whatever.<br /><br />Just for the sake of fullfillment.<br /><br /><br />Back to technical parts : what is the difference between your point range plasma weapon, and a neutralized particle beam?<br />SF plasma weapons usually take the assumption that they stay together like ball lightning for a long time, otherwise they are simply neutral particle beams.TOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07714038528716438776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-31908238665235397572012-07-30T17:42:10.488-07:002012-07-30T17:42:10.488-07:00Part two because it's apparently TOO long....
...Part two because it's apparently TOO long....<br /><br />To be exact, such computer systems that would have to make such decisions as well as repetition and rapid fire calculations in one box would be borderline sapient and emerging sapience from collective experience is bound to come up eventually if given enough time. The legal question would be if it is acceptable to enslave such an individual for the sake of war? <br /><br />For the Federal Earth Union of Colonial Settlements and Nations (FEUCSN), they're practically legally obligated to declare such synthetic lifeforms that have achieved sapience a "Person" for lack of a better word, even grant citizenship since it was technically "born" under the FEUCSN flag. Yet, the now sapient warship has no other skills to offer in the civilian market. Sure it could be converted into a civilian transport craft, but the loans involved in such a renovation of its entire structure could potentially place it into an economic slavery to pay off such loans. In short, FEUCSN Welfare can't handle a sapient warcraft.<br /><br />For both the United Peoples’ Democratic Socialist Confederation of Marx-Shaw (UPDSCMS) and Imperial Islamic Union of Extrasolar Emirates (I2UE2), it comes down to the natural paranoia of having a sapient robot, to put it simply, having access to that amount of devastating firepower at its command and not having a reason to wage war against those nations or worse, defect. In short, they can't afford the luxury of a Robot Uprising possibility.<br /><br />For the Frenchmen of Averon and by extension the Averon Alliance of Federated Settlement Nations (A2FSN), well....<a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BloodKnight" rel="nofollow">they're almost culturally indoctrinated to seek such "adventure"</a> the same way their pioneering ancestors had to during the First Settlement era. They don't run from danger, they jump into it with a smile on their face to prove that they are indeed worthy of being called Frenchmen of Averon. The well-to-do upper classes of Averon society <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BloodKnight" rel="nofollow">may try to fight honorably</a> but that is not the majority. In short, they believe that using an all automated AI-driven spacecraft to be beneath them.<br /><br />But to put it all briefly on the amount of automation: Though routine procedure and target solution is the domain of the computer, the decision to act still rests with the "Human" element of the crew.<br /><br />Besides, not all warcrafts can be fitted with a <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotTheWayItIsMeantToBePlayed" rel="nofollow">Playstation Millenium computer core.</a> <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Abandonware" rel="nofollow">They are rare after all.</a>Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-29644013380455666472012-07-30T17:41:31.582-07:002012-07-30T17:41:31.582-07:00Not exactly fully relevant to the blog topic at ha...Not exactly fully relevant to the blog topic at hand, but I'll take a stab at it none the less. Might be interesting in the end.<br /><br />Without invoking <a href="web%20address" rel="nofollow">Burnside's Zeroth Law of Space Combat</a> due to the fact that one of the blog tags include the words "Space Opera", I'll try to put in some in-universe rationale why a vast majority of the galaxy and by extension humanity have manned combat spacecraft. <br /><br />One rational is the formation spacing of each "Task Unit" within a constellation for lack of a more appropriate jargon and the light-speed lag it would have on real-time coordination and decision making. A savy enough author, and I strongly don't mean myself mind you, would have made a correlation between the distance one ship is to another and the effective range of its weaponry. Or to put it this way: tens kilometer effective weapon ranges <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StandardStarshipScuffle" rel="nofollow">don't equate to spacecraft in constellation being close enough to see with the naked eye</a>. In fact, it would make far more sense militarily to spread the spacecraft across a vast amount of space (no pun intended) to match the respective defense envelope of anti-warcraft and point defenses own effective ranges. Such distances would play into the light-speed lag just as well with enemy detection where split-second decisions cannot wait for a reply. A sapient crew would have to be on site as a consequence to ensure that the greater strategic objective is achieved that has been discussed with the flag officers and constellation general beforehand. And I can only assume that Force Walls play lovely havoc to sophisticated and complicated transmissions such as video or voice.<br /><br />Come to think of it, it's starting to sound a whole lot like Age-of-Sail thinking ala Horatio Nelson. Just without the whole "Broadside" and such....<br /><br />I can go on and on about a few hurdles that completely makes fully autonomous warcrafts impossible and that there will always be a sapient presence onboard, and to be quite honest I had a lengthy argument in my head, but there is one that I'm pretty sure few have ever considered: Legality.Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-19393941745256804132012-07-30T07:31:37.221-07:002012-07-30T07:31:37.221-07:00Characters and background world: it can be a nast...Characters and background world: it can be a nasty question, what tasks must be performed by humans, and what can be automatized?<br />For example, in the case of leading an attack craft, a humans physical presence can be rather a hindrance...<br />Generally, remote controlled units seems to be preferable.TOMhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07714038528716438776noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-16086106824921155052012-04-29T08:05:33.891-07:002012-04-29T08:05:33.891-07:00To be honest, I had characters for the setting bac...To be honest, I had characters for the setting back when I was mentally engineering the idea when I was a kid. However <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross?from=Main.SuperDimensionFortressMacross" rel="nofollow">the character archetypes were a bit bias at the time</a>, so over the years I figured that I should work out the setting first and then fit the characters in it. As a military-esque (my experiences on such matters were limited to the local Air Force JROTC program in addition to documentary conjectures) space opera with the backdrop of a galactic alien invasion, the kinds of stories are rather limited though I would like to think that their approach to problems would be similar to classic hard SF: they must figure out a way around a problem using the tools that are available and the restrictions that implies. That could range from the performance of an assault laser gun to potentially a race to relieve allies from a hostile attack.<br /><br />As for the political conflicts, well the ol' troupes of one nation-state believing that they have a solution to the problem that is counter to the alliance as a whole will probably be present though as per the galactic history of humanity up to this point, there are some old grudges due to imperialistic expansion of the previously mentioned empires and a nation-state formed to counter such expansion or at least be the final "line in the sand" kind of deal at the time of its inception. <br /><br />Then again, my next blog entry should be about, at least, the human superpowers that helped form the Galactic Alliance. Hopefully it should shed some more light on the astro-political environment of the known galaxy before the Crongus Wars.<br /><br />And what did you mean by "Finally caught up"? If you meant all those tvtroupes links, I kinda did put a warning about them.Sabersonichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11304850400062201271noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6323903258181732911.post-16320067654730960672012-04-29T07:02:19.294-07:002012-04-29T07:02:19.294-07:00Ok, finally caught up. I don't really have muc...Ok, finally caught up. I don't really have much to add to your set of assumptions. Nothing seems far out of place. The real kicker will be the kinds of stories you try to tell in the setting. Are the characters interesting? Do the political conflicts make sense? <br /><br />It seems like for most scifi, especially the visual stuff, they start with the characters and ignore the background. That mistake doesn't truly become visible until later in the show when things that should have been hashed out in the world-building come back to bite them in the butt.jollyreaperhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05673007647719726846noreply@blogger.com