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Author Topic: Einsteinian Roulette (Original Thread: Rules, Armory, Misson archive 1-11)  (Read 3946160 times)

Parisbre56

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13050 on: March 20, 2013, 01:41:17 pm »

((Some thoughts about the sector 3 anomaly:
Any peer reviews?))
« Last Edit: March 20, 2013, 01:48:37 pm by Parisbre56 »
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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13051 on: March 20, 2013, 01:44:55 pm »

But I don't suppose any of the HMRC people read the Magic:The Gathering novels, so you'll have to come up with an IC explanation. ;) ))

((If it makes you feel better, I know which book you're talking about.))
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13052 on: March 20, 2013, 02:03:35 pm »

((Some thoughts about the sector 3 anomaly:
Any peer reviews?))
((Lightspeed isn't guaranteed to be constant across an anomalous change in timerate. Just as normal physics are said not to work where relativity is concerned, so is relativity not guaranteed to work where pure changes in timerate - not those set about by relative speeds or gravity - are concerned. There is no scientific way to describe the behavior of light in these anomalies. If reflected light keeps its frequency on transition, but travels slower inside the anomaly, that would mean it becomes "compacted", losing speed but gaining frequency relative to the outside observer. If that is the case, anyone within the anomaly would only see light from any carried sources, because outside light would become "compressed" into ultraviolet and beyond spectrum, as time outside passes faster. To the inside observers, the "border" of the anomaly would be darkness, spotted with visible light converted from low-frequency radiation such as infrared. Only light from their own source would, to them, seem to reflect off objects - including objects beyond the border of the anomaly, because that light would exit as infrared radiation, bounce off something, then reenter as visible light.

It's quite confusing from any known conventional physics standpoint.

Also, I didn't seem to post an action.))

"Next time might not be survivable.. Hm, must be about that Zone Storm. Why do I have a sudden feeling that mapping this rock is going to be a much harder, and much less straightforward task that we anticipated?"

Go over to where the feeds from the current team are, hear their reports on the anomalies they encounter. Attempt to analyze and think of possible properties of the anomalies encountered based on the reports and results of the teams' experiments.
« Last Edit: March 20, 2013, 02:20:15 pm by Sean Mirrsen »
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Multiworld Madness Archive:
Game One, Discontinued at World 3.
Game Two, Discontinued at World 1.

"Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems."
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India

Thearpox

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13053 on: March 20, 2013, 02:56:23 pm »

((Some thoughts about the sector 3 anomaly:
Any peer reviews?))
((Grandmother died, and I am now even more tired, so sorry, no peer reviews from me.

What I can say however say about your hypothesis, is that it's wrong. Why? Coz our GM is an English Major, and if he says we have a temporal distortion, and that distortion does not fit in the dozens parameters you just outlined, then so be it. And that we could see the rocks move, but the laser slowed down, and the math doesn't work, simply means he didn't do the math properly. So yeah, space magic. Except it's the kind of space magic that really, really tries to follow physics. So we shouldn't treat it as space magic, but as, ahem... "Physics With Disabilities." Sorry if I'm being antagonizing, I really am.

And I don't think you should feel restricted by your low intelligence. It's been said over and over again that roleplaying is more important in this game than stats, and it's not like anyone feels restricted by a low speech or intuition. For that matter, I don't think anyone is concerned about Intelligence either. Vich, for example, has average Intelligence stats, but is actually smarter than me (or at least thinks quicker, he he he). At the end of the day, if you feel antagonized by your character's inability to do things, and it's not a physical limitation like a broken leg or being tired, you're doing something wrong. It's not to late to have character development!))
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PyroDesu

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13054 on: March 20, 2013, 04:59:27 pm »

((It's been said over and over again that roleplaying is more important in this game than stats, and it's not like anyone feels restricted by a low speech or intuition. For that matter, I don't think anyone is concerned about Intelligence either. Vich, for example, has average Intelligence stats, but is actually smarter than me (or at least thinks quicker, he he he). At the end of the day, if you feel antagonized by your character's inability to do things, and it's not a physical limitation like a broken leg or being tired, you're doing something wrong. It's not to late to have character development!))

((I must make a note here: I have massive penalties to speech and charisma, but I was the diplomat of the team I was in all throughout that last mission. Because I never let the dice decide what I said. Similarly, I've never let an intelligence score decide what I think. Much like speech/charisma, intuition/intelligence is an optional roll, if one at all.))
« Last Edit: March 20, 2013, 05:04:01 pm by PyroDesu »
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13055 on: March 20, 2013, 05:11:31 pm »

((Then again, it kinda sounds like an excuse to use them as dump stats. I made a character with decent intelligence and low charisma and speech because that's what the character is supposed to be, not because I can compensate with my own wordsmithery skillz. I pulled points from Dex to put them into Intelligence because the character was meant to be that way, and I'm not even a good roleplayer. :P))
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Game One, Discontinued at World 3.
Game Two, Discontinued at World 1.

"Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problems, but the world's problems are not Europe's problems."
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs, India

piecewise

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13056 on: March 20, 2013, 05:18:45 pm »

Team Blue
Flint Westwood - Blue Squad - Sector 3

We're gonna have to find a way to handle this since colors are limited. I'm thinking using a rather messy but effective system of labeling subhexes with numbers and then having a key on the bottom of the map. Since there isn't room on the map to add text to each little hex.
((Fine by me.))

@Simus:"Uhh, Canary Nest this is Blue Peafowl. Are you seeing this? Any idea how this could be happening? I'm no scientist, but I thought gravity and time were connected. Any suggestions for experimentation? The Wastes of Time is sounding like a perfect name for this place right now..." ((And, light changing speed should at least get refracted a bit, shouldn't it?))

@Bishop:"So, what do you say blue leader? Send in a drone?"

Unless Bishop protests, send a mapping drone to map the sector. Then continue marking the time distortion (with a different color depending on the effect if possible) and scraping ground samples (not too many, don't want to be carrying lots of useless dirt containers). If Bishop orders me something else, do that instead.

EDIT: Idea! Try to find the border between the fast and slow zones. Is it something gradual or a straight line? If it's gradual, could someone pass through that area? If I find the border, mark that area differently.

((Also, this zone would be incredibly useful for computers. I'll crunch the numbers tomorrow and see just how much faster/slower time passes in those zones. You think I could build a supercomputer like that by using a gravity auto manipulator?))
Which side did you want to send the drone into? Fast or slow?

As per the boundary between the two zones, it doesn't look like like it's a "soft" or gradient boundary, rather that it's just a hard change from one area to another. Unfortunate.


((Any reason you quoted only one of my posts? Can't say it had anything important, but still. And Piecewise, another question. When I post an action and you don't process it, as with the tablet*, should I assume it done or what?
* - I posted an action two turns ago to link the suit feeds of everyone on my team to my tablet.))

Vich: Team Blue

"Poles showed into the ground? That is exactly what I meant by saying caution tape with sticks. So... I'm still totally taking credit for this.(lighthearted tone) Command, I'm sorry, I didn't hear your answer."

"Yup, marking differently sounds good. And not only for the border. A different can, and with a symbol before the paint, perhaps? And you know what would really piss me off? If tomorrow this anomaly occupied some entirely different place after all the work we've done."

Still figure out the amount by which the objects are slowed in the slow zone. I can even do it by looking at which rocks that we have walked past have fallen. Mark the area around the fast zone differently then around the slow zone, by Flint (hopefully) giving me a can of different color, and by drawing non-phallic symbols before the line at moderate intervals. (Standing orders as we continue exploring the anomaly.)

If nothing happens with the drone, volunteer to be the one to enter the fast zone first. Don't actually enter it if Bishop does not approve it.

(Will update this to be more specific if it's approved.)[/s]
(try to consolidate your actions into one post by editing the first one, if you could. Not only does it limit the posts I need to comb though, but it also makes sure I don't accidentally skip over an action. As per your video feeds to the datapad, I didn't mention that explicitly because it didn't need a roll and really could be done by anyone at any time. So yeah, you can access them through the datapad now. Sorry I didn't make that clear.)

It's hard to say exactly how fast or slow the things are going, but the more you look at it the more things don't make sense. A laser shot takes a little less then a second to cover about 5 feet in that zone. Considering speed of light, that is a massive reduction in speed. Something like 980,000,000 feet per second to 5 feet per second. If that reduction were universal, a stone that would normally take something like, say, .3 seconds to hit the ground when dropped would take something like....carry the three...112 years to hit the ground.

But the first one that went in has already traveled half the distance to the ground in roughly a half hour. This shit is bananas, yo.


"So time is acting up without gravity giving a shit, whats new? I had to fight against a sentient and highly infectious SOUNDWAVE, so you have to kinda expect weird stuff, especially in places like this."

Bishop shrugs and looks and the way they came.

"I have to agree with not walking in this thing. It might be safer than the slow zone, but you could basically age years in seconds for all we know. Send a drone in if you can think of a way to have it avoid the slow zone, but otherwise, mark the boundry of the change and keep mapping the edge. If we find a way around on this end, we'll head back this way and map out the other side too if we have time."

Mark down the change and position of the boundry on my map and keep mapping and marking the edge with the others. Take a guess on how far and long we've been out here.

You mark down the two zones on the map and send the data back to the Nest. You'd guess you've been out for maybe two hours or so, walked 5 or 6 miles or so. Food and water supplies are holding up fine but a bit of a rest wouldn't go amiss.

((I'd also like to note that the brain doesn't react well to being "a little oxygen deprived"))

Help out with marking the anomalies and such

You keep wandering the edge of the zone, throwing rocks to see the effects. Eventually, you find one area where the rocks seem to drop to the ground as usual. Huh.




Team Green

follow lars.
"If it is ionization, that could be the source of the interference. Might also explain the radiation, but I am not an expert on that. Anyway, any theories on the planetoid? Where it can from exetera."

Mark zone with spraypaint, follow Lars, watch for other anomalies with weirdvision.

((The human body is quite fragile. Any extreme difference, be it temperature, pressure, atmosphere, is dangerous. Why shouldn't it be the same for temporal?))
Lars nodded as he heard the reply.  "Brothers, we have been given orders to route around this hazard.  We will explore it more fully at a later date.  Let us walk around it to determine its boundaries.  Mark it any way you can."


Start walking counterclockwise around the area, keeping to the border where radiation is just starting to get through the suits.  Mark the ground in any way possible- line in the sand, rearranged rocks, marking them, whatever possible.

head counter-clockwise around the edge of the radioactive anomaly dragging my pole along the ground to mark the boundary.
Keep the top end raised in front of me just incase there are any gravimetric anomalies in my path.


Lars and Co. Begin a counter Clockwise march around the zone, marking it's edge as best they can with stones, scratches in the stone and, probably more helpfully, on the map. It's a bit silly, really, since the bright blue glow is a pretty damn good indicator of "bad shit ahead" but whatever. As they march, it becomes clear that the effected zone may take up a large area of Zone 6, with greater distortion and radiation lying near the center and radiating outward.




Team Red:




Lukas gazes at the smooth floor and then at the distant lights. "Should we proceed, boss? I have a bad feeling about this, but I am really curious about those lights."

"This is only a reconnaissance mission, so we'll just mark everything on the map and keep going. We will send another team to investigate it in detail."

Mark everything on the map, send data to Simus and keep going along the smooth path (not actually on said path/ground).

Quote from: To Canary base
Miyamoto here. We've found a strange change in the terrain, this surface looks like it isn't something natural, it's much colder than the surrounding ground.. We're also seeing structures in the distance that appear crystalline in nature, and some sort of light. We'll mark it on the map and keep going, we'll be sending a follow-up team to get to the bottom of things later.


((Well then))
"might as well go see that thing on the horizon"
Go to thing on the horizon and investigate (bring the rest of the team though)


Miyamoto sends back the mapping data he's accrued so far, stops Corsair from walking into the effected area, and proceeds to travel along the edge of the flat zone, looking for anything new. It appears that the flat zone may take up most of zone 2, if not all of it. The team maps several miles worth of area but finds nothing significantly new.

Team Base:

((Some thoughts about the sector 3 anomaly:
Any peer reviews?))
((Lightspeed isn't guaranteed to be constant across an anomalous change in timerate. Just as normal physics are said not to work where relativity is concerned, so is relativity not guaranteed to work where pure changes in timerate - not those set about by relative speeds or gravity - are concerned. There is no scientific way to describe the behavior of light in these anomalies. If reflected light keeps its frequency on transition, but travels slower inside the anomaly, that would mean it becomes "compacted", losing speed but gaining frequency relative to the outside observer. If that is the case, anyone within the anomaly would only see light from any carried sources, because outside light would become "compressed" into ultraviolet and beyond spectrum, as time outside passes faster. To the inside observers, the "border" of the anomaly would be darkness, spotted with visible light converted from low-frequency radiation such as infrared. Only light from their own source would, to them, seem to reflect off objects - including objects beyond the border of the anomaly, because that light would exit as infrared radiation, bounce off something, then reenter as visible light.

It's quite confusing from any known conventional physics standpoint.

Also, I didn't seem to post an action.))

"Next time might not be survivable.. Hm, must be about that Zone Storm. Why do I have a sudden feeling that mapping this rock is going to be a much harder, and much less straightforward task that we anticipated?"

Go over to where the feeds from the current team are, hear their reports on the anomalies they encounter. Attempt to analyze and think of possible properties of the anomalies encountered based on the reports and results of the teams' experiments.

Red Team could be anything, not much to go on so far. Only real information is that the ground is extremely smooth and heat absorbent. Hard to say what that means. May mean nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Team Blue's anomalies are strange to say the least, and may be very dangerous. But perhaps, if they look around, they can find an area with a "normal speed" or at least someplace close enough to that so that it won't really matter.

Team Green is clearly someplace they really shouldn't be. If anything thats a place for a Full body robot, preferably Lukas since he's so much heavier and more armored and probably more radiation resistant. 

Try to determine whether the previous team already explored any of the areas the current team is.

If they did, they did it without their helmet cams on. There is footage of them sort of wandering around the base and the immediate area but they never seem to go very far.

PyroDesu

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13057 on: March 20, 2013, 05:32:45 pm »

((Then again, it kinda sounds like an excuse to use them as dump stats. I made a character with decent intelligence and low charisma and speech because that's what the character is supposed to be, not because I can compensate with my own wordsmithery skillz. I pulled points from Dex to put them into Intelligence because the character was meant to be that way, and I'm not even a good roleplayer. :P))

((Well, intuition/intelligence still do have a use if you want to use manipulators and/or occasionally want for a hint of dubious use from PW.

And if you've seen my character sheet, I'm not using intelligence or intuition as dump stats either - just speech and charisma, both of which are inherently undermined by the system.))
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Parisbre56

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13058 on: March 20, 2013, 06:15:58 pm »

Flint Westwood - Blue squad - Sector 3

((I've got to agree with Sean on that one. I have given him a background that justifies a bit of science knowledge so that it seems OK in character to say some things, like the time-gravity correlation, but making a small speech about conflicting hypotheses about alien anomalies seems a bit too much. Plus, it would feel like cheating. EDIT: And just so that there are no misunderstandings, I'm not saying that people speaking without speech skill are cheating. I'm saying that *I* would feel like *I'm* cheating myself, if that makes sense.

And, speech and charisma aren't useless. I would have never gotten that child drunk enough to sleep if it weren't for my charisma skill.))

"Kinglet 1 is in the air, I repeat, Kinglet 1 is in the air. Fly my pretties! Fly!" *evil witch laughter*

Throw some rocks sideways, so that they pass through both zones and see what happens (at least one going from the fast to the slow one, one going from the slow to the fast one and one hitting the boundary right in the middle). Send the drone to explore the fast zone. If the drone finishes up very quickly (or gets destroyed) move on to the normal zone and send a drone to explore that one too. EDIT2: Rest with Bishop while waiting for the second drone to finish.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2013, 12:00:57 pm by Parisbre56 »
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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13059 on: March 20, 2013, 07:34:08 pm »

((I try not to make Lars make too many logical leaps, given his 0 int, but I do sneak in a bit.  I rationalize his use of grandiose speech and big words through his background in public speaking.))


Lars held up his hand.  "Team, let us take a break.  This circuit shouldn't be too hard, but we shall take a twenty minute break, rest ourselves, and have a snack.  If you wish to test anything while you are here, feel free.  Please stay out of the danger, though."

Lars sits down and grabs a bit of a snack.  "May Steve bless our journey."


Rest for twenty minutes, then back to the path marking.
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

Thearpox

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13060 on: March 20, 2013, 09:56:56 pm »

Vich: Team Blue

((And from mine side, to make it clear, I was giving advice to Parisbre on how to roleplay Flint. I didn't mean to antagonize Pyrodesu (if I did), I was just using it as an example. The thing is, I'm all for having the stats reflect your character's strengths and behaviors, but I'm just saying that it's okay if they don't, especially if it's not somebody trying to meta-game, but simply change his roleplaying focus a bit in the middle.
I now declare this conversation closed! (Like that ever works...)

Did we map out the anomaly from both sides or only one?))

"The amount it is slowed by doesn't really make sense here. I've tried to determine by how much the time is slowed, and the rock and the laser data just don't match. The rocks we throw take about half an hour to go in, and the laser takes less than a second. I didn't think much of it at first, but if you do the math, if the rock is reduced by as much as the light has to be reduced to go that slow, it should take decades to travel that distance, not half-an-hour. Sorry if I'm not making much sense. It doesn't make much sense to me either, so it's a bit hard to explain. We might want to research what could be causing this when we get back.

Wait, Flint... WHAT?! Are you drunk or something?! Do you need a therapy? Or is it some elaborate joke I did not get? I haven't really socialized much since I lost my vision and until I got here, so I may be a little off. But....WHAT??"
« Last Edit: March 20, 2013, 09:58:53 pm by Thearpox »
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Not online every Friday evening till Saturday night. If I am listed as online, I am still not online, as my computer has an annoying habit of waking up to the tiniest distraction and then going off to sleep again.


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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13061 on: March 20, 2013, 10:12:55 pm »

Permission to futz with a drone sir?
I think i might be able to program the drone to fly directly above the center of the anomaly and record some images of whatever is there from a safe altitude above the radiation... the resolution is likely to be a bit iffy due to the necessary magnification but with a little enhancement we should get an idea of whats there.


write a new set of commands for the mapping drone telling it to fly over the radiation bubble and take sensor readings of whatever is there from several different magnifications before returning directly to its starting position.

If lars gives me permission, launch the drone and start writing a program that will enhance the resolution of any imagery and lidar data that the the drone returns with.
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Clearly running multiple missions at the same time is a terrible idea.  The epic battle to see which team can cock it up worse has escalated again.

And Larry kinda gets blueballed in all this; just left with a raging bone spear and no where to put it.

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13062 on: March 20, 2013, 10:41:09 pm »

Lars nodded.  "Good thinking, Brother Auron.  Please do."
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HMR stands for Hazardous Materials Requisition, not Horrible Massive Ruination, though I can understand how one could get confused.
God help us if we have to agree on pizza toppings at some point. There will be no survivors.

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13063 on: March 20, 2013, 11:45:18 pm »

"It's time for a bit of a break guys. Tell the cameras your thoughts about this weird shit and have something to eat and drink if you want while you rest. We'll get moving again in 20 minutes."

Find a good spot away from the distortion and take a break. Check the map for how far we've mapped in this zone and have a guess at what general shape the distortion might have. See if I can see anything weird in the distortion from here too.
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Corsair

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Re: Einsteinian Roulette: Missions 9: Anyone got some bolts?
« Reply #13064 on: March 21, 2013, 03:17:35 am »

Follow team
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So it was like a binary search, except the question is "Has the input been brutally murdered?", and it only ever returns True.
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