Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Yes

4 (14.3%)

No

1 (3.6%)

It was fun for a long time but towards the end it just started to drag

6 (21.4%)

I wish I could have joined in.

17 (60.7%)

Total Members Voted: 28

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

They were still augmented cyborgs, and the regular dwarves probably won't be able to tell the difference.

[WillowLuman]

I'd imagine there will be some tension on the issue, yes.

[Eric Blank]

They were still augmented cyborgs, and the regular dwarves probably won't be able to tell the difference.

Mate, the regular dwarves listen to us for everything, just because we're the only ones got a clue what's going on, or even literate. If I tell them that they need a massive cast-obsidian citadel to defend the fortress and 40% of the population needs to be working on it at all times, they don't even question it. No mind control, these kids just need someone to give them a clue what's going on.

[WillowLuman]

They came here, we are in charge, so they obey us.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Which fort scientist would have the ability to create a mechanical apparatus that measures the strength of an individual lifeform?

[WillowLuman]

I dunno. Which one took samples from me while I was KO'd? [Leaving that plot thread there for whoever wants to claim it.]

[Eric Blank]

Which fort scientist would have the ability to create a mechanical apparatus that measures the strength of an individual lifeform?

Are we talking tissue strength? Wierd probably knows some easily produced tools to measure the strength of a material versus different physical stresses (shear, tensional, melting points, etc.) Otherwise, I could easily make some galena barbells or something and ask the organism in question to lift the heaviest one they possibly can. If it's magickal strength, Wierd might be able to come up with something, too. Measuring the strength of any elemental magickal attacks should require only mundane equipment like thermometers and stuff.

But getting some sort of ranged sensing instrument ala Star Trek that you just point at something and it tells you what you want to know? I highly doubt it. You'll probably have to convince it to hold still or otherwise cooperate with you to test it.

I dunno. Which one took samples from me while I was KO'd? [Leaving that plot thread there for whoever wants to claim it.]

Not me; the only ‼BIOLOGY‼ I can really partake in is rawmancing. Highschool biology is the limit of my legitimate knowledge, anything else I may know comes with a disclaimer stating I got it from wikipedia and it may or may not be entirely correct. Dragon blood and teeth? Useless to me.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

They were still augmented cyborgs, and the regular dwarves probably won't be able to tell the difference.

Mate, the regular dwarves listen to us for everything, just because we're the only ones got a clue what's going on, or even literate. If I tell them that they need a massive cast-obsidian citadel to defend the fortress and 40% of the population needs to be working on it at all times, they don't even question it. No mind control, these kids just need someone to give them a clue what's going on.

Are we talking tissue strength? Wierd probably knows some easily produced tools to measure the strength of a material versus different physical stresses (shear, tensional, melting points, etc.) Otherwise, I could easily make some galena barbells or something and ask the organism in question to lift the heaviest one they possibly can. If it's magickal strength, Wierd might be able to come up with something, too. Measuring the strength of any elemental magickal attacks should require only mundane equipment like thermometers and stuff.

But getting some sort of ranged sensing instrument ala Star Trek that you just point at something and it tells you what you want to know? I highly doubt it. You'll probably have to convince it to hold still or otherwise cooperate with you to test it.

You got the wrong quote, Eric.  What I mean is mental strength, so I can know when Hugo is able to be detached from my mind.

[Eric Blank]

[Ah. Shit, I did click the wrong "insert quote" link... I'll edit that...

I don't think there's any legitimate way to gauge one's mental stability or brain functions, and we don't even necessarily have a psychologist on hand. But if stability and independence for hugo is what we need, I can transfer Hugo's soul over to some random object or golem or whatever, kinda like I did for Athel, then do the same for his draconic form such that he has two bodies he can use with a telepathic link between them both (which rocks if they're both ambulatory and have arms. He could use any old enchanted golem or construct.) It would prevent any degradation of his mental stability, keeping his personality and basic mental attributes constant for as long as he inhabits any or all of these bodies, but wouldn't hinder emotional or intellectual developement any. No build-up or accumulation of degradation or attribute rust either, so if he's unstable he'll only begin to degrade after losing the link to the enchantments and won't suddenly go bonkers after 30 years under the enchantment. He would essentially have a carbon copy of whatever mental components he's dependent on you for. Later, if we can guarantee his safety, we can sever the enchantments and he'll be able to develop (or rust) mental attributes as normal, and continue to use the dragon's body since he'd still be mortally linked to it.]

[WillowLuman]

Right now, it wouldn't matter what body I'm in. Without leeching off of Zanzetkuken, my paradox will self-correct and I will wink out like a candle. I don't have enough mental "mass" if you will to resist being sucked down the drain anymore. If someone else was willing to let me leech off their soul, I could be separated from Zanzetkuken, but eventually it would be best to find a way to restore myself.

[wierd]

Aerospace engineer mode *activated*!

Mechanical strength is measured in several different ways:

Hardness/softness
Tortion/strain
Stiffness
Modulous of elasticity

Hardness is usally measured with a tool resemblng a cross between a drill stand, a vise, and a lancet.  It's basically an electronic strain guage attached to a small conical diamond, with a hardened steel anvil below it.  The diamond probe arm is attached to a geared handle, like a drill stand's.  When the probe comes into contact with the tatget material, the strain gague's electrical resistance changes, letting the device know that force is being applied, and that the probe is in contact with the sample. Force is continually exerted until the target depth in the material is reached. The amount of travel of the probe, and the strain reading are used to derive the hardness of the sample.

A tortion test exerts mechanical twist on a sample. It also uses electronic strain sensors to dertermine the amount of tortional force in footpounds, until the sample starts to deform or shatters. A strain test places the sample in a vise with a fulcrum point, and exerts metered amounts of force until the sample deforms or shatters.

Stiffness is related to strain, but is not the same. Stiffness relates to the amount of force a sample is able to resist before mechanical failure (deformation or fracture) and still spring back.

The modulous of elasticity is the coefficient of the stiffness of a sample, and how far it deflects before stuctural failure.  (Think a bow. You pull the string, the bow flexes. A good bow takes a lot of force to flex, and can flex a great deal before snapping. This means the material the bow is made of has a high modulous of elasticity.  Its a kind of measurement of how much sustained load the material can handle before structural failure, and how much deformation it can handle and still return to its original shape.  A bow that flexes, and then stays that way isn't very useful.| you see.)


Now.. its been several days since I posted anything, and I've been busy IRL doing fabric dye process experiments on tshirts with my new airbrush... so, if somebody wants to make a reader's digest breakdown for me, I'd be much abliged.


(To give the basic idea of what each of those kinds of strength represents in a material, we will compare say, steel to high quality ceramic.)

In the hardness gague, the steel will move out of the way of the probe as energy is exerted faster than will the ceramic.  Steel has a moh hardness of around 5.  High quality ceramic has a hardness of around 7 to 8.  We don't use mos hardness in engineering, because its not particularly useful as a metric.  We instead measure hardness as a value in footpounds per square inch before the probe begins to penetrate the material, and a resistance curve for how much force is required for the probe to continue its penetration. Due to steel being ductile, and ceramic not being so, the probe will crack the ceramic sample before it penetrates, and will require far more energy to do so than it would on the steel.  As such, the ceramic is waaay harder.

In the tortional stress test, the steel wins out, hands down. The crystal structures that form in the ceramic have a stronger bond force, which is what makes it harder. It also makes the material fragile. Tortion stress will splinter the ceramic way sooner than the steel bar sample of identical diameter.

Similar story with strain.  The springyness of the steel makes it stronger in a strain test than ceramic.

Same with the modulous of elasticity.  Ceramic doesn't flex at all usually, while steel can flex a lot if properly formulated.

Ceramic is stronger than steel in regard only to blunt penetration, and sustained distributed static force. (A ceramic block under equal pressure will hold up more pressure per square inch than a steel block, before mechanical deformation. The low modulous of elasticity though means ceramic will have serious problems with fluctuating stresses, or uneven stresses. The strain forces would shatter the material.

Wierd's hazard suit is a composite material that tries to overcome material weaknesses with other materials that tae up the slack.

Glass fiber has a high tortion and strain rating, and a good hardness rating. This makes it flexible, and difficult to cut. it makes up for the inflexibility of the ceramic plates.  The PVC rubber has a low hardness, (made up for by the ceramic plates, and the glass fiber running ) but a very high modulous of elasticity.  The glass fiber and ceramic plates are not very elastic. 

The result is a suit with puncture and scratch resistant plates, a glass fiber infrastructure that resists being cut and torn, and a rubber like plastic resin bonding material that resists mechanical straining. What the suit is weak against is high energy kinetic impact. The ceramic plates will shatter. This reduces the suits ability to resist projectile and slashing penetrations.

Proposed upgrade to the suit would be to plate the ceramic plates with about 2mm thick aluminum alloy (say, 2025.) This would make the suit more resistant to crushing/blunt attacks, but the 2025 is weak against chemical attacks, like strong alkaloids and acids. (7075 is better, but more fragile, which negates the reasoning behind plating.


Now.. somebody please tell me what I would be measuring the strength of?

[Eric Blank]

Essentially we kicked the cyborgs' asses and learned that Clockwork was behind it. Oliolli still isn't known to be involved but I and Zanzetkuken both witnessed Hugo acting like a nutter after I knocked his shed over and ruined the cyborg production equipment, which pretty much spelled doom for him. He got pissed, came after me. Then Zanzetkuken came out of nowhere, threw Clockwork so hard he ruined every fucking level of my magma pump stack and smashed through the top 2 feet of solid stone on the lava flow into the semi-molten core where he melted terminator style, then put down the entire remaining hostile force with about 1% the effort that any other legendary warrior demanded. With a sword that shoots lasers. The rest of us are convinced he used some sort of time-control magic to accomplish the level of damage that our entire legendary defense force required an hour to do in only a second.  Probably just stopped time, beat on the 5 of them until they were dead and at that point he was completely and utterly exhausted (as we all were after taking down even a couple of them) and gave up. The remaining 3 cyborgs surrendered because "HOLY SHIT THIS GUY IS INSANE HOW DID HE EVEN DO THAT WE'RE ALL LEGENDARY WARRIORS!", so now it's all about cleaning up the mess and getting back on schedule. 25% of the population died (including the 20 cyborgs and 30 other civilians), and a tantrum spiral ensued.

Besides that battle, Gizogin decided that my entire mining team of 25 dwarves needed to be taken out of the equation so he created a side story involving radiation in the dining room they were digging out putting them all in the hospital and killing 5 of them. My assistant Cog and Athel McMiner are the only functioning miners right now. From that we got another legendary warrior - Cog Whats-his-name the adventurer.

And Mrhappyface decided to assault Jerry. It's assumed this is related to the tantrum spiral. Suggest you grab a hospital bed and bunker down.

Also, Hugo is no logner linked to Clockwork hugo, and is now linked to Zanzetkuken.

It's been pretty damn entertaining, really.

[Zanzetkuken The Great]

Hugo, you have control of me.  I would prefer to be off-plane.  More specifically, Alara, because that is where the storyline I am going to do is going to start.

[wierd]

Weird was tired.  And upset.

Why must every day that starts off good end so terribly? He was sure that god hated him.

First, Eric and his obscene misuse of magic. Then Hugo's alterego drops in, and kills so much of the fortress residents that everyone else goes on a tantrum spiral.

Hell was other people.

He'd had it.  Had it with the stupid broken ribs. Had it with the lack of personal weaponry he could use. Had it with the lack of bodily protection. Had it with the insanity pervading this place. And most importantly, he had had it with people ruining his days and making him so stressed out that he thought he was going to get ulcers and lose his hair.

He had lost pretty much all of his zombie minions in the scuffle, nearly all of them before they got even near the infirmary.  The ones that scuffled in were little burned crisps and smashed digits of what used to be kittens, spared only by their slow rate of ingress into the fortress.

At least they had kept those abominable cyberdwarves busy.

He considered the prospect of necrotizing the dead cyberdwarves, but given the current emotional state of the fortress, that was flat out not happening, and he chided himself for even thinking it.  Maybe he could help gizogin mass produce some clockwork droid frames for the dead, and coax roead into putting the appropriate spells on them.  The poor disheveled mummy has a furious demenor, and stood in the corner of the ever more crowded infirmary tapping a toilet paper swaddled foot anxiously.

Given the number of sick, injured, and dying people in here, he decided that it was not a good place for him to stay. Motioning for the mummy to join him outside in the hall, he waded through the traction benches and triage cots for the door.

The hall was a mess.  Dead zombie parts littered the hallways. Blood and goo were all over. It was a mess. His undead companion, now the closest thing to an actual friend he had in the fortress, closed in behind him, just as heated as ever.

"I'm sorry about the lack of ....sanity.... and proper decorum of this place. I think half the population is mad as hatters. The others? Clearly stupid for living here. Myself included. I'm sorry you got wrapped up in this.... er.... no pun intended."

The mummy went off on a tirade about dieing, being burued by incompetent yokels who wrapped him in toilet paper, being woken up by loud noise, being cut off from his bed by a cave in, and now nearly set on fire or worse by dwarves without any sense of caution of sanity.

Weird simply nodded in agreement.  Well. At least he knew why Roead had been bitchy all day now. At least if the weaver had finished his job (if he was even still alive was questionable at this point), there would be several bolts of glass fiber cloth waiting at the looms.

"I can't do anything about the stupidity and insanity.." weird said. "But maybe we can fix the wrappings problem, and see about getting you back into your room."

"Its a bloody start!" Raged the mummy, arms folded indigently.

Stepping over the blood and bodies, they slowly navigated the ruined hallways, finally arriveing at the workshops. Sure enough, 6 bolts of glass fiber cloth were neatly stacked in the corner of the weaver's shop, and a half finished bolt clung in the loom; a spool of glass fiber thread loaded in the shuttle.

He might yet get some good out of today.

The wheelbarrows used by the workshops to haul goods in and out were mostly smashed up from the commotion, but one of them at least was still servicable, and with a bit lip to silence the pain in his abdomen, he loaded the bolts and several bolts of standard ropereed cloth in, and pushed it down to the clothier' shop.

He'd probably have to make the support material for his new suit, and Roead's new wrappings by himself, but damnit, this "totally unprotected" bullshit was going to fucking stop. Tonight. Even if he had to plate Roead from head to foot in metal plates.  Raw adamantine cloth would be particularly amusing... well, at least the mummy would finally be buried in luxury. Too bad the fortress didn't have any.  Gass fiber with pigtail inner wrappings for comfort would have to suffice.

Arriving at the clothier's shop, he plunked his ass down, and set to work.

[Eric Blank]

Suddenly, Cog the Engineer ran past Wierd and the mummy, carrying many items including charcoal sticks, a large sheet of pigtail fiber cloth dyed white, a large stone slab with steel poles to act as a work bench, and a huge foot-wide, 3 foot long cylinder with caps on either end and a padlock on the upper one. The Map. Every map.

"Sorry. excuse me. Coming through!" he said as he slowly made his way through the hall. Navigating the sea of gore and dwarves demanded a skill of it's own.

Once he was inside the hospital, he and Eric unloaded the supplies and spread the cloth out across the table. Eric sat down on the side of his bed, "Thanks. Any new updates to the maps?"

"Just new galena and gem deposits in the second cavern layer."

"Alright, take a break or watch over the construction. Don't try to police the workers, though. They'd probably kill ya right now..."

Cog wandered out of the room and down the hall to the dorms. No way in HELL was he going topside to deal with pissed off masons on the catwalks. They were bringing one to the hospital right now on a stretcher.

Eric pulled out a survey map of the soil layers under and around the fortress. On it was listed an aquifer with a distinctly powerful flow in a sand layer to the north-east. Perfect for the power plants, and maybe even to draw water from rather than the cavern lake, which put the fortress at risk having the gate open. He took out the cloth and charcoal and started drawing up plans for a water reactor belt. "Water, water everywhere, and not one drop of it where we want it to be." He sighed.