Print

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

[Parisbre56]

Why not shoot a device that can convert the entirety of the energy contained in the bluread battery into heat directed towards the target at the moment of impact or some distance before that, depending on the setting it's on? It would probably be cheaper than maintaining a magnetic field. It's like an explosive, but because bluerad doesn't explode on its own, you have to convert the energy contained within it into electricity first.

If you can reconfigure how the plasma will be converted and directed before firing, you can cause each bullet to behave differently. You can have armour piercing that direct the stream into a single point, anti-infantry that explodes into a wide cone, something that acts as a grenade, something that acts as a flare, etc.

You just have to compare it to regular explosives to see if it's worth it.

[Radio Controlled]

Why not shoot a device that can convert the entirety of the energy contained in the bluread battery into heat directed towards the target at the moment of impact or some distance before that, depending on the setting it's on? It would probably be cheaper than maintaining a magnetic field. It's like an explosive, but because bluerad doesn't explode on its own, you have to convert the energy contained within it into electricity first.

If you can reconfigure how the plasma will be converted and directed before firing, you can cause each bullet to behave differently. You can have armour piercing that direct the stream into a single point, anti-infantry that explodes into a wide cone, something that acts as a grenade, something that acts as a flare, etc.

You just have to compare it to regular explosives to see if it's worth it.

Yeah, but again, at that point it might be simpler to just let that bluerad shard power a laser with variable settings. True, you might not get a grenade function, but to cover that you can just use... well, actual grenades.

Not entirely sure if your method would be cheaper. It's an interesting idea, but to get those magnetic fields a container made with some permanent magnets can be used, don't think it'd be extravagantly expensive, compared to a system in each shell to convert the bluerad into energy. Dunno, PW would have to say, I'll try to check turn after this one (or you can, you're allowed to tinker as well now).

[Parisbre56]

Okay, sure, let's ask.

Hey, any thoughts about the following anti-armour weapons? Which one would you say is the most effective compared to its price?

1. An armour piercing gauss round
2. A laser that fires very strong but relatively short pulses. Each shot consumes a shell containing a small bluerad bead, probably combined with some coolant to take care of the heat generated by firing such a powerful laser, if a heat sink can't cut it.
3. A shell with a small bluerad bead that uses its energy to create plasma and direct it into an armour piercing jet as it hits the target, like a shaped charge. Either permanent magnets, electromagnets feeding off the bluerad bead or a combination of the two can be used to direct the jet, combined with the natural pressure its heat provides.
4. A shell with a bluerad bead that simply maintains plasma that is created by the launcher using a combination of electromagnets feeding off the bluerad bead an permanent magnets. On impact, it uses its electromagnets to direct a plasma jet towards the target.

EDIT: Irrelevant: Hexsand armour is good at blocking heat, right? So it could be used as some sort of heat sink?

((You could probably up the destructive potential of the plasma by using a material that also causes chemical damage to the armour, but I don't know if something like that is possible.))

EDIT2: 3 is kinda like launching those short range weapons Sean made for BSs, now that I think about it, with the only difference being that it's one time use only and uses a more efficient battery, so it should be a lot cheaper.

[Nikitian]

How big is the smallest (human) wetware AI capable of sapience and personality with barebone lifesupport and interfacing equipment? How much brain matter would be required? What price range are we talking about here?


Is it possible to confer superior animal reflexes through use of animal wetware AI (or possibly a similar spinal cord-based wetware system)? Provided there are synthetic (or hydraulic, or whatever) 'muscles' (of a robot body or an exoskeleton) connected to it, of course.

[piecewise]

I'm not sure we can make it really 'cheap' while still getting enough destructive power at lower levels. I'm leaning more in the direction of
anti-batlesuit weapon rather than anti-infantry for the moment, since a good laser or mini PSL or gauss design probably fills anti infantry better/more efficient. Though plasma bullets does sound cool, I must admit.
Maybe as an alternative to the gauss rifle or as alternative gauss/ rocket rifle/sibilus ammo.

And let's assume for a second that the hardware price and reliability for a plasma weapon are the same as for a good laser (which is generous towards the plasma design I think, but why not). Since a laser also works through applying heat (which is also the primary damaging component of a plasma weapon) we can then compare how much damage/penetration power you get for the same amount of energy (eg same sized bluerad shard) and determine if the slightly different damage type of plasma weighs up.
If not, we can just use a laser with same energy use and be better of. The point is that we shouldn't go for a plasma weapon because plasma is cool and exotic, but because it gives good bang per buck (or at least acceptable bang per buck, so that it having a bit different 'damage type' could come into play).

The problem with just using a shell is that the shell will break apart on impact, and the plasma will just erupt into a fireball. With a toroid magnetic field holding the plasma in a ring, the plasma won't scatter until the core itself is destroyed, and by then it'll have deposited at least half of its plasma into the target - that's not even accounting for the plasma itself spinning in the toroid. The aerodynamic shell is then simply designed to break - it is neither expensive like the plasma-containing one, nor a good source of plasma-resistant materials to the enemy, it's just there to stop the plasma from scattering to the winds.

Well, you are right that it would explode into a plasma fireball if it were just a regular container.
But as I alluded to, the idea is that while traveling, the plasma is contained in a (foot)ball shape, and once the shell hits it
cracks in such a way that the magnetic field lines form a thin cone to push the plasma out in a jet stream. Kinda like how in a
regular bomb the explosion goes everywhere, but a shaped charge funnels it into a focused jet. I'm not sure if it's possible to construct the
(electro?)magnets in such a  way that they'll create the correctly shaped field lines to concentrate the plasma and push it forward, but it
sounds much easier to build something like this than to get strong enough field lines to contain a plasma out of thin air (aka without an outer shell).
The shaped charge analogy is a rather apt one really, we could call it a 'shaped plasma charge' and it'd be pretty on the mark.

Here, I made some horrible drawings to illustrate the point. The lines show the magnetic containment lines, and thus how the plasma is shaped.
Note that after penetrating the armor, it might result in a spray of hot plasma everywhere depending on how far the field lines reach.
 ___
/     \
\___/


 ___   [
/     \ [
\___/ [



 __ [
|__>[
     [

 __[
|__>
    [

Hmm. This is a tricky thing, ain't it? The shell is probably the best alternative, but I have a sneaking suspition that it's gonna be pretty expensive and probably not that different in effectiveness or price over all. It might be better over all to ignore this as a technological dead end and focus on other, more viable technologies.

Yeah, I'm getting this feeling as well. However, if you'll humor me, I'm gonna look into it a little more. but if it indeed doesn't work out, I'm gonna drop it like it's hot.

So, going with the design layed out above for a solid shell to carry the plasma, what price range are we looking at here? Assume that the plasma is formed inside the gun, and then 'injected' into the shell, which is then closed up (a sliding lid or whatever) and fired.


Secondly, regardless of delivery system, how does the raw destructive power per kilojoule energy used of a decent laser compare to that of a plasma weapon

The "Stick it in a jam jar and throw it at them" approach eh?  Unfortunately there's a lot of very specific things this particular jam jar has to do. Has to hold the plasma, has to "break" in just the right way, has to be aerodynamic enough not to fly like a one winged turkey, has to be a reasonable size...I can't see it being reasonable with our current tech level.


I haven't a clue, smarty pants. The projector is our only plasma weapon and it's pretty much magic so we have no good comparison point.

Okay, sure, let's ask.

Hey, any thoughts about the following anti-armour weapons? Which one would you say is the most effective compared to its price?

1. An armour piercing gauss round
2. A laser that fires very strong but relatively short pulses. Each shot consumes a shell containing a small bluerad bead, probably combined with some coolant to take care of the heat generated by firing such a powerful laser, if a heat sink can't cut it.
3. A shell with a small bluerad bead that uses its energy to create plasma and direct it into an armour piercing jet as it hits the target, like a shaped charge. Either permanent magnets, electromagnets feeding off the bluerad bead or a combination of the two can be used to direct the jet, combined with the natural pressure its heat provides.
4. A shell with a bluerad bead that simply maintains plasma that is created by the launcher using a combination of electromagnets feeding off the bluerad bead an permanent magnets. On impact, it uses its electromagnets to direct a plasma jet towards the target.

EDIT: Irrelevant: Hexsand armour is good at blocking heat, right? So it could be used as some sort of heat sink?

((You could probably up the destructive potential of the plasma by using a material that also causes chemical damage to the armour, but I don't know if something like that is possible.))

EDIT2: 3 is kinda like launching those short range weapons Sean made for BSs, now that I think about it, with the only difference being that it's one time use only and uses a more efficient battery, so it should be a lot cheaper.

1. We got some o' those already.
2. Possible way to create high power laser in small package. Armor piercing capacity depends on what it is up against. Good idea for creating cutting laser level power in rifle size though.
3. Here's that fucking plasma shit again.
4.  MOTHER FUCKING PLASMA AGAIN!

Yes.


Fucking plasma.

How big is the smallest (human) wetware AI capable of sapience and personality with barebone lifesupport and interfacing equipment? How much brain matter would be required? What price range are we talking about here?


Is it possible to confer superior animal reflexes through use of animal wetware AI (or possibly a similar spinal cord-based wetware system)? Provided there are synthetic (or hydraulic, or whatever) 'muscles' (of a robot body or an exoskeleton) connected to it, of course.

About the size of a basketball, if you cram everything up in one area. And price range depends on several factors, including where you get the brain and their condition. The actual lifesupprt systems and AI stuff are well understood though, so those are pretty cheap.

Superior animal reflexes? Expand what you mean by that.

[Nikitian]

Cat Righting Reflex, for example (provided the body has the prerequisite flexibility - likely possible only with a specificly designed robobody, but still); and other cases where animlas have superior (to untrained humans) reaction time, agility, and so on.

Basically, I'm looking for a way to externally boost the Dex stat of the user. Since it's all too often limited by the mental ability of the user to be agile, rather than actual rigidity, sluggishness and inflexibility of the body (especially in the case of robo-bodies), then maybe a 'mentally-proficient' co-pilot could help with that?


Or, if the animals feature all to different and in-adaptable physiology, perhaps a less-than-intelligent proper piece of a well-trained human's brain could suffice? Since it's not about proper thinking or decision-making (or whatever makes pristine brain-meat efficient at space magic and other things), maybe it could even be cloned or bioforge-printed.

[Radio Controlled]

The "Stick it in a jam jar and throw it at them" approach eh?  Unfortunately there's a lot of very specific things this particular jam jar has to do. Has to hold the plasma, has to "break" in just the right way, has to be aerodynamic enough not to fly like a one winged turkey, has to be a reasonable size...I can't see it being reasonable with our current tech level.

Yeah, was afraid of that. Kay then, shelving it for now until either new tech emerges or I have an epiphany.
Note, if anyone wants to pick it up and continue working on it, feel free to!

2. Possible way to create high power laser in small package. Armor piercing capacity depends on what it is up against. Good idea for creating cutting laser level power in rifle size though.

Great idea. So, what is the highest power we could cram into a laser or gauss rifle sized package using a blueshard battery? Assume only a few shots (3-5 or so) and that it works in pulses.

Same question, but for a pistol sized weapon. Same parameters orherwise.

[Parisbre56]

How exactly does hexsand "eat" heat and energy? Does it cause heat to disappear entirely or does it simply radiate very little over a very long time?

I mean, could I do something like create a ship out of hexsand specifically modified to absorb all radiation and emit none/very little to create a stealth craft? Because if I combined a ship like that with a gravity/vector automanipulator based propulsion system, it would be virtually undetectable. You'd need to use the same method they use for finding black holes to find it (searching for missing/curved light or unnatural gravity). Would a "black hole" ship like that be possible?

[piecewise]

Cat Righting Reflex, for example (provided the body has the prerequisite flexibility - likely possible only with a specificly designed robobody, but still); and other cases where animlas have superior (to untrained humans) reaction time, agility, and so on.

Basically, I'm looking for a way to externally boost the Dex stat of the user. Since it's all too often limited by the mental ability of the user to be agile, rather than actual rigidity, sluggishness and inflexibility of the body (especially in the case of robo-bodies), then maybe a 'mentally-proficient' co-pilot could help with that?


Or, if the animals feature all to different and in-adaptable physiology, perhaps a less-than-intelligent proper piece of a well-trained human's brain could suffice? Since it's not about proper thinking or decision-making (or whatever makes pristine brain-meat efficient at space magic and other things), maybe it could even be cloned or bioforge-printed.

External methods of boosting the capacities of people eh? We've got something for that coming out soon, thanks to ARESTEVE. It's very good but situational. We're gonna install them in Joker Team when they get back.

The "Stick it in a jam jar and throw it at them" approach eh?  Unfortunately there's a lot of very specific things this particular jam jar has to do. Has to hold the plasma, has to "break" in just the right way, has to be aerodynamic enough not to fly like a one winged turkey, has to be a reasonable size...I can't see it being reasonable with our current tech level.

Yeah, was afraid of that. Kay then, shelving it for now until either new tech emerges or I have an epiphany.
Note, if anyone wants to pick it up and continue working on it, feel free to!

2. Possible way to create high power laser in small package. Armor piercing capacity depends on what it is up against. Good idea for creating cutting laser level power in rifle size though.

Great idea. So, what is the highest power we could cram into a laser or gauss rifle sized package using a blueshard battery? Assume only a few shots (3-5 or so) and that it works in pulses.

Same question, but for a pistol sized weapon. Same parameters orherwise.

Depends on two things 1. what is the size limit you have on the shard and 2. Does the rifle have to survive the shooting? A "Burner" rifle can be much more powerful.

How exactly does hexsand "eat" heat and energy? Does it cause heat to disappear entirely or does it simply radiate very little over a very long time?

I mean, could I do something like create a ship out of hexsand specifically modified to absorb all radiation and emit none/very little to create a stealth craft? Because if I combined a ship like that with a gravity/vector automanipulator based propulsion system, it would be virtually undetectable. You'd need to use the same method they use for finding black holes to find it (searching for missing/curved light or unnatural gravity). Would a "black hole" ship like that be possible?

For all intents and purposes, it does it via magic. And it just eats it.

You could coat a ship in hexsand and yes, it would absorb all light, radiation and electromagnetic spectrum waves. Which would make it pretty stealthy, assuming it's not using it's engines and throwing out a giant heat signature.

[Radio Controlled]

So, what is the highest power we could cram into a laser or gauss rifle sized package using a blueshard battery? Assume only a few shots (3-5 or so) and that it works in pulses.

Same question, but for a pistol sized weapon. Same parameters otherwise.

Depends on two things 1. what is the size limit you have on the shard and 2. Does the rifle have to survive the shooting? A "Burner" rifle can be much more powerful.

I'd like to know for the following four designs please:

1) a pistol that still can be fired one-handed, blueshard size so that it still fits into one hand comfortably and isn't too heavy to get a decent shot off. Shard would be in the grip (and maybe partly protruding into body, depending on how much space is needed for optics and whatnot). 5 Shots, can be reloaded.

2) a pistol that still can be fired one-handed (same size as previous), blueshard size so that it still fits into one hand comfortably and isn't too heavy to get a decent shot off. Shard would be in the grip and partly in body. 1 Shot, needs no reload (aka is destroyed after use).

3) a laser rifle sized weapon, shard a big as can fit into a stock or magazine size of an assault rifle or something. 10 Shots, can be reloaded.

4) a gauss rifle sized weapon, shard a big as can fit into a stock or magazine size of a weapon that's still wieldable without an exoskeleton. 1 Shot, needs no reload (aka is destroyed after use).

[Egan_BW]

Can I tinker if I don't have a character?

[Radio Controlled]

Can I tinker if I don't have a character?

Welcome! A (former) lurker, I presume? Either way, you can always just make a character (though right now there's a little something going on) and just have him tinker all day everyday.

[Egan_BW]

Welcome! A (former) lurker, I presume? Either way, you can always just make a character (though right now there's a little something going on) and just have him tinker all day everyday.

Thanks for the welcome!
I've actually been following ER from mission one, been feeling like joining for awhile but haven't gotten around to it.

[Parisbre56]

((@RC: Try a battlesuit/exoskeleton usable one next. Or maybe a one time use gauss rifle/cannon as a sort of extreme anti-tank weapon for use against one of our own battlesuits.
Oh, and you've got 3 twice.))

Okay, take a blackship-equivelant ship. A ship that can travel to other star systems and hold a few men (let's say around 6-10), equipment for them, communication systems, some weapons, etc. Then replace its armour with hexsand in the following configuration:

The red, green and blue things are hexsand. They can open and close as necessary to reveal sensors, engines, doors and whatever else needs access to the outside of the ship.

The design is simplified, assume it has whatever shape makes it easier to function. Or perhaps a shape that will allow it to fly better in atmosphere. It's not necessarily egg shaped.

With that design, only the plates that need to be opened are opened, allowing maximum protection and stealth for any given circumstance.

Finally, give the ship a self sustaining gravity or vector automanipulator or a combination of the two (whatever is the most efficient) that can be used in combination with the acceleration automanipulators (the ones used to allow the ship to accelerate to jump speed) to move the ship in stealth mode, without use of its engines. Make it at least strong enough to allow it to land on an earth-like planet without need to use engines until the ship is close to the ground. Stronger if I can get away with it.

Also make sure it has accelerometers/gravity sensors and that its flight computer is good enough to allow it to fly around without external sensor data to the best of its ability so that it can fly around while in stealth mode reasonably well.

Could we build something like that? Could our black ops teams use it? Any problems with it?

[Radio Controlled]

Was gonna work my way up, yeah. Also thanks for troubleshooting.