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[Amperzand]

Yep. For example, I believe the plan with things like Orion was to accelerate at ~1G for a about year at either end of the journey, one to get up to speed, the other to brake.

[Rolepgeek]

As has been said here before, it's a lot easier to throw something down to earth than to throw it up at a satellite.
Have we talked about supersoldiers yet?
There's maybe one or two people in this thread who avoid the 40k series, but long story short the supersoldiers in that setting aren't reliant on bionics.
Actually, they're nothing but humans who've undergone some serious hormone and gene therapy just before adolescence, along with the introduction of a few redundant organs because evolution clearly screwed up in only giving us two lungs.

So I guess the question is, how out of the loop is this stuff? Is that kind of intense therapy able to e done to children older than Trimester-1, and how much would our bodies really be willing to take? Will we ever have real Witchers?

Space Marines are fairly reliant on biotics, and that's before the thousand to one failure chance for the most feasible applicants. Genetically engineered supersoldiets are likely to become real, but along the lines of a subspecies of human grown in vats or with artificial insemination than super puberty

[Parsely]

I don't think the public will allow the idea of humans bred to be soldiers to even be considered long enough for us to find out if it really is possible.

[Amperzand]

Strikes me as the kind of thing that would already be done by the time any civilian authority found out.

[Parsely]

Strikes me as the kind of thing that would already be done by the time any civilian authority found out.

And when it gets out, there will be widespread outrage. I see it having severe consequences if the country in question is a democratic one.

[GiglameshDespair]

Strikes me as the kind of thing that would already be done by the time any civilian authority found out.

It's not a five-minute job creating a huge lab, staffing with top scientists who feel fine ignoring the horrible ethical issues, and completing advanced, never done before research on creating modified humans to have super-soldiers that might not suffer crippling genetic maladies - if they're ever viable - in however many years, then wait for them to grow up.

There's a hell of a lot of difference it secretly dosing people with LSD and creating a new form of human.

[Tack]

Plus I mean once a ruling body has supersoldiers, democracy is kind of invalidated. Pretty sure riot control would be stepped up a notch in effectiveness.


Also RPGeek space marines don't have metal bits to begin with. All of their augmentations are fully organic until they start losing bits in combat. (Except the black carapace, but that's an interface thing).

But is there a reason why bioborgs would be better than Cyborgs? The time seems a lot longer, but they might be cheaper to produce.

[GiglameshDespair]

Plus I mean once a ruling body has supersoldiers, democracy is kind of invalidated.

Not any more than a ruling body having tanks, or artillery, or nuclear weapons, none of which ordinary civilians can match.

[Dirst]

Plus I mean once a ruling body has supersoldiers, democracy is kind of invalidated.

Not any more than a ruling body having tanks, or artillery, or nuclear weapons, none of which ordinary civilians can match.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the more generous readings of the Second Amendment

A bit more seriously, it's the military's loyalty that matters.  A million-strong "Present's Guard" is not the same thing as a normal military.

This cuts both ways.  A tyrant who misses payroll on his army is in trouble.

[Strife26]

I recommend the Cobra trilogy for anyone interested in decent mil sf where the political situation of super soldiers is important to the plot.

[chaotic skies]

Who needs genetically engineered supersoldiers? Put a neural processor in someone's head, give them access to satellites nearby, a large amount of drones, heavy (preferably powered, reactive or both) armor, and long-range missile batteries, and you've got yourself a hand-built supersoldier that can be recruited of the street.

Once you've got said supersoldier, you can also make a front company and sell neural processors (of a lesser quality, of course) to the general public. More money, more supersoldiers.

[Tack]

Sounds like you've just got a random dude stumbling around in his armor calling down strikes on places accidentally.

[chaotic skies]

Hmm...You would probably need to either teach him what the hell he's doing or figure out a way for him to download information, and give him some time to get used to having a computer in his skull, but the basic idea's still there.

[Dozebôm Lolumzalìs]

Plus I mean once a ruling body has supersoldiers, democracy is kind of invalidated.

Not any more than a ruling body having tanks, or artillery, or nuclear weapons, none of which ordinary civilians can match.

Perhaps you are not familiar with the more generous readings of the Second Amendment

A bit more seriously, it's the military's loyalty that matters.  A million-strong "Present's Guard" is not the same thing as a normal military.

Heil Santa.

[chaotic skies]

Heil Satan.

FIFY