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[TheBiggerFish]

Because necessities are necessities.

[MonkeyHead]

Because necessities are necessities.

Then why limit it to two? Lets say a citizen earns "rent points", "food points", "entertainment points" and so on. Could be a good way to control a society in some kind of planned economy.

[ChairmanPoo]

ARISE O THREAD. THROUGH THINE WILL I BIND THEE ONCE AGAIN TO CORPOREAL FORM TO CARRY THINE MESSAGE YONDER INTO THE DARKLING SKIES.

So had a thought recently about a country with a split-tier currency, one reserved entirely for necessities, one for luxuries and controlled substances. Feasibility? Either nowish or in space-sovia.

There is was  something of that sort in Cuba back when I was there in 2005. Apparently it began during the Special Period, and lasted until three years ago. There are two currencies: standard pesos, and convertible pesos (If you're a tourist you will only get the second sort). Standard pesos could be used by locals to buy basic commodities, pay rent, electricity, etc... while convertible pesos could be used to buy more "luxury" items. Convertible pesos could be converted to cuban pesos, but not the other way around.

Post-script: reading on it on the net apparently they have been moving towards keeping only the convertible peso for everything since 2013

[Tack]

So the 'food stamp' currency dies pretty quickly in most cases?
Balls.

Life points seems interesting though.

[crazyabe]

PTW

[Tack]

Sorry buddy, necromancy is an ephemeral art. One cannot truly bring the dead back to life.
Having served my bidding this thread shall slump and return beneath the loam once more.

Also no idea why this is still called theoretical weapons when it's basically the forum hub of all speculative sci-fi.

[Insanegame27]

If metallurgy advances at the same rate from WW2 to modern (now) times, steel / alloys getting thinner but keeping strength, and at the same time, everything but metallurgy receeded back to WW2-era tech, how feasible would it be to have old school dogfights / old school tankfights / old school shipfights in 'le futah' as a focal point in a story? Also how far into the future before a tank like the Maus became feasible for mass-production with the weight reduction?


To throw a relevent reference from A Knight's Tale: "I've found a new way of making the steel lighter but retaining the same strength" (cut to image of Nike swoosh engraved on the armor)

[GiglameshDespair]

To me it seems unfeasible that everything but metallurgy would recede, but eh.

[Sheb]

Also, Maus and Ratte would always have the issue that the larger a tank is, the better target it is for bombers.

[Tack]

To me it seems unfeasible that everything but metallurgy would recede, but eh.

Call it alt-ww2, where metallurgy happened to develop a lot faster than everything else?

[Erkki]

Advances in metallurgy would effect engine and transmission tech at least... Jet aircraft would have came to use earlier(prior to war?), Allies wouldn't be behind the Germans in ammunition manufacturing, semi-automatic rifles would be used more and so forth.

Entropy makes sure you can always break things easier than protect them so Maus-like concepts remain fairly useless.

[Strife26]

Advances in metallurgy would effect engine and transmission tech at least... Jet aircraft would have came to use earlier(prior to war?), Allies wouldn't be behind the Germans in ammunition manufacturing, semi-automatic rifles would be used more and so forth.

Entropy makes sure you can always break things easier than protect them so Maus-like concepts remain fairly useless.

Survivability and lethality are always jockeying for preeminence. Armor has definitely been in the lead for more than one period of history.

[Erkki]

Survivability and lethality are always jockeying for preeminence. Armor has definitely been in the lead for more than one period of history.

Not what I meant... But even back in medieval times armor was mighty expensive and still didn't protect against some weapon types. Defensive weapons on the other hand have been leading many times, best example I believe are artillery and machine guns in World War I.

[Tack]

Another random idea needing proofing.
Basically a different planet has no natural iron, so they have incredibly advanced crystallography.
Wondering if crystalline carbon and silicon could potentially replace our standard wood, steel and cement, without any horrible structural issues.

[MonkeyHead]

Another random idea needing proofing.
Basically a different planet has no natural iron, so they have incredibly advanced crystallography.
Wondering if crystalline carbon and silicon could potentially replace our standard wood, steel and cement, without any horrible structural issues.

I do not think a direct swap is possible due to radically different materiel properties, but there is no reason why one could not envisage a whole different "school" of structural engineering that developed from the application of carbon.