Print

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

[Tack]

Pretty sure this rust is pervasive and electromagnets and handwavium.
That'll need GM stuff though.

[Madman198237]

Quite possibly, though I suppose we can only wait and see what the GM does have to say.

Draignean, will a copper-clad sheet of rust-able metal survive a hit that puts a relatively small hole in the copper? As in, will the rust shield the rest of the metal from the air?

[Khan Boyzitbig]

Couldn't we use ceramic armour instead? A bit heavy sure but Kevlar can stop a bullet and other types can dissipate heat really quickly. Ceramics are good for frag/HE shells too.

[Madman198237]

Kevlar is not ceramic, and ceramics are terrible for ballistics.

[Khan Boyzitbig]

Oh yeah, you're right. Still we could use it as its not metal.

Either way there are other non-steel/iron alternatives for armour and weapons that aren't copper/bronze/tin/wood.

[Madman198237]

Like?

Ceramics are used in modern armor to defeat HEAT shells, so perhaps if the enemy relies on Aetheric weapons they'd be effective. That said, we use some pretty modern ceramics in modern composite armors. Anyway, a ceramic backing to a copper plate might prevent fires from starting on the wood as the copper gets heated, but that won't stop the crap from just dripping off.

[milo christiansen]

Why don't you like the idea of notches in the armor? It was literally just the word for "convenient place to connect something else" that sprang into my mind. It accomplishes the same thing.

I don't have anything against it, but the design I was talking about didn't have armor. I was pointing out that it should say hull instead.

Personally I think a armor-less hull that is cheaper and can have armor revised onto it later is the way to go, but I don't feel strongly enough to make an issue of it either way... Both are good, I just prefer the cheaper one a tiny but more.

[Tack]

Guys, we have vats that grow magic crystals.
If we're gonna use ceramics as a not-metal, let's make it a crystal.

It'll be expensive as hell, but at the same time I feel like a lore-breaker should be.

[milo christiansen]

Aetheric crystal plates! Small crystal plates that gather aetheric energy and uses it to weld itself to neighboring plates and boost its strength. Expensive, very expensive! But possibly very strong and quick to build new hulls.

Obviously late game only!

[Madman198237]

Crystals shatter.


Very easily.


Ceramics are a good in-universe method of protecting something from heat and HEAT. Not that we should be facing HEAT any time soon.

[Jilladilla]

Guys, we have vats that grow magic crystals.
If we're gonna use ceramics as a not-metal, let's make it a crystal.

It'll be expensive as hell, but at the same time I feel like a lore-breaker should be.

I.... Don't think it would stand up to physical impacts very well. And by that I mean shatter if anything solid looks at it funny. Some of the descriptions of our current crystals doesn't fill me with confidence of this being effective....

The main argument with trying to get steel is that it is in fact strong against physical hits, and its higher melting point should probably make it pretty darn resilient against lower end aetheric weapons as well (Unless it turns out that they super-charge the iron rot thingie on a direct hit... Then steel is more ablative against those... But we have shrouds for those do we not?)

[milo christiansen]

Well, crystal would be pretty good as *active* armor. Each plate would absorb aetheric energy and use it to strengthen itself. Probably not cost effective unless we have way more crystal than we need and armor is desperately needed.

[Madman198237]

No, crystals are too easily exploded. Let's play a more reasonable game, alright? We don't overreach for ridiculous techs and we don't make any more rash decisions.

[Draignean]

Draignean, will a copper-clad sheet of rust-able metal survive a hit that puts a relatively small hole in the copper? As in, will the rust shield the rest of the metal from the air?

No. Think of Iron Rot like an infection. Once it sets in, it will travel throughout the entire iron structure to a ridiculous degree- including typically stainless alloys.

(Draignean, How much can we use the Itshana Process while it's still in prototyping?).

As much as you like.

EDIT1:

....Hmm... Do we know if the shroud blocks lightning? As Madman's Taser Ballista idea sounds fun. Maybe it could even overload their lift crystal?

A shroud will stop a lightning strike. However, they will not stop a physical object from conducting energy through the barrier. As an example, a shroud effectively absorbs aetheric energy blasts, but webbing conducts aetheric energy through the shroud.


EDIT2: I'd love a tie-breaker between the two corvette models.

[Madman198237]

Great.

Second question, one I should've thought of earlier:

What sort of damage does Aetheric weaponry cause? Is it just the heat, or is there an impact associated with it?