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  #1  
Old September 19th, 2005, 06:10 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

Well actually I'll stick to my shields and accept I am going soft sci-fi in that field because I don't want to rip of Pournelle since i like his work and it seems wrong to rip off people who's work you like they did inspire me though since aside from the Harrington (gravity fields) it's the most unique shields I've heard of in sci-fi.

Although I know I won't be able to explain the "exact" physics of how the shields work since they defy our current knowledge of physics I'll explain just generally how they work (non physics department)

Hey look at it this way though as far as my beams that can create a mini fusion explosion that is actually possible I think I'm not sure though.

And you think I am going "soft" sci-fi there is a series involving some group called "The Culture" where they shoot freakin black holes at each other as standard weapons (I mean real full fledged black holes not mini black holes). Or so I've been told, it all sounds a bit strange to me.

Same thing with this group called the 5th Imperium (don't know where it's from just heard about them on the spacebattles forums) where the average ship is the size of a planet and where they shoot unbeleivably outlandish weapons at one another.
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Old September 19th, 2005, 06:59 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

"The Culture" novels are Ian Banks, who does hard sci-fi. Just because it's super uber powerful, doesn't make it soft sci-fi. You can, with enough power, do almost anything. Throw in very, very advanced AI and some more power and there are few limits. But that's the point, there are limits. Things that still cannot be done, at all.

It's the lack of hand waving and magical components or elements (dilithium crystals for instance ) and the consistency that determine hard or soft sci-fi.


For your story, a throw away line about how projectiles don't work (or work really badly) on the shields and don't pursue it, unless it's relavent to the plot/story. If projectiles work or not should only be mentioned if your main charcters (or minor ) meet an enemy who uses them.

I remember an Asimov book, one of the Laws of Robotics ones, which was awful for that. Plot and other points needed to be established, but it was done by characters telling each other what they already knew. Not all the time, but it wasn't good. However the ideas were new and interesting enough that it didn't matter.

In fact Dr A. is a good example, how the robots work just isn't discussed, unless the story needs it. Even then theres no (or little) extra detail, its distracting.
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Old September 19th, 2005, 07:10 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

Hey I don't use "dylithium crytals" or anything that "hand wavy"

For that matter I didn't put any "throw away lines" about projectiles in my story just telling you .

And for the most part I haven't mentioned anything "totally" unrealistic except maybe the shields but that's just subjective so you can't really just label mine "soft sci-fi" because you disagree with the one little bit about my shields and then turn around and say black holes being slung at people is 'hard' as that has to violate a whole lot more areas of physics then mine heh.
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When life gives you lemons take them and squeeze them in life's eye until it gives you the oranges you asked for!

"If men build things to look like our penis such as towers and ships does that mean female achitects represent women having penis envy?"
A line that made me chuckle, I can't remember where I heard it I just know it made me laugh.

"I'm not really a slapper....I mainly punch and gouge."
Tammy Lee my kung fu instructor/sifu's daughter when asked if she ever slapped a boy for saying something nasty to her.
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Old September 20th, 2005, 09:27 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

Quote:
Starhawk said:
Hey I don't use "dylithium crytals" or anything that "hand wavy"

For that matter I didn't put any "throw away lines" about projectiles in my story just telling you .

And for the most part I haven't mentioned anything "totally" unrealistic except maybe the shields but that's just subjective so you can't really just label mine "soft sci-fi" because you disagree with the one little bit about my shields and then turn around and say black holes being slung at people is 'hard' as that has to violate a whole lot more areas of physics then mine heh.
I didn't say you had put in any such lines, but it can be good to establish such facts before the action. It does look a bit Deus Ex Machina if during an attack the captain goes 'What are the chances? Those weapons do us no damage. That was lucky, we'd be dead otherwise.'

Before I start this is not personal. These points don't affect the story, it's science FICTION, making things up is the name of the game. I know what you're like, so take this in the spirit it's meant.

Flat out violations of physics in your story:

No those shields are not subjectively wrong, they're flat out impossible. You cannot magically kill an objects KE for less energy than the object has.

FTL, casuality and realtivity in the same universe don't work. At all. At the most basic level the paradoxes FTL would introduce are horrendous. Now as your opening warp points with happy abandon they aren't natural wormholes (which are 'just' local spacetime distortions and so sneak through) so that's a potential problem.

Admitedly you could be making wormholes, but that's highly dicey in and off itself. All you'd need is 'quantum foam' to open it and 'exotic matter' to produce 'negative energy' to hold it open. I'm not making those terms up the way (you couldn't ), they are hypothetical particle physics concepts. For instance 'exotic matter' is amazingly usefull stuff as it has negative mass, if it exists.

BUT if you had all the stuff that you'd need to do all that then you would be far in advance of the rest of the Icaran's general tech level. As in chucking black holes around advanced.

As your still working out what the I-lasers aresuspend judgment on them.

Oh and I'm pretty sure you have non-rotational artifical gravity, although I could be wrong on that one. I'm sure if I poked around I could find more, but I don't particularly want to I think that's enough to be going on with.

Ian Banks stuff however has a solid basis, it has however assumed that the hugely difficult has become possible, indeed easy. It doesn't violate any physics, it's immensly difficult, horribly expensive and requires horrendous ammounts of power. But it's not impossible and doesn't violate any physics we know.

Not knowing the details I can't comment on the throwing black holes, this is just based on his other stuff. However, off the top of my head, stupendous amounts of ultra dense material subjected to massive pressure would form a black hole. That's how they form in nature. Moving it around, well look at spinning black holes. The singularity inherits the angular momentum of the star it formed from. So just launch your large mass (3x a solar mass if your using self gravitation, less if your compressing it yourself) and as the mass races along and turns into a black hole it will inherit the momentum of the forming mass. So there you are, nothing in there violates any law of physics. But it ain't easy.
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Old September 20th, 2005, 09:36 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

Three words Use Edit Button

Oh and this stuff is all now being discussed in the "General Tech Question" thread so as not to clog this one up with this kind of stuff
My shields as explained there are probobly a lot more reasonable.

Oh and I did get a kick out of "no offense because I know how you are" that right there is like saying "I hope this doesn't cause offense but your a jerkoff" lol get where I'm going with that?
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When life gives you lemons take them and squeeze them in life's eye until it gives you the oranges you asked for!

"If men build things to look like our penis such as towers and ships does that mean female achitects represent women having penis envy?"
A line that made me chuckle, I can't remember where I heard it I just know it made me laugh.

"I'm not really a slapper....I mainly punch and gouge."
Tammy Lee my kung fu instructor/sifu's daughter when asked if she ever slapped a boy for saying something nasty to her.
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  #6  
Old September 20th, 2005, 09:44 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

You have been known to fly off the handle and take criticism badly. So I thought I'd pre-empt that.

I did read general tech questions, your shields are still utterly impossible. Also as the question was here, I responded where the question was.

I'm not editing that post, I stand by it.
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Old September 20th, 2005, 09:50 PM
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Default Re: A new Game story (From the begining)

Constructive criticism no [/i]nitpicking[/i] yeah a little bit.

Okay as I have stated it's sci-fi with a few thousand years more advanced tech then us so they may pull stuff against our knowledge of physics that's cool with me so if you really want to you can write a book taking note of every physical impossibility in my sci-fi universe if you want (still not all THAT many) -or- you can do that pesky little suspension of beleif deal that is very important to sci-fi and just read enjoy and maybe pass along the occasional correction to something that may be possible but that I got the "math" wrong on.

Now end of that so that I can actually have more story, because you may or may not have noticed I've added another chapter already today and want people reading that more than this

Oh and I meant edit button as in your double post so go ahead and stand by that if yah want lol
__________________
When life gives you lemons take them and squeeze them in life's eye until it gives you the oranges you asked for!

"If men build things to look like our penis such as towers and ships does that mean female achitects represent women having penis envy?"
A line that made me chuckle, I can't remember where I heard it I just know it made me laugh.

"I'm not really a slapper....I mainly punch and gouge."
Tammy Lee my kung fu instructor/sifu's daughter when asked if she ever slapped a boy for saying something nasty to her.
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