Reconstucted Data(Temporary Sci&Tech)

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Author Topic:   Reconstucted Data(Temporary Sci&Tech)

BKK the Mentat posted 11-02-98 08:22 PM ET
To pervent a quick version of what happened to the sci&tech forumns, I'm restarting them here to regain interest.
BKK the Mentat posted 11-02-98 09:50 PM ET
New topic, mentats.
Wraith posted 11-02-98 11:07 PM ET
Well, this doesn't have anything to do with mentats, but it was in the sci/tech forum.
I did a bit of checking into railguns, and found out they do have some great prototypes ready. There are replacments for capacitor banks -- such as compulsators -- but they seem horribly expensive (one project uses 14,000 car batteries to provide the power insetad of a 'homopolar generator' and saved between 25 and 55 million bucks).
I'm still not sure about size of the power plant. These things suck power like crazy. It seems to take about 1 or 2 million amps per shot...
Rate of fire isn't nearly as bad as I expected. One project can shoot at 300 rounds per minute (for 12 shots, anyway). There's huge problems with barrel heating (namely the interior of the barrel giving off plasma, with understandable problems), and it may be a better idea to use coil guns. However, the coil guns require more complex high-speed computer circuitry to function properly.
Wraith
"Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time" -- Elwyn Brooks White
BKK the Mentat posted 11-02-98 11:14 PM ET
On the weapons note, I see a huge potential for particle beam weapons. A small particle acellerator ring would hold acellerated charged particles and release them in a short burst via liniar acellerator. Depending on the rate of dissapation the weapon could be tremendusly effective. Destroying or vaporizing targets several kilometers away in a single burst.
denain posted 11-03-98 11:40 PM ET
It strikes me that if you have a portable energy source that kicks out enough energy to power a particle accelerator or railgun, you might be better off just shooting THAT at your enemies from a regular gun!
Spoe posted 11-03-98 11:46 PM ET
Um, that's exactly what you're doing. You converting the energy from electrical potential energy to the kinetic energy of the projectile. Sorry to be pedantic, just call me the obligatory pedantic bastard. d:
Shining1 posted 11-04-98 01:02 AM ET
O.P.B (Spoe): Yes, but horribly inefficiently (as is anything using stored electricity).
As for rate of fire, a rate of 20 or fewer shots per minute would be acceptable, given the uses for a railgun (missile defense, satellite targeting, coastal defense). These things don't really need to hit more than once or twice...
BKK: Particle weapons could yield huge problems, especially over long range (where atomsphere is involved). As well, the lifetimes (as well as charge characteristics) of nearly all subatomic particles would effectively limit the choice of particle to protons. Helllo Ultra-Strong-Electromagnetic containment field (well, in order to store enough protons to be effective).
P.S I'm back
Heckler posted 11-04-98 06:46 PM ET
I heard about a project the air force was working on with solid propellant weapons. Shot something like 30 or 40 Thousand rounds a minute. At that rate of fire almost anything you hit would be swiss cheese. With the barrel heating problem in railguns why not send a dry pulse down the barrel to magnatize the plasma then another to sweep it out? Admittedly you would end up with an expanding cloud of plasma at the end of the barrel but it would be doing twice the speed of sound so you are proabably safe.
Heckler
Still waiting for someone to tell him how to do a smiley so he can show you all his witty comment
Wraith posted 11-04-98 11:50 PM ET
Spoe, there's nothing wrong with being pedantic (in fact, it can be rather fun).
Particle weapons do seem rather impracticle right now (unless you count light as a particle), and even at extreeme velocities most of them would decay before they do any good. Also, BKK, don't forget that they'd be direct-fire weapons. You couldn't hit anything you couldn't see, so your range would be limited by the Earth's curvature if nothing else.
Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapons might be another alternative.
Anyway, to finaly say something about mentatics, I doubt it'd happen by AC time. Even in the Dune books it was only developed after some disaster stopped everyone from relying on electronics. There simply isn't enough pressure for people to train their minds to mentat extents when they can get the answer in a few seconds from a calculator.
Wraith
"'E's fighting in there!" he stuttered, grabbing the captain's arm.
"All by himself?" said the captain.
"No, with everyone!" shouted Nobby, hopping from one foot to the other.
-- (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)
Heckler posted 11-05-98 08:46 AM ET
I read Dune recently it wasn't a disaster it was a war. Evidently someone nasty had been using advanced robotics to oppress the populus of the galaxy and the people rose in revolt. Of course as a result all electronic emulations of a human mind were outlawed so poof there go computers and thus the mentats were developed.
However unless I remember incorrectly they also were a small subset of humanity that were able to hone their faculties to such a degree. "Normal" people were smarter because of the lack of computers but the mentats were still very rare.
However it could be possible in ac to make such a thing if advanced bio-engineering is availiable during the game. Simply ignore computer science and work on growing the best brains you can.
Heckler
HAHA I fooled you all there is no witty comment! hehehe
Roland posted 11-05-98 09:12 AM ET
Darn, and I had been waiting for just that witty comment...
Heckler posted 11-06-98 06:16 AM ET
Regarding particle accelerator weapons
You wouldnt have to keep a massive supply of protons on hand you could harvest them (though you would need some source). A better weapon would be a railgun but to keep barrel heating down you fire rings instead of solid shot. Wouldn't do as much damage but would allow for more airflow and thus keep things cooler.
Lastly what would be the best weapon for bombarding an enemy? Couple of ideas
Neutronium spheres (just toss them out the back of the ship and wait for the impact)
Pulsed Lasers - Orbital Nukes designed to pour all their energy into a massive x-ray laser strike against the target
Biologicals - Particularly nasty stuff
Silicon based virus - Infects hardware and building components
Pheremone - Exact copy of the Brainworm mating pheremone calls all brainworms within a large radius
and lastly grab a handy asteroid and toss it at whoever is ticking you off.
Heckler
Anyone know how realistic the tech will be kept? Will they have stuff that is currently thought impossible or use things that should be possible but no one knows how?
BKK the Mentat posted 11-08-98 08:00 PM ET
Descriptions of every damn non-projectile weapon I can think of.
Particle Accelerator Cannon:basicly as above a weapon designed to fire a highly concentrated beam of electricly charged particles via an acceleretor and powered by a set of capacitors.
Pros:Incredibly destuctive and accurite
Cons:Eats energy for breakfast,limited range in atmoshere.
X-ray Laser:X-rays from a low yield nuke are chaleled by a carbon lasing rod into a dense beam.
Pros:Highly destructive,little dissapation of beam.
Cons:can only be used once,unecenomical
Eximer Laser:An electron beam is used to ecite diatomic Chlorine molocules, producing a pulsed laser beam.
Pros:Can be used for long duration
Cons:not very efficent,expensive,not too much of a bang for your buck.
Chemical laser:Simple reactions of chemicals such as SodiumHydroxide produce a laser beam
Pros:Simple but effective
Cons:Low yield
Heckler posted 11-09-98 08:49 AM ET
BKK one more
Sonics - Using ultrasound (dont ask me about unidirectional beam I'm still thinking) a pulse of very high enery sound waves is sent at the target
Pros - Very effective underwater unlike most lasers
Cons - Energy requirements would be rather high and could be countered easily if your freqency is discovered.
Heckler
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Author	Topic: Reconstucted Data(Temporary Sci&Tech)
BKK the Mentat	posted 11-02-98 08:22 PM ET To pervent a quick version of what happened to the sci&tech forumns, I'm restarting them here to regain interest.
BKK the Mentat	posted 11-02-98 09:50 PM ET New topic, mentats.
Wraith	posted 11-02-98 11:07 PM ET Well, this doesn't have anything to do with mentats, but it was in the sci/tech forum. I did a bit of checking into railguns, and found out they do have some great prototypes ready. There are replacments for capacitor banks -- such as compulsators -- but they seem horribly expensive (one project uses 14,000 car batteries to provide the power insetad of a 'homopolar generator' and saved between 25 and 55 million bucks). I'm still not sure about size of the power plant. These things suck power like crazy. It seems to take about 1 or 2 million amps per shot... Rate of fire isn't nearly as bad as I expected. One project can shoot at 300 rounds per minute (for 12 shots, anyway). There's huge problems with barrel heating (namely the interior of the barrel giving off plasma, with understandable problems), and it may be a better idea to use coil guns. However, the coil guns require more complex high-speed computer circuitry to function properly. Wraith "Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half the people are right more than half the time" -- Elwyn Brooks White
BKK the Mentat	posted 11-02-98 11:14 PM ET On the weapons note, I see a huge potential for particle beam weapons. A small particle acellerator ring would hold acellerated charged particles and release them in a short burst via liniar acellerator. Depending on the rate of dissapation the weapon could be tremendusly effective. Destroying or vaporizing targets several kilometers away in a single burst.
denain	posted 11-03-98 11:40 PM ET It strikes me that if you have a portable energy source that kicks out enough energy to power a particle accelerator or railgun, you might be better off just shooting THAT at your enemies from a regular gun!
Spoe	posted 11-03-98 11:46 PM ET Um, that's exactly what you're doing. You converting the energy from electrical potential energy to the kinetic energy of the projectile. Sorry to be pedantic, just call me the obligatory pedantic bastard. d:
Shining1	posted 11-04-98 01:02 AM ET O.P.B (Spoe): Yes, but horribly inefficiently (as is anything using stored electricity). As for rate of fire, a rate of 20 or fewer shots per minute would be acceptable, given the uses for a railgun (missile defense, satellite targeting, coastal defense). These things don't really need to hit more than once or twice... BKK: Particle weapons could yield huge problems, especially over long range (where atomsphere is involved). As well, the lifetimes (as well as charge characteristics) of nearly all subatomic particles would effectively limit the choice of particle to protons. Helllo Ultra-Strong-Electromagnetic containment field (well, in order to store enough protons to be effective). P.S I'm back
Heckler	posted 11-04-98 06:46 PM ET I heard about a project the air force was working on with solid propellant weapons. Shot something like 30 or 40 Thousand rounds a minute. At that rate of fire almost anything you hit would be swiss cheese. With the barrel heating problem in railguns why not send a dry pulse down the barrel to magnatize the plasma then another to sweep it out? Admittedly you would end up with an expanding cloud of plasma at the end of the barrel but it would be doing twice the speed of sound so you are proabably safe. Heckler Still waiting for someone to tell him how to do a smiley so he can show you all his witty comment
Wraith	posted 11-04-98 11:50 PM ET Spoe, there's nothing wrong with being pedantic (in fact, it can be rather fun). Particle weapons do seem rather impracticle right now (unless you count light as a particle), and even at extreeme velocities most of them would decay before they do any good. Also, BKK, don't forget that they'd be direct-fire weapons. You couldn't hit anything you couldn't see, so your range would be limited by the Earth's curvature if nothing else. Electro-Magnetic Pulse weapons might be another alternative. Anyway, to finaly say something about mentatics, I doubt it'd happen by AC time. Even in the Dune books it was only developed after some disaster stopped everyone from relying on electronics. There simply isn't enough pressure for people to train their minds to mentat extents when they can get the answer in a few seconds from a calculator. Wraith "'E's fighting in there!" he stuttered, grabbing the captain's arm. "All by himself?" said the captain. "No, with everyone!" shouted Nobby, hopping from one foot to the other. -- (Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!)
Heckler	posted 11-05-98 08:46 AM ET I read Dune recently it wasn't a disaster it was a war. Evidently someone nasty had been using advanced robotics to oppress the populus of the galaxy and the people rose in revolt. Of course as a result all electronic emulations of a human mind were outlawed so poof there go computers and thus the mentats were developed. However unless I remember incorrectly they also were a small subset of humanity that were able to hone their faculties to such a degree. "Normal" people were smarter because of the lack of computers but the mentats were still very rare. However it could be possible in ac to make such a thing if advanced bio-engineering is availiable during the game. Simply ignore computer science and work on growing the best brains you can. Heckler HAHA I fooled you all there is no witty comment! hehehe
Roland	posted 11-05-98 09:12 AM ET Darn, and I had been waiting for just that witty comment...
Heckler	posted 11-06-98 06:16 AM ET Regarding particle accelerator weapons You wouldnt have to keep a massive supply of protons on hand you could harvest them (though you would need some source). A better weapon would be a railgun but to keep barrel heating down you fire rings instead of solid shot. Wouldn't do as much damage but would allow for more airflow and thus keep things cooler. Lastly what would be the best weapon for bombarding an enemy? Couple of ideas Neutronium spheres (just toss them out the back of the ship and wait for the impact) Pulsed Lasers - Orbital Nukes designed to pour all their energy into a massive x-ray laser strike against the target Biologicals - Particularly nasty stuff Silicon based virus - Infects hardware and building components Pheremone - Exact copy of the Brainworm mating pheremone calls all brainworms within a large radius and lastly grab a handy asteroid and toss it at whoever is ticking you off. Heckler Anyone know how realistic the tech will be kept? Will they have stuff that is currently thought impossible or use things that should be possible but no one knows how?
BKK the Mentat	posted 11-08-98 08:00 PM ET Descriptions of every damn non-projectile weapon I can think of. Particle Accelerator Cannon:basicly as above a weapon designed to fire a highly concentrated beam of electricly charged particles via an acceleretor and powered by a set of capacitors. Pros:Incredibly destuctive and accurite Cons:Eats energy for breakfast,limited range in atmoshere. X-ray Laser:X-rays from a low yield nuke are chaleled by a carbon lasing rod into a dense beam. Pros:Highly destructive,little dissapation of beam. Cons:can only be used once,unecenomical Eximer Laser:An electron beam is used to ecite diatomic Chlorine molocules, producing a pulsed laser beam. Pros:Can be used for long duration Cons:not very efficent,expensive,not too much of a bang for your buck. Chemical laser:Simple reactions of chemicals such as SodiumHydroxide produce a laser beam Pros:Simple but effective Cons:Low yield
Heckler	posted 11-09-98 08:49 AM ET BKK one more Sonics - Using ultrasound (dont ask me about unidirectional beam I'm still thinking) a pulse of very high enery sound waves is sent at the target Pros - Very effective underwater unlike most lasers Cons - Energy requirements would be rather high and could be countered easily if your freqency is discovered. Heckler