The Practice War [Complete]
- Thread starter Snowfire
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- Original Sci-Fi
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- Mid-Atlantic
I mean, I know, but I think it's funny to imagine a bunch of guys standing around scratching their heads realizing they really ought to scrap this one thing so future generations don't learn its terrible secrets but they haaaad to go and make it indestructible.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
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- Wordcats
Give it the proper cooling systems and it could dive into a sun without causing any undue discomfort to its crew.
It is functionally invulnerable. Fusion fire isn't going to do hurt it.
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- Location
- Germany
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- He/Him
How does the SL's "make nova" weapon function?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
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- Wordcats
Not in any way that a ship the size of the Adamant would be able to stop.
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- Germany
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Hm. 'A' ship.
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- Mid-Atlantic
I don't think "enclose Sun in inviolate matter" is a viable strategy for the defender here.
@Snowfire , at the current rate that humanity can produce inviolate matter, could you give a rough order of magnitude estimate for how many years, centuries, millenia, or what have you that it would take for humanity's Potentials to make enough inviolate matter to form a shell around the Sun?
I'm just wondering, is this more like a "it would take a thousand years" project or more like "a million years" or whatever?
(obviously you would have to, for instance, put slabs of the stuff in spaced-out overlapping orbits so that they provided full coverage despite no individual piece touching another lest they mutually annihilate)
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Probably somewhere in the tens of millennia region. But don't quote me, this is very much off the cuff.
A bullet wouldn't have what are obviously designed to be crew spaces.
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- Germany
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Deep space exploration?
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
I'm...90% certain you've never actually seen him before. Or were you meaning in terms of 'by proxy'?
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
That depends on the range at which it is intended to be fired, and the value of the target relative to the value of the crew...
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Practice War humanity mindset says no.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
To invent some off-the-cuff melodrama by way of explaining what I'm talking about:
"We really really hate this idea, but if That One Thing we foresaw happening happens, and you absolutely positively need to deliver the One True Hero into the heart of the Death Cloud before it's too late, and it's a one-way mission but it's the only way to save the universe... Well, this is the ship the Hero would need to get there alive."
I mean, you can say "Practice War humanity mindset says 'no' to that too," but I don't think it would be out of line to imagine the Elder First preparing such a contingency, even if you assure us that's not what they had in mind.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
That's...a fair point.
Snowfire
Polyglot of Chimera
- Location
- Wordcats
Uh....
- Location
- Germany
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- He/Him
He, my spelling mistakes are at least consistent!
Edit: Also, 'practice humanity' is so ... unlikely.
I figured I'd make another post here to commemorate my progress though the thread.
@Snowfire I can't really talk about everything that moved, impressed and intrigued me without going though thousands of words, more than I can hope to manage at his late hour so I'm just going to say this, this is one of the most moving character focused SF stories I have ever read. It's so easy to make these sort of stories cold, not necessarily bad but analytical. This was anything but , the characters feel complete and well rounded with their own voices their won sorrows and hopes.
Anyway looking forward to getting to the end of the thread where I can contribute to the discussion.
@Snowfire I can't really talk about everything that moved, impressed and intrigued me without going though thousands of words, more than I can hope to manage at his late hour so I'm just going to say this, this is one of the most moving character focused SF stories I have ever read. It's so easy to make these sort of stories cold, not necessarily bad but analytical. This was anything but , the characters feel complete and well rounded with their own voices their won sorrows and hopes.
Anyway looking forward to getting to the end of the thread where I can contribute to the discussion.
Probably getting out under the gravity might be a bit fiddly
- Location
- Germany
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Would that be a problem for 5th secret drives?
It's too small to be any of those, though. It either really is meant to be some sort of ram, or else it's a deep space exploration vessel, something meant to explore the void between stars.
OK so I'm finally here after several days of reading though this wonderful quest. It's been a roller coaster ride of wonder, joy fear and hope as the characters developed along with the quest in surprising and interesting directions. With that in mind I would like to thank both @Snowfire and the voters of this quest, past and present for how this thread worked out.
Also Iris is the cutest AI I have ever read about, just thought that needed saying.
With that in mid let's get to something more substantive, keeping in mind that I have not read the discussion so I maybe reviving old conversations. If that is the case I hope I can bring at least a new perspective.
The Shiplords do not make sense (and and what that might mean)
Firstly let's look at the facts:
Also Iris is the cutest AI I have ever read about, just thought that needed saying.
With that in mid let's get to something more substantive, keeping in mind that I have not read the discussion so I maybe reviving old conversations. If that is the case I hope I can bring at least a new perspective.
The Shiplords do not make sense (and and what that might mean)
Firstly let's look at the facts:
- They are millions of years old and this is a system that as far as we can see has endured that long
- They have better tech than anyone else in the galaxy (as far as we know IC)
- They are using a tributary system like they are the ancient Mesopotamians or the Aztecs, system that were implemented precisely because the hegomon could not project force well enough to control the vassals. Add better force projection and you get an empire let's say Persia
- One could of course posit that the reason they are using such a loose system is because they can afford it,because their advantage is so overwhelming that they do not need the benefits of empire (or the complete destruction of their enemies) The issue with that is that humanity is currently living inside a blank space left in their design.From the reactions of the Tribune Fleet and its commander one can deduce Practice is something they really, really do not want to see around
- They send escalating responses like they are a trying to get the enemy a chance to beat them (more on that in speculation below)
- They are complacent and traditionalists in some way (this is a wide range characteristic that one could apply to any of the scenarios bellow to make it worse)
- The 'Tough Love' Theory': They want to create stronger races, more warlike, possibly more like themselves and this is the training gauntlet from Hell
- The Bureaucratic Theory: Once upon a time the Tributary system was actually the limit of their abilities/force projection so they built their army around that and the rest of their society around the army, and now the sheer inertia of this age old bureaucratic mil, driven by an an ossified warrior ethos is plaguing the galaxy
- The Circle of Misery Theory: They want to create Uninvolved though the trauma thy inflict and are even possibly being puppeted by the Uninvolved to help more species transcend.
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