Taylor's using internet research to learn about what to build, and as WWII ships actually existed and have a huge amount of data on them online, she's more likely to use them as examples than try her hand at building a (completely) fictional ship-body.
While true, I think she might take aesthetic from newer ships. While, granted, there is a lot of info about WW2 ships and their construction... those details are largely superfluous to her. Her hull would be quite a bit different from any existing ones on the inside if only because of her massive tech disparity and the outside could be anything she wants it to be. The construction information is also useless as she can just form her hull at will.
Now, there are areas where that information will be useful. Living areas for human crew and other areas where she wants humans involved. But again, that's more about design philosophy and how to get the most effectiveness out of a human crew rather than the underlying construction information.
With direct fire energy weapons, a more classic battleship style look makes sense simply because she can use those guns to shoot down everything over the horizon. She could use missiles or artillery for everything beyond the horizon, likely missiles because the projectile flies faster.
Really enjoying this one so far- I've only seen a couple of Fog/Worm stories and they tend to peter out quickly. I do hope you'll post lots more of this one
Regarding the global shipping being dead thing, it's never really made much sense to me and I always felt it was a case of either readers or the original author having no sense of scale (the interpretation may be more fanon than canon, as I'm not sure if it's stated in the original work).
Leviathan has been active since 1996 (I think). Kyushu, at the end of 1999, represented his 6th attack. Meaning he averaged less than two attacks a year at that time.
The story starts in 2011. The endbringers attack about four times a year at that point. So even if he's got an even share of those attacks, Leviathan still attacks... less than two times a year (averaging four every three years).
In the fourteen year span between the end of 1996 and the beginning of 2011, Leviathan should have attacked 17 or 18 times.
He has managed a total of 23 or 24 attacks over the course of his existence. He does not always destroy the city he attacks. He does not always attack shipping hubs, or even port cities (apparently having decided to become a ninja and attack Hyderabad and Madrid, for example). So at most he's hit 22 coastal cities.
Leviathan usually does less damage than a typical hurricane. We get multiple hurricanes every single year. Yes, he fucks up whatever city he hits... but barring two instances, he only hits one. Hurricanes can and do hammer entire island nations and proceed to fuck up every city in their path along the coast.
Basically, Leviathan acts like a tornado, not a hurricane. Two times he acted like a tsunami and wiped out a chunk of coast, but... again... we've had those happen in living memory, and we still keep trucking.
If shipping hasn't stopped for hurricanes, tornados and tsunamis (of which there have been 12 notably large natural ones since 2000 alone), why would it stop for Leviathan? The only ships at risk are the ones in port at the time, and since the Endbringers attack on a rough schedule, it's probably fairly easy to say "It's Leviathan's turn. For this ten-day period, stay out to sea."
Brockton Bay's shipping is absolutely dead. There's a bigass ship sunk across the channel, a number of smaller ships around it, and nobody bothered to remove them or dredge a new channel. So only shallow draft vessels can get in and out. It makes complete sense that BB as a city is fucked.
But it doesn't make any sense to say global shipping as a whole is dead.
...that'd have been pretty noticeable, you know? I mean... there are how many cargo ships out there wandering around? About sixty thousand? Ish? Eighty thousand? More?
Catching even a tenth of them would be a full-time job for him. He's fast, yeah. But... not that fast. And I'm sure someone would have mentioned it at least once in the story, since that's kind of a notable deed.
All the smurf needed to do would've been to cause a Kessler cascade to screw up stuff in orbit, then be generally dickish to other launches. It's a bit easier to turn most of our satellites into expensive debris than it is to catch every ship everywhere.
It's possible, and if a story depends on it then that's fine. But there is no canon cover for the theory; it'd be an explicit divergence.
Getting back on track, Taylor apparently retains the Fog command to stop global shipping. It isn't absolute, and in her case she can certainly ignore it, but there should be a lovely bit of internal screaming once she realizes. She could, potentially, do far more damage to the world than Leviathan has.
Just finished reading through the little bit that's been put out of this story, and I'm definitely interested. Honestly though, I'm now hoping that Taylor's Hull is large enough to mount a SGC, as I'm incredibly curious to see how an Endbringer would take a graviton beam to the face.
Just finished reading through the little bit that's been put out of this story, and I'm definitely interested. Honestly though, I'm now hoping that Taylor's Hull is large enough to mount a SGC, as I'm incredibly curious to see how an Endbringer would take a graviton beam to the face.
From Iona's reaction at the start of chapter two, which I presume is semi-canon, she's at least fast battleship-class. We'll probably get to see that scene.
That said, every Fog ship that is capable of maintaining a mental model is also capable of running a SGC; witness Takao. Iona didn't come with one, but that's because she's a submarine. Though they're still CPU-intensive beasts, and heavier ships can run more powerful examples...
The super gravity cannon is a technology. We've seen nearly as many variants on it as we've seen schips that use it.
Ahahaha... Yes, it would, for a while. But he could dick around outside, say, panama, for fifteen days, and in that time that's a complete economy denial. Then move over to gib, they can't be sure he's gone, etcetera. The real stickler though... How many of those cargo ships sink per year, normally? Very few I'd guess. The existing infrastructure probably isn't equipped to replace the losses he'd inflict... And even if it was, that added uncertainty about whether a shipment will get anywhere...
It wouldn't be nice, and replacing the losses would be a "full time job" for the dockyards.
He doesn't need to attack all that many. Just enough that insurance companies freak the fuck out and raise rates beyond what's economical for shipping companies.
Ahahaha... Yes, it would, for a while. But he could dick around outside, say, panama, for fifteen days, and in that time that's a complete economy denial. Then move over to gib, they can't be sure he's gone, etcetera. The real stickler though... How many of those cargo ships sink per year, normally? Very few I'd guess. The existing infrastructure probably isn't equipped to replace the losses he'd inflict... And even if it was, that added uncertainty about whether a shipment will get anywhere...
It wouldn't be nice, and replacing the losses would be a "full time job" for the dockyards.
Right, but if he did that somebody would've said something. Seems unlikely that he did.
And besides. Panama handles a few thousand transits a year. Not exactly zomg-end-of-world if it's offline for a couple of weeks. A lot of the bigger ships don't even fit in it any more.
And that's ultimately the thing. Cargo ships go anywhere there's water. Leviathan is only in one place at a time, and specifically does dick-all between his attacks.
He doesn't need to attack all that many. Just enough that insurance companies freak the fuck out and raise rates beyond what's economical for shipping companies.
Insurance companies run on money and math. Crippling shipping means no money, and the math says he does less damage than natural disasters. Neither one means raising the rates.
It's possible, and if a story depends on it then that's fine. But there is no canon cover for the theory; it'd be an explicit divergence.
Getting back on track, Taylor apparently retains the Fog command to stop global shipping. It isn't absolute, and in her case she can certainly ignore it, but there should be a lovely bit of internal screaming once she realizes. She could, potentially, do far more damage to the world than Leviathan has.
If it came down to it people would have switched back to smaller ships whose individual losses wouldn't hit as hard and that could use smaller ports. Super-freighters are a thing because they are economical, people are perfectly capable of adapting if that changes.
If it came down to it people would have switched back to smaller ships whose individual losses wouldn't hit as hard and that could use smaller ports. Super-freighters are a thing because they are economical, people are perfectly capable of adapting if that changes.
You're thinking too centralized. "Taylor"/Relentless is as much the nanomachines devouring the Ship Graveyard as she is the simulacrum body shaped like the Taylor Hebert of three months past currently traveling in the direction of North Brockton.
There is no "double life" because she is her nanomachines. It's simply what she is.
Mechanical movement is trivial. But it doesn't scratch the itch that Taylor's getting to build Fog tech.
I... don't think I ever said that Taylor couldn't produce Thanatonium. In fact, considering that the Fog in AHnA canon can't make nanomaterials or Thanatonium (or haven't been shown to, at least), and Taylor is quite clearly making more nanomaterials, it follows that it's likely that Taylor can also make Thanatonium somehow. Else she wouldn't have anything to run her gravity engine.
She would have mentioned something that important if it was the case.
Edit: Or she's forgotten about it. Darn you @Baughn for giving me ideas!
Fleet Equipement can build a new hull, completely loaded out and then place the ship its core into it, by transporting it from where ever said core is with it's at that time, current hull.
Basically, the core is transported to a giant 3D printer that then prints a new fully loaded hull, from nano materials, while freighters recover the left behind nano materials.
This lets a Fleet Command Ship summon it's whole fleet towards it's current location.
Regarding the global shipping being dead thing, it's never really made much sense to me and I always felt it was a case of either readers or the original author having no sense of scale (the interpretation may be more fanon than canon, as I'm not sure if it's stated in the original work).
IIRC, Wildbow said in a WoG that shipping is still a thing. Leviathan damaged shipping by wrecking several major port cities, but maritime trade is still a thing that happens on Earth Bet.
Brockton Bay's shipping is absolutely dead. There's a bigass ship sunk across the channel, a number of smaller ships around it, and nobody bothered to remove them or dredge a new channel. So only shallow draft vessels can get in and out. It makes complete sense that BB as a city is fucked.
As a general question does anyone remember why specifically Brockton Bay's economy tanked? I remember canon saying that the import/export business dried up and that's why the gangs were able to take over, but I have a hard time believing that the Dockworkers would shoot themselves in the foot that hard. If they single-handedly sunk the Bay's economy, I imagine that would have gotten them on EVERYONE's shit list. Also, Brockton Bay's economy probably would have made a comeback of some variety.
As a general question does anyone remember why specifically Brockton Bay's economy tanked? I remember canon saying that the import/export business dried up and that's why the gangs were able to take over, but I have a hard time believing that the Dockworkers would shoot themselves in the foot that hard. If they single-handedly sunk the Bay's economy, I imagine that would have gotten them on EVERYONE's shit list. Also, Brockton Bay's economy probably would have made a comeback of some variety.
I'm pretty sure that the folks that sank the ship weren't dockworkers- I think it was a different group that did it.
I get the feeling from the way most people write about it that they visualize BB as a fading sort of rust belt city; its only industry was the docks, and without them, the city dies. It seems like as good an explanation as any, to me.
As a general question does anyone remember why specifically Brockton Bay's economy tanked? I remember canon saying that the import/export business dried up and that's why the gangs were able to take over, but I have a hard time believing that the Dockworkers would shoot themselves in the foot that hard. If they single-handedly sunk the Bay's economy, I imagine that would have gotten them on EVERYONE's shit list. Also, Brockton Bay's economy probably would have made a comeback of some variety.
It was making a comeback through medical services (though limited to more upscale areas), and early chapters discussed an ongoing tinker-tech boom (which was never ever mentioned again but hey). Shipping was a large portion of BB's industry; though I don't think we are ever given a reason why, there were riots all over the city which culminated in the ships getting scuttled all over the bay. Taylor seemed to think that the loss of shipping gave rise to the riots but I doubt that's true, or at least completely so. Remember that in our world, the 90s had pretty bad drug, gang, and general crime problems, which would have been exacerbated by parahumans, so that combined with Endbringers showing up and causing regular natural disasters probably lead to some serious economic woes that may have been worth rioting over to some people.
I love this story, I want to read more. Now that "Memories of Iron" and "Railgun" are no longer being updated (R.I.P. becuzitswrong) this is one of the only fics I can actually look forward to.
With direct fire energy weapons, a more classic battleship style look makes sense simply because she can use those guns to shoot down everything over the horizon. She could use missiles or artillery for everything beyond the horizon, likely missiles because the projectile flies faster.
Really enjoying this one so far- I've only seen a couple of Fog/Worm stories and they tend to peter out quickly. I do hope you'll post lots more of this one
Regarding the global shipping being dead thing, it's never really made much sense to me and I always felt it was a case of either readers or the original author having no sense of scale (the interpretation may be more fanon than canon, as I'm not sure if it's stated in the original work).
Leviathan has been active since 1996 (I think). Kyushu, at the end of 1999, represented his 6th attack. Meaning he averaged less than two attacks a year at that time.
The story starts in 2011. The endbringers attack about four times a year at that point. So even if he's got an even share of those attacks, Leviathan still attacks... less than two times a year (averaging four every three years).
In the fourteen year span between the end of 1996 and the beginning of 2011, Leviathan should have attacked 17 or 18 times.
He has managed a total of 23 or 24 attacks over the course of his existence. He does not always destroy the city he attacks. He does not always attack shipping hubs, or even port cities (apparently having decided to become a ninja and attack Hyderabad and Madrid, for example). So at most he's hit 22 coastal cities.
Leviathan usually does less damage than a typical hurricane. We get multiple hurricanes every single year. Yes, he fucks up whatever city he hits... but barring two instances, he only hits one. Hurricanes can and do hammer entire island nations and proceed to fuck up every city in their path along the coast.
Basically, Leviathan acts like a tornado, not a hurricane. Two times he acted like a tsunami and wiped out a chunk of coast, but... again... we've had those happen in living memory, and we still keep trucking.
If shipping hasn't stopped for hurricanes, tornados and tsunamis (of which there have been 12 notably large natural ones since 2000 alone), why would it stop for Leviathan? The only ships at risk are the ones in port at the time, and since the Endbringers attack on a rough schedule, it's probably fairly easy to say "It's Leviathan's turn. For this ten-day period, stay out to sea."
Brockton Bay's shipping is absolutely dead. There's a bigass ship sunk across the channel, a number of smaller ships around it, and nobody bothered to remove them or dredge a new channel. So only shallow draft vessels can get in and out. It makes complete sense that BB as a city is fucked.
But it doesn't make any sense to say global shipping as a whole is dead.
actually, Due To THE "feedback" caused by Leviathan's hydrokinesis, Leviathan would, in fact, have the same effects of hurricane induced flooding (at least) just from the fluid dynamics alone, not even taking into account the storms that Levi summons to accompany his attacks.
actually, Due To THE "feedback" caused by Leviathan's hydrokinesis, Leviathan would, in fact, have the same effects of hurricane induced flooding (at least) just from the fluid dynamics alone, not even taking into account the storms that Levi summons to accompany his attacks.
I'm not sure you understand quite how large hurricanes actually are. A given hurricane can cover a couple of percentage points of the actual planet, when measuring the total area covered over time.
Leviathan does bad things to the cities he attacks, yes. But he doesn't attack everything on a multi-thousand-mile swath hundreds of miles long, for a week or so at a time.
His attacks typically happen with a couple of hours notice, which means no grand weather effects that could cause damage to anything outside the local area. Remember, just because he can do a lot of damage doesn't mean that it's normal for him to do so.
Yes, but you have to remember that Dragon was canonically launching and using satellites without consequence. The Simurgh interfered by way of an attack on one person's space program. I would suspect that using orbit is fine, it's certain other things that are not. And the attack on Sphere could well have been irrelevant to his work and relevant to making him into Mannequin so that Taylor could get character development out of fighting him so that she would have the necessary experiences to go Khepri.
