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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: Lordship: A Suggestion Game
« on: January 16, 2013, 06:33:36 pm »Build more AK47s.Huh?
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37652
General Discussion / Re: Humans, and eventually a colony on Mars.
« on: January 16, 2013, 06:31:20 pm »Well, unless you give me an exemple of something that can threaten a Earth base, yes, I'll consider you as an uninformed pessimist who like space. And war ain't it. Just dig deep enough, keep the location more or less secret. If there is anything that can threaten you, humanity is advanced enough they don't need your help."Just dig deep enough." Yes, self-sustaining underground bases are so cheap and easy...especially housing 2-3,000 people. How deep is it before it starts costing as much or more than a Lunar base to build and keep alive? (Hint: A Lunar base could be built for a "mere" $35 billion; I calculated that, under ideal circumstances and assuming solar panels of merely 15% efficiency, and putting a $50-60 billion price tag on the whole thing, exporting solar power to Earth at well below market price repays that in weeks. Solar power alone.) That's not good for ya? Ignoring environmental issues as good problems, too? How about political crap? That could be more devastating than a war. If, for example, you put this hypothetical, expensive, base in Alaska, and after a war Russia annexed Alaska, what happens to the base? Even if this is unlikely, consider the basic concept: As long as a base is on Earth, it is susceptible to Earth-based attacks. Don't buy that, either? Somehow you've made it immune to every kind of attack known to man? Seismic events would ruin your base. They're not much of a problem for a Lunar base near the surface, but an underground base hit by an earthquake would probably risk caving in. Still not good enough? What did you use to get down there? Your seal on the door had better be pretty good, or your little base is going to get water trickling in from rain or melting snow, assuming that the aquifers in the area are nonexistent or properly sealed. Too improbable? How about your settlement breaking down because you're always a mile or several underground, with no chance to have fresh air, see the stars, or even be in a relatively open area? (A lit dome a couple hundred feet across might help, while rendering it more vulnerable to attack or earthquakes.)
Not good enough for you? Gimme a bit.
-Solar flare: Survivable, and a Martian colony will be hit much harder than Earth.Isn't Mars farther away from the Sun? And wouldn't a Martian base presumably be built with a temporary radiation shelter for stuff like this?
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-WWIII: You really think that an off planet colony will be able to maintain neutrality? After all, an offworld location is one of your best assets to break the MAD stalemateI can't imagine an offworld base being worth the resources it takes to attack, let alone the time. Enemy missile stockpiles and such are much bigger threats, and don't require you to lift nukes into space to attack them. Also, you're assuming that the colony is built by a government. Why would Russia, the US, North Korea, or anyone waste resources on, say, an AT&T base on the Moon when they've probably got a dozen or more Terran threats to nuke?
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And besides, the requirements for a fully, completely autonomous colony are enormous.Define "fully, completely autonomous." Once you have food, water, oxygen, shelter, and power, it seems you're mostly set. The first three can be mostly or entirely solved by greenhouses; shelter and power should be obvious.
You seem to be assuming that we're collecting the minerals for export to Earth. We're not. The costs of falling safely on Mars or wherever are fairly trivial compared to the costs of leaving Terran gravity.Sure --1. the energy to go to a whole bunch of asteroids and mine them is much less than landing on Mars. (the joke among astronomers is that leaving the earth gravity field is the half way point to the rest of the universe. Mars is probably only about a fourth as bad as the earth, but it's still a lot of fight to leave and return)Mine oxygen from asteroids.Can you explain to me how that would be easier than an Mars based colony (or an moon colony, or an "asteroid" colony) ?
Or send the rocks from the moon. Silicon aluminum and oxygen rich stones, they are. Yoda speaking I don't know why I am.
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2 the energy collected on Mars vs. a full time space station is significant (Mars gets less than half the solar energy that Earth does Mercury gets like 10 times more) And no energy is expended on cleaning off the solar panels. (Mars is awfully dusty -- which is a problem with the spirit and opportunity [rovers& b4 curiosity])True, but there's also a lot of space to set up solar panels...or anything. And power's even worse out in the asteroid belt, so you'd best find a lot of near-Earth asteroids...
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3. More variety of mining [or at least less friction to mess up the travel to mine] Importantly WATER is much more common in asteroids -- or it may be possible to mine a comet for water. (This does exclude the poles but according to the wiki article "When the poles are again exposed to sunlight, the frozen CO2 sublimes, creating enormous winds that sweep off the poles as fast as 400 km/h" -- I don't think that's a smart place to put a station)We can do that on Luna or Mars, too.
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4. Once you've gotten it started you can make other things (such as something to mine out the whole of Mars -- which you can't do with a planet without causing instabilities and messing up with gravity (there is virtually no gravity in the middle of the planet because the pull goes in all directions equally)Why would you need to mine out Mars?
Solar and wind power aren't enough for humans needs, as for the low production, and for the variability (because, you don't use the same amount of energy sleeping, the morning, the evening, night, etc).Nice thing about non-Earth areas, they have acres to burn. Dust and low atmospheric pressure are still issues, but a bit of labor (maybe brushing off the panels once a week?) and using lots of windmills as a backup only can help compensate.
Don't bet on fusion. I'm reminded of a quote about stem cells: They're 20 years away and always will be.
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General Discussion / Re: Nitpicks that Ruined Movies
« on: January 16, 2013, 06:03:44 pm »I think you might be thinking a little too hard about this....Overthinking things is the point of this thread.
Also, why are the Na'vi the only vertebrate that don't have a 6-legged body plan?That's why they showed the monkey-things with the bifurcated arms--the idea was presumably that the dual forelimbs merged. (Personally, I prefer the idea that the tetrapodal body plan was the ancestral form of which the Na'vi and monkey-things are the only survivors, with the hexapodal body plan being a later mutation which occurred in a clade which was much more successful. Imagine if mammals had wiped out all other tetrapods on the planet except crocodiles, and then someone wondered why crocs were the only animals without fur and warm blood.)
Where'd you get the idea that Pandora was high-gravity? I always thought it was low-gravity. It makes more sense, and explains the giant flyers, giant space-wood-elves, etc.The entire biology doesn't make much sense. Not even going to try and defend that.A high gravity world of carbon based life forms, and not a single snake to be seen.
WHY AREN'T THEY ALL SNAKES?!!
Maybe the antimatter engines are constructed like a blackbox? Where you can't open the thing up, only use the predefined hooks into the thing. It also means that you're screwed if something happens that you can't solve without opening the engine up, but. ..Actually, that makes sense. That much power, you don't want people playing around with the engines...
Not evil? While amorality != immorality, it's hard to argue that the former can't be evil.I can't help but notice that that colonel guy died right before the end of the movie. I imagine that with him gone, the leadership of the colony was significantly less...violent. Also, the humans had been shown that these peoples' religion just might not be superstition like ours is, and either way, they'd need to pretty much wipe out every trace of macroscopic life on the planet to avoid dying. At that point, they presumably decided it wasn't worth the cost.
Genocide and destruction wasn't their goal, no, but they considered it an acceptable cost. Preeeety sure that falls under evil.
Yeah, I don't think so. A corporation so big has to have loads of politicians on it's payroll. And a sizeable chunk of Earth's workforce, so they're simply too big to fail. Even in the event of them being discovered, there's no real danger of them losing their mining concession.Even though said concession specifically forbade them from doing so? Huh. Laws must work differently in the future if neither the public nor the press nor the government care about that kind of thing.
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As for gunships, rockets etc., they're quite simply more expensive and less effective than a virus. Any rational board of directors would opt for the more cost effective thing.Assuming they had an actual reason to. Which they didn't, when they were sending the expedition out. Remember, travel to Pandora isn't FTL, it's 0.7 c, meaning it takes about 6 years to reach there from Earth.
Huge corporations getting shut down by government, greedy CEOs getting trials instead of golden parachutes? There's fiction, and there's just plain ridiculousness. Have you been under a rock this whole global economic crisis?The global economic crisis didn't involve genocide.
But the article sounds plausible. Seems pretty likely many people would go over to that. I don't think people would be poring over the article looking for discrepancies.We are, and we're just critiquing critiques of a movie, not dealing with a major loss of life and culture of the only other known intelligent alien species. There would be much more than 10ebbor10 looking over that news story...
The real question is why the humans didn't mine the unobtanium in the floating mountains...
I think 28 weeks later got it nicely, how it would work, the only possible way for it to spread effectively would include running zombies, not shamblers, those are way too easy to outrun.In theory. But...to paraphrase Max Brooks, it's like the Tortoise and the Hare, only with hundreds of tortoises and a hare which will probably be eaten alive.
On the subject of zombie movies, RE5 had a big one. Wasn't the Red Queen A. destroyed in RE1 and B. trying to protect human life by stopping the zombies from escaping into the general populace back then too? Then why was she trying to kill everyone?
That changes behavior, no?I might also affect human behaviour, btw.If by affect you mean "cause brain damage" yes
One of the many things that bugs me about the Matrix trilogy is why the machines choose humans as their energy source. Surely other animals or even plants (although I doubt plants could survive in the wasteland) would be more efficient for energy farming and much easier to control than humans.You're missing the point.
The Matrix's proposed energy generation scheme VIOLATES THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS. Thank you for a reminder of this major thorn.
whenever i see a movie with aliens and humans fighting each other on a planet , i just want to facepalm .Wait.
i think that if we would find another life in space , we would try to examine it and learn new things about the universe , instead of destroying it.
the same goes for aliens if they would find us , i think they would want to make friends and exchange knowledge instead of just slaughtering everyone and destroying the planet.
i guess the movie wouldn't be fun without slaughter or fast action , but it seems unrealistic for me.
Your problem with this is that the humans and aliens are fighting, period?
1. There's a bit of evidence against your idea. *cough*New World*cough*Xenophobia*/cough*
2. If they did fight with them, why would it be planetside??
Big problem: Stupidity. Most movies that don't have people being complete idiots (and many which do) instead/also have people being inexplicable unstupid (ie hypercompetent).
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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: The Bay12 Space program - Open discussion
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:53:22 pm »
Not at all yet. And stats aren't moodable.
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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: (Un)Holy Powers(OOC)
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:52:48 pm »Hey, I'm the god of Justice, Morality, and Light, not Law, Ignorance, and Red Tape.Not sure if I approve of that - laws generally slow down tech development. The ban on killing the competition looks alright though.Does this mean Draco wants to join the Pantheon of Prosperity?Sure. I'll be the guy who makes laws so a free market can function properly. You know, minimum wages, transparency regulations, a ban on killing the competition, that kind of stuff. Kinda sorta like the government, except governing several megacorporations. Okay with you?
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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: You Lead the Zombie Horde
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:52:00 pm »
Join the tourists.
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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: You are a new God
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:51:18 pm »I suggest Brunikaar ("savage servant") for our dragon's name. or "brun"/"bruni", for short.I can't argue with any of this.
To the Dwarven god: "Hello sir! I am Donut, God of Fire, Chaos and Life, and your new neighbour. Between two skirmishes with the greenskins, I finally had the time to come and greet you. Being polite, that kind of stuff. I hope we can develop a friendly and mutually profitable relationship."
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Forum Games and Roleplaying / Re: Lordship: A Suggestion Game
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:48:03 pm »
Yes, but weren't we just talking about how we needed to hire help?
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Roll To Dodge / Re: Roll to Time Travel, Turn 3: Totally not an hour and a half late.
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:46:24 pm »
Are those free points, or "must spend" points?
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Roll To Dodge / Re: The Art of Minimalism VI: No Eldritch Abominations for [&] Turns!
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:44:30 pm »Respawn atop the back of the Paradox Beast. Direct it to trample Head Death[3] You respawn above the Paradox Beast, missing as it's moving to attack Head Death of its own accord.
Respawn as god.[5] Dammit, can't we go one game without any gods? ONE GAME? [5+3] A bunch of Eldritch Abominations are summoned, some familiar, some new, and some which look like Lovecraft's brain got attacked by a facehugger and started spewing chestbursters, some of which started developing into eldritchmorphs.
Resurrect eldritch abominations.
Respawn safe distance away from fallout. Begin collecting and refining.[6] You respawn on the other side of the world. Well, dammit.
Begin to devour the cosmos.[4] You eat a few corpses. Gotta start somewhere.
Find way to Earth.[3] The way is a locked door.
"Doctor, doctor, I think I'm a pair of curtains" "Pull youself together man!"[1] Nope. Maybe you should get some Coke in town, eh, black pool?
MULTIPLY. LOGIC AND PHYSICS BE DAMNED, I'M GOING TO FLOOD THIS PLACE WITH KITTENS.Two kittens of opposite genders start approaching each other. The good news is, when they reach each other they'll probably be old enough to mate.
Kill any and all eldritch abominations with horrible bagpipe music.[1] You summon more eldritch abominations.
GM TURN:
Head Death [2v1] jumps under the Paradox Beast's clumsy foot. The other Deaths start squabbling. The abominations take over!
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Roll To Dodge / Re: Prophets of the New God: Turn 10 - Sudden Collision
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:08:08 pm »
Pray. Then search for edible berries or something. Then cook dinner, then pray, then eat dinner.
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Roll To Dodge / Re: YOU AT SPINNING BOSS: NOW WITH [REDACTED] LESS TOWERS
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:06:29 pm »
Cure Loki's deafness. Continue to try and convince him.
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Roll To Dodge / Re: Roll to Pierce the Heavens!
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:05:23 pm »
Name: "B.A." Darwin A. Sanchez, Sr. (a name I sorta threw together)
Weapon of Choice: Brass Knuckles, Insane yet Effective Plans
Weapon of Choice: Brass Knuckles, Insane yet Effective Plans
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Roll To Dodge / Re: ROLL TO DODGE THE LAW
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:01:52 pm »I'd think you'd welcome becoming what is essentially a metal dragon.Flying sharks are flying sharks. Flying sharks are not dragons.
Also, I don't have to be draconic ALL the time...
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Roll To Dodge / Re: Roll to Time Travel, Turn 3: Totally not an hour and a half late.
« on: January 16, 2013, 05:00:37 pm »How similar is the Time Cop character sheet to a normal character sheet?You asked me to make a time cop, right?