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[Sean Mirrsen]

It works as long as you don't imagine the walls being solid slabs of metal that are heated evenly through. Outer layer melts, denser superstructure deforms. You're covered in metal that was melted off and displaced by the shockwave, and the metal that's bowing inward is the rest of the corridor.

[Yoink]

...so, gonna make a new character in the meantime?

I dunno. Jobasio's technically not dead, so...

[GreatWyrmGold]

If you don't know what metal (or metals or maybe even some other kind of compound) the corridor is made of, how can you know how it reacts to high temperatures?

The fact that it's described as melting.

It works as long as you don't imagine the walls being solid slabs of metal that are heated evenly through. Outer layer melts, denser superstructure deforms. You're covered in metal that was melted off and displaced by the shockwave, and the metal that's bowing inward is the rest of the corridor.

So, the not-melted part of the ship's walls are bowing under the pressure, not the melted parts?
...
We might have bigger problems than needing to get out of the elevator.

[Parisbre56]

Yes, but what does melting mean? Cheese in a toasted sandwich deforms and melts, and yet it doesn't form puddles of molten cheese in your sandwich, does it? Imagine the corridor like a tube of cheese. No, Xan, stop eating the corridor, it's not really made of cheese. It was a metaphor. So, if the corridor is made of cheese- Okay then, eat the corridor, I don't care! I'm trying to make a point here! Just don't come crying to me if you can't digest it. As I was saying, if the corridor is made of cheese, then it will melt and deform without turning into liquid. So, you see, it's all a matter of definition and- Look, after the mission is over, I'll take you to the ship's kitchen and make you a hundred sandwiches. Happy now?

[GreatWyrmGold]

It's not just "melty," it's molten. Heat the cheese enough and it will become a runny pool. The metal isn't that molten, but it sure sounds melty enough that it would act more like syrup, molasses, or pudding than jell-o or (room-temperature) cheese.

[Parisbre56]

It's not just "melty," it's molten. Heat the cheese enough and it will become a runny pool. The metal isn't that molten, but it sure sounds melty enough that it would act more like syrup, molasses, or pudding than jell-o or (room-temperature) cheese.

half melt the elevator doors and hallway metal

half the team is entombed in cooling metal.

I win.
EDIT: Or if I don't win because of that, then it's a matter of perspective in which case we are both equally right and thus the one who is closer to what the GM imagines is ultimately right in which case I win again.

Observe the results of successful crystal augmentation (the victim perfectly enduring the crystal growth). What changes does that introduce to the organism functioning? What are the short-term and long-term effects?

"No Data Available" when you try to do that action.

Makes you wonder how they got the data in the first place.

[Sean Mirrsen]

So, the not-melted part of the ship's walls are bowing under the pressure, not the melted parts?
...
We might have bigger problems than needing to get out of the elevator.

Tell me, if you heat the end of a metallic rod with a concentrated heat source like a propane torch, is it going to all reach melting point simultaneously, or will the tip melt off first, leaving both a puddle of cooling metal on the floor and the softened stub of the nearly-molten rod in your hand? Because the latter is what's happened here. The corridor is not buckling under pressure, it's warping and deforming under its own weight due to artificial gravity, with the molten parts having been sheared off by the initial shockwave that tossed you all back.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I win.

...No, you don't. If it's cooling, and it's flexible enough to cool around us, which (pun intended) solidifies my interpretation that the metal was more liquid than solid. Hence, the idea that it would be flowing down the doorway, like it's flowing onto us, is pretty solid.

EDIT: Or if I don't win because of that, then it's a matter of perspective in which case we are both equally right and thus the one who is closer to what the GM imagines is ultimately right in which case I win again.

...
How are you so sure that your image is the one the GM intended? If I was piecewise, I'd probably take the opposite of your vision just because of that.

So, the not-melted part of the ship's walls are bowing under the pressure, not the melted parts?
...
We might have bigger problems than needing to get out of the elevator.

Tell me, if you heat the end of a metallic rod with a concentrated heat source like a propane torch, is it going to all reach melting point simultaneously, or will the tip melt off first, leaving both a puddle of cooling metal on the floor and the softened stub of the nearly-molten rod in your hand? Because the latter is what's happened here. The corridor is not buckling under pressure, it's warping and deforming under its own weight due to artificial gravity, with the molten parts having been sheared off by the initial shockwave that tossed you all back.

My statement was from the implications of that interpretation.
And it's space magic, not fire. And while I'm on it, if you put in enough heat, the whole thing's going to melt.

[Sean Mirrsen]

My statement was from the implications of that interpretation.
And it's space magic, not fire. And while I'm on it, if you put in enough heat, the whole thing's going to melt.

No, and the reason for that is that with a point source it can't all reach melting point at once. With a high enough heat gradient, you will vaporize the outer layer of metal before it can properly heat up. With a high-heat, short-duration "explosion" like you had here, you had an extreme gradient of heat, which created the shockwave of expanding air, which in turn mechanically tore off the metal that flash-melted due to radiant heat, and propelled it, along with you, back into the elevator. As the heat of the source subsides, the extremely heated outer layer (or inner layer, if you think of it in terms of a "corridor") of the walls conducts its heat deeper into the structure, softening it sufficiently for parts of it to start succumbing to gravity and buckling under the stress, resulting in you lot covered in molten and cooling metal at the far end of the corridor, while the rest of it is gradually hardening in warped forms as the heat gets conducted deeper into the ship's structure and away from the near-molten interior.

GWG, don't let your arguing instincts override your understanding of physics, please, I know you should know heat conductivity better than this. I hardly ever need this knowledge and even I know how it would work.

[GreatWyrmGold]

Since when is space magic a point source?
Since when does melting all at once stop it all from melting?
Don't you think that ignoring my repeatedly-repeated note that maybe if the artificial weight is enough to make the walls buckle stuff is going to happen is more important than criticizing my knowledge of physics?

[TCM]

Y'all.

[Sean Mirrsen]

Since when is space magic a point source?
Since when does melting all at once stop it all from melting?
Don't you think that ignoring my repeatedly-repeated note that maybe if the artificial weight is enough to make the walls buckle stuff is going to happen is more important than criticizing my knowledge of physics?

• Since it's aimed at one point and all heat comes from one point.

  ...the sheer heat blast from the white hot ball of light that manifests within the strange object...
• It's not melting all at once. The metal that encounters the radiant heat first absorbs it, and heats up - the rest of the heating, until the metal boils away or is sheared away, is done via conduction, which metals are pretty good with - meaning a lot of the heat will end up dumped deeper into the ship rather quickly, but not before some of the metal melts.
• Not seeing a problem. One corridor is heated up to the point where its structural strength is severely compromised, it deforms but rapidly cools due to the gigantic mass of the rest of the ship structure conducting away the heat, because metal and heatsinks. Temperature equalizes between corridor and ship, ship as a whole warmed up by perhaps half a degree Celsius. No problem.

[Toaster]

WHO GIVES A SHIT.

[Sean Mirrsen]

WHO GIVES A SHIT.

Shall we argue on the intrinsic purpose of an out-of-character discussion thread?

But yes. I intend to perhaps clarify the physics' stance on the matter to GWG one more time before regrettably abandoning him to his devices should he elect to cling to his incomplete understanding of metallurgy and temperature exchange.

[Tavik Toth]

WHO GIVES A SHIT.

NOT ME