New in Black Sea : Precision Artillery

[c3k]

You want grim? Every observation of the universe is consistent with the earth being INSIDE the event horizon of a black hole. Yeah, you know what that means. It explains the seeming expansion: it's just the horizon receding. Every other physics observation is consistent with this theory. Just sayin'...

[Pelican Pal]

Not sure of the chances, since normal 'MLRS' were according to BFC out of scope for CMSF. An MLRS is a 'Grid Square Removal System' which obliterates squares of 1x1km. This is not a tactical weapon. However, since CM:BN features battleship bombardments I guess why not?

The TOS-1 is supposed to advance with tanks and infantry due to it's relative short range. So I would surely like to use them to attack fortified urban areas According to WIKI they are only in service with NBC defense troops.

With the maps getting increasingly larger I can see the in game utility of having an MLRS system in. Back in CM:SF an MRLS would have wiped out a 1/4th of the largest maps possible iirc. This isn't the case anymore.

[agusto]

Sorry for off topic again, but i kinda like the discussion.

Anything traveling near speed of light becomes as effective as a laser.

The problem is that accelerating any mass-carrying object to speeds near the speed of light requires tremendous amounts of energy - for example an object with a mass of 10kg traveling at the 99,99% of the speed of light will have a kinetic energy of 450 Petajoule, wich is roughly equivalent to the energy released by a 100 Megaton nuclear device. That means that in theory you will have to invest at least that amount of energy in accelerating that object, practically you will have to invest much more due to energy losses during the process of aceleration because it wont work at 100% effeciency.

CJ Cherryh does some interesting stuff on combat, FTL, gravity and just plain junk dragged in by ships that jump. Check out down below station or any of the books in the Alliance universe/company wars series or the Chanur series etc. The Chanur series has a lot more combat per se, but Downbelow station does get into the concerns a fixed station might have dealing with possible attack from FTL ships. It is all just a made up universe, but conceptually well done and consistent.

For example, a ship jumps into the gravity well of our sun dragging along a few big chunks of rock. Those are now traveling at near speed of light towards earth. Any detector has to spot it and react. Odds are you'd need some kind of outpost detection to spot the object further out, but then it has to transmit message or react to something moving near as fast as anything you can fire at it. Once it is past you it is too late, so either you have to see it coming and project something into it's path or physics are against you being able to do anything about it.

Ship to ship combat becomes less important than protecting physical places. Your ships have to have something to come home to. Much as I like BSG, I don't think they really thought out the mechanics of what "jumping" might mean. Cherryh on the other hand gets into the mechanics of gravity wells and vee. Great author if you are interested in Sci fi (her fantasy series are also really good, she has three particular series - one based more in Celtic culture/mythology, another in Russian and a third that crosses into Sci Fi). I have everything she has written and she is pretty prolific (some 60 books). It is rare to have someone who can write good technical sci fi with good plots and character development.

When i was younger i really was into technical sci-fi set within physically correct universes, however i now find that beeing so focused on only the credibility of the techincal aspects really made me miss lots great sci-fi stuff. After all, all the Science in almost all Science-Fiction novels or movies is mostly fiction. It is almost all thought up, no matter how much detail the author gives about how the faster than light travel or the teleportation technology might work, it is just all fiction. IMO it is just as good as magic for explaining stuff that cant happen in the real world and it is only a matter personal taste weather or not someone prefers magic over the semi-fictional-technical explanation or the other way round. Regarding Sci-Fi, a good, thrilling story and good characters have become more important to me than technical credibility, although i still very much prefer a technical explanation over plain magic. I am very fine with BSG for example not at all explaining how the FTL might work, it just doesnt really matter or contribute to the development of the story or the characters, but i am still happy about the FTL beeing some sort of technical device instead of for example someones magical ability to teleport ships around in space.

A Sci-Fi series i very much liked was the Seafort-Saga by David Feintuch. It doesnt get too much into the technical details of future technology but the how-to survive in space for long periods of time still plays an import role during the whole saga. Another Sci-Fi novel that mostly goes without technical explanations is Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky. I also liked the movie Gattaca a lot. In all three Sci-Fi storys the how-technology-works is mostly irrelevant to the story, it is only relevant how the characters interact with the technology and how technology affects society.

Oh, i really should start reading novels again. I probably havent read anything but technical/programming manuals for more than 2 years now. Maybe i am going to take a look at those novels you mentioned.

You want grim? Every observation of the universe is consistent with the earth being INSIDE the event horizon of a black hole. Yeah, you know what that means. It explains the seeming expansion: it's just the horizon receding. Every other physics observation is consistent with this theory. Just sayin'...

The gravitational force behind the event horizon is so strong that none of the other three fundamental forces can resist the pull towards the center of mass of the black hole, hence a black hole has all its mass concentrated in a single point of infinitely high density and infinitly small expansion.

From the perspective within the black hole, when you are part of that point, there is nothing that could described as as space or time, left alone something like expansion.

[c3k]

When you are captured, relativity effects change time...etc. Being inside the event horizon is different than being incMcorporated into the null mass.

Edited to add: this is not a theory I came up with. It has gained credence in the world of astrophysics due to the rigorous math which supports it. Or the univerae is expanding. The equations allow for either solution.

[Skwabie]

wait I'm not clear. So is the universe expanding or collapsing per the current theory? Was always under the impression that it was collapsing and the whole thing's gonna go back to a singularity at the end of it....

And ditto on reading more sci-fi novels. Read just the one and absolutely loved it to bits. But I'm the sorta guy that once starts something just wouldn't drop it so reading a book usual takes some 3 all-nighters hence the opportunity for me doesn't always come through:mad: I think playing CM is more time-efficient entertainment wise!....

Gattaca rocks as a movie but I wonder if it's a book how is it gonna read? I mean in movies you have all the visual cues about the future tech that surrounds ppl's lives to provide a futuristic surreal environment, but it's kinda hard to picture it in a book I reckon.

[ChrisND]

Anyone read the Queendom of Sol series by Wil McCarthy? Always enjoyed those books.

Edit: Oh crap, did I just contribute to the off-topic conversation...?

[Vanir Ausf B]

wait I'm not clear. So is the universe expanding or collapsing per the current theory?

Expanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy

[Skwabie]

Expanding.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy

ok that's a relief, so the stinking human bastages will be around for a long long time.

with that bigger picture outta the way i'm gonna go back to the beloved bradley ifv and javelin toting storm troopers

[Skwabie]

...So here's another theory I got, from a book. It considers the universe a patch of dark forest. In it are inhabitants. Obviously resources are limited. So who ever lights a fire and gets seen by others first is exterminated.

So earth accidentally sends out a very deep space communication signal. Which is received by some distant but relatively close sentient being. They in turn sends out an object towards earth. The object's sole purpose is collapsing earth from a 3D object into a 2D entity.

So the book entails stories of different characters in this final age of men. The whole thing takes process in hundreds years time, I think it takes decades just for the object to travel to earth and of course decades for the dark forest theory to be figured out. Men tried to build space stations around the planet and the moon but apparently to no avail, the only survivors being crews aboard the space fleet they managed to put together in time.

Very grim and bleak setting, none of that colonization, space trading and war conflicts stuff just extermination and survival.

hey apparently this book named "the Three-body Problem" is being translated and sold in the US.

mentioning this as I just saw Interstellar and notice quite a few similarities.