Schlock Mercenary V: You're Missing Something Wonderful

[Thomar_of_Uointer]

And none of the Toughs would ever be so reckless as to drive their ships that close to each other.

They're made of PTU material. The worst they could do is scratch the paint.

[factotum]

6m is about 20ft for example, and I'n not sure that sally port is more than 12ft.

I measured panel 3 with a ruler: on my screen, Sorlie on the right is about 12mm high, and the sally port visible above her is 44mm. So, unless Sorlie is only 4 feet tall, I think my estimate of 6m for the sally port is actually on the low side.

Mind you, I had no idea Cindercone was as big as 8km across--it was obvious in its previous appearance that it was considerably bigger than Broken Wind, but 16 times as big?

[HandofShadows]

Cindercone is eight km? You could pack battleplates inside of it. What they heck are they going to do with all that ability to haul freight?

[Feddlefew]

Cindercone is eight km? You could pack battleplates inside of it. What they heck are they going to do with all that ability to haul freight?

The builders had fabricators that ate planets. I'd imagine they'd need freighters that could ship the products to where they were needed.

Edit: Or did you mean the toughs? They'd probably put other, smaller ships inside it. Like battle plates.

[factotum]

You kind of have to wonder why the Toughs are even bothering being mercenaries anymore when they have such valuable ships--sell one of them and buy a nice little star system somewhere to settle down would be what I'd do if I had one of those!

[Cikomyr]

You kind of have to wonder why the Toughs are even bothering being mercenaries anymore when they have such valuable ships--sell one of them and buy a nice little star system somewhere to settle down would be what I'd do if I had one of those!

They already had their chance to retire and live a comfy life. In Peteytopia.

[HandofShadows]

They already had their chance to retire and live a comfy life. In Peteytopia.

Yeah. The Toughs want to be out there DOING things. And it's good they are. Because without them the everyone would be dead.

[toapat]

The builders had fabricators that ate planets. I'd imagine they'd need freighters that could ship the products to where they were needed.

Edit: Or did you mean the toughs? They'd probably put other, smaller ships inside it. Like battle plates.

cindercone is too small to hide a battleplate. remember that UNS plates are 8km to a side

[Cikomyr]

Do you think Cindercone could be rehauled as a 8km Annie-plant?

Thats about twice the diameter of the largest buildable UNS Annieplant...

[factotum]

No, because the size limit for annie plants comes because they get unstable as they get larger, not because they ran out of materials to build the exterior with.

[NEO|Phyte]

Do you think Cindercone could be rehauled as a 8km Annie-plant?

Thats about twice the diameter of the largest buildable UNS Annieplant...

I suspect that PTU purposed as hullmetal isn't quite up to spec for becoming an annieplant unless you melt it down, and at that point the fact that it was a ship ceases to matter

[Spojaz]

No, because the size limit for annie plants comes because they get unstable as they get larger, not because they ran out of materials to build the exterior with.

Little bit of column A little bit of column B.
Making huge annie plants is possible, but it is a feat unaccomplished in the current galactic civilization, because *nobody* has a legit non-doomsday use for that much raw power, as well as no government can afford to waste decades of their systems' trans-uranic alloy production on trial and error.

[BRC]

Little bit of column A little bit of column B.
Making huge annie plants is possible, but it is a feat unaccomplished in the current galactic civilization, because *nobody* has a legit non-doomsday use for that much raw power, as well as no government can afford to waste decades of their systems' trans-uranic alloy production on trial and error.

No, the Obenn built an obscenely huge annie-plant (I'm not archive diving for the page where they talk about it) and it exploded catastrophically.

Annie Plants get more efficient as they get bigger (So building 1 500m Annie plant is a better use of resources than two 250m Annie plants, provided you've got the space for it).

[Cikomyr]

No, the Obenn built an obscenely huge annie-plant (I'm not archive diving for the page where they talk about it) and it exploded catastrophically.

Annie Plants get more efficient as they get bigger (So building 1 500m Annie plant is a better use of resources than two 250m Annie plants, provided you've got the space for it).

It wasnt the O'Benn Tauunisgan(?) But their raptor ennemies, the Hrssk who built the megaannie. It was 302 km of diameter.

Oisiris was 10 times larger, which was almost 1000 bigger than the largest Annie plants the UNS can build.

Also, there is more mass in a 500m plant than 2x 250m ones. I dont remember the sphere volume number tho, but think you need something like 3.5 to 4 spheres of half the diameter to replicate the volume.

What you say about the efficiency is right, tho. Annie plants get exponentially more powerful as they grow in size.

[toapat]

What you say about the efficiency is right, tho. Annie plants get exponentially more powerful as they grow in size.

I went over this in the previous thread, trying to pick apart the facts from the in universe misconceptions or why matter annihilation can generate power on that scale.

Inaccuracies:

Annieplants dont use neutrinos as a reactant: these are the only things with the kind of abundance that would allow a non-diminishing return on something that you can keep scaling upwards, as well as being an abundant source of released energy from fission and fusion reactions. And there are virtually countless neutrino-generators in the milky way alone.

Annieplants scale forever: They dont, they simply get more efficient at collecting neutrinos. and because both cross section and hull thickness increase as the structure scales up, then the output does keep increasing as the thing scales up as opposed to downwards like normal RL reactors.

[Cikomyr]

I went over this in the previous thread, trying to pick apart the facts from the in universe misconceptions or why matter annihilation can generate power on that scale.

Inaccuracies:

Annieplants dont use neutrinos as a reactant: these are the only things with the kind of abundance that would allow a non-diminishing return on something that you can keep scaling upwards, as well as being an abundant source of released energy from fission and fusion reactions. And there are virtually countless neutrino-generators in the milky way alone.

Annieplants scale forever: They dont, they simply get more efficient at collecting neutrinos. and because both cross section and hull thickness increase as the structure scales up, then the output does keep increasing as the thing scales up as opposed to downwards like normal RL reactors.

Look. I am sure you are extremely knowledgeable of the topic in theoretical physics to be able to poke holes in the comic's science.

Me? I go with what the comic says, because the story is.going to follow the comic's own rules, regardless of what realscience might say about it.

The comic say bigger makes exponentially better, thats what I will be running with, period.

[factotum]

Oisiris was 10 times larger, which was almost 1000 bigger than the largest Annie plants the UNS can build.

But it was only a UNS theory that Oisri was an annie plant in the first place (mainly based on its abnormally high density for its size, I think), and I think that theory was pretty comprehensively shot down when a Pa'anuri came out of the thing!

[toapat]

But it was only a UNS theory that Oisri was an annie plant in the first place (mainly based on its abnormally high density for its size, I think), and I think that theory was pretty comprehensively shot down when a Pa'anuri came out of the thing!

it is an annie plant, just one designed for forming dark matter condensate instead of unbound gravitational waves

[HandofShadows]

You know, I don't think I have never seen this question asked. Why would someone build a HUGE device to make Dark Matter entities?

[Alent]

You know, I don't think I have never seen this question asked. Why would someone build a HUGE device to make Dark Matter entities?

If Teraporting kills you and you can't use the Zoojack gate because the gatekeepers have the gate closed, sending a cloning machine with the instructions, data, and engraved memories to clone you once it arrives at its destination is probably the best way to sneak into the Milky way unnoticed.

[factotum]

You know, I don't think I have never seen this question asked. Why would someone build a HUGE device to make Dark Matter entities?

Because Dark Matter entities are huge and you couldn't create one in a small device?

[Cikomyr]

Now that i think of it...

....the Oisiris Shell is still around, right? Thats an absurd amout of PTU

[Feddlefew]

You know, I don't think I have never seen this question asked. Why would someone build a HUGE device to make Dark Matter entities?

Because only the shell was built, the rest is the Dark Matter equivalent of an estivating mated queen?

[Bulldog Psion]

So the Schlock RPG is going to be called "Planet Mercenary?"

I have to admit, while I'm excited about the game, I hate the title...

[Welf]

I have the theory that Panuuri were the by-product of giant annie plants and Oisiris was a modified annie plant with dual use.

[Alent]

I have the theory that Panuuri were the by-product of giant annie plants and Oisiris was a modified annie plant with dual use.

I think they're evolved Oafans, since the surface of Oisri was essentially engraved with the same kind of memory storage that the Oafans use, and then there's that issue where Iafa can't remember what actually happened to the original Oafans.

[NEO|Phyte]

I think they're evolved Oafans, since the surface of Oisri was essentially engraved with the same kind of memory storage that the Oafans use, and then there's that issue where Iafa can't remember what actually happened to the original Oafans.

I am not an expert on such things, but how in the wide wide world of scifi do you evolve from baryonic to nonbaryonic matter?

[HandofShadows]

Going from baryonic to nonbaryonic, not through any natural process that's for sure.

As for the Oisri being Oafan, IIRC Oisri came from outside that galaxy.

[factotum]

I think it more likely that the ancient Oafans fought the Pa'anuri. Why else have that "no annie plants ever" rule on the can full'o'sky? It was because they didn't want to get found by them!

[ti'esar]

In fact, we know the ancient Oafans fought the Pa'anuri.