Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[factotum]

Rings, Tubes, Spheres, what-have-you, they all maximize the surface area of the thing

I'm not sure what you mean there? In the case of a sphere it's unquestionably wrong--of all shapes you could possibly use, a sphere has the largest internal volume for a given surface area.

[Willie the Duck]

I'm not sure what you mean there? In the case of a sphere it's unquestionably wrong--of all shapes you could possibly use, a sphere has the largest internal volume for a given surface area.

Hollow (person-wise) sphere with people only on the edges. Filled sphere with people everywhere is what we have now (well, cone, but close enough).

[factotum]

Nope, still not getting it.

[Lizard Lord]

Hollow (person-wise) sphere with people only on the edges. Filled sphere with people everywhere is what we have now (well, cone, but close enough).

Why wouldn't/couldn't the sphere be (mostly) hollow?

[Psionic Dog]

Hollow (person-wise) sphere with people only on the edges. Filled sphere with people everywhere is what we have now (well, cone, but close enough).

A bunch of cones in spinning about the same point would form the spokes of a wheel, not a sphere. Maybe a filled disk if all the spokes are in contact.

Spheres are good if you want to maximize interior volume with minimum material. They're pretty bad if you want to spin them up for centripetal force and need to maximize living area. Especially if enclosing ground dwellers who need surface area more than sky. If most people need full gravity most of the sphere surface becomes uninhabitable, and even if a small number need reduced gravity it is still better to stack them vertically toward the center. After all they were already living in a metro tower before and that way you can make the sides vertical load-bearing structures in tension.

[Gez]

Wait a moment, I thought that spinning the individual spindle cities around like that was the solution to an engineering problem which couldn't be solved with a single rotation frame. I thought it was quite an interesting move away from the "self-gravitating space stations are best if they are rotating wheels".

The look that old Kevyn (who KNOWS about wheel stations as well as Petey does) gives our female new face (do we have a name yet?), indicates that he hasn't even thought about a wheel city.

Yeah the whole thing is a bit odd. The cities have largely kept the shape they had as orbital cities, it's just that they've been made to rotate around an axis using a non-annie power plant as the counterweight.

Turning them into wheels would require extensive efforts to remodel them. And if several spindle cities are merged together into a wheel, then it causes the "eggs in same basket" issue as instead of having several cities, you have just one, making a lot more people vulnerable to a single attack than when they are spread out.

[halfeye]

our female new face (do we have a name yet?)

Jengisha:

https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2018-07-29

[Thomas Cardew]

Yeah the whole thing is a bit odd.

The thing that really got me, is that this girl is calling Kevyn "baby" after they've know each for all of a few hours tops.

[halfeye]

The thing that really got me, is that this girl is calling Kevyn "baby" after they've know each for all of a few hours tops.

We've been watching them for a couple of months, does that count?

[Mando Knight]

The thing that really got me, is that this girl is calling Kevyn "baby" after they've know each for all of a few hours tops.

They met in a bar, and her occupation implies that quick "pick up a guy at a bar" flings are probably her normal kind of romantic relationships with civilians.

[halfeye]

They met in a bar, and her occupation implies that quick "pick up a guy at a bar" flings are probably her normal kind of romantic relationships with civilians.

I suspect her name (~ Ghengis-ina), is a foreshadowing of her personality, though I hope to be pleasantly surprised on that score.

[guttering flame]

I suspect her name (~ Ghengis-ina), is a foreshadowing of her personality, though I hope to be pleasantly surprised on that score.

I thought Jengisha is more similar to Jane (the) Geisha.

[halfeye]

I thought Jengisha is more similar to Jane (the) Geisha.

Some say Ghengis, some say Chinggis, I think some say Jingis (but Wikipedia doesn't, so maybe I misremembered that).

[Onyavar]

Some say Ghengis, some say Chinggis, I think some say Jingis (but Wikipedia doesn't, so maybe I misremembered that).

In german, we write him Dschingis (pronounciation d-sh-ing-is, in English jingis would be the way to write that name.)
Only, that linguists say he was pronounced with a hard consonant, so t-sh-ing-is (or in pinyin Chinggis/Qingis) would be the most correct way to call him.

I doubt that Jengishas name is etymological related, unless I missed an in-comic hint. But then, Tayler sometimes uses the 'corrupt meme' thing, and I also missed her name which was said on-panel twice already.

[factotum]

OK, why are these two largely unclothed and dripping wet? I don't think we've seen them since they were propelled away from the imminent explosion on Eina-Afa, right?

[HandofShadows]

They are in the background on this page. So they were onboard the Shoemaker-Levy. As for why they are wet they were probably ported out of a hot tub.

[Mando Knight]

OK, why are these two largely unclothed and dripping wet? I don't think we've seen them since they were propelled away from the imminent explosion on Eina-Afa, right?

The last time we saw them, they were getting drinks at the guest accommodations pod on the Battleplate Shoemaker-Levy. The Toughs (plus the now-wet UNS captains) were later teraported directly back onto Breath Weapon, probably by Shoemaker-Levy, though possibly by the Oafan fleet.

Why would these two stalwart captains be dripping wet, with the female in a strapless bikini? Shoemaker-Levy's guest accommodations apparently include a bar, so assuming the pod also includes a pool is not out of the question.

[factotum]

OK, I didn't spot them in the background of that scene, so I guess that makes more sense now.

[Max_Killjoy]

They were an integral part of the UNS embassy fleeing the Can of Sky, which was done using that very ship that they are now on again.

[Lizard Lord]

They were an integral part of the UNS embassy fleeing the Can of Sky, which was done using that very ship that they are now on again.

If they wanted integral parts of the UNS Embassy shouldn't Admiral Bala-Amin be included? Not only was she also fleeing aboard the Breath Weapon but she was the one that hired them for the evac.

[Max_Killjoy]

If they wanted integral parts of the UNS Embassy shouldn't Admiral Bala-Amin be included? Not only was she also fleeing aboard the Breath Weapon but she was the one that hired them for the evac.

I was reminding another poster that they were on the Breath Weapon because of those events, NOT trying to explain why they're there NOW.

[Max_Killjoy]

In case anyone missed it:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...15/description

[Onyavar]

I was reminding another poster that they were on the Breath Weapon because of those events, NOT trying to explain why they're there NOW.

Two options are the most likely.
One, the UNS dont trust them anymore because they might be more loyal to the Toughs, they are considered a liability.

Second and more plausible, they are there to keep track on what the Toughs are doing. Which is why their officers, ambassador bala-amin, isnt present. It would fit her style to not even inform her 'spies' on their assignment.

Third, many other reasons that I didn't think of...

[Rockphed]

Two options are the most likely.
One, the UNS dont trust them anymore because they might be more loyal to the Toughs, they are considered a liability.

Second and more plausible, they are there to keep track on what the Toughs are doing. Which is why their officers, ambassador bala-amin, isnt present. It would fit her style to not even inform her 'spies' on their assignment.

Third, many other reasons that I didn't think of...

Doesn't Sorley still have all sorts of intelligence uplink hardware in her head?

[Lizard Lord]

Planet Mercenary Joke: So that's what mayhem on a perception check looks like?

[The Glyphstone]

I ended up backing this kickstarter, largely for the option to get the Maxim 70 key fob. It's practically a mantra for me ever since it was first quoted in-comic, so a physical memento I won't worry about losing (like a normal coin) is worth throwing money on the table.

[Wayson]

So it's 24 minutes past update time, but no update. I'm guessing that DST is to blame and we'll see it in 36 minutes.

[NEO|Phyte]

Wut? It showed up on time on my end, are you looking at a cached page?

[tonberrian]

I assume it was daylight savings time, except Wayson was early, not the comic late. Post was at 8:24 Eastern, which is 36 minutes before 9:00 Eastern when the comic usually comes up.

[Rockphed]

I assume it was daylight savings time, except Wayson was early, not the comic late. Post was at 8:24 Eastern, which is 36 minutes before 9:00 Eastern when the comic usually comes up.

I swear the comic used to drop at 9:00 mountain time (11 eastern).