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Post by Pttg on Apr 27, 2017 7:20:25 GMT
Piracy might be uneconomical when compared to mining in the belt because 1) no stealth in space and 2) vast distances between the belt objects mean you can't sneak close. There's only no stealth in space if you assume lots and lots of cheap satellites with superlative sensors, controlled by a single polity. The belt has lots of low-energy transfers, but only if you're willing to take a LONG time. So many belt objects are effectively quite far in economic terms. A pirate can steal some labor-intensive goods from a freighter, because for him the high-speed trajectory is worth the free stuff he's stealing. Legit traders (and their backers) can't afford to use high-energy burns since they also have to pay for the stuff. And since there's a mixture of polities, these are often not even pirates, but rather privateers, which means they have convenient fronts to dock at. The main things pirates need is for nobody to be willing to stop them.
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Post by bigbombr on Apr 27, 2017 7:35:31 GMT
Piracy might be uneconomical when compared to mining in the belt because 1) no stealth in space and 2) vast distances between the belt objects mean you can't sneak close. There's only no stealth in space if you assume lots and lots of cheap satellites with superlative sensors, controlled by a single polity. The belt has lots of low-energy transfers, but only if you're willing to take a LONG time. So many belt objects are effectively quite far in economic terms. A pirate can steal some labor-intensive goods from a freighter, because for him the high-speed trajectory is worth the free stuff he's stealing. Legit traders (and their backers) can't afford to use high-energy burns since they also have to pay for the stuff. And since there's a mixture of polities, these are often not even pirates, but rather privateers, which means they have convenient fronts to dock at. The main things pirates need is for nobody to be willing to stop them. If there is a single thing many belters or factions are willing to collaborate on, it's the tracking of the orbits of the objects in the solar system and managing traffic. Because if a few kg of mass hits you at several km/s, that's going to hurt, regardless if it's natural or not. And massive sensor arrays are something the superpowers would use to anticipate the movements of other superpowers, and this would probably be encouraged (think the open skies policy between Russia and the US to prevent nucleair annihilation). A lack of stealth makes attacks predictable and costly, thus improving stability. All superpowers wish for stability, in order to maintain and expand their control. Pirates/privateers would need considerable funding to outgun belters. This means they're simply of the books military units.
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Post by gedzilla on Apr 27, 2017 7:40:34 GMT
Also, im sure you are already, but just in case you are not: you should use the Atomic Rockets site extensively
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Post by bigbombr on Apr 27, 2017 7:44:47 GMT
Also, im sure you are already, but just in case you are not: you should use the Atomic Rockets site extensively I ca also recommend this blog, and this youtube channel.
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 7:51:21 GMT
Personal opinion: your universe doesn't seem to make sense. With widespread molecular printing, how would you stop anyone from building laserstars? How would Venus exert control over anybody? Without a central government, there's basically no way people won't violate Europa. Why would Mercury want vast imports of Deuterium? Giga-terawatt scale electric drives offer exhaust velocities (and thus, dV) superior to fusion. Unless you're building military warships, dV greatly exceeds raw thrust in importance. At Mercury orbit, solar power is ridiculously cheap and grants incredible amounts of power for miniscule investment. If you're unsure about graphene, someone modded it for CoaDE. Try it, see how it changes your designs and use this to get an intuitive grasp on the impact it would have on your story. Graphene is incredible. Using Graphene based substances, my Assault Carrier has twice the dV under half the mass, carries twice as many drones and thirty percent more missiles. My main guns go from 44km/s (vs Capital range ~500km) to 400km/s, and become the main armament, rather than missiles or drones. My drones go from 20km/s gundrone swarms with 100mw anti-laser flashlights to 100km/s flying assault cannons and 1GW laser drills with incredible intensity at range. My missiles are half the size but have equivalent or superior performance, and have actual armor now. With high density graphene based materials (i.e. Graphene-Iridium) for reflectors, I can max out the fusion fuel intensity and build single-stage nukes in the hundreds of megaton range! How can I alleviate this situation? Industrial manufacture needs to be better, but not so good as to allow everyone to build laserstars or go Macross Missile Massacre on everyone else. If manufacturing technology was limited to a single material at a time, which seems rather improbable, would it help? Or should I do away with large-scale additive manufacturing entirely? Any ideas? Luna and Mars are so fractured that the mere threat of Venus joining their opponents grants Venus significant bargaining power. Also, having the largest economy, and a significant merchant navy, does wonders. Venus is like the Liberty Exchange in-game. They trade with everyone, and, regarding Mars, at least, are the only ones whose shipments nobody has the guts to shoot down. Europa is inviolate only in theory. (?) or should I go full-scale Deuterium(?) exports from the Galilean moons? Wait, what? These are 100 GW - 10 TW Fusion torches. They have maximum exhaust velocities of 2500 km/s. And a specific power of 100 kW/kg. And they're throttleable. How will electric drives beat them in efficiency and exhaust velocity? Graphene is likely in. Any other near-future materials that I may need to consider?
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 7:53:35 GMT
Also, im sure you are already, but just in case you are not: you should use the Atomic Rockets site extensively I ca also recommend this blog, and this youtube channel. Didn't know about the blog. Thanks!
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 8:02:10 GMT
Piracy might be uneconomical when compared to mining in the belt because 1) no stealth in space and 2) vast distances between the belt objects mean you can't sneak close. There's only no stealth in space if you assume lots and lots of cheap satellites with superlative sensors, controlled by a single polity. The belt has lots of low-energy transfers, but only if you're willing to take a LONG time. So many belt objects are effectively quite far in economic terms. A pirate can steal some labor-intensive goods from a freighter, because for him the high-speed trajectory is worth the free stuff he's stealing. Legit traders (and their backers) can't afford to use high-energy burns since they also have to pay for the stuff. And since there's a mixture of polities, these are often not even pirates, but rather privateers, which means they have convenient fronts to dock at. The main things pirates need is for nobody to be willing to stop them. Nobody is willing to stop them. Mars is in a hot war, Luna is in a cold war, and Venus doesn't have the political will due to its nature. I was actually imagining them as less commerce raiders as long-range commerce destroyers, if only to maintain monopolies or to drive up prices. But would such a strategy even make sense? I don't think boarding operations are very plausible. The nature of the fusion drive allows it to be weaponized very easily - just divert the driver lasers from the pellet to the target. Starship combat between freighters will kill the cargo. And the crew. Boarding operations as such will likely be conducted by remote controlled drones anyway, with meatbags only on-site if things are completely clear.
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Post by bigbombr on Apr 27, 2017 8:14:09 GMT
Diamond nanothreads, carbon nanotubes, borophene and carbyne come to mind. You can check this thread or this subforum for more.
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 8:26:01 GMT
Thanks!
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Post by bigbombr on Apr 27, 2017 8:47:57 GMT
Do you take transhuman and posthuman entities into account? Is there widespread genetic and cybernetic augmentation? Is it taboo? Are there AI's? What is their role in society? How does all of this differ in the different factions? Are there cryogenics? And does most of the population live on the surface of planets and moons or are there plenty of space colonies (like O'Neill cylinders)? Are nucleair weapons still as taboo? What about chemical and biological warfare? What about the internet? Are there cassaba howitzers? Is interplanetary communication mostly through laser or radio? How has popculture evolved and differentiated in the different factions?
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 9:40:27 GMT
Transhumanist and posthumanist ideologies do exist, but the technology needed doesn't.
Augmentation isn't much of a taboo. Minor genetic modifications to better suit living environments are extremely common, as are a wide suite of other genetic augmentations. Cybernetics isn't very advanced - implants are common, but aren't so effective as to make organic meatbodies useless.
ANI is widespread, but there isn't any AGI. ANI is mostly used for automation of certain processes and for personal assistance.
We still haven't figured out how to unfreeze someone without killing them.
Spaceborne colonies exist in massive numbers, but a significantly larger proportion of people live on the surface or in the atmosphere of the inner planets. The outer system has more population in space.
Biological warfare is a huge taboo, due to the nature of vacuum habitations, as is chemical warfare. Nuclear weapons are fine, at least in space. Most polities prefer kinetic weapons against ground targets due to the lack of radiation.
An intra-solar system internet does exist, but most planets have their own, localised networks as well, due to light speed lag. Interplanetary communication is mostly through focused laser beams bounced off communications satellites, but radio has its role too.
Casaba howitzers aren't as useful as lasers, but they do exist.
Culture is something that I've barely scratched the edges of. There's simply too much to be done for one person right now.
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Post by The Astronomer on Apr 27, 2017 9:58:16 GMT
Transhumanist and posthumanist ideologies do exist, but the technology needed doesn't. Augmentation isn't much of a taboo. Minor genetic modifications to better suit living environments are extremely common, as are a wide suite of other genetic augmentations. Cybernetics isn't very advanced - implants are common, but aren't so effective as to make organic meatbodies useless. ANI is widespread, but there isn't any AGI. ANI is mostly used for automation of certain processes and for personal assistance. We still haven't figured out how to unfreeze someone without killing them. Spaceborne colonies exist in massive numbers, but a significantly larger proportion of people live on the surface or in the atmosphere of the inner planets. The outer system has more population in space. Biological warfare is a huge taboo, due to the nature of vacuum habitations, as is chemical warfare. Nuclear weapons are fine, at least in space. Most polities prefer kinetic weapons against ground targets due to the lack of radiation. An intra-solar system internet does exist, but most planets have their own, localised networks as well, due to light speed lag. Interplanetary communication is mostly through focused laser beams bounced off communications satellites, but radio has its role too. Casaba howitzers aren't as useful as lasers, but they do exist. Culture is something that I've barely scratched the edges of. There's simply too much to be done for one person right now. What is slowing the technological advances down? I think it's strangely slow for me.
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Post by bigbombr on Apr 27, 2017 10:21:50 GMT
For cryogenics, the formation of ice crystals can be prevented, which is why we can freeze and thaw embryo's, stem cells, worms, ... The issue is that cooling the brain causes amyloid plaques to form, like with Alzheimer's. Bears and certain species of frog seem to circumvent or solve this problem. I'd expect this to be possible for genetically modified humans within this century. In the end, it's your story though.
Cybernetics: cybernetic hearts with a performance equal to a human heart already exist and have been used. Ocular implants to let the blind see exist, but suffer from low resolution. Both Google and DARPA are doing some serious research on computer-brain interfaces.
I'd have to say a fully agree on the internet and it's future structure.
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Post by nerd1000 on Apr 27, 2017 10:24:01 GMT
Transhumanist and posthumanist ideologies do exist, but the technology needed doesn't. Augmentation isn't much of a taboo. Minor genetic modifications to better suit living environments are extremely common, as are a wide suite of other genetic augmentations. Cybernetics isn't very advanced - implants are common, but aren't so effective as to make organic meatbodies useless. ANI is widespread, but there isn't any AGI. ANI is mostly used for automation of certain processes and for personal assistance. We still haven't figured out how to unfreeze someone without killing them. Spaceborne colonies exist in massive numbers, but a significantly larger proportion of people live on the surface or in the atmosphere of the inner planets. The outer system has more population in space. Biological warfare is a huge taboo, due to the nature of vacuum habitations, as is chemical warfare. Nuclear weapons are fine, at least in space. Most polities prefer kinetic weapons against ground targets due to the lack of radiation. An intra-solar system internet does exist, but most planets have their own, localised networks as well, due to light speed lag. Interplanetary communication is mostly through focused laser beams bounced off communications satellites, but radio has its role too. Casaba howitzers aren't as useful as lasers, but they do exist. Culture is something that I've barely scratched the edges of. There's simply too much to be done for one person right now. If you're looking to flesh out any details regarding genetics, biochemistry and related subjects feel free to ask me: Those topics are my area of professional expertise (such as it is). If genetic modifications become a plot point it might be worth quickly mentioning that your civillization fixed the various problems with gene therapy on whatever date you choose (or maybe mention that there's still a risk of fatal immune reactions or cancer if they didn't fix those issues!). The details might be a little difficult for laypersons of course. Come to think of it, a who-dun-it plot about local gangsters distributing retroviral gene mods that give you leukaemia wouldn't make a bad story in and of itself.
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Post by SevenOfCarina on Apr 27, 2017 10:52:35 GMT
Okay, let me backtrack on cybernetics. Heavy augmentation is likely to become more standard, and I see cybernetics in addition to gene-mods being used to cope with local conditions. It'll be interesting to see how humanity interacts with its own members who are now so decidedly un-human, at least in appearance. Could be an interesting plot point.
I did not know that about cryogenics. Hmm. If cryogenics becomes fairly inexpensive, I do envision it being used on a widespread basis. It could better justify human technicians on cargo vessels. And more.
And nerd1000, thank you! I'd love it if you could help me flesh out more details regarding the future progression of biotech, especially since my knowledge is so limited.
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