Beta and Higher Patron Notice for 11/01/2019
Added 2019-11-02 00:35:25 +0000 UTCSPACE WARSHIP GALLERY
added new section BDM MANNED SPACE BATTLE CRUISER
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewarshipart.php#bdmbcruiser
INTERSTELLAR EMPIRE
added to Barbarians a quote from HIDING PLACE
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/stellarempire.php#adderkop
added to Empires in Collision a quote AGGRESSIVELY EXPANDING CIVILIZATIONS
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/stellarempire.php#civgrowth
TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY 2
added new section LADY SPACE TAXI
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/scisociety2.php#ladytaxi
DETECTION
added new section SEARCH PATTERNS
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacewardetect.php#searchpat
INTERSTELLAR TRADE
added to Trading jobs Poul Anderson, quotes from THE TROUBLETWISTERS and BIRTHRIGHT
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/stellartrade.php#tradejob
BASIC DESIGN
added to Space Trains and Truckers a quote from FALLING FREE
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/basicdesign.php#spacetruck6
ASTROMILITARY
added to Naval Boarding a quote about FTL BOARDING TACTICS
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/astromilitary.php#ftlboard
QUASI-MILITARY
added to Spacecraft Certification a quote from PIRACY PREFERRED
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/civmilitary.php#aircert
ENGINE LIST 1
added to Photon a Russian diagram of a photon-drive ship
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php#photon12
Comments
That is a very good question. I'll have to do some research on that. In an emergency, I'm sure a warship would have plenty of reserve coolant.
Nyrath
2019-11-09 23:31:32 +0000 UTCOne persistent simple question I've had on liquid droplet radiators and haven't found an answer to on the site: what would a ballpark travel time be for a droplet from emission to collection? Seconds? Two minutes? Twenty? Since you're committed to zero maneuvering while droplets are "in flight", unless you're prepared to lose the coolant and possibly splash it over the hull, it'd be an important consideration for any ship that might need to do unplanned manuevers, e.g. a warship.
Justin VanDeVelde
2019-11-09 22:07:09 +0000 UTCAlso very good points. "Speculation" is another word for "gambling." Tramp freighters cannot afford to gamble using the mortgage money. Megacorporations can gamble using the interest from the petty cash fund.
Nyrath
2019-11-02 13:51:40 +0000 UTCVery good point! Yet another good scifi idea shot down by cold hard science. Artificial wombs will remove the bottleneck of growing the colony population, since presumably it will be easier to manufacture more AWs than it will be to increase the number of lady colonists.
Nyrath
2019-11-02 13:48:55 +0000 UTCInterstellar Trade as Tramp Steamers. That's an old trope, harkening back to the pulp adventures written about the South Pacific, with iron men and rascally natives. The idea that you'd load up a ship with stuff you bought randomly and try selling it at a port was never a viable model. If it existed in RL, it was more likely an aberration than standard practice. You need a special set of circumstances for it to be viable, and even then the big trading houses would move in and setup factors and trading posts, and analyze the crap out of their sales and as soon as they started to lose money, either try something new or close up shop and go elsewhere. Let's be honest, you're taking a big chance filling your ship up with stuff you think will sell on another world. Even if you study the markets and see that's there's a demand for left-handed Phillip Screwdrivers, bigger and more financially sound trading houses will have seen that trend too, and much sooner than you have, and when your Free Trader shows up, no one wants your off brand products. (Even if they were made at the same manufacturer.) "That's not a StellarTool brand screwdriver!" Living the NW, I've found that all the various islands that make up the San Juan Island group, get served by small hauling vessels. They carry stuff that folks on the islands have ordered from shops on the mainland. The haulers are either partially paid upfront to carry it, then paid on delivery, or paid in full if they are reputable and probably bonded. I know this, as I rode on one out to my former boss's home on one of the islands for a summer party one year. I talked to the skipper and owner of the boat and he told me that they do this all the time running goods from the mainland to the islands. They do some big runs in the fall, hauling fuel for those folks that winter over on the islands. Which make sense. As a cargo hauler, he doesn't carry anything he's not paid to carry. He's not going to waste fuel hauling speculative cargo that he "might" sell. The same is true for the "space tramp steamer", where every gram counts, you're not making that trip out to an asteroid unless you're getting paid to do so.
John
2019-11-02 01:57:20 +0000 UTCOn Lady Space Taxi, it's a great idea, but they've already demonstrated a viable artificial womb that worked with sheep and they are talking about creating one for premature babies as a better substitute for how we currently deal with them. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/08/artificial-womb-dutch-researchers-given-29m-to-develop-prototype And, as we get better at "making babies" in a test tube, having a two people of the opposite sex may also become a bit passé. We may be able to have a child that was born from two women, two men, or multiple donators. (Of course this leads to the Blade Runner setting, where you make people based on genetic information and no donors whatsoever...)
John
2019-11-02 01:42:19 +0000 UTC
