I see. So, is it possible to use gamma lasers and UV lasers as weapons? Come to think of it, what's preventing us from using lasers as weapons? I think it's the dust particles in the air that makes it difficult to use lasers as weapons, but I could be wrong.
@SCPilot atmospheric effects do make it hard to make laser weapons, but they're in a fairly late stage of development already -- it wouldn't surprise me if we get something practical for shipboard use within the next decade or two (if you can get something fast-firing and M61 or GAU-8 sized, imagine having a CIWS with infinite ammo)
(either that, or something slow-firing that replaces say a 5" deck gun)
@Secespitus mostly my summerly 'exodus' - losing a feeling of time, playing games I haven't yet had time to check out, procrastinating exam prep, hurried exam prep
I regularly stalked the top-questions, but there didn't seem anything that caught my attention. And in the same vein I didn't have anything particularly exciting I wanted to ask that hadn't been asked since my last attempt on that geology question :)
@dot_Sp0T 5e. As nobody in my group of friends has ever played any RPG that is not played on a computer I just thought using the newest system of the most nerdy game in existence might be a good start.
So far it's been three sessions and it's pretty cool.
Yeah 5th ed is great for newcomers. Lots of prebaked stuff for characters und campaigns alike, so you can concentrate on the playing aspect. I personally prefer the GURPS system though
That's a lot of different systems. I already have problems scheduling regular sessions for one system. But part of that comes from trying to schedule a session with 7 players and the DM
we normally play 5th ed every other week and starwars every 3 weeks (different groups); 4th ed varies on the DM (which I'd be next in line but I don't get around finishing prep.....)
From what I read about 4th on RPG.SE is that it required battle mats and stuff like that. Plus the magic system is very different. What are the Pros and Cons of 5th vs 4th in your opinion?
well you just need a grid for 4th in order to resolve effects correctly, then again 5th also uses the same grid. 4th seems more hardcore, there's more you can do and everything is an edge more complicated. 5th is friendlier
The skillsystem in 4th is more varied than in 5th, this is good and bad as skilchecks work quite different thus
I think I prefer the skillsystem in 4th edition to that of 5th edition. But combat seems less tedious in 5th.
In 4th you need to keep track of dozens of abilites, different attacks, bonus' etc... in 5th this is solved more smoothly
So I prefer my 5th ed sorcerer to my 4th ed psionic in terms of combat. but I find that my 4th ed psionic is more fun to play outside of combat
5th basically has a handful of modifiers and skills in which you might be proficient and after that you just ask whether you have advantage or not. That's the most important things for combat.
Also the more complex combat system lends itself to more crazy stunts that still adhere strictly to the rules of the system, while in 5th you get more leeway with the rules - which can be bad with some players
I'm about to finish up with a question that asks about a reality check for whether or not the musculature of an alien species makes sense (I have the actual intended functionality in mind already and it will be included in the question), AND i would also like to include a section asking about the limb-eye(s) coordination aspect of having 3 eyes in a triangular fashion on the creatures head
That's the side view of my creature - For asking about musculature I was also going to include a rough skeletal sketch on top of an isometric view with the joints, and then circle the actual relevant muscle groups
With the way I described having the musculature & skeletal structure on a picture, do you think that would make the question more clear or would it be er... obfuscating
"examine the adaptation of a third eye combined with a bipedal lower body plan and monobratso (single arm) upper body plan helped this alien species become the top land predator on their planet."
like, what i really want to know is whtehr or not that third eye combined with the muscular design & skeletal structure is realistic enough to cause defined traits
My hook: "In this episode of Strolling with Nightmares, we examine the realism behind the musculature and skeletal structure of a bipedal lower body plan and monobratso (single arm) upper body plan."
@Mithrandir ... Anyway, Currently there's no sale - She and her Husband have spoken to my parents about it, and they've talked about where the costs come in, I'm also definitely not selling for less than £200 (not sure if i'm including postal or not, as if that includes postal then i'm losing money)
I am starting to get the feeling the chances for survival of the former NATO and PACT members, especially the States and Soviet Union are........rather problematic, and even if they do somehow survive, the reconstruction chances are slim. As in: 0.0001% chance that any full scale reconstruction effort would happen without some chaotic mess ensuing.
As for the question, I am going to post a bounty when the time comes, but I am starting to become less and less certain that any continuity of government plan could succeed without running into problems.
So, anyone else coming to that conclusion?
@Bellerophon and/or @Mithrandir24601?
You two happen to have had run to conclude similarly?
@FutureHistorian The US and USSR probably wouldn't survive as nations. The leadership might and so they would be nations symbolically and may have some political influence but militarily and economically they would be practically non-existent. The USA might be able to rebuild to some extent with help from the UK, France if they were not attacked (I don't know if you are having people nuke Europe) but the USSR would certainly collapse.
This is in the sequel to my previous Cold War Gone Hot question.
And Europe would be the first to be obliterated anyway, along with Korea and Japan.
As in: except for Sweden, Yugoslavia, Finland, Albania, Austria and Switzerland early on, most of Europe is just.....dead (with some remnant governments still standing and newly formed nations emerging).
So, if you are thinking this is just another random scenario, it is not. It is a sequel to my previous question on whether the Soviets and other Warsaw Pact forces, henceforth referred to as PACT forces, could reach the Rhine River or not (at least until NATO decides to nuke them and the nuclear ...
@Bellerophon? So, if the Northern Hemisphere (except for the remainder of Asia that I did not mention) is gone, what could any surviving remnant governments do to rebuild?
@FutureHistorian Get help from the Southern hemisphere. The UK naval fleet (whatever is left) usually have in their orders for nuclear war to report to New Zealand or Australia as they are in the Commonwealth. I suspect much of what is left of the west would ask nations such as Australia for help.
@FutureHistorian Tons of refugees, massive economic problems given the USA has just been obliterated and mass panic. Probably looting, nations propped up by the US would collapse. Similar story with ones propped up by the USSR. Fighting might break out in places like Israel, maybe Vietnam.
So, any reconstruction plans from before the war that could be implemented (with varying results) by the surviving remnants of the States and Soviet Union?
@FutureHistorian I don't know. You should probably ask a historian.
Everything I know on the period comes from a GCSE in history and a short essay I wrote on MAD for a school project. Once you go into any depth my knowledge is pretty inadequate.
@Hannah I'd certainly say that it's worth more than that... (although I don't know anything about art) the last piece of art I saw of that size was supposedly worth about £5k, although it was utterly stunning and probably by someone well known or something, so £200 seems a bit... Low... Would you consider selling them a print at a lower price?
@Mithrandir24601 Possibly... (and that figure was my bottom line for the piece, and was therefore so low because a. its my first commission and b. it was for who i'd thought was a family friend (one who had been having money issues recently). evidently not.)
This excludes metal stakes, knives etc. to the heart, it's not the bleeding out that's the issue. Just for some reason, a wooden stake to the heart ends a vampire. Why?
Assume the type of vampire that is common in fiction (can't go out during the day, doesn't like garlic or crosses, but can pass...
> So you want "scientifical" reasons on why someone who has become inmortal, highly flammable under sunlight, allergic to garlic and cross-phobic due to a viric infection can only be killed through a stake in the heart, but only if it's made of wood? Really?
Southern hemisphere will be the major world leaders while any northern hemisphere nations will be 3rd world and/or in debt (financial or moral) to somewhere in the South. There will be fewer nuclear weapons.
Leaders probably Australia, New Zealand unless the fallout reached them. They would be the worlds most powerful states by now although Australia would probably have much less empty space as refugees flooded in and founded new cities. Possibly some of South America may do O.K. but I don't know if they would develop without the USA nearby.
No, but the fallout from nearby Korea, parts of Siberia, the Soviet SSRs known as the -Stans in our timeline and Japan is probably not going to help China.
Pakistan never really invented nuclear weapons until the 1990s and India's nuclear program back then was still being R&Ded.
Pakistan started their nuclear program the year before WWIII and in our timeline, India's first nuclear test was a year after the war in this timeline.
In that case your leaders are probably Australia and New Zealand although they will only just be returning to normal having absorbed the brunt of the refugees.
China maybe a power depending on how much fallout hit it.
NOTE: I was thinking about South Africa under apartheid as a leader, but it depends on whether its isolation worsens post-War or not, and whether it can handle all the refugees from the rest of Africa.
So, South Africa = superpower/great power or not really?
I'd say moderately powerful. Nothing like the economy or military of a modern power (not even near somewhere like France or the UK) but still one of the more powerful states of the new world. It is one that is seen as racist and not really standing up for human rights but still a powerful ally.
I don't really know. That would depend on how you want the bombs to fall.
Probably not Britain or France as we both have nuclear weapons.The most likely ones might be places like East Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and those kind of areas.
So, if you are thinking this is just another random scenario, it is not. It is a sequel to my previous question on whether the Soviets and other Warsaw Pact forces, henceforth referred to as PACT forces, could reach the Rhine River or not (at least until NATO decides to nuke them and the nuclear ...
So besides a few new nations and scattered remnants, "Europe is just dead" to quote AlternateHistoryHub.
@Bellerophon. What I meant was: which of the former NATO and PACT members have a remnant government still standing?
The USSR and the US are obvious remnant governments, but who in Europe has a provisional government composed of pre-War surviving leaders capable of executing some form of authority?
That place has a military base and it is likely nuked into oblivion.
The initial ICBM wave smashes their targets in 30 minutes maximum for both North America and NOT European USSR, while 15 minutes for European targets to be completely destroyed (including the European USSR).
To clarify, the initial ICBM barrage was meant to target mostly military bases, especially those capable of deploying nuclear delivery systems, with the occasional population centre being targeted.
The majority of the strategic bombers would wipe out most population centers and SLBMs are meant to take out any remaining targets still standing.
The remaining 45 minutes are spent delivering what little deployed warheads both alliances have left.
Remember: I had a conventional war last for three weeks before nuclear fire was unleashed on Earth, and the Rhine River was where NATO first nuked the advancing PACT forces.
The Warsaw Pact (which means Soviets, East Germans, Poles, Hungarians, Czechoslovakians, Bulgarians and Romanians) retaliated and got as far as Saärbrucken before a NATO counterattack and prior nuclear barrage pushed them back to the Rhine and a stalemate ensued.
West Germany was pretty densely packed with military bases. Also the USSR didn't like it. East Germany I don't know about. Maybe it would be o.k. Berlin might be the only city left standing.
Except that East Germany also was victim to chemical attacks following the Battle of Schotten (which ended in the use of chemical weapons while the NATO forces there tried to make a fighting retreat, only for the defenders to get a missile full of Sarin gas to the face) during the conventional stage. So, I am not sure if that chemical warfare helps.
@FutureHistorian just looking at the title, but.... This question seems to ask about historical knowledge - which in turn is a perfect fit for history.se, not?
@Mithrandir24601 That's why you buy them in pairs; so you still have one left after devouring the first. Also so you can mix honey and water melons.
Filled with seeds that grow out your rear! We eat melons every day, drop your pants burn the seeds away! Burn, burn, the seeds away, make my ass safe for today! Burn, burn, the seeds away, make those melons, DIE!
There's a clip that goes with that I'm sure... I just can't remember where to find it...
There would be two of the rings, possibly with more engines, and they would have containers slid into them then carry them. They would restock and drop off containers outside of orbit.
@dot_Sp0T The ring is a ring. The blobs are engines.
Nah, I have redone it and rethought it through. The ships are freighters. The carry large cargoes on established straight line roots between stationary . They can turn if they only run the engines on one side but it is slow, power consuming and rarely done. There is a small skeleton crew who do very little except in emergencies and when loading/unloading.
Not sure how it generates gravity or anything like that.
don't make much sense for the torus if they don't need to maintain gravity for a larger crew
also unless your space-shield-tech needs to connect points or something to make a shield it doesn;t seem sensical to suspend carge inside a superstructure in space instead of just attaching it like a tug and barges
if you don't have spaceshields you'd most likely just have a huge wad of metal or even rock in front behind which you suspend everything
I'm thinking the toruses are there to provide the power (by fusion) to power the engines which allow it to go faster and further with less weight than a conventional engine which short range ships use.
@dot_Sp0T 3 of the cylinders could be for matter storage of some hyper compressed gas. The other cylinder is the crew. The two toruses are nuclear thingies for power.
@dot_Sp0T In the end it is around 760m long with a volume of about 171,500,000 m^3 and a carrying capacity of twice the weight of an oil tanker but much higher volume (it normally carries gas which is far less dense than oil).