Accurate Portrayal Of Frontier Planets
POSTED BY: DakotaSmith
UPDATED: Thursday, June 10, 2004 13:04
VIEWED: 25056
PAGE 3 of 8
Random responses to multiple people here...
A train doesn't waste energy moving up and down more than necessary, and it is the kind of thing that people can buy by pooling their resources even if they can't afford their own vehicles to do the equivalent job, and, since high speeds are at work here, a train also provides much less ærodynamic resistance than an equivalent cargo capaciy capacity in the form of multiple small craft.
Automatics aren't easier to build than revolvers, but they are moretroublesome to maintain and more prone to reliability problems.
"Fashion" in the Old West wasn't fashion. It was suited to the work and the environment. These people are in a similar environment, and thus it's quite plausible that they'd either coincidentally end up dressing similarly or even base their attire on what was done in a previous set of people under such conditions... especially since it is reasonable to presume that human culture in 500 years will still be heavily influenced by Occidental heritage, and the USA's Old West is the only frontier environment that Occidental people have called home.
To me, the biggest problem is the un-ærodynamic ship and the apparently jet engines (which would guzzle fuel, which they don't seem to carry much of, and which wouldn't work in space). But I can imagine various ways out of that...
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:When I first saw pictures of Serenity that was my big issue. But although they look like jet engine (they might even be using real life jet engines as props) they're obviously not. Jet engine intakes are dangerous places, but not as dangerous as these!
To me, the biggest problem is the un-ærodynamic ship and the apparently jet engines (which would guzzle fuel, which they don't seem to carry much of, and which wouldn't work in space). But I can imagine various ways out of that...
JOSH, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by TinyTimm:
Undeveloped areas suffer most in a major war. Cross reference: Eastern Kentucky USofA during and after the US Civil War. Some say it never recovered until the Coal Boom of the 20th Century.
Judging by the mixed tech levels (old Traveler fen reveals self) in the bar, I'd say the war was extremely tough on the outer planets.
^5. Traveller fans unite!!!
Here in my neck of the woods, I and my friends got together and watched the premier episode and just watched in amazement as the epsode unfolded. We began to wonder if Joss Whedon had set up some type of covert observation of our Traveller RPG sessions. Everything from the opening bar fight to crew interaction to the heist on the train was familiar to us as most of those situations has occurred in some shape form or fashion in our Traveller games.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by ReyvnDarKnight:
^5. Traveller fans unite!!!
I just flashed on Joss at his workstation.
Suddenly he stops hammering on the keyboard, saves, and then rolls a pair of percentage dice, looks at a battered, tattered, table...curses, and goes back to hammering.
Jeff
Who has a set of games dice, including the infamous four sided foot penetrator...around here someplace.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
There are breweries in Germany that go back 1700 years. I have a reproduction of a mug from that time period.
Whatnow
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by TinyTimm:Quote:
Originally posted by ReyvnDarKnight:
^5. Traveller fans unite!!!
I just flashed on Joss at his workstation.
Suddenly he stops hammering on the keyboard, saves, and then rolls a pair of percentage dice, looks at a battered, tattered, table...curses, and goes back to hammering.
He's always struck me as something of a computer geek. So he'd used random number software. Those hyperpolyhedral dice are way too low tech!
JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
To varios people.
Old west clothing: If you bother to look, outdoorsman and farmers from almost every country in the 19th century and now dress quite similarly. Plus, the west was one of VERY few frontiers left during the 19th century.
Autos VS. Revolvers:this is an ongoing debate in the real world, but this much is clear. autos are less reliable. autos are less powerful for there size. autos are harder to fix with crude tools. autos are usually less accurate.
Trains VS. Planes: if you had ANY idea as to how much fuel a C-5 galaxy, C-17 globemaster or ilyushin IL-76 burnt per hour, you would not be using this argument. It doesn`t strike most people in civilized countrys, as most people are affluent enough to afford plane tickets, but look at amtrak! plus, train tracks haul more cargo per dollar of construction than a road. easier to build to.
Non-aerodynamic ship: serenity is the most thought out ship I have seen if you consider a few things(all the enterprises are the least thought out, they are made to look cool). Assume that the large boost engine(the big glowing butt) has to be clear, than having the cargo door where it is, with the cockpit mounted out of the way, makes sense. With the large pivoting outboard engines, try to keep the ship hovering with those mounted 50 feet behind the center of gravity! you`d flip the ship on it a$$! And they have to be mounted outboard that far to prevent scorching the hull, plus to give better control response.
Not realistic: there sensor and piloting systems are QUITE realistic. Look back on old Star Trek episodes and think how many problems would have been avoided if one of those dolts had thought to bring an IR scanner! Romulan warbirds would stand out like a sore thumb! And every time someone takes control of enterprise, its through the software, while break the hardware like saffron did, there screwed! Real guns, fourwheelers. Hell, I`d take a colt .45 over a phaser in a firefight anyday! though modern day fourwheelers 500 years in the future does seem a bit odd!
P.S. tinytimm, do you post over at marlintalk?
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by loonytoon:
To varios people.
Autos VS. Revolvers:this is an ongoing debate in the real world, but this much is clear. autos are less reliable. autos are less powerful for there size. autos are harder to fix with crude tools. autos are usually less accurate.?
Autos are more reliable, see the US Army tests a revolver couldn't pass the first mud test.
Autos are just as powerful in equal or lesser size see recent developments in the Glocken Kin.
Autos are easier to fix because most parts interchange w/o hand fitting.
Autos are usually less accurate, agreed in comparable combat pistols, but I wish I could afford my own comparison test.
Ongoing debate? You bet!!
Quote:
P.S. tinytimm, do you post over at marlintalk?
Sorry, no. I neither fish nor lever action.
Jeff
Who has fired Colt Automatics older than his late father, and they were still being issued to the US Army in 1976!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:But those parts come from a factory, right?
Autos are easier to fix because most parts interchange w/o hand fitting.
A Model A enthusiast once told me that parts for this car were extremely easy to fabricate. Which is why so many are still running, 60 years after they went out of production, and 30 years after Sears stopped selling parts for them.
So if we go by the Model A standard -- it's repairable even if nobody still makes parts for it -- which is more reliable, the revolver or the auto?
JOSS, WHERE'S MY CHECK???!!!
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by Zicsoft:Quote:But those parts come from a factory, right?
Autos are easier to fix because most parts interchange w/o hand fitting.
So if we go by the Model A standard -- it's repairable even if nobody still makes parts for it -- which is more reliable, the revolver or the auto?
Still the auto. In most instances. Spring steel or music wire springs are the parts most often broken. The Revolver wears down where the hand pulls the cylinder. If you don't have a new ejector star, you must build it up by welding and then file and heat treat by eye to repair. One mistake and..."starting all over again, is gonna be tough..."
Jeff
Who has seen some pretty crude weapons in museums, but no crude revolvers.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME