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#191 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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There will be a preliminary stage in which the descriptions look something like this: Simanta. That will take some time, however.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 10-31-2014 at 11:19 PM. |
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#192 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Considering the weight issues Imperial Marines have to deal with, and how the setting has some superscience tech, are there man-portable high-powered laser rifles they typically use? I'd assume such a weapon would be less weighty compared to a railgun or gauss weapon.
Last edited by warellis; 11-01-2014 at 01:19 AM. |
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#193 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
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Not that it's not plausible enough for a majority of sci-fi, but variety is good and Brett is going to sound more British than the Brits whether he wants to or not and it's best to capitalise on it rather than try to fight it.
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Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
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#194 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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#195 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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#196 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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I usually assume not: when I am running FLAT BLACK laser smallarms have been "coming real soon now" for forty years. They work okay in ideal conditions and some colonies in the Suite have issued them to their troops, but in the field, when the air is full of smoke and dust, and enemy troops are behind foliage or light cover, the autofocus just doesn't work well enough. Either the shot is just that fatal fraction of a second too late, or the autofocus can't focus when the target is wreathed in mist, or it focusses on a damned leaf eight metres short of the target, or it won't burn through plasterboard and kill a hostile in the room beyond. Meanwhile, an EM carbine will put a warhead through smoke, dust, fog, rain, foliage, light cover, or a single-brick wall.
Corcoran Militech (a firm on Tau Ceti that makes cutting-edge laser batteries for Imperial warships) say they have made a breakthrough and will have specimens for field trials next year. Makes a change from their being "just five years off". But weapons tech is not one of the things that matters about FLAT BLACK, not to me.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. Last edited by Agemegos; 11-01-2014 at 03:56 AM. |
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#197 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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I think Icelander gets appalled when I write things like that.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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#198 | |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Someone asked a question by PM, my answer to which I would like to have in the thread on a "no names, no pack drill" basis.
Quote:
Strong Imperial prejudices against indiscriminate weapons and killer robots, and laws based on them, prevent the Marines or anyone else from fielding an army of AI killing machines and autonomous weapons. To put that another way, it is a war crime to field machines that kill on their own accord. But remotely operated vehicles may be armed, and AI drones that kill on a specific human order are okay. An Imperial marines fireteam of four takes the field on war-like operations with
The four actual marines are there to lead and supervise the robots. The team leader supervises one infantry drone and the reconnaisance drones and calls in orbital laser fire support etc. The scout supervises the scout and antitank drones. The gunner supervises the gun and selects targets for it. The young marine supervises four infantry drones. Two of those teams make up an Imperial Marines commando section: eight humans, twenty-six armed AI unmanned vehicles, about a dozen AI ammo carriers with three tons of ammo, orbital laser backup, and a partridge in a pear tree. That's the smallest unit of operation the Marines would send on, say, a combat patrol. They would go smaller and lighter on a hostage rescue, say, or most strategic sabotage raids.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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#199 |
Join Date: Jan 2014
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Interesting.
How does the FTL drive in Flat Black work? |
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#200 |
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Oz
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Activated a safe distance from the atmosphere of a planet, it encapsulates the ship in a warp bubble that carries it in approximately a straight line (depending on gravitational gradients) at approximately 1000 c (depending on gravitational potentials, and relative to a frame of reference based on local masses in a complicated way) until it is shut off.
Upon activation and deactivation it creates a condition within a few thousand kilometres in which fusion reaction cross-sections are drastically increased, but which fades over a few tens of seconds. Hydrogen-oxygen fusion in seawater and nitrogen-nitrogen, nitrogen-oxygen, and oxygen-oxygen fusions in air denser than about 50 millibars proceed spontaneously. Use with care.
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Decay is inherent in all composite things. Nod head. Get treat. |
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Tags |
custom setting, flat black, military sf, occupational templates, space marines, templates |
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