Worldbuilding Realism Consultation Thread Mk. 4

[The Technocratic Syndicalists]

I am not defending SSTOs.

But having an aerodynamic form makes sense if it is an SSTO, si?

I mean SSTOs are useful if you want something that can put small payloads into orbit and which has an extremely high launch rate. So say launching satellites or shuttling cargo to and from a space station. But for putting heavy payloads into orbit or interplanetary travel an SSTO doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Better to go with a massive, expendable multi-stage rocket or something like an NTR that has a super high isp (but a correspondingly low T/W), respectively

If it has to exit and re-enter the atmosphere it has to have a low drag coefficient and a high ballistic coefficient, so yes it does need to be aerodynamic. The shape will basically boil down to a lifting body with short stub wings (venturestar) or an ogival sears-hack shape (basically a missile) also with short stubby wings. In the case of the venturestar the wings are just there really only for landing since it takes off and climbs vertically whereas the sklyon needs its stubby wings to land but also to take off since the skylon would take off and land like a conventional plane. The skylon, due to its shape and super high ballistic coefficient, is also going to enter the atmosphere head on like a ballistic missile basically and use the lower atmosphere to decelerate whereas the flat underside of the venturestar, like the space shuttle, acts like a blunt body during reentry and is designed to decelerate mostly in the thin upper atmosphere. Basically two ways of doing the same thing, although the blunt body method places somewhat less heat stress on the object.

[Triplebaconation]

Who cares about dumb stuff like physics WHEN THE NAV LIGHTS ARE WRONG.

[Bears Armed]

I mean SSTOs are useful if you want something that can put small payloads into orbit and which has an extremely high launch rate. So say launching satellites or shuttling cargo to and from a space station. But for putting heavy payloads into orbit or interplanetary travel an SSTO doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Better to go with a massive, expendable multi-stage rocket or something like an NTR that has a super high isp (but a correspondingly low T/W), respectively.

Do you already know about 'pulsed laser' launch systems? They basically leave the power-generation part of things on the ground, which means that they can get about 90% of each launch's mass LEO...

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/js ... 2/_article
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.1998-1001

[The Technocratic Syndicalists]

I mean SSTOs are useful if you want something that can put small payloads into orbit and which has an extremely high launch rate. So say launching satellites or shuttling cargo to and from a space station. But for putting heavy payloads into orbit or interplanetary travel an SSTO doesn't make a huge amount of sense. Better to go with a massive, expendable multi-stage rocket or something like an NTR that has a super high isp (but a correspondingly low T/W), respectively.

Do you already know about 'pulsed laser' launch systems? They basically leave the power-generation part of things on the ground, which means that they can get about 90% of each launch's mass LEO...

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/js ... 2/_article
http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.1998-1001

I believe what you're referring to is known as "laser-ablative propulsion". however to launch 1000 kg into GEO with that system would require a 10+ gigawatt laser with an extremely high pulse repetition rate (to deliver the necessary power to the vehicle) which would be absurdly expensive to construct with modern technology. Lasers that powerful are usually only found in research facilities and can usually only operate for several pico or nanoseconds at a time. IMO this only seems feasible (with MT) for extremely small payloads like tiny satellites (Cubesat comes to mind).

[Paragania]

Question: Does your nation allow police officers to patrol/be hired by civilians? In the United States, police can/are occasionally payed by citizens to patrol certain communities, escort cars out of churches, etc. In Paragania, police can be hired by citizens as long as the police are not needed in any other emergencies or dispatches.

[Purpelia]

No. In Purpelia the police are not mercenaries for hire.

[Rich and Corporations]

No. In Purpelia the police are not mercenaries for hire.

no moonlighting?

[Allanea]

In Allanea, police are allowed to do anything they like in their off-time, but only as long as they do not use their uniforms and issue weapons, and clear the specific work with their superiors so as to still be available for emergency calls.

[Chinese Peoples]

Does your nation allow police officers to patrol/be hired by civilians?

No, at least not in their official capacity as police officers.

[Purpelia]

No. In Purpelia the police are not mercenaries for hire.

no moonlighting?

Definitively not. A police officer taking security related jobs on the side would be seen as a conflict of interest by the force. After all, if you can pay him extra to keep you extra safe what guarantees that he won't just use that position to make sure you have to pay him to keep you safe at all? Nothing.

[Rich and Corporations]

no moonlighting?

Definitively not. A police officer taking security related jobs on the side would be seen as a conflict of interest by the force. After all, if you can pay him extra to keep you extra safe what guarantees that he won't just use that position to make sure you have to pay him to keep you safe at all? Nothing.

how is bribery punished by?

[Purpelia]

Definitively not. A police officer taking security related jobs on the side would be seen as a conflict of interest by the force. After all, if you can pay him extra to keep you extra safe what guarantees that he won't just use that position to make sure you have to pay him to keep you safe at all? Nothing.

how is bribery punished by?

Depends on the amount. The bare minimum gets you fired. Anything serious gets you jail time.

[Chinese Peoples]

Definitively not. A police officer taking security related jobs on the side would be seen as a conflict of interest by the force. After all, if you can pay him extra to keep you extra safe what guarantees that he won't just use that position to make sure you have to pay him to keep you safe at all? Nothing.

how is bribery punished by?

The remission of bribes is penalized by incarceration not exceeding three years. The statutory lower limit on terms of incarceration of at least three months applies in this case; any shorter terms would be considered penal detention, which is served under house arrest, not in a prison. The court may also impose fines not exceeding NSD$3,000—.

The admission of bribes is penalized by a minimum term of incarceration of one year and maximum of seven years. Fines and social service may also be simultaneously imposed, any bribe confiscate to the state treasury. Illegal actions undertaken under an illicit understanding is punished separately.

Conviction on charges of bribery is especially serious for a civil servant, since only conviction under this charge would deprive him of his qualifications. Qualifications are hard to earn in the Chinese examination system, but once you earn them, employment is virtually guaranteed.

[DnalweN acilbupeR]

Question: Does your nation allow police officers to patrol/be hired by civilians? In the United States, police can/are occasionally payed by citizens to patrol certain communities, escort cars out of churches, etc. In Paragania, police can be hired by citizens as long as the police are not needed in any other emergencies or dispatches.

(Image)

Here is an earlier post of mine describing some aspects related to private security and hiring government emergency/public safety agencies:

what sort of penalties exist in your nation (if they do) for impersonating police officers, other emergency workers, government personnel, military?

also, how do private security and emergency services work in your nation?

for mine, since I have a hard on for libertarianism, i was thinking of giving 2 options to owners of such companies:

a) provide simple services, less professional in a sense, no lights or sirens allowed
b) provide more professional services, be allowed to use lights and sirens, have accredited personnel . in return, the companies would be obligated to supplement govt emergency services for free when they are overworked i.e. they can't respond to all calls, e.g. during major catastrophes etc. also they would be preferred for govt contracting because they're more professional

idk whether there would be a place for b) given that i plan on having govt-provided paid services. e.g. have guards that work for the police, "rent out" a fire team & truck for an industrial complex etc. this would not mean preferential treatment from the govt to those who pay because 1) govt emergency services already serve the general interests of the community to high standards so it would simply be an option for business owners where if they feel what they would normally be entitled to (as any other business or citizen) doesn't satisfy them, they can pay for more (like having a police officer there at all times etc.) and 2) the personnel and assets required for providing these services would be separate in a sense from the general "pool" in that they would be paid for through money earned from providing the paid services not taxpayer money.

as a business owner you may choose the govt paid services over private services because of professionalism, the experience of the personnel, and as far as security forces go because for someone to fuck with your security would mean to fuck with the police which is a big no no, also you'd have a police officer present from the very beginning of any possible altercation or other incident, the testimony of which would probably weigh more in a courtroom than that of a security guard (partly because of binding oath, which also means harsher penalties than for the normal population for things like perjury)

To address your question more directly, yes in RN you can hire government agencies for safety/security purposes. Prices are generally higher than those of private companies, although the former are still very popular b/c of a number of reasons:

• The moment something does happen (e.g. fire, medical emergency, police-related incident), the client has instant access to the entire array of units/personnel/vehicles of all agencies (in the limits of what is deemed to be necessary), just as any other citizen/business would. On top of this, a separate pool of response "dedicated hire" personnel/vehicles exists and by contract for example the fire department may be required to respond with a minimum number of trucks regardless of how many would be normally dispatched. These units, however, are not available exclusively for paying customers ; instead, when needed (i.e. other units are not available or are too far away) they serve regular taxpayers as well, with no priority over paying customers (in other words, on a first come first serve basis).
• Government agencies are staffed and equipped to very high standards, being rivaled only maybe by the most professional of the private companies.
• If you have paid cops as security for example, for someone to fuck with your security would mean to fuck with the police, which is a big no-no. Same goes for fucking with e.g. fire or EMS.
• Whenever an incident happens, you would essentially have someone which is still basically a public servant present, who has sworn a binding oath. Among other things, this comes with e.g. much harsher penalties for stuff like perjury. Including because of this reason, the testimony of e.g. a police officer will probably weigh much more in court than that of a private security guard, if it comes to that.

With this being said, it should still be noted that neither personnel nor vehicles hired in this manner are paid for through taxpayer dollars in any way shape or form. There is a different "pool" of them which is paid for entirely by the hiring customers, including for training. This "pool" is in addition to existing staff and assets, meaning that at no point personnel or staff are taken away from those that would perform public patrol or response duties, with the obvious exception that I've mentioned of when an incident does happen and the issue becomes one of public interest (such as a fire breaking out or a person getting injured), receiving the same attention that any citizen or business would receive. What is different compared to private services is that you have a government emergency worker present from the get go that is trained to assess the situation professionally and request the appropriately sized response. For example, a police officer requesting e.g. SWAT would be far more credible to receive it from the very beginning than a private security guard or regular citizen.

Thus, it is not a matter of sacrificing the poor to serve the wealthy. The government always assigns equipment and personnel to a certain area for patrol for example based on public interests. High-crime areas are more heavily patrolled as standard, an extra fire appliance may be stationed in the vicinity of an especially hazardous industrial area anyways, and EMS are present at large gatherings as the norm, to give a few examples. Publicly available services are held to a very high standard and coverage is generally very good. However, if a certain private business or citizen decides they want more than they would normally be entitled to (such as having a police officer present at all times), they can pay for this service. As far as the government is concerned, whatever that extra service is, it doesn't consider it to be needed otherwise it would have provided it free of charge as it would be considered a matter of public interest (as in the examples I've given). Also, whenever a government emergency worker witnesses an incident of public interest regardless of whether or not it involves the hiring business/individual, they have the duty to intervene and/or request backup. For example, if a police officer is on duty as security and they witness a fight breaking out across the street, they are required by oath to intervene even if it implies they have to momentarily leave their duty as hired guard, since this matter of public interest trumps the former.

In addition to all this, the for-hire services are always required to at least cut it even or make a profit, which in turn goes into additional funding for public services.

I feel the last few paragraphs are very important, as having the government appear as some sort of thing that money can buy would be bad and send the wrong message.

[DnalweN acilbupeR]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?

[Costa Fierro]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

Pretty much once they've been detained. If you are (by some miracle) in cuffs, a pat down is almost guaranteed.

[Allanea]

In Allanea a search is only performed upon arrest (to ensure the suspect doesn't bring a weapon into the station and try to free themselves), or when a warrant is issued (to search for evidence of a crime).

[Prosorusiya]

So I am thinking of starting up a space agency in my region, and doing so on a limited budget. I intend on making use of some unused Dnper ICBM's that were supposed to be used for the Russians three Dnper launches last year, of which one actually took place. I'm looking to put into LEO a satellite carrying some kind of radio transmitter, and our nations first cosmonaut, a Guinea Pig named "Borscht". The rocket would be launched from Baknouir Cosmodrome, in my neighbor Kazakstan. Mission would be real simple stuff that looks good on propaganda TV, an up, orbit, and down type of thing. I could recover the probe either on land or in the Caspian Sea. Any ideas what this would look like?

[DnalweN acilbupeR]

A relevant earlier post of mine on random searches and checkpoints:

Random checks (e.g. on foot) and checkpoints (e.g. sobriety, roadworthiness, etc.) in your nation.

In the RN we're pretty much the US but not really, so we have something similar to the 4th Amendment

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Even though probable cause is not needed to legally detain someone (to include relevant verbal investigation, pat down, etc.), reasonable suspicion is still necessary. As a result, purely random checks and checkpoints are illegal. However, reasonable suspicion could be argued to exist because of circumstantial factors. The simplest example of this would be proximity to a large festival where it is known or reasonably suspected that alcohol and other drugs are widely consumed. Even though drugs are fully legal in RN, driving under the influence of most still isn't, so the police could legally set up sobriety checkpoints in the proximity of such an event on public roads leading to and from it.

The same principle could apply in reasonable terms to preventing or identifying any other punishable offense, meaning that police are not limited to discriminating based on direct factors like a person's own actions and behavior.

[Austrasien]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

When authorized either verbally or in writing by the responsible commanding officer. When a search of an individual or of private property is undertaken it is incumbent on the officers undertaking the search to either;

A. Carry out the search in accordance with standing orders. In which case the rationale for applying the order to that situation must be clearly recorded.
B. Obtain authorization from the police command directly to undertake the search. In which case the rationale must be recorded by the HQ.
C. If the responding officers have reason to believe that a search is necessary to protect life & limb (a weapon is suspected) or to prevent the destruction of evidence (such as attempting to ingest drugs), they may undertake it immediately. It will be incumbent on them to justify this decision after the fact however.

The decision to execute a search of an individual or private property can be challenged in administrative court and/or control court. The basic laws of Austrasia provide citizens with a reasonable expectation of privacy and officers or police units which frequently execute frivolous searches may be subject to court inquiries.

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?

Male police officers are not to frisk a female or a minor unless (C) is suspected. Since female patrolling officers are quite rare, women and minors can be detained on the scene until a female officer can arrive to search them.

[DnalweN acilbupeR]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

When authorized either verbally or in writing by the responsible commanding officer. When a search of an individual or of private property is undertaken it is incumbent on the officers undertaking the search to either;

A. Carry out the search in accordance with standing orders. In which case the rationale for applying the order to that situation must be clearly recorded.
B. Obtain authorization from the police command directly to undertake the search. In which case the rationale must be recorded by the HQ.
C. If the responding officers have reason to believe that a search is necessary to protect life & limb (a weapon is suspected) or to prevent the destruction of evidence (such as attempting to ingest drugs), they may undertake it immediately. It will be incumbent on them to justify this decision after the fact however.

The decision to execute a search of an individual or private property can be challenged in administrative court and/or control court. The basic laws of Austrasia provide citizens with a reasonable expectation of privacy and officers or police units which frequently execute frivolous searches may be subject to court inquiries.

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?

Male police officers are not to frisk a female or a minor unless (C) is suspected. Since female patrolling officers are quite rare, women and minors can be detained on the scene until a female officer can arrive to search them.

i dont really get the part with the minors tbh

also assuming a modern, culturally developed nation with good gender equality and competent, responsible police, i'd say you don't really need to offer the right to have someone of the same gender search you but simply have it done by whichever officer is present, since its not like you're going to get sexually assaulted or smth anyways..

[The Chinese Peoples]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?
Only when there there is reasonable suspicion of contraband possessed. If no contraband is found, the state is responsible for any damage the search caused, such as in time delay, &c. If reasonable suspicion is challenged and found to be fictitious, the police officer is personally responsible for any damage the search caused in civil claims; if allegations of harassment or abuse of authority surfaces, the officer will answer in disciplinary and criminal proceedings.

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?
No. They have the right to a respectful and lawful search, but not one conducted by a female officer.

That being said, male officers typically keep their hands off females (and female officers off males) to distance themselves against complaints for sexual harassment. In most provinces, a clean record of complaints is much more important than convictions obtained if an officer wants to be rapidly promoted. A complaint can ruin a full year's work, and an indictment (with or without conviction) can mean the end of one's career in the police.

[Korva]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?

crim pro exam in a few days DDD:

Frisks are allowed if reasonable suspicion of a crime is afoot along with reasonable suspicion that citizen is armed and dangerous. Searches are allowed incident to arrest or with probable cause.

[Heavonia]

In what circumstances are police allowed to perform a frisk/search of a citizen in your nation?

Do women, for example, have the right to have a female officer perform the search?

A member of the Enforcer Corps may stop and question or search any commoner without reason or recourse. They must have reasonable cause (more likely approaching 'on the balance of probability they probably have it) to believe that a Nobleman is in possession of a stolen or prohibited article to search them, and the higher echelons of society can simply refuse to consent to a search unless conducted by a Guardian of the Imperial Bureau.

[The Kievan People]

i dont really get the part with the minors tbh

also assuming a modern, culturally developed nation with good gender equality and competent, responsible police, i'd say you don't really need to offer the right to have someone of the same gender search you but simply have it done by whichever officer is present, since its not like you're going to get sexually assaulted or smth anyways..

In Austrasia's conservative, religious culture it is not considered appropriate for an unrelated adult man to touch a women or child in a sensitive area outside of certain contexts such as administering medical care or an emergency. It is a question of public morality, not sexual assault.

OFC this is a place where women are not even routinely handcuffed because its considered excessive force, and the favoured method for dealing with young delinquents is to shame them by taking them home in a patrol car with the lights on. And delinquent is basically code for hoodie/rap music.