The League of Mechanocracies (Open, MT/PMT/FT, OOC, Signups)

[Ashkera]

fuck this

guided laser pulses are the future

Weaponised nanobots are better.

All will bow before my femtobots in my femtobot-deploying leafblower!

[Blakullar]

Weaponised nanobots are better.

All will bow before my femtobots in my femtobot-deploying leafblower!

Not before all of you puny flesh-sacks prostrate at the feet of my white hole laser-armed, spherical, planet-busting but-totally-not-a-Death-Star battle station.

[The Unhallowed City]

It makes me throw up in my mouth a little, but I think he means the lasers.

I did, but I was not being serious

Oh, good. sry

All will bow before my femtobots in my femtobot-deploying leafblower!

Not before all of you puny flesh-sacks prostrate at the feet of my white hole laser-armed, spherical, planet-busting but-totally-not-a-Death-Star battle station.

Ew. Planetbusters.

[Acheronis]

All will bow before my femtobots in my femtobot-deploying leafblower!

Not before all of you puny flesh-sacks prostrate at the feet of my white hole laser-armed, spherical, planet-busting but-totally-not-a-Death-Star battle station.

I do believe my giant space guns that can fire at other galaxies and make supermassive blackholes are somewhat more worthy of prostration.

[Blakullar]

Not before all of you puny flesh-sacks prostrate at the feet of my white hole laser-armed, spherical, planet-busting but-totally-not-a-Death-Star battle station.

I do believe my giant space guns that can fire at other galaxies and make supermassive blackholes are somewhat more worthy of prostration.

Damn you, Space Ra! Now I have to make something bigger and scarier for FT Mechanocracy to play with!

[Ashkera]

Anyhow, Visty, yeah, the natal chimera thing was relying on embryology to put some cell lines in some places and other cell lines in other places. But, since that's impractical...

Suppose you were charged with engineering designer superbabies to be government superspies. The government has conveniently supplied you with generous funding, staff, and hundreds of thousands of samples from a wide range of highly-successful people. How would you do it? Would you wish they started some kind of program based on demonstrated intelligence/athleticism hundreds of years ago? Would you look for one particular pre-existing combination in the bunch that meets the goals well? I was under the impression that significant gains weren't currently viable, except for removing some of the blatant defects.

[The Unhallowed City]

I do believe my giant space guns that can fire at other galaxies and make supermassive blackholes are somewhat more worthy of prostration.

Damn you, Space Ra! Now I have to make something bigger and scarier for FT Mechanocracy to play with!

Alternatively, abstain from XTREME WANKERY.

[Ashkera]

I do believe my giant space guns that can fire at other galaxies and make supermassive blackholes are somewhat more worthy of prostration.

Damn you, Space Ra! Now I have to make something bigger and scarier for FT Mechanocracy to play with!

Multiversal Domanaeii

[Blakullar]

Damn you, Space Ra! Now I have to make something bigger and scarier for FT Mechanocracy to play with!

Alternatively, abstain from XTREME WANKERY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utXQYkEYdYQ

[Excidium Planetis]

Antimatter Initialized MicroFusion rounds are currently in development by Perelandran Armaments. The rounds are 15mm×100mm (or something) rocket propelled rounds fired from a specially constructed sniper rifle. The rounds contain a microgram of antimatter in a very small Penning trap and a gram (maybe more, I have to check again) of nuclear fuel mixture (1 part Uranium-235, 9 parts Deuterium). Upon detonation, the antimatter is fired into the Uranium, which undergoes fission thanks to the release of energy from the antimatter annihilation, and that triggers a fusion reaction in the deuterium. The result is a 95 ton (TNT equivalent) warhead in a small package. Comparison strength-wise is a modern fuel-air bomb.

I think that these nukebullets are, especially compared to some other FT weapon conceptions, fairly sound, but there are still some critical details to account for. First of all, I seriously doubt that a small piece of uranium releases enough radiation to power a penning trap with the size and sophistication to confine antimatter for long-term use, then accelerate it with enough precision to initiate and sustain nuclear fission.

Me too. I have literally no idea how to power them, but I think it is safe to say magic until I find a better explanation.

Moving on, the amount of U-235 you have in each bullet is far, far below the critical mass, so much so that no amount of compression wankery can make up the difference.

Two things:
1) Did I say 235? I meant 238, the depleted variety. At least, that's what this professional-looking website says is needed.
2) Forgive if I am of misunderstanding the things, but it seems being far below critical mass is not an issue. Read Wikipedia's commentary:

Traditional nuclear pulse propulsion has the downside that the minimum size of the engine is defined by the minimum size of the nuclear bombs used to create thrust. With conventional technologies nuclear explosives can scale down to about 1/100 kiloton (10 tons, 42 GJ; W54), but making them smaller seems difficult. Large nuclear explosive charges require a heavy structure for the spacecraft, and a very large (and heavy) pusher-plate assembly. Small nuclear explosives are believed to stop shrinking in overall size and required fissile nuclear materials at a weight of around 25 kilograms, so smaller pulse units are much more expensive per delivered unit energy, and much less mass efficient than larger ones. By injecting a small amount of antimatter into a subcritical mass of fuel (typically plutonium or uranium) fission of the fuel can be forced.

[Vistora]

I was talking about specific hadrons called baryons and mesons.

And when I refer to hadrons, I solely refer to baryons, as only baryons have antimatter equivalents and are therefore of any relevance to matter-antimatter annihilation aside from byproducts.

Yes there is; to utilize the hadronic decay and the resulting expulsion of energy.

Alright then, let's bust out some numbers. Your average charged pion (type of meson) has a lifespan of about 2.6 x 10^-8 seconds, which, for all intents and purposes, is pretty long as far as mesons in general go. From there, it will typically degenerate into a mixture of muons and anti-muons (hence the leptons), which are likely to annihilate or decay further. At the end of any baryonic annihilation process, you are left with radiant photons and a small variety of leptons, all of which takes place within a miniscule frame of time. It is these remnants that are utilized as energy, requiring no extra steps to "capture" the ensuing mesons.

The particles themselves.

Again, like I said, the resultant mesons should really just be considered an intermediate in the process of pre-annihilation baryons to the end product of photons and leptons. Unless your civilization is severely in want of a few garden-variety neutrinos, there isn't much to salvage from the ultimate end products of a baryonic annihilation.

I am not talking about quarks, nor am I talking to a presidium of professors.

You are however, talking to a pedant. Proper usage is not just a matter of professionalism.

[Excidium Planetis]

Also, light can technically bend without the use of extensive ultramirrors for FT wars, through the usage of a counteracting gravity well. So, with having guided lasers, you must first fire a projectile that has a strong-but-small gravity well radius, that it can move on its own.

But then the gravity-well projector needs to move at least as fast as the laser to work well, right?

In which case, if you have FTL gravity projector projectiles, why do you even need a guided laser? Why not just fire FTL mini-black-holes at them?

[Vistora]

Also, light can technically bend without the use of extensive ultramirrors for FT wars, through the usage of a counteracting gravity well. So, with having guided lasers, you must first fire a projectile that has a strong-but-small gravity well radius, that it can move on its own.

I assumed that gravity wells were well out of the question, as everything associated with that notion is fecking madness.

[Vistora]

Also, light can technically bend without the use of extensive ultramirrors for FT wars, through the usage of a counteracting gravity well. So, with having guided lasers, you must first fire a projectile that has a strong-but-small gravity well radius, that it can move on its own.

But then the gravity-well projector needs to move at least as fast as the laser to work well, right?

In which case, if you have FTL gravity projector projectiles, why do you even need a guided laser? Why not just fire FTL mini-black-holes at them?

That sounds like something Singy would have.

[Autem Galacticus Nexum]

Also, light can technically bend without the use of extensive ultramirrors for FT wars, through the usage of a counteracting gravity well. So, with having guided lasers, you must first fire a projectile that has a strong-but-small gravity well radius, that it can move on its own.

I assumed that gravity wells were well out of the question, as everything associated with that notion is fecking madness.

ayy mang, micro-blackholes r dope

Also, light can technically bend without the use of extensive ultramirrors for FT wars, through the usage of a counteracting gravity well. So, with having guided lasers, you must first fire a projectile that has a strong-but-small gravity well radius, that it can move on its own.

But then the gravity-well projector needs to move at least as fast as the laser to work well, right?

In which case, if you have FTL gravity projector projectiles, why do you even need a guided laser? Why not just fire FTL mini-black-holes at them?

Rule of Cool? idek

[Vistora]

Me too. I have literally no idea how to power them, but I think it is safe to say magic until I find a better explanation.

Yeah... I wish I could offer an elegant solution, but I can't think of any self-contained power source adequate enough. Honestly, if you're seeking more realism, you might just have to subsist with the fact that each round might always have to be connected to an external power source, perhaps built into its magazine or the firearm that chambers it. If anything, it's a good, canon way to nerf it a little.

Two things:
1) Did I say 235? I meant 238, the depleted variety. At least, that's what this professional-looking website says is needed.
2) Forgive if I am of misunderstanding the things, but it seems being far below critical mass is not an issue. Read Wikipedia's commentary:

Traditional nuclear pulse propulsion has the downside that the minimum size of the engine is defined by the minimum size of the nuclear bombs used to create thrust. With conventional technologies nuclear explosives can scale down to about 1/100 kiloton (10 tons, 42 GJ; W54), but making them smaller seems difficult. Large nuclear explosive charges require a heavy structure for the spacecraft, and a very large (and heavy) pusher-plate assembly. Small nuclear explosives are believed to stop shrinking in overall size and required fissile nuclear materials at a weight of around 25 kilograms, so smaller pulse units are much more expensive per delivered unit energy, and much less mass efficient than larger ones. By injecting a small amount of antimatter into a subcritical mass of fuel (typically plutonium or uranium) fission of the fuel can be forced.

Critical mass is not a hard-and-fast constant for fissile materials; it changes all the time due to a vast number of variables. Indeed, most modern nuclear devices function by rapidly reducing a piece of fissile material's critical mass, changing it from subcriticak to supercritical in mere moments without actually changing its mass. The problem is, the smaller you get, the more difficult it becomes to further decrease its critical mass. The idea with antimatter is that, upon injection, the ensuing explosing will compress some portion of the fission fuel enough to make it supercritical. It's just not likely to be feasible with such a tiny amount of fuel. Anyways, the issue is also to do with the absolute precision with which everything would have to be engineered; not only would you have to be able to catalyze and sustain a rapid fission reaction, it has to be able to activate the secondary deuterium fuel so that fusion can occur as well.

[Blakullar]

I think that these nukebullets are, especially compared to some other FT weapon conceptions, fairly sound, but there are still some critical details to account for. First of all, I seriously doubt that a small piece of uranium releases enough radiation to power a penning trap with the size and sophistication to confine antimatter for long-term use, then accelerate it with enough precision to initiate and sustain nuclear fission.

Me too. I have literally no idea how to power them, but I think it is safe to say magic until I find a better explanation.

What about cobalt-60 instead of uranium? Far more radioactive and can be synthesised using current technology.

[Excidium Planetis]

Me too. I have literally no idea how to power them, but I think it is safe to say magic until I find a better explanation.

What about cobalt-60 instead of uranium? Far more radioactive and can be synthesised using current technology.

Can you blow it up? Whatever it is, it needs to be able to fission in very small amounts after being hit by antimatter.

[Autem Galacticus Nexum]

Me too. I have literally no idea how to power them, but I think it is safe to say magic until I find a better explanation.

What about cobalt-60 instead of uranium? Far more radioactive and can be synthesised using current technology.

Polonium is the master of radiation. I would use Polonium for nukebullets, imo

[Blakullar]

What about cobalt-60 instead of uranium? Far more radioactive and can be synthesised using current technology.

Polonium is the master of radiation. I would use Polonium for nukebullets, imo

Well, you're talking to somebody who scored a commendable E-grade in his Chemistry GCSE (most of what I know about the sciences that isn't basic knowledge is from independent research in my spare time), so I will defer to the guy who's studying astrochemistry at university level in this field.

[Vistora]

What about cobalt-60 instead of uranium? Far more radioactive and can be synthesised using current technology.

Polonium is the master of radiation. I would use Polonium for nukebullets, imo

Wouldn't work. Polonium isn't fissile, not to mention that its preposterous half-life means that the entire assembly would decay rather quickly.

Radioactivity is not at all a shorthand for viability for a fission source. Rather, an element with a high neutron cross section (such as U-235) and fairly low radioactivity is ideal. Neutron cross section essentially describes the likelihood that a radiant neutron will bind to an atomic nucleus, initiating a fission chain reaction. Not only that, but I don't think Polonium, upon induced fission, releases neutrons of nearly enough energy to initiate further fission. If, of course, it releases neutrons upon fission at all.

[Autem Galacticus Nexum]

Polonium is the master of radiation. I would use Polonium for nukebullets, imo

Well, you're talking to somebody who scored a commendable E-grade in his Chemistry GCSE (most of what I know about the sciences that isn't basic knowledge is from independent research in my spare time), so I will defer to the guy who's studying astrochemistry at university level in this field.

Meh, I was just implying the usage of the gamma decay/emission found in nigh-all radioactive elements to power and fill energy cells, akin to normal solar rays (in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light). "Gamma panels", if you will. I have not even delved into extreme investigation of gamma decay yet in the high-ranking actinides and lanthanides, let alone the p block that Polonium is in.

That gives me a good idea for my paper, actually...

I was joking about using Polonium for nuclear bullets, though. Polonium is shitty for fission, and its half life is as laughable as technetium.

Polonium is the master of radiation. I would use Polonium for nukebullets, imo

Wouldn't work. Polonium isn't fissile, not to mention that it's preposterous half-life means that the entire assembly would decay rather quickly.

Radioactivity is not at all a shorthand for viability for a fission source. Rather, an element with a high neutron cross section (such as U-235) and fairly low radioactivity is ideal. Neutron cross section essentially describes the likelihood that a radiant neutron will bind to an atomic nucleus, initiating a fission chain reaction. Not only that, but I don't think Polonium, upon induced fission, releases neutrons of nearly enough energy to initiate further fission. If, of course, it releases neutrons upon fission at all.

EDIT: goddamn it vis, i just wrote that a second ago and i saw this nao

[Vistora]

Anyhow, Visty, yeah, the natal chimera thing was relying on embryology to put some cell lines in some places and other cell lines in other places. But, since that's impractical...

Suppose you were charged with engineering designer superbabies to be government superspies. The government has conveniently supplied you with generous funding, staff, and hundreds of thousands of samples from a wide range of highly-successful people. How would you do it? Would you wish they started some kind of program based on demonstrated intelligence/athleticism hundreds of years ago? Would you look for one particular pre-existing combination in the bunch that meets the goals well? I was under the impression that significant gains weren't currently viable, except for removing some of the blatant defects.

That depends entirely on whether or not I'd have access to an informational database of genes and their accompanying phenotypical effects.

[Ashkera]

Anyhow, Visty, yeah, the natal chimera thing was relying on embryology to put some cell lines in some places and other cell lines in other places. But, since that's impractical...

Suppose you were charged with engineering designer superbabies to be government superspies. The government has conveniently supplied you with generous funding, staff, and hundreds of thousands of samples from a wide range of highly-successful people. How would you do it? Would you wish they started some kind of program based on demonstrated intelligence/athleticism hundreds of years ago? Would you look for one particular pre-existing combination in the bunch that meets the goals well? I was under the impression that significant gains weren't currently viable, except for removing some of the blatant defects.

That depends entirely on whether or not I'd have access to an informational database of genes and their accompanying phenotypical effects.

I mean, a problem is that such a database doesn't exist yet, and it was too expensive for a long time to sequence the entire human genome to create it (along with entire patient medical histories and test scores), right?

[Vistora]

That depends entirely on whether or not I'd have access to an informational database of genes and their accompanying phenotypical effects.

I mean, a problem is that such a database doesn't exist yet, and it was too expensive for a long time to sequence the entire human genome to create it (along with entire patient medical histories and test scores), right?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Genome_Project

It's hardly a precise description of every single gene found in every human on earth, accompanied by an in-depth description, but it is a genetic scientist's best friend nonetheless.