Future Tech Advice and Assistance Thread [O.O.C.]

[Sskiss]

I always thought that a nation, race, species or whatever should have some weaknesses. We all like to tout our respective strengths (myself included), but we often gloss over (if even that) our weaknesses. Such weaknesses and disadvantages can add a great deal of 'spice' to any roleplay. Boring is the player who's nation is all powerful and is good at everything. Think "Marie Sue" but on a collective level.

Such weaknesses or disadvantages can take on many forms. Such as a restricted environmental preferences, an overall alien appearance, biological limitations, or the problems can be simply how the race organizes itself. It's the old saw that "you can't be good at everything".

[Kyrusia]

I always thought that a nation, race, species or whatever should have some weaknesses. We all like to tout our respective strengths (myself included), but we often gloss over (if even that) our weaknesses. Such weaknesses and disadvantages can add a great deal of 'spice' to any roleplay. Boring is the player who's nation all powerful and is good at everything. Think "Marie Sue" but on a collective level.

Such weaknesses or disadvantages can take on many forms. Such as a restricted environmental preferences, an overall alien appearance, biological limitations, or the problems can be simply how the race organizes itself. It's the old saw that "you can't be good at everything".

I'm not disagreeing here - quite the opposite, in fact - but I also want to note that I think some perceive the concept of a "weakness" in a species wrongly to begin with. A weakness does not have to be, from a storytelling perspective, a negative. If we assume conflict (or, more loosely, struggle) is the basis for plot (and thus character building, innovation, etc.), then a weakness is a fundamental characteristic of being; from the position of a roleplayer or a writer, this - at least I don't feel, anyway - isn't a negative, but a positive, as it is an almost inbuilt hook for plot.

To use a very simple example drawn from your own list in inspiration: biological limitations with regards to the environment. This, from an Out-of-Character perspective, is a hook for worldbuilding. It means the creator has to think about safety conditions, technology to survive in different environments, any (sub-)cultures that may have grown (professional or otherwise) out of this need for new technology or for a need of individuals willing/able to operate in said environments due to their skill set or technological access, etc. Take humans and space, for example; people don't typically seem to perceive the inability of humans to survive in vacuum as a "weakness," but just another hurdle - another point of conflict that has generated countless plots and sub-plots throughout the history of science-fiction. To use a more recent bit of popular science-fiction, The Expanse: look at the Belters and their inability to survive on earth due to the greater force of gravity without significant technological assistance. That's cool. Yeah, its a weakness from the perspective of the characters in the setting itself, but it's also intensely interesting and creates interesting hurdles and pitfalls for them to have to navigate to thrive - conflict.

Anyway. That's just my ramble to add on to what you've said.

[Kassaran]

Cool write-up for an exo-skeletal combat armor/powered combat armor system.

Abstract: An power-suit design that uses perfluorocarbons as a shock-absorption measure and breathing medium. All additional systems are developed to enable maximum mission capability.

Background: Power Armor is one of my loves in science fiction. I'm also a huge fan in realistic or explained systems. While I don't like the idea of FTL, I do appreciate the use of handwavium in order to explain real science problems (FTL seems lazy to me). A good example of this was in James Cameron's Avatar where Unobtanium was a room-temperature super-conductor used in everyday items back on Earth. Without, the Human race was in danger of encountering a sudden scarcity in vital technologies and other resources reliant on the ability to effectively manage excess heat build-up.

Premise: A space-faring population designs an effective perfluorocarbon designed as an auxiliary shock absorber for high-velocity impacts. Additional composites are developed to enable maximum protection while auxiliary resources are used to enhance user capabilities.

Key Concept: A oxygen-rich perfluorocarbon that utilizes a large amount of colloidal crystals for shock absorption. User is placed into the suit while empty, then the suit is filled around them, suspending them if need be within the primary user cavity. User switches to liquid breathing and ingests colloids to enable stiffening of the internal organs to resist excessive rapid deformation in the event of an impact. Internal sensors enable the suit to immediately administer various chemical compounds in response to specific stimuli such as pain, hunger, or thirst. Additional chemicals such as adrenal cocktails can additionally be administered reflexively in response to detection of imminent threats according to onboard countermeasure systems.

Primary Disadvantages: The transitioning to liquid breathing is highly uncomfortable and requires high amounts of regulation initially to ensure success. Additional issues could come with colloidal crystals within the perfluorocarbon acting as an inhibitor to breathing or medical care to traumatic injuries. Additionally, the entire suit requires effective sealing and would be prone to leaks in the event of an actual penetration. A significant reservoir of perfluorocarbon would need to be carried in reserve to properly replace lost fluids, however several experimental options available to us today could be used in concert. All equipment involved would no doubt be heavy regardless of storage material or medium and likewise highly expensive to utilize. Would additionally require extensive maintenance in off-hand.

Primary Advantages: Perfluorocarbons could enable higher saturation of oxygen and higher efficiency of motion and movement over longer duration. Saturation of the body within the perfluorocarbon layer could enable high-altitude free-fall with minimal damage to passenger. Additionally, responses to sudden changes in the balance could be administered through and onboard Stability Assist System (SAS) such as gyroscopic levelling. Requiring a high amount of initial resources, the system could enable extreme-duration missions that limited atmospheric systems might not be able to handle. Additional direct-application chemical systems present user-engagement enhancements which would provide higher situational awareness and responsiveness.

[Nolo gap]

my future tech advice? : phasers on stun!

war is obsolete and so are cities, if we want there to be a future.

i know people are going to want to keep playing what they want to keep playing.
i'm NOT trying to rag on that, but, how about looking a little tiny bit beyond that familiar box?

there are much more fun things to me. engineering the technology to make infrastructure more ecologically friendly.

population reduction by non-draconian means, and using technology in ways to live that still keep much of the conveniences,
while still living closer to and in greater cooperation with the diversity of the biosphere and maintaining its health and by doing so our own.

oh and of course, conventional arms against those you might be attacked by, who can use high tech to strike with lightning speed and near invisibility, get real.
again, even in a purely military context, if you're not going to think beyond the box, what even is the point?

thinking you're invulnearable because you've got so many pretty buttons to push, and then some little guy comes along and knee caps you.
real human history is full of that happening over and over. rome didn't have what we think of as pretty buttons to push now,
but the were big, and all the mighty arms and advanced tech for their day, institutional command and control and all that.

and they're not the only example by a long shot. just the most obvious one.
when europe "discovered" the western hemisphere, there were more advanced civiliztions here, in every way other then weapons technology,
so i'm not saying that isn't important too, but if weapons are all you have, then what's the point of that kind of future.

and here's another thought: what about dual purpose? advanced industrial tools that can double as really handy dandy military tech.
so you don't have to tie up huge percentages of your gnp, in purely military development that would be of little value to anything else.

like for example, if you used some kind of energy beam tool for digging tunnels for mining and infrastucture, might not that same tech,
make really dandy holes in attacking military vehicles?

and how about scaling up those phasers on stun, to render attackers, in their vehicles and on foot, unconscious on a scale comparable to mowing them down with conventional balistic fire. no messy rotting corpses, not left over land mines for your own kids to play with, and potential minions or at least better press/optics then mass graves.

just my thoughts, for what they're worth. lovers of peace aren't ever going away either.
and what about food production? there's another issue. unless your people can eat the corpses of the fallen,
you're going to have to protect your farmers, or at least your sources of complex carbon compounds to feed you food replicators.

[Kassaran]

my future tech advice? : phasers on stun!

war is obsolete and so are cities, if we want there to be a future.

War is a tool of diplomacy, and most often the last one used. Violent conflict is not going away and likewise neither is war as a diplomatic tool.

Cities additionally are not going away, they will in fact grow in size and scope and scale and terrain. The very fact that population grows as the size of the territory that can sustain it grows is not a coincidence. Additionally, limitations on people aren't going to work at a base level unless you focus on educating folks to believe that and even then there will always be a need to grow.

i know people are going to want to keep playing what they want to keep playing.
i'm NOT trying to rag on that, but, how about looking a little tiny bit beyond that familiar box?

there are much more fun things to me. engineering the technology to make infrastructure more ecologically friendly.

We call it terraforming and it's used to make planets and locations unsuitable to comfortable human life all that much more easily managed.

population reduction by non-draconian means

Population reduction is hardly an issue given that we could number in the trillions and there'd still be plenty of resources in the Solar System.

and using technology in ways to live that still keep much of the conveniences, while still living closer to and in greater cooperation with the diversity of the biosphere and maintaining its health and by doing so our own.

Technology is the very solutions to problems that arise in our local environment. Utilization of technology isn't to live in cooperation with nature, it is to tame and harness the wild and untapped power of nature. The conservation of the planet should be considered, but ultimately, all things pass and when they do, humans should be there to see it, not be it. A healthy human requires between 18 & 22 Degrees Celsius and likewise we should focus on finding ways to make most of the current planet hold such a temperature.

oh and of course, conventional arms against those you might be attacked by, who can use high tech to strike with lightning speed and near invisibility, get real.
again, even in a purely military context, if you're not going to think beyond the box, what even is the point?

I don't think the point you were trying to make got across. Lost in the translation unfortunately, perhaps try rephrasing the words?

thinking you're invulnearable because you've got so many pretty buttons to push, and then some little guy comes along and knee caps you.

Complacency is an unfortunate side effect of thinking we are doubly wise.

real human history is full of that happening over and over. rome didn't have what we think of as pretty buttons to push now,
but the were big, and all the mighty arms and advanced tech for their day, institutional command and control and all that.

and they're not the only example by a long shot. just the most obvious one.

They're the most obvious example of what happens when the pyramid crumbles. Infighting among the politicians led to the seizure of power from a relatively popular leader that likewise devolved into infighting among various warlords for some hundreds of years and didn't reach an end until quite recently with WW2.

when europe "discovered" the western hemisphere, there were more advanced civiliztions here, in every way other then weapons technology,
so i'm not saying that isn't important too, but if weapons are all you have, then what's the point of that kind of future.

Europe had more advanced transportation, medicine, architecture, industry, agriculture, and the scientific method which enabled a whole slew of other scientific advances. Weapons technology was a driving factor behind creating all of those other industries as the armies needed: faster transportation to maintain order, better medicine to retain more wounded and sick troops, sturdier architecture built to withstand the weight of more people and more damage from stronger weapons, more industry to create more weapons and supplies for those armies, better agriculture to sustain vastly larger populations of a continent recovering from a series of deadly epidemics, and likewise from those that benefited the most from the increased security brought by better armies, there were advances in science and culture.

The loss of the native American societies and their knowledge was regrettable, but the majority of the damages was done not by weapons, but by diseases and by pigheaded religious zealots who deemed that there was nothing to learn from a technologically inferior society. Weapons are rarely all that one has, but having them is the start to gaining other things. Speak softly and carry a big stick as a certain great President once said.

and here's another thought: what about dual purpose? advanced industrial tools that can double as really handy dandy military tech.
so you don't have to tie up huge percentages of your gnp, in purely military development that would be of little value to anything else.

That is how the majority of all weapons technology begins, as a solution to a civilian issue. It is rare that a technology is developed solely for the purpose of being a weapon. Even the nuclear bomb was developed as a by-product of a highly energetic system that provides massive amounts of power even today to select communities not blinded by short-sighted foolishness on the part of idiots and dullards.

like for example, if you used some kind of energy beam tool for digging tunnels for mining and infrastucture, might not that same tech,
make really dandy holes in attacking military vehicles?

See TNT.

and how about scaling up those phasers on stun, to render attackers, in their vehicles and on foot, unconscious on a scale comparable to mowing them down with conventional balistic fire. no messy rotting corpses, not left over land mines for your own kids to play with, and potential minions or at least better press/optics then mass graves.

US military is way ahead of you with the development of LRADS and ADS

just my thoughts, for what they're worth. lovers of peace aren't ever going away either.

Nor would anyone ever want them to. It scares me to think that there are those who love War, but Peace as an ideal is something to be strived for.

and what about food production? there's another issue. unless your people can eat the corpses of the fallen
you're going to have to protect your farmers, or at least your sources of complex carbon compounds to feed you food replicators.

Protect them with weapons. Probably weapons that don't use whatever your farmers need to grow food.

[Kyrusia]

User switches to liquid breathing and ingests colloids to enable stiffening of the internal organs to resist excessive rapid deformation in the event of an impact.

This seems woefully uncomfortable. ...I love it.

The transitioning to liquid breathing is highly uncomfortable...

Yay! I'm not illiterate!

Would additionally require extensive maintenance in off-hand.

And presumably the specialized technical training that comes coupled with that.

Regardless, now I feel the urge to go re-watch The Abyss.

and here's another thought: what about dual purpose? advanced industrial tools that can double as really handy dandy military tech.

I, too, love a good Poor Man's Bolter™ rivet gun.

[Kassaran]

This seems woefully uncomfortable. ...I love it.

Not sure which part of it you believe is uncomfortable, but pretty much all of it generally is to air-breathing creatures. For some really interesting watches, go look up videos of scientists transitioning mice to liquid breathing. It's somewhat uncomfortable as you realize the creature believes it is drowning and is reacting in a like fashion, but once it's lungs adapt (takes a minute or so) it seems to just kind of hang around. Has the whole," yeah, okay, very funny guys, now please get me back to breathing gases again?" look to its expression.

As for the fluids stiffening, colloids are what make up your usual non-Newtonian fluids. These are micro-engineered for the purposes, however, of being soluble within a perfluorocarbon medium and will assist in acting as a further shock buffer and layer of semi-organic body-armor against impacts. For astronauts, this could mean micro-meteorite impacts or bullets alike. For ground forces, read shrapnel and bullets.

And presumably the specialized technical training that comes coupled with that.

Maintaining perfluorocarbon is likely not all that much more complex than maintaining most water-treatment facilities. Given that for humans, the mixture would be relatively stable and uniform across all suits, you could have vats and whatnot. I've always been a fan of the bacta-bath scene from SW:ESB and having full-immersion suits seems like a good way to bring that into effect. An added side-note, learning to transition is apparently not a thing. It's apparently always uncomfortable and for some it could probably be a decision-breaker to join some advanced special forces unit in your nation's space forces.

Regardless, now I feel the urge to go re-watch The Abyss.

Never seen it, probably won't get to because that's now been added to the list of things I need to watch and that list grows considerably longer by the week/significant social interactiosn with people who have time for that sort of thing.

I, too, love a good Poor Man's Bolter™ rivet gun.

That's a throwback to a previous conversation...

...One in which watermelons could be utilized for Weapons of Mass Taste with enough motivation.

[Kyrusia]

...pretty much all of it...

Those parts, mostly. Kidding though, I do like the idea.

Never seen it, probably won't get to because that's now been added to the list of things I need to watch and that list grows considerably longer by the week/significant social interactiosn with people who have time for that sort of thing.

TLDR: An American submarine sinks in a trench in the Caribbean and US S&R teams cooperate with a submersible oil platform crew to try and recover it. Shenanigans ensue. It's science-fiction, and portrays some particularly interesting bits of technology and... biology, to say without spoiling much. It's from 1989; features Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn - among others. Definitely worth a watch.

It features a famous scene where a pet rat is submerged in a small tub of perfloroucarbons to introduce the crew to them, pretty much showing what you described above in terms of their response. The character played by Ed Harris ultimately is sent deep in a specialized suit very akin to what you described in your original post, as well, with a similar response.

That's a throwback to a previous conversation...

...One in which watermelons could be utilized for Weapons of Mass Taste with enough motivation.

#NostalgiaTimes

[Olimpiada]

Cool write-up for an exo-skeletal combat armor/powered combat armor system.

Abstract: An power-suit design that uses perfluorocarbons as a shock-absorption measure and breathing medium. All additional systems are developed to enable maximum mission capability.

Background: Power Armor is one of my loves in science fiction. I'm also a huge fan in realistic or explained systems. While I don't like the idea of FTL, I do appreciate the use of handwavium in order to explain real science problems (FTL seems lazy to me). A good example of this was in James Cameron's Avatar where Unobtanium was a room-temperature super-conductor used in everyday items back on Earth. Without, the Human race was in danger of encountering a sudden scarcity in vital technologies and other resources reliant on the ability to effectively manage excess heat build-up.

Premise: A space-faring population designs an effective perfluorocarbon designed as an auxiliary shock absorber for high-velocity impacts. Additional composites are developed to enable maximum protection while auxiliary resources are used to enhance user capabilities.

Key Concept: A oxygen-rich perfluorocarbon that utilizes a large amount of colloidal crystals for shock absorption. User is placed into the suit while empty, then the suit is filled around them, suspending them if need be within the primary user cavity. User switches to liquid breathing and ingests colloids to enable stiffening of the internal organs to resist excessive rapid deformation in the event of an impact. Internal sensors enable the suit to immediately administer various chemical compounds in response to specific stimuli such as pain, hunger, or thirst. Additional chemicals such as adrenal cocktails can additionally be administered reflexively in response to detection of imminent threats according to onboard countermeasure systems.

Primary Disadvantages: The transitioning to liquid breathing is highly uncomfortable and requires high amounts of regulation initially to ensure success. Additional issues could come with colloidal crystals within the perfluorocarbon acting as an inhibitor to breathing or medical care to traumatic injuries. Additionally, the entire suit requires effective sealing and would be prone to leaks in the event of an actual penetration. A significant reservoir of perfluorocarbon would need to be carried in reserve to properly replace lost fluids, however several experimental options available to us today could be used in concert. All equipment involved would no doubt be heavy regardless of storage material or medium and likewise highly expensive to utilize. Would additionally require extensive maintenance in off-hand.

Primary Advantages: Perfluorocarbons could enable higher saturation of oxygen and higher efficiency of motion and movement over longer duration. Saturation of the body within the perfluorocarbon layer could enable high-altitude free-fall with minimal damage to passenger. Additionally, responses to sudden changes in the balance could be administered through and onboard Stability Assist System (SAS) such as gyroscopic levelling. Requiring a high amount of initial resources, the system could enable extreme-duration missions that limited atmospheric systems might not be able to handle. Additional direct-application chemical systems present user-engagement enhancements which would provide higher situational awareness and responsiveness.

I like this whole idea a lot, actually. It's really unique, and while I'm familiar with using perfluorocarbons for acceleration fluids in high-gee vessels, it had never occurred to me to use them in armor. However, there is a very notable disadvantage.

User switches to liquid breathing and ingests colloids to enable stiffening of the internal organs to resist excessive rapid deformation in the event of an impact.

This seems like it runs the risks of filling the user's lungs with a solid for a period after impact. While this is not necessarily lethal, it's definitely uncomfortable and shocking enough to negatively impact combat effectiveness. So while the user would certainly be more impact resistant, I'm not sure if suffocation is necessarily an improvement.

[Sskiss]

We Sskiss have never seriously looked into increasing available oxygen content within the biological form through any means. We already possess a highly efficient avian cardiovascular system. However, too much oxygen can be just as deadly as too little. To much oxygen will in time create a large amount of free radicals within the hosts body. The more free radicals, the damaging and more rapid the effects. You, metaphorically speaking, rust.

EDIT: On the plus side, the armour description seems well thought out and detailed.

[Kassaran]

This seems like it runs the risks of filling the user's lungs with a solid for a period after impact. While this is not necessarily lethal, it's definitely uncomfortable and shocking enough to negatively impact combat effectiveness. So while the user would certainly be more impact resistant, I'm not sure if suffocation is necessarily an improvement.

Offset by the fact that the impact itself would have to of penetrated far enough to impact the lungs or create a big enough shockwave that translates through the pilot's own bodysuit and into their lungs. Suffocation can be easily offset by an increase in the oxidization of the perfluorocarbons while biosensors can observe and maintain the exact specifications required.

[Kyrusia]

We Sskiss have never seriously looked into increasing available oxygen content within the biological form through any means. We already possess a highly efficient avian cardiovascular system. However, too much oxygen can be just as deadly as too little. To much oxygen will in time create a large amount of free radicals within the hosts body. The more free radicals, the damaging and more rapid the effects. You, metaphorically speaking, rust.

EDIT: On the plus side, the armour description seems well thought out and detailed.

And now I picture dinosaurs eating beetroot, raisins, kale, strawberries, and eggplant all in copious quantities due to their antioxidant properties.

This mental image pleases me.

Too bad I know they're obligate carnivores, and thus my mental image is dashed. I shall embrace this cognitive dissonance for amusement nevertheless.

[Olimpiada]

This seems like it runs the risks of filling the user's lungs with a solid for a period after impact. While this is not necessarily lethal, it's definitely uncomfortable and shocking enough to negatively impact combat effectiveness. So while the user would certainly be more impact resistant, I'm not sure if suffocation is necessarily an improvement.

Offset by the fact that the impact itself would have to of penetrated far enough to impact the lungs or create a big enough shockwave that translates through the pilot's own bodysuit and into their lungs. Suffocation can be easily offset by an increase in the oxidization of the perfluorocarbons while biosensors can observe and maintain the exact specifications required.

I mean, bullet impacts are normally enough to break ribs even with armor on, so I feel like that shockwave would definitely reach the lungs, and in force. The increased oxygenation would help to fix this, but then there's the issue of getting that oxygen there long enough in advance, how quickly the fluid loses viscosity again, and if the oxygen even transfers nicely in a solid.

[The United Dominion]

Offset by the fact that the impact itself would have to of penetrated far enough to impact the lungs or create a big enough shockwave that translates through the pilot's own bodysuit and into their lungs. Suffocation can be easily offset by an increase in the oxidization of the perfluorocarbons while biosensors can observe and maintain the exact specifications required.

I mean, bullet impacts are normally enough to break ribs even with armor on, so I feel like that shockwave would definitely reach the lungs, and in force. The increased oxygenation would help to fix this, but then there's the issue of getting that oxygen there long enough in advance, how quickly the fluid loses viscosity again, and if the oxygen even transfers nicely in a solid.

And yet I'm sure the future tech engineers and scientists who built the system thought of all of that and solved whatever problems came up for a given value of solution. Thanks, future tech engineers and scientists!

[Olimpiada]

I mean, bullet impacts are normally enough to break ribs even with armor on, so I feel like that shockwave would definitely reach the lungs, and in force. The increased oxygenation would help to fix this, but then there's the issue of getting that oxygen there long enough in advance, how quickly the fluid loses viscosity again, and if the oxygen even transfers nicely in a solid.

And yet I'm sure the future tech engineers and scientists who built the system thought of all of that and solved whatever problems came up for a given value of solution. Thanks, future tech engineers and scientists!

And while that's a perfectly feasible handwave, some of us actually enjoy analyzing technological concepts and experimenting with them, rather than stepping on fun and punting kittens

[Kyrusia]

...punting kittens

I didn't realize people punted kittens. I myself wonder upon the design of a vast, industrial mechanism - replete with finely-attuned gear teeth - capable of winding enough tension as to vault a kitten to an airspeed velocity roughly equitable to that of an unladen (European) swallow. :thonk:

[snip]

I was thinking on your concept earlier, and got lead down a tangent. The ARL (among others) has been doing research into armor based around shear thickening and MR fluids. Poland, for example, can into oobleck. Smart fluids - MR, ER, etc. - are of particular interest here, though not necessarily all for their possible applications in defensive fields. Regardless, given your work on the concept, I figured you might find it interesting and/or potentially useful.

[Senkaku]

This seems woefully uncomfortable. ...I love it.

Not sure which part of it you believe is uncomfortable, but pretty much all of it generally is to air-breathing creatures. For some really interesting watches, go look up videos of scientists transitioning mice to liquid breathing. It's somewhat uncomfortable as you realize the creature believes it is drowning and is reacting in a like fashion, but once it's lungs adapt (takes a minute or so) it seems to just kind of hang around. Has the whole," yeah, okay, very funny guys, now please get me back to breathing gases again?" look to its expression.

As for the fluids stiffening, colloids are what make up your usual non-Newtonian fluids. These are micro-engineered for the purposes, however, of being soluble within a perfluorocarbon medium and will assist in acting as a further shock buffer and layer of semi-organic body-armor against impacts. For astronauts, this could mean micro-meteorite impacts or bullets alike. For ground forces, read shrapnel and bullets.

And presumably the specialized technical training that comes coupled with that.

Maintaining perfluorocarbon is likely not all that much more complex than maintaining most water-treatment facilities. Given that for humans, the mixture would be relatively stable and uniform across all suits, you could have vats and whatnot. I've always been a fan of the bacta-bath scene from SW:ESB and having full-immersion suits seems like a good way to bring that into effect. An added side-note, learning to transition is apparently not a thing. It's apparently always uncomfortable and for some it could probably be a decision-breaker to join some advanced special forces unit in your nation's space forces.

Would some sort of local anesthetic or paralytic agent in the fluid be able to help reduce the discomfort for a human (I'm guessing there's a lot of reflexive gagging or choking?), or would that be a good way to paralyze your diaphragm or fuck up your lung cells and die? (Obviously general anesthetics or mind-altering painkillers are not very suitable for soldiers who'll need fast reaction times in a high-g environment.) Or could you perhaps put surgical implants in the throat that will release anesthetic or paralytics when instructed to make it easier to inhale?

[Kassaran]

So, a horror genre sci-fi plot set in a Mohs 4.5+ universe...

FTL isn't a thing.

Genetic immortality is.

To prevent madness, humans are placed in medically-induced comas aboard massive seed ships bound for distant stars. The ships are basically built to be massive computers with minimal life support capacity, and in the year or two leading up to landing or arrival at a pre-determined position, the human crew is entirely awoken and put through physical therapy to be made 'planet-worthy'.

Here's part of the horror settling in, an aspect of the original seed ships is that the comas humans are put under, weren't actually built to fully subdue the human consciousness, but rather leave it in a highly suggestible state akin to hypnotic trance. Then, a series of lights, sounds, scents, and tastes are fed through a series of sensory input devices, likely bioengineered into future-humans for this purpose, to create a false reality to live in.

When people go missing in our world, it's actually them being awoken by the system in a pseudo-matrix way, to go conduct emergency maintenance and all the resulting weirdness that goes on in perceived reality is actually the combined conscious effort of the minds hooked in to rationalize the disappearance. The horror sets in one day when 'the rapture' happens and billions go missing, or even just millions. The human minds originally set up to help share the processing burden of the simulated reality are simultaneously unlinked and of those who remain, none know what happened.

That's when indescribable newcomers arrive and the realization strikes that the humans still in stasis aboard the ship, are no longer alone... and they are not safe. The aliens who invaded are ransacking every compartment of the ship, every life support bay, looking for something and what's worse is that they're not leaving any survivors. No one knows when they're going to be taken and yet none can activate the emergency program to release the survivors. Thus begins the mad-scramble of trying to find a way out of the system to release all of the humans in stasis onboard the seed ship before the aliens can destroy them all.

And no, they're alien, so they are completely non-communicative and seem to be unwilling to negotiate. No one knows what happens when a human is pulled out, so there's a cult that inevitably forms which states they're the one's meant to meet with humanity and this was all a test. To give in and help the aliens to free everyone from the bonds of the cyberlife and ascend to a new level of existence with them.

[Kyrusia]

So, a horror genre sci-fi plot set in a Mohs 4.5+ universe...

FTL isn't a thing.

Genetic immortality is.

To prevent madness, humans are placed in medically-induced comas aboard massive seed ships bound for distant stars. The ships are basically built to be massive computers with minimal life support capacity, and in the year or two leading up to landing or arrival at a pre-determined position, the human crew is entirely awoken and put through physical therapy to be made 'planet-worthy'.

Here's part of the horror settling in, an aspect of the original seed ships is that the comas humans are put under, weren't actually built to fully subdue the human consciousness, but rather leave it in a highly suggestible state akin to hypnotic trance. Then, a series of lights, sounds, scents, and tastes are fed through a series of sensory input devices, likely bioengineered into future-humans for this purpose, to create a false reality to live in.

When people go missing in our world, it's actually them being awoken by the system in a pseudo-matrix way, to go conduct emergency maintenance and all the resulting weirdness that goes on in perceived reality is actually the combined conscious effort of the minds hooked in to rationalize the disappearance. The horror sets in one day when 'the rapture' happens and billions go missing, or even just millions. The human minds originally set up to help share the processing burden of the simulated reality are simultaneously unlinked and of those who remain, none know what happened.

That's when indescribable newcomers arrive and the realization strikes that the humans still in stasis aboard the ship, are no longer alone... and they are not safe. The aliens who invaded are ransacking every compartment of the ship, every life support bay, looking for something and what's worse is that they're not leaving any survivors. No one knows when they're going to be taken and yet none can activate the emergency program to release the survivors. Thus begins the mad-scramble of trying to find a way out of the system to release all of the humans in stasis onboard the seed ship before the aliens can destroy them all.

And no, they're alien, so they are completely non-communicative and seem to be unwilling to negotiate. No one knows what happens when a human is pulled out, so there's a cult that inevitably forms which states they're the one's meant to meet with humanity and this was all a test. To give in and help the aliens to free everyone from the bonds of the cyberlife and ascend to a new level of existence with them.

I'm getting Pandorum vibes. I approve.

[Qhevak]

So, a horror genre sci-fi plot set in a Mohs 4.5+ universe...

FTL isn't a thing.

Genetic immortality is.

To prevent madness, humans are placed in medically-induced comas aboard massive seed ships bound for distant stars. The ships are basically built to be massive computers with minimal life support capacity, and in the year or two leading up to landing or arrival at a pre-determined position, the human crew is entirely awoken and put through physical therapy to be made 'planet-worthy'.

Here's part of the horror settling in, an aspect of the original seed ships is that the comas humans are put under, weren't actually built to fully subdue the human consciousness, but rather leave it in a highly suggestible state akin to hypnotic trance. Then, a series of lights, sounds, scents, and tastes are fed through a series of sensory input devices, likely bioengineered into future-humans for this purpose, to create a false reality to live in.

When people go missing in our world, it's actually them being awoken by the system in a pseudo-matrix way, to go conduct emergency maintenance and all the resulting weirdness that goes on in perceived reality is actually the combined conscious effort of the minds hooked in to rationalize the disappearance. The horror sets in one day when 'the rapture' happens and billions go missing, or even just millions. The human minds originally set up to help share the processing burden of the simulated reality are simultaneously unlinked and of those who remain, none know what happened.

That's when indescribable newcomers arrive and the realization strikes that the humans still in stasis aboard the ship, are no longer alone... and they are not safe. The aliens who invaded are ransacking every compartment of the ship, every life support bay, looking for something and what's worse is that they're not leaving any survivors. No one knows when they're going to be taken and yet none can activate the emergency program to release the survivors. Thus begins the mad-scramble of trying to find a way out of the system to release all of the humans in stasis onboard the seed ship before the aliens can destroy them all.

And no, they're alien, so they are completely non-communicative and seem to be unwilling to negotiate. No one knows what happens when a human is pulled out, so there's a cult that inevitably forms which states they're the one's meant to meet with humanity and this was all a test. To give in and help the aliens to free everyone from the bonds of the cyberlife and ascend to a new level of existence with them.

Just wondering, are you planning on doing anything with this? I really like the concept, so if you aren't I might try and start up an RP (or possibly a Compendium story, depending on how much time I have) based off it sometime in the next couple weeks.

[Kassaran]

I've got no plans to do anything with this as it stands. Feel free to do something and let me know when you've done so.

[Ella2 6]

Looking forward to how this turns out! It sounds so exciting!

[Kassaran]

Couple lines here tickled my fancy:
"if time is rewound according to LQG instead, the universe does not begin with a singularity. Rather, it collapses into a sort of tunnel, which leads into another, older universe"

[Kyrusia]

Couple lines here tickled my fancy:
"if time is rewound according to LQG instead, the universe does not begin with a singularity. Rather, it collapses into a sort of tunnel, which leads into another, older universe"

I, for one, welcome the nascent realization that all of reality can be described by the topology of the humble doughnut.

[The Disorder]

I was reading through the corresponding post-modern tech thread (viewtopic.php?f=5&t=376203) and the first page contains some neat stuff about armored trains. That got me thinking about trains & planet-side logistical infrastructure - and if futuretech trains would be practical.

If I apply the same technology that my nation's hovertanks use to civilian/industrial vehicles, very high-velocity hovertrains might exist. Multiple independently-powered vehicles could be coupled together into a long chain, with a few cars carrying giant reactors to improve the performance of the entire train.

These trains might not even require tracks - just appropriately flat surfaces to serve as makeshift roads. Slight changes in slope wouldn't seriously affect a vehicle that has a hovering height of several centimeters, so the amount of surface-smoothing that needs to be done could be minimal. With some good industrial-scale plasma torches to carve out reasonably flat & glassed-over roads, it could become trivially cheap & easy to make paths for high-velocity hovertrains.

The Disorder's vehicular hovering technology will also work over water. Driving across an ocean might be practical, although the technology doesn't get great tractive force when operating on liquid surfaces, and it's probably a good idea to avoid storms & really intense wave activity.