Okay, so we still get EMP effect caused by the metal hull of the ship. But
will ship hulls be necessarily metallic? I've always considered FT ship hulls
to be made of some 'other' material, possibly ceramics, plastics or some
molecular structure we can only hypothesise about today (GP hulls?? At least
casualties would be low if all you can do is burn off external weapon mounts).
Also, there's the possibility of optical computers (and considering the size
of the fire control computers (3 mass?!?!?! I'd say that's about 3 mass too
big), it seems JT had Lensman style vacuum tubes in mind, which I believe are
resistant to EMP), hardened circuits, or any other future technology which
would make EMP a problem of the past.
IMHO of course.
> Also, there's the possibility of optical computers (and considering
FT being the generic beasty it is, I'd say if your game background doesn't
have EMP possible against your ships that you disallow EMP missiles.:) Easy
solution, for those settings, but many have a
similar sort of attack/damage possible, whether it be called EMP or
not, per se.
> At 09:10 PM 12/12/96 +0100, you wrote:
Good point. Question: can a strong enough EMP pulse affect a human brain? If
it can, you might want a hull that's essentially a Faraday cage. Give the hull
a tight lattice of electrically conductive material and pump an electric
current through it. The hull is now impervious to EMP.
Personally, my favourite type of hull was a metallic hydrogen hull (I first
came across metallic hydrogen in the novel _The World is Round_). Of
course, you'd need something like a small singularity to forge it...
> Also, there's the possibility of optical computers (and considering
Well, now we're getting into the discussion of FT as a game versus FT as a
simulation. I can live with EMP missiles even if they are a bit anachronistic.
Call them what you want; it's the game results that matter. This is probably
the best argument for FT to not become more complex. As long as the weapon
systems are kept as generic and unspecific, we can justify the weapons anyway
we want. Too bad no one makes "Steampunk" figures; I'd love to do a game with
Space 1889 like Ether Flyers.
> On Sun, 15 Dec 1996, Allan Goodall wrote:
> Too bad no one makes "Steampunk"
Could some one please let me know what command to use to get off this news
group. Thanks
> Samuel Penn wrote:
> Also, there's the possibility of optical computers (and considering
I agree with you about the reduced effect of an EMP on future technology, but
the likelyhood that all are systems are completely safe would be small. I
think some technologies would still be expensive and resources might be lower
than comparable unprotected technologies. IMHO critical systems would be given
the best protection with the majority of systems less.