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CU question: See through super material?


proditor

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IIRC, back in like 3rd or 4th ed, Questionite was like uber-super glass. See through, and as strong or stronger than titanium. Reading CU, it seems to now be a standard uber-metal, analagous to Adamantium.

 

In 5e is there a recognized "Uber-glass" substance? Page references appreciated if there is. ;)

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

IIRC, back in like 3rd or 4th ed, Questionite was like uber-super glass. See through, and as strong or stronger than titanium. Reading CU, it seems to now be a standard uber-metal, analagous to Adamantium.

 

In 5e is there a recognized "Uber-glass" substance? Page references appreciated if there is. ;)

IIRC questonite is a polimer, a super plastic, that can be see-through or pigmented.

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

IIRC questonite is a polimer' date=' a super plastic, that can be see-through or pigmented.[/quote']

That would make my life a lot easier, and it was what I thought as well until I hit page 57 of CU. Now it's apparently "an amazingly durable, yet unusually light, metal found only in certain rare deposits."

 

Which is a shame. Cuz honestly, those Questionite claws in G&G? How cool would those be if they looked like glass?!?! :D

 

 

However, thanks for confirming my recollection on Questionite McCoy, I was positive it used to be see-through, and I'm assuming we're not both imagining it. ;)

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

IIRC questonite is a polimer' date=' a super plastic, that can be see-through or pigmented.[/quote']

 

Actually, "questonite" is not the same as "questionite." First mentioned in the old Escape from Stronghold adventure module, questonite was indeed a super-strong transparent plastic. As later elaborated on in Super Agents, questonite was invented and patented by one Dr. Quest, father of J. A. Quest who founded the security super-agency Starguard International. (Yes, the implication was very strong that they were those Quests.) ;)

 

OTOH questionite the super-metal was first mentioned IIRC in the Fifth Edition version of Champions Universe: a rare naturally occurring metallic element which is not only exceptionally strong, but can take an extraordinarily keen edge capable of cutting through nearly any other material.

 

To my knowledge there is no transparent super-material in the current canon CU. However, since it's not the same stuff as questionite, you should feel free to have someone in your campaign invent questonite. The trademark litigation alone should be good for years of game-time laughs. :snicker:

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

That would make my life a lot easier, and it was what I thought as well until I hit page 57 of CU. Now it's apparently "an amazingly durable, yet unusually light, metal found only in certain rare deposits."

 

Which is a shame. Cuz honestly, those Questionite claws in G&G? How cool would those be if they looked like glass?!?! :D

 

 

However, thanks for confirming my recollection on Questionite McCoy, I was positive it used to be see-through, and I'm assuming we're not both imagining it. ;)

If there can be transparent aluminum in the ST universe, there can be transparent questionite in the CU.

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

I also found this section of the article very pertinent to the conventions of a supers campaign:

 

Though the possibilities of this material seem limitless, manufacturability, size and cost are issues the lab is dealing with before ALON Transparent Armor can be transitioned to the field, according to the lieutenant. “Traditional transparent armor costs a little over three dollars per square inch; when you look at ALONTM Transparent Armor, the cost is $10 to $15 per square inch,” said Lieutenant La Monica. “The difficulties arise with heating and polishing processes, which, in turn, lead to higher costs, but we are looking at more cost-effective alternatives.”

All those "cost-effectiveness" reasons for supertech not penetrating to wider society may not be so far-fetched after all. ;)

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

All those "cost-effectiveness" reasons for supertech not penetrating to wider society may not be so far-fetched after all.

 

It's a new tech. Give them another year or two. Most of the time, the cost-effectiveness issue is transient, not permanent.

 

As another example, Intel and AMD usually have chips in the lab long before they come to market. Hypothetically, that 5GHz chip you might be able to buy in a year or two is already sitting in prototype form in a lab somewhere.

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

It's a new tech. Give them another year or two. Most of the time, the cost-effectiveness issue is transient, not permanent.

 

As another example, Intel and AMD usually have chips in the lab long before they come to market. Hypothetically, that 5GHz chip you might be able to buy in a year or two is already sitting in prototype form in a lab somewhere.

 

Not exactly.

 

Intel ran into a problem with heat - as clock speed (GHz) goes up linearly, heat output goes up exponentially. They have decided to max clock speeds at 3.8 GHz (why they didn't go to an even 4GHz I don't know - that may have been an unmanageable heat level for an air-cooled system) and increase performance by implementing multi-core technology (multiple processor cores on the same chip, sharing on-chip cache). So what you really mean is "that quad-core chip you will be able to buy in a year or so".

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

Not exactly.

 

Intel ran into a problem with heat - as clock speed (GHz) goes up linearly, heat output goes up exponentially. They have decided to max clock speeds at 3.8 GHz (why they didn't go to an even 4GHz I don't know - that may have been an unmanageable heat level for an air-cooled system) and increase performance by implementing multi-core technology (multiple processor cores on the same chip, sharing on-chip cache). So what you really mean is "that quad-core chip you will be able to buy in a year or so".

 

That's what I get for posting from home and not checking my notes at work first.

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

What sort of superhero would want a costume made of see through material? *scritches head*

 

All right. I'll admit it. When I saw the thread title, the first thing that came to mind was, "Some superheroic sex goddess needs bulletproof lingerie."

 

Now I can't be the only one who thought of this. Anyone else? :cool:

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  • 2 weeks later...

Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

proditor, I was looking through Hidden Lands when a thought struck me. There is a super-strong transparent material in the current CU: crystallos, created by the Lemurians. Now, crystallos is the product of secret Lemurian alchemical processes, which may not work for your purposes; except that the Lemurians used it to create exactly the kind of underwater domes it sounds like you're looking for. As the Lemurian population diminished over time, many of their domed outposts were abandoned. According to HL, one could discover one of these outpost domes anywhere around the Indian Ocean.

 

Someone using one of these domes to establish a new underwater base might at any time accidentally uncover an ancient Lemurian technomagic device, abandoned golem, or even a long-lost colony of Mole Men. Could make things interesting. :sneaky:

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

Someone using one of these domes to establish a new underwater base might at any time accidentally uncover an ancient Lemurian technomagic device' date=' abandoned golem, or even a long-lost colony of Mole Men. Could make things interesting. :sneaky:[/quote']

 

Now that is a fun idea. If it is the heroes who find the dome and set up the base….they find interesting things while cleaning, building, etc.

 

Even more interesting is if the villains set up the domed base…unleash the thing from the past that Man was not meant to know and have to cal the heroes for help. Is it a trap or do the bad guys really need help…or both?

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Re: CU question: See through super material?

 

All right. I'll admit it. When I saw the thread title, the first thing that came to mind was, "Some superheroic sex goddess needs bulletproof lingerie."

 

Now I can't be the only one who thought of this. Anyone else? :cool:

 

You might not be the only person to think of it, but you may very well be the only person to admit to thinking of it...

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