My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Here's a link about Zubrin's book. It's pretty entertaining and very informative. One thing he explains is why you should not use sewage for food production. Given his association with the Mars Society, I'm confident he knows what he's talking about.

 

Here's an Amazon link.

 

How to Live on Mars

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Just a quick note on clothing...

 

Space suits would be necessary for all colonists, of course. They are similar in constructio to the current ones in use and are colored to match their surroundings (reddish brown on Mars, pale gray on the Moon).

 

While inside the colony structure, colonists would wear coveralls. They may be color-coded according to the job of the colonist. I'm not sold on that last bit; I may change it.

[Nyrath]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ak.html#uniform

[Kristopher]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Just a quick note on clothing...

 

Space suits would be necessary for all colonists, of course. They are similar in constructio to the current ones in use and are colored to match their surroundings (reddish brown on Mars, pale gray on the Moon).

 

While inside the colony structure, colonists would wear coveralls. They may be color-coded according to the job of the colonist. I'm not sold on that last bit; I may change it.

 

Can I ask why the space suits would be the same color as the local terrain?

[pinecone]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Just a quick note on clothing...

 

Space suits would be necessary for all colonists, of course. They are similar in constructio to the current ones in use and are colored to match their surroundings (reddish brown on Mars, pale gray on the Moon).

 

While inside the colony structure, colonists would wear coveralls. They may be color-coded according to the job of the colonist. I'm not sold on that last bit; I may change it.

 

Shouldn't they be colored to stand out? If you get into trouble, I'd guess that blending in would be a real bummer...

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Shouldn't they be colored to stand out? If you get into trouble' date=' I'd guess that blending in would be a real bummer...[/quote']

Good point. I followed Zubrin's suggestion in his book to have it match the surroundings in order to save on cleaning bills. But most people would work in teams if they ever go outside (impossible on the Jovian moons, as Jupiter's EM field would kill them instantly). Perhaps homing beacons would be able to help out stranded colonists. Hopefully Mars will have its own version of the GPS.

[ajackson]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Good point. I followed Zubrin's suggestion in his book to have it match the surroundings in order to save on cleaning bills.

I don't think people are going to care that much about whether vacuum clothing is discolored from dirt. They may care about dirt for other reasons, but in that case you want the dirt to stand out. In any case, for thermal management reasons vacuum clothing tends to be white.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I guess it depends on how often the vacuum suits will be worn, and if they'll see a lot of use in indoor settings. In the book I cited, it is worn a lot, both when out at work and indoors, even in social situations. If it's strictly for outside use, then having a vacuum suit appear clean won't matter that much, as long as the dust doesn't get into the heating and respiration systems.

[Basil]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ak.html#uniform

 

Thanks for demonstrating what I've long thought: Except for the "red & blue chicklets on a white plaque over the left pocket" bit, the uniforms of The Empire in Star Wars are the most reasonable and believable uniforms in popular Sci-Fi. Beats the "color-coded long-sleeve t-shirts" of Star Trek (original), the silver-lamé of 50's Sci-Fi movies, etc., etc.

[Kristopher]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Thanks for demonstrating what I've long thought: Except for the "red & blue chicklets on a white plaque over the left pocket" bit' date=' the uniforms of The Empire in [i']Star Wars[/i] are the most reasonable and believable uniforms in popular Sci-Fi. Beats the "color-coded long-sleeve t-shirts" of Star Trek (original), the silver-lamé of 50's Sci-Fi movies, etc., etc.

 

When did the US Navy start color-coding the deck crews on aircraft carriers? Because it wouldn't stun me of Roddenbury lifted the idea for the ToS uniforms from that, if the practice is old enough.

[L. Marcus]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

. . . My gut reaction is "Pre-WWII", but my gut may be mistaken.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I couldn't find the information for carrier ratings, but here are some stripe colors for Navy rates

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Here's another write-up for you:

 

Terminus

 

Terminus was established on Herschel Crater on Mimas in 2073 by Russia. A penal colony on a geologically dead moon, being sent there is tantamount to a death sentence. Many of the inmates are political prisoners, but others are hardened criminals who cannot or will not reform. The guards in control of the penal colony are aware that they too have no hope of returning to Earth, and they have become extremely brutal in their treatment of the inmates.

 

There have been a few riots, all of which were brutally put down. The most serious incident took place in 2074, resulting in the deaths of seven guards and fifteen prisoners. There have been several takeover attempts by prisoners in spacecraft en route to Terminus. Only one came close to succeeding while passing through the Jovian system; the ship's captain elected to crash the ship on a Trojan asteroid, killing all aboard.

 

There are 1,200 people on Terminus, only 300 of which are guards. The rest are inmates. Many people have questioned the logic in building an off-world penal colony, especially in a remote and desolate location. The truth is that the Russian government is wary of American dominance in the Saturn system and has decided to take preventive measures. Within Terminus, the inmates are being forced to build a gigantic coil gun. Once the weapon is completed, the inmates and the staff are to be executed (they are not aware of their fate), and the military will take over the colony.

 

NOTE: I chose this location because Mimas looks a lot like the Death Star. And as I originally planned to use this as a penal colony, I needed a reason to put a colony so far from Earth, since the cost of establishing it would be prohibitive.

[Basil]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

The guards in control of the penal colony are aware that they too have no hope of returning to Earth' date='[/quote']

Why?

 

There have been several takeover attempts by prisoners in spacecraft en route to Terminus. Only one came close to succeeding while passing through the Jovian system; the ship's captain elected to crash the ship on a Trojan asteroid' date=' killing all aboard.[/quote']

Do you realized the Trojan asteroids are (on average) as far from Jupiter as the Sun is?

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

The guards assigned to Terminus are considered to be troublemakers or "politically inconvenient" for a number of reasons. Many of them were already noted for their harsh treatment of inmates, so they would be natural taskmasters in the colony.

 

Not all the inmates are hardened criminals. Many are there because of politics. Some of the technical types may receive favored treatment because their expertise at building the coil gun is needed. They would, of course, be carefully segregated from the other prisoners, who would resent such blatant favoritism.

 

As for the Trojan asteroid comment, I'll check my maps. Maybe it could be the planets' orbits led them in the vicinity at the time. If not, I can have the ship crash into a moon or in the main asteroid belt. I was going to simply have the captain use the self destruct button, but that solution is too much of a cliche for my tastes.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Tyr Station

 

Tyr Station is located in the earth-moon system's L5 location. It is one of the first O'Neill Cylinders built. The station rotates, providing gravity for its inhabitants.

 

Tyr is one of the major producers of military spacecraft. The Orion-Class Cruiser was the first model built there. While it primarily makes spacecraft for NATO and ANZAC forces, it sometimes builds them for Israeli and Japanese forces. As such, it is an important strategic location; the commanding officer is always a general or an admiral.

 

While it is mainly a shipyard, Tyr is far from defenseless. It is heavily armed with missiles and railguns, and it houses a fighter wing (I decided to go with manned fighters; drones would be more realistic, but fighter pilots are more playable). There are also two or more warships patrolling the area, ready to defend the station.

 

Although it is primarily a military installation, it also has a sizable civilian population, ranging from families of the servicemen to construction workers to merchants. It is one of the most densely populated stations, with a population of about 8 million people. Pets are uncommon, but not unheard of. Most of them belong to the civilian population, however.

[LoresLost]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I couldn't find the information for carrier ratings' date=' but here are some stripe colors for Navy rates

Here is an article on flight deck uniform varations:

http://www.history.navy.mil/library/online/uniform_misc.htm

 

Note the job of the "Red Shirts" (yes they have red shirts)

Color-Coded Sailors: On the Flight Deck, Your Shirt Says It All

 

It's 2300. The flight deck is alive with activity.

 

Engines thundering, an A-6 Intruder crawls across the ink-black surface, slowly moving toward catapult number one. Its wings whine as they unfold. The pilot stares intently at the yellow-shirted petty officer with a plastic light, who is motioning the pilot forward. Moments before, the pilot's seat was occupied by a brown-shirted airman making sure the jet was ready to fly. There are green jerseys out in the darkness too, getting ready to hook the jet to the "cat."

 

Back aft, red-shirted ordnancemen load up another Intruder as purple shirts drag hoses to refuel, preparing it for flight.

 

Only flight deck workers wear jerseys, long-sleeve cotton shirts to protect from the heat and the cold. The colors are vital, identifying the job of the wearer:

 

Yellow: The main handlers and directors of movement on the flight deck. Nothing moves without being told to do so by a yellow shirt. The aircraft handling officer and catapult officers, as well as the air boss and mini-boss, are all yellow shirts.

 

Blue: Working mainly with yellow shirts, they operate different yellow gear, such as tractors and forklifts. They "chock and chain" aircraft to the flight deck or hangar deck, as well as operate aircraft elevators.

 

Green: Mainly the catapult and arresting crews. Photographer's mates and postal clerks also sport green jerseys when working on the flight deck.

 

Brown: Brown shirts are the plane captains, or "brakers" of the aircraft. They sit in the cockpit while it is being moved, braking as needed. They are in charge of making sure that all maintenance is performed prior to launch.

 

Purple: "Grapes," as they are affectionately referred to, or "fuelies." They refuel all aircraft and monitor all fuel supplies. There are purple shirts working seven decks below the hangar bay, on the hangar deck itself, and the flight deck.

 

Red: Red shirts signify ordnancemen. They load aircraft with all ordnance, missiles, mines and ammunition. They also make up the crash and salvage teams. This includes manning the flight deck fire trucks.

 

White: It would be fair to label white shirts as "miscellaneous." They consist of safety and medical personnel, catapult final checkers and catapult and arresting gear quality assurance inspectors. Anyone who does not normally work on the flight deck wears a white shirt on deck during flight operations.

 

Source: Walsh, Thomas. "Color-Coded Sailors: On the Flight Deck, Your Shirt Says It All." All Hands. 871 (October 1989): 32

 

EDIT:

Full Color coding Manual in PDF http://www.safetycenter.navy.mil/media/downloads/FlghtDckAware_CV_03.pdf

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Thanks for finding this info, LoresLost. I think I can find some use for this.

[Kristopher]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

As above' date=' only more so, as Venus rotates retrograde.[/quote']

 

I get the rest, but why is a synchronous orbit of a planet rotating retrograde not possible?

[L. Marcus]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I haven't done the math, but I'd say thatin Venus' case, the satellite would need such a long orbital period that it'd be out of the planet's gravitational dominance -- the satellite would start orbiting the Sun.

 

I don't think that applies to all retrograde-orbiting planets, though.

[Cancer]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

I get the rest' date=' but why is a synchronous orbit of a planet rotating retrograde not possible?[/quote']

 

It's possible for an object to be in both a retrograde orbit and in synchronous rotation; Triton orbiting Neptune is an example.

 

It's just that retrograde orbits tend not to be stable in the long term, and reaching spin-orbit resonance (of which synchronous rotation is one case) takes a long time. The Neptune system has clearly been disrupted, and Triton has hung around so long probably because it's so much larger than the other moons remaining in the system.

[tkdguy]

Re: My mostly hard sci-fi campaign

 

Here's a picture of the spacecraft used by the NATO forces. These are the Terran Republic ships I bought from Cold Navy. I hear Ravenstar is producing them now. I know they look more fit for space opera than hard sci-fi, but I think I can look the other way for the sake of aesthetics.

 

Here are the ships in order:

 

At the front are the Northampton Class Frigates.

 

In the second row is the Avatar Class Battlecruiser.

 

Then come the Orion Class Cruisers.

 

The Conquest Class Battleship is next.

 

Bringing up the rear are the Masada Class Heavy Destroyers.

 

You'll notice some of the bases look different. The hexagonal bases were the original bases, which I used for my first ships. When I bought the next batch, I decided to use the GW flight bases instead.