austenandrews Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Well' date=' except that would be a problem in a spacecraft that lost its crew generations ago. If there is no crew, a spinning spacecraft would still spin for hundreds of years. If there is no crew, an antimatter drive accelerating for hundreds of years would eventually suffer a failure in the containment tanks, resulting in the entire ship being vaporized in a matter-antimatter explosion. Would that be right after the control panels exploded in a shower of sparks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Would that be right after the control panels exploded in a shower of sparks? Heh, trek like? Maybe. But actually I'm thinking in terms of, say if a mutated killer virus wiped out most of mankind on planet Earth, how long would all the coal fired power plants and hydroelectric dams run unattended with no maintenance? Certainly not for hundreds of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phookz Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? But actually I'm thinking in terms of' date=' say if a mutated killer virus wiped out most of mankind on planet Earth, how long would all the coal fired power plants and hydroelectric dams run unattended with no maintenance? Certainly not for hundreds of years.[/quote'] There's a pretty cool program on the History Channel that discusses exactly this type of thing: Life After People: http://www.history.com/content/life_after_people I don't remember the numbers, but I want to say most powerplants would only last a few days to weeks without human intervention. Hydroelectric would last considerably longer, but even the power plant at Hoover Dam needs human intervention to remove the quagga mussels from the intakes. If you don't get rid of them, they eventually block the water flow, then the control panel sparks and the generators shut down. Okay, maybe the control panel doesn't spark, but I'm not sure. Personally, I would request a chair AWAY from the control panels, but that's just me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? But actually I'm thinking in terms of' date=' say if a mutated killer virus wiped out most of mankind on planet Earth, how long would all the coal fired power plants and hydroelectric dams run unattended with no maintenance? Certainly not for hundreds of years.[/quote'] Right. I just suspect that if you were hauling a load of antimatter to power an ark ship, you'd design the system so that failure wouldn't vaporize everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DusterBoy Posted September 14, 2009 Report Share Posted September 14, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Well' date=' except that would be a problem in a spacecraft that lost its crew generations ago. H'mm I thought that link would lead to Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky. I've never heard of, let alone played Metamophosis Alpha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolgroth Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Looks like it might be a fun HERO conversion. Personally, I would have the ship be a vast, sub-light vessel that can still reach pretty high speed. Perhaps like 10 -30% the speed of light. Perhaps there is some sort of rubber science drive system that is still slower than light speed. In terms of vastness, I am thinking tens of miles long, wide and deep. Sort of like the islands in Lost. Maybe larger. If we are talking different ecosystems, then maybe there are several attached modules for simulating those ecosystems. For those that have played the game, (any edition) are there the same sort of mutations present? I imagine it would be much more fun to have some sort of mutation packages available instead so you can get the mutations you want, instead of a random roll system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? H'mm I thought that link would lead to Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky. I've never heard of' date=' let alone played Metamophosis Alpha.[/quote'] Well, that is what the original poster was talking about. Recreating the Starship Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 15, 2009 Report Share Posted September 15, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Personally' date=' I would have the ship be a vast, sub-light vessel that can still reach pretty high speed. Perhaps like 10 -30% the speed of light. Perhaps there is some sort of rubber science drive system that is still slower than light speed. In terms of vastness, I am thinking tens of miles long, wide and deep.[/quote'] Don't forget the Starlost. http://www.snowcrest.net/fox/starlostf/galery/index.html Though that was sort of a glorified Valley Forge from Silent Running. For those that have played the game' date=' (any edition) are there the same sort of mutations present? I imagine it would be much more fun to have some sort of mutation packages available instead so you can get the mutations you want, instead of a random roll system.[/quote'] IIRC there was a random roll system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted September 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Well' date=' that is what the original poster was talking about. Recreating the Starship Warden from Metamorphosis Alpha.[/quote'] I'm not planning to do a straight point to point conversion, but I was planning to do something "inspired by" Metamorphosis Alpha. For those familiar with Gamma World, it was a kind of "sequel" to Metamorphosis Alpha, and I understand both had random mutations. I suspect the drive to create Gamma World came from dissatisfaction with the small scale of the ship in Metamorphosis Alpha (which is why I am asking "Just how big can it get before it strains your credibility?") As for a crew, Nyrath, perhaps there IS still a functioning crew of robots and AIs? Lucius Alexander The palindromedary notes that Lucius has considered adding elements of Paranoia (as in, the game) to the mix Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sinanju Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? IIRC there was a random roll system. There was indeed. During and after college, when I was playing in Steamteck's "Traveller" game, we adopted the Metamorphosis Alpha mutation tables wholesale, and quickly added to them with powers from comics, SF novels, television shows, movies, and our own fevered imaginations. By the time we were done the tables were hundreds of entries long, and included both good and bad mutations. Some powers were minor, some were godlike. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? As far as a maximum plausible size, to my mind the upper boundary would be pretty darn huge. You could built an environment inside of Ceres with more square footage than Alaska and launch the whole thing out of the solar system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phookz Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? As for a crew' date=' Nyrath, perhaps there IS still a functioning crew of robots and AIs?[/quote'] Hmm, maybe there's still a human (or otherwise) crew. Perhaps they have something akin to a Prime Directive that they follow that forbids interaction with the flora and fauna in the habitable zones. Or it's a robotic/AI crew that will, as a last resort and based on their programming, destroy any organisms that threaten the ecological balance of a habitat zone - that could lead to interesting times for the PCs if something they do triggers said programming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Strap some thrusters to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Three and you're good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Mackinder Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Strap some thrusters to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Three and you're good to go. I think they would be too fragile to go casually shoving around the cosmos. This would probably work better as a mobile concern: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernal_sphere Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? As for a crew' date=' Nyrath, perhaps there IS still a functioning crew of robots and AIs?[/quote'] Good point. Some kind of automated self-repair that is not too intelligent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? As far as a maximum plausible size' date=' to my mind the upper boundary would be pretty darn huge. You could built an environment inside of Ceres with more square footage than Alaska and launch the whole thing out of the solar system.[/quote'] Actually, if you gave Ceres a set of levels with about 15 feet spacing, you'd probably have more square footage than the land area of Earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
austenandrews Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? Actually' date=' if you gave Ceres a set of levels with about 15 feet spacing, you'd probably have more square footage than the land area of Earth.[/quote'] Heh, true enough. I was thinking one huge level under a bunch of rock shielding. Maybe one huge level that spirals inward... There's an interesting question. What would happen if you spun Ceres fast enough to create 1g centripetal gravity just under its surface? (That'd be what, about 2 revs per hour?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? How about one 2 astronomical units in diameter? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine Of course, on the down side, it takes 10 billion years to get up to speed, and then it's not clear how you're supposed to slow it down...maybe it just launches colony ships when it nears a planetary system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted September 16, 2009 Report Share Posted September 16, 2009 Re: How Big Can Starship Warden Really Be? How about one 2 astronomical units in diameter? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_engine That's ... big ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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