Doc Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Why not' date=' that's how the rail guns in my campaign look like: cannon barrels covering the rails.[/quote'] Well, I was just fooling around with this post, but I think in fact you're right about this; all images I've seen of real world railguns were covered with a barrel. [url]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/German_railgun_Bild_1-2.gif[/url] http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/electromagnetic-railgun http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4231461.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted December 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Well' date=' I was just fooling around with this post, but I think in fact you're right about this; all images I've seen of real world railguns were covered with a barrel.[/quote'] There is a reason for that. When charged up, the two rails repel each other with tremendous force. You need a lot of bracing to prevent this. Similarly, with a coilgun, each coil is under tremendous force to expand (i.e., explode). http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x1.html#hypervelocity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted December 15, 2009 Report Share Posted December 15, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Well, I was just fooling around with this post, but I think in fact you're right about this; all images I've seen of real world railguns were covered with a barrel. http://http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/German_railgun_Bild_1-2.gif http://http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/electromagnetic-railgun http://http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4231461.html The links aren't working for me. But thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 16, 2009 Report Share Posted December 16, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever There is a reason for that. When charged up, the two rails repel each other with tremendous force. You need a lot of bracing to prevent this. Similarly, with a coilgun, each coil is under tremendous force to expand (i.e., explode). http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3x1.html#hypervelocity Hun, cool, thanks for the info. The links aren't working for me. Fixed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever We can always count on you to point out these nice ravening beams of doom articles Speaking of which...Hey, Nyrath! I'm working on a Civilization II science fiction scenario. Is it concievable for a supernova to emit so much radiation as to sterilize every system within a hundred light years? If not, is there some other (moderately) plausible cosmic disaster that could concievably threaten Earth's vicinity in the next few millenia? Thanks! Lucius Alexander Pangalactic palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Wait a minute.... the distant reaches of the Constellation Sagittarius Isn't that the same direction the "Wow" signal came from in 1967? Lucius Alexander Constellation Palindromedary Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever I'm working on a Civilization II science fiction scenario. Wow! Some people are still on it? This was one of my favorite games, back then. I'm happy to see that the community is not dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Speaking of which...Hey, Nyrath! I'm working on a Civilization II science fiction scenario. Is it concievable for a supernova to emit so much radiation as to sterilize every system within a hundred light years? If not, is there some other (moderately) plausible cosmic disaster that could concievably threaten Earth's vicinity in the next few millenia? A gamma-ray burster that was 3,000 light years away could wipe out half the Earth's ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. At 100 light years it would fry the Earth. However, such bursters emit their radiation in a narrow beam, not in all directions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst A supernova could only wipe out half the ozone layer if it was within about 27 light years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever A gamma-ray burster that was 3,000 light years away could wipe out half the Earth's ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. At 100 light years it would fry the Earth. However, such bursters emit their radiation in a narrow beam, not in all directions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst I remember seeing somewhere that there was something that was pointed almost directly at the solar system, but I can't think of what it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyrath Posted December 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Wait a minute.... Isn't that the same direction the "Wow" signal came from in 1967? Approximately http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wow!_signal#Location_of_the_signal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted December 17, 2009 Report Share Posted December 17, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever A gamma-ray burster that was 3,000 light years away could wipe out half the Earth's ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. At 100 light years it would fry the Earth. However, such bursters emit their radiation in a narrow beam, not in all directions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst A supernova could only wipe out half the ozone layer if it was within about 27 light years. Given we're talking "narrow" in astronomical terms, it sounds like this is the disaster I'm looking for. Lucius Alexander The palindromedary wonders if the "Wow" event was somebody trying to tell us something.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever While plasma guns don't really work, lasers are effective as a ship-to-ship weapon. It is just that a laser sidearm is vastly more expensive and delicate than a .45 automatic, but is not much more effective at killing a person. The magnatar death beam, however, is much more useful to a game master as a Macguffin. For example, your stable of players are trying to stop a supervillain who is plotting to trigger a magnatar burst that will vaporize Princess Aura's home system. Or the Magnatar beam is why there have been no encounters with alien races in "our" early expansion... Edit: not necessarily that a vast area was sterilized, but if there were only a couple of intelligent races, and they were in the beams path... Bad luck on a cosmic scale. Or one was the catastrophe that triggered your post-apocalyptic game world... 1/2 the world died. Instantly. Youch. :0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever A gamma-ray burster that was 3,000 light years away could wipe out half the Earth's ozone layer and cause a mass extinction. At 100 light years it would fry the Earth. However, such bursters emit their radiation in a narrow beam, not in all directions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-ray_burst But aren't g-ray bursters belonging to the very distant universe (and so, to the very long gone one)? How could such a phenomenon happen today (approximately) in our galaxy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever There was some discussion of the effects of a nearby gamma-ray burster in this thread, starting at post #4. I don't think even that event would truly sterilize the planet, because (1) only half the planet is hit by the very brief (albeit intense) radiation burst and (2) I don't think it would get to the benthic environment (let alone the deep biosphere). There are very few things (that would leave any planet behind, anyway) that can get through several kilometers of water, especially when the event lasts less than a minute. The front half of the planet shields the back half. Do you really need "sterilize", or is wiping out the surface ecology enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted December 18, 2009 Report Share Posted December 18, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever ... Mind you, most of Earth's landmasses fit on one half of the globe ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted December 20, 2009 Report Share Posted December 20, 2009 Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Wow! Some people are still on it? This was one of my favorite games' date=' back then. I'm happy to see that the community is not dead.[/quote'] If there's any interest, when I get the scenario finished I could post it - probably in "General Roleplaying" (It's not roleplaying, but it's not non-gaming either, so...) Lucius Alexander The palindromedary unhelpfully says "IF he gets the scenario finished...." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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