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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, back then. I'm happy to see that the community is not dead.

It's an old news, but still, it hasn't been mentionned on this forum. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0101/19marsnuclear/ Americium 242 could still sustain chain reaction while in a micron thick sheet, making it possible to reach Mars within two weeks by building what I understand as an hybride form of two types of nuclear roquets: - the gas core reactor roquet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_core_reactor_rocket - and the fission-fragment roquet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fission-fragment_rocket

Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Hun, cool, thanks for the info. Fixed!

Re: How to cram crew members into your spacecraft Hey hey! Two good reasons to rep you!

Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever

Re: Another Way to Destroy a Planet: the Strange Matter Bomb So, this happens way above our heads in such quantities and for such a short time that it doesn't represent a significant phenomenon. It could be otherwise in particle accelerators: So this would have to be artificially induced.

Re: Another Way to Destroy a Planet: the Strange Matter Bomb In short, it would probably have to be artificially induced. Note that I just wanted to offer GMs a plausible way to explain their planet destroyer weapon (ie. impress their players with some remotely real techno babble...), not to imply that we should consider any real threat here.

Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Well, one could imagine asteroid propelling turrets to keep the feel... They would essentially be covered rail guns. Waste of ressources? Not so sure: to wich will you concede more presence attack, a pair of rails pointing out of a ship like two antenas, or a good classical looking canon barrel? Moreover, who said military people hadn't any sense for coolness? (Ok, I shut up...)

How would you like to blast your enemies' planet to a super hot soup of strange matter (a mix of up, down and strange quarks)? Well, the strangelet is here for you! After neutron stars, we'll have quark planets... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strangelet#Dangers

Re: December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever Haa, G-rays, they always have the knack to make people talk non-sense..! More seriously, about attacks from space, the Tunguska event is said to have been an explosion equivalent to 10 to 15 Mt of TNT... Quite a big burst for a rock. You have a couple of other quite powerful explosions on this list: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tunguska_event#Similar_events

Re: How to cram crew members into your spacecraft Hey, cool. And why having missile size space ships as a norm? People make their travel under cryogenization, anyway; a missile size ship would require much less energy to send somewhere and pretty much less ressources to build. Of course, this kind of ship would necessitate very small energy sources to maintain the life support systems. Moreover, they'd have to be far more durable, as nobody could recharge/maintain the energy source (the only passenger being unconscious). Radioisotopic Thermoelectric Generator can have up to 30 or 40 years of life span, but their energy output decrease with time. Edit: Arggg... I just remembered some B movie in wich a naked female space vampire arrived on Earth in such a device... And I thought I was a genius...

Hi people, I went on this while surfing on wikipedia; it's a vertical take-off/landing portable drone developed by the US military: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XM156_Class_I_UAV Reminds me of the sniper's drone in Star Wars Battlefront...

Re: How to cram crew members into your spacecraft In the Polaris universe setting, people travelling by submarines (Polaris is an underwater universe, so it is very similar in most ways to a space travel setting...) packed in "sarcophaguses" all the way long (rich people get their luxuous yacht and cruise subs and all). I think it also existed in the Shadowrun universe. I heard once that such kind of "arrangements" already existed in Japan, but couldn't find any evidence of it.

Re: Drow Blade Dancer Yeah, there are some inconsistencies in the character because I built her as a classical DND drow while I thought of her more like a Lodoss, Lineage or other manga style dark elf. I could change the race of her lord to fix, but the problem about the costly magical habilities pointed at by Panpiper wouldn't get better for that (moreover, with a, say, human lord, I'd fear the character would more or less become just some rip off of Lodoss' Pirotess). I think I'll just get rid of the magical habilities; she just won't be a DND drow anymore. Thanks to you both; I'll wait for some other comments and I'll work the character again in order to make her more powerfull/less costly, and then, I'll post her again.

Hi everybody, I just got a flash this evening and I created this character form an old idea I had a year ago or so. She's a drow blade dancer, one could say a manga style drow fighter. Here's a link to a Lineage II video somewhat representative of what I mean: I built her dungeon style, even though I prefer surface dwelling dark elves, such as in Records of Lodoss War. I also used Killershrike's equipment list, even though for only one item. I don't have a very complex or complete background to offer, but I imagined her in the service of a fallen but clever drow lord seeking revenge and final victory, serving as her agent, bodyguard, assassin, etc. I'm posting her here in order to get feedback about my character creation skills, as I don't believe them to be as good as I'd like to. Please feel free to offer your deifferent views on how I could have built her more efficiently, or less costly, etc. Thank you very much! I hope you'll enjoye it. So here it is: 12 STR 10 2 STR Roll: 11- 20 DEX 10 30 DEX Roll: 13- 13 CON 10 6 CON Roll: 12- 13 BODY 10 6 14 INT 10 4 INT Roll: 12- 14 EGO 10 8 EGO Roll: 12- 20 PRE 10 10 22 COM 10 6 4 PD 2 2 4 ED 3 1 4 SPD 3.0 10 5 REC 5 0 30 END 26 2 30 STUN 26 4 Run: 8" Swim: 2" Leap: 4" PER Roll: 12- Powers Pts. END Psychology 9 Deep Loyalty: Fearless (14 Active Points); Only when protecting her Lord (-1/2) 3 Deep Loyalty: Resistance (5 points) (5 Active Points); Only not to betray her Lord (-1/2) Dancer Habilities 3 Pain Resistant - Trained Dancer's Body: Damage Resistance (4 PD/4 ED) (4 Active Points); Can't stop the first point of Body on a killing attack (-1/2) Drow Magical Habilities 47 Darkness: Darkness to Sight Group 3" radius, Conforming (+1/2), No Range Modifier (+1/2), Indirect ( Any origin, any direction; +3/4) (82 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Continuing Charges - Once per day lasting 1 Turn (-3/4) 5 Dancing Lights: Sight Group Images 1" radius, Conforming (+1/2), Indirect ( Any origin, any direction; +3/4) (22 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Charges - Once per day (-1 1/4), Only To Create Light (-1), Set Effect - 4 globes of light (-1) 9 Dancing Lights: Sight Group Flash 2d6, No Range Modifier (+1/2), Area Of Effect (3" Radius; +1), Continuous (+1) (35 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Charges - Once per day (-1 1/4), Conditional Power AoE always centered around Faery Fire (-1/2), Conditional Power Only works against underdark creatures (-1/2), Linked (Dancing Lights; -1/4), Lesser Power can only be used when character uses greater Power at full value (-1/4) 5 Faerie Fire: Sight Group Images 1" radius, Affects Desolidified Any form of Desolidification (+1/2), No Range Modifier (+1/2), Indirect ( Any origin, any direction; +3/4) (27 Active Points); 1 Recoverable Charges - Once per day (-1 1/4), Only To Create Light (-1), Set Effect - Highlight target (-1), Limited Power No AoE - One target only (-1) Drow Natural Habilities 5 Darkvision: Nightvision 3 Dark Elf Curse - Loss of Immortality: Life Support (Longevity: 800 Years) Skills Pts. Dancing skills 3 Acrobatics 13- Impressive Dancing 3 Breakfall 13- Gracefull Tumbling 3 Contortionist 13- Dancer Body 3 PS 13- Dancer 10 +2 with Dancing Mistress of the Art Dance of Death 3 Analyze: Combat 12- Veteran Fighter 9 +3 with blade dancing Expert Blade Dancer 4 Penalty Skill Levels: +2 vs. Hit Location modifiers with blade dancing Movement Precision 5 Defense Maneuver I-II Spinning Dance 3 Fast Draw 13- Saber Dance 5 Rapid Autofire Furry of the Blades 5 Rapid Attack (HTH) Always in Movement 10 Two-Weapon Fighting (HTH) Deadly Grace 1 WF: Blades Blade Dancer Drow Skills 0 Lipreading 8- Silent Hunt 0 Lockpicking 8- Just a Drow 0 Shadowing 8- Intrigue Dweller 0 Sleight Of Hand 8- Just a Drow 3 Stealth 13- Creatures of Darkness 0 CuK: Surface Elves (Drow Perspective) 8- Forsaken Cousins 0 AK 8- Underdark 0 Streetwise 8- Survival of the Fittest 0 Survival 8- Underdark Social Training 3 Conversation 13- As Fascinating as Death 3 Disguise 12- Lies of Appearances 3 High Society 13- Drow Highborn 3 KS 12- Drow Politics 4 CuK: His feelings, his personality, his ambitions 13- Understand Lord and Master 0 Language (completely fluent; literate) (4 Active Points) Drow 4 Language (completely fluent; literate) Any 3 Language (fluent conversation; literate) Any 3 Persuasion 13- Won't Take 'No' as an Answer 3 Seduction 13- 'Dance with me' Talents Pts. 6 Combat Luck (3 PD/3 ED) Too Fast to be Hit 3 Lightning Reflexes: +2 DEX to act first with All Actions Faster than her Shadow 17 Combat Sense (Sense) 12- Underdark Fighter 7 Deadly Blow: +1d6 ([limited circumstances - Only when blade dancing]) Fatal Dancer 89 : Powers Cost 132 + Skills Cost 96 + Characteristics Cost 317 = Total Cost Base OCV: 7 Base DCV: 7 Adjustment+ Adjustment+ Final OCV: Final DCV: Levels: +3 with blade dancing Roll: DCV: 4 14- 5 13- 6 12- 7 11- 8 10- 9 9- 10 8- Roll: DCV: 11 7- 12 6- 13 5- 14 4- 15 3- 16 2- 17 1- Name Phase OCV DCV Effect Block 1/2 +0 +0 Block, Abort Brace 0 +2 1/2 +2 vs. Range Mod. Disarm 1/2 -2 +0 Can disarm Dodge 1/2 --- +3 Abort, vs. all attacks Grab 1/2 -1 -2 Grab two limbs Grab By 1/2 -3 -4 Move and Grab Haymaker 1/2* +0 -5 +4DC to attack Move By 1/2 -2 -2 STR/2 + v/5 Move Through 1/2 -v/5 -3 STR + v/3 Set 1 +1 +0 Ranged attacks only Strike 1/2 +0 +0 STR or weapon Range 0-4 5-8 9-16 17-32 33-64 65-128 RMod 0 -2 -4 -6 -8 -10 DEX: 20 SPD: 4 ECV: 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 4 PD (4 rPD) 4 ED (4 rED) MD: 0 END: 30 STUN: 30 BODY: 13 Roll Location STUNx NSTUN BODYx To Hit 3-5 Head x5 x2 x2 -8 6 Hands x1 x1/2 x1/2 -6 7-8 Arms x2 x1/2 x1/2 -5 9 Shoulders x3 x1 x1 -5 10-11 Chest x3 x1 x1 -3 12 Stomach x4 x1.5 x1 -7 13 Vitals x4 x1.5 x2 -8 14 Thighs x2 x1 x1 -4 15-16 Legs x2 x1/2 x1/2 -6 17-18 Feet x1 x1/2 x1/2 -8 Character Information Height: 1.78 m Hair: White Weight: 60.00 kg Eyes: Red 1 Disadvantages Pts. 15 Distinctive Features: Drow (Concealable; Extreme Reaction; Detectable By Commonly-Used Senses; Not Distinctive In Some Cultures) 15 Physical Limitation: Blinded by Daylight (Infrequently, Greatly Impairing) 10 Psychological Limitation: Obedience to her Lord (Very Common, Total) 25 Psychological Limitation: In love with her Lord (Very Common, Total) 25 Psychological Limitation: Get sorrowful when separetad too long from her Lord (Uncommon, Strong) 10 Reputation: Death Dancer, 14- 15 Social Limitation: Serving a fallen Lord (Frequently, Major) 15 XP 0 Base Points : 202 Disads Total + 115 Experience Spent + 0 Total Cost = 317

Re: Accretion Disk Civilizations? Well, I thought that if the floater can survive tidal pressure at its stable and intended orbit around the black hole, it probably wouldn't crush under it a couple of km nearer. I assumed the floater is quite far from the black hole, in order for people working there not to suffer tens of G force... So, the fall into the black hole might not be as rapid as "instantly", as acceleration for 1 G is about 10 m/s, even though the G force may augment quite rapidly while falling towards the black hole. I don't know how fast this acceleration augmentation could be, neither if radiant energy could be used at a distance allowing an acceleration of 1 G, though.

Re: Britain Closes UFO "Portfoilo" You said it, man.

Re: Accretion Disk Civilizations? Cool... An accident of such a far-floater that had happened decades ago when its anlge shifted suddenly would still be visible in the sky of this civilization, slowly falling towards the event horizon of the black hole, without possibility for rescue. People there would still be alive, because of time dilation; they'd seem to be stopped in time, lost forever, but their end coming so slowly... Children at school would still be studying this part of their history, a part, although belonging to the past, that is still present. On the sinking floater, people would be looking at their home world, blue shifted and extremely accelerated, looking at their "own" future without possibility to intervene in it, waiting the moment the tidal force will eventualy destroye their embarcation and kill them all. Humm... I felt romantic on this one.

Re: The Hunt for Habitable Exomoons But wouldn't most of these exomoons be formed of materials volatile under earth-like temperatures? Unless they'd had been captured by their planet, they would be formed from the same elements and chemicals, so they would at best be formed with liquid water... But there's still the possibility that a rocky body being captured by the gazeous planet, as we think it happened with Triton (even though it isn't a rocky body).

Re: How many character points do you think a 20th level DnD character would have? I'd say infinite, or zero, depending on the GM... (sorry Garry, but you kinda deserved this (another) one...! RIP)

Re: Generation starships and their internal society structure Ok, sorry, but I'm just out of this thread.

Re: What if Earth had rings like Saturn? Humm... Indeed, it might be more difficult than I thought... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens#Orbiting_Saturn

Re: Dark galaxy crashing into the Milky Way It sure is!

Re: Generation starships and their internal society structure But they well might even though; there's no absolute way to prevent rebelion (fortunately...). That's the point; it is absolutely true, as no society can develop without taking parts of its social background within it.

Re: Star Goes Rogue in Untimely Collision