Cloaking Planets

[Phoenix-D]

quote:

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The internet on a Sphereworld would be really laggy, seing as even a fiber-optic connection would have a 45 minute ping time
to the other side of the world.

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Umm, I'm thinking if they can build and move a sphere, they can probably get around that little problem

Phoenix-D

[Puke]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
You wouldn't have much gravitational shear (no more than the inner planets already experience from their own star

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i dont know, if 10 spheres suddenly appeared from out of no where and breezed on by, especially if they suddenly pulled a stellar body in the oposite or perpendicular direction that it was traveling in, i bet there would be some rather serious tectonic problems going on.

you could plan incursions and pop a sphere in just long enough to halt a planet in its orbit, then warp it out and wait for it to fall into its sun.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[Baron Munchausen]

By definition a ringworld/sphereworld has a STAR at the center. This is what anchors it and gives it stability. Moving such a structure would require a coordinated move of BOTH the star in the center and the structure orbiting that star. Not simple, and obviously would require more than an "engine" facility on the orbiting structure. Given that the very existence of a ringworld or sphereworld is a science fiction concept requiring science we have not yet imagined, I guess we can't rule out the ability to move one to a race with the ability to build one... But I think as a practial matter of game play it would be wise to NOT allow these to move with an engine facility. A huge planet packed with WPs would be the ultimate seige weapon for attacking a ringworld or sphereworld, though.

[Suicide Junkie]

quote:

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Umm, I'm thinking if they can build and move a sphere, they can probably get around that little problem

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Get past the problem of sending information faster than the speed of light?
We know how to make a ring/sphereworld, we just don't have the tools right now. FTL is a totally different ballgame.

quote:

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i dont know, if 10 spheres suddenly appeared from out of no where and breezed on by, especially if they suddenly pulled a stellar body in the oposite or perpendicular direction that it was traveling in, i bet there would be some rather serious tectonic problems going on.

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To get problems like that, you'd have to have a big difference in the gravitational force from one side of the planet to the other. That won't happen, because you'd have to be inside the star before the grav.shear gets noticably high.

quote:

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By definition a ringworld/sphereworld has a STAR at the center. This is what anchors it and gives it stability. Moving such a structure would require a coordinated move of BOTH the star in the center and the structure orbiting that star. Not simple, and obviously would require more than an "engine" facility on the orbiting structure. Given that the very existence of a ringworld or sphereworld is a science fiction concept requiring science we have not yet imagined, I guess we can't rule out the ability to move one to a race with the ability to build one...

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Just have an extra planetary engine on the inside of your sphere, and aim the thrust at the star. You slowly move your world with the second engine, and use the first one's jet to push against the star.

quote:

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But I think as a practial matter of game play it would be wise to NOT allow these to move with an engine facility. A huge planet packed with WPs would be the ultimate seige weapon for attacking a ringworld or sphereworld, though.

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Yeah, but definitely allow it to be modded in, or maybe make the sphereworld require 100 "engines per move"!
Gotta have engines per move on planets. 1 for tiny, 2 for small, 3 for medium, etc.

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[Quikngruvn]

quote:

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Originally posted by suicide_junkie:
You would also sweep a chunk of space 15 light-minutes in diameter as you fly. (A single sphereworld would fill the space between earth and the sun).

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Jeez, why even put weapons on the thing? Just put a buckload of shields and shield regenerators on it, fire up the engines, then... RAMMING SPEED!

Or, maybe put in a specialized Sphereworld-only weapon, the Spring-Loaded Planet Thwacker. Essentially, it'd be a metal plate that's several hundred thousand miles in diameter that springs out of the sphereworld at the hapless planet. Then it's "Homeworld, corner pocket"!

(A 200-million-mile wide artificial structure is already inconceivable to me, and now you want to move the thing? The necessary thrust would be enough to incinerate any planet....)

[edit]
Oh yeah, while we're at it, tachyon internet. That should take care of the lag....
[/edit]

Quikngruvn

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Ponder this: Scientists already knew that matter is 98% empty space. After they figured out the structure of protons, they determined the remaining 2% is mostly made up of... well, nothing. Who says God doesn't have a sense of humor?

[This message has been edited by Quikngruvn (edited 28 July 2001).]

[Magnum357]

JEEZ! What a goofy topic! I'm not going to get into a debat if this could actually happen, but personally I think it is impossble to just slap a few hundred engines on a planet and "Let'er fly!!!". No, sorry guys, although the rest of you may like the idea of using this in your mode, I'm going to offically ban it from my project of a SFB mod (assuming I ever get it done).

[Saxon]

Now, you know the enemy has this horribly huge and powerful planet coming your way. How do you stop him?

It seems to me, if we can turn a big sector of asteroids into a planet of some stability, we should be able to turn that machine into a weapon. Sure, that mobile ring world is big, but if I can force asteroids together to form a planet, I can put pressure on the outside of your ring world, which is already being pulled in by the star’s gravity, and watch the whole thing crumble.

Ok, you have some defenses, but I will have a number of ships going after you and, for good measure, I will have puts some engines on a few cast off moons and will drive them straight at you. A moon is much more maneuverable than that big old ring world, so I should be able to get it up to some near relativistic speeds and then have it shatter before it hits, really spreading the impact out over your surface. Sure, you can shoot the moon, but that doesn’t bother me, even if you get the engines, the mass and velocity are still there. Niven and Pournelle love this trick.

Now, as we are getting far fetched, why would I bother with a moon? After all, you figured out how to move a sun, so why can’t I? Again, one sun is more maneuverable than a sun and a ringworld, so I am going to chase you down with a mobile sun. I will just leave one sitting outside the warp point I expect you at and when you warp in, I will accelerate more quickly than you.

Then, my mobile sun heads out to your home system. As someone pointed out, the only way to make a sun go away is to detonate it, which will destroy your system. You either detonate the sun, destroying the system, or I run over your planets with it, destroying the system. Starting to look like Mutually Assured Destruction again.

[Atrocities]

ok, help.

where do I find the Facility Family data so I can edit it?

quote:

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Name := System Cloaking Shield Facility
Description := Finely tuned cloaking feild in an array that prevents scanning.
Facility Group := Shields
Facility Family := 39
Roman Numeral := 0
Restrictions := None
Pic Num := 8
Cost Minerals := 20000
Cost Organics := 0
Cost Radioactives := 5000
Number of Tech Req := 1
Tech Area Req 1 := Shields
Tech Level Req 1 := 10
Number of Abilities := 6
Ability 1 Type := Planet - Shield Generation
Ability 1 Descr := Generates 5000 pts of shielding for the planet during combat.
Ability 1 Val 1 := 5000
Ability 1 Val 2 := 0
Ability 2 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 2 Descr := Prevents level 1 Active EM scans.
Ability 2 Val 1 := EM Active
Ability 2 Val 2 := 2
Ability 3 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 3 Descr := Prevents level 1 Passive EM scans.
Ability 3 Val 1 := EM Passive
Ability 3 Val 2 := 2
Ability 4 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 4 Descr := Prevents level 1 Psychic scans.
Ability 4 Val 1 := Psychic
Ability 4 Val 2 := 2
Ability 5 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 5 Descr := Prevents level 1 Gravitic scans.
Ability 5 Val 1 := Gravitic
Ability 5 Val 2 := 2
Ability 6 Type := Cloak Level
Ability 6 Descr := Prevents level 1 Temporal scans.
Ability 6 Val 1 := Temporal
Ability 6 Val 2 := 2
Weapon Type := None

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[Puke]

quote:

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Originally posted by Saxon:
Sure, you can shoot the moon, but that doesn’t bother me, even if you get the engines, the mass and velocity are still there.

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Mister Spok, tell the men: It't time to Shoot The Moon.

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"...the green, sticky spawn of the stars"
(with apologies to H.P.L.)

[capnq]

quote:

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Oh yeah, while we're at it, tachyon internet. That should take care of the lag....

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"Network error: the system was not responding when connection would have been made."

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Cap'n Q

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the
human mind to correlate all of its contents. We live on a placid
island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was
not meant that we should go far. -- HP Lovecraft, "The Call of Cthulhu"