Local filter?

I'm going to set up a "local events" filter on my journal. That way I can announce interesting things that people on my friends list who also reside in the Greater SFBA might be interested in, and possibly set up group outings.

I know for certain that some members of my friends list are local, and are already on the list. If you would like to be added to the filter, please leave a comment.

OK, I'm not answering the phone...

Because I now have tomorrow off. In fact, I'll be in the bunker until about 0800 Friday when the trucks head out. :)

Today's run to the back of nowhere went well. I listened to Judas Priest's Angel of Retribution on the trip down, and since I was heading south, I only had to deal with a little traffic. Finding the right entry to this place was a pain, and I met some cows, but eventually found the house.

Note to customer: You are having not one but two trucks massing about 13 tons loaded roll onto your brand-new driveway. While there, we are going to lower your five-ton containers using our wheeled three-ton hydraulic lifts. A few things are going to happen.

1. We are going to leave black marks all over the place. Can't be helped.

2. Because of the layout you designed, we are going to have to roll into your landscaping to drop the pods, reload Podzilla, and get out. Sorry about the four inch deep ruts.

3. Podzilla is loud. Deal. I'm not the one who decided to have the entire family over at the same time as two PODS drivers and a moving truck! Loudness will happen with multiple back-up alarms, our 20HP engines roaring, and movers shouting at each other.

*sigh*

Ah well, he got the pods, and I had an easy day. Tomorrow, I think I'll start laying out my future history.

My job is creeping into my writing.

I was pondering how I wanted my technology to feel in the upcoming Space Opera game, and started thinking about starships. Specifically, how are they designed.

The way I'm leaning now is a slightly hard-science universe.. specifically, no artificial gravity/anti-grav/magic thrusters. With antimatter as an energy source, we can get very effective reaction motors without the need for huge amounts of reaction mass. Make the FTL rules work for reasonably close approaches to the star, and you've got a system that is both realistic and playable.

I'm seeing starships as being modular. You start with a core, a long cylinder with the power/drive/radiator bundle at one end, and the control room at the other. Along the core there are attachment points for any number of modules, rotation points for spin habitats, interface craft, etc. This allows endless customization and adaptability from a few basic models of core. Needless to say, most star ships are not capable of entering atmosphere (and with tanks filled with antimatter, nobody wants them to land.

Then the image hit me, such a ship carrying dozens of white cargo containers with "PODS" stenciled on their sides... :)

Anyway, most of the core worlds will have beanstalks (or more than one. I'm picturing Earth with three.) to facilitate rapid transfer of cargo and passengers. Frontier worlds will need to use any variety of methods from fusion air ram shuttle to brute force chemical rockets to get to and from low orbit. Most ships carry at least one interface craft so the crew can go dirtside when necessary.

Military craft will be less modular out of necessity. The connectors will be weak points in battle. Naval ships will be bulkier, have huge drives, and be designed to operate for a limited time if their radiators are disabled or pulled into the hull. (I imagine that part of the reason for evacuating the ship to vacuum in battle is to cut down on the heat transfer.) The most common weapon is the missile; usually armed with a bomb-pumped X-ray laser. Lasers are used at shorter ranges, and are the primary armament for fighters (which I'm seeing as looking a lot like the Starfuries from Babylon 5.)

Comments? Suggestions?

(no subject)

For some reason, the poll refused to go into the previous entry. So here it is.

[Poll #584725]