[RFC] Pinball of DOOM

[HRogge]

The "vehicle" mentioned in the newest "Gas Station" chapter

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Pinball of DOOM (POD)

»The new drive will allow us to build a personal spacecraft? Are you kidding me?«
- heard on Jenga in late 2017

»Look at it, its not even a car, its a tin can.«
- Arthur Nkomo, Great Justice

»You do not enter a POD. You WEAR it.«
- Dakota, 2019

»The perfect craft if you are bad with parking.«
- Unknown catgirl

Nationality: Fenspace Convention
Base Hull: Custom built sphere
Length (mm): 2,5 m
Width (mm): 2,5 m
Height (mm): 2,5 m
Drive Type: custom Mass Effect Drive
Drive Rating: up to 0.13c (0.16c)
Owner: Catgirl Industries
Launched: Early 2018
Purpose: Fast person transport, large scale pinball
Primary Crew: 2
Operational Status: Active

The POD project was private project at Catgirl Industries, the first attempt to use a Mass Effect drive for a personal transport. The work began during the development of the 2nd generation Mass Effect drive. The project progressed slowly for quite some time, absorbing design ideas from other project until it was finished in early 2018.

The size of the POD is limited by its engine design, even with putting the Drive sphere directly in the center of the POD between the two pilots, the more quirked batch of Eezo cannot produce a drive field with more than 2.5 meters diameter. Because of this the POD is a cramped vehicle.

The POD use a combination of a Joystick and a touch interface for controlling the craft. The craft has full video/audio playback system and two Massage seats to be more comfortable on longer trips. The only storage space are two tiny compartments to the left and right of the seats and a small ice box. Behind the seats are two emergency spacesuits, but getting in and out of them inside the POD can be an issue.

The upper-front part of the spherical hull is normally transparent so that the crew can look out on their own, but can be made opaque on command. The transparent part swings open to all the crew to enter the craft.

Trivia:

• Inspired after rescuing a Swordfish owner that was force to bail after eating a large micrometeor strike to his engine. The Swordfish cockpit capsule is a spaceship in and of itself with limited life support.
  
• Pilot and Copilot should be smaller than 170cm, otherwise they will not fit into their seat "comfortably". (1)
  
• The PODs life support system and fuel tank has enough supplies for three days of operation.
  
• The POD has a sophisticated autopilot system, but no AI.
  

Known Crafts:

• Pinball of DOOM. The original prototype vehicle.
  

Quirks:

• Pinball Wizard. The song ‘Pinball Wizard' has to be played to start the engine core.
  
  
• Karaoke Machine. If the pilot is singing along with the music playback during the start, the maximum speed is increased to 0.14c, if both pilot and co-pilot are singing, the pinball can reach 0.16c.
  
• Bing!Bing!BING! Can bounce of a larger object without damage to the ship or the object. There are often flashy light and sound effects involved in this collisions, but normally no damage.
  
• +500 Points! The control display of the POD has a score counter for keeping track of the Pinball hits it did during a flight.
  

(1) Yet somehow Dakota managed to cram himself into it with room for a pilot on a drunken dare. "Are you sure you are not just a funny looking cat?" "He fits? But he isn't a cat.. we need to test this! FOR SCIENCE!"

[Dartz]

"And that," said Jet, "Is exactly why I started building my armour."

You really wouldn't want to be claustrophobic in the thing.

Still, the early Space capsules were smaller inside.
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--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

You know how I usually tell new Collective members that their ships are too fast?

Not this time.

HRogge, your ship's too slow for its size. Bump it up to almost as fast as the Virgil Samms.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

You know how I usually tell new Collective members that their ships are too fast?

Not this time.

HRogge, your ship's too slow for its size. Bump it up to almost as fast as the Virgil Samms.

*snicker* okay, I take this as a compliment that you like the idea...

if no one disagrees, I could easily boost it to 0.13/0.16/0.19c (without, with 1/2 singers). Would work fine for the story context too.

[Rakhasa]

I would also make it completley indestructible -crashes with asteroids, ships rammed, weapons fire... all this only manages to bounce it in the opposite direction (conversely, it does not do any damage either when it hits something)

[HRogge]

I would also make it completley indestructible -crashes with asteroids, ships rammed, weapons fire... all this only manages to bounce it in the opposite direction (conversely, it does not do any damage either when it hits something)

This could be an effect of the unusual force-/drivefield variant... maybe its very flexible and "bounce" ?

[Rakhasa]

HRogge wrote:

---

This could be an effect of the unusual force-/drivefield variant... maybe its very flexible and "bounce" ?

Good idea... it's not that the pinball are indestructible, it that the metal never actually gets to touch the obstacle before the XXXX ("Kinetic Shield" ?) sends it on another direction.
And somehow, everytime it gets thrown out of its path, it never ends lost in deep space, no... it always finds another obstacle until it gets to its destination (eventually... but there was that Luna-Australia trip that crashed into some moron in a joyride, and ended up bouncing in Stellvia, Phobos, seven asteroids, Ganimede, back to Phobos, three warsie and two trekkie ships, the Kandor dome, and Uluru before it finally stopped in  Avalon-Point Wilson Spaceport)

You know, once the drive variant is studied and developed, it would be perfect for escape pods.
Edit: To prevent too much insanity, the drive probably should not scale properly. Pinalls and escape pods, yes; spaceships are too big

[robkelk]

I would also make it completley indestructible -crashes with asteroids, ships rammed, weapons fire... all this only manages to bounce it in the opposite direction (conversely, it does not do any damage either when it hits something)

Do we really need another http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=SuperBall]SuperBall, though?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[HRogge]

This could be an effect of the unusual force-/drivefield variant... maybe its very flexible and "bounce" ?

Good idea... it's not that the pinball are indestructible, it that the metal never actually gets to touch the obstacle before the XXXX ("Kinetic Shield" ?) sends it on another direction.

Its a Mass Effect field

And somehow, everytime it gets thrown out of its path, it never ends lost in deep space, no... it always finds another obstacle until it gets to its destination (eventually... but there was that Luna-Australia trip that crashed into some moron in a joyride, and ended up bouncing in Stellvia, Phobos, seven asteroids, Ganimede, back to Phobos, three warsie and two trekkie ships, the Kandor dome, and Uluru before it finally stopped in Avalon-Point Wilson Spaceport)

Not sure that makes that much sense...

Even at their closest position, it takes the fastest Fencraft 15 minutes from Earth to Mars, even more to the Asteroid belt. What you describe would take hours...

I would suggest the ability to bounce of objects is part of the drivefield, but lets keep it to sane levels. If it bounce of something, neither object is damaged, but that doesn't mean it can bounce of all kinetic ammunition. These would have to be blocked/absorbed by the Mass Effect field as usual.

You know, once the drive variant is studied and developed, it would be perfect for escape pods.

It will most likely stay a "one of a kind" (or two of a kind) for centuries... because CI likes their "not that much quirked" variants of Handwavium more. And maybe it was also difficult to replicate.

Edit: To prevent too much insanity, the drive probably should not scale properly. Pinalls and escape pods, yes; spaceships are too big

2.5 meters diameter is the maximum this Eezo Handwavium mixture supports. Maybe more with a full AI on board, but nobody ever tried.