*shrugs* I'm not dead set on either of them; making sure that things wouldn't break IS why I wanted to run it past people first. I just needed to get them at least this far out of my head so the ideas would leave me alone. Let's see if I can ease your concerns, though.
As for the apples ALWAYS leaving you healthy, well....maybe. That's at least what I would have been shooting for, so that's why I put down the idea as I did earlier. But so far, there have only been two real test subjects, and both of us have been so UNhealthy just about anything would have been an improvement. As for military and hospitals laying in a supply, that's not going to happen in a hurry (if at all). I've got one small tree so far that's just now producing a few fruit. I did try to work in some citrus properties in how it bears, but you're looking at only a couple viable fruit every month or so...and I would imagine they don't keep very long if picked (and not much longer if they aren't). While I planned for the tree to be reproduced by grafting, that would still leave several years before you could get more of them. IF the grafting works properly, which it very well might not; if the handwavium in the tree prevents a proper graft, the apple tree might be a one-shot item. So those one or two fruit a month or so might be all you ever see, and it never becomes a big enough presence to affect Dane perceptions. Yes, I COULD try to create another one, but I've got so many other things I need to do as well....I might get around to it one of these years. Or decades.
The 'speed' strain...to be honest, while I had the idea for the strain once it was mentioned, I'm not sure that I'd be able to use it properly if I DID pull it off. I had a clear image of what I wanted to do with the crystal memory, which may have helped in the creation of the strain itself. While I know just enough about computer speeds to attempt it, I'm a lot more vague on the concept. This is one I'd probably attempt anyway, but have a damned good chance at failing at, at least on the first attempt. And if I fail the first attempt, I probably won't attempt a second one for quite some time (we're talking years), just because there are so many other things that I have to turn my attention to. While my character probably WILL attempt it someday, I'll be happy to have him fail at it to keep things unbroken. He actually does have a lot of failures in his experiments; when he's designing biomod plants, he goes through a lot of 'to the compost heap' results. You just don't see those because it's usually more fun to write about the successes (though one of these days I WILL write about why I don't add goo to Furbies for drones...).
*hmm* As for the 'weapon' strain...A lot of what it can do is stuff that can be done with regular handwavium; it's just a LITTLE easier with the weapon strain. You have to have thought of ways to get around the weapon problem first before you can make it easier with the new strain. I will admit the hand-to-hand weapons are a fairly major tweak, but I figured that while it was new, it was also leaning towards the boarding tactics that people seemed interested in...and I could only see so much you could do with it as long as it was applied to hand-to-hand stuff. It still won't give you ray guns or anything like that. Unbreakable or very hard swords or shields, maybe ones that can change between a couple of forms, or that stay sharp...but no powered weapons. And it still won't explode for Great Justice. While I would still like to try something like this for the story - just because it feels very much like something I WOULD do - I'm more than willing to be guided in what people think the outcome should be, so as not to break things. So please, folks - give me ideas/tell me what you think?
Does this help ease your concerns any, Sirrocco?
As for the apples ALWAYS leaving you healthy, well....maybe. That's at least what I would have been shooting for, so that's why I put down the idea as I did earlier. But so far, there have only been two real test subjects, and both of us have been so UNhealthy just about anything would have been an improvement. As for military and hospitals laying in a supply, that's not going to happen in a hurry (if at all). I've got one small tree so far that's just now producing a few fruit. I did try to work in some citrus properties in how it bears, but you're looking at only a couple viable fruit every month or so...and I would imagine they don't keep very long if picked (and not much longer if they aren't). While I planned for the tree to be reproduced by grafting, that would still leave several years before you could get more of them. IF the grafting works properly, which it very well might not; if the handwavium in the tree prevents a proper graft, the apple tree might be a one-shot item. So those one or two fruit a month or so might be all you ever see, and it never becomes a big enough presence to affect Dane perceptions. Yes, I COULD try to create another one, but I've got so many other things I need to do as well....I might get around to it one of these years. Or decades.
The 'speed' strain...to be honest, while I had the idea for the strain once it was mentioned, I'm not sure that I'd be able to use it properly if I DID pull it off. I had a clear image of what I wanted to do with the crystal memory, which may have helped in the creation of the strain itself. While I know just enough about computer speeds to attempt it, I'm a lot more vague on the concept. This is one I'd probably attempt anyway, but have a damned good chance at failing at, at least on the first attempt. And if I fail the first attempt, I probably won't attempt a second one for quite some time (we're talking years), just because there are so many other things that I have to turn my attention to. While my character probably WILL attempt it someday, I'll be happy to have him fail at it to keep things unbroken. He actually does have a lot of failures in his experiments; when he's designing biomod plants, he goes through a lot of 'to the compost heap' results. You just don't see those because it's usually more fun to write about the successes (though one of these days I WILL write about why I don't add goo to Furbies for drones...).
*hmm* As for the 'weapon' strain...A lot of what it can do is stuff that can be done with regular handwavium; it's just a LITTLE easier with the weapon strain. You have to have thought of ways to get around the weapon problem first before you can make it easier with the new strain. I will admit the hand-to-hand weapons are a fairly major tweak, but I figured that while it was new, it was also leaning towards the boarding tactics that people seemed interested in...and I could only see so much you could do with it as long as it was applied to hand-to-hand stuff. It still won't give you ray guns or anything like that. Unbreakable or very hard swords or shields, maybe ones that can change between a couple of forms, or that stay sharp...but no powered weapons. And it still won't explode for Great Justice. While I would still like to try something like this for the story - just because it feels very much like something I WOULD do - I'm more than willing to be guided in what people think the outcome should be, so as not to break things. So please, folks - give me ideas/tell me what you think?
Does this help ease your concerns any, Sirrocco?