Macross SEED

[Black Aeronaut]

Sounds interesting. FAST packs are definitely a Good Idea(tm). As for the Katsu and Kyllikki thing, it sounds cool too. Just don't get so wrapped up in that that everything else suffers.
BTW: Regarding SDF-1 redesigns, I'm a bit curious to know what all has been decided on so far, as far as looks, features, and technology are concerned. After all, can't exactly submit my own ideas without knowing what's already been decided on.
On that note, a mass canceling device/system for the SDF-1 is defenitely a good idea. Hell, look at most ships in the Star Trek universe - they're nowhere nearly as huge and they have equally sophisticated inertial and structural integrity systems. (In fact, it is a well known fact among Trek-geeks like me that without the structural integrity systems that even the mighty Sovereign class is about as sturdy as a house of match sticks. Might be something you'd like to look into for the SDF-1 as well.)-NeoRaven
"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe
Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -
Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.-NeoRaven

"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe

Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -

Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.

[Valles]

---

BTW: Regarding SDF-1 redesigns, I'm a bit curious to know what all has been decided on so far, as far as looks, features, and technology are concerned. After all, can't exactly submit my own ideas without knowing what's already been decided on.

---

*grumbles about how much effort is it to read the older pages of the thread, anyway, when he goes through them at least once a week*
Er, I mean, Drogn and I both came up with proposals, and we seem to be going with mine... which means that the SDF-1 is somewhere between exactly nine kilometers and exactly six miles long, a bit over a fifth that much across the beam, and about a fifth as 'tall' as it is wide. My early concept sketches are at the very top of the third page of the thread, and except for the number of engines (now four) and a number of refinements in the main hull's contours and ventral detailing, hasn't changed much since then. The overall 'look' of not only the SDF-1 but all of the EDTO's new construction warships seems to be working out rather like a cross between the movie versions of the Meltrandi, at least as I've gleaned them to look from online sources, and the Narn - lots of straight lines, long clean planes, arranged in an overall sort of dart or arrowhead look, for a very sleek exterior array of armored panels wrapped around a surprisingly humdrum and practical interior. The SDF-1 in particular bears a resemblance to a rather scaled-up version of the Meltrandi Gunship.
An inertial canceller and structural integrity booster seem to be unavoidable parts of the SDF-1's handwavium complement, but I have a deep-seated, almost neurotic aversion to the idea of making one's entire mission and survival dependant on an active system. So, while the ship does have the canceller and does posess an SIF, the fundamental structure underneath, the bones of the ship if you will, are rated to withstand up to 12 mps^2 from any direction.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Black Aeronaut]

Sounds good to me. I'll go ahead and see if I can't provide any further input on the looks of the new SDF-1. I won't promise anything like the illustration of the Meltrandi Gunship - my particular style is smooth and sleek with as few protrusions as stylishly possible.
On another note, I've acquired a Wikispace, inevitibly at blackaeronaut.wikispaces.com/
Here, I hope to have stuff about works in progress and (the point of this little distraction) images. By later today there should be a technical image of the Kamikaze.-NeoRaven
"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe
Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -
Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.-NeoRaven

"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe

Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -

Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.

[Valles]

---

my particular style is smooth and sleek with as few protrusions as stylishly possible.

---

*points at Zentradi fleet* That sounds ideal.
For the SDF-1, I think I've got a fairly workable final draft version sketched out in my margins, so my next step is to try and do up a set of plan views that I can scan in and point to. ^_^
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[classicdrogn]

In the interests of promoting a modern, mixed gender military for the Spacy, I suggest making Kakizaki a woman this time - still a big lovable lunk, just XX instead of XY. It's not QUITE a first for that role - Redneck had Boombox in the CFMF, and Sakaki from Azumanga probably qualifies as well - but still goes agaist type when the 'tolen chick' is neither token nor the one who's graceful and precise in battle.
- CD
ETA: Come to think of it, if we've eliminated the rabid pacifict wanker cousin, someone else will ned to be Shoa Pai Lon for the martial arts flick - or our Minmei-substitute could do that herself, since martial arts is also a good foundation for a stage routine, aside from the self-defense aspect to deal with being a pretty waitress and aspiring celebrity.
ETA2: RE giant humanoid aliens - is it possible that part of the macron package is a biologically generated SIF? Or for that matter, the inclusion of a set of generation nodes and a power supply like implanted cybernetics by the sizing chamber - that would detract form the utility of self-propagating warriors, though, so my vote remains for perhaps an extra chromasome that has instructions for the differneces in the macro-body - that would then allow any first-gen offspring to use a sizing chamber as well, while second and later generations would either inherit all of the ability from their Zentran or Meltran parent, or none of them. Meltran reflex boosting and Zentran strength, and the metabolism boosts to support them, would remain part of the normal human-based set.
- CDThat which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

---

or our Minmei-substitute could do that herself, since martial arts is also a good foundation for a stage routine, aside from the self-defense aspect to deal with being a pretty waitress and aspiring celebrity.

---

*Blink-blinks*
Now, while that is truly indeed very cool, it might just be pushing the envelope a touch into the Mary Sue zone. I'll leave that decision up to Valles, though, since this is his/her baby.
BTW: Out of curiousity, are you intending on keeping the 'made for tv format'?-NeoRaven
"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe
Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -
Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.-NeoRaven

"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe

Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -

Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.

[classicdrogn]

Valles is, indeed, a he - or had very cavalier parents to give the name "Nathan." As for a martial artist neo-Minmei being too Mary Sue, I'm not promoting her being able to ACTUALLY do that kind of Ranma/DBZ/Naruto stuff, just be good enoguh that the special effects crew and choreographers can work with her, and so she can have some vague understanding of Estevan's viewpoint as a soldier protecting what he holds dear. She'd be more of a hobbyist into it for the fitness aspects, her serious devotion given to music, but good enough that the White Dragon doesn't need a second security employee for her shift.
- CDThat which does not kill us... has made its last mistake.
SERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
" It's crazy to try to spell out all the mega-nooks and hyper-crannies of a Borg contrivance." - Doug Drexler
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Black Aeronaut]

---

I'm not promoting her being able to ACTUALLY do that kind of Ranma/DBZ/Naruto stuff

---

Oh heaven's no! I was thinking a little more like cute female version of Bruce Lee... Come to think of it, that isn't really so bad, especially considering what you've said.-NeoRaven
"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe
Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -
Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.-NeoRaven

"I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity." -Edgar Allen Poe

Sponsored by Black Aeronaut Technologies -

Aerospace solutions for the discerning spacer.

[Valles]

---

Now, while that is truly indeed very cool, it might just be pushing the envelope a touch into the Mary Sue zone. I'll leave that decision up to Valles, though, since this is his/her baby.

---

And it's such a cute little showy-poo! ^_^
Hrm. Something that I've been thinking to do in a few episodes is to assign Vermillion squadron as the SDF-1's Wild Weasel people - that is, their job will be Suppression of Enemy External Defenses - which not only makes for some of the most exciting action sequences imaginable, but also allows us to justify giving their planes a distinctive 'hero look' by mounteing them with permanent ECM and defensive gear.
Estevan "Barnstormer" Frade, then, is second or third in this specialist group's chain of command, leading one of the squadron's three flights - and, after the first couple of battles, the only one of those that's at full strength.
Under him are three total rookies - Jialan "Dizzy" Shui (she plays flute, hence the name comes from the di zi.), Katsuro "Max" Susumu (his reaction speed exceeds the measurement ability of the standard recruit testing equipment), and Kim "Big Ben" Singhe (who is 6' 1", and sets her watch alarm to use the Westminster quarters).
For the martial arts, well, Jialan may well dabble, but I'd suggest that it's actually Kim who practices seriously.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Bob Schroeck]

---

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
or our Minmei-substitute could do that herself, since martial arts is also a good foundation for a stage routine, aside from the self-defense aspect to deal with being a pretty waitress and aspiring celebrity.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Blink-blinks*
Now, while that is truly indeed very cool, it might just be pushing the envelope a touch into the Mary Sue zone.

---

Actually, my reaction was that this was turning her into a more well-spoken version of Shampoo from Ranma 1/2.

-- Bob
---------
It's a "magical" land. I think "magical" is ancient Greek for "pain in the butt". -- Bun-Bun, Sluggy Freelance, 11/9/03

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

...Minmei as a Valk pilot?!
My brain just went offline. But in a good way.
--Sam
"Don't make us bite you in hard-to-reach places!"

[DHBirr]

What Evil Midnight Lurker said.
I mean, I read the post that spelled out Estevan's crew, and for about two seconds I was thinking, "Okay, that's nice to know," and then I thought, "Jialan?!" Then I sat staring at the monitor in shock for an uncertain period of time.

Have you considered the possibility of Estevan and Lydia having a mutually favorable reaction right from the start? For instance, maybe he was impressed by how effectively she explained the fighter's unfamiliar systems to him, and she was impressed by how quickly he picked it up (plus, he wasn't too macho to learn from her). And the reason a triangle develops is that he's working more closely with Jialan, and doesn't have much time to get to know Lydia as well as he and she would both like.
Just a notion that crossed my mind.DHBirr
"Up, lad, up! We've villages to pillage, maidens to slay, and dragons to rescue!"
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Valles]

---

I mean, I read the post that spelled out Estevan's crew, and for about two seconds I was thinking, "Okay, that's nice to know," and then I thought, "Jialan?!" Then I sat staring at the monitor in shock for an uncertain period of time.

---

*blinkblink* Y'know, in retrospect I don't know why that surprises me, but it definitely does.

---

Have you considered the possibility of Estevan and Lydia having a mutually favorable reaction right from the start?

---

Hadn't. I like it, though.
The tricky thing about handling this triangle is going to be that all three participants are in different levels of the same chain of command. I did a little reading, and the rules for United States' military, at least, don't seem to be as strict as they're usually painted in fiction, but then again, the participants are a lowly pilot, her direct superior, and the Right Hand of God (aka, Madam XO), so at the very least it's going to be an extremely touchy situation... and one that Lydia, in particular, would go to some lengths to avoid, given her background.
Hmm.
*wanders off, musing*
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[Evil Midnight Lurker]

---

*blinkblink* Y'know, in retrospect I don't know why that surprises me, but it definitely does.

---

...So you're surprised that we're surprised?
Well, it did hit me from out of left field. (Which shouldn't have been a surprise, as I live here.) Seems odd... media sensation and combat pilot...? But then I remember M7 and it begins to seem reasonable. n.n;
--Sam
"Who's the old lady, Roy?"

[DKnight54]

The problem I have with the idea is that it makes JiaLan Mary-Sueish...
In Macross 7, the main characters were both pilots and members of a band, which was fine, because they initially were a vigilante group, and later a part of a special 'music' squad.
There might, however, be a way to reconcile this. Lets say that initially, Jialan is a civilian entertainer for the civvys stuck in the SDF, but midway/late series, after the effects of human culture, in particular songs and Jialan, on the aliens is known to the higher ups and they ask her for help in "converting" the enemy.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Valles]

---

There might, however, be a way to reconcile this. Lets say that initially, Jialan is a civilian entertainer for the civvys stuck in the SDF, but midway/late series, after the effects of human culture, in particular songs and Jialan, on the aliens is known to the higher ups and they ask her for help in "converting" the enemy.

---

Mm. Rather misses both of the points I was trying to hit - first, that fighter squadrons are based around pairs, not groups of three, and second, to provide a closer connection between her and the rest of our cast than 'that waitress girl'.
The way I see it, even the most capable and exceptional people are likely to have outside interests - hobbies, if nothing else. So, the problem isn't justifying both her job (pilot) and talent (music) in the same person, but preventing that combination from seeming overwhelming.
So, lets total things up. Katsuro is almost certainly the most gifted pilot on the ship, he was a college junior with a 3.9 GPA, and we're going to be hooking him up with thirty feet of sheer hotness. He doesn't need help.
Lydia is She Whom Everyone Obeys, 'nuff said.
Estevan has been a professional pilot almost since he was a kid, spends half his life in the air, and is a natural leader to boot.
Kim is an excellent pilot (daughter of one of the ten greatest in human history) and an Olympic-grade martial artist.
And Jialan... will end up a decent, veteran pilot, who can write songs and play a couple of instruments (neither ability is all that rare) and has a great voice, who was in the right place at the right time.
Is she actually a bad pilot? No, hardly. But, like Sakura in the early parts of Naruto, the bar is so high she gets overshadowed.
Actually, your version is almost backwards from what I had in mind - her career would start taking off at about the same time that Kyllikki was getting inserted, thus letting us drop Ms. Space Ace neatly into that slot once the action picks up again.
Which is, yes, slightly implausible, but close enough to stretch, I think.
Ja, -n
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

[DHBirr]

---

The way I see it, even the most capable and exceptional people are likely to have outside interests - hobbies, if nothing else. So, the problem isn't justifying both her job (pilot) and talent (music) in the same person....

---

Yeah, I can see that working. I was toying with an idea some years back, about a military base cut off from the home front, and part of my notion was that since they didn't have any entertainment professionals available, some of the military personnel would get a lot of practice as musicians and/or singers at the base recreation-center-turned-nightclub and become professional-quality performers. This with Jialan might not be all that different.
DHBirr
"Up, lad, up! We've villages to pillage, maidens to slay, and dragons to rescue!"
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

[Valles]

Estevan wasn't sure what to make of this kind of day. On the one hand, all of his plans and expectations had been disrupted by what was looking horribly like an alien invasion. On the other, the evacuation that followed had led directly to his being herded into a standing-room-only bomb shelter right next tot eh living proof that pretty oriental girls didn't neccessarily have figures like little boys. Oh, sure, there was the stuffy air and the three screaming babies, but compared tot he first two those things didn't even really register.
She was shorter than him by a good margin, which felt a bit odd as he was hardly used to thinking of himself as being tall, and the press of close-packed bodies around them forced her so close he couls smell her shampoo and see clearly that, though her hair was cut in the feathery, mock-artless style that was the current fashion, she hadn't completed the effect by dying the tips in various odd colors the way the dedicated did. He resisted the urge to shift and try to make more room in his pants; that would have been more likely to call attention than do anything to help.
It was all he could do to suppress a guilty start when she looked up suddenly. She froze for a moment when she saw him looking back at her, and then they both turned their heads to try and hide the blushes on their cheeks. "Um," she said after a moment spent raising her courage. "What's flying like? When it's you flying, I mean, rather than just being stuffed into and airline seat."
Okay, so, that was a complete surprise. He rocked back on his mental heels, there not being room to do so literally, and thought about how to answer. "Well, it's..." Freedom. Joy. A meal, after being starved. "...like you were carrying something impossibly heavy on your back, and then you set it down and everything becomes so light you have to dance."
She blinked and thought about it, then bave him a smile as bright as her eyes were dark. "Music can be like that, too."
Score! An actual opening for a conversation! "Is that, um, your 'thing,' then?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded, and reached up to brush a strand of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. "I guess that the EDU thought it'd make good publicity to use a student band instead of one of their official military ones, so when we won the tournament they shipped us out here to play."
"Student band?" He blinked. "For the actual launch ceremony?"
"That's right. Not even out of high-school yet and already we're world famous."
He grinned. "Cool. I wish I'd had a chance to do a club group like that." That confused her - and her frown was at least as pretty as the rest of her - until he explained. "After my father died, the family needed two people working. I'm still studying for an equivalency certificate, but..."

---

---

Bet y'all'd thought I'd forgotten 'bout this. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[Guest]

"but compared tot he first two those things didn't even really register."
to the
other than that I'm confused since I don't remember this thread. pretty nice though.

[classicdrogn]

Wait, I thought Estavan was in the air - or has the call for pilots not happened yet? Also, if ARMD-03 is being engaged and needs support, which are the three in low orbit for the rendevous, 00 though 02?
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Valles]

---

Wait, I thought Estavan was in the air - or has the call for pilots not happened yet? Also, if ARMD-03 is being engaged and needs support, which are the three in low orbit for the rendevous, 00 though 02?

---

I did some rethinking once I started coming back to this after the initial burst of enthusiasm had faded. So, yeah, there are going to be no small number of differences from the earlier discussion, but I promise that I've thought carefully about at least most of them. ^_^
Off the top of my head, the biggest difference is a fairly serious alteration of the Macross's technical design. It still has the same, ah, lines and profile, but I reconsidered the third parasite platform and scaled it down quite a bit - mostly because my sources say that Saturn's rings are only a kilometer or two thick, which means that they wouldn't be big enough to fit the battle I had in mind if I used the 9km version we discussed to start with. Two kilometers is still a bit large, but I really can't see a way to justify having a capital ship like the Macross-that-was being smaller, in proportion, than a Nimitz class - and since they're three hundred meters and change...
Those who disagree with any of these changes I'm pulling are welcome to sign up as staff writers for the series and write their own versions into canon. I promise to accomodate them. ^_^
Ja, -n

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[DKnight54]

Speaking of changes in planning and ship designs, how does this affects handwavium techs?
Last I checked, Human Handwavium Techs included anti-grav, some sort of structural strength boosters(Passive IIRC... Then again, with what I've seen on telly regarding spider silks and human replication of materials with similar tensile strength, might not be 100% necessary) and quantum power source?
Also, what techs do the aliens have? I assume they have all of the above in some form or other, cloning/resizing(biological. How do you biologically resize someone anyway?) tech, possibly advance propulsion tech... inertial dampers/mass cancellers?
Also, another question is aside from veritechs and the SDF, how well integreted are the three handwavium techs into the rest of the world?
For example: ARMD platforms.
Are they built in space or on land? If on land, how do we get them into space. And if so, can they land on a planet again?
If they are built in space, how were they assembled? Is there a space station to manufacture them? How do we get the materials?
So at the very least, we would need an effective lift capability, or Anti-grav tech in order to have the ARMD platforms. As it is, the ARMD platforms were probably the testbeds for SDF techs.
Also, given that we effectively have unlimited energy(I assume in electrical form), we would prolly want to use Magnetoplasmadynamic thrusters for all space craft since if we only need to feed the engines plasma to keep 'em going, this means unlimited flight times in atmosphere and efficient use of reaction materials in space.

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Valles]

Handwavium (Current Draft):
Fold Drive - Works via gravitational physics, carries spherical areas, period, energy consumption according to proportion between the diameter of the generator ring and the diameter of the total area. Gravity neutralization is a fringe benefit. Zentradi use it regularly, SDF-1 has it, and Terra has flown test probes with working models by way of rote copying.
Core Tap - Hyperspace is a facet of existence, not a place you can travel through, but if you open a hole, energy does flow downhill... mostly as cosmic rays and other high-energy-density stuff that hasn't been seen since Planck Time, though. Tapping them is... well, pretty much the usual nuclear reactor game; the failure modes aren't nearly as spectacular as Weber's version. Fortunately, they can be built fairly small. Zentradi ships run off of these, but their suits are battery powered since the engineering is fairly tricky. Current-generation Terran mecha (Desdroids, Valkyries) run off of their own, integral ones but most of the inventory is still conventionally powered. Building-sized versions are supplying a rapidly-increasing share of the Earthside power grid. The 'flow' is directional - a ray - and, with a particle accelerator on hand to focus it, is the basis for the heavy energy weapons that get used by both sides. Squirt reaction mass on it and you have the basis of a Zentradi thruster.
OTOH, Zentradi don't have to worry about funny lookin' kids. The Terran equivalent engine is probably some cousin of the NERVA concept.
Structural Integrity Fields and Sizing Chambers - I have no clue how the SIF works, but it does require a (relatively) slight and absolutely controlled power input, and only occurs within its generator. It also has a fairly steep minimum volume - Meltrans are about as small as you can build an SIF field. Sizing chambers... don't investigate them too closely.
Or... hm. Possibly they don't exist at all; instead, the Makers built in a reaction to some drug or chemical that would trigger a Zentradi's body to start, um, growing their skeleton inwards and absorbing the outer parts, while 'sweating off' more an more of their body mass... in other words, a (months long and likely supremely uncomfortable) biological process, rather than some piece of mechanical wizardry.
ARMDs are built in orbit, at this point mostly from materials shipped up from Earthside. The lift vehicles I'd propose are vastly-scaled-up Lightcraft, hopeully fired off from the middle of the Sahara or someplace well away from civilization.
Ja[/b]

===============================================
"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[DKnight54]

Re: Fold Drives
Kay, Fold drives can neutralize existing gravity fields. Can they also strengthen pre-existing gravity fields or create/control them?
I ask mainly because it would be preferable to have artificial gravity for Humans to survive. Zentradi might be genetically enchanced to survive long-term without gravity, but humans rapidly adapt to gravityless conditions to the point where it can cause health problems.
BTW, Anti-grav != inertial cancellers. Mass of an object is proportional to gravitric attraction of said object to another object. Antigrav is the blocking of said attraction. Inertial is the amount of force you have to impart on something to change it's velocity(Speed + direction)
Also, if we are going to have something designed like the original Valks and have them execute manuveres like what we see in space sims(ignoring normal intra-atmospheric, cause that's a whole 'nother can o'worms), we are going to need some form of inertial dampers. Of course, we can say this is another function of the fold drives, but that beggars the question: What are the valks doing with fold drives and can they fold? Sure ain't cause of lack of power since they are lugging a core tap around...
Re: Core Taps
I assume that when talking about core taps, you mean something akin to Weber's Dahak series? Been a while since I last read the novel(second one IIRC) that describes the core tap.Since core taps are already handwavium, why not go a bit futher and say that the core tap designs we recovered already contains systems to convert radiation/hyperspace energy/whatever into usable forms, eg electricity
That way, we can use what(IMHO anyway) seems to be a safe means of propulsion, MPD Thrusters.
Re: SIF and sizing chambers
*blinks and stamps DO NOT INVESTIGATE on the covers*
Re: ARMDs
Kay, build in orbit and materials from earth. Not investigating this too closely. But are they built in a space station? Are they testbeds for SDF tech?

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Valles]

---

Kay, Fold drives can neutralize existing gravity fields. Can they also strengthen pre-existing gravity fields or create/control them?

---

Thinking about it, I'd say, 'sort of' - that they can induce artificial gravity fields, but only relative to their own generator rings - ie, it has two directions: 'IN' and 'OUT'.
Yes, this will make various aspects of the SDF-1's interior seem distinctly wierd to groundside eyes. All to the good.

---

BTW, Anti-grav != inertial cancellers. Mass of an object is proportional to gravitric attraction of said object to another object. Antigrav is the blocking of said attraction. Inertial is the amount of force you have to impart on something to change it's velocity(Speed + direction)

---

I know. That's exactly what I'm after.
Likewise, the 'maneuvering style' of the various fightercraft isn't supposed to be the 'WWII in space' effect so often seen in fiction. I don't want them to act like they were in Wing Commander. Heavy Gear 2, maybe...

---

I assume that when talking about core taps, you mean something akin to Weber's Dahak series? Been a while since I last read the novel(second one IIRC) that describes the core tap.Since core taps are already handwavium, why not go a bit futher and say that the core tap designs we recovered already contains systems to convert radiation/hyperspace energy/whatever into usable forms, eg electricity

---

The Dahak books are exactly the source I'm thinking of.
As to 'tuning the output', well, that'd be way too easy. ^_^ Also, this way, it's a lot easier to work out the secondary ripples of the technology.
Hm. I had intended the bit about 'directional output' to tie into why Zentradi starships have the articulated modules that the humans used to turn the SDF-1 into a giant flying gorilla, but if we assume that they're intended to serve as combination radiators/landing legs/flight decks... or something. The idea is that the MOBFG, in the Macross's original configuration, was nothing of the sort - it was the main engine, and after the crash it had had so much of its peripheral equipment trashed that the reverse-engineering team thought what was left looked more like a scaled up gun than a scaled-up reaction thruster.
As for engine types, while the core tap provides a great deal of power, it doesn't extend to high enough levels to push electric drive types (VASIMR, MPD, Hall Effect, etc.) past a thrust/weight ratio of 1... in short, they don't push hard enough to make for interesting action scenes.
My source is somewhat ambivalent about the actual performance of the two drive types that seem closest to what a (directional or otherwise) tap would give us, but the specific impulse looks like it could be comperable and the actual thrust would be a lot higher.
Ja, -n

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