For those who haven't read/finished chapter 36, originally titled Joseph Acts, please hold off. I'm reworking the ending so it doesn't seem like the reason for Joseph's failure comes out of nowhere. I decided I want Joseph to be all-in until it blows up in his face. Needs a little more work.
Back soon.
I'm still not sure I get this. :-) Is the point that you think someone else should initiate the conversation about the timing and the AI? You want someone to slow him down? I suppose one of the other passengers on the raider could bring it up. Or, he can spot the dead AI at the front of the ship. I like that better, so it's just him and God (plus medical expertise from the doctor). Have I understood your point?
Seabrass gave me similar feedback about the minute or so that Joseph and Christian spend arguing/kissing. Whereas Apollo's moment above is essential to the ending/next book, I'll probably keep the kiss just because I want it. It's a small progression for the gay subplot, but it's mostly for humor. I like that Joseph goes flying across the corridor when Christian slips him the tongue.
Ok... reviewed the section. hat I said about not having enough power to affect a direction change in time appears to stand. Should I draw out the diagrams?
Dear God, not the diagrams! :-) There's nothing in the chapter that limits Eve's ship's power. She has as much power/time as she wants, including the ability to plow into the emitter. The only exception is that she doesn't have the power/time to get back to the Ark.
I suppose pilot A could have a working generator, with no coolant loss, but the power isn't getting through to the onboard systems. Failed power conduits. Of course then I have backup power which does reach critical life support systems, even though main power does not. It's a stretch, but it might work. Basically I say that main power conduits are damaged, even though the generator is working fine. Still meh, I think.
But there's no way for her to know if she'll die in one minute or fifteen or an hour. Even if I was coughing up blood, I couldn't predict my own time of death. If I know for sure that I've got maybe one to two minutes left to live, that would drive me to ram a shield emitter for the good of mankind. Otherwise, I'd be holding out hope.
How much do you know about fission reactors. Technically, the power generators in my fighters are not nuclear reactors, but the same principles might apply. Namely that they can go supercritical without coolant. One of my pilots is not losing coolant, but he's lost main power. The other pilot who sacrifices herself does so because she's losing coolant and the power generator will explode. How do i reconcile those? How is it that pilot A loses power without his generator exploding, while pilot B is about to explode because of coolant loss?
She suffered internal injuries in the torso and realizes she has just enough consciouness time to take one usedul action.
Getting warmer. Losing consciousness is not potentially fatal. One of the other pilots is adrift, so she could be too, both hoping for rescue.
I'm looking for some kind of looming fatal technology failure, since her fighter was damaged in battle. Air loss I did last chapter with a raider. I suppose I could make it so the power core is going supercritical because of lost coolant and she can't shut it down. Meh.
Yes... what njc said.
Your ship has 100 units of momentum. Your internal power can create 50 units per second of change in momentum. You need 110 units per second to avoid collision. It become impossible to avoid collision. Therefore, the solution is not to avoid collision but to embrace it.
*if we want to get technical, this is a rate of rate of change. Eg 50 units per second per second.
Um, no. :-) I'll wait until you read it. Easier to discuss in context.
No, she needs to remain in control of the ship long enough to crash into something. Basically, she figures out she's dead meat, then sacrifices herself to help the MC.
Does anyone have any suggestions for why a damaged starfighter would lead to the death of the pilot in, say, a minute? I need the pilot to sacrifice herself after she (Eve) realizes she doesn't have enough time for a rescue. I've already used the "losing air" bit in the previous chapter, so I was hoping to do something different this time. I was going to use a coolant leak from the power core, but another pilot has his power knocked out without an explosion, which suggests Eve should be able to simply take her core offline, too. Perhaps she can't take it offline? Seems hokey.
Thoughts?
I came up with the idea for the change a while ago, but was going to save it for v3. Yesterday, I figured 'what the hell.' Can't remember where the idea came from. My thanks if it came from you. Where do you use matched names?
Aphrodite will probably become Gaia in v3. Not sure yet. Technically, it's a Greek name, but it was also used as a praenomem for Roman women.
The last battle chapter is up. I didn't have space for traps or delaying tactics, since the chapter is already too long. My story excuse is that they're waging battle chess, which has strict rules. No glue on the floors. No hydraulic-propelled nails through the eyeballs, either. A shame about that last one.
Go read my crap.
Thanks.
Dirk
Norm d'Plume wrote:njc wrote:Glue grenades/mines.
I have something called molten grenades, but the treaty forbids their use (except against your own people) What you may do is set your flesh eater on overload and through yourself at the enemy.
So have some clever person raid the stock of contact cement in engineering and pour it on the floor in the corridors/intersections that the invaders need to use on their way. No more a treaty violation than jamming the hatch latches with bars blocking the handles.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, any tech we can up with will have a counter-measure, since the boarding has to happen for story purposes. The blocked latches is a good one, but my universe has explosives to force their way through locked doors. I use that in Act II.
One correction to what I said several posts back, the defenders have no need to blow the air out of the hangar bays. The bays's shields keep both enemy ships out and air in. You either need to kill the shields by blowing up the emitters, which will always blow the air out into space, resulting a vacuum in the hangar, or you need the frequency codes that allow you to modulate your boarding ships' shields, so they can pass right through the barrier. The barrier uses a rapidly changing frequency to avoid someone coming in without a security code to match hangar's shields. Air isn't able to escape through a properly working shield, since the shields are too strong. They act like a wall as far as air molecule are concerned.
The advantage of this approach is that I don't need two sets of shields: one to defend the hangars from outside attack, and another as an airlock between space and the hangar. My single set of shields serves both purposes.
They know the location of the bridge and are headed directly in that direction
Consider the defensive technique used by our neighbours to the south of the border. The Whitehouse is not easily hidden. Would-be invaders might seek to destroy it in an effort to snip off the governing head of the country. Unfortunately for them, during a national emergency, they will never catch both the captain and the first officer in it at the same time. If anything, attacking the Whitehouse during an invasion is playing into the hands of hte defenders.
Capturing the ship is the main goal, which requires taking the bridge and engineering. If you can capture the senior officers, that's icing on the cake. No self-respecting captain would allow themselves to be captured (think Admiral Windsor, who blew up her ship once they captured her). Consider Captain Rabidius, who surrendered, bringing shame to the Praetorian Fleet.
Next pass, I can add more tech to slow them down. The defenders can't use gas because the attacking force is wearing head-to-toe bodysuits, including rebreathers. Artificial gravity is treated as if it can't be controlled in limited areas of the ship. Even that were possible, the lack of gravity can be overcome with special boots that cling to whatever the ship's decks are made (e.g., magentic boots).
Also, don't forget battle chess. There are rules that only allow certain configurations of ships: some combination of command ships, dreadnoughts, and cruisers, with maximum crew complements per ship, including the number of marines/classiarii onboard each. The Imperium has more ships overall than the Realm, which is a violation of the treaty. The Imperium is bankrupting itself doing so.
Glue grenades/mines.
I have something called molten grenades, but the treaty forbids their use (except against your own people) What you may do is set your flesh eater on overload and through yourself at the enemy.
To help deter boarding parties, I'd also...
a) build Death Star style trash compactors... effectively innocuous rooms designed to crush people who enter. Compromised computer terminals would direct would-be boarders into these rooms under the promise of them being important control rooms
b) Fill a few halways with microscopic bugs designed to eat the casing of laser rifle power supplies (my own troops would be instructed not to go in those rooms)
c) have ejection systems designed to flush unwanted occupants out of the room using compressed air. They would be shunted into the aforementioned trash compactors or entirely off the ship. Preferably at a velocity near the speed of sound.
d) design my laser rooms to melt any known protective shield. After all, lasers can reach millions of degrees, but steel's melting point is much lower. Also, my guillotine rooms and my poisoned-spike rooms would use molecular blades for that extra cutting ability.
e) have rotatable decks such that a compromised deck can be converted into a circular maze on demand
f) have a special spray gun of quick-drying glue or cement. "Drown" boarding parties in it, effectively converting the room into gelatin. Even if they get out before it hardens into rock, they'll be sticking to everything and their visors will be impossible to see through
g) have rooms blaring Celine Dion at 100dB (Does Neuer Mond classify this as torture?)
h) Every room on the ship's map would be labelled "bridge" except one, labelled "janitor's closet". This latter room would actually turn out to be a janitor's closet
Let me know if your defenders need any more help. Amy's also good at this stff.
I'm listening to Celine Dion even as I write this. Whole playlist, on repeat!
I can't use fancy rooms as traps. They know the location of the bridge and are headed directly in that direction. I could add energy barriers on the hatches between compartments, but the raiding force would have the tech to overcome those. One way or another, they're going to take the bridge and engineering. At worst, I could slow them down and/or kill a few with fancy tech in the passageways.
Laufenheit.
Gesundheit.
Body shields!
Thankfully, the future comes with laser proof boarding suits. Either that, or it's forbidden by the Neuer Mond Treaty. The suits are made by Acme, by the way. Shipped by Mama.
I'm trying to write a scene where a group of marines in pressurized boarding suits (including helmets and rebreathers) have to exit their raiding ship into the vacuum of an exposed hangar bay they landed in. They depressurize the raider before stepping out of the raider. Eventually, as they move deeper into the ship, there will eventually be fully pressurized locations with breathable air, but they don't remove their helmets so they can't be gassed. My reason for the vacuum in the hangar bay is that the crew of the ship are trying to make it as difficult as possible to be boarded.
I assume there has to be an airlock between the vacuum-filled areas of the ship and the pressurized locations. If you're in a vacuum like those who are boarding and open a sealed hatch containing air, what will happen to the boarding team? Do they get blown off their feet as the air escapes into the vacuum, or is the effect not as severe? Also, is there anything here that I'm not accounting for?
Thanks
Dirk
Yeah, anyone named Caligula is bound to be an ass, hence the reason I use it for Apollo's older brother.
Hmm. I've found more instances. Unless someone has a better idea, I'm just going to refer to the pilot as he. I'm imagining this in real life and I'm pretty sure that's what they do. Being gender neutral in a dogfight probably isn't a priority.
"However, the pilot abandoned pursuit of Anastasia"
Halfway there. That would make it:
However, the pilot must have detected Paul’s approach, as the pilot abandoned pursuit of Anastasia.
Silly question (aren't they all?): How do I write the following sentence assuming I don't know the sex of the pilot?
However, the pilot must have detected Paul’s approach, as [he/she] abandoned [his/her] pursuit of Anastasia.
