Seth:
>Ah, but protium (hydrogen-1, the most common isotope) is useless for
>fusion unless you use a carbon-nitrogen cycle or some such. Straight
>hydrogen fusion requires deuterium and/or tritium. Anyone got figures
>on isotope frequencies? I don't have 'em handy...but I'll bet that less
>than 1 in 100 atoms of hydrogen is "good" hydrogen. This multiplies
>volume by 100, making it a hefty 9.3 cm decrease in ocean level,
>annually. This will have some significant effects after a while.
Where did you get the impression that you needed deuterium or tritium to
fuse? The sun certainly uses a protium-protium cycle, and it certainly
should be possible to develop a controlled p-p cycle within a few
thousand years...
And the usage level you are looking at is about 30 times as high as even
MY wildest imaginings as to the space traffic on Terra. At the rate I
have estimated for Terra, you would lower the ocean level by a meter in
only 7900-odd years. BUT, part of that hydrogen will find its way back
into Terra's oceans, since presumably the waste hydrogen from the power
plants is dumped out as the ship goes, and anything discarded in
atmosphere will probably combine with atmospheric oxygen and fall like
rain.
Metlay:
>"we're not on GEnie and we can say whatever we want about GDW, so
>there" mentality that GDW frankly despises.
We're not, and we can. Rude it may be, but free speech is still written
into the Constitution (though Ross may want to change that when he is
the Man). We can say whatever we like about GDW, Slick Willie, Ross, or
even "Candidate George" (and his evil twin "Skippy").
GDW is under no more obligation to listen to us than we are to be polite
to GDW, of course. That's what freedom is all about...
>(get real, folx. Are YOU going to go into insulin shock if TNE has a
bad starship combat system?),
No, but if I can read a copy in advance, and find out that it has a
lousy starship combat system, I won't buy my own copy. And if the news
(rumours) going around about TNE don't imply that it has definitely
shaped up from MT, I won't buy one UNLESS I can read it first and
determine whether it is worth buying.
> it is always better to be liked than to be right. The customer must be
>pleased, and communicate this pleasure to the seller.
And how should we communicate pleasure we don't feel? Unless GDW writes
the game we want to play, we are under no obligation to tell them they
did a wonderful job, or to buy something we dislike.
>BUT! Common, decent courtesy to the people who provide us with the
>games we love should be first and foremost.
I have acquired, through one means or another, almost every RPG GDW put
out. Entirely too many of them languish in a closet because GDW stopped
support of them. Available players tend to dry up when the company stops
supporting a game, alas! GDW ought to keep in mind that common courtesy
should also be due the people who buy their products, and (indirectly)
pay their bills.
All this is leading to the point that if they produce products like
"Shattered Ships of the Fighting Imperium" (which Chadwick admitted had
not been editted properly (what do they do over there, if they don't
edit their products?)), then they deserve no more (in fact, a lot less)
respect than they have been getting.
>GDW fields letters and phone calls every day from all over the country,
>if not the world. They cry out for material to keep CHALLENGE on the
>stands. But there is no corollary to that law that says they must
>tolerate the slings and arrows of a small, thoroughly obnoxious group
>of buyers- --and pay for the privilege!--
As I have told George, I would be willing to write for Challenge only
after they change their payment policies to payment upon acceptance.
Not, I expect that GDW WANTS me to write for Challenge...
All my other objections he demonstrated had been met by Challenge when
he writes for them.
BTW, I missed something: "pay for the privilege"? What was that
supposed to mean?
>But there is one other face and voice attached to ASCII on my screen, a
>face and voice that most of you have never met and will never meet.
>Loren Wiseman.
I'm glad that you have a friendly relationship with Loren Wiseman.
But, since, as you say, I am unlikely to ever meet him, I am unlikely
ever to care about him unless we communicate somehow. ASCII text may
not be the preferred choice for making friends, but
friendships/acquaintances/relationships have historically been
created/maintained for years via the mail system. If Loren Wiseman
wants us to treat GDW like "people", then he should try posting
occassionally. Maybe after we nattered with him a while, we'd
understand GDW's problems a little better, and care a little more what
they thought of us...
Sulieman:
>About crossing the Reft...
>To me the question that is raised is how and why? If they crossed the
>Reft they did it for a specific reason i.e. they knew exactly where
>they wanted to go and then took the "shortest" path. I don't know if it
>is even viable to do it with J-2 maybe J-3 technology. Remember the
>Reft was only crossed in 1090 by a specialised Scout ship and that was
>done in Corridor. If they did it I can see why it took them 20
>years....but I can also see them changing their minds from frustration
>and skimming the spinward edge of Vland into Corridor-Deneb-Marches.
How and why? 1090? In my TCS game, there are at least two ships, one
TL-10, one TL-12, that are theoretically capable of crossing the Rift.
Both can cross eight parsecs of empty space, and one (the TL10 one),
can, with sufficient drop tanks, cross 21 parsecs without refueling. So
it certainly is possible to build ships that can, and has been since the
Ziru Sirka.
>And they might have been isolationist/racist enough not to settle in a
>world that was pre-populated..... Any takers on what they might have
>done to get so isolationist? It seems that the reasons might still be
>applicable to current SW as they are still have an
>isolationist/antogonistic attitude.
If they were racists, they probably would have settled somewhere with
natives to feel superoir to/exterminate. Makes you feel more macho, I
guess. If they were isolationist, they should have settled well away
from Darrian. Personally, I think the knowledge of Darrian should be
excised from the History of the Sword Worlds. It is difficult to
reconcile with everything else. Perhaps the "Official History" says
they knew of the Darrians, but they were really caught flat-footed when
they discovered their next-door neighbors (whom they didn't really
want), and changed history to imply that they had planned it that way
all along. This would make a good line to feed their people ("Yes, we
knew about them before we chose Gram, but we settled here anyway. We'll
need a stong enemy to test us, to keep us strong, etc....")
BTW, Cynthia and I will be offline for several days while we move into
our newly bought house. Perhaps through Friday. So anyone who expects
to hear anything from us should be prepared for a delay. And all those
who will be relieved by MY silence can now breathe a collective sigh of
relief....
---Steve