Latest blog post: Redraw of chapter 1 is happening (2024-05-11)
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Comments (6)
There is a lagrange point where he pointing i think so it is good, would stay in roughly that area i think, efficent orbit.
Yes there's one 60 degrees ahead of the moon and one 60 degrees behind it. If they're looking at the Earth in a South-up orientation, which is how their maps have been displayed in earlier pages, the captain is pointing behind the moon rather than ahead of it, as I suggested in my earlier comment. Either spot will work for a stable orbit.
Since the South-up perspective flips the orbits into clockwise revolutions, I wonder if their civilization uses a "left hand rule" rather than a "right hand rule" for their vector maths? Maybe the majority of their population is left-handed? Maybe they even think of electric charges the opposite way? (:
More to the point, do they have the upper hand in physics?
If they 'arrive' at the L2 point, they would be hiding behind (on the 'dark' side of) the moon. That would be my first choice.
So he wants to make like a Trojan in the Moon's orbit, about 60° ahead of it? That's a much better idea, unless they want every random stargazer on the planet to suddenly realize it wasn't just a meteor that fell in the Protagistanian forest. They'll still be visible, but far less obvious. Well done, captain.
Give Quantum enough power to at lest project himself outside the room then I guess he will have to bug others to press the buttons for him. I guess its also a safe and sure way to restrict him to the access level the security protocols allow which is probably much harder to do if he's directly connected. This is all something Zane really should have covered before they departed so he could get portable, civilian equipment, such as communications, for Quantum setup in a cargo hold or the shuttle before they left.
Great idea on remaining out of sight of the general population. Not sure they won't notice the blaze of a deceleration burn as they approach from the dark side though. I guess if they bleed off most of their speed before getting very close they can complete thei remaining deceleration burn on the sun side which might be why there's an overshoot of the orbit the size of the moon before they fall in behind.
This is assuming that they don't have inertial drive.
They've got pretty bit rocket nozels for inertialess drive. Though with most developed nations agreeing to the deal, and Protagistan playing lip service to it, detection by random folks should be okay.
Though unfortunately if anyone does want to leak to the public, they aren't going to get a better chance than when there's a big alien warship within easy optical range.
In either case... "Hey guys, look at this wierd thing I found in Lunar orbit!" Is a realistic prospect. Even if they do have really good optical camo. And Quantum may not have the bandwidth to spot that before its too late.
Yeah, the note two pages ago that they're on burn towards Earth and the picture of the very obvious thrust exhaust suggests that at least their primary propulsion involves visible exhaust.
I suppose its possible the Raharr have such technology but that its inefficient or slow compared to regular thrust. Since they've only come across pre-space planets that had not even reached the industrial age, it's likely they never had to account for civilians with telescopes and technology that might discern the ship as more than a shooting star. As a result, they've probably never seen a need for a lot of stealth as more technologically advanced planets can likely detect ships, even with inertial drives.
According to the Wiki, antigrav is not only in existence, but even "the first discovered and the simplest application of gravity technologies" and the catalyst "made it possible to open a new chapter of space exploration, making reaching the orbit easy and economical".
Nonetheless, the Trivia bit I quoted two pages back, states that this here cruiser isn't equipped with it.
* ... the catalyst that "made ...
* [tries to exterminate surplus comma with extreme prejudice]
* [fails and instead fumbles to reestablish normal caffeine level]
Me grammar gud ... in the afternoon.
Oh, seems like you've found out some of the outdated lore leftovers, thanks! Alliance doesn't have any reactionless drives or anything of the sort.
It does have that repulsor drive though, although I suppose it may not have the range or angle to decelerate prior to orbital insertion
Scenario :
"So...Quantum. Everything running tippy-top since the new powercable install ? Yes ?
All those little Qbits flim-flamming and entaglementing as they should? Really ? Splendid....
Say....Quantum....have I told you about this Terran thing called..Crypto-mining ? "
***********************************************************************
Hands up, how many in here have thought the very same thing since Quantum got introduced?
Not me, but ... :
Bruce Schneier (paraphrased): "Building a useful quantum computer may be as hard as landing on the moon, or as hard as landing on the sun." (Or "as hard as traveling faster than light".)
Quantum: "... how many beers of mine do you plan on holding?"
... he said, in the sentence immediately following "we'll contact the people who sent the message" ... can't say that I quite comprehend the shades and grades he apparently sees in the applicability of those directives. Zane's hand is forced to approach the planet and talk to someone, but.
However, in any case: If you want to hide somewhere near our gravitationally-locked Moon's orbit around the time of the new moon, just plop down on its planetside surface (which is then dark, against a backdrop of the sun-lit sky). Added benefit: Your savvy locals will then be in your radio range during the half of every planet rotation they call "day".
(If you want them in radio range 24/7, you need some orbit with a period of 24h, but since the unpowered ones of those are a lot closer to Earth, you'd probably have to be constantly firing your engines, making for quite a light show, if page 196 is any indication.)
You might still want to turn off those position lights, though.
I think he's still hoping to limit it to secrecy-inclined Protagonistanis or at least the upper reaches of the UN, rather than every yahoo on the planet.
So if Quantum gets its power supply, it will be able to experience its isolation at 100% the speed? Or does its computation not scale with power input?
Also hiding against sunlight is a good idea I hadn't thought of.
I took "they'll have to work with the ship's systems through standard interfaces, just like everyone else" as referring to Quantum, i.e., handing them some, if limited, outward contact ...
Also, assuming that Quantum's hauling along all the knowledge acquired back on the Dawn, chances are that there's a good deal of processing and analyzing that can still be done with it, even in isolation. Think "I took a good book along".
... OK, let's call it a moderately interesting book instead ...
I thought of "standard interfaces" like those hotel wall plugs where exclusively your devices never fit, so you need to take along all those converter plugs. I do hope for quantum those interfaces include standard ethernet like some modern hotels do.
The keywords here are "work with the ship's systems" IMHO. We don't call it "working with the hotel's / power grid's systems" once we've just (beaten AdapTetris and) connected a charger to the wall socket ...
(Of course, then there are those hotels where "Internet" and the room's "TV" are crippled to some static info pages and a couple stations akin to the Weather Channel until you pay extra ... and captain Kas is so not taking your money!)
There's hotels with RJ45 sockets (not RJ11, or TAE or AS4 or ...,, as for phones)?? Last time I had to use an RJ45-only laptop with a hotel's Internet access, they lended me what essentially was a media converter, with a radio interface connecting to the hotel's Wifi on one side and an RJ45 connector on the other ...