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  1. Yes, I would think so, very easily. Reading Mythic Constantinople for the first time, what pops into my head automatically is the old Thieves' World boxed set that I loved back in the day. For my campaign setting, it will also work for a "Steampunk Byzantium" I have going on one planet. Something with a feeling like this John Harris painting:
  2. I bought the three Mythic Constantinople pdf's, cheers!
  3. Have the enemies use tactics such as trying to flank the players, grenades are another good idea, though that might get a bit deadly to the players if used against them.
  4. I caught the train as a player in someone's campaign, this looks exciting.
  5. For 43AD, looking east is always an option, as the area around Mesopotamia is rich in ancient culture, as well as the rivalry between Rome and Parthia. Plus there are the trade routes from India and China, flowing goods to Rome, and wealth back again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman–Parthian_Wars The decision of the Parthian king Artabanus II to place his son, Arsaces, on the vacant Armenian throne triggered a war with Rome in 36 AD. Artabanus III reached an understanding with the Roman general, Lucius Vitellius, renouncing Parthian claims to a sphere of influence in Armenia.
  6. Sorry, it says that the simplest way to generate a magnetic field is to run a current through a wire, and that is what I envisioned was a frame work conduit supporting a wire. The idea of a large solid magnet ring, that people would think of that, didn't occur to me. A rotating orbital structure will be stable enough, with occasional corrections from attitude thrusters. Not sure why that started an argument before though. One good thing about material and Mars, is that there is an unformed planet (the asteroid belt) nearby. The thing about hard science, is that given a long enough timeline, a lot could be possible. Trying to maintain a sense of realism isn't bad, it's different in what if it's 3000 years in the future or something. Terraforming is a lot more possible than a lot of people think, is it a big project? Yes, that doesn't affect the possibility of it being done. Our species spends far too much on weapons to destroy itself, in lieu of backing up the hard drive to make sure we survive, that is reality and it really doesn't make sense except in a myopic manner. Terraforming another planet means reaping from the long investment, a huge amount of real estate, which is valuable. Will we make it out, will we do it? That is the root of the question. "Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today- but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept about which resolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all." -Asimov
  7. It would be large, you could do the math, such as from here: http://physics.bu.edu/~duffy/PY106/MagField.html For the design I made, a large orbital structure, I admit to just copying from a discussion involving NASA engineers.
  8. Good article from NASA/Many Worlds Blog on giving Mars an atmosphere with a magnetosphere: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/how-to-give-mars-an-atmosphere-maybe/
  9. You're right, you should not have to be an expert in the field, and that's why I think it's passive aggressive behavior, they are trying to make the game grind to a halt. If they were being reasonable, they would let it slide. Some people just like arguing over minutiae too. However, if someone thinks I'm going to stop and do orbital mechanics calcs for every minor correction burn, I am not, no way. I don't expect every role player to have a masters in acting, so when I make mistakes, they can cut me slack. Also what can be highly frustrating is when someone criticizes the tech, and they are wrong, it is realistic, except they are then even more angry.
  10. As an engineer, I can say with 100% accuracy that things and people, even the best of them, will go and be wrong. When people get too picky, I usually cycle through two thought processes: "are they being honest, or passive aggressive?" Then I'll break it down from there, this is real life as well, and I have played games with aerospace guys (though actual rocket people are propulsion engineers), and generally they are good to go. Surprisingly few are into SF though, that's just the way it is.
  11. The key to doing it right is keeping it simple, such as for all the games I have run, things like a trapped door will still catch the players, no matter how high tech their solutions might be. Also flexibility is good, if the players catch you out, good, let them win one, is it will only move things along to the next situation.
  12. Children of a Dead Earth http://childrenofadeadearth.com/ bills itself as "The most scientifically accurate video game ever made." It looks interesting, if you buy it, I would be interested to hear how you like it. Space combat I usually do as roll to hit, roll damage; not hugely exciting, except given the engagement distances, it would probably be seconds of terror after spending hours lining up a shot. I kind of think it would be like old west gunfighters, who could get off the first accurate shot would be the winner. M-Space's conflict pools could be used to represent spending Delta V to match vectors to hit.
  13. I like the SpaceX and Boeing suits as well. I plan on running a M-Space game as hard sci-fi, it's pretty easy, things such as a "blaster," are just a colloquial term for a Diode Pumped Alkali Laser, or DPAL; spacecraft, make up some fuel requirements, things such as that. Clarence has seen some of what I have written up, and I plan on using semi-realistic star maps, such as this one I made last weekend:
  14. At 80x the neutron flux, it isn't, which is why the fusion rocket concepts state "for deep-space ..."
  15. The Sun, as the most visible example of fusion, does indeed emit radiation. Something the magnetosphere protects against.
  16. Free hydrogen is best stored in a fuel cell and used to power gyros or mpdt's. A fusion rocket's exhaust is radioactive, thus going against what you are trying to do in the first place, in creating a magnetosphere. Magnetic fields in and of themselves do not have drag, esp in vacuum. The drag would come from the mass of the hydrogen, which you stated the mass of is irrelevant. You can't have it both ways. Bussards are not as great for some things as some sci-fi authors make them out to be, due to the lack of hydrogen in interstellar and intergalactic space. This is not one of those situations, however. A rigid connection between the ring and tether or not, the pendulum effect means during the forward swing the tether will match velocity with the ring allowing transport between the two.
  17. No, hydrogen is extremely energy dense, so mass isn't irrelevant. However, there won't be substantial magnetic braking, as on the planetary scale, electromagnetism isn't an issue. The tethers won't necessarily be a rigid connection either.
  18. No, that is an incorrect assumption, it will have mass. Drag will be minimal as well, in understanding forces: "electromagnetic forces tend to cancel each other out when large collections of objects are considered, so over the largest distances (on the scale of planets and galaxies), gravity tends to be the dominant force." It would have high structural integrity; it is a common layman's mistake to confuse solid materials with structural strength.
  19. Every system has entropy, thus the eventual heat death of the universe. However, I wouldn't call the mass of hydrogen substantial, no. F=ma, or Newton's 2nd Law, also states that a body in motion has a tendency to stay in motion. 99% of the total energy used will be during initial acceleration.
  20. I think a Torus would work. Without a solid, rigid structure, there is no need for scrith. A flexible lightweight truss structure made from a poly-spider silk type material, construction spider drones could 3D print it place. Rigidity is often mistaken for strength, except when scaling steel's specific density is too high to support it's mass; there is an old Zen koan: "I shall bend like a reed in the wind", flexible structures are often stronger. If more rigidity is needed, shear strength can be added by gusseting the webbing of the trusses using lightweight cross grain carbon fiber panels. Past its own weight, it only needs cabling, some sort of lightweight super-conductive material, which also becomes easier in space. Attitude thrusters do not seem an insurmountable barrier to the ring's structural stability; there are also gyroscopic attitude control systems. Nodal transportation networks are more efficient, that is why they are used today, and looking at 99% of energy (cost) used to reach orbit, anything that lessens that is golden. Another bonus is that the tethers can be used to launch vehicles once in orbit by merely imparting the existing momentum with the tether acting as a lever arm. Most debris would burn up in the atmosphere, and any debris would be a bigger threat to the ring as well. Barring the ever present waiting catastrophe, it would still be done, there is always a measure of risk in any project. As an engineer I love these discussion because I can imagine the future me travelling over the structure in some pod such as from 2001: working from 3D holographic schematics, checking the connections, and directing the spider robots. Retire on Mars to look up into the sky, and see your accomplishment.
  21. Thrust could be from a magnetoplasmadynamic thruster, or even a plain reaction rocket, hydrogen would probably be better used as a fuel cell, store it long term in a metal hydride lattice; solar power is good too. It would need more attitude control than actual rotational acceleration, eventually without thrust it would tidally lock and de-orbit, but that could be thousands of years. Same effect of generating a magnetosphere could be done with a satellite array, I suppose; I think the ring structure is more mechanically sound. Plus, one can attach tethers at points to the surface for transportation nodes, like spokes in a wheel, thus a multiple use structure. It is interesting when hard science is mistaken for space opera, most likely means the sci-fi is on the right track.
  22. The protoplanetary disk, or remnants of, have left plenty of free hydrogen in the solar system. The thrusters would only have to fire occasionally to maintain the ring's rotational velocity. Time and hydrogen density are the key elements, no need for such high velocity; and inertial momentum will sustain it for the most part. The main drag will be from gravity, as it's purpose is to create only enough of a magnetic field for a magnetosphere. Reactive drag against Mars' weak magnetic field will be minimal.
  23. It would work, the physics are fine, it is a rotating ring.
  24. Sure, something like Bussard attitude thrusters, capture enough free hydrogen, and have it work autonomously.
  25. Experience from playing Traveller, I often fill the gaps in skills by looking at the character's intelligence score, and applying some mod from there.
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