Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

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Zakharra
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Zakharra »

Username wrote:yes, but that is if the Loroi don't sweep us under the rug for political reasons. :lol:
It would look very bad for them to do that without damned good reason. The Loroi, even with their formidable military strength, need the services of the Historians, Neridi, and the Barsam. Those races would not necessarily look favorably on the Loroi if the Loroi tried to just wipe out Humanity without good reason. Right now, the Human worlds are the only settled worlds in this area of space. As far as I know, there are no Loroi alliance worlds capable of supporting a Loroi fleet large enough to invade the Umiak backwater areas. And so far, they do play fair with reasonable races/allies. If we treat them well, then in all likelihood they will treat humans well as well and honor their word.Just because we might be a threat at some point in the future, doesn't mean we should be treated like crap now. I'd think the Loroi are smart enough to realize that treating humans well and honoring the treaty that will be signed will do far more to make us good allies, than treating humans like some sort of freaky thing that should be shunned or as you put it, swept under the rug (however that is done).

Philly
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

I am curious about a few things in your constructed universe Arioch. Hopefully, you'll be able to answer my questions. :D

1) If a veteran Terran platoon were to fight the Loroi or Umiak, both of which are veterans, in a ground war who would win?

2) Sorry if this has been repeated before, but from what I understand Humanity is completely and utterly boned in this galactic war because from what I can see we are trounced in all comparable aspects with the Loroi and Umiak. Aside from having our civilization turned into either slave labor or being completely devoted to an industrial planet I can't think of anything the Terrans can or could do. Do they have anything to offer besides inferiority?

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RedDwarfIV
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Philly wrote:I am curious about a few things in your constructed universe Arioch. Hopefully, you'll be able to answer my questions. :D

1) If a veteran Terran platoon were to fight the Loroi or Umiak, both of which are veterans, in a ground war who would win?
A veteran of what? At most a colony war maybe, but that's small fry compared to what a veteran Loroi/Umiak unit would have been through.
Philly wrote:2) Sorry if this has been repeated before, but from what I understand Humanity is completely and utterly boned in this galactic war because from what I can see we are trounced in all comparable aspects with the Loroi and Umiak. Aside from having our civilization turned into either slave labor or being completely devoted to an industrial planet I can't think of anything the Terrans can or could do. Do they have anything to offer besides inferiority?
That's not what's been said. Humanity isn't boned. We advance much faster technologically than the Loroi or Umiak, and we are a long distance from the warzone. Right now, the Umiak don't care about us because they don't know about us. That'll give us the time needed to develop warfighting capability on their level, as well as production and repair facilities to allow the Loroi to open up a new front of the war.

Plus, the space around Terran territory is pretty much empty. We could expand massively, increasing both out materials production and interstellar economy in the process. Again, the distance from the fight and the fact that the Umiak haven't found out about us means we'd have the time to do that.

What has been said is that Humanity will not provide the Loroi Union with an immediate game-changing advantage. There is no object or knowledge the Terrans could currently give the Loroi that would help bring about a swift defeat of the Umiak.
If every cloud had a silver lining, there would be a lot more plane crashes.

TrashMan
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by TrashMan »

Ground combat?

There we are more evenly matched.
The fancy beam weapons have no advantage in atmosphere and at short ranges. ESPECIALLY at short ranges.
Good-old slug throwers may be primitive, but they are effective, reliable and cheap.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Philly wrote:1) If a veteran Terran platoon were to fight the Loroi or Umiak, both of which are veterans, in a ground war who would win?
If a small unit of Terran Colonial Marines were to face off against a similar-sized unit of Loroi marines or Umiak hardtroops, the Terran troops would be at a disadvantage in terms of weapon and armor technology, and would face a significant challenge in dealing with fact that the Loroi Unsheathed squad leaders are telekinetic death machines, or that all the Umiak troops are cyborg death machines. That said, the Terran weapons are capable of defeating Loroi or Umiak armor, and so victory would be possible. Who would win would depend on the situation, the quality of leadership, the skill of the individual soldiers, and luck.
Philly wrote:2) Sorry if this has been repeated before, but from what I understand Humanity is completely and utterly boned in this galactic war because from what I can see we are trounced in all comparable aspects with the Loroi and Umiak. Aside from having our civilization turned into either slave labor or being completely devoted to an industrial planet I can't think of anything the Terrans can or could do. Do they have anything to offer besides inferiority?
This is a common question, but it's a little bit like asking, "What do the Hobbits offer in the war against Sauron?" The question can't be answered without telling the story.

Which I will get back to shortly. :D

Nemo
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Nemo »

You dirty tease.

Please, sir. I wont som'ore!

Philly
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

Arioch wrote:
Philly wrote:1) If a veteran Terran platoon were to fight the Loroi or Umiak, both of which are veterans, in a ground war who would win?
If a small unit of Terran Colonial Marines were to face off against a similar-sized unit of Loroi marines or Umiak hardtroops, the Terran troops would be at a disadvantage in terms of weapon and armor technology, and would face a significant challenge in dealing with fact that the Loroi Unsheathed squad leaders are telekinetic death machines, or that all the Umiak troops are cyborg death machines. That said, the Terran weapons are capable of defeating Loroi or Umiak armor, and so victory would be possible. Who would win would depend on the situation, the quality of leadership, the skill of the individual soldiers, and luck.
Philly wrote:2) Sorry if this has been repeated before, but from what I understand Humanity is completely and utterly boned in this galactic war because from what I can see we are trounced in all comparable aspects with the Loroi and Umiak. Aside from having our civilization turned into either slave labor or being completely devoted to an industrial planet I can't think of anything the Terrans can or could do. Do they have anything to offer besides inferiority?
This is a common question, but it's a little bit like asking, "What do the Hobbits offer in the war against Sauron?" The question can't be answered without telling the story.

Which I will get back to shortly. :D
The first answer was a bit surprising because I don't see Terran's having a chance at winning at all unless it was an ambush.

The second answer placed a smile on my face.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Karst45 »

Arioch wrote:
Philly wrote:1) If a veteran Terran platoon were to fight the Loroi or Umiak, both of which are veterans, in a ground war who would win?
If a small unit of Terran Colonial Marines were to face off against a similar-sized unit of Loroi marines or Umiak hardtroops, the Terran troops would be at a disadvantage in terms of weapon and armor technology, and would face a significant challenge in dealing with fact that the Loroi Unsheathed squad leaders are telekinetic death machines, or that all the Umiak troops are cyborg death machines. That said, the Terran weapons are capable of defeating Loroi or Umiak armor, and so victory would be possible. Who would win would depend on the situation, the quality of leadership, the skill of the individual soldiers, and luck.
sound like an episode of "deadliest warrior"

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by JQBogus »

Philly wrote: The first answer was a bit surprising because I don't see Terran's having a chance at winning at all unless it was an ambush.
Assuming all Terrans are pretty much invisible to Sanzai, an ambush is a good possibility. Also, it would really depend a lot on how informed the TCM platoon is about what they will be facing. Not expecting a telekinetic blue space elf? You're probably in for a big (if short lived) surprise. Know a bit about what Loroi infantry, and have made some plans/gear changes? Much more likely that you will not just get massacred.

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GeoModder
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by GeoModder »

Arioch wrote:Which I will get back to shortly. :D
Aren't you going Beyond Earth with us? :twisted:
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Philly
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

Are the weapons that Terran's use entirely similar to what we use to today or are there more noteworthy advancements that have significantly altered how a gun in the future works i.e. hand-held railguns?

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by discord »

my guess would be ETC improvements(faster bullets, thereby more damage and longer theoretical range), higher accuracy(due to higher precision when making the weapons and optics), lighter weapons(better materials/design)
do note, these are things that are researched on today and will work, ETC(Electro Thermal Chemical) works quite well in a laboratory setting and could be put into use within a year if so desired, albeit in tanks and navy, not handheld weapons, multi spectrum sensors are used in the military today, on vehicles. and so on.
but in the end, someone from our time would probably still recognize a weapon from outsiderverse terra, and understand pretty much how it works.

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Arioch
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Chemical propellant is probably still more energy-dense than batteries at Humanity's tech level, so most small arms would be very familiar-looking. The ammunition is probably caseless and with a variety of special-effect variants (armor piercing, incendiary, guided), but imagine the M41A from Aliens and you're pretty much there.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

Is there any particular reason that we haven't developed handheld railguns? My brother seems to be convinced that they would've had that by now before moving onto particle weapons.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Philly wrote:Is there any particular reason that we haven't developed handheld railguns? My brother seems to be convinced that they would've had that by now before moving onto particle weapons.
The problem is the portability of power, which is really the main reason why we're not all driving electric cars right now; battery technology has not kept pace with new systems' demand for power. For a portable railgun or laser to do significantly more damage than a chemically-propelled projectile, it would have to use such a terrific amount of energy that it probably would only be able to carry enough juice for a few shots. As we've been discussing in the gyrojet thread, a new weapon has to offer significant advantages to displace an existing one.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

Here's one that came to mind. The Terran ships run on fusion or at least I hope so. Currently almost all power plants rely on the heat generated to make steam that turns a turbine. Do the Terran's still follow the same process or have we discovered a more efficient means of harnessing power?

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icekatze
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

Do you mean like Direct Energy Conversion?

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

icekatze wrote:hi hi

Do you mean like Direct Energy Conversion?
Holy cow! I didn't think we were even researching such a thing. Uh.. yeah that is partially what I am thinking of, but also other methods that would just enhance what we currently we do.

Thanks for the link! :D

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Arioch
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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Arioch »

Yes, it would be fusion reactor. The reactor(s) are probably tied in some direct way to the drives, so that the reactor plasma is probably part of the drive exhaust, and so a) generating electricity is not the main thing that makes the drive work, and b) since you've got hot plasma being ejected at high speed, all you need to generate some parasitic electricity (to run the other ship systems) is to put a magnetic field in the path of this plasma. You might use a steam turbine to capture and use waste heat from the system, but I wouldn't imagine that it would be your main source of power.

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Re: Miscellaneous Terran question-and-answer thread

Post by Philly »

Arioch wrote:Yes, it would be fusion reactor. The reactor(s) are probably tied in some direct way to the drives, so that the reactor plasma is probably part of the drive exhaust, and so a) generating electricity is not the main thing that makes the drive work, and b) since you've got hot plasma being ejected at high speed, all you need to generate some parasitic electricity (to run the other ship systems) is to put a magnetic field in the path of this plasma. You might use a steam turbine to capture and use waste heat from the system, but I wouldn't imagine that it would be your main source of power.
So the fusion reactors are just for the engines? They have a separate reactor as their power source or am I just confusing myself?

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