Page 105 discussion

Discussion regarding the Outsider webcomic, science, technology and science fiction.

Moderator: Outsider Moderators

kclcmdr
Posts: 21
Joined: Fri Dec 14, 2012 3:07 pm

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by kclcmdr »

Karst45 wrote:am i the only one who were thinking: She touched him! she touched Him!!!!! in the second panel.
Beryl is touching him upon his uniform clothing...

Likewise when he was being escorted out of the bridge, both Fireblade and Beryl was touching him upon his uniform outfit..

I suspect that their 'mind-melding' capabilities work better when they are touching the skin of the person they are trying to get a mind-feel of what they are thinking...

Tho Beryl did look kinda miff that commander Tempo? is coming along, she appears to have calm down enough to do her duty strapping Alec down for their launch toward their destination.....

And Alec likewise looks quite miff at Fireblade as he looks behind him and notices where his military escorts are sitting...

User avatar
Arioch
Site Admin
Posts: 4593
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Arioch »

RedDwarfIV wrote:My point was, Bellarmine probably would shake around a lot if hit, because it's not a million ton starship. When hit by the Plasma Focus, Alex was thrown off his feet. But still no seatbelts.
That was a hit that cut the ship in two, and Alex was standing, not sitting down. The bridge crew would still have been in their seats when they were killed only moments later by a loss of air pressure.

Realistically, would the bridge seats have lap-belts just in case? Probably. Looking at pages 3 and 6, I don't see any visual evidence that they didn't have such belts. :D
Sweforce wrote:It is interesting that the shuttle is filled with seats when it is configured for cargo. I though it was configured for short range trips for crew rotation. That is, some of Tempest crew get rotated of, to less dangerous assignments or even some R&R for a while. Like in how most normal militarizes do, even in wartime as much as possible to combat battle fatigue. Well actually , it is possible that "cargo" configuration" mean that they didn't bother to finish a passenger conversion and only throw in the seats for the crew rotation thing since it was only for a short trip to a meeting convoy. As such, Alex may have to pee in a bottle.
It "was" configured for cargo. On short notice they bolted in some passenger seats as you would on the cargo deck of a C-17, but it lacks amenities that one might expect on a commercial airliner, such as additional restrooms, a galley, or in-flight entertainment. There is a small toilet in the cockpit if Alex needs to relieve himself, but they won't be serving him peanuts and a beverage.

Absalom
Posts: 718
Joined: Sat Sep 24, 2011 4:33 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Absalom »

dragoongfa wrote:Now let's take things to the next logical level and consider the possibility that the various Torrai's that have such personal shuttles have the right and leisure to equip and decorate them as they please without suffering any short of backlash. The amenities that Tempo alludes to could as well be the Loroi equivalent of first class seating and various other extravagant items that only the Torrai Lashret and her closest confidantes would indulge into.
Hmm... hey Arioch, how common was it among the Loroi in peace-time for admirals to get laughed at for the equivalent of fitting their shuttle with a jacuzzi?

User avatar
RedDwarfIV
Posts: 400
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:22 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Arioch wrote:
RedDwarfIV wrote:My point was, Bellarmine probably would shake around a lot if hit, because it's not a million ton starship. When hit by the Plasma Focus, Alex was thrown off his feet. But still no seatbelts.
That was a hit that cut the ship in two, and Alex was standing, not sitting down. The bridge crew would still have been in their seats when they were killed only moments later by a loss of air pressure.
I thought Bellarmine was cut in two by a second shot? The Damage Control tablet only showed a large amount of damage in the centre of the vessel.

Actually, scratch that. Looking back at the comic, it seems that the tablet was just showing significantly less damage than it should have. No shaking around to indicate a second hit.
Arioch wrote:Realistically, would the bridge seats have lap-belts just in case? Probably. Looking at pages 3 and 6, I don't see any visual evidence that they didn't have such belts. :D
That would make sense. At the very least, if the spacecraft lost its artificial gravity, they wouldn't have problems with floating away.
If every cloud had a silver lining, there would be a lot more plane crashes.

User avatar
Arioch
Site Admin
Posts: 4593
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Arioch »

Absalom wrote:
dragoongfa wrote:Now let's take things to the next logical level and consider the possibility that the various Torrai's that have such personal shuttles have the right and leisure to equip and decorate them as they please without suffering any short of backlash. The amenities that Tempo alludes to could as well be the Loroi equivalent of first class seating and various other extravagant items that only the Torrai Lashret and her closest confidantes would indulge into.
Hmm... hey Arioch, how common was it among the Loroi in peace-time for admirals to get laughed at for the equivalent of fitting their shuttle with a jacuzzi?
Laughing at top-ranking officers in a military dictatorship is probably not good for one's career (or health).

The personal shuttles are more for showing off for VIP's than for personal enjoyment. If a sybaritic admiral wanted to doll up her surroundings, she'd probably do up her personal quarters and washroom/bath rather than the shuttle, which she wouldn't spend very much time in.

Southern Cross
Posts: 23
Joined: Sat Nov 10, 2012 9:17 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Southern Cross »

Actually from rereading pages 12-13 of the Prologue, the first shot cut the Bellarmine in two, while the second ignited her fuel tanks.

User avatar
Grayhome
Posts: 550
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:11 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Grayhome »

Laughing at top-ranking officers in a military dictatorship is probably not good for one's career (or health).
No equivalent of the presidential roast then, drat.

User avatar
RedDwarfIV
Posts: 400
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:22 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Southern Cross wrote:Actually from rereading pages 12-13 of the Prologue, the first shot cut the Bellarmine in two, while the second ignited her fuel tanks.
That's what I meant when I said "scratch that". I was confused by the Damage Control tablet, which appeared to show only a large area of damage through the neck area, with lighter damage around it.
Image
There is at least one area of the neck with no indicated damage. That's why I thought it was severed by a second hit offscreen.
If every cloud had a silver lining, there would be a lot more plane crashes.

User avatar
icekatze
Posts: 1399
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 8:35 pm
Location: Middle of Nowhere
Contact:

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

I suspect that the automated sensors that detect damage on what had originally been a peacetime scout ship may not have been designed with such catastrophic damage in mind. It's possible that the damage sensors were designed around micro-meteor impacts and routine system failures, and may have just registered the total loss of signal from the rear half of the ship as a glitch rather than an actual loss.

User avatar
Arioch
Site Admin
Posts: 4593
Joined: Sat Mar 05, 2011 4:19 am
Location: San Jose, CA
Contact:

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Arioch »

It's partly deliberate misdirection (it's supposed to be a surprise that the ship has been cut in two), but partly realistic, I think. There are going to be a finite number of physical sensors distributed around the ship, and after the initial moment of the hit, many of them in the damaged area are going to go off-scale high and then fail, so you're not going to get a perfectly clear picture of the damage as you might in a videogame.

User avatar
Grayhome
Posts: 550
Joined: Fri Apr 22, 2011 2:11 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Grayhome »

here are going to be a finite number of physical sensors distributed around the ship, and after the initial moment of the hit, many of them in the damaged area are going to go off-scale high and then fail, so you're not going to get a perfectly clear picture of the damage as you might in a videogame.
Reminded me of... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DDbUa916bA

User avatar
dragoongfa
Posts: 1944
Joined: Mon Jan 26, 2015 9:26 pm
Location: Athens, Greece

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by dragoongfa »

That's actually accurate considering that even the most rudimentary of modern sensors suffer regular failures and require a man on site in order for someone to form a clear picture, or as clear as the man on the site can form.

Let's say that I worked as a phone operator at a security company for a few months. 60% of the alarms going off were due to technical failures (including botched set ups by bored contractors, electric current issues and rats eating the cables), 35% were due to human error and 5% were actual alarms.

Dahak
Posts: 44
Joined: Thu May 21, 2015 12:09 am

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by Dahak »

Arioch wrote:It's partly deliberate misdirection (it's supposed to be a surprise that the ship has been cut in two), but partly realistic, I think. There are going to be a finite number of physical sensors distributed around the ship, and after the initial moment of the hit, many of them in the damaged area are going to go off-scale high and then fail, so you're not going to get a perfectly clear picture of the damage as you might in a videogame.
To quote a Historic example
"Houston, we've had a problem. We've had a main B bus undervolt."
Arioch wrote:The personal shuttles are more for showing off for VIP's than for personal enjoyment.
That does imply the usual existance of a fancier set of chairs and other fittings that can be mounted on the same points as the current set or to the lock down points for one of those Infantry Fire support drones you've mentioned.

Stillstorm strikes me as the sort of officer that would have it rigged for a marine drop when she uses it and doesn't see Alex as being a reason to have anyone spend the time to try and find the nicer loadout.

User avatar
elorran
Posts: 69
Joined: Thu Mar 10, 2011 9:31 pm

Re: Page 105 discussion

Post by elorran »

Boarding actions rarely happen... and I suspect there are craft in tempest's hangers that are better suited for boarding actions than the large shuttle alex is riding in.

Post Reply