[AP] PRODIGAL SON, A Rogue's Tale - Book II

Olterin · Post by **Olterin** » Tue, 24. May 16, 21:46

My point is basically what Sirrobert is saying, with the part where astronauts survive it just fine, but then they're highly-trained healthy reasonably young people. Needs more details on the descent for sure, but yeah, anything that is a drop from orbit on anything that is reasonably Earth-like is going to be an 8km/s drop, and depending on the re-entry angle, you might not want to be in a pod without inertial dampeners - basically, those re-entries astronauts do are very shallow-angled - if you go in at a steep angle because your ship is shielded and has inertial dampeners (which is what we assume the transport is equipped with), ejecting a pod from that is basically an instant death sentence for the people inside - humans cannot survive sustained accelerations of 8g and upwards for long, I think at 10g the blood will actually be pressed so hard that your heart cannot pump it any more, and that's a healthy heart I'm talking about here. This is why I'm saying Sal should be a very dead man, and Ricky should really be in no shape to run. Arguably, the marines should be having a really bad day too, actually.

TL;DR: Needs more technical details on the descent, but a normal drop from orbit on an Earth-like planet is going to involve decelerating by about 8km/s. God have mercy on you if you are not hitting the atmosphere at a shallow angle.

Edit: as for why I see Sal as "fat" - I don't. But his entire behavior, descriptions notwithstanding, speaks "some extra weight" (not fat, but a little "overweight", like, if he were 180cm in height then I'd be assuming his weight to be around 90kg, with a bit of 'fat' around the belly area, but not enough to destroy the whole 'scarecrow' image), at least to me. I'd have to carefully re-read every chapter where he appears to find out why exactly I have this image, however.

Annette Barret · Post by **Annette Barret** » Tue, 24. May 16, 21:58

Moderators be dammed.

I am after every one who has hurt me.

Scion want to make it quick and give me your address?

I'm here.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Tue, 24. May 16, 22:17

Actually for more numbers: The space shuttle experienced about 3G during reentry.
The shallow reentry isn't to prevent G forces, those don't change that much. It's to prevent the craft from burning up in the atmosphere. That's presumably not a problem with futuristic materials in the X universe.

I'm a little confused where you pull the 8G from. Apollo 16 pulled 7.9, but that's peak, not sustained.

As for survivability: This guy went 46G backwards. Such research proved that humans are actually pretty though. When going backwards, such Gs are very sustainable

Earth-like planet is going to involve decelerating by about 8km/s

Wait what the hell are you talking about? Deceleration is measured in km/s/s(km/second squared)
I said you will be TRAVELING at 8km/s initially. The actual deceleration takes quite awhile. The atmosphere isn't a brick wall that stops you instantly.

Also remember that the Transport is already in atmosphere. So they are already decelerating by the normal amount.

Scion Drakhar · Post by **Scion Drakhar** » Tue, 24. May 16, 22:45

I'm definitely going to have to clarify some details about that descent. Yes, the Phantom was in atmo, cruising at about 35-40k feet or 10k meters. As for extreme velocities relative to moving sectors and general space magic... yeah I'm not going there. If I have to start graphing entry arcs and using the part of the calculator that looks like the Cyrillic alphabet then I'm already done. My thinking is that the phantom was travelling at approx 400mph. The pods were ejected sideways out of the ship and relied on shielding, restraints, and enough inertial compensation to ensure people could survive... without requiring massive power sources such as matter-antimatter engines. They'd be designed to rely on gravity and wind resistance to stay upright and have braking thrusters to help steer them away from deep water and also prevent the pod and its occupants from ending up like a soda can that's just been run over by a car.

PS - Shaun, I have never done anything to hurt you. I attempted to incorporate your character and you started to scare me, so I cut contact. Please get help.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Tue, 24. May 16, 23:00

Actually Scion, my point was that those speeds don't matter that much. If anything, I'd argue that the ride wouldn't be nearly as bumpy as you depicted. That shock would probably be mostly the loss of ship-based internal dampening.

Your idea of an escape pod sounds very similar to regular capsules that we already have today. They are aerodynamically shaped in such a way that they remain in the same position during decent.
Pulling a quick google: Something like this?

Your speed is what, slightly below airplane cruising speed? Perfectly plausible, though that means the roughest part of the reentry is already past. It's basically flying like an airliner at this point.
Something build for full on reentry would have no problem making a safe landing from those conditions

PS: I'm a sucker for space science, but please don't take my numbers as an insistence to make your story scientifically accurate. I love discussing this stuff, but I'm also perfectly capable of understanding how the story trumps the details

Olterin · Post by **Olterin** » Tue, 24. May 16, 23:15

Actually disregard most of what I said, it seems my brain isn't functioning very well today (revelation from unrelated source). When I said "decelerate by 8km/s" I meant reduce the velocity by 8km/s so as to come to a halt after having dropped from orbit, I am fully aware that accelerations are measured in m/s^2. The numbers with regards to 10G are something I remember in relation to jet fighter pilots and extreme maneuvers - you really do not want to pull sustained accelerations upwards of 7G. Peak is fine, if it doesn't last long - our past rocket launches, as was pointed out, demonstrate that quite handily.

My point about an old man surviving such stresses relatively unharmed still stands, however.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Tue, 24. May 16, 23:34

At the very least, he'd be severely bruised yes.
Though he was leaning on Ricky the last time we saw him, so he probably is

Annette Barret · Post by **Annette Barret** » Wed, 25. May 16, 04:33

I've got all the help I need.

Scion Drakhar · Post by **Scion Drakhar** » Wed, 25. May 16, 09:38

Olterin,

Song of Obsidian pointed out that I was a bit snippy with you. I'd like to apologize for that. You are correct, the landing sequence needs to be clearer and I will address that the next time I'm in a writing disposition. So, I'm sorry for snapping at you. I have good days and bad ones. On my bad days I can be a bit cranky. When I get cranky I tend to bite.

Cheers

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Wed, 25. May 16, 12:44

Please, this is the internet. We're used to ignoring the eccentricities of creators in exchange for their excellent content. Just look at all the crazy webcomic authors people tolerate in exchange for their great comments.

Or Gopher.

Post by **Alan Phipps** » Mon, 30. May 16, 18:28

As a result of unacceptable forum behaviour in recent posts and PMs, Annette Barret will no longer be posting in this thread nor on these forums.

Olterin · Post by **Olterin** » Sun, 5. Jun 16, 20:14

Scion, as far as I'm concerned no apology needed, but thanks anyway (and ... of course... "Apology accepted, Captain [Drakhar]").

... So how's the writing going?

Scion Drakhar · Post by **Scion Drakhar** » Thu, 9. Jun 16, 01:02

Okay guys. I re-wrote the last chapter. I do hope it no longer defies credibility. Now the next chapter IS on the way. I took a break.... But I am writing again. So if I haven't posted by the end of next week feel free to nudge me.

Cheers.

<Post edited. Alan Phipps, Moderator>

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Thu, 9. Jun 16, 01:40

I thought the previous chapter was entirely fine as originally written for what it's worth. Except for the bad guys getting away that is.

Zaitsev · Post by **Zaitsev** » Thu, 9. Jun 16, 22:26

Scion Drakhar wrote:So if I haven't posted by the end of next week feel free to nudge me.

Cheers.

*prepare cattle prod just in case*

Song Of Obsidian · Post by **Song Of Obsidian** » Fri, 10. Jun 16, 13:50

I'm gonna prepare to turn that cattle prod against its owner if said owner doesn't start posting soon too.

Zaitsev · Post by **Zaitsev** » Fri, 10. Jun 16, 22:25

Song Of Obsidian wrote:I'm gonna prepare to turn that cattle prod against its owner if said owner doesn't start posting soon too.

*start singing "Under pressure" by Queen*

So you're gonna turn me into the prod-igal son?

And no, I'm not sorry for making that pun.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Fri, 10. Jun 16, 22:31

Zaitsev wrote:prod-igal son

I'll get the pitchforks

Triaxx2 · Post by **Triaxx2** » Sat, 11. Jun 16, 00:08

Tridents! Bidents! Sharp pointy-sticks! Get 'em here while they last!

Triaxx's pointy object emporium, for all your writer poking needs!

Triaxx provides no guarantees against disarmament and counter use by angry authors.

Sirrobert · Post by **Sirrobert** » Sat, 11. Jun 16, 01:05

You with your fancy shark sticks. What's wrong with an old fashioned pitchfork?

egosoft.com

egosoft.com

[AP] PRODIGAL SON, A Rogue's Tale - Book II