Quick Fire Questions (A Place to Ask and Answer)

[alchemist]

Q1; your way looked good to me.


Q2; this from a man from the northwest I'd have it as one word, although - might also be valid, but I don't think it looks right as two seperate words.

Yeah, it does look better. Think I'll go with one word.

You'd think I should have been mentally logging the best way to write it for all of my life. But I didn't

Two words is OK if it's used as a geographical modifier:Visit North West England! See Sheep!

I did! And I saw them! (took pictures too, of blue ones)

It was titles like that that confused me when I looked it up. In most cases, I'm saying something like "The mountains lay to the Northwest" so one word it is.

Oh, now I'm worrying about capitalisation.

Ta muchly to both of you.

 

[Pyan]

It was titles like that that confused me when I looked it up. In most cases, I'm saying something like "The mountains lay to the Northwest" so one word it is.

Oh, now I'm worrying about capitalisation.

Again, it's down to the context:


"The mountains lay to the northwest" - no capital

"The mountains could be found in Northwest Nomrovia" - capital?

I suspect it's down to What Looks Right...


Blue sheep? Winter visit? or just over-enthusiastic smitting?

 

[Hex]

So... spaceships... If you had a 'tourist ship' sort of thing -- supposed to faff around reasonably close to Earth, what would you need to change to make it possible for it to get into um the Further Reaches of Space?

You'd need a jump whatsit (space fantasy here) but what else?

 

[HareBrain]

If you had a 'tourist ship' sort of thing -- supposed to faff around reasonably close to Earth, what would you need to change to make it possible for it to get into um the Further Reaches of Space?

Is this how you're planning to sabotage Richard Branson's maiden launch? Cos I'm with you all the way.

 

[Pyan]

Extra fuel tanks, for the conventional engines?

Extra crew supplies, food, water, oxygen, etc.

 

[Hex]

Yes. I am planning to send Richard Branson far, far out into space. FAR.

Thanks, pyan. Would you need to change the ship though? I mean -- could something built to putter around near Earth cope with the er high seas of space?

 

[alchemist]

Based on your 1,000th post, I take it you're talking about our old friend, faster than light (ftl) travel.

The drive you need to putter about Earth and the moon is totally inadequate for travelling to other star systems because other stars are VERY VERY FAR AWAY! Without ftl, it'll take decades, at least, to get to the nearest stars, and centuries if you're going from star to star. So, ignoring Einstein, science and (hopefully he doesn't see this) chrispy, you need a warp/hyper drive of some sort. Invent a cool name and bear in mind that even though it's ftl travel, it could still take years.

Your ship can have two systems, of course. In Star Trek, they use impulse power for puttering and warp power for the instellar stuff.

 

[HareBrain]

Alchemist, your Q1: non-italics is indeed the usual way to add emphasis within italics.

Hex, I don't think there are any additional (predictable) demands placed on a ship by deep space rather than near a planet, except for the need to carry supplies. Your "putter", however, worries me in terms of them getting very far ...

 

[Hex]

Perhaps "putter" was not the best word I could have chosen...

A two system ship sounds like the way to go. Can't I just say what it does and not how it does it? e.g. "It went a(n astonishingly) long way, (very, very) fast."

Somehow the re-write so far concerns zinfandel and bears. I always say there's not enough of either in zombie stories.

 

[alchemist]

A two system ship sounds like the way to go. Can't I just say what it does and not how it does it? e.g. "It went a(n astonishingly) long way, (very, very) fast."

You can indeed. With your focus mostly on zombies, pilots and Zinfandel, you can get away with saying very little about it. Depends who you're aiming your story at, of course.

And thanks, HB!

 

[Jo Zebedee]

That's what I do, Hex, but I am aware that any hard sci fi fan will run a mile..... I do mention a second drive occasionally without actually specifying what it is, just that they have to switch drives to enter and exit the atmosphere and it makes the ship heavier to those flying when they do. (see I can feel the cringing scientists all around me...)

 

[Ursa major]

It's probably true that the more information you provide about your system, the more work you have to do to make sure it isn't inconsistent, and the more ammunition you give those who want to pull your system apart (in terms of its logic).

And doesn't it depend on who the PoV characters are. The chief engineer will know how the star drive works (unless it's "stolen", or "borrowed", or "a gift", from a more advanced civilisation, and even then he or she (or it) will need to know how to operate it), as should the captain and his second in command. Mouse's floor cleaner may not have any idea why the ship keeps appearing in different star systems. (In fact, wouldn't it be strange if a floor cleaner did know the theory and practice of the star drives? Are they hiding something? Are they not who they seem...?)

The passengers, or the staff of the Sick Bay, say, may or may not know, depending on their personal interests.

 

[Hex]

I love scientists, I do. I'm not prepared to get a PhD in physics, though, to write stories. I want to write about uniforms and zinfandel and toast. Not hyper-warp-widget-zing drives. Although I have nothing against them. They're just not my glass of girlie pink wine.

Hmm. Hopefully my engineer can just not think about it.

 

[Ursa major]

I love scientists, I do. I'm not prepared to get a PhD in physics, though, to write stories. I want to write about uniforms and zinfandel and toast. Not hyper-warp-widget-zing drives. Although I have nothing against them. They're just not my glass of girlie pink wine.

Then your main PoV character can work in hospitality. That way they don't need to know any of the physics, but can still - like Guinan in Star Trek:TNG - talk about the big important stuff with the captain, other senior members of the crew and the passengers.

Perhaps "putter" was not the best word I could have chosen...

 

[Vertigo]

Not so Springs! You have at least grabbed the idea of the need for different drives.

Hex, to be pedantic you would probably need different ships if it was "hard" sf. The ftl drive (or whatever) would probably be the biggest most complex part of the ship and it would be unlikely you could just drop one into a ship not designed for it. All sorts of reasons for that: different control systems, different fuel systems, sifferent stresses on the structure etc. However as I said that is the pedantic hard sf take. Do not make the mistake of assuming all modern sf is hard sf. It isn't and it doesn't need to be. So long as you don't get bogged down in trying to explain the science of your drive nobody is going to question that sort of detail.

So the suggestions Pyan made would I think be perfectly adequate.

Edit: three other posts in the time it took to write this one! Re Ursa's comment on who would understand the drive thingy. Think about cruisers liners here on Earth. How many of the crew would really understand how the engine room works? And as the technology gets more complex that gets more true.

 

[Glitch]

@Hex, SF has been around for a while, so I don't think any reader would really complain if you simply referred to faster than light travel as warp speed, hyper space or even the abbreviation ftl.

Looking at the tv show side. In Babylon 5 a larger vessel could open a hyper space portal allowing smaller vessels to enter/exit hyper space. This would allow you to use any old ship without modifications.

Back on the question of bolting an ftl engine to an existing ship. Some questions for you to consider.

-Where do you put it? This depends how you intend it to work. You don't have to explain how it works in your story.
--Does it push the ship to ftl, thus sits at the back with the existing engines.
--Make the ship lighter, so the existing engines generate more thrust. Could stick it any where I guess.
--Open a portal, like hyper space. I would assume this would go at the front.

-Power, I assume an ftl engine would need a great supply of power. You could turn off all the lights while the ship accelerates/decelerates from ftl.

-See where you are going. An ftl capable ship would need to see quite a distance to avoid things or plot a course.

-Shielding. Even in orbit small debris can cause damage due to it's speed and the fact it's frozen solid. At ftl speeds (except hyper space) the results could be fatal. Also I think radiation in deep space is more of a concern.

As said by others, if your character isn't the engineer then you could probably gloss over all of it. Depends on your target audience.

 

[Hex]

There's some brilliant stuff in there -- thanks, Glitch.

I like the impact the demand for energy might have on the lights (and presumably possibly also a level of heat?) while they accelerated etc. Um. How long would it take to accelerate etc? ie: How long would stuff be off for?

I'd like the journey on the ship to be unpleasant in a 1984 dystopian kind of way, and I think I was imagining a Babylon 5 type situation at the beginning where they've got refugees all over the place (only maybe not quite that extreme).

I hadn't planned to have any serious problems with getting from A to B -- just time in the ship -- so I'll probably be glossing over most of the stuff (like where the ftl engine is) -- and hoping that people who care about their science won't hate me any more than if I'd tried to describe it.

 

[Glitch]

I like the impact the demand for energy might have on the lights (and presumably possibly also a level of heat?) while they accelerated etc. Um. How long would it take to accelerate etc? ie: How long would stuff be off for?

How long is up to you, maybe a minute or a few hours. I would think the inhabitants will freeze if the heat is left off for too long. You wouldn't want fires to be lit, due to the potential hazard and extra work for the life support system to clean out the smoke/fumes.

Or you can use that in your story. Stick Isabel on a patrol team to stop people lighting fires?

Or, heat a few areas of the ship; send all the passengers to those areas. They would start of sweating but would have to bring extra clothes for when it cools down.

Unless it's like the phenomena of hot water freezing quicker than cold water!

If your ship has smaller ships on board, like your seedpods. You could pack the passengers into those to keep warm?

I hadn't planned to have any serious problems with getting from A to B -- just time in the ship

In that case I would probably have the lights/heat/doors etc... out for about an hour. Gives your pilot Alex a pickup line for Isabel, want to keep warm in my quarters ?

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Just to mention, Hex, somewhere buried on one of the threads (I think it's in ask a scientist) Vertigo produced the most amazing program to calculate travelling time.

 

[Hex]

Excellent. He needs a stock of terrible pick up lines.

Thank you again -- this is great stuff.

@springs -- it's not that I don't appreciate how clever that is, but I have a fairly inflexible schedule and I don't want scientific likelihoods to interfere