Hey the OBS is solar powered!

Wait a sec? Why would the Temple have a holographic projector that could project an image visible to all of Zion? IIRC, when the Temple was built, Zion didn't exist. The city grew up around the Temple after all.

Which doesn't eliminate the possibility of a giant projector. But I suspect any holo-angel would be projected indoors, likely in the main cathedral hall or something.

evilauthor wrote:Wait a sec? Why would the Temple have a holographic projector that could project an image visible to all of Zion? IIRC, when the Temple was built, Zion didn't exist. The city grew up around the Temple after all.

Which doesn't eliminate the possibility of a giant projector. But I suspect any holo-angel would be projected indoors, likely in the main cathedral hall or something.

How old is the tradition of a Pilgrimage to the Temple? If the tradition is as old as the Temple, then a Holoprojector PA system would be useful for impressing the Pilgrims.

It depends on whether the City of Zion and or a need to address large groups of Pilgrims was anticipated when the
Temple was built or whether the builders expected to accommodate everyone inside forever.

Randomiser wrote:Holographic emitters and speakers have to be outside the Temple dome, don't they?

Not necessarily. Holographic emitter should be able to work through any transparency and the Temple seems to be able to control its transparency. Speakers need to vibrate outside air, but I think federation tech would probably be able to do that without exposing whatever they use to vibrate the air.

laz wrote:i wonder how long it would take to run down if a large roll of tin foil where put between its solar collectors and the sun, or a cloud of dust. Or if the lost secret to brewing a good cup of coffee is on it.


laz
Ps. i can't believe i am the first to notice this so could someone tell me where RFC's response that uses kinetic bombardment on this question is.

I seem to recall RFC evidence to the effect that the OBS only uses solar for the minimal maintenance power requirements that most of the sleeping components require. The actual launcher has a fusion plant that fires up on demand to power the strike. The maintenance section appears to work the same way.

Edit: found the original, from the thread "Rakurai and the Gbaba"

runsforcelery wrote:Okay, this is a system which uses solar power collection for its primary operation, is heavily stealthed, and kicks on the onboard fusion plants only when it's time to crank up the kinetic launchers and then turns them off as soon as the strike is over. The support and maintenance systemoperates under exactly the same sort of constraints, as well. As to how the platform(s) are arranged, for now that's for me to know and you to worry about, but I think you can safely assume that the people who put it/them in place weren't stupid enough to design a system that couldn't spot, track, and target objectives wherever they happen to be located on the face of Safehold.

Duckk wrote:

If the OBS were negated, though, why would a wake-up be a problem? With the OBS neutralized, Merlin almost certainly has more Federation military tech than could be under the Temple (unless the Temple basement is absolutely gigantic, which I think Merlin's sensors would probably detect when he was looking at the power sources there).

I guess a Federation-tech conflict, being seen as an angel/demon war, could reinforce Langhorne's religion; but depending on how much of it was seen, could also weaken it.

You don't think an Archangel issuing orders out of the Temple (assuming that's what's under there) isn't a wee bit problematic?

Well, I was thinking that if an actual Federation remnant masquerading as an Archangel showed up, then Merlin would be justified (under his self-imposed rules) in acting against it with Federation tech.

And since Merlin probably has more and better Federation military tech... if he did that, that "archangel" would not last long enough to be very convincing.

(Yeah, the Temple is armored, but the description in OAR says something about battleship shells not scratching it - it carefully avoids saying anything about it being effective against high-tech weapons.)

Now, if Merlin acted openly, he'd have to avoid being seen as an Archangel himself... but he could land his skimmer or shuttle right out in everyone's view and show it's a vehicle, not a magical orb of light/kyousei hi.

(That would be revealing the truth rather quicker than planned, but...)

cralkhi wrote:
Well, I was thinking that if an actual Federation remnant masquerading as an Archangel showed up, then Merlin would be justified (under his self-imposed rules) in acting against it with Federation tech.

And since Merlin probably has more and better Federation military tech... if he did that, that "archangel" would not last long enough to be very convincing.

*Looks at the OBS and defense it depth satellites surrounding it that Merlin's assets can't penetrate.*

Yeah... I wouldn't bet on that.

(Yeah, the Temple is armored, but the description in OAR says something about battleship shells not scratching it - it carefully avoids saying anything about it being effective against high-tech weapons.)

Merlin also said that he would need a nuke powerful enough to destroy all of Zion to destroy the Temple. And that the Temple was better armored than dedicated planetary defense bunkers that Nimue had seen. That doesn't sound like "weak armor" to me.

It sounds to me like the Temple might be able to tank a shot or two from the OBS. With some armor damage, but if the Temple's contents are protected, then the armor has done its job.

Now, if Merlin acted openly, he'd have to avoid being seen as an Archangel himself... but he could land his skimmer or shuttle right out in everyone's view and show it's a vehicle, not a magical orb of light/kyousei hi.

Assuming the Temple doesn't have hidden AA stations that'll blow him out of the sky.

cralkhi wrote:(Yeah, the Temple is armored, but the description in OAR says something about battleship shells not scratching it - it carefully avoids saying anything about it being effective against high-tech weapons.)

I assumed the battleship shells he was referring to were Federation space ship battleships, not twentieth-century ocean-going battleships.

Nimue specifically says in OAR that a 40 cm pre-space cannon shell would not leave a scratch. So on one hand it's not a modern weapon, but on the other, the "not a scratch" part still means it's pretty damn tough. That's especially true when earlier in the passage Nimue says she had seen command bunkers less heavily fortified. So I'd expect the Temple to be at least as hard to take out as, say, NORAD's former Cheyenne Mountain facility.

ka8wtk wrote:

That would have to be one f---ing big roll of tin foil - either that or it would have to be very near the satellites themselves ....

Actually, not near the satellite or that big. A small "sun shade" placed closer to the sun that would keep the OBS in shadow would work. The closer to the sun, the larger the shadow it would cast and the smaller it could be. A. C. Clarke used such a shield in one of his stories to sheild the earth from a solar event.
However, keeping something as small as the OBS in the shadow would be a good trick.

Bill

Unless the Kau-Zhi system is *REALLY* weird, the sun is much larger than the OBS, and thus the closer to the sun you put the shade, the larger it will have to be. The smallest shade able to fully shade the array would be essentially right on top of it.

Two things come to mind: 1) anyone familiar with the Evil Overlord list would note handy things like capacitors and battery backups would likely make their way into a well constructed installation. Choking the OBS while it's in standby could take an extended period of time. 2) Also, I don't recall the command/control system being located, much less a description of its contents. There could be some nasty contingency plans hidden away - up to and including a Scorched Earth scenario.

I would liken the OBS and its defenses to a venomous snake - leave it alone until/unless you need to deal with it, but act decisively when you do.

evilauthor wrote:*Looks at the OBS and defense it depth satellites surrounding it that Merlin's assets can't penetrate.*

Yeah... I wouldn't bet on that.

The proposition was Charis invading the Temple to shut down the OBS. If that was achieved, then Merlin could deal with anything that "woke up" due to that action, since there doesn't seem to be room under the Temple for a Nimue's-Cave-scale cache.

Merlin has enough modern weapons in there to arm a significant force, and there probably isn't room for big tanks or things to operate inside the Temple.

If it came to a siege of the Temple with Merlin outside, yes, the Temple's armor might be strong enough to be indestructible without lots of collateral damage to the city. OTOH, in such a situation Merlin could probably do enough flashy stuff to scare the people out of Zion before dropping kinetic weapons on the Temple, at least avoiding much loss of life.

Assuming the Temple doesn't have hidden AA stations that'll blow him out of the sky.

I'm pretty sure he would have seen those in his scans in OAR - he found power sources under the Temple that he couldn't identify, yes, but I think antiaircraft weapons would have been rather detectable.