RunsInShadows wrote:Weird Harold wrote:IIRC, RFC has said that the OBS is capable of reloading and repairing itself.
Merlin's SNARC was blasted by the OBS when it got too close, so it is still capable of self-defense, at minimum.
I wonder to what extent it can reload. It has to get the mass from something. If you can force the Rakurai to expend enough munitions at fake targets, maybe you could deplete that mass. I wouldn't be opposed to setting some electrical devices, activated by mechanical timer, on Armageddon reef to try to make it fire.
I suspect that it wouldn't alert the "angels" given that they weren't alerted by Merlin's Snarc gettin blasted. That is unless it automatically blasts anything greater than a pebble that comes within range, meaning that it wasn't the detection of electronics that set it off. I would think that unlikely though because constantly shooting stuff out of space would give off quite a few emissions which is what they were trying to avoid in the first place.
For that matter, even fusion power plants need fuel, and they gotta get that from somewhere. On planet that might be simple enough, but in space that is a real problem unless they are running off of solar.
IIRC RFC said "I never said that the OBS
couldn't reload itself..."
The OBS is solar powered, so don't hold out hope that it might run out of power for any fusion reactors. From OAR as Merlin and OWL discuss why OWL can't destroy it:
"The kinetic bombardment and solar energy platforms are nested in the center of a sphere of area defense systems and passive scanners which no weapons at my disposal can hope to penetrate."The defense systems around the OBS are primarily to zap any stray meteors and space debris that happen by. They also respond to TF technology that ventures too near, ie. the remote from Merlin's SNARC that he sent in to get a good look. The OBS is specifically programmed
not to fire on technology the Archangels used on Safehold, such as Merlin's skimmer, or else it would have happily shot the Archangels out of the sky whenever they decided to make their scheduled round of visits to the various enclaves! (At least that's Merlin's theory and he's sticking to it.)
Merlin is acting as if the OBS can reload itself of course, not that the six loaded cells couldn't do massive damage and basically wipe Tellesberg and much of Old Charis off the map even if they couldn't be reloaded. Since OWL has remotes of various sizes and capabilities that can post propaganda on walls, deliver the mail, and fetch the Key of Schueler and deliver it to Nimue's cave, it's logical to assume that the OBS has similar remotes to search out appropriate rocks/asteroids that can be refined or formed into the proper shapes/materials for OBS ammunition.
The use of the Rakurai against the EoC would be the death knell for the Reformist movement, since its paladins would have been struck down by the vengeful fire of God. Of course the converse is also true if Merlin could convince the OBS to drop a rock on the Temple!
Many of us suspect that the Temple and a wide circle around it that includes Zion is a "no fire zone" that the OBS won't fire on under
any circumstances. Otherwise the entire CoGA could be discredited by setting up a small generator close to the Temple, thus causing the Rakurai do its thing. Even if the OBS selected the smallest bar available to drop, the mere fact that the Rakurai fired on the
Temple would be a clear demonstration of God's displeasure with its current management, which could possibly be spun into proof that He is upset with the entire CoGA as well. (Yeah, that's a stretch but Nahrmahn is really good at that sort of stuff.)