Mechanics of Reveal

I think vampires will be involved. /ducks and hides.

kaid wrote:I think vampires will be involved. /ducks and hides.

Ok, back into the dark with you.

As long as the vampire in question doesn't shimmer, we'll be all set. Or as I've been known to do. When I get stuck on the plot, I just throw in a ninja!

I'm going to be radical.

I predict that the Big Reveal will be sudden, unexpected, and not under the control of Merlin or the inner circle.

SWM wrote:I'm going to be radical.

I predict that the Big Reveal will be sudden, unexpected, and not under the control of Merlin or the inner circle.

Suddenly, a spaceship crashes in the middle of Siddar City?

The recon skimmer has a minor system failure due to being a bit past the manufacturer's warranty period?

Ten years is more than enough time for a poorly maintained building to decay to the point it is better to tear it down rather than repair it. After 1,000 years, it would take a skilled archeologist and quite specialized equipment to determine that a building had been there at all. And that is for something with relatively massive and durable components.

Plastics age and get brittle, and similar things happen to metals.

For electronics things get out of calibration as they age, or simply no longer function - electrolytic capacitors dry out, stored charges leak in PROM and flash memory devices, etc. Lifetimes under the best of circumstances for electronic components is short.

Hildum wrote:The recon skimmer has a minor system failure due to being a bit past the manufacturer's warranty period?

Ten years is more than enough time for a poorly maintained building to decay to the point it is better to tear it down rather than repair it. After 1,000 years, it would take a skilled archeologist and quite specialized equipment to determine that a building had been there at all. And that is for something with relatively massive and durable components.

Plastics age and get brittle, and similar things happen to metals.

For electronics things get out of calibration as they age, or simply no longer function - electrolytic capacitors dry out, stored charges leak in PROM and flash memory devices, etc. Lifetimes under the best of circumstances for electronic components is short.

For current tech in our own timeline, yes, you're right. For Terran Federation tech plus handwavium...who knows

Don

Hildum wrote:The recon skimmer has a minor system failure due to being a bit past the manufacturer's warranty period?

Ten years is more than enough time for a poorly maintained building to decay to the point it is better to tear it down rather than repair it. After 1,000 years, it would take a skilled archeologist and quite specialized equipment to determine that a building had been there at all. And that is for something with relatively massive and durable components.

Plastics age and get brittle, and similar things happen to metals.

For electronics things get out of calibration as they age, or simply no longer function - electrolytic capacitors dry out, stored charges leak in PROM and flash memory devices, etc. Lifetimes under the best of circumstances for electronic components is short.

We have ample evidence of OWL directing SNARCs and their remotes. I imagine there are similar automated systems in the cave to handle maintenance. I doubt it'll be something like that, but how about a bird strike or something?

Starsaber wrote:

Hildum wrote:The recon skimmer has a minor system failure due to being a bit past the manufacturer's warranty period?

Ten years is more than enough time for a poorly maintained building to decay to the point it is better to tear it down rather than repair it. After 1,000 years, it would take a skilled archeologist and quite specialized equipment to determine that a building had been there at all. And that is for something with relatively massive and durable components.

Plastics age and get brittle, and similar things happen to metals.

For electronics things get out of calibration as they age, or simply no longer function - electrolytic capacitors dry out, stored charges leak in PROM and flash memory devices, etc. Lifetimes under the best of circumstances for electronic components is short.

We have ample evidence of OWL directing SNARCs and their remotes. I imagine there are similar automated systems in the cave to handle maintenance. I doubt it'll be something like that, but how about a bird strike or something?

Boom! OWL don't tells that was the recon skimmer... CRAP that was the recon skimmer looks out at massive crator out side Sidar XD

Hildum wrote:The recon skimmer has a minor system failure due to being a bit past the manufacturer's warranty period?

Ten years is more than enough time for a poorly maintained building to decay to the point it is better to tear it down rather than repair it. After 1,000 years, it would take a skilled archeologist and quite specialized equipment to determine that a building had been there at all. And that is for something with relatively massive and durable components.

Plastics age and get brittle, and similar things happen to metals.

For electronics things get out of calibration as they age, or simply no longer function - electrolytic capacitors dry out, stored charges leak in PROM and flash memory devices, etc. Lifetimes under the best of circumstances for electronic components is short.

There are different grades of electronics, domestic, commercial, industrial, military and space, each with different design criteria and life's.
Typical industrial hardware is designed for a 20 year service life, industrial safety equipment for at least 50 year life (and some for 100 years), space hardware has typically got a 250 year design life under ambient conditions (to ensure you get a 20 year life in space). Some hardware launched in the 70's is still functioning within design parameters (Voyager for example).

With dry nitrogen storage to prevent corrosion a carbon crystal (diamond) substrate semiconductor should certainly be functional. The keys to long life are conservative design, cool operation,the absence of mechanical wear and avoiding edibles / degradables like rubber.
Some metals recrystallize and creep with time like tin and need to be avoided for long life. (The European RoHS Directive has a significant fatality count because of tin replacing lead containing solders (ask Toyota about their RoHS compliant throttle sensor assemblies)).
So if you know long service life is important (like the Gbabba) then you can design for a couple of centuries in service easily, and storage life of much longer is certainly possible.