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Taking Out the Rakurai...

This fascinating series is a combination of historical seafaring, swashbuckling adventure, and high technological science-fiction. Join us in a discussion!
Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by n7axw   » Tue Aug 18, 2015 10:46 pm

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I think that what Merlin is hoping for is access to the Temple basement and the computer that controls the OBS so he can figure out how to shut the thing down.

As for destroying it otherwise, anything currently on hand in the cave or otherwise probably wouldn't be up to the job. It might be possible for Owl to design and fabricate something eventually.

But for the moment, the OBS is invulnerable.

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by evilauthor   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 2:23 am

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And from story structure point of view, the OBS is there to eliminate any temptation by the Inner Circle to break the Proscriptions early. Keep them "honest" as it were.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by Brog   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 3:42 am

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I would think the OBS having been in orbit for hundreds of years would have the means to self correct/adjust it's orbit. Hence it would have the means to move out of harm's way of any dangerous objects in it's path. It was able to shoot down a stealth SNARC approaching it so it is capable of detecting objects in it's path.

One thing I always wondered, is the OBS a single orbital platform or a system of multiple platforms, with 1 or more bombardment platforms surrounded by a number of defense platforms.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by SWM   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 8:52 am

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Brog wrote:I would think the OBS having been in orbit for hundreds of years would have the means to self correct/adjust it's orbit. Hence it would have the means to move out of harm's way of any dangerous objects in it's path. It was able to shoot down a stealth SNARC approaching it so it is capable of detecting objects in it's path.

One thing I always wondered, is the OBS a single orbital platform or a system of multiple platforms, with 1 or more bombardment platforms surrounded by a number of defense platforms.

You aren't the only one who has wondered that, and a number of past discussions have circled around that question.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by CRC   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:14 am

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evilauthor wrote:And from story structure point of view, the OBS is there to eliminate any temptation by the Inner Circle to break the Proscriptions early. Keep them "honest" as it were.


And that is probably the best description of the real story. I thought the concept of distributing "power" to an assembly line via compressed air was a brilliant adaptation.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by CRC   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 10:24 am

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Honorverse Shielding

If I remember the "technology" correctly, the "shielding" in the Honorverse is a grav sheer - which is a surface in 3D space that experiences a shift in gravity of several thousand g's. The roof and floor of the wedge that is created for the ship to "fall" into for propulsion. Similar to, but not identical, to artificial black holes used for propulsion - ala - the Fury universe. The ship basically is falling into a gravity well.

On the other hand, still not sure about the Honorverse in terms of particle shielding capability. They are limited in N-space to about 80%C and have actually shut down wedges and "coasted" (Buttercup) in at a high relativistic velocity with no shielding and no collisions either.

Yes, Douglas does like sand - Sandcasters in the Carrier series as well - and when boosted to relativistic speeds can be very difficult to evade and very hard to actively destroy.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by Expert snuggler   » Wed Aug 19, 2015 6:53 pm

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Owl is the domain expert on this and didn't think it possible.

On the other hand, that was when Owl was a little ... unimaginative.
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by Joat42   » Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:42 am

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SWM wrote:
Brog wrote:I would think the OBS having been in orbit for hundreds of years would have the means to self correct/adjust it's orbit. Hence it would have the means to move out of harm's way of any dangerous objects in it's path. It was able to shoot down a stealth SNARC approaching it so it is capable of detecting objects in it's path.

One thing I always wondered, is the OBS a single orbital platform or a system of multiple platforms, with 1 or more bombardment platforms surrounded by a number of defense platforms.

You aren't the only one who has wondered that, and a number of past discussions have circled around that question.

You could reason that to be able to cover the entire surface of Safehold there has to be multiple platforms but we can't know for sure until there is a solid textev for it.

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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by munroburton   » Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:30 pm

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Joat42 wrote:You could reason that to be able to cover the entire surface of Safehold there has to be multiple platforms but we can't know for sure until there is a solid textev for it.


The ISS orbits Earth in 90 minutes.

If the Rakurai's orbital inclination is at 0 deg, it can hit anywhere but the most polar regions, because its orbit won't ever pass over them. Mostly restricted to the equatorial belt, however. If at 90 deg, in a polar orbit, it will pass over all of the surface at some point due to the planet's rotation and can hit all of the surface, although it might have to wait up to a day to gain an optimal firing position.

It could still be built around multiple platforms, but one would do the job adequately if it was in the correct orbit.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polar_orbit.ogg
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Re: Taking Out the Rakurai...
Post by n7axw   » Thu Aug 20, 2015 6:37 pm

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Joat42 wrote:
You could reason that to be able to cover the entire surface of Safehold there has to be multiple platforms but we can't know for sure until there is a solid textev for it.


From a previous thread, IIRC, we established that there were six different cells to the OBS. I presumed that meant six different platforms, each able to cover a half continent at need.

Don
When any group seeks political power in God's name, both religion and politics are instantly corrupted.
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