Possible way to take out the OBS

Henry Brown wrote:One thing I wonder about: way back in OAR Owl told Merlin that he could not devise a plan to take out the OBS. Yet Owl has evolved over the series and is currently much more capable than in OAR. Perhaps the current Owl could think outside the box and come up with a plan that the original version could not devise?

It's remotely possible, but it's worth mentioning that OWL started off as a top-shelf TFN tactical computer. Defeating the OBS with the Cave's arsenal would have been a problem right up Early OWL's alley. Predicting social trends, re-developing old TFN technologies, running an espionage service, ordinary language interface, all of these are the kinds of things he's developed into being able to do.

Maybe figuring out how to talk the OBS into giving up is some new technique - waaaaay outside the box! - that could be opened up by his new development. But I'm not optimistic about that avenue.

Didn't Nimue consider the Rapier-class computers to be, well, not the sharpest hammers in the bag?

Today's OWL has a symbiotic relationship with Nahrmann. That could make a difference.

Expert snuggler wrote:Didn't Nimue consider the Rapier-class computers to be, well, not the sharpest hammers in the bag?

Today's OWL has a symbiotic relationship with Nahrmann. That could make a difference.

I think the laskluster reputation that way was for being lousy at getting people's verbal cues, conversational implications, rhetorical questions, etc., rather than being mediocre as tac computers.

Dauntless wrote:if it can detect and destroy stealthy snarcs then why do you assume it can not track and eliminate space junk that just happens to be about to hit it?

A kinetic strike wouldn't be easy to disrupt. Enough rocks, moving at sufficient speed, would easily take it out despite its built-in defenses. Owl would just have to crunch the numbers to make it work. Actually taking the OBS would be easy since they already have fabrication facilities and access to orbit. I can't remember where on here, but RFC said that he had a number of ideas on how Merlin could easily knock out the OBS.

The problem is that it's the one action guaranteed to wake up whatever is under the Temple and set them on alert. One of the FAQ entries notes that "unless they're in a position to conclusively take out the Temple — and anything under it — once the bombardment system has been neutralized, neutralizing the system is far more likely to prove disastrous than beneficial." So they can plan out a method for neutralizing the OBS, but they won't implement it until they're set to take the Temple and physically isolate any systems underneath it.

http://www.davidweber.net/faqs/index/page:4/series:6

What's the Thing Under The Temple going to do without an OBS? Speak harshly?

The TUTT might give orders to the Church of Clyntahn, but that doesn't work like it used to.

It might have nukes and a delivery system, but who would invest in that capability when there was already an OBS?

The most dangerous thing I can imagine offhand would be a large high-tech fab module.

Henry Brown wrote:One thing I wonder about: way back in OAR Owl told Merlin that he could not devise a plan to take out the OBS. Yet Owl has evolved over the series and is currently much more capable than in OAR. Perhaps the current Owl could think outside the box and come up with a plan that the original version could not devise?

Key phrase "with available resources". We did not learn what resources are limiting or what might be done about the resource shortage.

Expert snuggler wrote:What's the Thing Under The Temple going to do without an OBS? Speak harshly?

The TUTT might give orders to the Church of Clyntahn, but that doesn't work like it used to.

It depends on just what the TUTT is.

A 250 foot tall hologram of Langhorne or Schuler preaching fire and brimstone might stir more support for the Go4 than you think.

jgnfld wrote:Welcome.

Orbits don't typically decay as a result of an attack with crashes of an entire system/ship/structure down on to the planet except in movies. Well structures around Sphinx are a partial exception, I guess.

Anyway, the system will remain invulnerable as long as the author needs it to be!!!

I think what happened with the Yawata strike wasn't a case of orbit decaying at all. Rather, I think it was Newton's third law at work. Big boom, pieces fly away. Some are pushed faster, they move into a higher orbit. Some are pushed slower, they move into a lower orbit. Some are pushed sideways and simply change the orbital plane.

The ones that are pushed lower are of great importance as they touch atmosphere and come crashing down. The others are simply debris--and we saw they were doing emergency debris cleanup.

Expert snuggler wrote:What's the Thing Under The Temple going to do without an OBS? Speak harshly?

The TUTT might give orders to the Church of Clyntahn, but that doesn't work like it used to.

It might have nukes and a delivery system, but who would invest in that capability when there was already an OBS?

The most dangerous thing I can imagine offhand would be a large high-tech fab module.

Well, a fabrication module would certainly be... unpleasant, since it could be used to build all sorts of things. Like PICAs and a new OBS. But the bigger problem is that the TUTT would be able to effectively roll back all of the progress Merlin has made in one stroke by declaring it anema. And on Safehold, when a returning angel speaks, people would listen. That'd be deadlier than any bomb.

Merlin would wind up having to go back to sleep for a few more centuries to try again.

msmitsc wrote:Has anyone thought of reflecting the laser defense system of the OBS back on it. All it would take would be laser quality mirrors set up in the X,Y Z axis. Released in an orbit that would bring them close enough to trigger the defense lasers, this would result in any laser fired at the reflectors being sent right back to the source.

Of course this action could cause the system to wake up what ever is sleeping under the early.

Another problem is that even if the OBS is damaged into a nonworking state. The orbit of the entire system could decay leading to an uncontrolled MASSIVE strike on the surface.

So my suggestion is that OWL constructs a swarm of these reflectors to have on standby to be released into orbit take out the OBS if needed for a last ditch defense.

What are the odds the mirror would be aimed EXACTLY at the lasersat, so as to destroy the sat before the mirror melts? And while this is happening, what are the other lasersats doing?
The only idea I've heard that comes close to working is instead of a cloud of large debris, go in with nanites programmed to eat important systems from the inside. And even this plan probably wouldn't work.