The Map Game

[Pilot]

Vac-Train crash in South Britfraca.

A Vac-Train has crashed in South Britfraca killing a total of 1,567. We immediately ban all Vac-Trains in any part of South Britfraca including the Ascension Islands. This has meant the closure of the Trans-Atlantic tunnel, the line through Arabia and the line through Iberia.

[Emperor Jake]

Airliner crash in the USAf kills 1,642 people! All flying vehicles are now banned from the USAf, and all space bound passengers and goods are limited to the space elevator. The nation is now essentially isolated from the world, apart from communication, ships and a few roads and old rail lines. Take THAT, world economy!
Since the USAf has many manufacturing industries, there is now an extreme shortage of many goods all over the world...

Actually, forget all the above (apart from the accident, it still happened). It's just too silly to overreact because of one crash.

But seriously, closing the entire network due to one little crash?

Well, we are going to run vactrains through your nation regardless! You didn't read the fine print in the contract involving the USAf's involvement in the construction of all the lines:

The ground upon which the Maglev or Vactrain lines are constructed becomes the sovereign land of the International Maglev Network Trust. This is put in place to protect the tracks from political issues.
The Highest Contributing Nation (in this case the United States of Africa) reserves the right to take control of the land upon which the tracks are built in such a situation.

Therefore, the land upon which the tracks are built is no longer part of the nation of South Britfraca, as stipulated in the contract.

EDIT:
This only applies to the lines that I actually drew - so the line through Rohan, Italy and WSA's own line are not covered. The IMN tracks in the nations of Pottsania, WSA, Newland, etc are unaffected because those nations currently have no problem with the tracks. If you do try anything, the vactrain lines essentially become part of the USAf.
Any attack on a International Maglev Network (IMN) Line is considered to be an act of war upon the USAf!

[Voyager One]

BREAKING NEWS!

The Earth Spacedock is complete! After 36 years, engineers fix the last bolt on the station. A grand opening will be held in 30 days, we invite all friendly nations' leaders to join us for the festivities.

Earth Spacedock.jpg (28.19 KiB) Viewed 2434 times

/OT/ I've checked - I've started the building on October 11th, today is the 23rd - 12 days = 36 years so don't even think about vetoing it!

[Jacko]

the corsh empire wishes to show off its M.A.R.S. Base on your new dock, providing theres somewhere to keep it. (LOL)

also the Corsh Empire thinks the whole vac-train argument is silly, im not vetoing it, its just silly

[Voyager One]

What do you mean by wanting to "show off your base on the Spacedock?" The Spacedock is a huge facility with a whole space-shipyard inside that upper saucer section. Do you want to build pieces of your base inside and then assembly it outside? That could be done.

In other news:
Using the previously gathered knowledge of the caterpillar spacedrive, dr. Bussard of the Rohan Space Institute has constructed a device he has appositely called a Bussard Collector. It is a set of coils that generate a magnetic field that channel interstellar hydrogen particles into this collector. These particles are then used as fuel in the matter/antimatter reactor. Together with mr. Cochrane, they will install these devices on the Phoenix and make a test flight. If this technology will work, it will drastically decrease the need for matter "fuel tanks" as it could be replenished in flight.

[Pilot]

@Emperor Jake: That was never signed by us. That was signed by the Transport Minister of the ex-CSA. We believe.a new contract should be drawn for us to sign.

[APDAF]

Am I still in the game or not?

[Emperor Jake]

The Earth Spacedock is a grand achievement indeed. The UES Commodore will attend the opening ceremonies, as will the President of the USAf. We commend all the nations involved in the UESPA who contributed in some way in making this possible (even if they didn't do anything directly, but they did develop some important technologies)

@Emperor Jake: That was never signed by us. That was signed by the Transport Minister of the ex-CSA. We believe.a new contract should be drawn for us to sign.

Well, you didn't read the other parts of the contract, specifically the part which says it still applies if the land is taken over by another government.

If the Sovereign Land in which the line is constructed was to change jurisdiction, e.g. an invasion, government reform, or government change, the new jurisdiction must sign this contract or the ownership of the land upon which the lines are built will be transferred to the Highest Contributing Nation (in this case the United States of Africa)

So if you refuse to sign it, the maglev/vactrain lines will become part of the USAf, and any attack upon them will be considered an act of war.

HOWEVER: We are willing to negotiate over the terms of a new contract, please state your propositions.

Am I still in the game or not?

Probably not, since you're not actually playing.

[Pilot]

We would like the part where the track is no longer part of our nation removed. We are also allowing a restart in the Vac-Trains in South Britfraca.

[Voyager One]

Those Bussard collectors on the Phoenix have worked fine. Although there is still need for hydrogen fuel tanks on board ships, they can be drastically decreased in size and capacity because of the interstellar hydrogen absorption. We have calculated these tanks can be decresed by 63% in capacity withouth interfering with the ship's flying capabilities.

Rohan has started building it's first true spaceship, actually two of them, the RSS Alpha and RSS Beta. They will be built entirely on the Spacedock, making the construction and launch much easier. The Alpha will be a passenger version, the Beta a cargo version.
It has been designed according the following specifications:
Dimensions: length 45m, width 26m (inner hull 6m), height 6.3m
Number of decks: 1
Max speed: Warp 1.2
Hull protection: standard hull polarization
Crew: 4
RSS Alpha capacity: 20 passengers
RSS Beta capacity: 150 tons of cargo

RSS Alpha NX-001.jpg (26.96 KiB) Viewed 2350 times

After completion (estimates say 3-4 months), they will first be thoroughly tested and if they pass more of them will be built. We are planning to send a "fleet" of them towards Alpha Centauri and begin colonization there.


Rohan moonbase news:
After several failed tests, we have succesfully fired the plasma cannon, intercepting and destroying a small rogue asteroid (it wasn't a threat to Earth but we used it for testing). Although the asteroid was small, only about 50 metres in diameter, we have fired the cannon at 15% yield only. This test proves this cannon to be a valuable resource against possible threats to Earth. We urge other UESPA members to further research this technology.

[Emperor Jake]

We commend Rohan for building these new starships. They will surely be important in continuing the development of new technology. As a fellow UESPA nation, we will gladly help you with developing both this and the plasma cannon technology.
One question though: We are very confused by the "Max Speed" Does this mean the ship won't go any faster or something? Why limit it?
The UES Commodore, for instance, is a much larger ship having five decks plus 2-level cargo hold. Its top speed is whatever it can accelerate to in a reasonable amount of time and while it does this it guzzles large amounts of Helium-3. it can get to Alpha Centauri in a matter of weeks.

Speaking of which, no trace of the lost UES Discovery has been found yet. We recommend that you take care when launching interstellar missions, we still don't know exactly what's out there.

The UES Admiral has been fitted with a Helium-3+Lithium-6 reactor. This enables it to be more powerful and fuel efficient because the product (a proton) of the He3+Li6 reaction can be reacted again with another Li6, creating more energy. Li6 is expensive to produce, however, a deposit has been found on an asteroid from which Li6 can be extracted.

@A321Pilot: Okay, the tracks are and will remain fully under your jurisdiction. However, any attack or sabotage upon them will still be considered an act of war upon the USAf.

[Voyager One]

First of all, edited my previous post, a typo. RSS Beta has a payload of 150 tons, not 1000. It's a small ship.

We are very confused by the "Max Speed"

Max speed in this case is the max speed. These ships cannot go faster than that without getting ripped apart by torsion and drag forces - no matter how weak they are in space, they still exist and they increase in power as the ship's speed increases. There is always a moment when the drag becomes equal to the acceleration and hull stress becomes too big for the ship to bear.

This technology is very different from Helium-3 or Helium-6 reactor technology and it's still in very early stages of development. However, we are constantly researching and developing it further and we expect it to surpass other spacedrives very soon.

Its top speed is whatever it can accelerate to in a reasonable amount of time and while it does this it guzzles large amounts of Helium-3

Let's put it this way. How big are the fuel tanks on those ships? Yes, the Alpha is "smallish" but her fuel tanks have a capacity of only 8.5 m3, 5 m3 for antimatter, 3.5 m3 for matter - that's all she needs for about 2 or 3 years of service. The quantities of A/AM needed to make the reactor work are extremely small.

And to explain the fuel tank size differences. Although matter and antimatter MUST BE ALWAYS "mixed" in a 1:1 ratio, the matter (hydrogen) fuel tank is smaller because the difference of mass can be gathered with the Bussard collectors. Actually, the hydrogen tank could be even smaller as it could be gathered more interstellar hydrogen but we don't want to risk for now.

[APDAF]

There are not drag forces in space.

[Voyager One]

Really? Better take a look at this.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 111AAfdroI

We can only speculate and assume what happens at speed of light and faster. I prefer to assume that drag increases exponentially in FTL.

[APDAF]

I do not trust and use that site.

[Voyager One]

No comment.

[Pottsy]

Pottsanian Prime minister's Birthday on 25th Oct
He invites other politicians bowling on the 26th

[Emperor Jake]

First of all, edited my previous post, a typo. RSS Beta has a payload of 150 tons, not 1000. It's a small ship.

We are very confused by the "Max Speed"

Max speed in this case is the max speed. These ships cannot go faster than that without getting ripped apart by torsion and drag forces - no matter how weak they are in space, they still exist and they increase in power as the ship's speed increases. There is always a moment when the drag becomes equal to the acceleration and hull stress becomes too big for the ship to bear.

This technology is very different from Helium-3 or Helium-6 reactor technology and it's still in very early stages of development. However, we are constantly researching and developing it further and we expect it to surpass other spacedrives very soon.

I understand. Another question: How long does it take for your ships to attain their top speed? The UES Commodore class reaches above Warp 1.2 for a few hours, halfway en route to Alpha Centauri. After the halfway point, the engines are put into full reverse to decelerate the starship towards the destination at the same rate it has accelerated. It can of corse coast along without using engine power, but this takes much longer and is more fuel efficient.

The ore transports from Mimas and the asteroid belt use a coasting method.
In fact, a new heavy transport system is being developed so as not to waste engines while they're attached to a coasting ore container. The containers will be pushed to speed in the direction by tugs fitted with new pulse engines, and then let go to coast to the destination themseves, using gravitational assist when possible. At the other end, anoter tug catches up with the speeding container and uses another pulse to slow the mass back down to a stop.

The UES Admiral will be fitted with an "aerodynamic" cowling in order to try and reduce drag in space. It is thought the effects will be negligible, but it's worth an experiment.

[SprungGeoduck21]

Pottsanian Prime minister's Birthday on 25th Oct
He invites other politicians bowling on the 26th

Happy birthday! Count me in for the bowling!

[Voyager One]

Pottsanian Prime minister's Birthday on 25th Oct
He invites other politicians bowling on the 26th

"Count me in! Can't wait to kick some bowl's a**!!!"
President Chukkie Noris

I understand. Another question: How long does it take for your ships to attain their top speed?

Almost immediately, it's a matter of 5-6 seconds.

As for the acceleration effect on the crew, those CSA inertial buffers are working great after Cochrane has upgraded them.


RSS Alpha has been built and launched. Testing flights are in progress. RSS Beta has been slightly delayed due to some design flaws.