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Better Living Through Etheric Exploits: Technology Brainstorming/Discussion

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Heir of the Void:
They would have to amplify it on themselves enormously as well, probably between two and three orders of magnitude up, unless the lift crystals weigh about as much as the rest of the ship.

If the height is a limit of efficiency, or more probably the amount of energy it can be supplied (with a high-efficiency crystal getting more out of each watt), then there's probably another operating mechanism at play, as gravity ten miles above the surface is less than half a percent weaker than surface gravity. That would point in favor of high efficiency allowing operation in thin high-altitude ether, which means a connection between the ambient ether field and the planet or atmosphere, or between the ambient ether field and the pirate imprisoned at the center of the planet.

The only concern I have with the statement about a ship's web function as a sail is that, if that were the case, ether currents would play an enormous role in Airship combat; a large portion of naval stragety in the Age of Sail was centered around gathering a superior fleet upwind of the enemy, 'gaining the weather gauge', and using it to force him to battle. The lack of mention of an 'Ether Gauge' of any importance, or discussion of currents in airship combat stragety, makes me suspect that the ether currents are either non-euclidean in nature or don't map properly onto three-dimensional space.

Quantus:

--- Quote from: Heir of the Void on December 08, 2015, 06:46:13 PM ---They would have to amplify it on themselves enormously as well, probably between two and three orders of magnitude up, unless the lift crystals weigh about as much as the rest of the ship.

--- End quote ---
Oh certainly, it's not limited to natural /levels/ of gravity, only vector. 

--- Quote ---If the height is a limit of efficiency, or more probably the amount of energy it can be supplied (with a high-efficiency crystal getting more out of each watt), then there's probably another operating mechanism at play, as gravity ten miles above the surface is less than half a percent weaker than surface gravity. That would point in favor of high efficiency allowing operation in thin high-altitude ether, which means a connection between the ambient ether field and the planet or atmosphere, or between the ambient ether field and the pirate imprisoned at the center of the planet.

--- End quote ---
I think it has to do with the efficiency of how it converts the electricity, with the operational limit Journeyman was describing being a function of how high they could go and still have enough ether present for the Core to be able to supply enough electricity to maintain an equilibrium.  The lit crystal was sized for a ship 15 time the preddy's mass, and they said the difference is how dense and complex the crystals are. 


--- Quote ---The only concern I have with the statement about a ship's web function as a sail is that, if that were the case, ether currents would play an enormous role in Airship combat; a large portion of naval strategy in the Age of Sail was centered around gathering a superior fleet upwind of the enemy, 'gaining the weather gauge', and using it to force him to battle. The lack of mention of an 'Ether Gauge' of any importance, or discussion of currents in airship combat strategy, makes me suspect that the ether currents are either non-euclidean in nature or don't map properly onto three-dimensional space.

--- End quote ---
OK, in this I dont disagree and have no really good answer, except to say that they specifically state that the etheric sails are distinct from wind sails in that they are not subject to the directional that wind currents do and so upwind and downwind do not apply.

The Following is not indicated in the text anywhere that I can find, however the best image I can come up with for how this works is that the web is interacting with the Core and/or Shroud, or at least on a common underlying mechanism of both.  Perhaps the Core crystal gathers the ether from the ambient "currents", siphoning off what it does to convert to electricity, but also causing the flows that spiral inward toward it to spiral on out (I picture the paths seen of air going into and out of a tornado, or perhaps this old magnet demonstration I saw as a kid). Thus the Core is causing a localized current of ether that flows OUTWARD in all directions from that central point, and the Webs are latching onto this current to move, controlling it through the twin mechanisms of reeling out additional length and varying the electric charge (which is states as proportional to the etheric drag/thrust). 

The bottom line is that TAW didnt get too deep into the mechanics of etheric travel, especially given that the main ship was out of commission for the majority of the book.  Im hoping that we will get more details in the next one, which by it's title I think will center around the Airship races, and give a better opportunity to delve into the functional characteristics of airships.

kazimmoinuddin:
I wonder why power core crystals are the only ones to increase in strength due to age/use, since all crystals are apparently vat grown. It could be possible.

 So there are two explenation for lost power cores, they either were brokers so exploded or they were lost and fell to earth. Due to them gaining in strength as they age, I wonder if a ship can detect them on the ground.

Heir of the Void:
On to the next idurr:

Ripple fire is clearly effective, but it depends on precise timing by the gun crews and having each gun be able to strike the same point on the enemy vessel's Shroud. Furthermore, at close ranges, the spacing of the guns on the hull would impose a mechanical limit on the efficiency of the technique. 'Simple' geometry indicates that two rays, each drawn from a separate starting point to intersect with a target point on a given surface will not have the same incident angle; the greater the separation of the origin points relative to the distance to target, the greater the difference.

This becomes important when, as the number of guns fired increases, so does the depth of the hole bored in the enemy shroud; the greater the depth, the closer the incident angles must be for each shot to impact near the bottom of the penetration. An increasingly minor error could result in a shot striking the side of the hole and its effect being largely wasted.

Now, because improving the gun crews is beyond the scope of his discussion, the obvious solution is to use a better gun. In this context, better means bigger, and bigger means rotary cannon.

Or revolver cannon. Which one used depends on where the limiting factor on a gun's rate of fire appears; the cannon crystal or the barrel of weapons crystals. Grimm's mention of 'firing the cannon until their copper barrels melted' would suggest that the barrel is the limiting factor, as it is in real life. Fun fact; standard procedure for modern soldiers carrying the Squad Automatic Weapon is to carry several replacement barrels and, if engaged in a prolonged firefight of sufficient intensity, discard and replace the barrel of the weapon.

This solution is a bit different. Based on the same basic principle of Richard Jordan Gatling's original invention, in this device, an array of six cannon barrels and crystal assemblies are rotated in sequence past a single cannon crystal built into a water-cooled housing, possibly with a capacitor bank, if such a thing is both helpful and procurable, though the power demand would likely be about the same as a standard broadside volley.

In any case, this arrangement allows six (or more) shots to be fired in very quick succession, almost certainly faster than multiple gun crews operating with linted communication could manage with the requite accuracy, and each shot would be fired along an identical vector relative to the ship.

The largest problem is that the rotation mechanism, heat sinks, and active cooling system needed for a longer burst together most likely preclude mounting in a normal turret; to use a weapon big enough to be worthwhile, it would be best built directly into the prow of the vessel, similar to the Nova Cannon used by the Imperium of Man, though with a more sheltered internal mounting. The problem with this is that aiming the airship itself to target a distant enemy may be excessively difficult.

The first use that comes to mind is mounting such a gun on a medium-weight cruiser; large enough to mount a system of worthwhile size without undue difficultly, but agile enough to aim the gun with the speed and protection to prowl the battlespace and properly threaten enemy vessels. You could use it either as a flanker, striking an enemy capital ship from an unexpected angle while it trades fire with your own battleships, counting on its shroud being sufficiently stressed to allow the hunter to deal a telling blow, or as a Beta Strike, using it's mobility (superior compared to a battleship) to hang back and be able to quickly move to a critical point with enough firepower to matter.

As a final note, the comment about Revolver Cannons above would be if the cannon crystal imposes the key limit on fire rate; multiple cannon crystals would be rotated into position to fire through a single water-cooled barrel. It was investigated for use on fighter aircraft, but has fallen out of favor as barrel heating has become a more difficult than automatic mechanical reloading.

kazimmoinuddin:
Crystals can create and emitt heat and energy, another application is inverse gravity, can crystals absorb/transfer/store heat? Heat management is always useful.

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