No transporters!! Mr. Brown is way better than that.
What about a transporter? Too trekkie? Maybe there’s a design for one in the Data Ark. Somewhere around book 13? Then Jessica wont need to keep doing HALOs from orbit. Or better use would be. Jump in, transport ghatazaks, jump out, jump back in 1 hour later and the battle platform is ours!
subspace coms! That’ll be faster than even a jump com drone. But again, maybe too star trek like.
It seems like it should be possible to make something that works similar to a transporter via a jump drive. The issue being that it would have to either be a capsule that jumps to the planet and back, or can be be cold-burned like the HALO suits. The issue once again though is that jump flash would likely give them away. Definitely need to make something to suppress that flesh. Might be another benefit of the jump suit (at least when it is externally powered).
I keep veering away from the Stargate approach. You can travel between worlds without all those messy starships...
If there was one colony ship in orbit, there may be others. It may take a while to find them, but when there is one...
Lunar bases on Deimos or Phobos seem kind of likely, but your point above (Lector?) was good about burning everything down to stop the plague...
What about equipping the lunar railgun with KKVs (or whatever you are calling it now)? Take out anything in the whole system...
I like the idea of a "jump gate" not a star gate.. Distinct difference: one creates a worm hole between 2 points. The other would be a skeletal framework with emitters that can envelop any ship and jump only from 2 relatively stationary points (earth and takara). Would be great for commerce etc.
The jump gate would run on a schedule like a train.
Every planet that becomes part of the alliance would get one.
The lunar rail gun! Was this gun a design from the Data Ark? If so, would the Jung have the design now as well?
Hmm. Jump Gate has some possibilities. They have to be aligned, which is no easy trick, but it might prove really interesting. You could use "ordinary" shuttles, without the emitters, massive energy source, etc. Another benefit, perhaps: You could let, say, the Jung use the transit, but they wouldn't get the knowledge of how it works. You could have "Toll Gates" between the stars. If I was the Jung or old Takaran regimes, that would be a real benefit.
Jump gates huh?
Anyone here played Eve Online? Jump gates were used as the main method of moving from system to system. All ships bar the huge Capital ships used them. Only Carriers, Motherships & Titans had jump drives allowing jumps like Auroras.
Loved playing Eve but it's way to time consuming when you have a huge commute & kids.
It seems like a jump gate would probably look more like a giant sphere (or some other shape) just capable enough to act as a jump drive. Ships would go into the sphere through some opening that would be closed prior to jumping. Then again, it could start out as a ring then expand to as long as needed to cover the ship(s) to jump creating an ellipsoid or cylinder like shape. There are probably a few ways that this approach can increase in efficiency but the issue still seems to be that a jump gate would have to load cargo (likely ships), jump, unload cargo, load cargo, jump back, unload cargo, repeat. In either case, a jump gate would sadly be more like a jump cargo freighter but with minimal propulsion and likely be hard-coded to only jump between a limited number of places.
Oddly enough, I did some rough calculations (below) on what it might cost per jump and such a jump gate would likely be rather expensive but economically feasible depending on what is being jumped, assuming the gate had a similar energy cost and volume capacity to the Aurora. Given how far along the Jump tech is now, it seems unlikely that construction and maintenance costs would be a major issue compared to energy costs over time.
The Aurora has several nuclear power plants each probably put out around a gigawatt of power and require a few hours to build up the power required to jump. Considering today energy cost, the Aurora likely uses around $10 million worth of power for a long range jump. Given the dimensions of the Aurora, it seems like 5×10^7 cubic meters is a fair estimate for the volume of the enclosed gate. Thus the rate for pricing on a jump gate might be around $0.10/cubic meter or roughly $50/kg. About 10x the cost of shipping by air. It seems rather expensive for things that are not time sensitive though. It should however be noted that based on volume and floor space, a gate that volume dedicated to just jumping people could jump around 50,000 people at once comfortably (each person would likely pay about $200 I'd imagine) and about a million at once in emergencies.
I've been re-reading Episode #10, just because I am a love starved crack head with nothing better to do. On the Cruiser that was blown in half, and then tagged for later follow up: "A good eighty percent of her decks no longer hold pressure." I wonder if they will get some intel from survivors on those last 20% of the ship?
Also, I may not be the only one, but I had trouble keeping it straight which ship was which. Cruiser? Frigate? I did some reading, mostly Wikipedia, and of course there is a lot of stuff there. A simple rule of thumb I think would work here is ABC:
Aircraft Carrier would be the largest, if they were current surface navy ships. Perhaps Battle Platform here.
Battleship would be the largest mobile ship.
Cruiser would be next
You could make a case for Destroyer here, if Ryk used them
Eventually you get to Frigates
and Gunboats
Again, it is an oversimplification, but it helps me keep the battle clearer in my head while reading.
@Hans: A royal dynasty refers to the members of a royal family tree whom have actually ruled, rather than the entire royal family. Here is a list of dynasties for Europe. However, I’m thinking the preference is to use the family name if it is known as it contains more information than just saying “the dynasty that rules from the year X to Y”.
That being said, you may very well be right that Mr. Brown had the same view on dynasties as you, but he may not have and that was my point.
Hi Nuclearman,
I should apologize, you're right in many different ways. First I made the worst mistake one can do: I forgot about the language difference (English is not my first language -- I'm Swiss). In English you use much easier dynasty to refer to ruling families like the Habsburg which is referred in French not as the Habsburg dynasty but just "Maison de" (House of) or in German "von" (of) and I can only say it about Switzerland, maybe in France and/or Germany they can use it at some point.
I re-read the last episode and notice this time something that I missed before:
Despite its similarities to the Romansh language used in the Alps, the people of Earth had never quite figured it out,... -- Location 3784 - Kindle book
Romansh is an official language of Switzerland only spoken in The Canton of Grisons, and if we just look at the enemy's name (JUNG) which is also a German word that means "young", these two tips can send us in a complete different direction of my first assumption. German/Austrian origins? I also think they can't be Swiss because actually Grisons population represents only 2% of the Swiss population and many don't speak Romansh but one of the German's dialects spoke in Switzerland. But hell, they can be of Swiss origin also.
We'll have to wait Mr Brown give us some other tips. 🙂
First of all... WOW FRONTIERS SAGA IS IN SWITZERLAND!!! 😉
Next... In dealing with the "Dynasty" aspect... What Hans has said makes me think of the Austria-Hungry Empire and the German Empire prior to World War 1. Like Hans, I TOTALLY forget about the Romansh language statement in the book. I had postulated that the Jung were a possible offshoot of an Asian population. With Hans' input (due to my utter lack of language skills) I'm even more confused as to who the Jung may be... I love these forums!!! Just when you are thinking one thing, someone comes along and jumbles the puzzle once again!!! WOOHOO!!!
@Hans: Ah yes, that would do it.
In the end, I think it's rather clear that it won't be simple to tease out exactly what the origins of the Jung are. Then again, that might suggest that the guesses on the Jung's background may have been going in the wrong direction. The Jung may not have started from a single background, but rather a colony whose colonist came from more than one ethnicity. Alternatively, the Jung may have been influence by those within the first few systems they took.
In fact I believe now that it will be very very difficult to determine their origin and Mr. Brown has made a good research about languages (Romansh is not a language the people knows it exists even in Europe) and just to make things worst I don’t know if you are aware but in Switzerland each German Canton has its own dialect and it’s quite common that someone from Zürich will have a problem to understand someone from Wallis when both speaks their own dialects. Hopefully Standard German exists and it is the language used at school and it’s official. France too has its own dialects and they are even more different than the Swiss ones. Now think about all other European countries with their own languages and dialects.... 🙂
Changing subject, I took some notes about the Episode 10 and I have some doubts:
1. General Bacca ordered his assistant to destroy all infrastructure, left nothing that could help Earth reconstruction.
“Destroy everything. The surface missile bases, the airfields, even the spaceports. We must leave them nothing of value, the general insisted.” location 6506.
And later on Lt. Telles says:
“I did not say I had complete control over the area, the lieutenant corrected, only that I had captured the capitol building and ended the missile launches” location 6596.
Can we assume that The improvised space station and other infrastructures still available?
2. Re-reading the arrival of Mr. Hiller at Takara we can read:
“The people on this world were worried, unsure, distrusting. It did not seem the wonderful place described to him by Captain Scott only a few days ago.” location 6768.
Can we consider that the Takaran Empire is ruined and falling and that Tug won’t be able to help Nathan? Cans we also consider that the arrival of the Ark will help to save Takara and unify the PC? Any guesses?
Hans,
I was just a tourist, but the last 3 times I passed through Switzerland, it kind of seemed like you guys were giving up on the local languages and settling upon English as the common tongue. All the train signs and such had four languages on them, and English seemed to be taking over. It seemed to me like a neutral way to deal with the German, French and Italian speakers' desires to have their own language win out... But maybe that was just what I read into it as an American.
What about Lt. Telles? His soliloquy about Freedom, uttered when faced with Eli, seemed out of character. I wonder what big plans Mr. Brown has for him? Perhaps HE is the one sent back to found the PC. Him and Naralena. 🙂
As to help from the PC, the re-read of Book 10 I just finished pointed out that the Takaran fleet numbered about 20 ships, while to the Jung that is a Battle Group. The PC may provide assistance, but it is up to us (the local systems) to defeat the Jung.
Last Point: Suppose the fleet goes to Tanna and they find a smoking ruin? The Jung don't tolerate rebellion...
Hi Eric Nay,
No we are not giving up our languages (German, French, Italian and Romansh) and it will not happen at least not anytime soon.
65.6% speaks German, 22.8% speaks French, 8.4% speaks Italian and .6% speaks Romansh. If one language would be chosen, the German would be the one as more than 50% speaks it. Even our dialect are more alive than ever (a way to free ourselves from the German arrogance you should see them when they come to Switzerland; but now that Switzerland is their only neighbor offering jobs they decided to learn our dialects and not complain anymore).
About the English, as we have lots of international organizations, Companies Headquarters and 23% of the population being foreign people. The government thought it would be wise to adopt the English in train signs and many other transportations (that helps the tourists too). Exactly the same thing a see in NYC, Miami, Houston, San Antonio, LA, San Francisco, etc.: Signs in Spanish all around the towns.
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IMO, Lt. Telles will easy become an Earth Hero and even a General from Human forces. He’ll help to train the new army to defend Earth.
About the Takaran Fleet, You’re right but It’s not even a Takaran fleet anymore as Tug was given a ship to each PC world and training their inhabitants to crew them. What worries me is the last thought of Mr. Hiller before his meeting with Tug: “The people on this world were worried, unsure, distrusting. It did not seem the wonderful place described to him by Captain Scott only a few days ago.” location 6768. What Mr. Brown has in mind for them?
We already know that PC weapons are far better than the Jung ones, at least the troop ones. I imagine that Tug will send Ghatazhaks to Earth. and as many tech he can. A warship? Maybe. And at this point I agree with you that it will be to the Core Worlds to deal with the Jungs.
Tanna is safe at least for 18 months. As it was said only one or 2 ships pass by each year to refuel. One has just departed before the retake of Tanna so we can imagine it will take some time to some Jung ship shows up. When one shows up and get no response from their base and not knowing the odds to retake Tanna they will head to the nearest Jung base which I think is Alpha Centauri and only the trip will take some months. As Earth is already liberated Alpha Centauri does not have enough resources to deal with both systems (Earth and Tanna) and as Earth poses much more threat to the Jung than Tanna they’ll concentrate all their efforts on Earth. Well that’s how I see the scenario.
As the Ghatazhak have capture the Jung Battleship and there is a crippled cruiser near Jupiter which can be recover and repaired to be used by the Alliance, I think that Earth has a fair chance to defend itself from another Jung incursion in the near future. This all because I don’t think the Jung will dispatch an immediate attack when General Bacca arrives in Alpha Centauri and tell his failure in keeping the system. Jungs may be arrogant but surely not stupid.
