Schlock Mercenary VIII: insAIne in the mAInfrAIme

[factotum]

There will be a collected Schlock Mercenary, I presume it will be expensive, but perhaps worth it.

Not so sure about that...you couldn't possibly collect all 20 books into a single volume, so what would this "collected" edition look like?

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Not so sure about that...you couldn't possibly collect all 20 books into a single volume, so what would this "collected" edition look like?

Like this?

Grey Wolf

[halfeye]

Not so sure about that...you couldn't possibly collect all 20 books into a single volume, so what would this "collected" edition look like?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Complete-Ca...gateway&sr=8-1

Something like that?

That's got a lot more reasonable lately, but it's still not cheap, though it's probably the cheapest way to get everything it contains.

[factotum]

Given how many books we're talking, it would probably be larger than the full set of ASoIaF books I have, which is pretty massive!

[Max_Killjoy]

I have every book they've published so far, with more on the way.

It's quite a brick of books when stacked together.

[HouseRules]

How about these collections?


Schlock: Has anyone seen my Sports Lustyrated "1000 Years of Swimsuit Editions" collection?



Schlock: I have some Sports Lustyrated swimsuit issues you could use.



Schlock: I've got 300 issues of Sports Lustyrated in my mouth, and I'm trying not to salivate


Joking of course.

[factotum]

I may be getting confused here, but why is the non-Toughs version of Kevyn aboard the ship? The Toughs version always has his uniform and sunglasses on.

[HorizonWalker]

Maybe Petey got confused and gave them the wrong Kevyn.

[DeTess]

Maybe Petey got confused and gave them the wrong Kevyn.

Maybe he gave them both?

[lesser_minion]

I may be getting confused here, but why is the non-Toughs version of Kevyn aboard the ship? The Toughs version always has his uniform and sunglasses on.

It was suggested early in the last book that he may have figured out how the Andromeda long gun works. And Petey is clearly pretty desperate at this point.

[sihnfahl]

It was suggested early in the last book that he may have figured out how the Andromeda long gun works. And Petey is clearly pretty desperate at this point.

Well, not the long gun, but the targeting system.

From what I understand, it's just a normal long gun but with a HUGE power system that lets it fire across the intragalactic space.

The problem has always been targeting.

[Narkis]

I may be getting confused here, but why is the non-Toughs version of Kevyn aboard the ship? The Toughs version always has his uniform and sunglasses on.

Turns out that's a good question.

[factotum]

Turns out that's a good question.

I'm just glad Howard is going to address it!

[Gez]

I'm just glad Howard is going to address it!

Eventually. But first we gotta go through a week or two of characters going on and on about how it's a question that needs to be addressed.

[HouseRules]

Given the title of Volume 20, Schlock really is getting into motion.
Which Lieutenant is he outranking now?
Lieutenant General? Lieutenant Admiral?

[PraetorDragoon]

Given the title of Volume 20, Schlock really is getting into motion.
Which Lieutenant is he outranking now?
Lieutenant General? Lieutenant Admiral?

Petey?

[Onyavar]

Petey says that the Buuthandi part is millions of years old.

What part of F'sherl-ganni culture have I missed? They were around for several hundred thousand years, torturing and guiding the civs of the Milky way. But millions of years, that's new.

[Kornaki]

Petra says that the Buuthandi part is millions of years old.

What part of F'sherl-ganni culture have I missed? They were around for several hundred thousand years, torturing and guiding the civs of the Milky way. But millions of years, that's new.

They only starting doing the torturing after their war with the Paan'uri. Presumably they were a sophisticated species before that as well.

[tonberrian]

Petra says that the Buuthandi part is millions of years old.

What part of F'sherl-ganni culture have I missed? They were around for several hundred thousand years, torturing and guiding the civs of the Milky way. But millions of years, that's new.

They've been around for millions of years in every instance they've talked about their age, I thought.

[Onyavar]

I can't remember a single instance where the F'sherl-ganni said they were around for more than a million years.

The Bradicor, yes. The Oafan, sure, although they went to their hibernation a dozen M years ago.

But it was never revealed when the Ganni-Pa'anuri war took place, and ...

... and my reread was educative. a million years? More? Yes, more. Six million years ago, in fact, was the exact time that war took place. What I remembered here was the 100.000 years mentioned in the same comic, which I mistook for the duration of their wormgate abductions, instead of the core drive.

So, okay, lesson learned.

[factotum]

OK, why does he need the water to scatter the hot gasses when he's already blocking them with that fragment of bu'uthandi material?

[DeTess]

OK, why does he need the water to scatter the hot gasses when he's already blocking them with that fragment of bu'uthandi material?

Let's imagine there's a herd of angry dinos stampeding in the direction of your village who will utterly destroy the village if even a couple dinos arrive(don't question it). Would you:
A: build a wall to hold them out.
B: build a wall to hold them out, divert a local river
to try to convince them to go around and send
in a squad of dino wranglers?

[HandofShadows]

OK, why does he need the water to scatter the hot gasses when he's already blocking them with that fragment of bu'uthandi material?

There is still stuff that will get around the shield.

[factotum]

There is still stuff that will get around the shield.

Is there? The particles in the blast front should all be travelling in straight lines, and with no atmosphere to act on it, there isn't any reason for it to close in behind the shield--the shadow should be near enough perfect.

[Max_Killjoy]

Are there multiple inhabited worlds in the system, and only one buthandi fragment left in the galaxy that's big enough to protect a world (the rest having been sent to Andromeda during Petey's efforts there)?

If so, the water trick could be for a second planet.

[halfeye]

OK, why does he need the water to scatter the hot gasses when he's already blocking them with that fragment of bu'uthandi material?

Because the bu'uthandi material was vapourised and the vapour is coming?

[Gnoman]

Is there? The particles in the blast front should all be travelling in straight lines, and with no atmosphere to act on it, there isn't any reason for it to close in behind the shield--the shadow should be near enough perfect.

The shield is probably causing significant turbulence as it blocks the blast wave, which could be causing at least some of the blast to redirect back toward the planet.

[Knaight]

Is there? The particles in the blast front should all be travelling in straight lines, and with no atmosphere to act on it, there isn't any reason for it to close in behind the shield--the shadow should be near enough perfect.

The blast wave is potentially dense enough to get collisions, which means there are pressure dynamics in play. The planet is in a low pressure zone.

[Max_Killjoy]

That orbital projection looks dire.

[Lizard Lord]

OK, why does he need the water to scatter the hot gasses when he's already blocking them with that fragment of bu'uthandi material?

Because there is no such thing as overkill.