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  1. - Top - End - #61
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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kornaki View Post
    It would still be a little weird if you have a strategic weapon that is the linchpin of your entire war effort, and you don't at least think about building a backup. The backup just needs to be a little smaller than the main weapon for the statement to be true. I agree it suggests that there isn't anything close in size though.
    i don't think it was a linchpin in their strategy, but still a very powerful card.

    They didn't have to send the fleet in against Petey's nodes, IIRC. The hypercannon took out one of Petey's power nodes without any assistance; it took a few weeks to charge, but once they had a firing solution, pop.

    The fleet, I believe, was just going to be on an extermination mission (the paa'nuri noted they would have to kill all of the baryonic lifeforms anyway), which is easier to do than use the hypercannon when Petey learned not to use things that could be targeted by it for a normal power source.

    Ah, and I forgot this little gem: when they took out the Shoemaker-levy with non-baryonic missiles.
    Last edited by sihnfahl; 2020-06-14 at 05:39 PM.
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  2. - Top - End - #62
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Looking at the comic again -- as someone noted above, it's possible that this hacked shot was lined up to take out the weapon itself and at least one node of the core generator, as the line of the shot is right back down the power feed.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

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  3. - Top - End - #63
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Stop teasing us, Howard!
    The name is "tonberrian", even when it begins a sentence. It's magic, I ain't gotta 'splain why.

  4. - Top - End - #64
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by tonberrian View Post
    Stop teasing us, Howard!
    One of those instances in which the characters and the reader might be feeling something very similar.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

    Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.

    The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.

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  5. - Top - End - #65
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Uh-oh. They're only six light-minutes away from a thing the size of a solar system that got blowed up? That does not sound like good news!

  6. - Top - End - #66
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    Uh-oh. They're only six light-minutes away from a thing the size of a solar system that got blowed up? That does not sound like good news!
    By a directional beam, albiet one on its 'broad' setting. So it wouldn't destroy everything, just enough to make control unworkable. Hopefully for a very very long time.

    Added: Oh, and Petey lost his capital ships, so he isn't going to take control either.
    Last edited by Windscion; 2020-06-15 at 04:10 AM.

  7. - Top - End - #67
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Windscion View Post
    By a directional beam, albiet one on its 'broad' setting.
    I'm not concerned about the remnants of the beam, I'm thinking about the shockwave spreading out from the gun itself exploding. If you're standing next to a bomb it doesn't really matter to you if the bullet that sets it off was really carefully aimed, you're still in trouble!

  8. - Top - End - #68
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Kornaki View Post
    It would still be a little weird if you have a strategic weapon that is the linchpin of your entire war effort, and you don't at least think about building a backup. The backup just needs to be a little smaller than the main weapon for the statement to be true. I agree it suggests that there isn't anything close in size though.
    With the amount of resources likely involved building a backup would have delayed their attack significantly though allowing Petey to build more of a foothold in their galaxy and maybe even discovering it. So maybe they decided to strike fast instead.

  9. - Top - End - #69
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    I'm not concerned about the remnants of the beam, I'm thinking about the shockwave spreading out from the gun itself exploding. If you're standing next to a bomb it doesn't really matter to you if the bullet that sets it off was really carefully aimed, you're still in trouble!
    Well, Ennesby is going with "You're gonna want to see this!" and not "Ok, we need to be somewhere else now," so it would appear he is at least not too concerned. And I think the main issue there would be potentially shrapnel, not an energy blast - they blew up a physical object, not set off a bomb, and while it's a *big* physical object the odds of being hit by a chunk of it that was not specifically aimed at them from a distance of several light minutes are pretty negligible


    Edit: Actually I forgot about Space being Really, Really, Really Big. Anything physical coming off the destruction is not only enormously unlikely to be on a collision course with them, it's going to require something in the area of days to get there, as it won't be traveling anywhere near relativistic speeds. And the energy front will be greatly attenuated by the time it reaches their observation station, if there is any of it functionally left - the transuranic materials the Paanuri build with so they can even interact with the baryonic realm should handle that easily, let alone if the station/node they're in has any capacity for shields or gravitic controls that could be used to help absorb it.
    Last edited by tyckspoon; 2020-06-15 at 05:52 PM.

  10. - Top - End - #70
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    I'm not concerned about the remnants of the beam, I'm thinking about the shockwave spreading out from the gun itself exploding. If you're standing next to a bomb it doesn't really matter to you if the bullet that sets it off was really carefully aimed, you're still in trouble!
    They're in space, so there won't be a shockwave.
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  11. - Top - End - #71
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    But there is a blast front.
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  12. - Top - End - #72
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by HandofShadows View Post
    But there is a blast front.
    Eh, they'll be fine.

    Nothing'll be Gone with the blastwave.
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  13. - Top - End - #73
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Um. Being in the same system as an explosion THAT big is inadvisable. I'm not sure there IS a minimum safe distance for "viewing" supernova. Not without some serious delays. That core generator very well might still turn unusable.

    Edit: Yeaaaaaah. We're talking LIGHTYEARS away to survive.
    Last edited by tonberrian; 2020-06-15 at 08:06 PM.
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  14. - Top - End - #74
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by tonberrian View Post
    Um. Being in the same system as an explosion THAT big is inadvisable. I'm not sure there IS a minimum safe distance for "viewing" supernova. Not without some serious delays. That core generator very well might still turn unusable.

    Edit: Yeaaaaaah. We're talking LIGHTYEARS away to survive.
    Yeah, the lethal radius on this one's a doozy... if it's nearby any of the Andromeda core generator nodes, the DMEs are going to loose that too.

    I think this is the the biggest BOOM the Toughs have ever been responsible for.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

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  15. - Top - End - #75
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Looking at the appropriate "What If", I am fairly certain that they would die from neutrinos.
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    Rockphed said it well.
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  16. - Top - End - #76
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Alright, yeah, time to try to achieve minimum safe distance. Hope they were able to bring down TAD in that station.

  17. - Top - End - #77
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Six light-minutes away from a supernova-level explosion? Yeah, that is most definitely a place they no longer want to be!

    Quote Originally Posted by Rockphed View Post
    Looking at the appropriate "What If", I am fairly certain that they would die from neutrinos.
    The explosion has the power of a supernova, but isn't actually one, so we don't know if it generated neutrinos in the same way a supernova would.
    Last edited by factotum; 2020-06-16 at 02:22 AM.

  18. - Top - End - #78
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    So today's joke is that Ennesby is an idiot.
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  19. - Top - End - #79
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    BlackDragon

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Something just occurred to me. It's a bit meaningless for Kevin to immediately say that a Type IIn supernova produces that much energy, because they vary--it depends on the mass and makeup of the pregenitor star. Type I supernovas are the ones which always produce the same energy output. Also a bit pointless him putting such a precise value on the energy anyway, given that Ennesby already said it was a guess how big the explosion would be.

  20. - Top - End - #80
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Narkis View Post
    So today's joke is that Ennesby is an idiot.
    He's an entertinment AI. Different priorities.

  21. - Top - End - #81
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    I think this is the the biggest BOOM the Toughs have ever been responsible for.
    Pretty sure they boomed an entire universe already :-)
    Not "fire at". I never used the word "at"
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  22. - Top - End - #82
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Oh my, the hindsight and foreshadowing.

    https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-06-29

    I'm here to shoot somebody, or eat somebody. Both if I'm lucky.
    You're here to arm me, aim me, and sometimes tell me what not to shoot.

    ... That is such a good description of what happened.
    Not "fire at". I never used the word "at"
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  23. - Top - End - #83
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by keybounce View Post
    Oh my, the hindsight and foreshadowing.

    https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2019-06-29

    I'm here to shoot somebody, or eat somebody. Both if I'm lucky.
    You're here to arm me, aim me, and sometimes tell me what not to shoot.

    ... That is such a good description of what happened.

    "If that's the only thing I ruin today, we'll all be way ahead."

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  24. - Top - End - #84
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by keybounce View Post
    Pretty sure they boomed an entire universe already :-)
    The DMBs did that. Not any of the Toughs.
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by factotum View Post
    Something just occurred to me. It's a bit meaningless for Kevin to immediately say that a Type IIn supernova produces that much energy, because they vary--it depends on the mass and makeup of the pregenitor star. Type I supernovas are the ones which always produce the same energy output. Also a bit pointless him putting such a precise value on the energy anyway, given that Ennesby already said it was a guess how big the explosion would be.
    I presume that's more for the benefit of Tagon/the audience who aren't astronomers or physicists, and that the Toughs should probably try to be somewhere else within 3 minutes.
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  26. - Top - End - #86
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Sometimes Ennesby is trying so hard to come up with the clever or precise solution, that he misses the simple direct solution.
    It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.

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  27. - Top - End - #87
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Max_Killjoy View Post
    Sometimes Ennesby is trying so hard to come up with the clever or precise solution, that he misses the simple direct solution.
    I tend to do the same.
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  28. - Top - End - #88
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    DwarfClericGuy

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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    I mean even if he couldn't turn it off for some reason, they have 3 minutes to blow it up themselves and port out. Which seems infinitely preferable to trying to time the jump for when the elevator hits...I know that doesn't work, it's a metaphor...

    Also, shame Pi isn't there. I always figured if anyone set off a supernova or equivalent, it'd be him. Or that he'd get to watch.

  29. - Top - End - #89
    Ettin in the Playground
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    Quote Originally Posted by Thomas Cardew View Post
    I mean even if he couldn't turn it off for some reason, they have 3 minutes to blow it up themselves and port out. Which seems infinitely preferable to trying to time the jump for when the elevator hits...I know that doesn't work, it's a metaphor...

    Also, shame Pi isn't there. I always figured if anyone set off a supernova or equivalent, it'd be him. Or that he'd get to watch.
    He can always demand to watch, and be told to wait until the light is visible from his own galaxy.

    Which it will... and which he has to not blow himself up if he wants to live long enough to see it.

  30. - Top - End - #90
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    Default Re: Schlock Mercenary X: The Mundivore, or, "Eat it"

    ...Huh. If they blow up the core generator, and this seems like they just might have, they'll be stuck in Andromeda forever. Unless Petey can build a ship big enough to teraport them back, at least...
    The name is "tonberrian", even when it begins a sentence. It's magic, I ain't gotta 'splain why.

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