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Thread: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
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2018-10-14, 09:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Freefall is a (relatively) hard sci comic about a
boysquid and hisdogantropomorphised wolf. He is a daring adventurer intent on gaining wealth and fame. She is a spacecraft engineer. Together, theyfight crimecommit grand larceny for great glory (much to the chagrin of the uplifted wolf).
Recently, the main characters have been hired to track down unexplained losses in the asteroid belt and are prepping for their first journey beyond the orbit of the planet Jean.
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2018-10-15, 12:16 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2015
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- Germany
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Heh.Maybe terrans are peaceful because the stuff they build creates death rays as a byproduct.
Imagine what woulds happen if they build something that creates them deliberately..."If it lives it can be killed.
If it is dead it can be eaten."
Ronkong Coma "the way of the bookhunter" III Catacombium
(Walter Moers "Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher")
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2018-10-15, 12:31 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2015
- Location
- On the tip of my tongue
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
It strongly reminds me of Larry Niven's Known Space universe, where humans at one point abolish war and all but eradicate violence, and experience a golden age of peace...until a warlike alien species comes calling, and then it turns out humanity's peaceful spaceships accidentally carry terrible weapons:
Originally Posted by The WarriorsLast edited by Lethologica; 2018-10-15 at 12:34 PM.
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2018-10-15, 12:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Now that you mention it, Freefall does have a certain Larry Niven feel to it. And somehow, that story is the only one I remember of Larry Niven. Well, I remember the plot of The Ringworld Throne or maybe The Ringworld Engineers, but I mostly found those books a little confusing.
What surprises me is that Sam thinks humans are peaceful. How many times have people formed an angry mob with the intent of stringing Sam up without his pressure suit?
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2018-10-15, 01:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
But that's part of the traditional fun and games on his homeworld. So it's not a threat, just a ritual. Besides, the whole thing ends with ice cream.
This comic, oddly enough, is generally good about giving you a chance to look at some of the issues involved in sci-fi tropes. I hadn't given much thought to how sending most of your colonists as embryos (or genetic colonists in Freefall parlance) would effect society.
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2018-10-18, 06:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Part of why I like Freefall is its tendency to slip in social commentary and sci-fi navel gazing and still be consistently funny.
I was re-reading the early strips, and holy wow batman was Sam a lot less likeable. Maybe the right word is "maliciously incompetent". I know a lot of it is done for laughs, but I am still a little surprised that Florence didn't get seriously hurt until the hurricane.
Edit: I think this strip might be where Sam goes from being a zany and idiotic villain to just being zany and idiotic.
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2018-10-18, 11:51 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
The hard thing to remember with Sam is that he is not a human, does not think like one and has a cultural value system that is at right angles to ours. It just takes a while at the beginning for that to become clear.
I have a standing bet with one of my fellow geeks that Sam will be dead by the time this strip has had a year pass in-continuity. Of course, considering the speed of the plot, neither of us may be alive to have that dinner.
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2018-10-19, 12:14 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
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2018-10-19, 07:56 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
When did you read them (how old were you at the time)?
What surprises me is that Sam thinks humans are peaceful. How many times have people formed an angry mob with the intent of stringing Sam up without his pressure suit?
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2018-10-19, 09:25 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
We know the AI got built-in violence inhibition. Maybe the colonists were brainwashed similarly. I'm sure the mayor/governor would like nothing better.
Last edited by guttering flame; 2018-10-19 at 09:29 AM.
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2018-10-19, 10:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
I suspect it might also be cultural. They are on a just-recently really good at supporting life, and otherwise have been in a spacefaring culture where even a little violence could doom everyone (the old bullet hole in a space ship issue, or just plain 'you killed the only guy who knew how to...' scenario).
There's some sizable thought that the only way to get off this rockball we currently reside on is to become better at cooperation. I don't know if I buy it, but I can see the author putting it in their comic easily.
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2018-10-19, 02:13 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2013
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2018-10-19, 02:16 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2010
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2018-10-19, 02:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
That long? Okay, at that rate of progress we should reach the end of the year about 2175 or so. No way I have to pay out on that prime rib, but if Sam kicks early I can still collect my ribs. Odds are even more in my favor.
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2018-10-19, 02:31 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Freefall is over 20 years old. The first item in the index is
The adventure begins! 4/9/1998
At least they are going to leave the fluffy piranha at home. I think Winston bringing his dog would doom Sam.
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2018-10-22, 09:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2015
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- London, UK
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
As a point of comparison, Freefall is older than I am.
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2018-10-25, 11:17 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2015
- Location
- On the tip of my tongue
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Oh man, Niven, Pournelle, and Heinlein, all in one update, haha. (Although air not being free is a much more generic reference these days, I suppose.) Transfer station definitely makes me think of jump points in Mote in God's Eye, but I haven't read the other Niven/Pournelle collaboration/s so I don't know if there's a more specific referent.
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2018-10-26, 03:32 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2007
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- DE
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
The events in the whole strip have happened in just 29 days.
-HaJo
FLW: Oh, no. We're being rescued. How embarrassing!
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2018-10-26, 03:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
He has 2 "Day 29"s on there. I assume that the second is supposed to be "Day 30". Wow, I would have pegged at least 6 weeks as having passed.
Edit: I forgot to answer this.
I think I was in my mid to late teens (so 16 - 18). I also never read Ringworld, so I might have missed the most important one.
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2018-11-06, 09:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
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2018-11-07, 01:59 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2009
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2018-11-07, 02:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Well, she did just save every robot on the planet from drooling-idiotdom. At the same time, I am fairly certain that the energy required to move that much dust into a new solar-system is prohibitive. That is even assuming that those dust levels are even close to accurate. I suspect that the dust between us and Alpha Centauri wouldn't be enough to form a red dwarf, much less a new sun, but then I am a pessimist.
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2018-11-07, 03:10 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2009
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
So a couple of million willing robot hands can give a helping hand on their spare time when they're not helping keep up their planet's economy and human happiness. That's a drop in the ocean of resources that's needed for this. Timewise the project probably take aeons if we're very generous. I don't see the mayor and all the other planets in the area giving their resources for this.
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2018-11-07, 09:15 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Dec 2015
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
I feel that Florence is talking more pie in the sky, long term. Kind of like when she was talking about the more efficient use of suns would be to disassemble them and use them as power plant fuel.
How to capture interstellar particles is indeed the problem. How much dust is between us and Alpha Centauri depends on what you mean by between (how wide a cylinder you are drawing), but of course the wider you draw it, the harder it is to grab the stuff at the far reaches.
Not for building stars, but merely for travel, the concept was conceived of as Bussard Ramjets, which would be fusion rockets, which would use these magnetic collectors to pull in hydrogen to use as fuel. The feasibility of such things are stymied by the fact Sol sits in a low-density pocket of the galaxy, and because we haven't really perfected man-made fusion to be that super energy source we'd hoped it would be yet.
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2018-12-11, 03:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
Nice Niven joke.
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2018-12-11, 05:55 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts
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2018-12-11, 08:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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2018-12-11, 08:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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2018-12-11, 12:30 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2015
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2019-01-09, 09:10 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2013
Re: Freefall 3: Death Ray Byproducts