I know we aren't at the flashpoint for flames yet 8-) but it would sure be
nice to never get there as well.
excellent and valid points about oxygen, but as for terraforming and the
presence of Oxygen in an atmosphere, it wasn't the Oxygen that came first,
it was actually single celled life that resembled modern Earths "Vent Life"
those odd ball creatures that survive the superheated volcanic plumes in
the oceans depths. So, life as we know it in our case, meant it
originated/evolved from life as we don't understand even now.
What traveler barely touches on, which is strange for a hard SF game, is
the whole "Not as e know it" conundrum. It postulated in an article which I
can't recall atm, an hydrogen/methane breathing spider like critter that
existed during the Ziru Siirka, through part of the rule of man. but due to
poor political relations was locked to a single world after a genocidal war.
That is the only nod I can recall to the whole "not as we know it" school
of thought.
but that is just distraction from the point at hand.
What is clear is that until we as a species get our lazy bums off this ball
o dirt and do some serious "lewis and clark" style exploring, we are simply
going to have to live with the best tidbits we have and simply play along
to the GMs tune and enjoy our weekend sessions without advanced chemical
knowledge.
Here is another thought for us. Fusion is a process where hydrogen is
converted up the scale of the periodic table, producing larger and more
complex elements with Energy as the side effect. so, at what tech level can
we postulate that extracting Oxygen atoms from a functioning reactor
becomes feasible?
If this is the case, a fusion reactor could be made a de-facto tool of the
terraforming process of many worlds where there is an hydrosphere, but an
inimical atmosphere.
In fact, the canonical existence of the 'fusion still' in travelers makes
that thought less of an oddity and more of a certainty IMO.
if this is food for thought, "Cruchy" anyone?
--
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for
it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their
kids pay for it."
nice to never get there as well.
excellent and valid points about oxygen, but as for terraforming and the
presence of Oxygen in an atmosphere, it wasn't the Oxygen that came first,
it was actually single celled life that resembled modern Earths "Vent Life"
those odd ball creatures that survive the superheated volcanic plumes in
the oceans depths. So, life as we know it in our case, meant it
originated/evolved from life as we don't understand even now.
What traveler barely touches on, which is strange for a hard SF game, is
the whole "Not as e know it" conundrum. It postulated in an article which I
can't recall atm, an hydrogen/methane breathing spider like critter that
existed during the Ziru Siirka, through part of the rule of man. but due to
poor political relations was locked to a single world after a genocidal war.
That is the only nod I can recall to the whole "not as we know it" school
of thought.
but that is just distraction from the point at hand.
What is clear is that until we as a species get our lazy bums off this ball
o dirt and do some serious "lewis and clark" style exploring, we are simply
going to have to live with the best tidbits we have and simply play along
to the GMs tune and enjoy our weekend sessions without advanced chemical
knowledge.
Here is another thought for us. Fusion is a process where hydrogen is
converted up the scale of the periodic table, producing larger and more
complex elements with Energy as the side effect. so, at what tech level can
we postulate that extracting Oxygen atoms from a functioning reactor
becomes feasible?
If this is the case, a fusion reactor could be made a de-facto tool of the
terraforming process of many worlds where there is an hydrosphere, but an
inimical atmosphere.
In fact, the canonical existence of the 'fusion still' in travelers makes
that thought less of an oddity and more of a certainty IMO.
if this is food for thought, "Cruchy" anyone?
--
"Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for
it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their
kids pay for it."