http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/ SFCONSIM-L Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:41:53 GMT Satan_Klaus http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81963 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81963 ... And we shouldn't just focus on just the E-Beam lathe or similar. The greatest fabrication gizmo in all times is the human hand. But humans are seldom Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:35:53 GMT Abrigon Gusiq http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81962 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81962 PostApoc, a world where games are designed and made, and humanity dies off and now 10K years later and ... Mike Tue, 10 Nov 2009 08:52:03 GMT ac_jackson http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81961 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81961 ... Depends somewhat on the nature of the feedstock. Most real-world general-purpose fabricators have _terrible_ performance (if used for mass production Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:42:26 GMT Abrigon Gusiq http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81960 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81960 X-rays and Black holes? How to capture the massive energy of an x-ray and harnass it for a Dyson sphere? Mike Abrigon - Solid Dyson Sphere, versus a dispersed Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:52:19 GMT adastragames http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81959 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81959 ... Check out things like SolidWerks in the Netherlands for making miniatures out of plastics. Even your EBF lathes are sufficient to be nearly magical in an Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:48:34 GMT adastragames http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81958 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81958 ... And that chance that theirs won't get blown up has to be influenced by (or rest on) decisions that the players make during the game. Zooming out an AV:T Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:52:07 GMT Henry Cobb http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81957 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81957 ... Note that Dyson Spheres also intercept radiation from the outside. Now, in what kind of galaxy would that be a big problem? Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:38:13 GMT Isaac Kuo http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81956 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81956 ... Well, certainly they'd have to be fast enough...how fast is fast enough, though? ... You would use them to dupe themselves until there were enough of them Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:21:55 GMT Isaac Kuo http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81955 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81955 ... I see. I was actually thinking of two different "problems". One was the lack of evidence for primordial black holes, which you've informed me is no problem Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:27:26 GMT rmrobinson1227 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81954 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81954 ... More precisely, *fast* fab gizmos. A fab gizmo is, conceptually, just an automated machine shop. Whatever you use it to make, you pay an opportunity cost Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:13:57 GMT Isaac Kuo http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81953 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81953 ... The "fab gizmos" I speculate about work don't work on nanoscales. I refer to the sort of electron beam freeform fabrication gizmo they're considering for Tue, 10 Nov 2009 03:04:05 GMT rmrobinson1227 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81952 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81952 ... I wouldn't bet on it. Ken operates under a constraint not totally unlike Hollywood. He not only has to have spaceships blow up real good, he needs to give Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:40:08 GMT rmrobinson1227 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81951 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81951 ... Even that shift grew out of AV:T related discussion, 'the stately battle of municipal parking garages.' -- Rick Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:01:04 GMT Henry Cobb http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81950 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81950 ... Any chance for laser pumped missiles this time? Sure the performance gain is marginal, but that's your margin for survival on a lancer pass. Also the Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:46:16 GMT Anthony Jackson http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81949 http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/sfconsim-l/message/81949 ... I wasn't proposing using hawking radiation. Matter falling into the black hole will radiate away large amounts of energy (mostly in the form of