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OBS Invulnerable?

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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by Caliban   » Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:03 pm

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XofDallas wrote:To my mind, there has to be some mechanism, probably located in or under the Temple, by which the orbital defense system can be turned off.


In all probability, that's exactly where it's located- just can't quite see the Go4, or the temple guard, for that matter - allowing folks to go wandering around looking for the off switch.The idea of a second command center hidden somewhere in the Mountains of Light makes sense, but IIRC there's no textev to suggest one.

While not necessarily 'invulnerable' per se, it's not going to be taken out externally with the means and methods currently available to Merlin or the Empire.
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by n7axw   » Thu Sep 25, 2014 4:48 pm

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Caliban wrote:
XofDallas wrote:To my mind, there has to be some mechanism, probably located in or under the Temple, by which the orbital defense system can be turned off.


In all probability, that's exactly where it's located- just can't quite see the Go4, or the temple guard, for that matter - allowing folks to go wandering around looking for the off switch.The idea of a second command center hidden somewhere in the Mountains of Light makes sense, but IIRC there's no textev to suggest one.

While not necessarily 'invulnerable' per se, it's not going to be taken out externally with the means and methods currently available to Merlin or the Empire.


You are right so far as the textev goes. Someone suggested something up thread about snarcs... Owl did try a snarc and lost it during OAR. But what about a swarm of those little parasites Merlin keeps having Owl plant on people he wants to spy on? That's a thought anyway.

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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by InvisibleBison   » Fri Sep 26, 2014 11:50 pm

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n7axw wrote:Owl did try a snarc and lost it during OAR. But what about a swarm of those little parasites Merlin keeps having Owl plant on people he wants to spy on? That's a thought anyway.


While the parasites are mobile, their mobility seems to be fairly limited - hopping from a wall to someone's shoulder and that sort of thing. I doubt they're capable of orbital maneuvering. But assuming that Owl did somehow get a parasite on the OBS, what would he do with it? They can carry a tiny bomb, true, but there's no way that would be enough to disable the OBS. And their only other capability is reconnaissance - not particularly useful here.
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by cralkhi   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 6:34 am

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I still like my 'shred it with shrapnel' idea. I think you could make solid rockets without electricity, and they wouldn't even have to be orbital - just reach the OBS's altitude suborbitally - the huge relative velocity would only help their destructive power.

I'm sure the OBS has anti-meteor defenses, but there must be a limit to how many objects it can shoot down.
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by 2006davidhh   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 7:16 am

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cralkhi wrote:I still like my 'shred it with shrapnel' idea. I think you could make solid rockets without electricity, and they wouldn't even have to be orbital - just reach the OBS's altitude suborbitally - the huge relative velocity would only help their destructive power.

I'm sure the OBS has anti-meteor defenses, but there must be a limit to how many objects it can shoot down.


Why? At least in terms of the weight of attack Charis could produce - even using skimmers to solve the getting weapons into orbit/high orbit. And then there is the targeting and guidance problem for attacking the weapon cells. Presumably there are a number of units in the array only some of which are for bombardment.

I see no likelihood of an effective brute force approach.
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by Annachie   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 9:22 am

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No, don't ruin my image of Charis building a huge canon, ala Jules Verne, but for shooting at the OBS. :)
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by Dilandu   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:53 pm

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Hm, just think about one thing about the Rakurai. According to the map,

http://www.davidweber.net/files/downloa ... oldMap.jpg

The Armageddon Reef is pretty big itself. The ammount of energy, used during bombardment must be... enormous.

How does the destruction of Alexandria (all subcontinent, to be exact) affect the Safehold ecology? Such gigaton-scale bombardment should be pretty bad for ecology. The nuclear winter is possible; the great impact on the ocean waters chemistry also (and so on the planet ecology), and the ammount of dust in atmosphere may just turn the Safehold into another form of Grayson, due to widspread intoxication.

So... was Langhrone really so mad, that he risked the all planet just to settle some scores (and in this case, why his own followers support him?), or something simply gone wrong with their jury-rigged OBS?
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by Dilandu   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:58 pm

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I still like my 'shred it with shrapnel' idea. I think you could make solid rockets without electricity, and they wouldn't even have to be orbital - just reach the OBS's altitude suborbitally - the huge relative velocity would only help their destructive power.


There is a problem. Firts: the OBS platform may be on the geostationary orbits, or even placed in Lagrange points of Safehold-Langhorne system. The latter is more effective, because in L4 or L5 is stable, and Rakurai platforms could be here almost endlessly.

I don't think the suborbital rocket would work well on the distance of tenth of thousand km. And it became a target for Rakurai laser defense as soon as it leave the atmosphere.
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by mh1   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 1:02 pm

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Might it be possible for Owl to devise a way to break in to the command and control loop.....?

or..

break it, as the control center seems to be the temple, ie one place......
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Re: OBS Invulnerable?
Post by Dilandu   » Sat Sep 27, 2014 1:07 pm

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mh1 wrote:Might it be possible for Owl to devise a way to break in to the command and control loop.....?


Almost completely impossible. First, there should be a C&C loop to play with. For now, the platforms refused to react at all.

Secondly, the communication attempt from the planet would undoubtely be considered VERY suspicious by the platforms. Let's not forget, that the platforms survived the War against Fallen - when the attempt to take control of them was much more probable.
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Oh well, if shortening the front is what the Germans crave,
Let's shorten it to very end - the length of Fuhrer's grave.

(Red Army lyrics from 1945)
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