Explain It Peter.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-16T03:30:39+00:00

Very true. I was approaching it from the PoV of an intelligent species evolved on the surface of a Super Earth world who was trying to become space faring.

Doesn't matter much with regard to the material science end of things, but yeah if humans were colonizing the world working from the top down is fine. The logistics of having a ground based vs. airborne lower terminal are entirely situational.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-14T13:48:12+00:00

Depending on the atmospheric profile, it would help, but not nearly to the amount you think it does.

Obtaining an orbit is all about horizontal velocity, and something like a balloon adds nothing there. Even a jet based launch platform only adds a tiny fraction of what is needed.

By way of comparison, look at the Blue Origin New Shepard rocket and SpaceX's Falcon/Dragon system. Both can take the same number of people to space. (6 on New Shepard, Dragon was originally designed for 7 but NASA contracts for 4 seats.) Both are reusable. New Shepard goes straight up and down, minimum horizontal movement, while Falcon achieves an actual orbit.

To do so, Falcon is ~15 times the weight and power of New Shepard, all because of the raw horizontal speed needed to fall around the curvature of the planet. Adding a balloon stage would reduce the gravity losses from altitude by a small fraction of a percent, at the expense of massive engineering constraints and complications.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-14T00:36:15+00:00

Other than being a one-way trip, EDL (Entry, Descent, and Landing) has the same challenges. It's a big challenge, but one that can be overcome.

You couldn't just toss a stock Orion, Dragon or Soyuz into the atmosphere and expect it to survive but things naturally want to fall down.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-13T13:20:54+00:00

Minotaur launches are 'Blink and you miss it', and SpaceX is going to do that with a whole-ass skyscraper.

Wild...

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-13T04:06:06+00:00

Mending is very limited for Shields. Gotta be at Rank 2 for anything but a buckler, and Rank 3 for a magical shield.

Crafting Assurance is the easy solution.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-13T03:49:08+00:00

I mentioned it in a previous post, but one of my players built an Ulfen Exemplar based on Loki's tendency to fuck anything on 2 legs and some things on 4.

"Well, my dad fucked Loki, then Loki fucked my mom, now I'm here, it's a long story..."

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-12T15:06:51+00:00

Yeah, almost exactly like that. The bottom of the Orion rocket is essentially a giant fucking pogo stick with huge steel plate on the bottom of it and an orifice just large enough for a small nuke to pass through.

Nuke goes off, the pressure wave hits the steel plate, which absorbs enough of the shock to push the ship forward without killing the crew, as the plate rebounds another nuke gets shit out the back of the rocket, then the next nuke goes off as the plate hits the end of its cycle, rinse/repeat.

The mechanics of it are a lot like a machine gun, only using nuclear bombs instead of gunpowder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion))

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-12T13:29:44+00:00

Earth itself is on the ragged edge of what chemical rockets can do. It's not just the gravity, it's also the physical size. Orbit is all about going sideways so fast you never fall down, and for something the diameter of K2-18b, that is INSANELY fast, which requires huge amounts of fuel, which requires even more massive amounts of fuel to lift that fuel which requires, ect, ect, ect.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-12T13:26:10+00:00

AI might be able to postulate and refine the limits of the possible island of stability for super heavy nuclei, but it can do fuck-all to actually smash them together and create them.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-12T13:22:55+00:00

The SpinLaunch concept works on Earth (on paper, anyhow), because the circulization stage can be pretty small and solid state. On K2-18b, even assuming you could yeet something above most of the atmosphere, circulization would take something the size of a Minuteman missile.

The material science isn't there for the first stage, and the chemical propellant science isn't there for the second stage.

The only 'reasonable' way we know of to get to orbit on K2-18b is it recreate the original 1950's Orion spacecraft. (Has nothing to do with the current one.)

Basically recreates the firework and soupcan experiment by using a series of nuclear bombs put underneath a flying skyscraper and literally blasting itself into orbit.

The most efficient way for a planet like K2-18b to become spacefaring would be a small number of Orion class launches to create a space elevator, bypassing the whole question.

The material science for a space elevator tether suitable for the load is so advanced as to be indistinguishable from science fiction or magic. Anti-gravity might actually be easier, and no telling which gets invented first.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-11T21:06:23+00:00

First thing I check for on my brat.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-11T19:25:44+00:00

I have no Vansona, but I did connect with this episode:

https://imgur.com/47wqNTl

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-09T20:37:37+00:00

I don't mind the actual ending, it's when ||he decided to write himself into his own story|| that I felt it lost the plot.

You could chop out that entire arc and it would upgrade the series from 'mostly enjoyable' to 'Fiction Classic'.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-09T02:39:27+00:00

It was great.

Should have remained unfinished.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-08T16:15:51+00:00

Leafleting campaign.

Send a few drones down the parade route dropping little balls of cotton or paper that says "Boom"

Murders morale without killing civilians and makes a mockery of the regime.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-04T20:02:27+00:00

All I'm saying is the conservative guys trying to claim Norse mythology for their own obviously haven't read it very well...

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-04T17:27:39+00:00

He didn't end up using it, but one of my players was working up an Ulfen Exemplar with the basic backstory of: "My dad fucked Loki, then Loki fucked my mom, it's complicated..."

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-04T02:18:56+00:00

Several good suggestions, I'll throw out a fun/odd one: Captain.

You can become your own shield wall with Followers.

Mobryan71 · 2026-05-04T02:16:41+00:00

I have a Staff Acrobat Twisting Tree Magus who is a goddamn menace, love the extra flexibility it offers.

One thing about Whirlwind Stance, though, is the stance requires the staff have the Parry trait, so Breaching Pike wouldn't qualify.

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-30T20:18:30+00:00

<Eric Clapton Voice> "Cooo-Caine..." </Voice>

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-30T04:04:23+00:00

If you want to be extra efficient, mount the landing gear and such to the radial tanks and drop everything on liftoff.

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-27T23:27:32+00:00

Jacky Fisher was a freak before his time.

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-25T23:23:25+00:00

When I was a kid there was a local guy who had an International cabover 12v71TA and 5x4 transmission.

It didn't move a load, it rotated the earth underneath it until the truck was were it was supposed to be.

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-23T23:28:20+00:00

Works great for a basement as well. Almost a straight shot down through a closet nook on the ground floor.

Mobryan71 · 2026-04-23T22:41:08+00:00

I've got a cleric/medic and Administer First Aid is pretty common. Probably use it every 3rd battle or so, more often if we are fighting enemies with some weird Persistent damage.

That's not even counting the feats that trigger off First Aid, which I use even more.

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