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I really appreciate that The Expanse is true space science fiction, potentially the first on TV (that I can think of). Previously it's all been straight up trek style fantasy that doesn't even attempt any sort of consistency let alone "realism". I love that there's no warp travel, that you can jam all this drama, a whole universe just within a narrow slice of our solar system. Obviously it will expand from there but even so it's just the bare minimum amount of fantasy needed to move the plot, and they're consistent with it. I'm fine with fantasy elements since all but the hardest of hard scify need some, just implement them in a consistent and thought out way so you don't get stuck with poo poo like almost all tech in trek which will have a million extremely useful applications that are totally ignored, and the tech works differently depending on who's writing the episode. Hell they don't even have magic artificial gravity. Yeah sometimes it gets handwaved away a little here and there because gently caress trying to film everything with zero-g effects, but it's always present in some fashion. I never feel insulted watching the show, they keep things consistent.
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Dec 30, 2016 21:42
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Baronjutter posted:I really appreciate that The Expanse is true space science fiction, potentially the first on TV (that I can think of). Previously it's all been straight up trek style fantasy that doesn't even attempt any sort of consistency let alone "realism". I love that there's no warp travel, that you can jam all this drama, a whole universe just within a narrow slice of our solar system. Obviously it will expand from there but even so it's just the bare minimum amount of fantasy needed to move the plot, and they're consistent with it. I'm fine with fantasy elements since all but the hardest of hard scify need some, just implement them in a consistent and thought out way so you don't get stuck with poo poo like almost all tech in trek which will have a million extremely useful applications that are totally ignored, and the tech works differently depending on who's writing the episode. There's been a bit of a resurgence of pop hard(ish) sci-fi recently, despite shows like Dark Matters and Killjoys. Shows like The Expanse and even Westworld might mean more of it, which I am totally in favor of. It would be nice to get more of this type of stuff on a consistent basis, can't get by with just the occasional movie like Moon, Ex-Machina or The Martian.
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Dec 31, 2016 00:00
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The coolest science bit was the drink pouring scene on Ceres
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Dec 31, 2016 02:39
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I have wondered how many Culture O's we could fit in the goldilocks zone. I think the answer is several hundred billion. Similar to the number of potentially habitable star system in the galaxy. The solar system is big. Like really big.
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Dec 31, 2016 07:55
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Collateral posted:I have wondered how many Culture O's we could fit in the goldilocks zone. I think the answer is several hundred billion. Similar to the number of potentially habitable star system in the galaxy. A couple years ago I got huge into space colonies and did a ton of reading on them. I remember an article that "did the math" on the resources available in the belt alone and it was enough for self sustaining colonies in the thousands of trillions or some incomprehensible number. It was like billions of O'Neil cylinders each with millions of people.
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Dec 31, 2016 08:15
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etalian posted:The coolest science bit was the drink pouring scene on Ceres Holden's perfect demonstration of Newtonian physics in the escape from the Donager was what got me hooked.
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Dec 31, 2016 08:26
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Fister Roboto posted:Holden's perfect demonstration of Newtonian physics in the escape from the Donager was what got me hooked. I literally yelled "They did it right!". I was then called a nerd and told to shut up.
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Dec 31, 2016 10:10
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I'm really digging the show, but I'm almost done with the fourth book and holy crap they're bad. I'd recommend avoiding them until the show's finished it's run for anybody that hasn't started them yet.
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Dec 31, 2016 15:55
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Counterpoint: you are wrong and the books (well, all but one of them) are cool and good
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Dec 31, 2016 16:02
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Give book 5 a shot, it's The Good One.
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Dec 31, 2016 16:09
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Three and four are bad. One, two, and five are cool & good.
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Dec 31, 2016 16:16
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The books are good pulpy fun
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Dec 31, 2016 16:17
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I thought 3 and 4 were a'ite. Glad to hear 5 is well liked.
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Dec 31, 2016 16:31
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Frankenstyle posted:I'm really digging the show, but I'm almost done with the fourth book and holy crap they're bad. I'd recommend avoiding them until the show's finished it's run for anybody that hasn't started them yet. It is well agreed that 1,2 and 5 are great. 3 and 4 not so much and 6 just came out and is being debated.
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Dec 31, 2016 16:53
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5 and 6 are part 1 and part 2 of the same book, read them together. They sandwich between the setup trilogy and the payoff trilogy. I consider Cibola Burns a side book which gives Miller a send off* and some background colour on the struggles of the new colonies, but is it really part of the mainline story? I enjoyed it. *I hope he makes a comeback as a personality aspect of the alien god-head. Collateral fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 16:58
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Grand Fromage posted:
What, Arjun getting a handful for granny titties? Syfy is showing they won't shy away from the violence and some profanity. gohmak fucked around with this message at 17:04 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 17:01
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Collateral posted:I consider Cibola Burns a side book which gives Miller a send off*
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Dec 31, 2016 17:03
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Anybody think the TV Roci is a bit smaller than described in the books?
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Dec 31, 2016 17:04
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The imagined Solar system is cool. ed: you're right, that is a big spoiler. Kazzah fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Dec 31, 2016 |
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Dec 31, 2016 17:04
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Collateral posted:Anybody think the TV Roci is a bit smaller than described in the books? It's actually a lot bigger than I pictured it
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Dec 31, 2016 17:06
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Boing posted:It's actually a lot bigger than I pictured it http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/advdesign/size04.jpg Yeah show Roci is way bigger than I imagined from the novels.
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Dec 31, 2016 17:08
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Don't they talk of corridors? They have set it up right, like a building with floors, just the floors aren't that big. Remember the ship should be taking two (three?) crews and full compliment of MCRN marines, some with power suits.gohmak posted:http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/images/advdesign/size04.jpg Broken link.
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Dec 31, 2016 17:11
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Krazyface posted:The imagined Solar system is cool. The good boks are the ones set in the Solar system. The Bad ones are the ones set largely outside the solar sytem. Fortunately most are set in the solar system. That's a pretty damned big spoiler.
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Dec 31, 2016 17:32
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Collateral posted:Don't they talk of corridors? They have set it up right, like a building with floors, just the floors aren't that big. Remember the ship should be taking two (three?) crews and full compliment of MCRN marines, some with power suits. http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/advdesign.php
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Dec 31, 2016 19:02
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I imagined Roci being a little larger outside and a lot smaller inside. In my head the interior volumes were more like those of museum-ized warships I've visited, where despite the enormous volume of the thing, the interior was subdivided into spaces just large enough to fit into and just small enough to be uncomfortable for all humans. (Except for aft berthing on a SoDak, which feels like the result of a debate over whether it was possible to make a large interior room that still wasn't a useful space.)
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Dec 31, 2016 20:40
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The way Rocinante was described in the book, or the way I perceived it, was as a triangular lifting body with only gun ports and access hatches as exterior features.
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Dec 31, 2016 21:54
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In my mind the crash couches were spheres embedded in the walls, that as soon as you are in them the sphere rotate independently, and also maintain pressure inside the sphere Loads of white plastic with (white) webbing fabric. the plastic had lighting elements either embedded in the plastic or behind the plastic. The walls were built to handle small railgun projectiles zooming through, so the plastic in the walls had special pockets / bubbles with chemicals and such so that if a railgun projectile zoomed through the wall itsself would melt (due to the chems mixing, and the pressure drop sucking the goop into the hole) and fill the gap Very tight quarters, everything covered in white webbing, so if you are freefloating and the ship violently rotated you were likely not gonna bang your head hard. Loads of web belts floating everywhere, no metal ladders just cloth ladders belter ships were very dirty, instead of rope ladders had just ropes strewn around, with stuff stowed by tieing on to it. crews with breath masks on, ships are held at much much lower pressures than inner planet ships.
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Dec 31, 2016 22:10
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Frankenstyle posted:I'm really digging the show, but I'm almost done with the fourth book and holy crap they're bad. I'd recommend avoiding them until the show's finished it's run for anybody that hasn't started them yet. Noctone posted:Counterpoint: you are wrong and the books (well, all but one of them) are cool and good Platystemon posted:Three and four are bad. etalian posted:The books are good pulpy fun It is possible, and true, that every quote here is correct. (I am on book 4 and the left turn that is taken in the middle of the book is god drat wonderful.)
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Jan 1, 2017 05:55
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And even the "bad" book was still decent in the grand scheme of things.
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Jan 1, 2017 06:33
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I enjoyed them all. Im actually disappointed with 6 and how it teases the aliens outside the gates who were a threat and then doesn't even really mention them except when Holden says something about them in passing That's not to say I'm disappointed with it over all, just that bit. 5 and 6 Are two of my favorites.
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Jan 1, 2017 09:51
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I just started watching this (with unfocused eyes to try to avoid spoilers) but the one thing I absolutely love is how real the danger of exploding ships are in not just the force, but the shrapnel it delivers at high velocity in a radial spray. Maybe not railgun gun force, but more like bird shot which chews up tiny ships. The scene with the hooks on the non-Earther (? is that a spoiler?) was gut wrenching when I realized what was happening.
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Jan 1, 2017 16:23
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Fister Roboto posted:Holden's perfect demonstration of Newtonian physics in the escape from the Donager was what got me hooked. That was the coolest moment in one of the best episodes of any TV show that year outside of premium cable. That episode was a huge payoff when you find out that Mars wasn't behind the attack on the Cant and that the poo poo was just getting deeper, plus the most powerful military force in the solar system got their asses handed to them.
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Jan 1, 2017 18:00
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wookieepelt posted:That was the coolest moment in one of the best episodes of any TV show that year outside of premium cable. That episode was a huge payoff when you find out that Mars wasn't behind the attack on the Cant and that the poo poo was just getting deeper, plus the most powerful military force in the solar system got their asses handed to them. Also RIP Shed
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Jan 1, 2017 23:11
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Baloogan posted:In my mind the crash couches were spheres embedded in the walls, that as soon as you are in them the sphere rotate independently, and also maintain pressure inside the sphere I've never had a good idea of what a crash couch is supposed to look like. I end up picturing something like a papasan chair that gimbals, but that can't be right because it wouldn't mold to the limbs during high-g maneuvers. I think PDC rounds can end up ricocheting after penetrating the hull, but railgun rounds come through so fast they just punch a clean hole through the ship. It seems like hull breaches have to be dealt with manually (e.g. like Amos and Naomi do on the Donnager), but ship walls are covered in some kind of anti-spalling coating to prevent impacts from creating a bunch of shrapnel. I can't remember, but I think it might also be soft to limit injuries during unexpected course changes. Military ships, at least, also feature a lot of rounded edges internally for the same reason. I'd always assumed the ladders and handholds were metal, but I don't remember them ever explicitly saying it, and rope does seem like a better idea than having metal projections all over the place. I really don't have a good sense of Belter ship layout. They don't go in for traditional arrangements like tables and chairs, which impose an arbitrary spatial orientation on the room, but I'm not sure what that really leaves. Their ships are generally cheap and run down, but on the other hand they're fastidiously maintained. Everything not being actively used is securely stowed (electromagnetically locked to walls, I think), and every latch and seal is re-checked with neurotic frequency. They're the tidiest flying tenements.
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Jan 2, 2017 00:02
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etalian posted:Also RIP Shed that was a vivid image to put it mildly.
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Jan 2, 2017 00:23
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uber_stoat posted:that was a vivid image to put it mildly. I think of it every time someone passes me a blunt.
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Jan 2, 2017 01:49
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Baloogan posted:In my mind the crash couches were spheres embedded in the walls, that as soon as you are in them the sphere rotate independently, and also maintain pressure inside the sphere I imagine beanbags, like this:  I believe that’s actually the UN Navy dress uniform.  Toast Museum posted:I'd always assumed the ladders and handholds were metal, but I don't remember them ever explicitly saying it, and rope does seem like a better idea than having metal projections all over the place. Belter ship:  Inner planet ships have plastic walls/floors/ceilings with soft edges. This is the type, but with less obsolete crap built‐in: 
Platystemon fucked around with this message at 04:18 on Jan 2, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 04:15
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Platystemon posted:I imagine beanbags, like this: I think you're right, I think the couches are designed on the presumption all significant thrust will be in one direction, like the rest of the ship.
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Jan 2, 2017 10:46
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Krazyface posted:I think you're right, I think the couches are designed on the presumption all significant thrust will be in one direction, like the rest of the ship. Well, unless coming from an outside force, all significant thrust has to come from the main engines which are all located at the back of the ship and all point in the same direction. Fun anecdote : in the game "Space Engineers" I tend to put more thrusters at the front of my ships facing forward, as in that game I think it's way more important to be able to stop quickly than to accelerate quickly.
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Jan 2, 2017 13:17
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Evernoob posted:Well, unless coming from an outside force, all significant thrust has to come from the main engines which are all located at the back of the ship and all point in the same direction. Battleships probably don't have omnidirectional crash couches, but ships like the Rocinante seem to behave more like fighter planes (because fighter planes are  ). I wouldn't be surprised if the Roci can thrust as hard backwards as forwards—just with much less efficiency (no impossibly efficient Epstein drive).The Rocinante can definitely thrust somewhat greater than 1 G at 90° to the floor, because it belly-lands on Ilus Platystemon fucked around with this message at 14:07 on Jan 2, 2017 |
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Jan 2, 2017 14:05
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