On the feasibility of SCIENCE!

Hassknecht

Hassknecht

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So in this thread I've been spitballing a bit about how reasonable the SCIENCE! of Fallout is when it comes to Microfusion Cells and so on. And, surprisingly enough, those random squinty numbers are actually somewhat reasonable. So what I want to do know is write a series of articles on some of the science fiction aspects of Fallout and how outlandish the SCIENCE! really is.
So first of all, does that even sound like a good idea?

Haha, fuck off, I'm not actually asking, you can't stop me from rambling about science :P
Anyway, here's how I want to do it:
In each article I want to write about a different topic, like the feasibility and technology of laser, plasma, and gauss weapons, microfusion and energy cells, powered armor and protection, something like that.
Maybe it'd be cool to put those articles on the front page?
Also, I'd like to spice those articles up with some illustrations, but I seriously suck at those, so would anyone like to help me? Otherwise I'd have to make them by hand, which I guess does have its own charme :D
So dunno, I think I'll try to get these done as fast as possible, even though making the figures probably takes most of the time.

/edit: Actually, since this is the 20th anniversary of Fallout, how about making a video series out of it? I'm not going to wear a labcoat, but I could get a whiteboard or flipchart to draw stuff. But I do need someone to help with video editing because I do not know anything about that stuff.
 
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The last video in the series will be about queerness in Fallout and how my sex junk is so ohohoh much more than either ohohoh.
 
Sounds good. Making them the definitive statement. Also maybe not exactly tech but naming how science affects, sometimes? Like say, Project Purity or the Hoover Dam. Even if it's all bundled in one part.
 
Sounds great. There are some videos on youtube by ShoddyCast which do this a bit, though it's geared towards Fo4's implausibilities. As opposed to the science behind the classics, or the franchise as a whole. Not sure which you're going for, but personally I would like to see New Vegas content discussed. I think there are quite a few dot connects to take note of at least. The y2k4b pulse rifle and LAER for instance, since we're talking about directed energy weapon physics.
 
Yeah, I think I'll do some NV content as well. And of course I take suggestions on what should be discussed.
 
Well, I guess you could, as a general rule, make a sort of "for noobs" introduction at the beginning of every article. You know, how technology works IRL before making a comparison with fictional counterpart.
And I guess for your first article you could deal the most basic thing in the setting - nuclear power. Nuclear weapons of Fallout and pretty much all tech vary from our own, so I guess it's not a bad place to start, given it's a post-nuclear setting and all that jazz.

On the downside, I can easily see some of this articles going outside the realm of science into something more.
 
Yeah, my plan was to first start with how stuff works in real life, like the principles behind lasers and gauss weapons and nuclear power, and then go on about how SCIENCE! is different. Some things aren't even that outlandish. As I've said in another thread, microfusion cells are based on handwavium, but surprisingly consistent.
But yeah, some parts are just technobabble or based on 50's pulp fiction, like green plasma weapons that turn you into goo. But that's what it's all about :D
 
Yeah plasma weapons are kind of laughable from a scientific perspective. Solving containment doesn't solve dispersion, heat loss/transfer, none of which would make it a practical weapon concept let alone a superior one. Even the heavy incinerator from Fo3 makes more sense. Though I wish they had just made a realistic flamethrower instead of all that gas powered bullshit you see in every movie.
 
Actually, there's one way to make plasma weapons. You need to get the plasma into a field-reversed configuration, which is basically a self-stabilizing smoke ring of plasma, and you can then accelerate that ring of plasma on a target. It's also called a coaxial plasma railgun and it's used in nuclear fusion research, although there has been weapons research in that field as well (Project MARAUDER, which is still very classified). I'll get into some more detail ;)
 
All I got out of all of this is;
Fething-magnets-How-do-they-work.jpg


On a serious note, Hassknecht is a very intelligent individual so if anyone can get to the bottom of the "magicial science" of the game it would be him.
 
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