We're on deck on something not too seasickness-inducing looking along with anyone else, right? Even if just for the look of the thing.

We'll have to track our launches carefully so as to get better and better at finding these things -- especially if there's people on board!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TP-82 And make sure they have a sword or something.

File: 1365653075965.jpg-(43 KB, 327x464, tumblr_lt6gmed7921qmutyeo1_400.jpg)

43 KB JPG

>>24178851

Nice! Nothing blew up while I was away. Well done all around. I guess we should retrieve the pod and try to find out what the Merikans are up to.

Also have we decided on investing points back into the Mk3 to ingratiate ourselves to the brass? If we're going to be carrying out military research we might actually want to think about upping security a bit.

Rolled 7

>>24179227
Sorry for the delay. I was getting food.


You are currently in your island estate, although you do not have a problem with seasickness, only airsickness, and even then only when Sir Harker is at the controls.
You could probably get a ride to the battlegroup if you wished however.

As for defense, Most air knights carry automatics as swords are long and hard to fit into a cockpit. Although all officers carry swords while in dress uniform.

>>24179277
No formal plans to continue military research have been made since your arrival on Tannhäuser island.

Capacha:
>geredm ple

>>24178851
We must confer with Colonel Smith and Prof. Minerva about the possibilities of including a colored smoke signaler of some kind, to aid in the recovery of capsules that have returned to Earth.

>>24179645

The problem is that it's extra weight to carry... every gram counts.

Nothing to it but keep looking! We should definitly help, it's fun and we don't have much better to do.

Parachutes being brightly colored should make it easier.

>>24179632
We shall set out this turn's budget:
6RP - Mk3 18/19
10RP - Manuevering Thrusters 9/12
2RP - Construct 1 Mk3 with Guidance Module for Naval Testing
12RP - Mk4a 10/14

>>24179756

The MK3 is kind of a dead end for us though... I guess after we have a finished test article we can just hand it to the Navy? Hopefully our brother will take over from then on; we're explorers, not soldiers.

Everything else looks good to me but we need to also buy the guidance module for 1.

We should start drafting a call to arms for prospective Void Knights of sorts; this should be done with some pageantry and in the respect of tradition, it looks nice.

>>24179874
The Mk3 with Guidance Module is what we promised to our brother and the general on the Appropriations committee. It's a small amount to keep up our end of the bargain.

The 2RP is for a single Mk3 and a Guidance Module.

Drafting together a call for Void Knight candidates is fine, however keep in mind that it will be many turns before we can get the Mk4a ready. It costs 6RP to increase a single Reliability point on the thing.
And with the success of the Small Capsule, we will need to begin development of the regular Mass 3 Capsule (Void Knight, RCS).

And the Mk4c hasn't been invented yet, either.

>>24179874

We're explorers who owe everything we've ever done and have to the military industrial complex. It's going to be months if not years before we can get a human into orbit, we might need something to justify our budgets in the meantime.

>>24180033

Of course, our word is our bond.

And very much agreed on the capsule. It's important that candidates understand that they have relatively few things to do (retroburn, attitude control for reentry, chutes) but they have to do them perfectly.

I think we're being a little too conservative with the safety ratings.

>>24180036

That's pretty pessimistic!

>>24179632

Let's keep looking for those plates! To avoid problems, they will be developed as soon as possible even if that doesn't give us the best possible quality, we think -- fewer things to go wrong.

>>24180108
>a little too conservative with the safety ratings.
I disagree.
Experimental designs with non-living payloads are fine, but we can ill-afford to have a casualty in our space program.
Now, if we learn that the Huns have their own space program, then that changes the nature of the space race from a friendly rivalry to a serious competition for survival.
At that point, we can be more lax with our safety requirements if it means faster development.

>>24180108
>That's pretty pessimistic!

I take issue with that! It's cynical, there's a difference. But seriously we do need to keep all the various factions at court mollified and that means throwing the military scraps every now and again. If we give it to the navy now we lose leverage, and we do so desperately need them.

>>24180279

Agreed on the MK3 (it's mostly done anyway, and besides, we promised) but... years?

>>24180199

In the sense that they're not going to care about losses? probably true

>>24180347
>but... years?
Potentially if we reach a point where blowing people up is a real problem. Or we could go full soviet on the project and just look at our leaking, rusted, death tubes and say, "yea, that looks good enough for people".

The radio crackles to life. "Avalon to Tannhäuser, Come in Tannhäuser, we have spotted a parachute floating in the ocean south of the expected landing site. We think this is it!"

>>24180537

Jump for joy?

>>24180529

That's not soviet, that's goblins. :p

>>24180279
I agree, we should spend this month's RP allocation fulfilling our obligations to the military (see Navy).

Miniaturizing the MK3 might be a good step in this direction. That way the Navy could add a rack of them to some of the larger ships for deep-strike missions.

Also, we might want to rename the military series of rockets to significantly differentiate them from our civilian 'Arcangel' series; I suggest the 'Hyperion' class. (Greek: Ὑπερίων, "The High-One")

>>24180581

Agreed that it's a good idea, but if the MK3 officially becomes a shipborne ballistic missile, we should wash our hands of it and publically express annoyance.

God Mother, can a Mk3 carry both Guidance Module and warhead (conventional or radio-reactive)? It's only a Mass 1 Rocket, after all.

>>24180611

We just make the rockets go up, other people decide where they go down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEJ9HrZq7Ro

>>24180611
Why would we do that? A rocketary program can be both civilian and military in nature, they are not military exclusive.

I almost see the propaganda campaign now:
"The Royal Rocketry Corps - Defending Our Kingdom Through Scientific Progress"

>>24180698

I know that, but it's not the attitude we should keep. The connection is obvious; we should focus on exploration and achievement. The looking for UFOs and getting ready to explodinate them can be done in a low key fashion.

>>24180698
Keep in mind that the RRC had quite a stigma attached to it due to being the ones to launch a nuke during the last war.

>>24180841
That's my point. Any derp can figure out that if we absolutely want to obliterate a city, we can do that with extreme ease once we can put something sizeable in polar orbit. This is already the case. We should make sure people focus on the beautiful things!

>>24180872
Hmm, you two guys bring up several good points. I think we could get the public to embrace our connection to the military, but it is much easier to just focus on the 'nice' things that we're doing.

However, we have to finish this ship-borne ballistic missile for the Navy at the very least. After that, I agree that we should keep the military-side of our research under wraps until it is needed.

>>24180965

Most launchers are (non-trivially: days or weeks rather than hours) easy to convert into ICBMs if need be. The opposite is not true.

Keep in mind, Lady Ethelstan and the Chairman were frightened by the RRCs overtly military nature and did not vote to extend the full budget.

This, and having to go halfway across the world for an equatorial launch site, puts you at a disadvantage to the Merikans.

>>24180621
The warhead would be a probe crunch wise, and thus have it's own internal guidance system. On the other hand, the RRCs military background does give you an advantage over the Merikans who are starting from scratch with no experience in ballistics.

>>24181011
I recall that there was quite a bit of difficulty in launching the Mk3 from the deck of an aircraft carrier, because the ballistic flight path needed to be recalculated and input.
Is the Guidance Module what the Navy was looking for, or the Waylight Beacon?

>>24181011

So we have to press our advantage and do AWESOME things to get the people on board! The pictures should help.

Can they be developed immediately?

The MK3 will be finished without fanfare and the blueprints given to the Navy also without fanfare.

>>24181061

Guidance module. The beacon is for us; it'll make life easier later, and we'll need a bigger transmitter for going further out anyway. In addition, even one permanent beacon (if its orbital parameters are known) can be used as a nav aid by sailors and pilots, althoug you can't navigate solely by it.

>>24181103
We will need to invent the photovoltaic power cell and the radio-reactive power cell.

>>24181071
Yup, sounds good. Lets get it finished this turn though. Design a miniaturized MK3, the Hyperion I, spend 20 RP improving it and then the final 40 RP making a dedicated guidance model for naval ballistic launches.

>>24181103

(on a completely unrelated tangent: They are launching the PhoneSat 1.0 in a couple weeks, it contains some hardware and software by yours truly)

>>24181131

That we do. Which is looking more promising?

>>24181145

That's our budget for two turns though...

>>24181145
*final 10/40 RP

>>24181172

oh ok :) We have 30 RP to play with though, not 40

>>24181145
>spend 20 RP improving it and then the final 40 RP
Where are you getting this much RP?
Our per-turn budget is 30RP total, and there are limits to how much something can be improved per turn.

>>24181168
The photovoltaic ones are probably easier, but the radio-reactive ones are likely to provide more power, and continuously.

>>24181193
I thought it was 40 RP a turn and the last one was a typo.

Make it:
10 RP used for miniaturizing the MK3
8 RP on a naval guidance system
12 RP on improving the 'Hyperion' I

>>24181230

That's well and good but the MK3 doesn't do much for us other than give us a SLBM... which we already have demonstrated. I'm all for finishing developing so that it's reliable, but why use up a whole turn to miniaturize it?

>>24181289
Because with its current design, only the largest vessel in our entire Navy could carry them with any easy; and even then I only think we fit one on it.

This turn is basically a write-off in terms of space-based progress, its about appeasing the Navy, who we depend on for defense and logistics; as well as the General in the Committee back home.

Though the practical knowledge gained by miniaturizing missile parts might help us get more mass space with future missiles, but for Godmother to decide.

>>24181347

Good point on the miniaturization. However, we said we'd deliver a proven and tested MK3 missile, not one that was furhter refined for military use. Keep in mind that while we depend on the Navy for logistics, we can have our budget cut (or worse have the program just subsumed by the military) if we don't focus on the civilian/exploration aspect.

>>24181217

PV cells also have use for other things. It'll be a long while before consumer products but they could be used to automate lighthouses, for example. (Sorry if I keep bringing up maritime stuff, it's my current job)

So do radio-reactive cells, but I can't see people wanting those at home, this isn't Fallout :P

>>24181230
The Mk3 is already as small as it could possibly be. I'm not quite sure what you mean by miniaturizing a mass 1 rocket.

>>24181347
To create a smaller ICBM so that more can be carried by a ship would require building a new rocket, either based off of the Mk1 or the Mk2.
So it would have to be invented, and then its Reliability increased.
And a Naval Guidance System? How is it different from the Guidance Module we have now? Not to mention, you'd be inventing it, and 7RP is hardly enough to make it have an acceptable Reliability rating.

None of your figures makes sense in context of the rules.

>>24181423

Methinks we're of two minds whether this should be a venture of exploration or of conquest :)

>>24181406
We have wasted enough time.
We shall have this budget implemented >>24179756

Have the plates recovered and we shall see how they have come out. If acceptable, we will forward copies to the major newspapers, and Mr. Radio.

>>24181406
Was wondering if we could build a rocket the size of the MK2 with the power of the MK3, but if that isn't possible don't worry.

In light of that, let's focus our RP on refining the MK3, building a naval guidance system and laying the foundations for a radio-reactive power core.

>>24181446

Seconded on the budget.

We should have a few prints developed and sign them, as well as asking Minerva and the Colonel to sign them. They can be given out later as tokens of favor. Assuming the lens cap didn't get stuck....

>>24181460

A RR power cell will eventually be useful, agreed. The guidance system is already happening. And I will have to agree on finishing the MK3 if nothing else because our word is beyond sacred.

I still question the military focus though!

(Sorry for the double posts)

>>24181473
Sounds like we're agreed then.

We spent the last turn building up our civilian aspects and we have to repay them for their support eventually, might as well do it now.

I'm of the opinion that 1/3 turns should be spent researching something with actual military applications.

>>24181494

I'm not. That will put us behind very quickly. I don't think there is much we can do for the Navy that we haven't already done for now... although setting up a positioning system is something they will probably love.

>>24181473
>>24181494
A Radio-Reactive Power Cell will have to wait till next turn. So will improving the Mk3 to 19/20.
And the Waylight Beacon still needs to be worked on, as well as the Mk4a if we're going to get any useful packages into space.

>>24181494
>I'm of the opinion that 1/3 turns should be spent researching something with actual military applications.
Do you have any idea how far behind in rocket development that will put us?
This is a terrible idea.

>>24181533

Admittedly a RR power cell has the advantage of showing that the technology has peaceful uses, so that'd be something to do in preference to solar.

(Note that we have nukes, but no nuclear reactors: a RR power cell is a radiothermal generator)

>>24181550

Basically. Plus, we know the Terrible Secret of Space.... what little of it IS known. We gotta worry about Sectoids, not Commies.

>>24181566
I actually think we should develop both. By developing both, we can then spin them off as civilian applications of technologies developed by the space program.

>>24181566
You've seen the Profesora's sketches of a radio-reactive steam engine. She was never able to build one though because of the war.

>>24181603
We should speak with her, and ask if the RR Power Cell can be used to produce electricity for an entire facility, or town.

>>24181603
But first, let's finish this turn.
It's been 3 hours with no progress.

>>24181625

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RORSAT I stand corrected on only RTG's being shot into space. Wow.

>>24181643
this

>>24181625
The professora tells you that the RR power cell would produce much less energy per mass than photovoltaics. An RR engine on the other hand, would produce a lot more energy, but she's not sure if she could put one into orbit. She hasn't even gotten a chance to build one on earth. But yes, a single engine could supply an entire city with nearly infinite clean energy! No messy coal or oil, just pure clean heat to boil water and spin a turbine!

...this is one of the few times you ever see her excited.

>>24181736

we should have her draw up some plans on the process and how it would work. Then we might have another secret meeting with mother and the others to possibly get plans approved for our island, after all if something goes wrong we want to be able to keep people safe and hide it.

>>24181736

That's pretty heartwarming (and I don't mean the radiative heat). "If we do a good job with this you can probably write your own ticket afterward, no?"

>>24181494
>>24181566

This advisor wonders what exactly the difference would be between a "civilian" or "military" application. The pursuit of excellence in rocketry surely should allow both.

A miniaturized rocket would allow for easier shipping to a launch site, granted, but such a rocket still must undergo the same sorts of constraints on a proper orbital interception and so forth.

The space program is still in it's infancy; let us learn to walk before we begin to run. Miniaturization is a meaningless process if it costs us time we could spend refining our actual capabilities.

>>24181736
We shall assure the professora that if funding remains available, we shall develop both radio-reactive and photovoltaic power.

But first, we must end this turn.

Another wireless from the fleet. The capsule has been recovered! Go to the fleet or keep working on the budget?

>>24181812
Finish the budget >>24179756
We shall request the fleet to bring the capsule back to Tannhauser so that we may develop the plates.

>>24181812

I think we're done on the budget - we'll have to decide which way to go, but right now they both start from the same place.

Let's go see pictures! Pictures of space!

>>24181838

The plates should be developed ASAP in order to frustrate Murphy's law...

How fast is the new Comet again?

>>24181858
Harker tells you he can get it up to just below the speed of sound if he flies light. If he can count on the Avalon refueling him, he could save a lot of weight on fuel. You get the feeling that he puts a lot of thought into this sort of thing.

>>24181850
So which proposal is being voted on? I'm not used to my quest going this fast!

>>24181838
>>24179756

I'll third these.

>>24181918
We are done with the budget, as it was done 2 hours ago.
We want to see the plates now.

Spending 30 RnD Points to improve the Mk3, Menuvering thrusters, Mk4a, and to build an Mk3. No RnD points remain.

Sir Harker then jets off to pick up the plates.

>>24181997

And we're probably going to stare at the horizon until he gets back!

>>24182038
Perhaps we should make a sand castle, just to tide ourselves over until his return...

>>24182134

a contest between our guardian, our professor, our friend, our pet, and the colonel.

who ever wins gets a special prize.
the prize is a zero gee ride with Sir Harker

>>24182134
As the sun begins to set in the west, you hear a buzzing off in the distance. Sir Harker is returning with the plates! He makes one pass around the island and waves to you before landing on the airfield.

The alchemists have set up a photo-lab in the basement of the manor. Time to develop the negatives!

File: 1365663646348.jpg-(61 KB, 380x380, stock-illustration-209445(...).jpg)

61 KB JPG

>>24182167

Hooray! We're probably going to stalk the photographers outside the basement door, but wouldn't want to annoy them during the development: it has to be done perfectly.


Hope the lens cap came off on cue!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera#Venera_9_to_12 This happened.

Rolled 14

You hear some conversation inside the door, but can't make out any words.

Color photographs are taken by layering 3 photographic plates, one for each primary color. As this is an 8 image panorama, there will be 24 plates that have to be developed. Lots of room for things to go wrong.

Oh but you promised the press color. And a greyscale image of the earth probably wouldn't be as inspiring.

This advisor has his fingers crossed, and wonders if the press will indeed be satisfied with a greyscale - is colour printing en masse popular with the commons nowadays?

>>24182365
I suppose nail-biting just isn't princessly.

We wait impatiently (because waiting patiently just isn't going to happen) and wonder if adding color would be... No, that'd be cheating.

>>24182396

Just a little bit of crayon, nobody will notice.

We can have Sir Harker take the credit, after all he wants a guaranteed spot as a void knight.

>>24182410

Naah. If it comes to that there'll be a clearly labeled artist's impression.

Rolled 15

>>24182365
No, color spreads are relatively rare because of the cost. But you promised them color, so they set up the presses to handle a color issue. Let's hope you can fill that promise.

The good news is, if a red plate fails, people probably won't notice. Although you won't be so lucky if you have to make due without blue or green.


And I'm having connection errors, so this is a cliffhanger. See you tomorrow!

>>24182493

thank you!