Oolite Bulletins

if the radioactives are waste, doesn't it make more sense to have to pay people to take them? like in frontier?

Some people will buy radioactives. Like weapons manufacturers, power plant administrators, yada yada.

Remember, THIS IS NOT A FRONTIER CLONE, and will NEVER be one.

Who says radioactives are waste? I was thinking fission “fuel”. Tossing a few tonnes into a commercial transport seems a bit cavalier, though.

Selezen wrote:

Remember, THIS IS NOT A FRONTIER CLONE, and will NEVER be one.

Never say never. This being C.C. couldn't some brave sould make a 'branch' ?

Of course they could. But then it wouldn’t be this, it’d be that lot over there.

Personally, I’d rather branch off a game based on my own (quite complex) space game world… but don’t expect me to raise the gumption to do so.

Maybe this should be in suggestions but...

You have a cargo bay of radioactives and you get attacked. You then eject radioactives while opponent on your tail, shoot them and BOOOOM! Nuclear explosion. Not as big a boom as a Q bomb, more localised than an E bomb but a lot more boom than a missile...

Anyone like? I mean I know the physics of it, shooting transportable radioactives would just break it up not detonate them, but how about saying that they are placed into spherical containers with primers so that they can be used in such a way. Then you have a dual purpose cargo - trade or emergency explosive.

Nah.

Drool.

CWolf wrote:

Maybe this should be in suggestions but...

You have a cargo bay of radioactives and you get attacked. You then eject radioactives while opponent on your tail, shoot them and BOOOOM! Nuclear explosion. Not as big a boom as a Q bomb, more localised than an E bomb but a lot more boom than a missile...

Anyone like? I mean I know the physics of it, shooting transportable radioactives would just break it up not detonate them, but how about saying that they are placed into spherical containers with primers so that they can be used in such a way. Then you have a dual purpose cargo - trade or emergency explosive.

You wouldn't be able to sell them. Would you buy something unstable and highly explosive from a guy in a white van?

Well you wouldn't have all radioactives in bomb form, maybe just the transport pod. When you unload it as cargo it is removed from the pressure jacket and in normal cannister...?

CWolf wrote:

Well you wouldn't have all radioactives in bomb form, maybe just the transport pod. When you unload it as cargo it is removed from the pressure jacket and in normal cannister...?

Hmm, you want a cargo that is easily turned into an explosive??? You're sure you can trust all your ships crew? The loading crew at the station where you picked up your 20 tons or so of explosive radioactives? You sure that none of your cargo has been sabotaged to explode at some random point?
Seriously, who on earth (or in space) would want to carry such a cargo? And what space station would allow such a cargo into them?

Having said all that, I can see why it might be a fun thing to do.

What makes you think Radioactives are explosive? Firearms or Liquors/Wines are probably more volatile!

aegidian wrote:

What makes you think Radioactives are explosive? Firearms or Liquors/Wines are probably more volatile!

I dont, I was just extrapolating from CWolfs suggestion. My assumption would be that they would be made as safe as possible for transporting i.e. not easily turned into an explosive.

Fair points. For safety no, it isn't practical. Maybe a silly idea then.

As far as them being explosive, correct as well - radioactives have to be correctly set up to be explosive. You need to have them unstable first, then introduce extreme pressure. A typical nuclear warhead has detonators around the ingredients that squish them together.

I can't see the station cargo crew being happy handling unstable fissionables or the station allowing you to move them into bomb cases.

Was just a thought.

Although, as per the suggestion of aegidian, how about we make other things boomable?

There's no reason not to have a scoop mine that blows up when someone tries to pick it up, but I'm not sure what use it would be gamewise. We've already got boobytrapped cargo canisters.