Goonhub
03-12-2020, 12:41 PM
Sometimes, you look at the TEG in all its janky glory, or even at the hotspot system, and you feel grateful for how fun and customizable they are.
Then you look at Manta. Poor, poor Manta. Since the nuclear engine got scrapped, Manta has had the singularity engine. The singularity engine, despite its fancy new sprite, is old. Like, other codebases have it old. As such, it's simple and makes little sense, at least for my dumb realism-inclined brain.
Here are the ideas in chronological order from roundstart:
-Use a singularity maker or buy a premade singularity
The singularity synthetizer is a small chamber, much akin to the implemented singularity generator, with gas pumps leading into it. You'd put put a plasma burn mix in there and recreate a mini-hellburn to get a lot of pressure and energy in a single spot to create a singularity. We all know that the energy potential of plasma is infinite, anyways.
Alternatively, you buy an inferior, overpriced version from cargo (maybe having it just there at roundstart would also work)
At this point you have a singularity that's kept stable in a sort of ball of mirrors: it will expand out once it's fed a little tiny bit of mass (maybe have some setups have a time limit on how stable it is, definitely not the one from QM).
Of course you can't just loose it with a banana peel, you need to expose it to something that can get through the thin walls of the containment.
-Drag the singulo in the middle of the chamber and attach it
This is when you get your mesons because some radiation will slip out of the containment field, and magboots because, y'know
-Shoot the singulo with a burst of matter coming from a cannon of either alpha particles or space magic plasma, activating it
This is what gets converted to electricity through Hawking radiation. You only need very little matter, like in real life, and it needs to pass through the field. Alpha or beta particles would make sense, plasma molecules would be fine too
Maybe have the two options available and have them have different effects?
-In a couple seconds it's gonna exponentially decrease in mass and convert it all into radiation, fucking up the entire map.
The alpha radiation cannon would be perfectly calibrated to deal with this without letting Mr. Singulo grow or shrink and explode.
You can, though, get closer and closer to the edge by tweaking parameters within very safe limits and getting out more power. These limits can of course be disabled by someone with big access or hacking skillz. It would still be very hard!
-What about the containment field?
The containment field, which now also encompasses the floor (and ceiling if you're into lore) also acts as a radiation collector, and powers itself, getting rid of the old boring emitters and collector arrays.
The pylons might or might not be there, might or might not be the same number. The setup should probably be kept simple for the enterprising DIY-loving spaceman.
How much power you steal from the containment field is up to the player.
Too little and the field will expand its area of effect (meaning you don't have to touch it to get zapped) and of course you'll be getting less power out. The matter will also have a harder time getting in, which eventually weakens the containment.
Too much and the field slowly degrades: this means that the radiation output will spill out more, and will penetrate walls eventually. This also means that you're getting less efficiency from the singulo, which is also bad. Might cause a chain reaction, also give it very safe thresholds.
-OH GOD IT'S LOOSE OH SHIT
When the field fades away the singulo is free.
Fortunately for the crew, there is still a singulo buster, and there will be a big old stationwide emergency when the containment is getting a little too spicy.
At that point the CE (or if he's dead, the captain or whoever) will be in a mad dash to get the rocket.
The rocket may only be fired when the containment is very weak, accentuating the tension.
When it IS actually loose, then fun mode activates. It does expand when consuming mass and must be dealt with ASAP.
The ghosts have a very slight pull relative to the singularity, and may control it in large numbers. Requires team effort!
There may be a shuttle autocall at this point, if the CE isn't in full gear. I imagine the whole thing like a milder version of disaster rounds, something really hard to trigger that takes the station with it and has the crew cooperate to survive.
If the singulo instead gets too small and is about to explode the procedure is:
Lower the containment field down to a certain level.
There is a button that encloses the singulo when the containment field is low enough: press it.
The object you're in front of is a time-limit round ender: yeet it into the ocean/space. (To save on performance when no destruction happens on-station it might be better to just delete it at the edge of the map)
-PTL
Since I hate underwater PTLs and want to see the one on Oshan replaced fully with the carousel battery, I'll make up something new here.
We all know that the Manta can move. If WHEN a functionality for travel is implemented power should be able to be rerouted to the propulsion (which might require maintenance when the propellers reach their limits).
Alternatively, if you don't want the field to eat your face, you may redirect power to the mass cannon and set it to energy mode, essentially turning the singulo into a big battery and slowing down power gen.
Alternatively alternatively, since I also don't like supercavitating crates coming from magical underwater land, QM could be tweaked on Manta to require a bunch of power to make Cargo PortalsTM to CentComm, that would send the crates in and out.
Is it a good idea? It might anger QMs.
Note: the singularity does NOT spin. It is NOT spinning. NO SPINNING ALLOWED. NT's singularity makers have very advanced anti-spinning technology. NO ergospheres.
Then you look at Manta. Poor, poor Manta. Since the nuclear engine got scrapped, Manta has had the singularity engine. The singularity engine, despite its fancy new sprite, is old. Like, other codebases have it old. As such, it's simple and makes little sense, at least for my dumb realism-inclined brain.
Here are the ideas in chronological order from roundstart:
-Use a singularity maker or buy a premade singularity
The singularity synthetizer is a small chamber, much akin to the implemented singularity generator, with gas pumps leading into it. You'd put put a plasma burn mix in there and recreate a mini-hellburn to get a lot of pressure and energy in a single spot to create a singularity. We all know that the energy potential of plasma is infinite, anyways.
Alternatively, you buy an inferior, overpriced version from cargo (maybe having it just there at roundstart would also work)
At this point you have a singularity that's kept stable in a sort of ball of mirrors: it will expand out once it's fed a little tiny bit of mass (maybe have some setups have a time limit on how stable it is, definitely not the one from QM).
Of course you can't just loose it with a banana peel, you need to expose it to something that can get through the thin walls of the containment.
-Drag the singulo in the middle of the chamber and attach it
This is when you get your mesons because some radiation will slip out of the containment field, and magboots because, y'know
-Shoot the singulo with a burst of matter coming from a cannon of either alpha particles or space magic plasma, activating it
This is what gets converted to electricity through Hawking radiation. You only need very little matter, like in real life, and it needs to pass through the field. Alpha or beta particles would make sense, plasma molecules would be fine too
Maybe have the two options available and have them have different effects?
-In a couple seconds it's gonna exponentially decrease in mass and convert it all into radiation, fucking up the entire map.
The alpha radiation cannon would be perfectly calibrated to deal with this without letting Mr. Singulo grow or shrink and explode.
You can, though, get closer and closer to the edge by tweaking parameters within very safe limits and getting out more power. These limits can of course be disabled by someone with big access or hacking skillz. It would still be very hard!
-What about the containment field?
The containment field, which now also encompasses the floor (and ceiling if you're into lore) also acts as a radiation collector, and powers itself, getting rid of the old boring emitters and collector arrays.
The pylons might or might not be there, might or might not be the same number. The setup should probably be kept simple for the enterprising DIY-loving spaceman.
How much power you steal from the containment field is up to the player.
Too little and the field will expand its area of effect (meaning you don't have to touch it to get zapped) and of course you'll be getting less power out. The matter will also have a harder time getting in, which eventually weakens the containment.
Too much and the field slowly degrades: this means that the radiation output will spill out more, and will penetrate walls eventually. This also means that you're getting less efficiency from the singulo, which is also bad. Might cause a chain reaction, also give it very safe thresholds.
-OH GOD IT'S LOOSE OH SHIT
When the field fades away the singulo is free.
Fortunately for the crew, there is still a singulo buster, and there will be a big old stationwide emergency when the containment is getting a little too spicy.
At that point the CE (or if he's dead, the captain or whoever) will be in a mad dash to get the rocket.
The rocket may only be fired when the containment is very weak, accentuating the tension.
When it IS actually loose, then fun mode activates. It does expand when consuming mass and must be dealt with ASAP.
The ghosts have a very slight pull relative to the singularity, and may control it in large numbers. Requires team effort!
There may be a shuttle autocall at this point, if the CE isn't in full gear. I imagine the whole thing like a milder version of disaster rounds, something really hard to trigger that takes the station with it and has the crew cooperate to survive.
If the singulo instead gets too small and is about to explode the procedure is:
Lower the containment field down to a certain level.
There is a button that encloses the singulo when the containment field is low enough: press it.
The object you're in front of is a time-limit round ender: yeet it into the ocean/space. (To save on performance when no destruction happens on-station it might be better to just delete it at the edge of the map)
-PTL
Since I hate underwater PTLs and want to see the one on Oshan replaced fully with the carousel battery, I'll make up something new here.
We all know that the Manta can move. If WHEN a functionality for travel is implemented power should be able to be rerouted to the propulsion (which might require maintenance when the propellers reach their limits).
Alternatively, if you don't want the field to eat your face, you may redirect power to the mass cannon and set it to energy mode, essentially turning the singulo into a big battery and slowing down power gen.
Alternatively alternatively, since I also don't like supercavitating crates coming from magical underwater land, QM could be tweaked on Manta to require a bunch of power to make Cargo PortalsTM to CentComm, that would send the crates in and out.
Is it a good idea? It might anger QMs.
Note: the singularity does NOT spin. It is NOT spinning. NO SPINNING ALLOWED. NT's singularity makers have very advanced anti-spinning technology. NO ergospheres.