Space Opera: Advantages/Disadvantages of Amphibian Pilots

[Khatti]

I'm working on a space opera where the bad guys have amphibious warriors and pilots. This is an engineering and biological question. Assume that the civilization has space fighters of the X-wing and Tie variety, would there be any advantages to filling the cockpit with fresh water? I can think of one problem of economy; it would take a lot more energy to boost a few, cubic meters of water than of air. But assume that is a problem my amphibians have solved--or at least can live with. Are there any other advantages or disadvantages I should be thinking about?

 

[GTOM]

I wonder whether water could act like a G-suit to the pilots enable to withstand bigger acceleration.
These will be aerospace fighters?

 

[Khatti]

Thank you for your time GTOM. These would not be aerospace fighters in any sense we would recognize. Indeed, theses fighters would come close to living up to Clarke's maxim ("A truly advanced technology would be indistinguishable from magic") The energy source used by both big ships and small involve siphoning power from other universes by way of some very exotic material. On the other hand my aliens cannot completely ignore the laws of physics. For example, if their ships lose power during a fire fight both my heroes and villains immediately become chunky salsa.

The G-suit idea is interesting, there might be something there. Another area I'm interested in is oxygen retention. Would water do a better job of retaining oxygen than air? I will just have to keep thinking about it and wait for more posts.

 

[GTOM]

http://physics.stackexchange.com/qu...ody-can-sustain-higher-levels-of-acceleration

I found this one on submerging and acceleration.

If water has enough algae it could produce oxigen from CO2.

"On the other hand my aliens cannot completely ignore the laws of physics."

Does that mean they move more realistically than X-Wings?

 

[Khatti]

Oh yeah! My starships do not bank against an imaginary atmosphere. They move more like the fighters in Babylon Five. I used the Star Wars reference because it would bring a picture of reference to your mind.

The algae idea is good. You wonder how the atmosphere breathers would sustain an oxygen supply.Thanks for the website. Need to check that out.

 

[Czcibor]

I've got one idea - as the last resort such water can be used in open cycle cooling of a plane that was seriously hit by an laser beam.

 

[Khatti]

Not how my weapons system works--but good idea. Thanks

 

[GTOM]

How do you imagine space battles? I think there can be to epic parts : dodge missile shrapnels (provided that the point range defence can hinder tracking with lasers or shield like interceptors) or coilgun "dogfight".
(One of my main justification for fighters is cover based combat - asteroid mine capturing.)

 

[Khatti]

The main weapons system is based on a volatile cocktail of exotic matter that discharged and then ignited outside the ship. Once the pellet of exotic compounds is ignited it it burn much of itself away as it accelerates to light-speed. What remains becomes unstable as its mass increases. At some point it will become so unstable it will explode. This weapon has a range of about twenty-five hundred kilometers. If you and your ship are within proximity of this charge when it detonates your world gets rocked. If the charge hits you before it detonates your world gets rocked. If you're about fifteen or twenty kilometers away you get a little cooked, but your okay. If the charge hits you within, say two hundred kilometers or less you'll take some punishment but you should be good--unless your enemy rains more charges on you. At some point then you go up in (figurative) flames.

The farther away your enemy is, but still within that twenty-five hundred klick window, the harder you're going to get hit. The trick is to hit your opponent with him as far away as you can, but still within twenty-five hundred kilometers. That's the art of this type of space warfare.

What is the exotic matter made of? Where can you get it? I haven't a clue. My civilization has engineering techniques that cross the branes of different universes--but how it's done...if I knew that I'd be writing my acceptance speech for the Noble. The term I used to describe this project is "space opera", and I make no pretense of being the next Einstein.

 

[GTOM]

"The trick is to hit your opponent with him as far away as you can, but still within twenty-five hundred kilometers."

2500 km? With relativistic projectiles? That is a flamethrower duel...

 

[Khatti]

Yessum!

 

[Khatti]

Though there are some built in safeguards. My people do not want to accidentally blow up a planet with a miss, so they have limited the size of the charges and, correspondingly, their wallop. Both sides are aware that blowing up the prize they're fighting over doesn't make much sense and the utilize their tactics accordingly. I also have my version of Jedi Knights. Amongst other things they are capable of limited precognition and are capable of hitting a bullet with another bullet. All of my ships do have deflector shields but smaller ships have less shielding capacity than larger ships.

I misspelled Nobel two posts ago. My face is just like, so red!

 

[GTOM]

Blow up a planet? Maybe a city, if it has the power of a nuke, but i can barely imagine planetbusters...

 

[Khatti]

Yeah, blowing up a planet would require a pretty good sized charge designed specifically for that in mind. But if you're not careful about the limits of a charge I could see you wreaking havoc with the atmosphere.

 

[Khashishi]

Water provides g-force cushioning as well as radiation protection. Water is especially good at stopping neutrons (which is why it is used in nuclear reactors). Having the ship filled with water probably makes it less prone than air to hull leaks, which can easily be patched up before everything gets sucked out. Water also has high thermal capacity, which might help keep the pilot from freezing or boiling if the life support gets whacked.

 

[Khatti]

Kashishi: All of this is really good to know. Thanks.