The Physics Nerds' Theory Thread

[iron maiden]

Ah, thank you, that question has been bugging me for a long time now.

[Warfreak]

Now to discuss the Morph. 

If I remember this correctly, the biometal composing the ship actually has the ability to store more than one structural shape, thus triggering the rearranging of molecules until the alternate shape is obtained.

I assume the restructuring of shape can also answer how this applies to the ability of accessing an assault/combat form of existing weapons systems.

[iron maiden]

If that is so, why does the ISDF never use morph on their ships? Also, how is the pilot affected by the morph?

[Zero Angel]

I think that the ISDF simply hasnt discovered morph technology yet.

Either that or vehicles which morph must have weak armor, given that all scion vehicles which use shields have the weakest armor class when they are unshielded.

[iron maiden]

Just thought that they would have learned it from the scions following the war.

[Nielk1]

And ISDF Scion hybrid unit would likely feature armored plates that did not reconfigure and an underlying biological structure. As a result the morph would be more of a deploy than an actual morph, though the systems underlying the armor and modern weapons systems would change, the visuals would be limited to moves and sliding weapons panels except where the underlying tissue or membranes are exposed.

[ScarleTomato]

Just thought that they would have learned it from the scions following the war.

they did. Remember the Scimitar in FE? It was a Sabre that morphed. I think it may have actually been a scion design, but technological hybrids eventually came about.

[Nielk1]

they did. Remember the Scimitar in FE? It was a Sabre that morphed. I think it may have actually been a scion design, but technological hybrids eventually came about.

Yes I do, but that was a 1 off unit that was not even in any story line, just in a special unit (IIRC).

Though that might have just been using classic Scion low armor too. The morph IIRC was rather limited. fvfish was that unit BTW.

[sabrebattletank]

How would string theory affect our understanding of biometal?

[mrtwosheds]

It would fit perfectly with the Thunderbirds "strings" theory of hovering. 

[Scout]

As for power lungs, i have always considered them to be some sort of solar powered object. They act like some kind of hi-tech solar panel/ray filter, which extracts energy from the sun and converts it into power.

Nikola Tesla, when inventing wireless RF(microwave) energy transmission systems said that his designs were also capable of capturing and harnessing other forms of radiation such as x-ray and gamma and the likes.

Wouldn't be to difficult to believe that an advanced form of this energy capture technology evolved into what the isdf and scion use.

Or maybe just the Scion, since it would to me at least seem more likely that they would be catching the cosmic winds

and the Isdf.. A self sustaining antimatter capture and energy extraction system.

[Scout]

Along the same lines, Tesla also created something else, something we all  had in battlezone1 but not battlezone2

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Thumpers

His frequency research also included being able to use a thumper device (for the lack of a better word) to create a oscillating mass that was at the right harmonic frequency was said to destroy solid objects, This was tested on myth busters, myth busted but Tesla's research sits in government hands, general fact.

[bigbadbogie]

Thumpers are now in BZ2 thanks to 1.3.

[Avatar]

From the FM 6-1201-309-62, The National Security Agency Field Manual:

A Memorandum from President Dwight D Eisenhower to General George Collins, regarding the establishment of the National Space Defense Force (NSDF):

We've established a research facility in Nevada in order to investigate this "bio-metal".  The results of these efforts are astounding.  The material itself remains a complete mystery, but we have manged to fabricate some promising munitions from it.  It seems that the biological element fo the metal contains some sort of memory that allows it to reshape itself into it's previous form.

and a missive from Andrew Goldman, NSDF, to President Dwight D Eisenhower  regarding Astronomical Research Assessment 3750.

Per your request we have completed an assessment of the debris found in the Bering Straight meteor shower of 1952.  The samples found are most definitely the result of otherworldly sentient manufacture, and are known to be only a small portion of the quantity that has passed through our solar system over the last several years.  The source of the debris is assumed to have been some sort of cataclysmic event involving a massive alien structure, possibly the size of Earth or larger.  Estimates based on the velocity of the meteor shower at impact and the apparent duration since the meteor fragments were formed put the source object in the order of 100 trillion kilometers away when it shattered.  At htis distance, it is likely that bio-metal fragments have passed within the gravitational pull of every other planet in the solar system.


Now, later on it mentions the EDD (equally distributing damage) armor and gives thicknesses for the various craft.  Nowhere that I can find does it mention that the vehicles hover, which is something I would think they'd spend some time on...

Later on you get into specifics about the Recycler and Factory:

NSDF TU11 Mobile Bio-Metal Fabricator:

The Recycler builds vital base resources and unit supplies, as well as basic offensive and defensive units.  It does this by projecting ultra-lightweight endo-skeletal beams inside of its construction bay while generating extreme temperatures that melt its supply of bio-metal.  It then coats the beams with the liquid bio-metal, and holds the new unit's engines and internal machinery in place while the bio-metal cools.  The entire process takes seconds.

Now, "endo-skeletal" means "outside the body", basically, which is strange as biometal craft seem to be more like 'bubbles', looking more like a shell without frame or supports.  I always envisioned it more like one generic frame with engines and hardpoints, over which liquid biometal is sprayed.  As it's sprayed the 'memory' kicks in, and it takes on one of the shapes stored in the Production Unit.  Lol, maybe a Recy is so large because of all of those giant reel-to-reel tape drives used for early computers...   

So, as the first exerpt states, the physical properties of biometal are mysterious.  We've seen a lot of biometal lying around, and doing various things, so we should be able to come up with a list of properties of our own.

First of all, biometal isn't naturally 'anti-gravitic'.  If that were the case it would just float off into space...  but what we see is biometal lying around on the ground like normal scrap metal.  We also have vehicles that sit on the ground when not piloted, and some that are so large and dense that they can't hover at all.  So, activated biometal can hover, but it seems to be more of a repulsive type of energy than true anti-gravity.   I actually prefer to think of it as just not really caring much about what gravity wants right now, thank you...     

We also have evidence that biometal can very easily be turned into energy, and vice versa.  Everything from the Flash Cannon to the 'tele-transport' of biometal from BZ2 Scavs/BZ1 Silos to and between Production Units, to the Blink weapon used by the Scions, seems to show that to biometal there's not much difference between energy and matter.

And, any good Doctor Who fan knows that when unlimited energy and gravity manipulation meet it seems that dimensional rifts aren't far behind.      The TRO Portal and Cloak both mess with other dimensions to transport the player, either to another Portal or just 'shifted' enough to cloak them. 

Finally, the way biometal explodes when structural integrity is lost is part of the 'EDD' mentioned.  This ability to distribute damage evenly is very strange, but more interesting is the indication that there's a threshold of thickness below which biometal can't maintain its 'remembered' form.  This may indicate that biometal 'memory', and possibly sentience, is a function of mass, such that smaller forms can't reach sentience beyond a certain amount.  For example, Furies may be the smallest intelligent biometal 'life forms' and as such may not be the brightest critters...      Something like CORE, however, could be a vast intelligence due to the incredible mass involved.

I'd also like to point out some things about scrap and pools...

In BZ1 most of the scrap you run into is 'painted' as if it all comes from human craft.  This is true even of the scrap found on Mars that supposedly came from the Hephestus thousands of years ago.

This leads me to think either:

1. The scrap we find is 'mimicing' markings on other forms it's been exposed to, such as CCA or NSDF ships.
2. The scrap we find is what's left of human forces that have already been fighting wherever we are, which I sortof like as it adds to the 'cyclical nature' of the story.  (find old biometal, make new war machines, leave new scrap) 

The first one is interesting, though, as it would mean that even scrap has a low level of intelligence, or intinctive reaction, and is aware of it's surroundings to some extent.

It could also be that BZ2 scrap is a silver blob because the weapons are more powerful, creating enough heat to eliminate any markings.   This could mean that the weaker weapons in BZ1, which weren't powerful enough to melt the scrap, are the reason there's no pools...   it could be that only the silver blob scrap eventually forms pools, such that more advanced races with stronger weapons ends up creating biometal pools.

These pools seem (to me at least) to escelate the fighting, as they give you an undending resource to make more units from, at a fixed location that focuses the fighting. 

These pools could also be the first stage of a planet being turned into something like Miasma, meaning Miasma was the scene of some heavy biometal fighting some time in the distant past.

Lots to think about for a simple computer game... 

-Av-

[Warfreak]

Wouldn't this imply that meteors are able to leave silver, "pure" biometal and that the form we see in BZ2 is the very form we found it in here on Earth? (Melted scrap)