A Superpower That Is Perhaps Not Overpowered But Incredibly Useful...

[Spacescifi]

So recently I thought of a superpower that would not be overpowered but would still be very useful.

I needed it to not be overpowered since I wanted to create a scifi race where EVERYONE had the same power.

It is not overpowered since while it can be used for war, you would have difficulty using only the power alone to fight. It is mainly useful for fast but safe-ish travel.

Liquid-immersive flight: A person submerges in water or any other liquid and the liquid forms a liquid sphere around them and they can fly about. Top acceleration is whatever acceleration makes them pass out and lose consciousness... which for humans can be anywhere from 6g to 10g definitely. So long their body is completely submerged in the liquid sphere they can stay flying or hovering. They cannot stop the liquid sphere from evaporating over time though, so they would have to land eventually on hot days. Also if a person wills it the liquid sphere will collapse like normal and they will once again fall or be subject to gravity.

Secondary power: if there is enough liquid to completely immerse a person within a 100 meter radius and there is a clear path between the person and the liquid, they can hold out their hand toward it if they wish  to fly and a liquid sphere will form and fly toward them so they can jump into it. Much like Thor in the MCU... only with liquid spheres large enough to immerse a person completely.

Water absorbed by the ground or other solids cannot be pulled out, so only bodies of liquid can be 'pulled' at a maximum distance of 100 meters toward a person with power.

Why useful: With normal flight you would need a visor so debris won't hit you in the eyes/face. With a liquid sphere surrounding you you're largely shielded.

Also you will not have to fly prone like superman since it won't make a difference to the liquid sphere. You can fly forward standing upright. So long you do not fly fast enough to boil the liquid sphere into steam you should be fine.

Also do not fly too high because again... the less air the faster the liquid sphere will evaporate.

Calculations: How fast would you have to fly to cause the liquid sphere to steam boil away in midair?

Let's assume a person of average height 5'8 and a liquid sphere of water is surrounding them as they fly.

 

Edited November 27, 2022 by Vanamonde

[razark]

5 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

Secondary power: if there is enough liquid to completely immerse a person within a 100 meter radius and there is a clear path between the person and the liquid, they can hold out their hand toward it if they wish  to fly and a liquid sphere will form and fly toward them so they can jump into it.

 

6 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

a person of average height 5'8

Diameter: 5'8", or 68 inches, so radius 34 inches.
Volume of sphere: 164636.21 in^3, or 712.7 gallons.
Density of water: 8.34 pounds per gallon

5943.918 pounds

So, You are standing between me and a lake.  I hold out my hand, and nearly 3 tons of water is now moving towards you at some velocity.  How fast does three tons of water need to hit you to cause damage?

[Spacescifi]

50 minutes ago, razark said:

 

Diameter: 5'8", or 68 inches, so radius 34 inches.
Volume of sphere: 164636.21 in^3, or 712.7 gallons.
Density of water: 8.34 pounds per gallon

5943.918 pounds

So, You are standing between me and a lake.  I hold out my hand, and nearly 3 tons of water is now moving towards you at some velocity.  How fast does three tons of water need to hit you to cause damage?

Good point... I would just dodge it. So unless you were able to run fast enough to keep yourself lined up with me I would be fine... sprinting is literally my talent by the way lol.

Also the spheres must slow down as they near the powered person otherwise they would get hurt.

Typically the liquid spheres slow to match the relative speed of the power user as it approaches so that at least relative to them the sphere stops right in front of them.

[Scotius]

So, basically hydrokinesis. They would have to have gills, or carry air tanks every time they want to travel. Also, it would better be very clean water, or they would be traveling blind. I assume you want this power to protect the bubble from: A - being dispersed rapidly by airstream. B - gathering all the dust, bugs, small birds etc. in the line of travel?

Certainly, it would make gardening much easier Getting water for watering plants would be as trivial as road trip to nearest lake.

[Spacescifi]

1 hour ago, Scotius said:

So, basically hydrokinesis. They would have to have gills, or carry air tanks every time they want to travel. Also, it would better be very clean water, or they would be traveling blind. I assume you want this power to protect the bubble from: A - being dispersed rapidly by airstream. B - gathering all the dust, bugs, small birds etc. in the line of travel?

Certainly, it would make gardening much easier Getting water for watering plants would be as trivial as road trip to nearest lake.

 

Yes you could easily capture dust and birds.

Exploration would be faster too... may figure out the planet is round a lot sooner, as well as develop maps simply by following coastlines.

Ocean ships would be for cargo and luxury cruising.

Actually no need for gills. Dolphin blood holds more oxygen than our own so they can hold their breath for 15 minutes because dolphins have no gills.

 

That is the same idea here I was going to use.

Yes it is limited but specific hydrokinesis.

 

Unless I actually do just that!

Make it so whatever a water sphere submerges it can carry to fly with... and you can fly it within a 100 meters if you are not in it.

 

Of course in that case it could be easily weaponized, so perhaps that is a bad idea.

But if everyone has the power it would be moderated by that... like if everyone is super than no one is since others could stop anyone else by using their own hydro-kinesis.

 

Obviously mark-1 humans would be at a serious disadvantage but that is the whole point lol.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Spacescifi

[Scotius]

Plot twist: They live on a dry planet, so water is actually a limited and precious resource. Too valuable to use as weapon.

[kerbiloid]

70% of everyone's body is water.

[Spacescifi]

7 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

70% of everyone's body is water.

 

True... but the power only works on liquid bodies... so moving people like telekinesis would not work.

27 minutes ago, Scotius said:

Plot twist: They live on a dry planet, so water is actually a limited and precious resource. Too valuable to use as weapon.

Another post brought out how unrealistic dry planets are.... at least ones with abundant life like Earth has.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

31 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

True... but the power only works on liquid bodies... so moving people like telekinesis would not work.

A crowd of people is a liquid body with cell membranes inside.

[Spacescifi]

4 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

A crowd of people is a liquid body with cell membranes inside.

 

Well if you somehow found enough blood in a large open vat to immerse yourself in enough to make a liquid sphere... that could work.

 

Incredibly gross though and you could not see where you were flying.

Edited November 27, 2022 by Spacescifi

[Shpaget]

You're giving the entire population an arbitrary magical power because it sounds cool, and not because there is a plot driven need? Don't you think it should be the other way around?

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

@Spacescifi

This should go in 'The Lounge', brah!

 

[Spacescifi]

46 minutes ago, Shpaget said:

You're giving the entire population an arbitrary magical power because it sounds cool, and not because there is a plot driven need? Don't you think it should be the other way around?

 

Just something cool since humanoid aliens are boring otherwise. Plot will come later but I can factor the powers into it easily.

That's like saying magneto's powers do not matter... when so long there is metal around he can exploit it for the plot.

 

Liquid and water is a whole lot more common than metal so...

 

 

2 minutes ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

@Spacescifi

This should go in 'The Lounge', brah!

 

Perhaps... I only put it here because people did at least some calculations which although not what I requested was still useful.

[kerbiloid]

Snowmen.

If make enough big snowmen, they can make a whole army.

Spoiler

 

[Gargamel]

On 11/26/2022 at 11:17 PM, razark said:

How fast does three tons of water need to hit you to cause damage?

 

On 11/27/2022 at 6:43 AM, Spacescifi said:

True... but the power only works on liquid bodies... so moving people like telekinesis would not work.

The vast vast majority of your body fluids are non bound bodies of liquid in pipes or surrounding those pipes.   Hence, why you get holes punched in you, you make a helluva mess on the floor.  Just like Magneto could control the iron bound to the guard's hemoglobin...

But seeing as we've referred to Magneto a couple times now... moved to the Lounge. 

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

 

[Spacescifi]

17 hours ago, Gargamel said:

 

The vast vast majority of your body fluids are non bound bodies of liquid in pipes or surrounding those pipes.   Hence, why you get holes punched in you, you make a helluva mess on the floor.  Just like Magneto could control the iron bound to the guard's hemoglobin...

But seeing as we've referred to Magneto a couple times now... moved to the Lounge. 

 

Yeah... it is just a conceit for how the power can be used.. I do not want it to be too overpowered.

 

But even if I allow them to do sone basic water globe kinesis... water alone can di damage.

 

Even a mere kilogram of water will likely hurt or injure if moved at whatever the highest acceleration the user last did so far in life while submerged in a liquid sphere (which is higher than what they could last without being submerged).

 

So a 15g  1 kilogram sphere of water hitting someone after accelerating for 30 meters (max range of acceleration/hydro-kinesis is 100 meters) to hit a target would I reckon leave a mark... because mass is mass.

 

A ton of feathers is as deadly as a ton of bricks.

 

The good news is that since everyone has the same powers they can counter it.

 

For example if someone decides to shoot a 3 ton water globe at you big enough to submerge a person, you could provide an equal opposite force that would collapse the sphere and make it blast out from it's sides like a shockwave.

So long you noticed it in time to put up your hands to telekinetically diffuse it.

Of course normal humans would rightly freak out and be at a disadvantage.

Only good news for humans in a conflict with them is that they are no more durable than normal humans... bad news is they have greater offense and travel abilities if any body of open liquid is around.

 

Beyond conflict... it's a great power to entertain with at parties.... you could steal people's drinks if they had open cups.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

The water ball would be quickly splitted into droplets by air drag.

(I would expect the same about the dinovomit. The brave person trying to test it would stay crapped but not defeated.)

***

Videos (but it's 10 t and more.)

Spoiler

and

https://riamo.ru/article/293987/il-76-sbrasyvaet-tonny-vody-na-sotrudnikov-dps-v-podmoskove-video-xl

Il-76 is a better water dropper. It pulverizes the water.

[Spacescifi]

11 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

The water ball would be quickly splitted into droplets by air drag.

(I would expect the same about the dinovomit. The brave person trying to test it would stay crapped but not defeated.)

***

Videos (but it's 10 t and more.)

  Reveal hidden contents

and

https://riamo.ru/article/293987/il-76-sbrasyvaet-tonny-vody-na-sotrudnikov-dps-v-podmoskove-video-xl

Il-76 is a better water dropper. It pulverizes the water.

Telekinesis man... the kilogram of water would not split up since last I checked flying water globes are not natural... telekinesis is an unnatural force which holds them together while also propelling them.

 

I cannot read Russian.

At most, far more Americans are taught spanish as an elective in school... since we have a large mexican population on the west coast and southwest as well as just about everywhere.... they nearly rival whites for population.

Russian language is something we would do either in our spare time or in college.

 

I regret not learning any languages in school but here we are.

[kerbiloid]

5 hours ago, Spacescifi said:

I cannot read Russian.

It has a video, no need to read.