KSK

Heh - you beat me to it. "Well - that'll keep the weeds down' is the first thing I thought too.

I have no doubt that AI could optimise nearly anything. Whether that optimisation turns out to be an improvement is another matter.

I wasn't aware that SpaceX had any scientific ties with other aerospace companies, US or otherwise. Not in the areas of launch vehicle design and construction. In any case, even if they were allowed to by ITAR, I doubt that SpaceX would be interested in sharing their launch vehicle designs with competitors. Now that might hinder the overall field of launch vehicle design - until somebody decides that they can do a better job than Elon, and starts their own company to prove it. As for this all ending badly for European aerospace companies? Maybe it will and, speaking as a European, I'd be sorry to see that happen. On the other hand - that's competition for you. Arianespace and ULA have (not unreasonably) prioritized conservative designs and reliability and in some markets I expect those choices will serve them well for quite some time to come. SpaceX clearly has a different set of priorities and so far those are working well for them (at the expense of their competitors) despite a couple of high profile losses of vehicle. However, that may change quite quickly if they have too many more accidents. As for North Korea and Iran - without wishing to sound complacent, they have plenty of catching up to do already. And I'm prepared to bet quite heavily that the US government in particular is not going to let itself get into a 'missile gap' situation with either of those countries. Edit. Just to be clear, I believe strongly in scientific cooperation and there are any number of situations where I believe competition is entirely the wrong approach. The launch vehicle market isn't one of them though.

Interesting question. Technically yes, since your stories are about wars between factions of an alien species. However, from what I've read, your stories tend to be more about the wars than the aliens. I wouldn't get hung up on pigeonholing yourself. You're a writer - that's the most important part!

"OK Computer... make us some music. And try to write some different lyrics than the ones about people with radios for their heads."

Yep - and it's been quite a while since the launch. Not sure whether it was the lighter payload or (more probably) my imagination but I thought that rocket fairly motored off the pad tonight. Really moving the mail! Never get tired of watching this stuff. That telemetry feed is genius - the sheer raw numbers involved in launching to space are just something else.

Well duh - what did you think they were going to launch on the Falcon Heavy test flight?

I always thought it was the other way around, speculative fiction being kind of an umbrella term for sci-fi, fantasy, horror, superhero fiction etc. I could be wrong though.

You can pretty much make up any scenario you want. Yay - Humanity rules because we're just so naturally gifted at the art of mass murder. Go us! No - Humanity loses badly because it fetches up against a hive mind civilization in which 98% of the population consists of mindless soldier drones and we're effectively suicide-bombed to defeat. Etc.

Any updates on the weather? Not looking too promising from @tater's post.

Talking plants are perfectly normal - nothing to see there. Walking plants are a bit strange though and as for humans... that's worse than the crazies who claim to have been captured by pink-skinned Dunans.

And there are probably just as many theories that don't. So why not flip that around and make distinguishable kerbals the default, with a mod to make them into clones if you're playing permadeath or would otherwise get too attached to them? Keeping something just 'because it's always been done that way' is rarely a good reason in my opinion. See also 'getting rid of the souposphere', 'female kerbals' and many other previous bones of contention on this forum that barely raise an eyebrow these days.

Sweet! Well I, for one, welcome our actual rocket scientist overlords. And recycled internet memes notwithstanding, that doesn't surprise me but is still very cool.

Yeah - that suit looks like something out of Elite: Dangerous. Very nice indeed.

I like it but wouldn't that get rolled into the NASA Employee?

You use this word. I do not think it means what you think it means. Falcon Heavy was going to be simple. Strapping three boosters together - how hard could it be. Especially when it's been done before on a number of other rockets. Ask Elon how easy it turned out to be in practice. I'm sure SpaceX have plans and I look forward to seeing how they work. Some of them might even resemble that video.

Dem mushrooms though. Duuuuude.

No arguments from me.

So basically the F-117 is a low poly stealth aircraft?

Just a quick update folks, prompted by @CatastrophicFailure's epic writing week and posted here to avoid cluttering up the Revelations of the Kraken thread (because that would be rude!). Next chapter is a little over halfway done. First section is written, the POV change to the second section has been successfully negotiated and I've finally figured out how to deal with the third section. I can't promise it'll be good but I can promise it'll beat the flarp out of the page or so of exposition that I reluctantly had in mind but couldn't see an alternative to until yesterday.

Dun dun duuuun! That's a heck of a week though - I can but dream of such productivity.

That last bit is where most space war scenarios break down for me, especially if we're in a setting with FTL technology. The ability to deploy any kind of advanced starship engine requires the ability to harness very large quantities of energy - and having sufficient trust in your neighbours that those said quantities of energy won't be turned against you: "Yeah we appreciate that it sounds a bit far fetched, Mr President but honestly - we've run the numbers and it all checks out. We just figured we'd best be telling you before launching a spacecraft powered by our leftover nuclear arsenal." "Well I sure do appreciate that, sir. We're all wishing your crew godspeed and the President of the our National Academy of Sciences has asked me to pass on his congratulations and wishes you many fruitful discoveries." So once a civilization has developed the technology to build an FTL space battleship, not only have they managed to remain peaceful enough for long enough to avoid blowing their planet to bits with antimatter bombs but they also have the technology to essentially get rid of any meaningful reason to be fighting. Space is big - there's plenty of room and plenty of resources for everyone. The most diametrically opposed factions can - quite literally - never see each other again. If you're not squabbling over resources and you can leave all those irritating people that don't subscribe to your ideology light years behind - what's left to fight about?

Thanks. Although I think it's the sign of a good story that different readers have different reactions to it and are getting something different from it. Amongst other things, I'm fascinated by the eggborne vs plantborne vs loveborne kerbals. And the ease of constructing lore vs the difficulty of executing it in writing? Oh, how well I know that feeling!

Man, I would like to see the 'large' carrier that this thing is going to dock to. Okay, there's a lot of far future tech in here. The Alcubierre-White drive is very far future as in, might not actually be physically possible to build, although the theory is nice. I'm not entirely sure what the counterbalance drive is but since it's stabilising a warp bubble, it's probably far future tech too. The fusion cell isn't quite as far future as the warp drive but its definitely not near future either. I'm not sure what an ion laser even is, so that sounds like far future too. Likewise the armour - not sure what yellow diamond is but synthesisng 5" thick diamond in 3' hexagonal pieces is quite an extrapolation from current technologies. Then there's the sheer size of launch vehicle or alternatively, complexity of orbital resource gathering and manufacturing (if you plan to build this in space rather than launch it from the ground) required to get this beast to space. That's not exactly near future either. Couple of sci-fi points. A fusion cell won't generate enough energy to power the warp drive. Ion engines and VASIMR engines won't be moving this thing anywhere fast anytime soon - you'd be better off with a torch drive. What are the airbrakes for? And why are you launching rocket propelled shells from a railgun?