For Questions That Don't Merit Their Own Thread

[DDE]

So, the venerable Mil' helicopter is getting another variant: Mi-8-AMTSh-VN.

Just how many letters is too many? There's a reason they just call the AMTSh 'Mi-17' for export purposes.

[tater]

 

[magnemoe]

5 hours ago, tater said:

 

Cool, we can clearly see an Soyuz and the dragon. Is the ball below the Soyuz the inflatable module? Is it only on Soyuz then they have dragon? 

[DDE]

8 hours ago, magnemoe said:

Cool, we can clearly see an Soyuz and the dragon. Is the ball below the Soyuz the inflatable module? Is it only on Soyuz then they have dragon? 

Hold your horses. Everything to the left of the Truss is a bit of a mess. The Russian segmemt has only nadir and zenith ports, so we can only be seeing the rear end of a Soyuz or Progress. I'm m not sure whether tbe object on the left is Zarya or Zvezda, and I have no idea what the two UFOs docked next to the Soyuz and clipping through the plane of the radiators the radiators are.

[Spacescifi]

Turns out I was wrong about carnivourous humanoid cat-folk being unable to develop technologically as a scifi civilization.

Provided human intellect is at work.

In an earlier post I said they would not due to a lack of food resources, and that animal husbandry would be difficult if not impossible due to a predatory drive as strong as is the human desire to to mate.
Upon further research I learned they have options that could easily lead to sustainable animal husbandry.

1. Fishing. Assuming rivers and oceans teeming with fish, all they need is to bring in a big, big catch and find a way to store the meat... or not. The GREAT thing about being a carnivore is you don't have to eat everyday, but you feast like a king or queen and share with family and friends when you do.

2. Don't know if making dried fish jerky is practical, but I am sure in the early era they will try this.

3. Advanced hunting techniques will abound. Given their innate need for meat, they will be more adept at hunting animals then your average human. So much so that in general, every animal they ever see they will be thinking... "I wonder what they are like to hunt?" Traps for prey will abound, and being humanoid apex predators, they will feel free to hunt predator animals for meat too.

4. Expert fishing would lead to a ready supply of meat, which could allow them the time to develop cattle herding. Eating the cattle would thin it out fast though, so I suspect that cattle herds will be smaller than human ones usually are, reserved for celebratory or special occasion meat. That said, anyone with a lot of ready meat supply would be wealthy early on.

5. With technological innovations like refrigeration and gas ovens, suddenly average citizens can eat without even hunting, leading tech innovations to explode. Since carnivores can spend days without eating doing other pursuits.

6. Thus they could develop space travel. All they need is a WHOLE lot of frozen meat to dethaw and water supply.

7. Their predatory desire would remain though, so they would need to pack meat jerky on them to snack, on, since if they run out of meat on a spacecraft, the slaves or least valuable crew members will start to look like a good substitute.

Edited July 26, 2020 by Spacescifi

[DDE]

51 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

Upon further research I learned they have options that could easily lead to sustainable animal husbandry.

The problem is that human history (of Eurasia, but other places can be cynically dismissed) is dominated by conflicts between agrarian societies with marginally more sophisticated organization and technology but a sharp degradation in physical condition due to a plant-based diet... and steppe barbarians subsisting on meat and milk.

It's unclear if pastoralist catgirls would be able to progress to fishing and industrial production.

[Spacescifi]

26 minutes ago, DDE said:

The problem is that human history (of Eurasia, but other places can be cynically dismissed) is dominated by conflicts between agrarian societies with marginally more sophisticated organization and technology but a sharp degradation in physical condition due to a plant-based diet... and steppe barbarians subsisting on meat and milk.

It's unclear if pastoralist catgirls would be able to progress to fishing and industrial production.

 

Haha... pastoralist cat-girls... funny imagery.

 

It is the inverse actually I am thinking.

Cat humanoids preferring to live NEAR beaches and rivers where access to meat is easy.

Any alien bears trying to get fish in the river are likely going to get speared to death sooner or later as a meat source.

So they would start their civilization near water sources, and only as food preservation technology advances will they progress to animal husbandry.

 

Besides... although my cat humanoids will have human intellect, they will be known by other races mostly for the three P's.

Paranoia: Because real cats definitely act that way.

Persistence: They are this way too.

Predation: Hardwired carnivourous need to hunt for meat, acomplished through hunting when no tech options are available.

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, DDE said:

but a sharp degradation in physical condition due to a plant-based diet

Or probably just the plant-based diet gave a chance to those who were dying in the hunting tribes.

[kerbiloid]

Predators' co-operation is pathetic.
1. Chase the prey with silly barking, trying to keep away from a bigger dog, or it can bite you instead of the prey, because it's also not an etalon of intellect.
2. Fake attack others as often as you can, avoiding the ones who once had feared you.
3. Liquid and sniff each other as often as possible.

Cats are wiser and usually just skip these points and just stick to the closest useful human, allowing him to cooperate on his own.

Only omnivorous really cooperate, as they have other activities than biting others.

Also, predators never use tools, only omnivorouses.

There are no cat humanoids at the rivers. Only mermaids and sirens. But they are wet, slimy, and smell like bog. Also their lower body construction is also a disadvantage.

So, omnivorouses rule the world, predators serve them (cats just let humans see they serve), grass-eaters even not see the picture.

P.S.
Cats and girls are perfect themselves.
"Catgirls" are just a failed experiment of Dr. Moreau.

Edited July 26, 2020 by kerbiloid

[StrandedonEarth]

6 hours ago, kerbiloid said:

"Catgirls" are just a failed experiment

Cat People...

[kerbiloid]

Yes, and as I can remember, these don't live at the rivers.

[Spacescifi]

16 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

Yes, and as I can remember, these don't live at the rivers.

 

No... I am saying with human intelligence and the feast or famine routine cats do, cat humanoid folk would spend days without eating working out plans on how to get meat more efficiently the next time. 

They would sooner or later work out that fishing and storing it away in brine is safer than chasing down terrestrial prey whenever they become hungry.

Being carnivores, they could likely eat fish fresh as well as cooked.

Thus civilization growing from and around water sources.

Historically human civilization grew around water sources, but for far many more reasons than the carnivore catfolk... who absolutely need it.

Carnivores have less options, but they can still prosper and grow within them.

I don't see them dwelling in deserts at all.. until their technology catches up. Strangely enough they could do fine in arctic conditions so long there is prey, they would be like Eskimos.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

11 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

cat humanoid folk would spend days without eating

This explains why the catgirls are so thin.

When omnivorous apes began evolving, they started from tools to not spend days without food.

14 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

They would sooner or later work out that fishing and storing it away in brine

Cats don't like salty food. And they have stronger digestive fluids. So, unlikely brining could be in their agenda.

But if Dr. Moreau is not involved, who is the catgirl evolutionary ancestor?

A semi-human-sized cat, irradiated, bald, missing all hunting things like fangs and nails, and bidpedal due to the skeleton deformations?

Or an ape, irradiated. bald, and with adjustable triangular ears, absolutely useless for both banana gathering and ape-style hunting and defence?

[ARS]

29 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

I don't see them dwelling in deserts at all..

Ever heard about Sand Cat? It lives on desert region far from water source (and it's not even a threatened species despite living on such environment)

[Spacescifi]

24 minutes ago, ARS said:

Ever heard about Sand Cat? It lives on desert region far from water source (and it's not even a threatened species despite living on such environment)

 

I have.

Humanoid cats as I envision them take only specific cat traits I want them to have.

Sure the sand cat can make it, but a humanoid cat is much larger, and  will need to work a human style work shift rather than sleep much of the day like the sand cat does.  Otherwise culture and tech will take too long to develop.

More active life equals more water and food intake required.

I don't do a 1.1 corrolation from animal to human, since nor all abilities translate as useful.

Like cat eyes... not so useful for a humanoid cat, better to keep the human ones. At most you could give them tapetus lucidum that allows better night vision at the expense of reduced distance vision in daylight making distances of 20 feet blurry.

29 minutes ago, kerbiloid said:

This explains why the catgirls are so thin.

When omnivorous apes began evolving, they started from tools to not spend days without food.

Cats don't like salty food. And they have stronger digestive fluids. So, unlikely brining could be in their agenda.

But if Dr. Moreau is not involved, who is the catgirl evolutionary ancestor?

A semi-human-sized cat, irradiated, bald, missing all hunting things like fangs and nails, and bidpedal due to the skeleton deformations?

Or an ape, irradiated. bald, and with adjustable triangular ears, absolutely useless for both banana gathering and ape-style hunting and defence?

 

Think more dr moreau...

 

I know cats cannot tolerate much salt... but these are not pure cats. These are humanoids with cat traits and features. So they actually could tolerate a human salt intake, yet they would need a high water intake to balance it out.

While they do have digestive systems able to digest stuff that would challenge or harm a normal human, they also have limits to that.

I think some sort of food preservation would be in order, since eating rotten meat like vultures is not something cats are keen on... or are they?

Edited July 27, 2020 by Spacescifi

[SOXBLOX]

I'd say that to cram any "insert earth animal here" aliens into SF, one has to make so many assumptions that debate over its realism becomes pointless. You obviously have a vision; if you want to do this, just insert them into your world and be done; to heck with the consequences. (Don't give me stuff about you being concerned with the realism of it, please?)

Just my thoughts. Cool ideas, though.

 

[Spacescifi]

7 minutes ago, SOXBLOX said:

I'd say that to cram any "insert earth animal here" aliens into SF, one has to make so many assumptions that debate over its realism becomes pointless. You obviously have a vision; if you want to do this, just insert them into your world and be done; to heck with the consequences. (Don't give me stuff about you being concerned with the realism of it, please?)

Just my thoughts. Cool ideas, though.

 

 

Sure... and actually... yeah, cats do have really strong digestion.

Sand cats just bury whatever they cannot eat in the sand and come back to it later, so I suppose that could work for my cat people, no brine or human level salt tolerance required as kerbaloid and ARS implied.

Sandcats get much of their water from the blood in the meat they eat (gross), but will happily drink water or milk if available.

So I will do that, the non-human features are where the fun is, whereas the human side of them allows them more depth and interaction than would be possible otherwise.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Spacescifi

[SOXBLOX]

3 minutes ago, Spacescifi said:

 cats do have really strong digestion.

So do most critters. I suspect humans do, too, just none of us want to put it to the test. 

[Spacescifi]

15 minutes ago, SOXBLOX said:

So do most critters. I suspect humans do, too, just none of us want to put it to the test. 

Not to the same extent... humans have put it to the test and died or nearly died.

Like no one in his right mind will kill a bird, eat some of it, bury it in dirt, and eat the rest a few days later (barring the gross parts).

One thing I do like about cats is they are are not keen on eating poo of other species or each other.

In fact, if they sniff the bile sac of animal they will rip that out and put it aside, they won't eat it.

Cats have 'street smarts'. Like they know what and what not to eat when it comes to the natural world. It is human food that tricks and confuses them at times.

Edited July 27, 2020 by Spacescifi

[kerbiloid]

1 hour ago, Spacescifi said:

These are humanoids with cat traits and features.

To liquid into boots and eat raw mice?

[magnemoe]

On 7/26/2020 at 6:41 AM, Spacescifi said:

 

Haha... pastoralist cat-girls... funny imagery.

 

It is the inverse actually I am thinking.

Cat humanoids preferring to live NEAR beaches and rivers where access to meat is easy.

Any alien bears trying to get fish in the river are likely going to get speared to death sooner or later as a meat source.

So they would start their civilization near water sources, and only as food preservation technology advances will they progress to animal husbandry.

 

Besides... although my cat humanoids will have human intellect, they will be known by other races mostly for the three P's.

Paranoia: Because real cats definitely act that way.

Persistence: They are this way too.

Predation: Hardwired carnivourous need to hunt for meat, acomplished through hunting when no tech options are available.

 

Who game is that image from? nice girl. 

Rivers and coastlines are nice for fish and you can dry fish, its had been done large scale, think bacalao,  it require an relatively dry air so not in an rain forest or during rainy season. 
 

[Spacescifi]

40 minutes ago, magnemoe said:

Who game is that image from? nice girl. 

Rivers and coastlines are nice for fish and you can dry fish, its had been done large scale, think bacalao,  it require an relatively dry air so not in an rain forest or during rainy season. 
 

Honestly... I had to sift through google images to get one that was appropriate. This one appears to be a modded look that does not naturally occur ingame.

People mod a lot.

 

[ARS]

An object with a length of 500m  and width of 250m that flies around the altitude of Karman line. Using naked eye, if you squint really hard, in broad daylight (assuming you're not blinded by the sun), could you actually see it?

Does a high altitude recon aircraft such as U2 or SR71 visible by naked eye (on their highest operational altitude) assuming you know where to look?

Edited July 27, 2020 by ARS

[kerbiloid]

1. Depends on albedo. The size is anyway below the eye resolution. So, a bright point, as any other satellite.

2. See p.1., and as their albedo is ~0, so almost no. Just a fat dot. Maybe their traces.

Edited July 27, 2020 by kerbiloid

[SOXBLOX]

Binoculars, absolutely. It would probably look like a satellite does in the night sky, just a moving star.