23-06-2000 13:49									#1
	can I try to write a story? Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

Are there any rules for submitting a story? I've been thinking about doing one, but I don't know what the correct procedures are, if any.

I'll go on the idea that it'll be okay for to do so and ask a few silly questions...there are just a few things I don't understand....

Planet's atmosphere is unbreathable to humans isn't it?

Isn't planet's gravity stronger than earth's?

Is there a general rule about rejuvenation? If everyone does it then the population would stagnate wouldn't it? If people don't die often (except for mindworm attacks and wars) then theres little need to procreate except to increase the population. But that would mean that people could have fifty or so children!

Hope I don't sound stupid. Thanks.

	23-06-2000 15:44									#2
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

Well, i think i can handle most of your questions.

First, there is no rules that i can think of.... oh i just remembered... you had to honor the name lightsniper in your story.

Secondly, the air is orginally unbreathable, but with the large scale introduction of earth vegetation, technically within several years, air would be sufficent numbers.

Third, i m not actually sure about the grav, but it is very close to Earth, if not there would be bone problems

Fourth, longevity treatments, in many of our stories is only given to the higher class people who can afford it or are granted it. Although this is only our interpretation, so your at liberty to do your own twist. About population changes, im sure people could have dozens of kids, but would u want to have a baby more than a handful times....well i guess you should ask your mom that.

Remember, the population is only a couple dozen thousand, population increase even in a few hundred years would still probably not reach what earth has now.

hopefully i helped.... im sure the vets like hydro and google and edgecrusher could expand on that.

	23-06-2000 16:21									#3
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Lightsniper,

I must dissent.

Terraforming the atmosphere of a planet is a Herculean job that would require a huge investment in time and technology, and have potentially nasty repercussions. The main problem on Planet is that it has a denser atmosphere (mainly because it is larger than Earth and can keep a denser atmosphere). Most of this is NO2, which is what causes nitrogen narcosis, with the O2 at 5% (note – I don’t have my manuals so correct me if I am wrong). However, the partial pressure of oxygen means there is enough O2 for human respiration – it is the nitrogen that is eventually toxic. Any terraforming effort would have to remove the nitrogen, not add oxygen. If you simply added oxygen you would have an environment suitable for flash fires – not a pretty picture.

How would you go about removing all the nitrogen? I don’t know, and I am sure that the puny population on Planet even into the late game would mean resources would be scarce to take this huge project on. In the beginning I ‘m sure the humans are going to be too busy surviving, or beating up on each other. The super high tech in the later game may very well make this possible, but you have to ask the question do you want to. It would be far easier to make technology fill the void or (e.g. – micro or nano-respirators), or, if you want a permanent solution, to genetically engineer humans to be able to take the narcosis. Raging Mouse in his exceptional Wizard of Chiron story had a nifty idea of genetically engineered fungus spoors that do exactly this – elegant, and do-able in my book (err – his book, that is!).

The nasty part is that removing the nitrogen or changing the atmosphere in a significant way is that it would surely crash the native ecology, which had evolved/was created for this environment. It would be difficult indeed for humans to survive on a planet with a crashed ecology, even if some Earth species could step in to fill part of the void.

That’s my view. Feel free to rip it apart.

D4everman,

To answer your other questions, the gravity on Planet is higher than that of Earth (I think it is about 1.3 Earth standard – check the SMAC manual in the back). This would cause an increase in cardiovascular and bone problems, but would lead to humans with greater musculature just to function. My feel is that standard medical care would take care of most of these problems or at least make them manageable after humans become established.

For rejuvenation, it would be rare and expensive early on when tech and resources are limited. But medical care would surely extend lifespans to their theoretical limit, which might be lower due to the influence of Planet’s gravity or negative effects of Planet’s lifeforms (be they mindworms of viruses) on humans. You can make this number whatever seems reasonable to you. After the Longevity Vaccine I view that significantly extended lifespans/rejuvenation is almost the norm. Your questions on how this would effect society are good ones (and might be the germ of a story!!).

Hydro

	23-06-2000 19:32									#4
	Put an end to popups!

Following up on LightSniper and Hydro, visit Planets.txt in your firaxis directory to get a comparison of Earth vs Chiron and Nessus/Pholus vs the Moon.

Also, the final dozen or so pages in the guidebook that came with the game talks about the ecology of Chiron.

We've taken liberties at times with the atmosphere, occasionally suggesting that'breqthers' or 'scrubbers' would be necessary to eliminate the high nitrogen content, but also working on the premise that, over time, the introduction of pine, fir etc (which thrive on the alkaline-rich soil)would produce a more earth-like composition.

(One asumes that having created Chiron, the Aliens find the atmosphere breathable? - in any case, the design of a facemask that accommodates all those tusks ....)

Googlie

	23-06-2000 20:27									#5
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u know, i got a laugh after i read what i wrote this morning... i must have been to tired or something... im also to lazy to change it

sorry about that hydro... yes... it would take a year and a half to terraform the planet....sure...sure it would.... trust me... j/k