"Fixing" plasma: A proposed article/solution

Hey all. Started out by trying to write a technical article an the joy of substance abuse led me to writing a complete article describing various forms of plasma and other equipment. The list is still growing but just as hard-light had a global article for all to see as a setting element, I think plasma could use with one too.

https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=lazarus:advanced_plasma

I think the top half is pretty clear as to how plasma works. In discussions, it passed Uso's "is it technically correct or possible" and was basically born from an extended conversation on Reddit's r/scifi/ where I was asking people what they thought plasma was, how it should work, then delved into the SARP wiki and asked if what they saw or heard there made sense.

Lots of people throw plasma around as a word without being really sure what it means.

I think I've got something good here and if I can use the top half to serve the community as a means of disambiguating plasma so it makes more sense to the userbase and we have a better idea of how it works, I think that would be good.

I do however, not want to lose my "advantage" in plasma development -- the specialist weapons used by the Lorath Matriarchy like compressed accelerated packet weaponary and soon, advanced wake manipulation. As a result, I'd like to know which factions use which forms of plasma and I want to add a list with each type, giving example weapons used by other factions so people can see "oh, this is beam plasma" or "oh, this is arc plasma", "this is what it can do, how its used" and from there "oh, here's some examples which do this so I can read" -- both as a way of educating the self and as a character shopping list for nice shooty toys made by various factions.

Sorry if I seem out of it. Grinding my teeth a bit. 2 hours of sleep in 2 days. Methylxanthines (refined caffeines, -- theobromine, theophyline) are love in a can. Oh the things you can do in a kitchen~

Chemistry is love. Science is love.



✰ W U B B A ✰ L U B B A ✰ D U B ✰ D U B ! ✰
キタ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!!!!!,

The forms of plasma I'm the most familiar with are:
- Yamatai's aether-plasma engines (see Plumeria-class)
- The plasma rifle typically used by the M6 Daisy power armor (generally described as "bolts"/"discharges" which I'm always kind of equated to a nastier version of Megaman's MegaBuster)
- The plasma thrusters used by Nepleslian power armors.
- The plasma projection employed by the NDI Super Phalanx power armor (most modern version of that being on the NAM Raider power armor)

- Plasma Torpedo (Star Trek TOS, armed on Romulan Bird of Prey, Balance of Terror).
- Hellfire Spout (armed on Ilwrath Avenger, Star Control)

There was also the old Hellbores in Bolos. Those were fusion induced plasma bolts IIRC.

As for what plasma is, well, it's either a blood fraction (lol I know it's not what you're looking for) or in material terms, it is when atoms get stripped of their electron shell. The electrons are not "free" by any means, but they are "detached" from the atom itself. Think something along the lines of metal where the material "swims" in a sea of electrons. That is also the reason why both are conductive.

If you really pushed the definition, an "Ion Cannon" is actually a variant form of "Plasma Cannon" without the extreme temperature difference.

Been a long, long time since I did Physics and Astronomy. The opposite of Ionization in a way is the related "neutron degeneracy" in Astronomy where instead of an electron and proton/neutron separating, the electron and proton gets squashed together to form a neutron. Usually followed by a lot of noise and light. Aka Fusion.

Plasma thrust is an application of wake as thrust....
Aether plasma as far as I know is using aether to create plasma..
A plasma projection is either a wake or a packet...

Plasma "bolts" would either be packets (bullets) or arc..
An ion-cannon would be an arc...

So far all the definitions fit neatly.

I think it would be good if we took SARP's fundamentals and made simple human-understandable articles for them like this.

Regarding the Daisy plasma rifle, I don't really get it.
Narrative typically has the plasma "bolt" blast out of the muzzle, streak toward the target and when it connects, there's a splash of plasma (so, there's the impact point, and the wash around the impact point). And it's supposed to be an energy weapon, so, it depends from a power supply rather than an ammunition storage.

And when I say bolt, it's kind of an interchangeable term for bullet. Like, an energy bullet, except I don't want to call it bullet because I associate "bullet" to physical rounds. So, instead, I use "bolt".


Kind of like in HALO? So, I'm not sure it qualifies as an "arc".

From what I understand of your article, this sounds more like a packet, though it doesn't explain the splash at the end.

I think splash is a property of all plasma: a loss of cohesion, usually on strike, splashing over the target.

I think a packet is a ball and when it becomes thin or stretched from acceleration, it becomes a bolt.

Interesting... When I've got a better idea of everyone's thoughts and how they write about plasma, I'll update the article to reflect consensus.

A plasma "arc" is also a viable form of plasma which we actually have in use today. Arc welding is technically plasma. The difference is because plasma is very malleble, it gets influenced by huge amount of stuff. The "plasma bolt" that was mentioned is influenced by momentum and maybe air resistance, it is a "gas", fluid dynamics apply. It is highly charged, so magnetodynamics affect it (Flemming's Left hand rule, I suspect it generates its own magnetic field if projected in a spiral (Flemming's Right hand rule), it's hot, so thermodynamics apply etc.

So basically plasma is the popular guy that everyone wants and is so friendly he adapts to any situation. This makes him a bit hard to pin down. Plasma blades anyone?

The biggest (?) that is in SA is probably the magical "aether". From what I can gather, it is something like a transdimensional power tap and aether weapons are technically explosives with a mild degenerative effect, you toss the guon pair energy trap out of the rifle, it degenerates and releases the energy in a big "boom"! From the article on it, I noticed something interesting, 2 power taps in close proximity interfere with each other, so there is probably a minimum spacing regulation between infantry and ships to prevent interference. That could make an interesting plot for a space based game, if the Mindy's rifles were drained by a huge power tap in operation by the enemy, they might need to get creative.

Aether interdiction has existed, but Wes claims it is a seldom used McGuffin that he wants to see as little as possible.

I've used it in almost every plotship I've been involved in, in one form or another.

There should absolutely always be a way to kill the "best guns" off and force people to rely on their wits instead of their equipment.

Perfect weapons do not equal perfect roleplay.

The Brolt definitely will be utilizing a version of the plasma bolt weaponry. The reason for this is, obviously that their ground-based weaponry is a hybrid state more-so than even base Plasma (it's both plasma and super-heated fragments) and carries a kinetic force. Their space weaponry, however, would be more akin to a true plasma-based projectile in terms of composition thanks to a boost in size and the heat and propulsion methods of the plasma required for void/space usage. It's also hilarious because they use magnetic fields in combination to make plasma-enhanced melee weaponry, which someone mentioned plasma-blades... so yeah, fun.