• If you were supposed to get an email from the forum but didn't (e.g. to verify your account for registration), email Wes at stararmy@gmail.com or talk to me on Discord for help. Sometimes the server hits our limit of emails we can send per hour.
  • Get in our Discord chat! Discord.gg/stararmy

Structol

OsakanOne

Inactive Member
Retired Member
Already in use but I had to expand on it before I began trading the stuff to other factions as this will shortly be in trade circulation with Neplesia and the FreeSpacers (this was planned a good 3 months ago and is ironed out with Jess and SUBLIMEinal).

Read me.




Feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thankyou for your time.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Andrew(Site Admin) said:
Appears to be simular to the nodal system. I would like to see more about what it can do, what it's limits are, etc.

More info please!
Click to expand...
 
"More info" is a bit... Sparse.

What do you need to know and what would you like to see?
 
Osaka, it seems he wants to know what Structol does, I think he is worried with your mention of nodal in it. Most likely causes unease due to nodal being super overpowered. So, explain the limitations and capabilities of Structol.
 
Isn't it all there in the article?

I explained capabilities, uses, etc.

The only limitations are probably around the amount of chemical energy required to manipulate really complex or really strong nucleonic bonds.

If the energy isn't available in some form or another, it can't do it, hence why you won't ever see Structol turning a civilian starship into a dead husk in 20 minutes.
 
Must the cells in a Structol colony be in physical contact with each other to communicate (either directly or through an ad-hoc network), or do they posses some for of 'wireless' communication? Also, are the individual cells sufficiently diffuse that they can remain airborne for extended periods of time in an average life-sustaining atmosphere on a planet with average gravity? How do they locomote? I.e. do they move like simple, organic single-celled organizms such as amoeba or a flagellates, or do they possess more complex abilities such as AG or chemical propulsion? Must they be suspended within a substrate of some sort? One important point I'm wondering about is if these things retain their ability to function if rendered aerosol.
 

Finally, an answer. Thank-you, Alhazred.

Must the cells in a Structol colony be in physical contact with each other to communicate (either directly or through an ad-hoc network), or do they posses some for of 'wireless' communication?
Click to expand...

They posses a form of wireless communication but they work more efficiently as their colonies become denser which answers your aerosol question also: they can function as a gas but their efficiency drops dramatically unless the strain of micro-machine used is specially made for it's task (which isn't in the article and may be a future addition).

Also, are the individual cells sufficiently diffuse that they can remain airborne for extended periods of time in an average life-sustaining atmosphere on a planet with average gravity?
Click to expand...
Their structure with the two introduced strains does not support an airborne status. You're far more likely to find colonies hunched over a clump of mineral rock or at the bottom of a lake than you are in the air unless the colony sets out to become airborne, which isn't an inherent function.

How do they locomote? I.e. do they move like simple, organic single-celled organizms such as amoeba or a flagellates, or do they possess more complex abilities such as AG or chemical propulsion?
Click to expand...
Until the number of connections established exceeds a specific value, they're stationary, at which point they copy macroscopic forms like amoeba and the like, giving rise to the ability to ride air-currents and eventually, form fairly complex objects comparable to what we'd see as a dust-mite or even larger, as they continue to re-enforce themselves: growing denser and physically harder but more pliable and less ridged.

Must they be suspended within a substrate of some sort?
Click to expand...
No. They typically perform this task themselves, forming an epidermis once colony density hits a fairly comfortable number.

Understand: they're much much smaller than macroscopic organisms and far far smaller than single-cells despite exhibiting many similar properties.

They're very very spartan and rely a lot on being able to function as a colony to really be useful as a tool. A single unit of structol is only capable of eating, excreting, reproducing and fortifying itself against attack from similar sized organisms or hostile structol colonies.


Anything else you want to ask before I make changes to the wiki entry?
 
Keeping in mind that the Sourcians are preparing to bring these to the table in trade, have they developed any 100% reliable method of preventing Structol colonies from exhibiting A) Uncontrolled Evolution, or B) The 'Grey Goo' Scenaro? Also, for the customer's peace of mind, have they developed a 100% reliable method of destroying Structol colonies, should the client wish to do so?
 

1) A - The evolution of a structol colony isn't dictated by it's environment but by a digital system. They repeat their last instructions in terms of how they organize themselves and the operations they perform.

1) B - Without command, the metabolic rate of structol drops tremendously unless instructed otherwise. Structol isn't something you can use for mass-production of materials as micro-machines so much as it's a "smart material" with a few nano-machine like properties like self-regeneration and post-macroscopic self-organizing, all of which can be controlled by computer.

2) An authorized user gives the colony the kill command. If the population density isn't high enough to receive commands, Structol doesn't do anything but reproduce using non-organic materials. It would take low-level structol about 7 days of motionless contact to "eat" a person to the point of it being fatal. If it detects something is moving, it won't feed from it unless it is instructed to do so.

During low-growth stages, you can inhibit further growth by basically boiling it or burning it but once it hits command-able population density, it fortifies itself chemically against most thermal attacks up to about 4000 kelvin though it's growth drops beyond about 2000 kelvin substantially.
 
Has all the information in the above post been added to the article?
 
Not yet. I've got to sort some IRL Stuff out first.

I'll post here when the changes have been made. In the mean time, could you give me your own feedback, Wes?
 
I don't really have any other than to update the article based on the above. Once that's done, I'll be ready to approve it.
 
Changes have been made.

I've also altered the back-story and re-written Class A and Class B structol a little to outline their practical uses more clearly rather than by immediate example after running it through a few other people to see if they could understand it.

Awaiting a final check from the big guy.
 
I'll have to re-read the article again. It's been changed almost totally from what I evaluated before, including new stuff about it combining with Yamataium.
 
That was present in the original article, Wes.

I've re-worded most of it to make it an easier read: My major changes are the introductions for Class A, Class B, Class 0 and the background.

The mechanism has also been broadened, based on the questions in the thread.
 
I think the DR is too high.
 
The DR isn't changing. It hasn't changed from the pre-edit version.
Did you not read it originally?

Understand this stuff is used to hull starships and armors.
It's happy at 4000 Kelvin. A nuclear blast is only 3000 Kelvin or so or 6000 in the Russian Tzar bomb.

Read a submission before you decide you'll approve it, Wes, please. You were approving DR-7 Structol and now you're not.

It's like you're backing out on me because I re-worded completely unrelated parts and clarified to suit other stuff.
 
I think that the DR 7 rating is quite conservative, in comparison to the Structual Layering System, which we could simply laminate over or integrate into the structol to make up for whatever gimping it may receive here.

In short, I like it the way it is, and I am bumping for the O-Man.
 
The DR isn't changing. It hasn't changed from the pre-edit version.
Click to expand...

An admin of the site informed you that the DR is too high; you must lower the DR for this to be accepted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn more…