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Vial

Zakalwe

Inactive Member
Vial:

Vial is the newest form of melee weapon to come out of Ephesus' mind. It takes the form of a hilt, when not activated, a rather nice looking hilt, that can be decorated in all manner of styles, from leather rapping's, to metal studs, to the plain rubber grip. However inside this hilt is a hollow cavity filled with nano-bots which when the hilt is activated flow out into a variety of forms. This can be a great variety of things, from a sword (many possible variations), axe, dagger, a knuckle duster (flows around the hand), or even more exotic weapons programmed into the device. It only takes a moment for the nano-bots to flow out and solidify into the needed weapon.

The Vial comes with a certain number of weapon forms intact, and more can be loaded in by a computer (NovaCorp will design any weapon setting you desire for 10ks), and these different forms can be activated in several ways. The simplest is through pressing the pommel, which will first activate the weapon, and then work through a preset series of weapons with each press, although this is only really useful if you only want to use the first setting, which is easily prograbale, as is the entire list. Other ways include a audio acceptance mode, where you name the weapon form, and the hilt will pick it up and act upon it, or in extreme cases, the simple, quick and painless implanting of a chip into the brain, which allows you to control the setting with only your thoughts. Other possible settings include a small shield.

This weapon has several advantages over other melee weapons, one of which is that although it is not really stronger than a normal weapon, but can (if blocked) flow around and entangle the other weapon, allowing for great disarms or to effectively flow around the blocking weapon to strike the target. The flow through setting is activated through increasing pressure where the little finger would be, (although working out whether it is intentional or not fall to the same micro computer that holds the systematic, based on a series or parameters), or through a certain verbal command (a certain not of whistle for example). The nano-bots can also make the blade (if it is a blade) nearly mono-molecular, far sharper than a normal weapon, meaning that it can easily cut through, or even more easily pierce, material that a normal blade could not. The whip setting usually serves to entangle the target, but can then use the nano-bots to flow, pierce armour and skin, and deal hideous damage to the target. A strike from the weapon in blade form has a similar effect, the nano-bots flowing into the target. This, along with the damage dealt to the nano-bots through impact, does mean that it occasionally needs to be restocked, but this is supplied by a reservoir of goo-bots that create more out of surrounding matter. If the blade is broken bringing the shards together will fix the blade.

The hilt is largely made of Carbon-ring, and the nano-bots are powered by a battery built into the hilt, which can last 24 hours without recharging (which requires 3 hours to recharge completely), or replacing. However the weapon can keep in a weapon state (other than whip), without power, just as a normal sharp blade, but it has a higher tendency to break. The nano-bots don't actually need power to keep bonded. The battery is the end of the hilt, which also includes the pommel/button, and a new one (it simply needs for the button to be pressed down and twisted to come out), costs 50 ks. The hilt has a layer of lead underneath the carbon-ring exterior, and as such (and a little cap that can be fitted over the top), is rendered immune to EMP, however the blade, if extended, is not. It does however protect the pre-programmed instructions, and allows the goo (which remains in the hilt at all times) to replenish the nano-bots. The blade is designed to be considerably resistant to lesser EM attacks. The hilt is 40 cm long, rather long given the normal length of the blade, however with some training, combined with the relative lightness of the ‘empty' hilt, it does not act as an encumbrance. In general appearance the hilt can look like pretty much anything, but traditionally is that of the ‘cross' hilt, with a pommel at one end and a cross bar at the other. Whether the handle has a rubber hand grip, leather or whether it has metal studs is completely up to the purchaser, since such aesthetic details can actually be added quite easily at the shop.

Some training is required to use a Vial correctly, due to the weight being lighter than that of a normal weapon, and to take into account its special features in combat. Luckily NovaCorp supplies a manual on a data-pad, including a sub-sentient interactive program.

Vial: 780 ks
 
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If you go by what vesper said any small structure would be destroyed by light including things like viruses (which clearly aren't) and oh lets just say water because it is made up of small individual bits loosely held together by attraction.

Of course it is true that the nanomachines will be gradually destroyed by radiation and the like but it is ridiculous to assume that sunlight will destroy a colony of the machines when they can reproduce, especially in this technology setting. Even if they were unable to reproduce it would take some time to destroy the entirety of the colony past the point of usefulness.

further reassembly of components is not "bam" process, it does take time
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This is something a lot of people seem to forget when it comes to nanomachines.

Also, decree number 10:

I don't belive that NC has been given the right to use restricted technology (unless I missed it in the legal forum).
 
Irrelevant of its legal status Zesuaium does not solve this problem, as that material is apparently too difficult for nanobots to create or assemble since ships purposely alloy the stuff with much weaker metals so that it can slowly heal over time. Further, it is the only one of the hull constituents that is specifically stated as being produced in distinct factories as opposed to synthesis on-site.

As to viri, yes they do die from sunlight Uso. That is why most of them cannot spread through the air. This is also why bacteria create spores, because otherwise they would cook in normal sunlight. To the speed of this destruction, remember that the ability of something to maintain a even temperature is a function of its mass and surface area. So as the bots get smaller and smaller there ability to resist heating also gets less and less. At the size of a nanobot it has almost no ability to resist heat since its mass is so minuscules. That leads to a extremely rapid rise in temperature. If you go about the number crunching for a 2nm iron sphere it would have a mass of around 2.6E-43 g and the incident solar radiation on it would amount to ~ 13 femtowatts (1.3E-14 watts). This means the pellet would vaporize in less than a attosecond (which is 1E-18 seconds). So yes, yes it would happen fast Uso.

Very fast.
 
Viruses can also survive on clothing, skin, ect, that has been in the sun. That is why ebolia workers need to burn their protective clothing after working in hospitals and the like. If we went by what you say we could assume the common cold could be cured by taking a step outside.

You sure are assuming a lot of things, color also plays a factor as well as position of these spheres. A reflective surface will be a lot cooler for example. In addition the amount of time the object can last in the sunlight and the amount of time a colony could last in sunlight are two completely different things as factors such as the size and shape of the colony need to be accounted for as well as color and number of units inside.

In the case of this device it is likely that the nanomachines on the outside will screen the internal nanomachines, taking them out of direct sunlight and lowering the average temperature throughout the object. Reflective surfaces could also reduce the amount of energy absorbed by sunlight. It is also unlikely that Iron would be used in such a composite material.

So once again you have provided us with a bunch of numbers which don't apply to this situation because you have ignored every other factor in an attempt to prove your point.
 
You seem to have missed something here:

That is why most of them cannot spread through the air.
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(emphasis added)

What is that now? Might that be a clarifier there? Well I'll be... I do seem to have not made a blanket statement.

Yes Uso, some can survive sunlight, that is what makes many of them so dangerous, but most cannot. And if 99.9999% of the incident light was reflected from the surface of the pellet (in other words, only one in every million photons is actually absorbed) is still going to vaporize in nanoseconds. And color is of minimal concern here, especially if the thing is already reflective. Sunlight has a fairly even distribution over the visible spectrum so so a given color just means it doesn't absorb one tiny little band of light. As said two sentences ago, this retransmission is pretty much the same thing as being very reflective.

As to the colony and the lone pellet, there is some truth in that, but the surface pellets will still cook. This is because discrete pellets will exist so conduction through the object will be impeded.

Uso, I am not talking about heating them far enough to be inoperable, those numbers I gave you (which are applicable) show that the surface bots will ablate off the surface, whether they burn up, melt, explode, or simply fall off, the end of it all is that they are no longer present on or near the colony and can therefore not provide it protection. It also means there mass is no longer present to be disassembled to make new nanobots. The average energy of the object is not the problem. The problem is that the outside pellets simply cannot re radiate there energy fast enough to the rest of the colony to maintain a soft operating temperature.



Lastly, would you please do everyone a favor and listen to yourself? You accuses me of snatching at a single item or only uses a single reference at the exclusion of other contradictory ones. I do believe I am the one who even bothers providing references.

I have on many occasions provided many, many references and sources for where I get my figures.

=You on the other hand only provide such things when everyone nags you for 3 pages to do so.

I spend the time to fact check what I put down so that it is not contradicted other sources.

=You have failed to do this so thoroughly that on occasions your own point is contradicted later on in your source.

I try hard to use the same standards, formula, and process to evaluate things, whether I made them or not and whether I agree with them or not.

=You frequently use double standards. You bitch at someone for using logic and reason in what you proclaim should be exempt from such things because it is "science fiction". Then you proceed to use that same process to support your own items and ignore it when others use your own previous arguments against you.

So in closing, please STHU. You should not be so righteous in accusing people of things for which you yourself are FAR more guilty off.
 
What you are implying by the very nature of your statement is that viruses and any object on a scale of that size can't survive, which is untrue. You made a blanket statement simply by implying that because some viruses are destroyed by sunlight that the nanomachines can't possibly exist in sunlight.

The numbers aren't applicable because they assume far to much about the structure, composition, and positioning of the nanomachines. Naturally being so far off from what the nanomachines would be invalidates any conclusion gathered from the numbers. So far what you have provided is mere speculation which is obviously wrong because a 2nm iron ball structure isn't used in this device.

If you can't apply math in a relevant way don't bother.
 
Vesper said:
As to viri, yes they do die from sunlight Uso. That is why most of them cannot spread through the air.
Click to expand...
*achoo*

This is also why bacteria create spores, because otherwise they would cook in normal sunlight.
Click to expand...
Either the spores are really big, or they cook in sunlight, too. Using your logic, anyway. Of course, a bacterial spore is smaller than its parent...so I guess they cook even faster, huh?

To the speed of this destruction, remember that the ability of something to maintain a even temperature is a function of its mass and surface area. So as the bots get smaller and smaller there ability to resist heating also gets less and less.
Click to expand...
And when you consider this (as well as completely ignore what it's made of), you can make a (rather absurd) blanket statement like "any form of nanomachine is hugely vulnerable to damage from incident radiation."

At the size of a nanobot it has almost no ability to resist heat since its mass is so minuscules.
Click to expand...
Unless it's made of something that's heat resistant.

That leads to a extremely rapid rise in temperature.
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Unless it's made of something that's heat resistant.

Well, it's a good thing you used a really heat resistant material like iron for your example. Hey, maybe for your next one you could use aluminum? That would prove your point even better!
 
I Suggest that Thad keeps this item un-approved.

I was enjoying the fight but the main reason why I say this should remain unapproved is actually for game play. The wording and language used implies that the weapon is going to be abused heavily in close combat like something out of the latest terminator movie which seriously if only organic things can go back in time or things wrapped in an organic shell how can an entirely nanomachine object be moved back in time?

The problems are as follows:
-A hilt would not be able to store enough nanomachines to create anything larger than a small knife.
-The ‘significantly stronger' bit implies abuse and can not be backed up. A dedicated construction system could produce a blade stronger than nanomachines could create on the spot.
-A weapon that can flow would not be ridged and vice versa.
-Mono-molecular blade weapons are also something that is easily abused as are swords in general because of the ‘Japanese sword myth' that seems to pervade the world. But This boils down to a doubt that nanomachines could produce something so small and perfect without the aid of some sort of dedicated system.
-nanomachines would require a lot of energy to break down and rearrange matter into something else, something that I don't think the hilt could provide.
-The nanomachines flowing into the target implies an odd application of physical force that the nanomachines would have to form some sort of support structure around the target in order to provide. It would be more believable for them to eat through the target like acid.
-lack of description of what the hilt of the weapon looks like could hinder role play with the weapon.
 
agreed

-A weapon that can flow would not be ridged and vice versa.
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why not? that's like the main feature of nanomachine-based objects.

well, this depends on what the nanomachines look like. If they're all disc-shaped, with a thick center gradually thinning out to a monomolecular edge, then it could work.

-nanomachines would require a lot of energy to break down and rearrange matter into something else, something that I don't think the hilt could provide.
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if they actively rearrange the atoms, yes. but if they simply act as a catalyst for normal chemical reactions, it should be fine.

I figured they just ripped through tissue...
 
-A weapon that can flow would not be ridged and vice versa.

A change in composition would require both time and energy.

if they actively rearrange the atoms, yes. but if they simply act as a catalyst for normal chemical reactions, it should be fine.
Click to expand...

Which chemical reaction creates a sword? There is obviously lots of movement, re-aranging, and checmical changes going on which takes power.

As for tissue ripping, you need some sort of force pushing inward to do that, the weapon does not state it uses a rending action of any sort so it would have to push inward.
 
Uso Tasuki said:
-A weapon that can flow would not be ridged and vice versa.

A change in composition would require both time and energy.
Click to expand...
I can lock my elbow into place, preventing outside forces from bending my arm. I can also freely move it around. Think like that, only instead of an elbow it's a bunch of tiny robots holding hands.

Oh, I thought you were talking about when they broke off and entered the person, destroying them from the inside. Well, you're still wrong...all they're doing is moving. Loosen grip, rotate, tighten grip.

As for tissue ripping, you need some sort of force pushing inward to do that, the weapon does not state it uses a rending action of any sort so it would have to push inward.
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Nanomachine moves. Tissue gets in the way. The nanomachine moves through it. The tissue has a new hole in it.
 
I can lock my elbow into place, preventing outside forces from bending my arm. I can also freely move it around. Think like that, only instead of an elbow it's a bunch of tiny robots holding hands.
Click to expand...

However you can only do one of those actions at any point in time. The weapon would either have to remain ridgid, move freely, or have a setting that switches between the two under a set condition.

Oh, I thought you were talking about when they broke off and entered the person, destroying them from the inside. Well, you're still wrong...all they're doing is moving. Loosen grip, rotate, tighten grip.
Click to expand...

Considering they have a long distance to go considering their size plus still have to preform all the other features of the weapon. It isn't realalistic to think they can preform all of those actions with solely internal power.

Nanomachine moves. Tissue gets in the way. The nanomachine moves through it. The tissue has a new hole in it.
Click to expand...

You will still need something pushing the nanomachines so that it can cut through the target. with how I preceive the weapon's non-ridid impact to be you would have a small, thin, coating of nanomachines on the target which would have to burrow inside. It is more likely that the nanomachines will simply push past the cells than leave any serious damage.
 
Uso Tasuki said:
However you can only do one of those actions at any point in time. The weapon would either have to remain ridgid, move freely, or have a setting that switches between the two under a set condition.
Click to expand...
ah, you mean something like
...this?

Considering they have a long distance to go considering their size plus still have to preform all the other features of the weapon. It isn't realalistic to think they can preform all of those actions with solely internal power.
Click to expand...
Is it realistic to think they can transfer power to each other? There is a battery in the hilt, after all.

well they obviously have some kind of propulsion system since they're moving around to reform new weapons...
 
Any remaining problems? I really like this weapon and really would like to bring it in to the RP.
 
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