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StarRaven
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
Joined: 01-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 1138
Location: United States
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 Posted: 02-Dec-2004 22:15 Post subject: Why no vac suits? |
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Why is it that the WarShip crews in BattleTech novels never wear any type of protective suit? Does anyone know? These people don't even have scifi artificial gravity; they best they can do is rotating or acceleration. So why don't they wear suits? It seems that quite a few battles have been lost by killing the ship's officers, most of whom will be on the bridge when the hull breach comes. Even damage control teams would be more effective with vac suits.
I can understand television shows skipping the vac suits. It just looks better. And everthing everyone wears is costing you money. That's why I liked Babylon 5. They went to the trouble of having these guys in suits. Also why I loved Farscape. When the hull breach came (rare), they were in the PK vac suits. But these are books. Look at the Honor Harrington books. So why don't they bother?
Money. How much money does it cost to train naval enlisted personnel? (It sounds weird to call them 'seamen.') How much to train naval officers? And you just throw away that investment? How much to build a WarShip? And you just let the crewless thing crash into the atmosphere? Not very smart.
Wow. I didn't plan on saying that much. But I've always despised the way they just ignore this.
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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
Kommandant-General
Joined: 03-May-2002 00:00
Posts: 2214
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 01:51 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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The writers are talentless hacks? No one important cares? 
Nah, you're right. Damage control parties should wear suits.
As for the bridge, I thought any sensible designer would cram the combat bridge somewhere deep inside the ship. If the officers need vac suits the ship is already dead or crippled beyond repair.
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Discord
Federated Suns
Sergeant-Major
Joined: 22-Jul-2003 00:00
Posts: 106
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 03:00 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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On 2004-12-03 01:51, Nightmare wrote:
As for the bridge, I thought any sensible designer would cram the combat bridge somewhere deep inside the ship.
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That's how it was described on the Avalons.
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SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 15:17 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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I would figure vac suits would hinder your movement too much to be useful unless you were pretty exposed (e.g. DC team and fighter pilots). Also, there's something to be said for having your main officers out their at the front of their ship in a very prominent part so that they can, at least vicariously, inspire their men.
Besides, much like the head on the mech, bridge officers probably like to look out over the bow and see what's happening outside.
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"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
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mud
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 23-Jul-2002 00:00
Posts: 1618
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 15:37 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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I don't know about the novels, but a lot of the sourcebooks do describe warship and dropship crewmen as wearing vac suits 
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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
Kommandant-General
Joined: 03-May-2002 00:00
Posts: 2214
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 15:44 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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See what's happening? Use vid screens and computer readouts, you monkeys!
Looking out over the bow may be nice, but hardly useful. It's not like you can see anything at any significant range, unless it's huge. Like a planet or the sun. 
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A tree fall in the forest, and no one is around, and it hits a mime. Does anyone care?
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SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 19:13 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Tradition.
I remember the fluff text from the original aerotech said that many pilots refuse to fly aerofighters without a gun in the nose. Same concept.
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"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
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Boneshaman
Draconis Combine
Go-cho
Joined: 13-Aug-2004 00:00
Posts: 52
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 21:24 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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i like star trek they have a force Field to protect the crew from hull breaches. i dont think they puit to much thougt on the space or air combat ruls
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Erenon
Blighted Sun Battalion
2nd Company
"Seraph's Slaughter"
Sergeant
Joined: 04-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 976
Location: Singapore
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 21:38 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Star Trek?
Bah.. Nothing beats the massively reinforced bulk heads of a Star Destroyer. It isn't reliant on a volatile power source.
http://www.stardestroyer.net/
*seriously off topic now...*
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"My job is to keep the majority of people in this country alive. That's it. If fifty-one percent eat a meal tomorrow and forty-nine percent don't, I've done my job." - The Beast (AKA The President), Transmetropolitan
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StarRaven
Federated Suns
Leftenant General
Joined: 01-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 1138
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 21:59 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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That's what annoys me about Star Trek. They always have a quick fix for everything. Takes all the fun out of it. Babylon 5 had such great problems, and the people worked out actual solutions to them. Like when Garibaldi was trying to get a package from the postal clerk. Or when Earthforce made them pay a lot to be in officer's quarters (and locked them out of their own quarters). Star Trek was too perfect, especially Next Gen. Besides the Original Series, DS9 was the only interesting one. The rest had mostly crappy problems with mostly crappy solutions.
Whether or not the wear vac suits doesn't really have anything to do with how well the rules have been done.
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On 2004-12-03 19:13, SaberDance wrote:
Tradition.
I remember the fluff text from the original aerotech said that many pilots refuse to fly aerofighters without a gun in the nose. Same concept.
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Same concept in reverse. I assume that they want a gun in the nose for protection.
"I don't want a vac suit!! I'm gonna stick with tradition! Besides, I enjoy explosive decompression!"
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"Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close semblance to the first."
- Attributed to General Aleksandr Kerensky
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5792
Location: United States
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| Posted: 03-Dec-2004 23:58 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Admiral Needa saw that A-wing before it hit the bridge, i would say that was useful.
"Intensify forward firepower!"
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Ruger
Lyran Alliance
Hauptmann General
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 2104
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| Posted: 04-Dec-2004 04:41 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Quote:
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On 2004-12-03 23:58, Vagabond wrote:
Admiral Needa saw that A-wing before it hit the bridge, i would say that was useful.
"Intensify forward firepower!"
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Admiral Piet...Captain Needa was the commander of the Star Destroyer Avenger before Vader killed him for losing the Falcon coming out of the asteroid field in Empire Strikes Back...
Ruger
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Nightmare
Lyran Alliance
Kommandant-General
Joined: 03-May-2002 00:00
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| Posted: 04-Dec-2004 05:10 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Piet, Needa, it was the bridge we were thinking about. That's another example of why the bridge should be in a protected spot of the ship. 
Some writers just prefer to get right into the action instead of boring their audience with "unimportant frills". Kind of like players who drag their high-ranking officer characters into combat that should be handled by the soldiers and a few Sergeants at most.
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A tree fall in the forest, and no one is around, and it hits a mime. Does anyone care?
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Erenon
Blighted Sun Battalion
2nd Company
"Seraph's Slaughter"
Sergeant
Joined: 04-Jun-2004 00:00
Posts: 976
Location: Singapore
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| Posted: 04-Dec-2004 10:56 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Got to agree with the fact that bridges should be so deep ina ship that its probably the last thing to go.
And have a back-up.
Star Destroyers do have secondary bridges... and i'm sure Warships in BTech do (or should) as well. I'm not too sure about Star Trek (though even a secondary bridge would most probably have exploding display panels as well... real silly if u ask me).
As for vac suits, maybe they aren't use because of
a) confidence (misplaced)
b) Restriction on movement
_________________
"My job is to keep the majority of people in this country alive. That's it. If fifty-one percent eat a meal tomorrow and forty-nine percent don't, I've done my job." - The Beast (AKA The President), Transmetropolitan
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Vagabond
Mercenary
Mr. Referee
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 5792
Location: United States
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| Posted: 04-Dec-2004 13:25 Post subject: RE: Why no vac suits? |
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Quote:
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On 2004-12-04 04:41, Ruger wrote:
Quote:
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On 2004-12-03 23:58, Vagabond wrote:
Admiral Needa saw that A-wing before it hit the bridge, i would say that was useful.
"Intensify forward firepower!"
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Admiral Piet...Captain Needa was the commander of the Star Destroyer Avenger before Vader killed him for losing the Falcon coming out of the asteroid field in Empire Strikes Back...
Ruger
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i shall now commit sepuku to atone for my sins!
_________________
one must work hard to cultivate the mind and body. and one must always cultivate the mind.
//^(^_^)^\\
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