Re: Kra'vak Railgun & Technology!!!!

>Given that you have a whole Kra'Vak ship intact, how long do you think
>it would take humans to identify and duplicate a component within the
>range of Kra'Vak technology?  Do you think our guys could easily
>identify components? Would you think in terms of months, years or
>decades?
Depends on the size of the ship. A Fighter would take a lot less time to
strip down than a fleet carrier. I imagine a fighter in a couple of
weeks,
a corvette a month, a cruiser a few months and a capital a year or so.
That's to disassemble it down to components. Study time for systems
might
be longer than that even, but the point is you can then have one set of
scientists looking at the guns, one at the drives.. Indeed, something as
big as a capital ship you would probably research in situ, having teams
studying different systems while the ship is in commisionable state
before
you start dismantling it.

>What priority do you think the UN etc. would put on each of the ships
>components (power, drives, weapons, armor, nav, blah blah blah)?
I would say drives first. While the Kra'Vak railguns are a neat weapon,
it's their turning ability that puts them above human ships, IMO. If a
human cruiser could turn as fast as a Kra'Vak one, it'd find it a damn
sight harder to get its guns on line. Then probably the railguns or fire
control. But, as I say, once you have it in bits you can study them all
at
once..

>Is there a precedent for complex system duplication in recent years.
>IRAQ's nuclear program? How would that compare with duplication of >an
ancient alien races metallurgy?
Iron is Iron, Silicon is silicon. Unless the Kra'Vak are using some
wierd
pseudoscience a railgun still basically works the same way we know they
do.
Electricity still flows through conductors. To duplicate something isn't
actually that difficult. To understand how it is doing what it's doing
is a
different matter. 

Now the Sa'Vasku, they're a totally different kettle of fish. Is there a
doctor in the house? Or perhaps, a vet?

			TTFN
				Jon
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"Reality never lives up to all that it used to be.."
	Beth Orton 'Best bit'
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