RE: [GZG Fiction] Seventy Dead after Freighter Accident

Since PSB is the issue, Pournelle's Imperial Earth stories and novels
(Mote 
in God's Eye and others) have crew in armored pressure suits at 
battlestations, though I cannot remember if the ships were decompressed
to 
vacuum or not. Incidentally, the Imperial Earth stories work well with
FT 
ships and rules.
I would think that possible danger of explosive decompression would be 
higher up the list than an individual crew member's safety, and that a 
pressure suit would be prized and cared-for personal equipment.
I like the armored suit idea though dumping air would be wasteful, you
would 
have to tank it up somewhere. They don't show crew in armor much in SF 
movies, but I suspect that is primarily actor protest at the discomfort,
and 
the cost of making props.  B5 is the worst offender, since the EA ships
do 
not have "structural integrity fields" ala Star Trek. And when they
fight, 
the shredding is usually phenomenal, making an armored suit a valuable
item.
Armored suits have another advantage...they look REALLY cool in book
art!
Robert

>From: Ground Zero Games <jon@gzg.com>
>Reply-To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
>To: gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu
>Subject: RE: [GZG Fiction] Seventy Dead after Freighter Accident
>Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 13:19:03 +0000
>
>>I read something on the NASA site a long time ago about operations in
>>low-pressure environments. Not vacuum, but quite low.
>>With breathing systems, that would get rid of a lot of the potential 
>>danger
>>from fire and explosive decompression.
>>
>>I'll see if I can find the link...
>>
>>>  This is certainly a valid assumption - _if_ the vacc suits are good
>>>  enough that you don't lose massive amounts of dexterity while
wearing
>>>  them. This is not true of current zero-atmosphere pressure suits;
>>>  personally I think it's a reasonable assumption for the fairly near
>>>  future, but not everyone agrees with me.
>>>
>>>  Also consider the practicalities of trying to give someone first
aid in
>>>  zero pressure. Suddenly a small splinter causes a potentially fatal
>>>  wound.
>>
>>Edward Lipsett
>>Fukuoka, Japan
>
>
>For what it's worth, I'd envisaged most of the non-essential and/or 
>outboard compartments being vented before battle, but atmosphere
retained 
>in the more vital and occupied inner sections to allow easier and less 
>tiring crew operations; during actual combat, most crew are in light
vacc 
>suits to protect against decompression of vital ship areas due to
internal 
>damage. Damage Control parties, who regularly work in the depressurised
and 
>most dangerous areas of the ship while enemy fire is still incoming,
are in 
>much heavier vacc suits virtually equivalent to Power Armour - but
probably 
>with flexibility and manual dexterity taking priority over extreme
armour 
>protection - they would have enough to protect against smaller flying 
>debris, heat etc., and against being thrown into bulkheads and
stanchions 
>when the ship's combat antics temporarily overload the
G-compensators....
>
>Note that none of this is supposed to be especially "accurate", just to

>have a good feel for game background and fiction possibilities...
>
>Jon (GZG)
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
Check out the new MSN 9 Dial-up — fast & reliable Internet access with
prime 
features! http://join.msn.com/?pgmarket=en-us&page=dialup/home&ST=1