Re: [sg] Scenario with alien plants

During a briefing before going to Haiti (or was it Panama?), we were
informed that there were trees with seed-pods that would "explode" if
disturbed...

After the seed-pods were "ripe" they dry out and internal fibers would
shorten, compressing the pulp at the center. while anaerobic
decomposition would release gases from the pulp which were trapped by
the fibers (and a membrane, I guess) so that eventually, either some
disturbance would cause them to burst or they'd just pop on their own.

The force of the scattered seeds was enough to embed them into bare skin
if you happened to be within 10 feet of an exploding pod.

To xeno-ficate that type of tree:  

Make the released gases pyrotechnic-ally reactive with oxygen (something
that wasn't an issue until we terra-formed the planet, meddling
eartlings) or maybe even nasty enough to qualify as a chemical agent.

Make the seed-pods "launch" themselves by some kind of tensioned fibers
that are arranged in the stalk when the tree is disturbed/damaged.

Symbiotic relationship with beetles that eat the decaying pulp and wind
up with seeds stuck to their bodies, the beetles survive the bursting
(sans fire) and burrow into the victim.

Another concept applying the stored-energy or tensioned fibers is
"Twitch Trees". Plants with a relatively supple trunk that has fibers
running up and down it's lenght as well as in bundles crossing it in
diagonals.  When "attacked" the tree uses the energy stored in the
fibers to whip it's trunk down and smack the offending critter that's
gnawing on it's bark.

This could be made nasty if it had thorns/sticky sap and a carnivorous
nature.  Though only harmful to infantry.  If a heavy bulbous top was
added, (for storing water/etc) it could also prove disruptive to light
gev's or over vehicles.

On Tue, 2002-04-02 at 09:48, KH.Ranitzsch@t-online.de wrote:
> Bell, Brian K (Contractor) schrieb:
> > I have been thinking of how to make the plant life more 
> > alien in a SG2 game. 
> > 
> > But I was looking to add flavor to an otherwise normal 
> > game of Stargrunt (rather than make the flora the major opponent). 
> 
> Another idea: 
> 
> Smoke trees
> The wood of these trees does not splinter when hit, rather the section
> hit disintegrates into fine dust. If the plants are shot at with
> explosives, the effect is similar to smoke grenades.
> 
> Faraday trees
> As a defence against being eaten, the plants have incorporated a fine
> network of metallic fiber into their bark. Main efffect in game terms
> is that it conducts electricity, enhancing ECM levels around the
> plant.
> 
> Greetings
> Karl Heinz

-- 

--Flak Magnet
Hive Fleet Jaegernaught
http://www.geocities.com/flakmagnet72

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