1 réponse à ce sujet

[Hopefire]

For the most part, I do like the hard science fiction of the game. Most of it is done reasonably well, three or four solid steps above Star Trek and a step or two above Battlestar Galactica. However, reading the Codex (I know, I know, who does that?) the entry on Combat Endurance in space annoyed me a bit. I'm not an expect on physics or science, but as I understand vacuums, the game is wrong. 

Basically, it gets the first part right: as you fight, heat builds up in the ship, more quickly than the ship can disperse it. Presumably, new methods to dump heat have been paced by new weapons systems generating more heat. In any case, the final paragraph is what annoys me:

"Combat endurance varies by ship design, and by the battle's location. Battles in the deep cold of interstellar space can go on for some time. Engagements close to a star are brief. Since habitable worlds are usually close to a star, battles over them are frantic."
 
Unless you're fighting in a nebulae that's gone cold, interstellar space and the high quality vacuum therein is where you'll heat up FASTEST. Seriously. Basic property of a vacuum, it has no temperature. There's a reason a thermos is vacuum sealed - you don't get crossover of heat across a vacuum. So, if the Normandy is hot from a battle, going into deep space isn't a good way to cool off. Finding a cold rock to rest against, somehow channeling waste heat into some sort of discharge, or basking in a cool nebulae would be a much better way of chilling out. 

[Thomas_R_Roy]

Even in a complete vacuum, you emit radiation (at the very least) in the form of infrared light waves. You could also vent tiny quantities of super-heating gases to cool down.