One More Step to Towers
Processing chips done, I'll head back to the base with a fresh load of Titanium for my industry there. One step closer to logistics ships and the ability to build a better base. There's some setup and research still to be done, but I'm almost there. Annoyingly this is when the constraints of the bootstrap base really start rearing their ugly heads. One of the things I've tried to do is keep items sourced closely to the other bits that need them. Oil products have generally been by themselves, so I could keep things tidy by separating them from the more metallic items.
That luck can't continue as I build more exotic items. And the logistics systems are actually quite the exotic item. Flight is harder than it seems at first glance. Humans didn't get it going until industrialization and even then they used some shortcuts. Unlike back on Earth, I can't count on resource planets having an atmosphere worth anything, so I'll need a system that works without air. And preferably one that doesn't involve consuming resources that I'd rather put into making a Dyson sphere. Of course, I'll also need a system that can go between planets in the void of space. Early rocketry can technically work, but that's not nearly efficient enough for me. Instead we'll use a variant of the engines on the Icarus for flight.
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| The idea of space flight without using some sort of propellant is funny to me, but nice to have |
A new addition to the old line, and showing exactly what kind of nonsense I'll need to do to get things working. Sorters stack, so I went the easy route and trucked over graphene over to build my particle containers. What kind of particles you ask? I really don't know. The stuff we're working with now is downright strange.
How will this system work? Get a tower. Get it good and high with an elevator to make take off easier. Take some simple drones with a large cargohold. They don't need to be complex, the tower machinery and the particles involved will do most of the work. Load them in, power the entire thing with a frankly large amount of power, and we should have flying cargo ships that only use up electricity. And with the green energy I'm producing now, that makes it practically free!
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| A slightly different way of doing construction. The thrusters only go to making drones, so might as well keep them connected |
Two more constructions. Unfortunately I only brought the few processing units I had made before, so it's off to Zibel 1 again to pick some up. Same as with titanium, I'm almost ready to get things completely automated, but I'm not quite there yet. I still need to research the exacts for some of this technology and I'll need the titanium and chips. A quick jaunt over and back and uh oh...
Space Flight is Maybe Not so Easy
I wasn't reading my checklist before I left for a routine mission. I forgot to pack extra hydrogen! No hydrogen means no extra energy generation and I'm forced to resort to the zero point energy generator the Icarus started with. It's infinite energy, but a tiny amount. It's not a major scare, but the idea of spending so much time to reverse course if I were to miss the location makes me shudder. I made it back safely, but I'd have preferred to not run into that trouble at all! Clearly the next energy source is on the cards for development.
So far I've gotten by with burning fuels. Mix a fuel with oxygen and you get energy. Oxygen isn't plentiful in space, but it has been plentiful enough on these two planets that the Icarus can grab it constantly with little processing required. Easy to store and plentiful, I don't need to think about it. But the energy source is less plentiful, and hydrogen is the best possible burnable fuel I can use. If I want to get more energetic I'll need to go nuclear. There's a simple reaction available where you smash deuterium together with a single proton to produce quite a bit of energy. For me it means I can store eleven times the energy I could with burning the hydrogen and burn 50% quicker to boot which is quite the upgrade. But that's only soon. First, flying cargo ships. Next, turning the inside of the Icarus into a mini star.
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