On 7/8/2020 7:09 AM, Alex Goodwin wrote:
> For a rough OTL analogy, compare how long did it take for the USA to
> develop nuclear weapons (1945), as against either the USSR (1949) or the
> Old Dart (1952).  Likewise, compare fusion-weapon development - 7 years
> for the US from first fission-device test to first fusion-device test, 4
> years for the USSR and 5 years for the Old Dart.  China (with USSR aid)
> compressed (to pardon the pun) the fission-to-fusion timeline further,
> taking less than 3 years.

	I've seen a lot of discussions of technological development and how knowing
that something can be done is a huge advantage in developing it, even if you
don't know how. It let's you cut off a whole bunch of false dead-ends in the
possible development trees.

	There were stories from the Air shows given during the 80s where the different
airplane companies would show off their new aircraft, including the military
models. And the Russian and Chinese delegations would be out there measuring the
wing thickness with micrometers. Because that would tell them exactly how many
Gs the plane could pull in combat.

	The Terran's had an advantage over most of the other races the Vilani
encountered. They knew the underlying theory and engineering. Even if the
Terrans can't get engineering diagrams, a list of physical constraints on the
ship design would tell them quite a lot.

	Adventure time: The PCs are merchants in the IW era before the Terrans have the
J2 drive. They are approached by the Terran authorities to do a detailed radar /
densiometer scan of one of the Vilani J-2 ships. You'll need to be close to do
this, and if the Vilani figure it out they may impound the ship, and the data.
--
         Thomas Jones-Low
Work:	xxxxxx@softstart.com
Home:   xxxxxx@gmail.com