What Have I Said 2016-11-02

[Catawampus]

Well, there's about forty questions at least partially answered in just three panels. And about four hundred new questions to replace them with.

It looks as though Atsali has been looking out for Castela longer than either of them might realise. I wonder if blackthorns or siren/incubi imprint on other individuals?

[Opus the Poet]

Speaking as a fan of the A-10 and it's 30mm cannon firing depleted Uranium rounds, that's exactly how DU works. A 10mm round would require a hefty powder load to reach AP velocity, but it could be done. especially if the weapons were never intended to be used after the op. You can get a lot of chamber pressure in a weapon that is only expected to fire 200 rounds at most.

[chicgeek]

in this strip, they talk about the guards at the lab, and that the blackthorn was still safe in it's "nursery".

http://wapsisquare.com/comic/never-be-a-weapon/

And in this strip, mom tells little Atsali to go to the family room and push the red button. So the family room, where she was told to take Castelaplant to, is the safe room.
http://wapsisquare.com/comic/the-right-thing-2/

So what the heck was at the lab? So many questions....Did her parents leave a decoy at the lab? If so, how long did it take them to figure out that the plant in the family room was Castela?
Ah, Pablo. There's no such thing as thinking we know what's going on. You always have a curve ball.

[Dave]

The density of uranium is a bit less than twice that of lead.

Seems to me that it ought to be possible to create specialized "sabot" rounds, with a sharp DU core or dart and a light plastic jacket, where the total weight of the bullet would add up to roughly the same as the weight of a standard steel-jacketed lead bullet. This would result in the sabot round being fired at the same velocity as a lead bullet, but with substantially greater penetrating power - the sabot would break away on impact and the dart would penetrate.

Ah, Pablo. There's no such thing as thinking we know what's going on. You always have a curve ball.

I swear, the man must have majored in curveball, with a minor in bootlegger-turn driving.

We know that Castela is in line for some big surprises... but how much of what coming is going to be gobstopper surprises for us?

[Catawampus]

So what the heck was at the lab?

At the very least, probably lots of files as well as the equipment for making more Whatsits.

[TazManiac]

And then there's always the 'we don't use gun-powder, we use nitro in our bullets...", like from Ghost in the Shell.... (I know, I know; that ain’t the correct quote, and it's far from even a paraphrase- hold on...)

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Shell or rather-

http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_ ... _Micro_Uzi - complete w/ "hyper-velocity ammunition"... Yeah, dat's it.

[Dave]

So what the heck was at the lab?

At the very least, probably lots of files as well as the equipment for making more Whatsits.

You really think they'd have been interesting in having large heaps of Whatsit shavings?

[TazManiac]

Whatsit Shavings just end up back in the compost pile...

[FreeFlier]

The problem is that DU really needs more velocity for effectiveness . . . and that means either lighter projectiles or greater recoil, and probably both.

And people pay attention to where DU goes . . . very, very careful attention . . . so having some turn up in small-arms ammo would have some very serious attention result.

Tungsten is much easier to get and very nearly as effective at small-arms velocities; its density is about 1.7 times that of lead.

Whatsit Shavings just end up back in the compost pile...

Attack of the Clones . . .

--FreeFlier

[Sgt. Howard]

. True, the assault team may not have gotten into the safe room through the door, but bullets sure as shit made it through the walls. I attribute that to the DU rounds Cassie said they used... though I seriously doubt a sub machinegun could generate the muzzle velocity required to give a DU round that much punch through a wall five to say, twelve feet away. Through a body, yes... through a steel reinforced door/walls of a safe room? Not so much, unless of course only the door was reinforced and not the walls, but given the precautions they were obviously taking and the importance of their mission, why skimp? It's not only the depleted uranium that gives the DU round it's ability to cut through armor like a knife through butter, its a combination of muzzle velocity, inertia, and the round being much denser than the armor it is trying to defeat. Keep in mind too that a DU projectile would be much heavier than a similar round made of jacketed lead. Thus, it would require a much larger propelling charge (more powder/more powerful powder) to propel the DU projectile at the same trajectory/velocity as a lighter, jacketed round. (Spent more than a bit of time in the military and part of that as an Armorer... so weapon capability is something I'm familiar with)

The only possible way I could see to achieve those velocities for a DU round out of a sub gun is rail gun technology, but I doubt that because have you seen the SIZE of workable rail guns? Not a technology you could fit into a submachine gun..

The mass of the projectiles has to be balanced by the recoil spring and bolt of a SMG in order to work... thus, there MIGHT be enough kinetics for .40 cal FMJ to penetrate said walls with a DU core... depends on how much armor is in the walls. Just remember- NOTHING is 'bullet proof' because there's always a more aggressive bullet.

[scantrontb]

The only possible way I could see to achieve those velocities for a DU round out of a sub gun is rail gun technology, but I doubt that because have you seen the SIZE of workable rail guns? Not a technology you could fit into a submachine gun.

as far as "mundane" weapons tech that we get shown on TV or read about in various books and magazines that all claim to be letting us in on the "newest, latest and greatest secret tech", then sure railguns are still unwieldy pieces of hardware... but as for the REALLY Exotic stuff: well, sorry... but you don't have the clearances for that...

you know the movie with Gene Hackman, and Will Smith recently "Enemy of the State"? That "Keyhole Satellite" spy system the bad guys were using... yeah... that's an honest to goodness REAL system that has been DE-Classified, yeah i know it was exaggerated for the movies, but it was still pretty close to what it's capabilities were... NOW the question is: if THAT was DE-Classified and made public knowledge, what are the capabilities of the newer spy sat's that are STILL Classified that we DON'T know about yet?? hmmm...

There is lots in this sequence we haven't seen yet... but I get the feeling we're about to...

and I'm sure we'll be hanging onto the edge of our collective seats waiting for every panel to be posted...