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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 10:51AM
#31
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Date Joined:
Sep 25, 2005
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Hehe. Could "sperm whale" be the next AoE and splash weapon?
"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been brought to you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"
Resident Pithed-Off Dragon
Buttler of the House of Trolls
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 11:59AM
#32
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Date Joined:
Dec 23, 2002
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Accuracy will depend on what the intended target it, if you are attacking an encampement, castle wall, building or ship or dropping it on an army etc. Then that would be accurate enough. An attack on an individual person in a battle, not so much.
I don't think you realize how far it must fall.
Assuming freefall (air drag just makes the problem worse) you're still bombing from jetliner altitudes. The Enola Gay dropped from lower altitude and had a much better bombsight--and missed by hundreds of feet.
While I can find various terminal velocity calculators out there I find nothing that tells me the acceleration curve. (I won't say when it reaches terminal velocity because it doesn't--it's still going to be accelerating at impact unless you drop from high enough that it picks up extra speed in the upper atmosphere, like in the Red Bull jump where he was above terminal velocity for part of the way down--the only way he could go supersonic.)
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 12:37PM
#33
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You know, a falling whale may have better directional control then a falling human usually would. After all it still has that great big rudder of a tail that it could use to steer and its front fins may be able to help as well. We should remember that a Sperm Whale is a diving machine.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 1:18PM
#34
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You know, a falling whale may have better directional control then a falling human usually would. After all it still has that great big rudder of a tail that it could use to steer and its front fins may be able to help as well. We should remember that a Sperm Whale is a diving machine.
But how do you get the sperm whale to steer where you want it to? Even if the whale could somehow understand where it was supposed to land and how to steer itself there, why would it want to help the guy who just dropped it thousands of feet in the air?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 1:46PM
#35
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Date Joined:
Sep 25, 2005
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Calm emotions and Speak with Animals. 
"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been brought to you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"
Resident Pithed-Off Dragon
Buttler of the House of Trolls
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 1:46PM
#36
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You know, a falling whale may have better directional control then a falling human usually would. After all it still has that great big rudder of a tail that it could use to steer and its front fins may be able to help as well. We should remember that a Sperm Whale is a diving machine.
But how do you get the sperm whale to steer where you want it to? Even if the whale could somehow understand where it was supposed to land and how to steer itself there, why would it want to help the guy who just dropped it thousands of feet in the air?
Illusions!?! You just make it think it is diving down through water instead of air and you make it think the target will be lunch.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 1:48PM
#37
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Date Joined:
Feb 27, 2012
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You know, a falling whale may have better directional control then a falling human usually would. After all it still has that great big rudder of a tail that it could use to steer and its front fins may be able to help as well. We should remember that a Sperm Whale is a diving machine.
But how do you get the sperm whale to steer where you want it to? Even if the whale could somehow understand where it was supposed to land and how to steer itself there, why would it want to help the guy who just dropped it thousands of feet in the air?
If I'm not mistaken there is a psionic power that allowes you to control objects (cant remember the particulars and I'm away from any psi books) as long as the power doesn't have a qubic foot limitation you should be good to go.
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 7:10PM
#38
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terinal velocity or not, the mass and mommentum of the whale might be enough to keep it on a considerably straighter course, the heavier the object the less it is going to be blown off course by wind resistance. But yes for hitting even an area woudl be difficult, unless you um, steered it.
Myabe a goblin steering it?
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 7:45PM
#39
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Date Joined:
Sep 25, 2005
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No, a Minotaur or anthropomorphic bull. Haven't you seen Legend of the Boneknapper Dragon?
"Today's headlines and history's judgment are rarely the same. If you are too attentive to the former, you will most certainly not do the hard work of securing the latter." -Condoleezza Rice
"My fellow Americans... I've just signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. Bombing begins in five minutes." - Ronald Reagan
This user has been brought to you by the letters "O-R-C" and the numbers "2, 3, 4, and 6"
Resident Pithed-Off Dragon
Buttler of the House of Trolls
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5 months ago ::
Jan 05, 2013 - 11:21PM
#40
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Date Joined:
May 26, 2001
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The sperm whale's natural streamlining might actually make it more capable of veering off course than a comparable mass in some other form, in the same way that a plane's shape helps it move through the air.
But even if it's trying to hit, it's moving through a far less dense medium than its normal environment, and by the time it gets close enough to properly judge its angle, it won't be able to affect its course very much (while it has a lot of time beforehand to get off course). It might as well be a random drop unless you can somehow improve its aerial mobility without slowing it down.
You might also have to be careful if it's summoned, since with enough distance the duration could run out before it hits the ground. For example, a caster with summon monster VIII (with Imbued Summoning for something like swift fly) can put the sperm whale high in the air, but it could have as little as 15 rounds to reach the ground, and you can certainly fall for more than a minute and a half if you're up high.
The kraken stirs. And ten billion sushi dinners cry out for vengeance. - Good Omens
Co-Author of the Dreamfane, Euralden Eye, Gajuisan Crawler, Gruesome Lurker, Fulminating Crab, Ironglass Rose, Sheengrass Swarm, Spryjack, Usunag, and Warp Drifter, and author of the Magmal Horror from Force of Nature.
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