[Spoon-business] When Grid freezes over

["Orc In A Spacesuit" <orcinaspacesuit@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I propose
{{__Unlikely Icecapades__
[[

It was a dark and story night.

Or rather, it was the end of one.  Activity was returning to the grid, the 
sun was breaking over the grid, and someone felt a need for coffee.

Orc in a Spacesuit, however, did not have anyway.  The nearest coffee, or 
what would have to pass for it, was on the ground in the distance to the 
east.

Orc climbed into his speeder, where Gluk, his half-crazed, half-genius 
mechanic was tinkering with something, which he quickly put away.

"Can I drive today boss?"
"Not today.  I don't think the company could afford you at the helm of 
anything again for a while, not after last time.  Especially considering 
that the labs are behind schedule on producing anything profitable."  Gluk 
winced.

Orc eased the airspeeder up, glad for the adaptations that let his hands man 
the controls effectively.  It was good to be piloting again, even if it 
wasn't through space.  And such a beautiful day for it!  Now for some 
coffee.

"Gluk, could you grab that gnome as we sweep by?"

Gluk nodded, and climbed outside, then reached down toward the ground 
speeding past.  An espresso gnome, grinning towards the rising sun, zoomed 
towards him.  He snatched up the gnome, climbed back into the speeder, and 
tossed the gnome towards the back of Orc's head.  Orc turned at the sound 
and caught the gnome just in time, growling at the aim.  Gluk shrunk back 
and muttered a weak, "Oops."  Orc quickly forgot about it as he tucked the 
gnome into a pouch, and turned back to the joy of flying.  He saw the Temple 
of Apophis ahead, and settled on it as a the place to enjoy his moring 
coffee.  Or this esprawhatever.

Suddenly, he slipped.  He slipped foreward, but his speeder slipped foreward 
even faster.  He slipped right out of the back of the speeder, as well as 
everything else in the speeder, and even what he carried slipped from him.  
He last saw the grinning espresso gnome flipping though the air when he 
blanked out.

He woke up.  It couldn't have been too long; the speeder, from what he could 
see as he lay in the turf, was still in motion, or at least a piece of wing. 
 It was tenously attached by a single cable, and continued to rock back and 
forth.

He sat up.  "Gluk!"
"Yes boss?"
Orc twisted around.  Gluk was standing there.  "What the krutz just 
happened?"
"We slipped."
"We slipped?"
"We slipped."
"What do you mean, we slipped?  Look at this!  Look at my empty pouches!"  
Orc put his hands in side pouches.  They felt a bit slippery and cold for a 
moment.  "Why are we not at the temple drinking coffee and enjoying the 
morning?"
"We hit a patch of ice.  And when things enter an area with ice, they slip 
foreward."
Orc was speechless for a moment.  Gluk must have gone over the deep end for 
real this time.  But then he noticed movement to the west.  Yes, there it 
was:  a shrinking patch of ice!  It was dissapearing so quickly, it was gone 
in a few moments.  "What the...."
"It seems that the ice here has some unusual properties.  And not just this 
ice, but I believe that all ice does.  It can extrapolate its surface 
friction, or lack of it rather, three-dimensionally."
"Meaning?"
"That everything that enters the area suddenly becomes very slippery, and is 
thrust violently foreward.  And since everything is moved independently by 
it, it's all forced out of your possession.  Or the speeder's possession, as 
the case may be.  You see, as each thing has a different mass, it's acted 
upon by these forces differntly as the ice-diven physyics..."
"Enough.  I get the point.  What I want to know is, can we fix it?"
"I believe so.  I'll need a bit of time in the lab, and we'll need to get 
the approval of the Eviromental Board.  About an nweek."
"Do it.  I don't want anything happening like this again."
]]
In Rule 301, A.3.1, replace
"When a MO enters a Frozen square from any consecutive square, it is 
immediately moved an additional unit in the same direction, if possible."
with
"When an MO other than an Airspeeder, an Airborne object, or any object 
contained or possessed by another enters a Frozen location from any adjacent 
location, the MO continues to move in the same direction if there is a 
location to move to in the location, and it is legal for the MO to enter 
that location."
[[
"Sounds good.  Make it work.  Hey, while you're at it, do you think you 
could find a way to duplicate this effect?"
Gluk stood for a moment, eyes unfocused, then he nodded slowly.  "I think 
so..., yes I don't see why not."
"Excellent.  Could you make it portable?"
"Sure."
"Oh, and see if you can make it stronger too."
]]
Create the following rule:
{{__Proto-Ice Bombs__
A. Definition
There may exist carryable MO's named Proto-Bombs.  They may be activated by 
any object in the same location in them if they are not carried or 
possessed, or by any object posssing or carrying the Proto-Bomb.  They may 
only be activated when they are on the Grid.  When a Proto-Bomb is 
activated, it's location becomes Proto-Frozen for 1 nweek.

B. The Deep Freeze
Locations that are Proto-Frozen are treated as if they are Frozen, with the 
following exceptions:
* It does not cease to be Proto-Frozen until 1 nweek passes from the most 
recent effect caused it to be Proto-Frozen, and it does not become Wet as a 
result of being Proto-Frozen.
* When any object enters a Proto-Frozen location, it is removed from any 
containers it may be in, and from the posssesion of any objects that may 
possess it.  Each object then continues to move in the same direction if 
there is a location to move to in that direction, and it is legal for the MO 
to enter that location.  If there is no such location or the locatiion 
conatins an impassible object (but not if there is a location and it just 
isn't legal), a random one of the adjacent locations is chosen, and instead 
all entering object are then moved to that location, if possible.  If any 
objects still can't be moved, they stay put.  [[You enter the location, you 
keep going, if you bump into something you might bounce, might be deflected, 
whatever.  Also note that this applies to anything entering, even Big Rocks 
or Gnomes that come out of Hiding; they get shunted randomly.]]
* If any object would Land in a location that is Proto-Ice, it does not, but 
intead Lands in a random one of the adjacent locations that most closly 
matches the origininal trajectory of the path of the thrown object; if the 
trajectory does not exist, it instead Lands in a random adjacent location.
[[
"Excellent.  Even better than I had hoped.  These could even have defensive 
applications.  Now, to get production started..."
"Well, that poses a bit of a problem."
"Eh?"
"Well, you see, we won't be able to produce them quickly.  Too fast, and 
we'll strain the physics of this place too much.  You've read the DimShip 
reports."
"Yes, I know what you mean.  Well, do what you can."
]]
C. Purchasing
Entities may purchase purchase a Proto-Bomb by paying 15 Points to OrcTech, 
provided OrcTech has at least 5 RU's and a total of no more than 5 
Proto-Bombs have been created (via any means) during the current nweek.  
Such purchasing decreases OrcTech's RU's by 5 and creates the Proto-Bomb in 
the entity's possession, or, if the entity is not in a location, at the 
location of a Service Mall of the Entity's choice.  If the entity has no 
location and there are no service Malls, it is instead created in Limbo.
}}
[[
"Yes, well that'll work well enough.  Hmm, you couldn't really use these 
offensively, though; what we need is a delivery system."
]]
Create the following rule:
{{__Payload Delivery__
A. Definition
There may exist carryable MO's named Boomcages.  Any entity may place a 
Gnome, Can of Whoopass, or Proto-Bomb e possesses into any empty Boomcage 
that e possesses.  Any Entity may take any object from any unarmed Boomcage 
e possesses.

B. Arming and Triggering
Any Entity may Arm any unarmed Boomcage e possesses, naming a unit of time, 
in ndays, and/or naming a Low or High Sensitivity.

A Boomcage triggers once one of the following happens:
The amount of time specified at arming passes.
If Low or High Sensitivity was specified when it was armed, the Boomcage 
Lands, is the subject of Standard Abuse, or is hit by any speeder weapon.
If High Sensitivity was specified when it was armed, if any object enters 
its location (and just prior to that entry).

C. Detonating (Or drink dispensing)
When it is triggered, the Boomcage then simultaneously does each of the 
following that is possible to all objects it contains:  It squeezes, Cracks 
Open, and activates them, as if it were a player, and gains possession of 
any objects created as a result.  The Boomcage then ceases to be armed.  If 
a Can of Whoopass is Cracked Open in a Boomcage, the Boomcage is destroyed.

D. Purchasing
Entities may purchase purchase a Boomcage by paying 5 Points to OrcTech, 
provided OrcTech has at least 1 RU.  Such purchasing decreases OrcTech's 
RU's by 1 and creates the Boomcage in the entity's possession, or, if the 
entity is not in a location, at the location of a Service Mall of the 
Entity's choice.  If the entity has no location and there are no service 
Malls, it is instead created in Limbo.
}}
[[
"Yes, this will do quite nicely.  Versatile, configureable, and durable.  
All except for that Whoopass business, but we really can't expect miracles." 
 Gluk looked rather pleased with himself.  "A question, though -- what was 
a patch of ice doing here on the Grid in the middle of summer?  That's 
impossi... wait, no.  Just improbable."  He smacked his forehead in disgust. 
 "Of course.  The Baron was testing that fancy new ship of his today, 
wasn't he."  Gluk nodded.  "Well, at least we got something useful out of 
it, and managed to fix up the little ice problem before winter hit and made 
things go really nuts.  Ah well.  You patch up that wing.  I'm going to pick 
up all this stuff I dropped."
]]
}}
[[End proposal]]
[[Later that morning, the hastily patched speeder made its way to the Temple 
of Apophis.  Orc squeezed the Espresso Gnome in the courtyard, and offered 
the gnome to Gluk, who politely declined.  Orc shrugged and downed the 
cup.]]

I squeeze my Espresso Gnome, and drink the Little Cup of Espresso produced, 
therefore setting my BAC to -5 and making me just a tad bit wired.

--
Orc in a Spacesuit

_________________________________________________________________
Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8. 
http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail

_______________________________________________
spoon-business mailing list
spoon-business@xxxxxxxxx
http://lists.ellipsis.cx/mailman/listinfo/spoon-business