 November 5, 2010 - 12:05pm | The geeks at MIT have figured out why so many frontiersmen are pictured wearing skin tight form fitting suits like those depicted on the Alpha Dawn box art. Check out this Popular Science article for the science being discovered. http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2010-10/superhero-style-skin-tight-spacesuit-provides-healthy-compression-astronauts So, Lady Red on the box cover and other guys and gals shown throughout the SF books are all taking care of their bone health when working on no/low G ships and worlds. I like how the professor is not wearing a skinsuit but his young 20 something students that still have a skinsuit compatible form are. -iggy |
 November 5, 2010 - 8:50pm | Very cool (if not too stylish)! Long live the Frontier! |
 November 6, 2010 - 3:16am | I fully believe in reincarnation. When I die, I want to come back as a leotard... |
 November 6, 2010 - 5:09am | Hah- Reading between the lines I would guess that visiting a higher G world would have other problems for the human body- since the legs take more of the strain of gravity on the body the knees could begin to experience problems in high G- but then again astronauts could just bring along other tech that is already in the market- a hover round power chair. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 November 6, 2010 - 9:39am | And the dreaded question that will plague space explorers from now on will be..."Does this skin suit make my butt look fat?" "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
 November 6, 2010 - 10:01am | And what's the perfect accessory for your skintight zero g suit? A jetpack of course! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/11/05/GA2010110505312.html |
 November 6, 2010 - 3:46pm | Ah, if you're too fat you can always drape something over those things and wear them like long john under wear. Reasonable solution, because there are people out there I don't want to see in something like that.  In every age, in every place, the deeds of men remain the same. |
November 6, 2010 - 4:58pm | And the dreaded question that will plague space explorers from now on will be..."Does this skin suit make my butt look fat?" Ahh, yeah but some drals find it a turn on. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 6, 2010 - 5:05pm | "Fat bottom girls will be flying today, so get out all your blasters and gear" (song to the tune of bicycle race, by Queen) "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 6, 2010 - 6:55pm | And the dreaded question that will plague space explorers from now on will be..."Does this skin suit make my butt look fat?" Ahh, yeah but some drals find it a turn on. At first glance I thought you were thinking of drals in zero G skin suits and that they thought of them as a turn on. And I thought, "why would a dral need a zero G skin suit?" Then I got what you were talking about and it hit me, drals would be find many "forms" a turn on. Back to the other races needing a zero G skin suit. Drals may not need it, vrusk may, and yazirians would likely need one but would have a lower G before they need one. -iggy |
November 6, 2010 - 8:01pm | ....Back to the other races needing a zero G skin suit. Drals may not need it, vrusk may, and yazirians would likely need one but would have a lower G before they need one. Who says a dral doesn't need one? If drals evolved in a set of conditions and their body was conditioned to those conditions and actually relied on them for efficient function then the loss of one condition (gravity) could easily cause problems physiologically for them- maybe not in the same way that it affects humans but I dont see it being far fetched. Maybe they begin to have difficulty with digestion and defication in 0 g. One particular side effect of their difficulty is copious ammounts of gas. I would guess any of the races that use skeletal support would begin to see consequences similar to humans in 0 g- it just stands to reason. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 7, 2010 - 12:17am | OK, my "may not need" thoughts are fully swayed to "would need" for drals. But I don't think this kind of zero G skin suit would work for them. I was focused on the lack of a dral skeleton before and was in a rush to post and run so I didn't entertain my thoughts on zero G effects on their internal organs. I know that astronauts tend to be a little flush faced and puffy due to zero G. Maybe drals have organ bloating problems. I wonder how they would counter them for long zero G exposure? -iggy |
November 7, 2010 - 2:05pm | @Iggy and Jedion. It's probably a moot point. Since SF technology is I'd guess 100+ years ahead of us, it's likely that SF space suits include forms of protection that we haven't even invented yet. |
 November 11, 2010 - 3:52pm | And in SF, most of the time you are not in zero-g. Typically, the only time that occurs for any large extended periods would be if you are on a chemical drive system ship. Otherwise, 99% of the time you are under acceleration and have gravity. During a routine flight, the only time you don't is for ~1/2 hour at the jump, docking at a station, any time you spend still in your ship when docked at a station (the hubs have effectively zero-g) instead of taking a room in the wheel, or during an EVA. So with the exception of the chemical drive system ships crews, the amount of time spent in zero-g is very small. And there probably aren't very many chemical drive system ships, they are just too slow. For just a little bit more cash and cheap fuel, you can have ion drives. The extra cost would more than be made up for by faster deliveries and fewer ships needed on a give route. So that need for zero-g suits goes away as well. It is still a cool invention for our current technological level but for SF it is probably unnecessary. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
November 11, 2010 - 4:15pm | I'm just wondering what kind of adaptations would have to be made in a skin tight zero gravity suit to accomodate a Yazirian's glider wings. would the skin suit have a flexible material to cover the yaz' membranous wings? And how would this affect his/her gliding ability? Also what about a Vrusk, and his/her respiratory requirements, would the suit have holes along the sides for the Vrusk to breath? When you start thinking about how to accomodate a non human's anatomy in something like a suit it can become quite interesting to figure out solutions if you don't want to just say "the suit is designed for (insert alien race here). "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 12, 2010 - 12:48pm | TerlObar is right that the suit is not really needed much in today's frontier. In the good old days when a space flight was a short acceleration with a long time coasting then the suit is more relevant. In today's frontier the suit might still be used under spacesuits for workers on small moons and such. The purpose of the suit is to help fight bone loss from long duration low/zero G life. Think six plus months here. As for the yazirian, the suit would be much like a humans. They would let their wing membranes hang out. The Vrusk is another matter and their physiology might require mineral supplements as medicine in addition to any tight suit to simulate gravity. There is so much bone to a vrusk body that any tight suit may not amount to much effect. Dralasites just have to deal with low/zero G because they have no bones that a tight suit would help. They still might fancy tight suits however. Dralasites can be weird that way. Mostly I was having fun postulating about the SF/80's fascination with tight fitting fashion and not being serious. -iggy |
November 13, 2010 - 3:58pm | Time spent in zero-G is all a matter of perspective. The guys working in the hubs of stations (dock workers, cargo loaders, etc) spend ten+ hours a day in zero-G. A construction crew building a station (or a SCC shipyard for that matter) will spend long periods in zero-G as well. A scientist might find himself spending extended periods in zero-G during research & exploration missions. Miners spend a long time in zero-G --- whether it's pulling ore out of the asteroid belt, on the surface of a low/no grav world/moon, working the orbital refinery, or aboard the mining vessel itself. Pirates stationed at the Planoran asteroid base spent their entire lives in zero-G (unless they were fortunate enough to be aboard one of the corvettes once in a while). |
November 14, 2010 - 5:17pm | It is an interesting discussion and maybe I should amend my post in the "When is SF not SF" Thread to include women in skin tight body suits as being neccessary for the SF setting to be the SF setting. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 14, 2010 - 5:26pm | I have to agree with Jedion, that skin type fashions are a must in any SF game, and all glider winged primates look awesome with sungoggles. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 15, 2010 - 3:08am | Scantily clad and/or skin tight apparel on females is vital for ANY game. Translated into D&D speak: a chainmail bikini is never worn for protection or comfort... |
November 15, 2010 - 6:35am | Scantily clad and/or skin tight apparel on females is vital for ANY game. Translated into D&D speak: a chainmail bikini is never worn for protection or comfort... I LOVE THE CHAIN MAIL BIKINI!!!!!! I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 15, 2010 - 10:36am | I'm still partial to skin tight leather, and a whip. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 15, 2010 - 12:58pm | I'm still partial to skin tight leather, and a whip. sure leather has its virtues but I still say, "LOVE the Chain Mail Bikini!" http://www.sblades.com/bikinis.php I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 15, 2010 - 1:36pm | All I know from various sources is that chain mail, ring mail, and scalemail chafes unless you wear some kind of underpadding, while leather can be slipped on with a little baby oil or baby powder....but that's a topic for another forum  "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
November 15, 2010 - 3:17pm | ...which is why the mail bikini is never worn for comfort. But I have no qualms with leather either |
