Underground Living in Traveller

[aramis]

In Space you have to hold one (or so) atmosphere IN. Underwater (unless barely underwater) you have to hold dozens or hundreds (even thousands if you're very deep) of atmospheres OUT.

Maybe to do so simply takes slightly better materials technology, and thus TL 10 instead of TL 9? Crystaliron is TL 10. Maybe crystaliron handles pressure and or corrosion better than lower tech materials?

The same shapes that hold out effectively also hold in effectively, so it's more a matter of material dynamics. Plus, canonically, ship hulls can hold 20+ atmospheres out.

 

[McPerth]

I

Why are underwater and under-ice cities at TL10? I can't really imagine undersea being that much more of a difficult environment than outer space.

n Space you have to hold one (or so) atmosphere IN. Underwater (unless barely underwater) you have to hold dozens or hundreds (even thousands if you're very deep) of atmospheres OUT.

Maybe to do so simply takes slightly better materials technology, and thus TL 10 instead of TL 9? Crystaliron is TL 10. Maybe crystaliron handles pressure and or corrosion better than lower tech materials?

Add to this the water currents and the corrosive effect of salt water and you'll find that undersea is quite more hostile an environment than space and vacuum.

 

[rancke]

Add to this the water currents and the corrosive effect of salt water and you'll find that undersea is quite more hostile an environment than space and vacuum.

Rust? What's that? Never had any on our crystaliron shell.


Hans

 

[McPerth]

Rust? What's that? Never had any on our crystaliron shell.


Hans

Not only rust. Corrosion has many aspects, incluiding living beings (including several bacteriae) that corrode metals and other materials undersea.

 

[rancke]

Not only rust. Corrosion has many aspects, incluiding living beings (including several bacteriae) that corrode metals and other materials undersea.

Ultra-tech science sneers at corrosion and all that sort of stuff.


Hans

 

[McPerth]

Ultra-tech science sneers at corrosion and all that sort of stuff.


Hans

Sure, and that's why underwater cities are one or two TLs above space ones...

 

[rancke]

Sure, and that's why underwater cities are one or two TLs above space ones...

That works for me.


Hans

 

[BlackBat242]

Microbiologically influenced corrosion of industrial materials, Contract No. BRRT-CT98-5084

 

[FourthWarden]

An update to the problem about food, here is an article from a few days ago discussing a super compact farm built in a warehouse in Japan. With that sort of tech, you could readily feed underground populations at our current TL, although variety might be lacking.

http://weburbanist.com/2015/01/11/worlds-largest-indoor-farm-is-100-times-more-productive/