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The Expanse and its compatibility with OA
#6
I'm a big fan of the show. Started watching it just before the second series aired a month or so ago. The first series is on the UK netflix, it's a little bit clunky in terms of dialogue and acting but very few SF tv shows hit the ground running. The visuals and aesthetic is really good though and a few of the characters are especially interesting.

The Expanse world is very different to OA though. Most of the technology in the Expanse is less advanced; there's no significant AI, robotics or genetic engineering. By 2200 in OA there were a few groups that were diverged enough to be counted as different species, as well as vecs and a small number of AI. Going the other way two big things that the Expanse has that 2200 OA doesn't are people and super-rockets. At it's peak Earth in OA has 22 billion people, and that's not until right before the technocalypse. Mars colonisation has only been going on for 80 years at that point and probably has barely enough people to make a city yet. In the Expanse Earth has 30 billion people and the Martian Congressional Republic has 9 billion.

As for the super-rockets travel around the OA solar system was mostly by cycler with a growing but primitive magbeam network allowing for very low acceleration brachistochrone transfers. In the Expanse a Martian scientist stumbled across a previously thought-to-be-impossible type of fusion drive that allows for multi-G accelerations for weeks on end.

One point regarding the low-G: I think the show deserves a lot of praise for even tackling the issue. I realise it's a book adaptation but they must have put a lot of money in to have so many scenes where people are floating. They do use magnetic shoes for the most part but it takes a good wack at it. The casting and make up has even done a good job of making a lot of Belters look unhealthy, usually tall with spindly limbs.
OA Wish list:
  1. DNI
  2. Internal medical system
  3. A dormbot, because domestic chores suck!
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RE: The Expanse and its compatibility with OA - by Rynn - 03-12-2017, 10:02 PM

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