Talk:Post Disaster Technology

Nano-laminated Armor Vulnerabilities

The Nano-laminated armor states currently that it's weak to napalm based attacks.  I was wondering if we should change it to be a weakness to thermal damage or just a weakness to high temperatures?  It doesn't seem to be a weakness to napalm specifically from what I've seen, otherwise it would probably mention that the chemical composition of napalm weakens it or something.  The way the article's worded, it seems like it's just melted by high temperatures.    Rui Usagi (talk) 22:08, November 29, 2015 (UTC)

Maybe we should just say that nepalm is capable of melting it, since that's what we know for now. That's different and more specific than "Nepalm-based attacks" and more specific to what we know for now. -SuperSonicSP (talk) 14:11, December 2, 2015 (UTC)

The referenced source is episode 7. The context is that while Isaribi is fleeing from the Hammerhead, Biscuit warns they have to maintain enough distance or they'll "be in range of Anti-Ship Napalm". A pair of missiles come at them, one is shot down, the other looks to detonate closer, if not hit the ship, and that causes Biscuit to complain that if they "keep getting hit by Napalm, even the Nano-laminate will melt". There doesn't seem to be an outright implication of it being weak in that, nor that it's weak to Napalm specifically, just that continued damage will degrade the armor.

It makes sense if you think about it - Nano-laminate is a topical application that they're using in paint form, capable of being mixed for different colors. Over time and abuse the paint will wear. It's very similar to the anti-beam coatings used in other timelines, usually on shields, where it can block several hits from beams and even beam sabers, but eventually wears out. -- Jadzi (talk) 16:43, February 25, 2016 (UTC)

"Weak" in this context just means that it does more damage than average. The implication of weakness comes from the idea that the Nano Laminate Armor is conventionally a very strong armor except for specific type of attacks. That doesn't necessarily mean it would be beaten immediately but there does seem to be an implication that the nepalm does more damage than normal ammunition does at some level though probably not at the level of melee weapons which seemingly kills it even faster and is stated as an outright weakness in texts. -SuperSonicSP (talk) 20:49, February 25, 2016 (UTC)

The thing is, you want to be very careful about how you phrase things, or you might end up in a game of Telephone. 'Weak' is a strong word, and while it could technically fit, you have to keep in mind how it will be read. A writer might use it loosely on a partial qualification, but a reader won't know that, and could interpret it as full qualification. We don't necessarily want someone to come along and infer that nano-laminate's kryptonite is napalm, simply because one scene in one episode had a character worrying aloud that another ship's weapons would melt 'even the nano-laminate' if they got in close enough.

Moreover, this wasn't a technical manual, it was a line of dialogue in the middle of a tense battle, so I wouldn't take it as gospel, or any more specific an indictment than was presented. After all, if napalm were so potent against nano-laminate, nano-laminate is as common as presented, and the knowledge common enough that a random teen mercenary knows it, why are no mobile suits using it? Why is it only mentioned in one ship-to-ship engagement, and thereafter followed by at least one comment from an enemy that the ship was a tough shell to crack? -- Jadzi (talk) 02:18, February 28, 2016 (UTC)