Higher sligs!

[paramiteabe]

Could there be sligs on other continants that are far more intelegent than the ones we see on Mudos? Lorn Lanning told us that since Oddworld is 10 times larger than earth the races of Oddworld are very alain like to each other race. Like if one race were to invent fire anouther part of Oddworld would not even know what fire is. It would take years for that race to come up with fire where as the race that did, would be far more advanced in evelution. Now could sligs be smarter in other parts of Oddworld? What if sligs in other continants of Oddworld were like glukkens and the glukkens were like the sligs of Mudos? And maybe sligs could also look very different than the slig natives to Mudos. Maybe they have naturel legs instead mechanical pants as a result of evelution? Who knows?

[Teal]

Wasn't there a theory going around at some point that sligs were actually natives to another continent?

[Danny]

I was one of the exponents of that theory, Abby...

I'm fairly sure you're wrong, Paramiteabe, but I just can't work out where...

[Dark_Whitty_666]

"Oddworld is 10 times larger than earth"

That dont make munch sence to me. The bigger a planet the stronger the force of gravity, so if its 10 times bigger wouldnt it be a little hard to stand up?? abe's legs dont look too strong to me. the only way they would stand up normaly would be if the characters were about 10x bigger than us, but then that means in proportion the characters are no bigger to there world as we are to ours.

I dunno if that makes any sence to anybody tho.

As for sligs, sligs rule! it would be kool is there where sligs that have there own legs. who knows the queen slig might have somthing wrong with her that makes all the sligs have no legs. ie they are all disabled. mabe there is a good slig queen out there.

[ February 09, 2002: Message edited by: Dark_Whitty_666 ]

[Danny]

If Oddworld spun a bit faster than Earth, the increased gravity might be alleviated. This would also have the interesting effect that gravity would seem considerably stronger at the poles (this happens on Earth, but not noticeably), which would further increase the variety of creatures that might live on Oddworld...

[Dequibenzo]

hmm... interesting. First of all, let's figure something out- are we talking about oddworld having ten times the surface area of earth, or the volume? If it's ten times the volume, yes, the gravity would be ten times as strong (assuming that both planets are composed of the same elements). However, that's still a lot of gravity- so much that centrifugal force would have a really hard time counteracting it. It would have to be rotating so fast that an Oddworld day would be maybe an hour long, and the whole planet would start to oblate, just like Jupiter does, but MUCH more extreme. Oddworld would be an oval shaped planet with an absolutely ENORMOUS group of rings and hundreds of moons in this scenario, which, admittadly, does sound cool, but isn't very plausable.
Also, let's do some math- If oddworld is ten times earth's volume... well, Earth is about 260 billion cubic miles, so we're looking at 2.6 trillion cubic miles for Oddworld. This would mean a diameter of about 17060 miles, and a surface area of about 914 million square miles, as opposed to Earth's about 200 million. That's a lot of oddworld- about four and a half times the surface of the Earth. However, if we're talking ten times surface area, as many people seem to do when referring to mr. Lanning's comment, that would mean a volume of about 8.4 trillion cubic miles, about 32 times that of earth. That's 32 times Earth's gravity! I think we can safely assume that we're talking about volume
Now, as for needing to somehow explain this increase in gravity, some magical little way to reduce it to earth standard or near it, there's really no need. I haven't figured out how to quote yet, but someone said something about abe's legs not being that muscular. What are you talking about!? Look at him from the side in AO and AE while playing- the curviture of his shins is exaggerated, meaning he can-and is- holding more weight. The same goes for the size of Mudoken feet. They seem to be very well equipped for Oddworld's unique situation. Also, notice that, during the opening cinematic of AE, you see a bone fly off the train and hit the ground. Pay attention to how much it bounces. This would suggest that mudoken bones are either hollow or extremely porous, much like those of birds. This would make them MUCH lighter.
So, yeah, oddworld's gravity is ten times as strong as earth's, AT LEAST, but there's no need to explain it away.
Whew, I need to stop writing so much.

[Danny]

Originally posted by Meech-impediment:
hmm... interesting. First of all, let's figure something out- are we talking about oddworld having ten times the surface area of earth, or the volume?(1) If it's ten times the volume, yes, the gravity would be ten times as strong (assuming that both planets are composed of the same elements). However, that's still a lot of gravity- so much that centrifugal force would have a really hard time counteracting it.(2) It would have to be rotating so fast that an Oddworld day would be maybe an hour long, and the whole planet would start to oblate, just like Jupiter does, but MUCH more extreme.(3) Oddworld would be an oval shaped planet with an absolutely ENORMOUS group of rings and hundreds of moons in this scenario, which, admittadly, does sound cool, but isn't very plausable.(4)
Also, let's do some math- If oddworld is ten times earth's volume... well, Earth is about 260 billion cubic miles, so we're looking at 2.6 trillion cubic miles for Oddworld. This would mean a diameter of about 17060 miles, and a surface area of about 914 million square miles, as opposed to Earth's about 200 million. That's a lot of oddworld- about four and a half times the surface of the Earth. However, if we're talking ten times surface area, as many people seem to do when referring to mr. Lanning's comment, that would mean a volume of about 8.4 trillion cubic miles, about 32 times that of earth. That's 32 times Earth's gravity! I think we can safely assume that we're talking about volume(5)
Now, as for needing to somehow explain this increase in gravity, some magical little way to reduce it to earth standard or near it, there's really no need. I haven't figured out how to quote yet, but someone said something about abe's legs not being that muscular. What are you talking about!? Look at him from the side in AO and AE while playing- the curviture of his shins is exaggerated, meaning he can-and is- holding more weight. The same goes for the size of Mudoken feet. They seem to be very well equipped for Oddworld's unique situation. Also, notice that, during the opening cinematic of AE, you see a bone fly off the train and hit the ground. Pay attention to how much it bounces. This would suggest that mudoken bones are either hollow or extremely porous, much like those of birds. This would make them MUCH lighter.(6)
So, yeah, oddworld's gravity is ten times as strong as earth's, AT LEAST, but there's no need to explain it away.
Whew, I need to stop writing so much.(7)

1. Nobody knows whether Lorne meant Diameter, Surface Area, or Volume.

2. This IS fiction...

3. All planets oblate to some degree.

4. Look at the stockyards. Oddworld does have many moons. Plus, as I have said, this is Fiction.

5. Now, I'm a big maths nut. It's the subject I am best at in College. I got an A* in it at GCSE. But even I can see that Maths has little relevance here, as we are talking about someone's imagination. As long as it is believeable, the maths doesn't really matter...

6. The best way to judge the gravitational field strength is not to look at the shapes of the creatures, but at how fast things fall. Assuming that Mudokons are roughly human-sized (which is more or less true, given the height charts we've seen), things on Oddworld seem to fall roughly as fast as things on Earth, so we can assume one of four things:
a) Gravity on Oddworld is roughly the same as on Earth.
b) Oddworld spins considerably faster than Earth, so that Centrifugal Force alleviates some of the problems of gravity.
c) Oddworld's Atmosphere is unusually thick, so that Air Resistance cancels some of the effects of Gravity.
d) Lorne used his Imagination.

7. No worries. We get used to people's posting styles here... Besides, it gives us something to chew on...

[Dequibenzo]

Good points, all of them. We do have to practice a little suspended disbelief with fiction, I think that's a given. However, if I really wanted to grind a point in, I would've dug out my highschool astronomy notes (Which I did), and looked up the section on centrifigul vs gravitational forces (Which I have with me right now). Then, I would slap myself for forgetting about the Roche limit, which has a part that deals with a happy little speed that a planet's rotation cannot exceed without stripping itself of all sattelites and atmosphere, then eventually falling apart entirely, due to an incredibly massive tidal effect. And then I would look for about forty five minutes for the actual number associated with it before giving up in frustration and moving on because it's one AM and I'm tired. But I wouldn't do anything like that, because I also realize that it's just ficition, and I don't want to get kicked out for being too pissy about everything

[Danny]

Dammit, you're not allowed to be clever; you're a newbie! You are not permitted to have a clue what you're talking about until you've been here at least a month...

EDIT: The problem I had earlier with editing is back...

[Dark_Whitty_666]

Dang this is sorta getting off topic now And its all my fault as well! sorry paramiteabe. Can we get back to the subject of sligs again plz cuz sligs rule.