What is a volatile mote?

[suejak]

I just don't know what I'm supposed to be imagining here. Just like highly explosive little particles of something?

[Geoff]

Originally posted by suejak:

I just don't know what I'm supposed to be imagining here. Just like highly explosive little particles of something?

It's like a beam in your eye, only smaller and farther away, and prone to explosions.

But yeah. You've basically got it. They can be found in "dust deserts" and the Riggans who sell them call them "spice." So they're some kind of powdered organic with explosive properties. They can be produced as excrement by lithoids and used as fertilizer in upgraded ag facilities. So, sort of like nitrogen (which can be used in bombs and fertilizer) but just... upped to the nteenth sci-fi degree.

[HappySack]

Components for space dynamite.

[suejak]

Originally posted by Geoff:

Originally posted by suejak:

I just don't know what I'm supposed to be imagining here. Just like highly explosive little particles of something?

It's like a beam in your eye, only smaller and farther away, and prone to explosions.

But yeah. You've basically got it. They can be found in "dust deserts" and the Riggans who sell them call them "spice." So they're some kind of powdered organic with explosive properties. They can be produced as excrement by lithoids and used as fertilizer in upgraded ag facilities. So, sort of like nitrogen (which can be used in bombs and fertilizer) but just... upped to the nteenth sci-fi degree.

Great answer.

[Sad Cat]

The dictionary definition of a mote is "A tiny piece of a substance." Going by that definition, a single grain of black powder would qualify as a volatile mote. So volatile motes in this game could be a type of explosive sand or powder? Its kind of generic and not really meant to be specific. Just like "alloys" are never really defined as a specific blend of metals.

[suejak]

Yeah, I guess it would have to be more significant than gunpower, though, since we're talking about interstellar warfare.

[mss73055]

You'll be amazed how ♥♥♥♥♥♥ the answer is.

Volatile Excretions
0.01 Monthly volatile motes per pop

[Pieshaman]

think of something like PETN, in my language we call it pentriet
and then add an exponentional factor to it and you got yourself imaginary volatile motes

[Kalemenos]

Originally posted by mss73055:

Volatile Excretions
0.01 Monthly volatile motes per pop

This is really a species that eats exclusively at Taco Bell.

[Sabaithal]

Minerals infused with scifimiracleelementium#897564

[DrLamp]

Volatile doesn't mean explosive, it means unstable. So a volatile mote is a little piece of something that will spontaneously break down into something else.

[Geoff]

Originally posted by DrLamp:

Volatile doesn't mean explosive, it means unstable. So a volatile mote is a little piece of something that will spontaneously break down into something else.

You can, however, use volatile motes to enhance the firepower of your explosive and kinetic weapons. So they have some catalytic role in explosions.

In a more general astrochemical sense, "volatiles" have a slightly different definition than they do in standard chemistry, though both definitions primarily refer to their tendency to vaporize at low temperatures. In that sense, chemicals like nitrogen or phosphorus are "volatile." It's a definition that happens to overlap substantially with propensity to explode and explains why the two senses of the word are so closely linked.