BlackCapedManX on 29/7/2003 at 07:14
They throw this word around a whole lot in the game, and I've yet to figure out what it means. I've looked it up in the dictionary, and the closest I can find in eutectic, which means: the proper ratio of elements in a compound to have the lowest posible melting point (or maybe highest, I forget.) But nothing on eutactic. In the game the refer to both the virus and the un-processed ambrosia to have eutactic components, which are apparently hazardous (according to the flyer Anna gives you), and the Dragon's Tooth is a Non-Eutactic Blade, so I'm guessing the word has something to do with nano-technology (maybe eutactic compounds are greater than nano-scale and thus could be hazardous if injested? I dunno). If anyone has any idea as to what the word means, I would be obliged to have to input.
Gingerbread Man on 29/7/2003 at 07:16
It means characterised by precise molecular order, like that of a perfect crystal, the interior of a protein molecule, or a machine-phase system.
Contrast with the disorder of bulk materials, solution environments, or biological structures on a cellular scale.
Borderline cases can be identified, but perfection is not necessary. As a crystal with sparse defects is best described as a crystal (rather than as amorphous), so a eutactic structure with sparse defects is best described as (imperfectly) eutactic, rather than as disordered.
chris the cynic on 29/7/2003 at 21:19
That would explain why the sword was the best blade possible in a non-eutactic solid, and not simply the best blade possible at all.
BlackCapedManX on 30/7/2003 at 20:37
No it would mean that instead of being in an ordered specific and unchanging position, the Non-Eutactic Blade was able to conform and change and reform itself. Similar to the way a human cellular environment can reform and rebuild itself, but a single eutactic cell cannot. I think anyway.
Kyloe on 30/7/2003 at 21:29
A eutectic alloy has indeed the lowest melting point and it solidifies instantly. Take solder for instance: it's an alloy of tin and lead in eutectic proportion. If it weren't, either the tin or the lead would start to solidify while the other substance is still - well, not exactly liquid, but not really solid either.
If you look at an eutectic or eutectoid crystal under the microscope, it looks a bit like the central part of a fishbone - stripes of both substances nicely combed out.
Gingerbread Man on 30/7/2003 at 23:01
Eutectic and Eutactic are different things.
From Greek:
eu - tektos would mean something like "easily melted"
eu - taktika would mean something like "well-arranged / ordered"
Kyloe on 31/7/2003 at 09:52
Interesting.
It's definitely eutectic in metallurgy and that made sense to me in the game. A eutectic structure results in an isotropic strength throughout the material unlike something that was rolled or forged and therefore anisotropic. So a non-eutectic structure of the same components would usually be weaker. What I'm trying to say is, even if it's eutactic in the game, eutectic would have made sense, too, as far as the blade is concerned.
I don't know Greek, but I do remember my professor saying eutectic meant wohlgeformt (well-formed) and added something about an antique statue's curvy arse or something. :)
Lilacs and Nettles on 13/8/2003 at 19:39
Non-eutactic vs. non-eutectic: these are two different terms. "Eutactic" has meaning in the context of nanotech research: see (
http://www.foresight.org/Nanosystems/glossary/glossary_e.html#Eutactic) for a definition. The NEB's are nanotech-based devices capable of functioning in a chaotic, "real-world" environment, as opposed to a "clean", eutactic environment.
(Actually, I posted this in another thread about a year and a half ago, but thought it was worth digging up again.)
Shadow on 28/8/2003 at 04:00
Heh... Dak'kons blade... hehe...
