You do realize your being an ass about this one now and not me.
Spartan R41: VaultingFrog 2:It has been widely documented that people can survive 7 to 10 days with out water. Proven fact. It is not recomended however that you go more than 4 or 5 days with out water. Big difference.
It's not "widely documented," and I say this because I've never heard more than five days. In every survival course, we're taught the "Rule of 3".
A human being is unable to survive after:
- Humans cannot survive more than three hours exposed to extreme low-temperature.
- Humans cannot survive more than three days without water.
- Humans cannot survive more than three weeks without food.
Now, their was an Alaskan firefighter in 1998 who reportedly survived 12 days without water and 36 days without food, and there was an aircrew that survived 8 days without water. I myself have been able to survive at most 20-21 hours with no food at all, but around hour 18, you're unable to do anything.
The only "well documented" stats are that a human can survive an average of three to five days without the intake of water, given the correct conditions. Elevation and temperature is key. In colder or warmer temperatures, this need increases. Exercise also increases the need for water. Lack of water (obviously) causes dehydration, which causes lethargy, headaches, dizziness, etc. Anyone who's had a hangover knows how much dehydration sucks. Once a human body looses 15% water (at the average recorded rate of 2-3 liters a day) it becomes fatal.
Food is less necessary, and a human can survive usually a couple weeks without it. However during these two weeks, the subject begins to experience;
- Irritability and low morale
- Weakness
- Loss of mental clarity, such as confusion, disorientation, or poor judgment
- Weakened immune system
- Increasing difficulty maintaining body temperature
Now, when you say "No water," this means no anything. While it's not necessarily helpful, any liquid (including soda and milk) has a percentage of water. Drinking those would theoretically help, as the body would cling to any water it's given, and waste the rest. So if the Master Chief (or a Marine) were to survive without water, they would last - as far as medical science tells - 3-5 days. However it's more than likely that while they're weakened by dehydration, lethargy, and all the above effects of starvation, a Covenant soldier would pick them off very easily, as they would be most unlikely able to fight back.
That doesn't sound like survival to me.
There have been several documented cases of people surviving between 7 to 10 days with out water. It is more than possable. Do I recomend it no. If you choose not to look for them or even reconize those cases than that is a personal issue.
If you want to average it then yes its only 3-5 days. However does that negate the fact that it is possable for humans (who in this case have had survival training and water discipline techniques) to survive for up to a week or more with out water? I dont think so.
And when the hell did we ever start to talk about combat action under those conditions? I never mentioned it neather did the kid I quoted. Combat condition will affect any sort of survival. Doesnt matter what it is. But currently we were only discussing the ability to surivive with out food or water, not about any extreme conditions along with that lack of food and water.
If you want to get technical you can have your subject sitting in one spot all day every day with out moving. That means no running around. No unnessissary energy expenditure. A human can survive in those conditions for atleast 6-7 days with out water. It also depends on the size and physical condition of the subject.
See you can tack on what ever environmental and physical conditions you want at it will drasticly change the amount of time they are able to live with out water.
You yourself have given two excelent cases of humans surviving for more than 3-5 days with out water. There are plenty more out there.
Am I stating that the Marine and ODST units on the first Halo ring would have survived with out water for that long? No. They had a set of conditions that would have prevented that. All I have stated is that it is more than possable for regular old human beings to survive for more than 3-5 days with out water.
Note: that average is taking all cases and all weather conditions. Not just ideal conditions.
Spartan R41: VaultingFrog 2:
Ummm how difficult is it to press a button? Thats all that was nessissary. The mechanics of the destruction of that ring are so basic that you can train a monkey to do it. Button pressing is easy.
The Halo's don't just have a 'Big Red Button" that blow them up. Hell, even activating the rings takes more than just finding the Index.
Could you really train a monkey to land a Halcyon-class Cruiser on the ring, without crashing and burning, then train them to give all the necessary commands (as they wouldn't have the ship's AI) for the self-destruct sequence? There would have been so many fail-safes that we were unaware of that Cortana was able to simply bypass.
Even still, the Halcyon Cruiser isn't rated for atmosphere, so who's to guarantee that the systems would be in operational status? Would your monkey be able to detonate the core in a manner that's successful in destroying the ring?
Lets stop right here for now.
1: The index has absolutely nothing to do with the destruction of one of the rings. It is its activation code. The only part it played in the destruction of a ring (active part) is when it was used to activate an incomplete ring. Since it was incomplete it was unable, structurally, to hold itself together. The firing failed and instead the ring destroyed itself. Watch the ending of Halo 3 for reference.
2: Did Spartan-117 pilot the Pillar of Autumn down to the surface? Hell did he pilot anything down to the surface? I dont think so. Dont even think of claiming that he could. You know just as well as I that he didnt have the skills to do such a thing.
3: Of course there are failsafes in place so people dont accidently blow up the vessel. But there are always manual overrides in case the personel with the codes are disabled/killed or otherwise unavailable to do that duty. But since they are not detailed out that point is not going to be applied here.
However did you notice what Spartan-117 did? He manually opened up the cooling chambers of the reactor (one of three on board) and took them out with explosives. That is not beond the capability of a Marine.
In any case I will continue this farther down.
Spartan R41: VaultingFrog 2:
The only thing that would have made a difference is the presence of an enemy on the vessel. But again that is completely situational. And even then it still would have been possable for a Marine to survive long enough to manually destroy the nuclear core. Likely no, possable yes. And for the most part Spartan-117 avoided any confrontation possable, same as any Marine would.
Point still stands that a Marine is more than capable of performing the mechanics needed to destroy one of those rings.
A Marine wouldn't have been able to destroy the core as easily. First, there's the manual self-destruct. With no AI, as stated above, the Marine would need a high-level clearance to set of the self-destruct sequence. That ability isn't just offered to every Tom, Jane and Joe of the UNSC. Not having those codes, the Marine would then have no other choice but to physically destroy the vents.
Now, we'll put it as a hypothetical given that the Marine just so happens to know where to destroy the core. How is he going to do that? At this point, the Sentinels would most likely be aware of a threat to the ring (elevated levels of energy coming from an already foreign object in question) and would do their utmost to defend their ring. This is unavoidable, and there's no way that the Marine would survive.
Again you are adding conditions to the basic mechanics of the destruction of the ring. Those are completely situational. There is no absolute guarantee that those foes would be there in any other case.
You have given conditions that simply have nothing to do with the mechanics of that detonation.
That was all I was going for. Just the mechanics of it. Those mechanics are more than possable for a Marine or ODST to do.
Marines have a "Spoofer" which works its way through electronic programs and locks. ODSTs generally are equiped with ONI hacking gear and if available an uplink to the local military or city A.I. So for the most part codes and electronic countermeasures arent that huge of a problem.
Now then if you want to add conditions such as an enemy group in the area it changes the outcome. Note that most people on Legendary or even Heroic dont pass through that level in Halo CE unscathed. From what I have seen, yes a personal observation, most are unable to complete that level with out dying atleast once. If you take that into account than even the mighty Spartan-117 failed at blowing up the ring. And yes I know the player is really at fault, however the level doesnt change in terms of enemy placement or route. Its the same route as in the book. And in the book he is nearly killed 4 distinct times before he even got to the reactor core. In all probability there were more times than that during that journy.
See what adding conditions onto the basic mechanics does to the problem? They alter it completely. That is why I stuck to the most fundimental mechanics of the rings destruction. The simple activation of an overload in the reactor. It can be done on the bridge or in the Engineering room. Which ever you prefer but a Marine or ODST is capable of performing that function.