Dirthkos wrote:I would like to ask for some help with designing my ftl(both travel and communications) tech. I'd like to be able to justify both with the same principle, operating under the same rules, and would like to have a requirement for highly skilled human/alien/other form of biological life navigator- no computers, but they're used elsewhere- with multiple, very precise trips(whether jumps or something like a star trek warp drive, I'm undecided) required for most trips. It shouldn't be particularly fast, but I want to be able to use it to justify multiple speeds of travel, depending on some other factor, and it should be capable of linking together a group of semi-feudal space nomad fleets, which are nevertheless isolated enough to have developed distinct cultural, dialectical, and even racial groupings.
My idea was to have *insert technobabble explanation of why the navigator has to be human(or intelligent alien)* and the main restriction on where a jump/warp flight can go being the skill and experience of the navigator. FTL communications depends largely on being able to send a regular radio message through the same jump/warp flight through *insert technobabble here*, so FTL com cannot be broadcasted, but relies on knowing exactly where the recipient is(because of the low risk, it can be sent significantly further distances).
My question is, Would that work, and how could I flesh it out?
To a degree (much to my own chagrin at times), issues involving superluminal mechanics - namely Faster-than-Light transit, communication, detection, navigation, etc. - is one of the points in FT where
handwaving is necessary. FTL has become, more or less, rather essential if for no other reason than plot often necessitates it; plot also, however, often determines its actual speed. In short: your FTL, in any given thread, will work (or not work) exactly how plot dictates. Aka: it will function and/or malfunction in whatever fashion benefits the story most.
This aside, there are, arguably, four "
primary" things to keep in mind when deciding for yourself how your FTL transportation and communication mechanics work:
- Aesthetic
- Range
- Rate
- Travel time
Working from what I feel is the
least important aspect up, travel time can be pretty much... whatever you feel works, given your relative "degree of FT-ness" and to what degree of complexity you desire. The passage of time can, for example, vary based upon the perspective in which a given object is viewed; without going too "
SCIENCE", the amount of time passed between one ship departing one point and arriving at another point can vary based upon viewing it from the perspective of the individuals aboard that vessel, and individuals watching that vessel transit. An instant to an external observer can be a minute to the traveler, for example. You aren't required to have this be true for your given FTL; an instant for a traveler can be an instant for an observer, or three days can be the same for both. You can have it be whatever fits for your given rules and mechanics, but, again, this relates mostly to aesthetic (which I will cover last) and, as mentioned: plot. More often than not, the needs of the thread and your ship needing to be somewhere (or not somewhere) at a given time (or before or after that time) for a given story will often fit conveniently within whatever "travel time" you decide is pertinent.
Next, we come to one of what I call the "Two Points of Weakness". But first, rate is, simply, "How fast can my FTL engage and do its job in a given period of time? And what sort of mechanics go into this function?" In short: does your FTL drive need time to "charge" or "spool-up"? How long after one jump does the drive need to "cool" or "re-charge"? Does my drive actually need to recharge, or is the limit of my rate of jumps determined by some other factor - such as navigation calculation time or some inherent weakness to my handwaved mechanic that lets me perform FTL? I mention "weakness" because, to me, rate (and range) are some of the easiest points to employ some degree of natural "weakness" into FTL to give it a feasible functionality without allowing a player to powergame and jump from Point A to B to Z without issues and, effectively, out-position other players. An FTL drive without
some bugs is a very short jump (Hehe. Puns.) to "godmoding", "power-gaming", and the employ of an "I Win Button". Keep this in mind.
As with rate, range is another "point of weakness". Chiefly, if your rate isn't much of an issue and you can do jumps in quick succession, I feel you should seriously consider how "far" those jumps actually go. If you haven't guessed, range is simply the distance a ship can transit in a given jump. Three light-years? Thirty? Three hundred? Pinning down a range is a major part of designing your transit
and your communication insofar as FTL concerns. It is a fairly standard trope in FT that if a vessel can make a rapid sequence of FTL jumps, those jumps are fairly short; but if a vessel can only make one jump in a relative period of time, the range can be increased.
Play with these things - rate and range especially - and get feedback from other players you play-with or intend to roleplay with. More often than not, in this case, the wisdom of the mass can go a long way in helping you determine what is or is not "acceptable". For example, it is generally considered poor form to traverse the entire breadth of the
Galaxy instantaneously, and that intergalactic travel is fairly limited - if it exists at all - to a very select group of individuals whom the community trusts and respects to not abuse such, given their experience and time spent being collaborators and creators (as well as helpers) in the community.
Lastly, but most importantly:
aesthetic. Above rate, range, and travel time - at least to me - aesthetic matters more. This covers not just how the FTL jump looks to an observer and to a traveler, respectively, but how you
describe it working. Does it make people sick or uneasy? Is the technology behind superluminal transit and communication cumbersome and not really understood and, relatively speaking, "backward" compared to others? Is it inherently dangerous and, if so, how dangerous? Does a simple miscalculation in navigation end-up with you being lost in space, or obliterated like a bug across the cosmic windshield? Can your FTL jump be performed anywhere and to anywhere, or do you need to jump between gravity wells (such as near stars) or near some pre-built infrastructure (such as beacons)? Does your FTL require gates? Etc.
As you can see, the questions and avenues one can follow in regards to the aesthetics of your given FTL transit and communication are, effectively, endless, and that's why it's the most important aspect to consider: one can pin down the time it takes for a drive to recharge or the range one ship can go, but one is constantly building upon the aesthetics of their given nation or entity, and thus the aesthetics for their technology constantly grows more and more complex.
Something to keep in mind when facing these questions is to consider that whether you are being consistent with your FTL tech; you should avoid changing the fundamental rules of "How this works" from one thread to another. Keep things fairly similar and try and roleplay logically and reasonably how advancements in your technology might be undertaken - this includes in designing it originally. Consider the history of your star-state and how that may have shaped your FTL technology. Also, as initially mentioned: FTL - be it in transportation, communication, sensors, etc. - is often dictated by plot. But not just by plot: by collaboration and compromise with other players. If you want your ships to be undetectable while they are in-transit, it only makes sense that said ship shouldn't be able to detect anything itself
while it is transiting. The proverbial, "Nothing in? Nothing out".
Really, though, its a matter of reaching a balance between how you want your technology to be described and seen, how it works given the internal rules you have given it, and avoiding problems such as using your given technology - be it related to FTL or any other tidbit of tech, characters, culture, etc. - as an "I Win Button" or power-playing.
Remember: be creative, collaborate with others, be willing to compromise, and be consistent.