Future Tech Advice and Assistance Thread [O.O.C.]

[Liivland Abufan Se Steorre]

*Snippity-Doo-Dah, Snippity-Day*

Duly noted, however...

As for the specifics of how this might happen, those are entirely up to you. If I might make a suggestion? Your star-state is established not through dominance of the Terran Sphere of Influence, but instead an instance of accident during the early stages of inter-stellar travel in your version of Earth. Either through generation ships or other slow-boats, a predominantly Latvian, Estonian, etc. crew is sent-off by, say, the European Space Agency, to explore a planet for future colonization. When they arrive, "something has happened" and they are disconnected from earth, spending the next x-amount of years developing into an independent society and polity, eventually achieving the capability to perform superluminal transit and, thus, beginning their first true forays into the Galaxy.

It's a bit trope-y, but sometimes tropes are tropes for a reason. It's also a tried-and-true method of starting-out small with the benefit of being human and with a bit of a pre-made culture for the player; it also has the added benefit, in this instance, of allowing you to grant yourself the culture you desire without necessarily spending time devoted to developing Terra (something you might not want to do). That being said you are obviously in no way forced to follow the suggestion I gave, or one like it; whatever works for you and is generally seen to conform to the standards of the community will, typically, be fine.

Hope that helps.

I do very much like this idea: combined with a few other things to ensure it's in the here and now, and to account for the failure to return to earth and the occurrence of not!Biotics I should be golden. I think now I've just got to write up my IIWiki page, then I'll likely link it here for a quick once-over by more experienced FTers before I look at getting into an RP with Liivland.

[Kyrusia]

[snip]

For the record, as an IIwiki Administrator, if you need an FT-specific country infobox that you can easily edit, just drop me a telegram or message on my talk page and I'll be sure to link it to you.

[Lubyak]

As for the specifics of how this might happen, those are entirely up to you. If I might make a suggestion? Your star-state is established not through dominance of the Terran Sphere of Influence, but instead an instance of accident during the early stages of inter-stellar travel in your version of Earth. Either through generation ships or other slow-boats, a predominantly Latvian, Estonian, etc. crew is sent-off by, say, the European Space Agency, to explore a planet for future colonization. When they arrive, "something has happened" and they are disconnected from earth, spending the next x-amount of years developing into an independent society and polity, eventually achieving the capability to perform superluminal transit and, thus, beginning their first true forays into the Galaxy.

It's a bit trope-y, but sometimes tropes are tropes for a reason. It's also a tried-and-true method of starting-out small with the benefit of being human and with a bit of a pre-made culture for the player; it also has the added benefit, in this instance, of allowing you to grant yourself the culture you desire without necessarily spending time devoted to developing Terra (something you might not want to do). That being said you are obviously in no way forced to follow the suggestion I gave, or one like it; whatever works for you and is generally seen to conform to the standards of the community will, typically, be fine.

Hope that helps.

I do very much like this idea: combined with a few other things to ensure it's in the here and now, and to account for the failure to return to earth and the occurrence of not!Biotics I should be golden. I think now I've just got to write up my IIWiki page, then I'll likely link it here for a quick once-over by more experienced FTers before I look at getting into an RP with Liivland.

This is what I did to justify my Space Habsburg Empire. I do have notes on the world they came from, but mostly I have relied on the whole 'sleeper ship from an Earth culture/state' as the basis for my nation. It's a bit tropey, yes, but it's nice being able to use tropes as a jumping off point to do the thing you're more interested in.

[Liivland Abufan Se Steorre]

I do very much like this idea: combined with a few other things to ensure it's in the here and now, and to account for the failure to return to earth and the occurrence of not!Biotics I should be golden. I think now I've just got to write up my IIWiki page, then I'll likely link it here for a quick once-over by more experienced FTers before I look at getting into an RP with Liivland.

This is what I did to justify my Space Habsburg Empire. I do have notes on the world they came from, but mostly I have relied on the whole 'sleeper ship from an Earth culture/state' as the basis for my nation. It's a bit tropey, yes, but it's nice being able to use tropes as a jumping off point to do the thing you're more interested in.

And then did the spehs line infantry face off against spehs lever-actions.

Except you're now using spehs martini henries or something, IIRC.

[Lubyak]

This is what I did to justify my Space Habsburg Empire. I do have notes on the world they came from, but mostly I have relied on the whole 'sleeper ship from an Earth culture/state' as the basis for my nation. It's a bit tropey, yes, but it's nice being able to use tropes as a jumping off point to do the thing you're more interested in.

And then did the spehs line infantry face off against spehs lever-actions.

Except you're now using spehs martini henries or something, IIRC.

I've actually swung back towards the spess muskets now. Mostly cause I've finally managed to settle a lot of my tech quibbles. My fleet is still pretty 'early 20th century' though.

[Liivland Abufan Se Steorre]

And then did the spehs line infantry face off against spehs lever-actions.

Except you're now using spehs martini henries or something, IIRC.

I've actually swung back towards the spess muskets now. Mostly cause I've finally managed to settle a lot of my tech quibbles. My fleet is still pretty 'early 20th century' though.

Liivland is more space opera.

It's irksome to look back at what you've written and think, 'fuck... That's basically not!X, and that's not!Y, and that's not!Z' and realise that all the influences on your work make it as unique as a brick and as generic as a supermarket brand cereal.

[Kassaran]

First and foremost hello and welcome to the advice thread! Secondly I'd strongly suggest you take a look at the thread OP and take the time to read it fully and thoroughly, specifically the second paragraph of the Rules of the Advice Thread, which describes the Advice Thread's relationship with closed roleplaying groups or settings. Given the general nature of the Advice Thread and it's specific target audience (FT-Prime,) most of the advice you'll probably receive here won't necessarily be adapted for your setting and will conform to the expectations of the greater community.

Not necessarily looking for a target audience here, but feedback on how various systems may be employed or work within a semi-realistic universe. If my target audience was here, I'd end up spoiling various plot-points regardless.

In regards to your question about power armor vs 'normal' armor:

Power armor is, as you already said, incredibly expensive and also generally has various draw backs such as maneuverability, weight, generally requires specialized training to use properly and can even require things such as physical augmentation (which you mentioned is also necessary in your setting I believe, further increasing the cost.) Natural or 'normal' armor has the advantage of being cheap(er), doesn't require any real specialized training to use, is smaller and therefore easier to manufacture and transport, and finally allows greater maneuverability and flexibility. While there are no defined rules as to what kind of armor you can give your average solider or otherwise, my personal method is to equip my run-of-the-mill grunt with 'normal' armor, and save the special stuff for elite units. This also has the advantage of giving these elite units another interesting perspective when you write for their characters, for instance their hulking appearance compared to normal foot soldiers, the fear they inspire in friend and foe alike, and things of that nature.

In regards to the power armor having optical camouflage:

While I generally avoid using what is, if I'm understanding you correctly, essentially "invisibility" technology. You have avoided the first pitfall of using any advanced technology in RP, making it always perfect. If you are dead set on your power armor having optical illusion or invisibility technology, I personally would support both options wherein it often overheats after short usage, and the heat sinks are weak points in the armor. This gives you the ability to present really cool visuals where large amounts of heat or steam are expelled from a previously invisible operative, adding to that fear factor I mentioned above and also serving as a great plot point RP wise. In regards to heat-sink vulnerability, this not only makes your armor less-than-perfect (a good thing), it also makes logical sense. Any kind of ventilation or cooling system is by its very nature going to have to be less armored to allow the free flow of air or other cooling agents, and the expulsion of heat.

What of something akin to the Crysis Suit yet with some MJOLNIR-like aspects? As for the suit itself, I figure it could be utilizing some super-heating material to distort or disrupt light around the user. This would ideally make them appear like a heatwave rather than an actual person, only issue is if they move too quickly. At that point the heat would be getting left behind slightly and likewise they'd become more obviously invisible. The heat-sinks themselves would be concealed within the armor, but would have to move from the inside of closed areas out when full. I see this being accompanied by a sort of loud pop and hissing. They'd ideally be super-heated at this point and likewise menacing in appearance. Some basic heat-sinks along the soles of the feet or along the calves and forearms might be implemented.

The main point in the story for these Powersuit users called 'Warlords' to enter tactically unsafe or down-right dangerous areas with the intention of succeeding by fear and force rather than the 'soft' tactics the standard Security forces would use. Those normal Security Forces would be the guys in the 'normal' armor as you put it.

In regards to UAVs or Unmanned Surveillance/Combat Drones:

Drones have a long history in Future Tech and are by and large pretty commonly accepted. Remember though that using unmanned surveillance vehicles and combat drones, especially to resolve civilian disputes or as a police force, has ramifications ICly. Principally, it serves to de-humanize your police force to your average citizen, which in turn gives you another great plot point. Using UAVs and drones to spy and police your citizens would feasibly create an atmosphere of fear and paranoia, with your citizens constantly looking over their shoulder, on the look out for the prying eyes of "Big-brother." You also run into the ability of machines applying cold logic and reasoning to situations, potentially resulting in the misuse of force. Controlling your drones remotely doesn't necessarily avoid this problem as the controller still isn't on site, and therefore able to provide a real-time analysis of the situation and respond appropriately. Ultimately I think it's a really neat idea, and you have the potential to roleplay a lot of unpleasant or unintended consequences of such a system, if that's what you're looking for anyway.

Yep, been covering that too and trying to understand what situations might arise. I understand typical human issues may come into play, but then there's also those issues that arise with the particular setting I'm going for, hence the additional confusion. I do like the ramifications you included in using an autonomous system and I think I'll keep it for that matter. It helps to additionally make my antagonistic media seem more justified.

Hope that was helpful.

To an extent... yes.

[The Uthani Imperium]

-Snip-

Going with something akin to the Crysis suit or MJOLNIR armor does remove some of, if not all, the problems in regards to maneuverability. Depending on the material you used you could feasibly compensate for lack of armor thickness with increased density and hardness, though you'd still run into weight problems and that also leads into a problem with your proposed 'heat-mirage' system if you don't mind me calling it that.

First and foremost, denser materials take a greater amount of energy to heat than less dense materials, owing to the fact that specific heat is directly proportional to the mass of an object. What does this mean in your case? It means that to create anything akin to the mirage you're suggesting would require a larger amount of power, and sub-sequentially put more strain on your heat sinks in order to keep the power source from overheating and either malfunctioning or in an extreme case melting. In regards to your heat sinks themselves, using an air cooled method like you're suggesting effectively means that you're going to be dealing with overheating a lot more than you if used a liquid cooling system, and also will significantly delay the 'cool down' itself. Finally, the distortion you're describing wouldn't cause your soldiers to appear as "shimmers of heat in the air," but rather more akin to this. As you can see, the general shape of the object is still visible, as well as some defining details such as size and color. To be truly effective, you'd have to pattern the colors you're distorting to the environment the suit is operating in, and even then you're not making them invisible so much as "blurring" them into their surroundings.

[Benxboro]

I added the bold numbers to keep track of your paragraphs.

In my nation, a number of civil wars have taken place, but mostly within the bounds of the oldest and most developed star systems.
However, I am coming to a point where a civil war will take place, but most of the opposing forces will be located in the outer colonies. Generally, these planets are economically "specialized" in the manner of the British colonies thanks to the Navigation Acts, and thus have little native manufacturing capability unless they are among the one or two worlds which host major military facilities.
I'd like to hear some suggestions as to how this will go, and I'm not sure what-all will affect it. I can provide some information on that end.

1.Feel free to correct me if I am wrong, but what you describing sounds like a "rebellion against the center." In other words, the "peripheries" of your star-state have become, for one reason or another, contemptuous of the center's dominance over their own affairs. This tends to lead to a coupling of two things: first, there is an entrenched cultural difference (or a perceived one) between the "center" and the "edges"; second, there is a real economic disparity between the "center" and the "edges" which is likely to feed into the first.

2.For example, as you have described, one could easily assume that while each individual periphery system might have its own specialty, it subsists off constant intervention from the center; in effect, the state operates under psuedo-mercantilist principles: Outer System A harvests cotton, which is then shipped to Inner System B where it is taxed and inventoried; a portion of this cotton inventory is then shipped to Outer System C where it is made into a consumer good such as clothing, and is then shipped to Inner System D where it is taxed, inventoried, and set-out for sale to the center and the edges, with the edges invariably paying a higher price (despite being the source of most commodities and labor going into the consumer good) simply due to the costs of shipping combined with the necessarily higher value of a completed good over a raw commodity.

In short: money flows out from the edge to the center, and since each individual outer system is cut in such a way as to not be functional without the intermediary partnership with the center, each individual outer system is far less capable of independent survival than they are working in cooperation with the center. This would, primarily, be the source of political, economic, and possibly cultural tension: the outer systems become conscious and aware of the nature of this relationship and seek to change it. One means to attempt such is to have each outer system unite against the center, rather than cooperate with them. Sure, they will be lacking some things (depends on the precise situation) and certainly would be set back years in development, but so would the center.

3.Your outer systems could use this as a means of leverage to obtain concessions from the center, or they could - quite simply - unite and then attempt to secede. Ultimately it is up to you, and this is most certainly just one example of a relationship that could have developed or otherwise begin to develop, spurring a revolutionary sentiment that, inevitability, leads to domestic strife and conflict.

Hope that helps.

Edit: Just to add a bit.

4.This will depend on how, exactly, dependent each side of your conflict initially is on the other side; if the center is dependent upon the edges for more than just raw materials and manufacturing capacity, industry, etc., but also for martial manpower, you could easily have a messy situation on your hands. The center, in the event your periphery systems secede, may not have the necessary capability to actually draw them back in without overt concessions; they may be able to seize a system or two, but that depends entirely, again, on how dependent/independent the center can be, insofar as force projection is concerned, without the peripheries to supply them. If the center, for example, is entirely evolved into a service-based society, with little native industrial or agricultural capacity, not only do you now have a civil war, but you may have a circumstance where the center is, in fact, fighting for its very survival.

4b.In a war of survival in the face of extinction, all bets are off. Even if under-manned and starving - or, perhaps, because of it - the periphery may suddenly find their former masters willing to do anything, even some selective bouts of planetary genocide, in order to regain control over the most industrially capable outer systems. It's a "Corner the Tiger"-type situation if you go this route: sure, the periphery may now be independent and, sure, they may not have all the luxuries they once had, but they control their own fates, see directly the outcome of their own labor, etc., but also now find themselves being chased by a technologically superior (even if less-so-in numbers) center willing to literally eradicate them, from the root up, if it means they can regain their luxuries.

1.Yeah, it pretty much is exactly that. The inner systems are richer and wealthier and more populous (if this doesn't conflict with being richer), while the outer systems are generally less populous. There is also a cultural drift, with the outer systems seeing themselves as independent frontiersmen who survived in spite of the Empire's neglect (however true that may be), and the inner systems seeing themselves as part of a glorious, divine mission to spread humanity throughout the universe as part of the Empire (and pointing fingers at each other as being the most heretical and seditious).
2. The economic system you described also fits the situation in my nation. The outer systems would certainly do their best to unify against the inner worlds, which would be mostly postindustrial a thousand years into the great colonization project, and thus not entirely equipped to fight against the outer worlds. I'm thinking the ability to manufacture weaponry and other military support systems would be hamstrung in both regions, but more so in the outer worlds- they have more planets to defend and a lot fewer spacecraft of equally poor quality, with most of the Naval units remaining loyal to the central systems and being of superior technological orientation.
3. I'm thinking the outer worlds would try negotiation first, and be ignored or brutally crushed by the forces and politicians of the inner systems. Then, outraged, some of the outer systems would try and stir up a unified rebellion, citing the centuries of abuses against them while the inner worlds fought for glory and the Throne.
4. I had thought of the agricultural issue to some degree, but not enough to fully answer this question. Most of the inner systems have been partly transformed into mixtures of nature reserves and crowded megalopolises with at least some native manufacturing capability, while the outer worlds are specialised into the roles of agriculture, mining, military reserve and something else I can't think of. The inner worlds also have a lot of service industry, but in this war, their ability to pump out spacecraft would only be hampered by the fact that most, if not all, the outer worlds supplying them with the raw materials to do so would have seceded; the logistics networks have been severed and diced up in the outer systems and need to be reworked for the war effort. Given what you've said, I'm thinking that the inner systems would be facing starvation very soon unless they had loads of food stocked up...they certainly won't have more, proportionately speaking than what you can find in all the US's supermarkets and government-managed emergency food storage centers (if such things exist). As a result, they'd be more than willing to use "exceptional procedures" in addition to the "normal procedures".
A war like what you're describing in the event of the central systems being unable to survive without the outer systems' resources actually did happen in my nation's history, when it was colonizing its' own home system, and during the first years of space colonization. It was originally driven from Alpha World, the name for the homeworld planet, because most of the resources had been exhausted, and when some colonies began rebelling the Empire violently crushed them, genociding several of them to force the other rebels into line and keep the other colonies aware of the price of rebellion. During interstellar exploration, many colonies rebelled again, these being the future inner systems, and they were purged or subjugated.
And now it's happening again. The Torches of Benx will burn brilliant in the skies of Olen and Trodar (two rebellious outer colonies)!

[Kyrusia]

[snip]

Sounds like you've got it pretty decently worked-out then.

One bit of a thing about your third point; there is a rather rich point of American history that, when people look for inspiration, they tend to completely ignore: the history of the American labor movement (to the addition of the First Red Scare). You might consider doing research on these to give yourself a bit of a foundation to work from; it was, at least at the time, conceived that "anarchists and other socialist saboteurs" were waiting in the wings and that any little push could potentially result in a revolution or exceptionally protracted conflict - or, at least, some believed. It's a time where strikes could very quickly turn violent, and if you intend to start-off your civil war with the most disaffected at least attempting to work within the economic and political system for reform (even if just barely), that period in American history would be a good place to look for inspiration. I also might suggest Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

Hope that helps.

[Benxboro]

I wonder what I should pass off as power armor for my religiously motivated "supersoldiers", whom I call the Divine Legion. I mostly just thought of their armor as being composed largely of metal plating and the regular troops as having ceramic armor.
In addition, the Legion's troops (Legionaries, sorry if I got that wrong) can survive in space for a few hours with their armor, along with high-powered rifle shots. They would be armed with railguns, which I called Holy Fletchers. The regular troopers aren't impervious to the fire of snipers, or more than a few glancing AR rounds, and most certainly not directed energy weapons. Also, the Legionaries' armor would augment their strength to some degree. That's about all I could think of.
I'm not sure where to go with this, other than to ask if this needs improvement in any way.

[snip]

Sounds like you've got it pretty decently worked-out then.

One bit of a thing about your third point; there is a rather rich point of American history that, when people look for inspiration, they tend to completely ignore: the history of the American labor movement (to the addition of the First Red Scare). You might consider doing research on these to give yourself a bit of a foundation to work from; it was, at least at the time, conceived that "anarchists and other socialist saboteurs" were waiting in the wings and that any little push could potentially result in a revolution or exceptionally protracted conflict - or, at least, some believed. It's a time where strikes could very quickly turn violent, and if you intend to start-off your civil war with the most disaffected at least attempting to work within the economic and political system for reform (even if just barely), that period in American history would be a good place to look for inspiration. I also might suggest Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress.

Hope that helps.

Thank you! I will certainly look into it. Actually, I'm taking a break from reading through the Labor History page to put this on the forum and out of the posting page. I'll edit this eventually to show how things will progress.
3:
I'm thinking that eventually the Empire would have had, in the past, to concede to labor unions on some level in order to industrialize, at least for some time (likely during the "Silver Century" when it was basically an apathetic plutocracy); it eventually adopted what seems to be the modern method of dealing with employees in China and the method once used in the whole Western world, where employees who weren't maximally profitable were cast off, except that there was no labor union at all. Workers' work lives were the same as their lives in general: conducted under the guidance of managers and oligarchs in the name of the Emperor, or, in the case of the workplace, the boss. This system continued to the days of this latest civil war I now plan to make existent within the next three days on the forums; I may even involve the outer systems in labor unions and political disruptions together.
From what I gleaned from the Red Scare, labor union history, and Heinlein (all in Wikipedia summary), the struggle between the two sides would include a pseudo-theological element, with the rebels aiming for recognition of the rights of laborers and being denounced as "heretics". In conjunction with their demands for greater economic independence, citing the disasters that mercantilism has led to (people starving because their farm's equipment fails and they can't afford replacing it, I guess...) personally and on wider scales, they would aim for a new kind of liberty, encompassing that of the yeoman and the businessman, and eventually a political sort, maybe. The inner worlds would denounce them as insurgents stirring up a rebellion and demand massive mobilizations toward the outer systems. Meanwhile, the Imperial government would continue to show a mixture of apathy and open hatred towards the outer colonies' representatives, ignoring nobles from the area and letting the military police do what they liked with protesters. Maybe one of the nobles could, as people became less willing to rise up in the face of these violent repressions, marshal their resources to sound a call to military action in defense of the outer systems?
Is it too late to mention that the inner systems are outnumbered by the outer systems, or is that presumed?

[Atomic Utopia]

So, I was thinking of how to make an FTL drive, and more importantly, how to make it interesting to deal with. Now not any old FTL drive will do, because I do not want to face the plot hole of "why the hell did they not just jump out of the battle when they were loosing?" and at the same time I do not want the possibility to violate causality with my FTL drive exist so tantalizingly in my arsenal.

So I think I have a a drive that would satisfy all of these, while at the same time being interesting. I am posting it, along with the terminology used, here to have holes poked in my idea.

Summary:
Gravonmetric Drive
Gravonmetric drives are among the most popular forms of superluminal transportation in the USSAU. By using celerem they can travel through spacetme quite rapidly from the perspective of those on the craft. When celerem is exposed to a neutron flux of a specific energy it becomes dislocated from the current location in spacetime, when electricity is applied to the now dislocated celerem it creates an instability causing the local area to fall down the dislocation curve created by the specific conditions that the celerem is exposed to. The high neutron flux is often provided using a fission reaction, allowing for the FTL mechanism to double as a power supply, however this means that the ship is restricted to certain relativei coordinates, thus making time travel with such designs impossible.

Celerem is an extremely rare and hard to produce material, only found in small quantities and only in certain locations. These locations include galactic centers and certain star clusters, such as the Andromeda Cluster. Celerem is extremely toxic, very dense, and Celerem is not depleted during superluminal transportation, however it does undergo embrittlement.

Gravonmetrics
Gravonmetrics is the study of the alteration of mater so that it's rest mass is imaginary. This is made possible by the natural resource known as celerem. Celerem is a material made of various elementary particles that can change nearby matter into grí̱gora, or matter with an imaginary rest mass, when bombarded with neutrons and then shocked with electricity. The energy of the neutrons, the flux of the neutrons, the presence of local gravity fields and those along the path of the object all alter the course of the object through spacetime. By studying these phenomena it is possible to derive equations describing the movement of such craft through spacetime, allowing for functional faster than light and time travel.

Terminology

Notches, Notch: a short term for "raised to the power of", based on the notches found in the ancient device known as a sliderule. Sliderules run on a logarithmic scale, thus the length between 0 and 1 would be the same as the length between 1 and 10 or 10 and 100, giving rise to the term.

Grav: Short for gravonmetrics

Grav-Chron: Short for gravon-chronographics, also used to describe the sensors to detect alterations in time.

Grav Drive: Short term for Gravonmetric Drive, the primary from of faster than light transportation in the USSAU

And for the first installment of my newest idea, Captain Exposition and Ensign Kibbitz:
"Captain Exposition, how does the FTL drive work exactly?"

"Simple, Ensign Kibbitz, the drive works through the application of Gravonmetrics, the alteration of matter so it has an complex rest mass."

"Which means?"

"It means that anything that has undergone it cannot travel slower than light, it means that the ship travels perpendicular to time."

"Perpendicular to time? Wouldn't that mean this ship is also a time machine?"

"Why yes, Kibbitz, it means that it is a time machine."

"But wouldn't that allow you to violate causality?"

"No, the drive does not work all of the time, those times it does not work is when it would violate causality, now if we were to set it into the past in it did work, now we would have all of the fun of being a part of history."

"Has that ever happened before, people going into the past?"

"Of course it has, several times it has happened. Remember the third Andromeda Cluster War?"

"Well naturally, everyone learns about that in school."

"Obviously you did not listen that well in class. Our first offensive, the Vlonosk Offensive, named after it's creator, sent ships to the front using their drives, half of them did a three point loop, putting them far in the past, around a few weeks. These ships fought the rebels, who were caught off guard, to a near standstill, allowing the rest of the fleet to engage the remaining forces. This strategy was made possible with the advent of the gravon-chronographics field, the measuring of these possibilities. Now the strategy is not always possible, it can only occur in very specific situations, but it is a good option."

"So if we were to send a fleet in the past and it were to meet the fleet in the future and call for assistance and elimina-"

"That is precisely the situation the drive will not work in."

"Oh."

"Yeah, spacetime can be quite mind-bending, but not that much of a problem when you get your head wrapped around it, really."

The results of this on society would probably be... odd. First and foremost, it would allow for viewing the past through an event horizon, or even participating in the past if it is needed for the current events to occur, though only if it does not cause them to go into the past in the first place (hence why I cannot just torch the primordial pools on the homeworld of my enemy) allowing for odd things to occur. It also means that on occasion my fleets will get stuck, thus it would be advisable to provide sufficient materials to last longer than the planned engagement due to unforeseen events to make my previous predictions fail. And lastly it means that the start and stop must be located on the outer rim of the solar system or complex calculations are needed to get an accurate jump between two locations, thus my fleet will not be able to "just jump out of battle" because those computations take time, or they must move to some other location to proceed.

[Sunset]

Do Not Mess With Time Travel.

While it may sound fun and interesting, it has been used and abused with far too much regularity on these forums to gain any traction outside of niche communities.

Other than that, it sounds fine. The idea of having physical limits, such as poor operation in a nearby gravity well, is a fine one and would place reasonable restrictions on its tactical use. The techno-babble bits are essentially unnecessary but neither are they excessively obnoxious. Essentially -all- FTL drives will allow you to look into the past though. Just pick a point a number of light X's out from whatever event you want to view, jump out there, deploy a large-array telescope, and get out the popcorn. Repeat as desired.

An odd little side note; It was not the capacities of crew or starship that allowed the Stargazer to perform the Picard Manuver but rather how fast the Captain could issue orders. Kinda silly if you think about it. He's got all those bridge crew who could be doing something and who are, supposedly, trusted to not put the ship up a planet's backside at random times, but he can't give them broad orders? But it wouldn't be Shakespeare in Space otherwise, I suppose...

[Kyrusia]

To the addition of what Sunset has supplied above (and mostly just to supplement further information related to this topic, as such may assist you in further design and "fine-tuning"):

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. (Addendum: Travel time is, more or less, dependent upon plot in the end: a ship will be where it needs to be on time, or it won't. Depends entirely upon what the plot calls for.)

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.

[Mensirada Nysgceballada Ghebanea]

FTL detection? How would that work?
Also, would it be reasonable to have an FTL drive system with capacitors and a need to decelerate in nebulae?

[Atomic Utopia]

Do Not Mess With Time Travel.

While it may sound fun and interesting, it has been used and abused with far too much regularity on these forums to gain any traction outside of niche communities.

I know, hence the "cannot violate causality clause" in other words, if your coordinates are into the past, have fun with the drive failing utterly as that would violate causality, this also means that when my ship warps to position "B" and then warps back to position "A" it will have to set it's coordinates into the future. Only when it is allowed by the causality can it do time travel, in other words, it can only time travel when it is approved by the other players. Otherwise the time travel bit is just window dressing.

---

Having seen what Kyrusia posted, I thought of another thing about my FTL drive. Because it is FTL, and the fact that spacetime is relative, what should I do about the whole speed thing? My ship will be moving in excess of the speed of light, or more importantly, with imaginary rest mass (which means that my ship will have non imaginary rest mass at FTL speeds, and also means that my ship moves perpendicular to time too, whatever that means), my ship will move, to an outside observer at either location, instantly to it's target coordinates in spacetime, for the crew it is different, movement still takes time. Now obviously that brings up the possibility of my nation engaging in vast interstellar wars of extermination that last a whole of five minutes.

I do not want vast interstellar wars of extermination that last a whole of five minutes or the possibility of such a thing, as it would be a big plot hole for my dramatic long and complex wars of futility. So should I just shake my hands and say "woo-magic-woo" and say that somehow it does not seem like two uncoordinated events to the outside observer? I just would like an easy way for other players to detect my spacecraft's movements.

[Vocenae]

I do not want vast interstellar wars of extermination that last a whole of five minutes or the possibility of such a thing, as it would be a big plot hole for my dramatic long and complex wars of futility. So should I just shake my hands and say "woo-magic-woo" and say that somehow it does not seem like two uncoordinated events to the outside observer? I just would like an easy way for other players to detect my spacecraft's movements.

Yes, you should just wave your hands. That is why, as has been stated, FTL is handwaved in FT. There's really no other need for it to get you from one plot to the next. Everything else is window dressing to be determined by the needs and demands of the plot.

[Atomic Utopia]

I do not want vast interstellar wars of extermination that last a whole of five minutes or the possibility of such a thing, as it would be a big plot hole for my dramatic long and complex wars of futility. So should I just shake my hands and say "woo-magic-woo" and say that somehow it does not seem like two uncoordinated events to the outside observer? I just would like an easy way for other players to detect my spacecraft's movements.

Yes, you should just wave your hands. That is why, as has been stated, FTL is handwaved in FT. There's really no other need for it to get you from one plot to the next. Everything else is window dressing to be determined by the needs and demands of the plot.

I will then shove in some windowdressing for the detection, or let others do it for me (they use their detection systems). The reason I am attempting to create rules for my FTL is simple, I want internal consistency. The Duchess of Windsor cannot be both married and a widow at the same time, likewise my FTL should not be both capable of going instantly from "A" to "B" while in another RP, unable to do the exact same thing.

And yes, I know FTL is always handwaved because it is impossible, I just like having internal consistency.

---

Oh, and another thing,

Plank unit derivatives as a standard unit of measure, Y/N?

[Hurlik]

Hello everyone,

I have been away from NS for about two years now. A lot has changed since then. I have been itching to jump back into the FT community for a while now. I never really enjoyed MT too much since it doesn't leave as much room for freedom and creativity as FT does. I love all the work that has gone into the FT community, such as the state of the galaxy thread and he Local Cluster region, But I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I have been spending a few weeks now sorting out the basics of my new FT nation, and have started drafting a factbook for my nation.

Essentially, my nation is a small (5 systems), welfare state, that is located in the Delta Quadrant. They have managed to remain relatively unknown by the rest of the galaxy due to their small size and relatively young civilization age. Because of this, they have managed to avoid the endless cycle of war the plagues the Delta quadrant.

Now my question is, how should I introduce my nation to the rest of the galaxy? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just don't know how to introduce my nation. Thank you all for your patience.

[Sunset]

A: Randomly encounter the ship(s) of another/other star-faring civilizations. The ROH has begun pushing out Explorers in their attempts to find the new resources they will need to sustain their welfare state. I myself would almost always be interested in something along these lines since that's pretty much my thing.

B: Find a valuable resource and compete over it. An oldie-but-goodie, though if you're not looking for violence you might want to preface it with the idea that it will lead to contact and diplomacy.

C: Go looking for them. No stumbling involved; There are both organizations (like my own Exploration Command) that are out-and-about exploring the galaxy or locations (such as Liu Xiu) where large congregations of star-faring states can be found.

D: We find you. Again, Exploration Command stumbles around your worlds when out surveying for more fruits and veggies. Diplomacy and trade ensue!

E: Something exotic. The ROH stumbles across another (NPC) civilization in the midst of a civil war and gets involved in their side-o-choice. Others do the same, chaos ensues. A science lab opens a wormhole and the whole crew is sucked through to another location StarGate-style. Three kids look up at the stars with desire in their hearts and the nerdy one intercepts a message from space that tells them how to get there.

[Vocenae]

What Sunset said, but also make sure to stop by the Future Tech community's IRC channel, #NSLegion so you can get to know the community OOCly.

And welcome back!

[The Fedral Union]

Hello everyone,

I have been away from NS for about two years now. A lot has changed since then. I have been itching to jump back into the FT community for a while now. I never really enjoyed MT too much since it doesn't leave as much room for freedom and creativity as FT does. I love all the work that has gone into the FT community, such as the state of the galaxy thread and he Local Cluster region, But I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I have been spending a few weeks now sorting out the basics of my new FT nation, and have started drafting a factbook for my nation.

Essentially, my nation is a small (5 systems), welfare state, that is located in the Delta Quadrant. They have managed to remain relatively unknown by the rest of the galaxy due to their small size and relatively young civilization age. Because of this, they have managed to avoid the endless cycle of war the plagues the Delta quadrant.

Now my question is, how should I introduce my nation to the rest of the galaxy? Sorry if this is a dumb question, I just don't know how to introduce my nation. Thank you all for your patience.

OOCLY: IRC and TLC are good.. Icly.. well Trade.. If your people venture out they'll run in to all sorts of nations; I've got a sandbox thread going myself I'll TG it to you. Welcome back by the way; its good to see you.

Sunset don't forget about Talos either ..

[Hurlik]

A: Randomly encounter the ship(s) of another/other star-faring civilizations. The ROH has begun pushing out Explorers in their attempts to find the new resources they will need to sustain their welfare state. I myself would almost always be interested in something along these lines since that's pretty much my thing.

B: Find a valuable resource and compete over it. An oldie-but-goodie, though if you're not looking for violence you might want to preface it with the idea that it will lead to contact and diplomacy.

C: Go looking for them. No stumbling involved; There are both organizations (like my own Exploration Command) that are out-and-about exploring the galaxy or locations (such as Liu Xiu) where large congregations of star-faring states can be found.

D: We find you. Again, Exploration Command stumbles around your worlds when out surveying for more fruits and veggies. Diplomacy and trade ensue!

E: Something exotic. The ROH stumbles across another (NPC) civilization in the midst of a civil war and gets involved in their side-o-choice. Others do the same, chaos ensues. A science lab opens a wormhole and the whole crew is sucked through to another location StarGate-style. Three kids look up at the stars with desire in their hearts and the nerdy one intercepts a message from space that tells them how to get there.

Thank you for all the ideas! Would you be interested in a random encounter with one of my vessels? At the moment I am not really looking to get into a military conflict. My military is very small and is focused on defense and exploration.

What Sunset said, but also make sure to stop by the Future Tech community's IRC channel, #NSLegion so you can get to know the community OOCly.

And welcome back!

Thank you! Glad to be back

[Neornith]

A: Randomly encounter the ship(s) of another/other star-faring civilizations. The ROH has begun pushing out Explorers in their attempts to find the new resources they will need to sustain their welfare state. I myself would almost always be interested in something along these lines since that's pretty much my thing.

B: Find a valuable resource and compete over it. An oldie-but-goodie, though if you're not looking for violence you might want to preface it with the idea that it will lead to contact and diplomacy.

C: Go looking for them. No stumbling involved; There are both organizations (like my own Exploration Command) that are out-and-about exploring the galaxy or locations (such as Liu Xiu) where large congregations of star-faring states can be found.

D: We find you. Again, Exploration Command stumbles around your worlds when out surveying for more fruits and veggies. Diplomacy and trade ensue!

E: Something exotic. The ROH stumbles across another (NPC) civilization in the midst of a civil war and gets involved in their side-o-choice. Others do the same, chaos ensues. A science lab opens a wormhole and the whole crew is sucked through to another location StarGate-style. Three kids look up at the stars with desire in their hearts and the nerdy one intercepts a message from space that tells them how to get there.

Thank you for all the ideas! Would you be interested in a random encounter with one of my vessels? At the moment I am not really looking to get into a military conflict. My military is very small and is focused on defense and exploration.

What Sunset said, but also make sure to stop by the Future Tech community's IRC channel, #NSLegion so you can get to know the community OOCly.

And welcome back!

Thank you! Glad to be back

The competition over a resource is what I would advise, it gives you some drama and some politics to play around with, it's always been my experience that first contact that's generally lose their pizzazz after the first few posts because it eventually becomes basically an info dump for your nation, so I would recommend something that's going to have some action (not necessarily military mind you) as well as some intrigue.

I see you've already posted on the TLC message board as well, this is a good place to brainstorm with other players to see if you can get some interest as well as find players, and again welcome back

[Hurlik]

Thank you for all the ideas! Would you be interested in a random encounter with one of my vessels? At the moment I am not really looking to get into a military conflict. My military is very small and is focused on defense and exploration.



Thank you! Glad to be back

The competition over a resource is what I would advise, it gives you some drama and some politics to play around with, it's always been my experience that first contact that's generally lose their pizzazz after the first few posts because it eventually becomes basically an info dump for your nation, so I would recommend something that's going to have some action (not necessarily military mind you) as well as some intrigue.

I see you've already posted on the TLC message board as well, this is a good place to brainstorm with other players to see if you can get some interest as well as find players, and again welcome back

That is a fair point and something that I have experienced before. I think that is the route I will go. Thank you