FTl or Stargates

[Jeremy Buloch]

Yes it is alot of crossposting. lol

The definitions are theories, yes. But its the only working theory that all physicists have agreed upon.
-J.B.-

[Blake]

I think we have both.
FTL travel is just normal travel speeded up. Trip times are just shorter. No terribly special mechanics. No special code.
Stargate travel is important, critical, for gameplay. We can also do fun stuff like linking the economies of planets with stargates, so resources at any world with a stargate may be spent at any other world with a stargate. Implications for reducing micromanagment should be obvious.

Stargates shouldn't exactly be a free lunch. In stars! they had distance/mass limitations, trying to send a too large ship too far damaged the ship, and possibly destroyed it. Such limitations may be a good idea.

[Jeremy Buloch]

Yeah I agree that the stargate will need to have some limitations such as that. Also the Radiation would be extreme so they would need to compensate for that.

Would this Stargate be an artificial Black hole?
Since we have never seen Black holes then we dont know exactly if they can be a wormhole but its possible. Or shall I say Theoretical.
-J.B.-

[Leland]

I think the tech is going to be "magic" anyway. Artificial black holes are currently pretty much the only even theoretically possible way to do it (as far as I know), so that seems like the most sensible explanation. As for restrictions, I like the following:

1) A stargate connects exactly two points in space to each other. No "dialing".
2) You have to build the two gates in same place, then haul the other one to where-ever you want to use it.

[Kuciwalker]

Black holes - NO

This leaves GLARING inconsistencies in the game, such as why can't you destroy stars then, etc.

1) yes
2) no. You should be able to build them in different locations and THEN "link" them.

[Jeremy Buloch]

Theoreticaly a Stargate is a Black hole, is it not?
Now when we explain the tech to the user we would need to say something about how it is made and no one knows except for the black hole theory. So therefore if you can come up with a better Idea then please do so but in the meantime thats the only working idea.
-J.B.-

[Straybow]

I vote JB can stuff his "Type I/II/III civilizations" up his "Type 0 civilization," if you get what I mean.

Seriously, though, in Babylon 5 hyperspace requires either a big, expensive engine or a stargate. Or David Weber's Honor Harrington novels with both jump lanes (stargates) and hyperdimensional travel. The jump lanes are explained as phenomena related to hyperdimensions.

[Leland]

Q: Why can't wormhole technology be used to destroy stars?
A: Maybe the black holes used are too light to actually hold themselves together, but are kept "alive" artificially. So when you turn the machine off, the hole simply evaporates/explodes as Hawking radiation. Sending this thing to a star would just break the containing machinery before it can suck enough material to hold it in.

About wormholes being built in the same place, the rationale for this would be to prevent player from joining opposite ends of his empire just with a snap of fingers. Thus, wormholes would be like roads that allow you to travel faster between premade routes (which would require some planning), but not teleport to anyplace you want.

[Vultur]

Ok, we want both method. But what rules to FTL travel?
We can consider many different ideas, from a simple "we are totaly ignoring all physics we know" to a strange quasi-realistic model of Space-Curvature.
Here a little list of possibilities, feel free to add your ones:

The Universe for Dummies
You can accelarate as you want, go where you want, no limitations, no relativity rules, no Einstein/Plank/Hawkings...

Aasimov's Universe
You can decide to "jump into the hyperspace". You cannot go exactly where you want, there is a sort of "indetermination" that is proportional to the distance: Xd=Xs+Sx+Rx*Distance and Yd=Ys+Sy+Ry*Distance, where Xs,Ys is the source point, Xd,Yd the destination point, Sx,Sy the direction desired and Rx,Ry two random numbers.
This problem will force you to do many little jump and to recalculate the course, and this require time...

Worm Holes
You can go through the worm holes, and reach any speed you want, the problem is to control the worm hole itself...

Space-Curvature
Your ship can curve the Space-Time and "reduce" the distance that join two points. Can be VERY difficult if we want to look the physic rules...

[Kuciwalker]

Here's an explanation for the stargates:

They generate an EXTREMELY POWERFUL electromagnetic field, using two generators "pulsing" on a slight offset, that creates a "non-relativistic space" and accelerates the ship to an almost infinite velocity. The ship cannot interact with anything until it comes out of this space, which can only be done by another stargate centered EXACTLY on its flight path and oriented in the opposite direction from the launching gate. The ship, due to its almost infinite velocity, comes out at essentially the same instant. A stargate is two-way - the stargate can launch or recieve ships.

I don't think that there are any (logical) inconsistancies in my explanation - it may not actually work, but it is internally consistant. For example, these aren't used to launch projectiles at the enemy because the object can't come out except through a recieving stargate.

[Jeremy Buloch]

I suggest that you guys read some books called:

"Beyond Einstein" - The cosmic quest for the theory of the universe

and...

"Hyperspace" - A Scientific Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps and the Tenth Dimension

It will help people to understand the different theories and is written for the laymen. It contains comprehensive information that is a must for any young physicist or person that is interested. For you to fully understand physics then you should read some of those books so that you can get an idea of the different theories. I myself have ordered them and recently got "Beyond Einstein" You can go to www.Amazon.com for low prices up to $10 US dollars for each book. You can also visit www.mkaku.org to see some articles written by one of the leading pioneers in theoretical physics.
-J.B.-

[targon]

J. B.: Yeah! Pulp fiction returns!

skywalker: what did you mean as EXTREMELY POWERFUL field: "vacuum discharge" or gravity collapse?

[Leland]

I've read "Hyperspace", and second JB's recommendation. It's an interesting book.

[targon]

I've surfed mr. Kaku's site and think it has somewhat... bad taste? bad habits? can't say more descriptive, but his style is fairly different from the most scientists I know, it's way too public-oriented. Usualy leading scientists tend to write books for other scientists rather to fall back to PR. Having enough PR talents, you may cheat non-professionals by a broad range of ways, obtain great "fame" and still did nothing. I'm very sceptical to any scientist giving UFO properties as the evidence, BTW.

[Leland]

UFO properties? Care to elaborate?