FTl or Stargates

[DeathByTheSword]

well a lot of ideas has been flung around but i would like to know what everyone wants. very simple do you support a FTL engine idea for travel or anykind of 'stargate' for travel in Space.

please let me know so that we can maybe finally choose between the two

[Vultur]

It would be possible have both: FTL travel will require: very advanced tech level, and energy, but allow to move where you want spending some "time" (like Star-Trek)
Stargates require an immense quantity of material and time to be built, and can be controlled by someone (so it's possible to build a Stargate to make someone pay the tiket...), but don't require "time".

[DeathByTheSword]

you can be right but (i believe) we need one main type of transport between the stars

[Leland]

I don't see why you can't have both. They're different enough not to be redundant, and having both as alternatives migth make the game world richer. But if I had to choose one over the other I'd pick stargates for the simple reason that FTL is just a quicker version of STL.

[Kuciwalker]

I agree with Leland.

[Michiel]

So do I.

[Jeremy Buloch]

Yes, having both transport system would make the game more realistic and would be more interesting.

Sidenote: When we make the transport systems we need to have the corect type of civilization that goes with what all physicists have agreed upon. Also The Stargate thingy would be better to be developed by a different alien because the Humans wouldn't be at the corect level. Lets keep it realistic folks.
-J.B.-

[Leland]

I don't think stargates are realistic at any level of development, which is why I don't see a big problem with having humans invent it at some point on their own...

[Jeremy Buloch]

If the Humans were to invent the stargates they would need to be of a type III civilization. In order to be a type III civilization the Humans would need to be able to harnest the entire energy output of a small black hole. So therefore it would be un-realistic to do what you say. A more apropriate action would be:
Have the aliens build the Stargate (Black Hole).
-J.B.-

[Leland]

The thing is, type III civilization is by definition one that harnesses the power of the whole galaxy, and since there obviously isn't one in existence in the game world (otherwise, how do you explain the smaller species? Where do they get their energy, if the super-duper type III civ already uses the energies of the whole galaxy?) stargates are unrealistic no matter what way you look at it.

So, in order to be realistic, you'd have to skip stargates AND all other forms of FTL travel. But that is boring (well, actually I'd prefer a game with just one planet...), so you compromise realism in favour of fun technology.

[vovan]

I might be wrong here, but I have the impression that stargates are from the same opera as the antimatter drive. Both can be achieved by TypeIII civs. And I thought we more or less established that since those will be too far-fetched for the scope we are dealing with, we would skip them. Therefore, I second Leland's thoughts on the matter.

[Mark123jansen]

what if the stargates are already there? like in the series. maybe they were built by some extinct alien race wich was type III?

[targon]

Originally posted by Mark123jansen
...some extinct alien race wich was type III?

How you can imagine extinct type III? It's like extinct galaxy or extinct space/time.

[Jeremy Buloch]

what if the stargates are already there? like in the series. maybe they were built by some extinct alien race wich was type III?

Sounds interesting yet I disagree.

How you can imagine extinct type III? It's like extinct galaxy or extinct space/time.

True the only threat would be the galaxy dieing itself. Unless they were at war.
That could be the answer your looking for.
Read this:
"By definition, an advanced civilization must grow faster than the frequency of life-threatening catastrophes. Since large meteor and comet impacts take place once every few thousand years, a Type I civilization must master space travel to deflect space debris within that time frame, which should not be much of a problem. Ice ages may take place on a time scale of tens of thousands of years, so a Type I civilization must learn to modify the weather within that time frame.

Artificial and internal catastrophes must also be negotiated. But the problem of global pollution is only a mortal threat for a Type 0 civilization; a Type I civilization has lived for several millennia as a planetary civilization, necessarily achieving ecological planetary balance. Internal problems like wars do pose a serious recurring threat, but they have thousands of years in which to solve racial, national, and sectarian conflicts.

Eventually, after several thousand years, a Type I civilization will exhaust the power of a planet, and will derive their energy by consuming the entire output of their suns energy, or roughly a billion trillion trillion ergs per second.

Perhaps the only serious threat to a Type II civilization would be a nearby supernova explosion, whose sudden eruption could scorch their planet in a withering blast of X-rays, killing all life forms. Thus, perhaps the most interesting civilization is a Type III civilization, for it is truly immortal. They have exhausted the power of a single star, and have reached for other star systems. No natural catastrophe known to science is capable of destroying a Type III civilization.

Faced with a neighboring supernova, it would have several alternatives, such as altering the evolution of dying red giant star which is about to explode, or leaving this particular star system and terraforming a nearby planetary system.

However, there are roadblocks to an emerging Type III civilization. Eventually, it bumps up against another iron law of physics, the theory of relativity. Dyson estimates that this may delay the transition to a Type III civilization by perhaps millions of years.

But even with the light barrier, there are a number of ways of expanding at near-light velocities. For example, the ultimate measure of a rockets capability is measured by something called "specific impulse" (defined as the product of the thrust and the duration, measured in units of seconds). Chemical rockets can attain specific impulses of several hundred to several thousand seconds. Ion engines can attain specific impulses of tens of thousands of seconds. But to attain near-light speed velocity, one has to achieve specific impulse of about 30 million seconds, which is far beyond our current capability, but not that of a Type III civilization. A variety of propulsion systems would be available for sub-light speed probes (such as ram-jet fusion engines, photonic engines, etc.)"
-J.B.-

[targon]

Originally posted by Jeremy Buloch
...No natural catastrophe known to science is capable of destroying a Type III civilization...

Natural, and known to our science. What 19th century scientist would say about nuclear plant meltdown? But Type III is so old, big and ugly, so they must somehow counter all these stuff by definition.
BTW, J.B. it's lots of crossposting here