Void Space | Star Frontiers

Void Space

Astralith

April 25, 2008 - 3:24pm

FTL has been discussed elsewhere in this forum but I haven't seen an original idea to really flesh out the mechanics of Void Space travel beyond calling it Star Frontier's hyperspace or quantum tunneling. So I'm asking for opinions on mine.

What I hear most say they enjoy about SF's Void Space travel is the very thing people liked about Star Frontiers itself: Simplicity. Unchallengable simplicity for lack of detailed explaination. In keeping with that try this:

Somehow the VS Drive tweaks probability. I'm not reinventing Doug Adam's "Improbability Drive" here so bear with me. Check it...

The chances of your ship being at star system A while still in star system B is, quantum physically speaking ALMOST impossible, that is VERY improbable.

The chances get better under the following conditions CUMULATIVELY:

1) When pointed in the direction of the target star
2) When clear of all probable ostacles (outside nearby gravity wells as SF discribes)
3) When heading toward the target star at relativistic speeds (also per SF)
4) When sufficiant feul is available
5) When sufficiantly experienced crew is in control

When ALL these conditions are met, the probabilty leverage needed for the VSD to utilize the gravitational waves THAT WILL FORM (wiki it) during acceleration of a massive body (that is, when the pilot finally boosts the ship to 1% C per SF) to tweak the ship's quantum state so that it just ends up at star system B.

The ship than decelerates for a few days.

Literally just point and shoot. How the VSD does it will still be a mystery to us but at least it updates Star Frontiers with today's scientific knowledge.

Is this quantum tunneling? I don't think so but correct me if I'm wrong.

ADDENDUM: Look up Void. It might not be thought of as another dimension but rather as the empty condition of the space around the ship necessary to increase the jump probability.

::leaves podium... drops schematics... they unravel down the aisle:::

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clark

w00t (not verified)

April 25, 2008 - 5:05pm

I'm not able to pick apart the Void or it's engines but there must be something about a Void engine that it's able to enter the Void because if any object was able to enter the Void by travelling 1% the speed-of-light you would see a lot of things disappearing in space.

Right?

I like the simplicity:

point
accelerate
push and panic button and enter the Void
hope the reverse thrusters fired and exit the Void (stage left)
turn ship around
decelerate

Oh wait... I forgot the 10 hours per light year jumped. What does that astrogator do anyway?

Gergmaster

April 25, 2008 - 5:48pm

In the original rules I thought it was 1 LY per day w00t....

Confucious Says:
     Man with one chopstick go hungry.
     Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.
     Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.

w00t (not verified)

April 25, 2008 - 6:18pm

Gergmaster wrote:

In the original rules I thought it was 1 LY per day w00t....

This is what I ment.

Knight Hawks wrote:

Normal plotting time for a jump is 10 hours for each light-year that will be jumped. For example, an astrogator plotting an 8 light-year jump must spend 80 hours performing calculations before the ship could accelerate to jump speed. This time must be spent actually making calculations; the referee should re member that astrogators need to sleep sometime. (If a player wants to work without sleeping, the referee can make a secret Stamina check - if the character fails, his calculations are wrong and the ship will drift off course.)

Astralith

April 25, 2008 - 8:32pm

w00t wrote:

Gergmaster wrote:

In the original rules I thought it was 1 LY per day w00t....

This is what I ment.

Knight Hawks wrote:

Normal plotting time for a jump is 10 hours for each light-year that will be jumped. This time must be spent actually making calculations- if the character fails, his calculations are wrong and the ship will drift off course.)

Right so we're talking plotting time, not travel time, adding credence to my idea (at least for my campaignes). Is the actual jump instantaneous? I have to look it up when I'm not so swamped.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clark

Rum Rogue

April 25, 2008 - 8:52pm

Knight Hawks:

A few minutes before the jump, the ship will stop accelerating and
everything on board will float weightlessly. When the final preparations
for the jump are made, the navigator will accelerate slightly and the
ship will enter the Void.
During the brief period the ship spends in the Void, characters will feel
that their senses are very distorted; colors and sounds will be
unfamiliar, and the sense of touch will seem to vanish completely.
Then the navigator decelerates slightly, the ship leaves the Void, and
everything inside it will again float weightlessly.

Time flies when your having rum.

Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time.

Astralith

April 26, 2008 - 5:17pm

Rum Rogue wrote:

Knight Hawks:
the navigator will accelerate slightly and the
ship will enter the Void.
During the brief period the ship spends in the Void, characters will feel
that their senses are very distorted; colors and sounds will be
unfamiliar, and the sense of touch will seem to vanish completely.
Then the navigator decelerates slightly, the ship leaves the Void, and
everything inside it will again float weightlessly.

So then the rule book sort of describes it as an actual place but yet I'm still thinking it sounds to me more like a physical state, like for a moment reality gets twisted as the ship, like a quantum particle, becomes more of a wave instead of a particle (a wave spanning the space between stars).

That's my take on it anyway.

Other than that Void Space just reads cliche nSpace/Hyperspace/Wormhole/Slipstream but with no explanation of the precise procedure involved in entering it.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clark

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