 October 5, 2011 - 8:10pm | Not only do we have a real working cloaking device that can work in space using a dangerous radiation (I'm unable to find the link at this time), we now have one that works just like the movie cloaks with the shimmer using mirage-inducing technology, but works underwater even better. It can also create a sound cloak with sound waves. Then there's the magnetic cloak which hide's an objects magnetic signature. With all of this, cloaking technology is old news by the time we get to a Star Frontiers situation. What is the likelihood that war would be conducted where all the soldiers and vehicles are cloaked? It seems to me that there would be a battle to control who possesses such technology and ever more practical and ever more expensive means to counter it and to improve it. Eventually whole planets could be cloaked. Battle stations and massive ships would be cloaked. Pirates would kill to get a hold of such technology to protect themselves. What other implications and uses can you think of for this. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 October 5, 2011 - 8:35pm | "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed, the ability to cloak a planet is insignificant next to the power of mentalism." Actually I rather doubt that the technical difficulties in cloaking a planet will be so easily overcome, either from the powerside or other flies in the ointment. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 6, 2011 - 5:46am | What would be the purpose of cloaking a planet? How many planets have been suspected and discovered by astronomers without ever being seen? It's a rhetorical question, but I recall hearing/reading of a small handful just recently. Personally, I see the future of cloaking tech making it big in the classified sections in the back of comic books, right next to the x-ray glasses. what the average teenage boy wouldn't do for one! |
October 6, 2011 - 5:56am | Teen age men as well as teen age boys! hunting, military, spy application abound. However, if you're aware of the tech there will always be ways to foil it. Using foil survival blankets to foil IR cameras, etc. I suspect that powered battle armor and tanks will be the test beds for cloaking technology- especially since these platforms will also require power plants and any cloaking field will undoubtably have power requirements. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 6, 2011 - 6:15am | What would be the purpose of cloaking a planet? How many planets have been suspected and discovered by astronomers without ever being seen? It's a rhetorical question, but I recall hearing/reading of a small handful just recently. Personally, I see the future of cloaking tech making it big in the classified sections in the back of comic books, right next to the x-ray glasses. what the average teenage boy wouldn't do for one! My post refers to the cloaking of magnetic fields. The purpose would be to protect it from invasion. Look at how much matter is declared "missing" in the universe. What if they're all cloaked inhabited planets? I'm not addressing the last point. I'm too stunned. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
 October 6, 2011 - 6:28am | Yeah cloaking a planet wouldn't be very useful, almost all of the ~500 planets discovered have been through indirect (i.e. gravitational) means. There is no way to cloak that. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
October 6, 2011 - 7:27am | Even if we did need to cloak the planet to hide from invasion there is bound to be one bone head floating along in his asteroid prospecting ship who through stupidity, bravado, or just plain malicious intent spends out a transmission that says, "Hey, we're over here!" You also have to ask at what range will a cloak be effective? Chances are that once the Martians are within a range that would make a cloak useful that they will already have plenty of evidence that we're here. So unless they come in peace or their tech os not significantly greater then our own we be pretty screw with or without a cloaking shield. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
