 January 14, 2014 - 5:59am | In another thread Iggy said: I am in favour of jump fields being necessary to enter the void, and
ships must create a magnetic field around them to protect them from
radiation and deflect particles when at high velocity. This got me thinking/brainstorming- stars generate magnetic fields and then there is the heliopause (not actually related to the magnetic field) and they travel through the universe at speed that are significant percentages of light speed. What if a scientist who had been studying stars and their properties had had an insight into the physics of whats going on with stars and this lead to the development of a "star field generator" We already have a lot of field generation technology taken for granted in the setting with all the defense screens both personal and for KHs use. so the star field generator is actually a device that generators a series of fields that fools the surrounding universe into thinking the ship is more like a star than a ship with a magnetic field and gravity field (and any other field we determine to be appropriate) that is far stronger than what the mass of the ship would normally generate. Now the altered gravity field does not convey artificial gravity to the inside of the ship nor is it the same ammount as a star but its significantly more than it should be. Now because we are dealing with a measurable increase in gravity fields this is the reason that astrogators have to spend so much time computing a course because they have to account for all the possible variables with the new gravity field, its actually strong enough to pull the ship of course by the smallest degree and over a distance measured in light years this can be disasterous and why misjumps continue to be a problem. The magnetic field is required to deflect radiation around the vessel and also reduces the chance of a mircro meteor holing the ship which is not an insignificant safety feature. Because the star field generator at full operation for void transit mimics properties of a star a ship entering or exiting void space registers a lot of energy that can be detected. which actually allows for the small frontier militias and small Space fleet patrol groups to actually police a star system because they can track most of the incoming and outgoing traffic. Otherwise it really makes little sense that the puny militias would ever be able to do such things as intercept, board and inspect a freighter (as seen in the WoWL module) without it being on top of the planet and then an interstellar craft is overkill when a boarding shuttle will suffice. So entering void space has a lower energy bleed and is detectable on a lower range while exiting void space has a greater bleed of energy and is detectable on a greater distance. Now energy raidiated in the outer system would take time for information about it to reach the inner system so we probably have to create a gravity detector (gravity is in all likelihood faster than light in transmitting information) Such that a ship would enter the system and the gravity detector would read its star field and provide the militia with engine size and type: whether the field was generated by a ion or atomic drive ship. This would allow for intercept of freighters and or enemy vessels. Gravity detector is large and has to be mounted on a station but wont work on a planet. Thus the motivation for even young colonies to build a space station which is a significant engineering feat and drain on their economy. If fact a colony might get financial aid from the UPF to build a station as just building one greatly increases the security of the system and becomes a huge benefit to Space Fleet in defending the system. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 14, 2014 - 9:21pm | The void must be another dimension above space-time. I like your idea of detecting the events of entering and exiting the void. I would not however make it gravity events that are being detected but rather explosions of high energy particles as space-time connects with the void. I like the fact that the detectors are so large that they need to be on space stations. I would also say that the device has to keep itself constantly updated to it's position in space-time so as to properly locate the void breaches. This way if a very large starship was built with a detector on it, they would have to recalibrate every time they jumped because they are suddenly in a new location. So, any ship has a detector is blind for say an hour until orientation calibrations are done and the system is running. I have pondered that stars may natuarally create breaches into the void at their centers. Thus their fusion energy is suplemented by energy leaking from the void. This would not prolong the life of a star, just make it hotter by a very small fraction. This energy leaking from the void through a star would channel through the magnetic fields of the star. Potentially a system could be devised to track these fields where energy is leaking from the void and a ship could ride the stream into the void without needind a void generator. Rather the ship would line up on the tracking device(s) and drive toward the star into the stream of energy leaking out of the void. -iggy |
January 15, 2014 - 5:39am | I have pondered that stars may natuarally create breaches into the void at their centers. Thus their fusion energy is suplemented by energy leaking from the void. This would not prolong the life of a star, just make it hotter by a very small fraction. This energy leaking from the void through a star would channel through the magnetic fields of the star. Potentially a system could be devised to track these fields where energy is leaking from the void and a ship could ride the stream into the void without needind a void generator. Rather the ship would line up on the tracking device(s) and drive toward the star into the stream of energy leaking out of the void. That sounds like a very scary proposition. A skeptical ship's captain patiently listened to Doctor Emmett Brown explaining the science and then responds, "You mean to tell me that you want me to accelerate my ship toward the star and hope we magically enter void space?" Laughs. "Not a chance." I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 15, 2014 - 11:19pm | I have an alien race far from the frontier that sends probes into the frontier this way. They are just discovering FTL tech and still in their home system. They are just discovering the void from a different angle. The end result will be jump gate like orbiting the star. -iggy |
 January 16, 2014 - 12:13am | Sounds like the Alcubierre drive. |
January 16, 2014 - 5:49am | Some interesting things about the Alcubierre warp bubble: It is proposed that it would be impossible to stir the warp bubble thus you'd have to compute your course carefully ahead of time- sound familiar? Its also propose that Hawking Radiation would destroy anything inside the bubble at super lumina speeds but not at sub luminal speeds. this places some limits on it but early use of the drive will be limited to journeys of years and decades- not impossible but ideal for the fluff in the early timeline. Later advances can allow for drives that exceed C. crew and passengers are in free fall while the drive is engaged and experience no inertia- this gets us back to no-artificial gravity and using simulated gravity. I rather like this concept. if space is being warped around the vessel this would mean that radiation would also be warped around the vessel? and that it would be impossible to shoot a ship within the bubble meaning that battles will be fought in star systems not deep space (besides deep space has that raditation). Indeed, well played. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
