Versatile Gothic Space Setting

O Senhor Leetz · August 28, 2011, 03:27:14 PM

as for your FTL travel, I always had the idea of implementing in my not yet made sci'fi setting to have the existance of a 4th dimension that lies within the current 3 dimensions. FTL travel would basically consist of dropping into this 4th dimension, which would have much different rules pertaining to time and distance, travelling to where you THINK you will appear in our dimesion, and then ducking back out of the dimension.

For example, if you travelled for 4 weeks in the 4th dimension, when you emerged, you have travelled 4 light years, or something. However, to keep people from popping up all over the galaxy using a set formula, the 4th dimension would work completely out of proportion with our dimension, so that 4 weeks in another direction could leave you 100 light years away from your original destination instead of just 4. this would also make FTL "map", directions, coordinates, or what have you extremely important and valueable.

Out side of this "dimension jumping", other ships could still use drives that were ever so slightly slower than light for inter-system trade or for your priates cruising around in massive nebulae or asteroid fields lurking for the prey.

Humabout · August 29, 2011, 12:32:21 AM

Sounds cool. If you want it to better mesh with quantum mechanics, call it another universe, not another dimension. Dimensions are just variables in equations. My unasked for two cents ;)

For actual explanation of my FTL, I was tossing between something very similar to your idea - jumping from our universe to another one and then back again somewhere else, which is pretty math-intensive if you want to pop back in the right spot - or nipping off with the classic "folding spacetime" trope so often advocated by the likes of Heinlein and Herbert. The monumental equations involved in such astrogation would come from the delightful complexity of special relativity and having to actually accurately know the curvature of spacetime in an area. As to exactly how that all works would be a bunch of pseudoscientific doublespeak, but that's the gist.

Considering the idea of waystations that trade in measurements to facilitate trade, I was thinking that these would actually end up being nice non-habitable world type colonies in many places, although they'd almost always be near a star, just for the free power. The resulting network of stations and colonies would actually help populate space with humans and maintain that isolated feel (since you're literally floating around a lifeless star with nothing to keep you alive aside from an artificial habitat).

I have also been considering a rather positive side effect of having so few habitable worlds is that planet-killers are far less likely to ever be employed. Interstellar wars would feature blockades, sieges, invasions, etc., but no one would want to wipe out a planet they could live on, since such territory is so desperately rare. Of course, artificial habitats in space are another story all together. We all know mankind doesn't have many qualms about mass murder in the name of some greater good.

On a side note, I need to start coming up with a name for this setting. I also need to finish my initial profiles of the populated systems. And to double-check that the stars I chose (randomly) are actually capable of hosting a planetary system. (I made that mistake once with Procyon.)

O Senhor Leetz · August 29, 2011, 11:10:02 AM

take your time with names. for everything. they can make or break a setting.

Humabout · August 30, 2011, 03:39:19 PM

Thanks for the advice. I'm not too great with names, so I'll probably be a while posting any sort of proper setting thread. In the meantime, I'll just keep dumping ideas here.

I'm in the process of developing a system generator in Excel to facilitate the process of coming up with interesting solar systems. Once that's ready to go, I'll be able to start posting wikipedia-style planet and star descriptions. That should help flesh out humanity a bit more.

On another note, I'm finding myself more and more comfortable with certain limited forms of nanotechnology. I'm fairly okay with the use of genetically engineered microbes to assist in various refinery functions and potentially long-term terraforming. I'd just prefer to avoid any sort of nanotech-as-magic tropes, as well as nanotech-as-apocolypse type things. I'd prefer it to be an imperfect tool humanity is trying to develop.

LD · February 05, 2012, 09:10:04 PM

I'm still interested in seeing you compile this setting when you're ready! :)

Xathan · February 07, 2012, 12:02:11 AM

I'm going to second what Light Dragon said. :)

Humabout · February 07, 2012, 06:22:42 PM

Ha! I haven't forgotten this little gem. I've just find I make more progress overall if I bounce between a couple of ideas instead of burning out on a single one. That and RL is kicking my butt at the moment. For that matter, I might be MIA for a couple of days while I move.

With regard to this setting, I'm still having some minor difficulties rectifying the seeming contradictory ideas of sweaping space opera and gritty, realistic, hazardous human space flight. I'll sort it out eventually; need more thought on the matter....

Xathan · February 08, 2012, 11:59:22 AM

Quote from: Humabout
Ha! I haven't forgotten this little gem. I've just find I make more progress overall if I bounce between a couple of ideas instead of burning out on a single one.

I cannot begin to describe how much I can empathize with this.

QuoteWith regard to this setting, I'm still having some minor difficulties rectifying the seeming contradictory ideas of sweaping space opera and gritty, realistic, hazardous human space flight. I'll sort it out eventually; need more thought on the matter....

I think the best tempalte you could use for that would be Firefly - the space flight is gritty, realistic, and hazardous, and while I wouldn't call Firefly or Serenity* "space opera", the ships and methods of travel used would work for Space Opera very well - until you get to the problem of superluminal velocities. For that, something like the Mass Relays from Mass Effect could solve that problem - a series of relays built that are larger than ships that "bounce" ships between them until they reach their intended destination (always another relay), meaning FTL travel is /only/ a factor when moving between relays, never in combat or, well, any other time.

If you want, we could get into a huge discussion of possible ways such a relay could work that doesn't involve the typical "Wormhole!" most Space Operas use, but that depends on how much hard science you want in a space opera - and I advise very strongly that, even in a gritty one, you take hard science up to the point where it works for your setting and no further - don't let the science bog down the fun.

Humabout · February 10, 2012, 06:25:38 PM

Oh, I don't have a problem handwaving FTL. It's more a matter of where to draw the line between giant awesome space battles and how precious delta-v is. It's hard to have an adventure about getting sucked into a gas giant for lack of delta-v followed by a 4-hour dogfight in deep space. Then couple that with how devastating weapons are likely to be in space combat....

But all of that could be what creates the fear. The space opera bit could be the world-hopping, swashbuckling aspects. That's the balance I refer to.

LD · February 10, 2012, 10:55:57 PM

This may be too odd, but why not have no space ships- just have people drift along in space in rocket suits. It's a lonely bleakness out there then. Rocketsuits are necessary b/c ships could not have enough fuel. The suits are like the escape pods in other literature... lonely... floating in nothing and armed with your own arsenal in your suit.

Humabout · February 11, 2012, 12:40:59 PM

Interesting, but it definitely loses the space opera feel. Perhaps something to stash for another project, though! The more I think about it, the more I think fragile spaceships would add to the fear factor, really. No one will want to get into a fight, and if they do, it'll be more about wits and luck than actual firepower. Sort of like that Star Trek TOC episode where Kirk first encounters a Romulan ship.

O Senhor Leetz · February 11, 2012, 07:02:38 PM

You could go the route where armor and defenses (for ships) had developed much further than weapons could. For example, maybe lasers never worked out, but shields did, so spaceships are these massively armored hulks that you have to board to conquer, as two ships could exchange missiles, chaff, and mass-driver weapons for hours and hours without anything big happening.

Humabout · February 11, 2012, 07:08:04 PM

My god, you just put the most epic picture of space triremes in my head! I'm not sure about introducing things like shields because of how they would make other aspects of life safer, but it's a beautiful image! God I want to rip off Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels now!

I'll give this some more thought. There's got to be a reason such shields wouldn't be used make little, perfectly habitable bubbles of humanity on otherwise hostile worlds...

[EDIT]
Mayhaps something akin to Dune shields would be appropriate? They stop kinetic weapons but are gas- and energy-permeable, so that nasty aspects fo planets are still threats, but ships can fire railguns into each other all day long to no avail.

This raises the question of how boarding is accomplished? For starters, ships would have to be on a slow approach or their shields would just bump off of each other. That's hard to do in space when one side doesn't want to be boarded. There must be some other technology that permits this but has limited applications outside of ship-to-ship fighting.

How would tractor beams impact society on a whole? Industrially? In the home? In transportation? etc.?

O Senhor Leetz · February 11, 2012, 07:12:19 PM

Quote from: Humabout
I'll give this some more thought. There's got to be a reason such shields wouldn't be used make little, perfectly habitable bubbles of humanity on otherwise hostile worlds...

Maybe they only work in vacuums. Oxygen could make them implode - think Dune's lasgun + shields = nuclear explosion.

Humabout · February 11, 2012, 07:16:31 PM

Great minds steal from the same sources, eh?

I'd avoid exploding shields if only to avoid teh perverial Tactical Nuclear Donkey, but there could be some sort of malfunction in atmospheres. That would greatly disuade planetary invasions, though. I'm more partial to some other inherent flaw in the shields that just doesn't protect against the actual hazards of living on an alien world.

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