NationStates Jolt Archive

What kinds of FTL tech are you using?

hyperdrive, opens a portal to another dimension of space were distance isn't quite as big, and moves through it

same as the above poster.

I though what it did was open a "portal" to anyone demension that had a "higher" speed of light

hmmm maybe it's a bit of both?

If you bother to move into another universe, why worry about distance at all, since you could jump back in at any point you wanted?

Anyway, I use both Telvirdis (a form of Alcubierre warp, more specifically using the van der Broeck metric instead of the original Alcubierre metric) and MT-wormholes, though I'll soon be adding Visser wormholes and time-tree jumping (which has the interesting side effect that when you end up at your destination, the universe will be slightly different).

Hm... Iuthia is looking into FTL fo their fleet of Homeworld-like ships, though currently I'm running them on a much lower tech then the game, with a limit on the ships...

I wouldn't mind learning more about the ideas behind hyperspace.

If you bother to move into another universe, why worry about distance at all, since you could jump back in at any point you wanted?

I suppose there's a couple laws of hyperspace that we have yet to discover (in RL) that dictates the FTL travel. We'd be dead and gone before we ever hear of the invention of hyperspace engines. *sobs*

We would use the Star Wars hyperspace (just because I'm a huge fan of the movies and books) when we start space navies.

We are far more likely to end up using something called Stutter Warp in real life, I'll confess I have no freaking idea how it works though. Something to do with hydrogen.

I use none. It's too theoretical/fantasy-ish for my liking.

Thanks everyone. Anyone else?

I use hyperdrives for short-distance travel (-1000 light years) and hypergates for long-distance travel (+1000 light years)...

Honestly I need to do my research...but I'll try to explain it a bit in common terms.

Take a piece of paper and draw two dots a few inches apart and connect them with a line. Now, one dot is a ship's current location, and the other the destination. One might think that the quickest way between the two points in the line, however that is too 2-Dimensional. The quickest way is to fold the paper so that the two dots touch. This is what my ships do, they fold time and space to arrive at their location almost in an instant RL, although it takes around a minute when you're in the ship.

No one can copy it though, and if I see forms of it used in RP's and such they will be called on it for copying. Be creative and come up with your own method. Mine is based off some guy's research...and there are many different guys and girls out there writing papers on the subject. Find one and make it your's.

Honestly I need to do my research...but I'll try to explain it a bit in common terms.

Take a piece of paper and draw two dots a few inches apart and connect them with a line. Now, one dot is a ship's current location, and the other the destination. One might think that the quickest way between the two points in the line, however that is too 2-Dimensional. The quickest way is to fold the paper so that the two dots touch. This is what my ships do, they fold time and space to arrive at their location almost in an instant RL, although it takes around a minute when you're in the ship.

No one can copy it though, and if I see forms of it used in RP's and such they will be called on it for copying. Be creative and come up with your own method. Mine is based off some guy's research...and there are many different guys and girls out there writing papers on the subject. Find one and make it your's.

If I understand you right, I have heard that called lots of things in SF literature: bender, fold, etc.

Anyway, this thread is two fold in purpose. One, to see if there was anything standard. That obviously isn*t the case. And, two, to see what*s in existance, so I know what not to copy. :)

Honestly I need to do my research...but I'll try to explain it a bit in common terms.

Take a piece of paper and draw two dots a few inches apart and connect them with a line. Now, one dot is a ship's current location, and the other the destination. One might think that the quickest way between the two points in the line, however that is too 2-Dimensional. The quickest way is to fold the paper so that the two dots touch. This is what my ships do, they fold time and space to arrive at their location almost in an instant RL, although it takes around a minute when you're in the ship.

No one can copy it though, and if I see forms of it used in RP's and such they will be called on it for copying. Be creative and come up with your own method. Mine is based off some guy's research...and there are many different guys and girls out there writing papers on the subject. Find one and make it your's.

Ah, it seems someone has read 'A Wrinkle in Time', it's hardly fair to say noone else can use that, I know several people who do.

Buut back to the topic, if anything, I'm going to use the slipstream stuff, like in Andromeda, since everyone else seems addicted to this hyperspace crap.

I didn't mean anyone who was already using it. I just have a real big problem with posting stats and tech and things...because as soon as you do...someone else has it.

And yes...twas a good book when I read it....in like 6th grade.

I subscribe to the whole "hyperspace theory". Move/phase shift/whatever into another dimension or what not and then proceed to travel to your destination. This type of travel commonly takes a corresponding amount of time to arrive on station relative to the distance traveled. Basically, its like going on a highway instead of taking the side roads (bad traffic aside). I believe that this is the most common type of FTL travel in the scifi community.

Steel, your "method" is 2nd in line. Its called "folding space", and its used everywhere. Such as the movie Event Horizen or the book Dune. This method is actually the first time I heard FTL travel explained succiently - yay NOVA 8)

The only other types I know are "warping" (Star Trek......just raw power to fly faster, not really very fast) and Homeworld style "jumping" (based on the game, similar "pahse shift" to another dimension, but the ships do a point to point transit - like the merging of space folding and "hyper" jumping)

My future pupper uses a weird version of Jumping, involving natural Gates and Paths through time/space. No real science, just cool RP potential, I though. For instance, small units are flung through a "Gate" and have to establish a beacon to bring through the larger units.

Zip. Zero. Nada.

You will not find one FTL system on my Fleet ships.

However....

There is Task Force Renegade... the 25 ships that didn't return to Earth to be stripped of FTL capability when I downsized my fleets to two and Sol only. They use Hyperdrives and the handful of Hypergates, like a jumpgate, but using Hyperdrive technologies.

And I can guarantee you that I am the only nation that has Hypergate tech. I was the first to come up with the idea and the first to implement it. You see someone else with it, please inform me, so that I may rant at them.

And I can guarantee you that I am the only nation that has Hypergate tech. I was the first to come up with the idea and the first to implement it. You see someone else with it, please inform me, so that I may rant at them.

Just wait till a "Vagyrn" nation makes an appearance. They are "hypergate" tech based (from Homeworld 2).

The Commonwealth of TA uses Slipstream technology, as seen in the TV series Andromeda. (We also use ship designs from Andromeda as well)

The gritty details are here (http://www.nationstates.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=90813), but essentially I poke a hole in the time/space continuum that slingshots a craft to somewhere else in the universe. I'm role-playing that it isn't instantaneous and it isn't accurate enough for short-distance hops. However, it is most effective from inside a gravity well, like a planet.

Subspace Jump Drive.

Same as the first one. Go somewhere where the distance you need to travel is smaller.

10-1 travel ratios are nice. ^_^

we use a slightly different method.

our ships "slip" through different universes using chasimir radiation. using the different universal constants of these universes it is possible to cross huge distances. basically the ships sail through the universe.

ooc: gleaned from drakes's rcn series.

I have had a question asked by an ally. What do you guys think of technology like trans-warp, infinite probability drives and similar technology?

Basically, these allow ships to actually jump to all points of the Universe itself, increasing the speed of FTL travel to almost infinite speed. I have told him that space nations would call this godmodding, but he is almost ready to upgrade his FTL ships to this mode of transportation. What do you think?

I have had a question asked by an ally. What do you guys think of technology like trans-warp, infinite probability drives and similar technology?

Basically, these allow ships to actually jump to all points of the Universe itself, increasing the speed of FTL travel to almost infinite speed. I have told him that space nations would call this godmodding, but he is almost ready to upgrade his FTL ships to this mode of transportation. What do you think?
Any technology, regardless of what it is, needs a consequence, something to balance its effects. A method of transportation capable of jumping to all points of the Universe itself should be prohibitive in its cost, or else have consequences that makes its use less than optimal. You can't get something for nothing, and you can't have absolute power. It's bad role-playing.

I would like a "Hyper Drive" In my ships.

Does anyone else find it extreamly hypocritical when people use someone else's idea, then declare that no one else is allowed to use it too?

As for hyperspace, well, that's just a name; there are numerous different incarnations of it, many completely different from the traditional concept. Same with slipspace and subspace.


I actually have three FTL drives; the Near-Hyperspace Gravitic Induction Field Drive, which holds a ship in a 'dimple' of warped normal space close to hyperspace, and is fairly fast overall. SLDS aka Streaming Liniar Displacment Drive System, which is an inertialess realspace drive that can achieve low FTL speeds, by rapidly jumping the ship microscopic distances very, very quickly, by exploiting principals of quantum uncertainty. And my Quantum Improbibility Displacment Field, or simply Displacer, which alters the liklihood of a ship being where it wants to be, to the point that it's more likly to be at it's destination than at it's starting point; instantious transport, but fairly large, and takes time to charge, bepending on distance, mass to transport, and power avalible.

All three are original creations(ie you steal them, I burn you from the face of the galaxy), despite some aparent similarities to existing designs; LDS from the Indepence War series is quite similar to my SLDS, and even inspired it, but there are several innovations on my own part that allow SLDS to move a ship FTL.

Kendaryn ships have the ability to create portals between two places (much like Steel Buttterfly's, but I decided on this on my own. It's a very common method in both fantasy and science fiction). To make it a bit less powerful, a certain amount of time is required to make a portal, and of course someone can follow you through it. Accuracy decreases with distance, so several portals are needed to get to a specific location a long way away.

Digital World has started a space program. But Heat Resistant Metals are so hard to find in the new republic.

Currently, only one Z-20 can goto space, and it has Warp and Hyper Drivers (Hyper is faster Warp more undetectable)

I think I may have one of the really unique ones (and probably also realistically impossible), but it's distinctive.

Resonance Drive. the FTL system causes the entire ship to vibrate in a very specific manner, and in perfect harmony, such that it sort of 'fools' space into thinking the ship is just an abnormally large subatomic particle. once it's running, the ship 'falls across the curve of space-time' into the 10-dimensional underspaces of the universe...

it's not terribly fast, as far as FTL drives go (the fastest resonance drives top out at 25,000C, and that's a hard limit, not a mechanical limitation), and it's not terribly efficient (depending on the distance travelled, and the power behind the drive, it can take anywhere from a few minutes to a few days to recharge.) one nice thing is that, since the ship doesn't leave our universe, it can still, to a degree, interact with real space... so a ship can dive down into a lonely gravity well (like a black hole), swirl around it a few times, then peel off on a new course at vastly increased speeds, though that speed will bleed off. and, of course, a black hole is a black hole in any dimension, so if the pilot/computer makes a mistake, the ship is lost...

Well I'll openly admit I snagged my ship designs and their FTL tech from Andromeda, but not many people want to use Andromeda Slipstream tech anyways that I've seen, I guess the limitations of having to have an organic pilot at the helm discourage people from scamming it. I like it persoally because it allows interstellar travel between our 4 or 5 local galaxies at not too shabby speeds, and I like it because no one else uses it. 8)

I don't use Drives. I use Jump nodes. Think of it as a "Psudo" wormhole, that can easly be opened. I got the Idea off of the game "Freespace"

thinking about the consquences of the infinite improbability drive. described below is a basic introduction to the theory and practice of the finite and infinite improbability drive systems.

the thoery allows for the crossing of large amounts of space in an arbitrary amount of time. the application of the theory is, broadly stated a controlled vent of the drain factor of the improbability field. however, in practice two things are needed.

first is an improbability field of sufficient size and magnitude. the magnitude of the improbability varies as the inverse cube of the radius. basically, for two fields with the same integral amount of improbability, and one is one-half the size of the other. the smaller one has an improbability factor of eight times the larger. this means that in practice it is easier to use infinite improbability theory on smaller objects. this has led to the improbabilty laws that are fairly equivalent to the newtonian laws of motion.

with the generation of an improbability field large enough to move a ship practical distances two things occur. the first is a fringe effect at the interface between the field and normal space. the improbability of the field is drained from the field at rate proportional to the surface area of the field and the magnitude of the field, very similar to the laws of simple heat flow. for the short periods of time needed to traverse space this effect can be ignored. the second is the spontaneous occurance events of low orders of improbability. this is a non-trival drain on the improbability field. the occurance of events increases exponentially as normality is approached. the integral of product of the improbability and the number of events is the "drain factor" of the field. if improperly controlled for the drain factor will vent the improbability of the field, tending towards atomic and sub-atomic particles.

this brings us to the second thing required for effective use of the infinite improbability drive, sufficient computer power to control the venting of the field. it is possible to modulate the field such that events of lower improbaility do not occur. however, the computing power required increases exponentially with both length of time the field is created, and the total improbability of the field. like the fringe effect, for the length of time the field is created this is not an overriding concern. the greater constraint is the total amount of improbability contained within the field.

the common example, the heart of gold, in adams' hitchhiker series, posited the creation of a device capable of generating basically a limitless improbability field. however, the technique used to create that device is not new. it has been tried several times. after a discrete time allowing for the mourning of the passing of the experimentors, it has been determined that they were using similar approaches that which is outlined in the books.

a novel approach though has been developed by the tandu (brin, startide rising) which combines improbility with convential warp techniques. by using a suitably sized improbability field coupled with a trained organic computer it is possible to improve the warp speed by nearly a factor of five. however, this technique is risky, nearly one quarter of all attempts fail. the ships involved usualy emerge at the other end as a stream of low energy and short-lived sub-atomic particles.

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ooc: at least that is a zeroth draft of it. comments?

We harness our ships to the energy of the soul of an individual, who we brainwash into really wanting to go to a certain place, then we sacrifice them with great glory to our God the winged serpent, this soul then pulls us through to where we want to go, more or less.

We use wormholes, of course we've got to find the right wormhole, and we are limited to where that wormhole dumps us out in the target system, thats why we plan our organic ships on having damn good ordinary drives!

The Sambizie use Matter/Anti-Matter Drivers, ( Warp Cores for some ),of it's own design. We call it the, "Pulsar I M/AM Driver."

The core elements consist of:
1) Matter/Anti Matter Pods
2) Reactant Injectors
3) Magnetic Constrictors
4) Reaction Chambers
5) Dilithium Crystals
6) Power Transfer Conduits
7) Plasma Injectors
8) Warp Coils

Heres how it works:

System Specifications:

-Matter/Anti Matter Pods
There are two distinct fuel storage systems on board; the matter storage is generally a single large fuel tank holding a large amount of slush Deuterium - in the case of the Sambizie and Roland class there is 62,500 m3 of actual Deuterium within 63,200 m3 of tankage space - the rest being accounted for by internal compartmentalization of the fuel tank. The ship thus carries 12,500 metric tons of fuel, sufficient for a mission period of three years assuming normal use of warp and impulse drive, orbiting of planets, etc.
The antimatter is contained within much smaller pods; the standard starship antimatter pod is capable of holding 100 m3 of fuel for a total of 3,000 m3 in a Sambizie class Starship. We will not reveal exactly how much antimatter is kept on board our ships, as this would allow threat forces to make detailed estimates of the total output of a ships power systems. It is known that the antimatter used in the Sambizie class is antihydrogen, and that it is kept stored within magnetic fields. In the event of a systems failure which threatens antimatter containment, the pods can be thrown clear of the ship by emergency systems of considerable reliability.
Reactant Injections
Fuel from the pods is sent to the reactant injectors; these are designed to condition and feed streams of matter and antimatter into the warp core. The matter reactant injector is located at the top of the warp core; it is a conical structure some 5.2 meters in diameter and 6.3 meters high. The injector is constructed of dispersion strengthened woznium carbmolybdenide. Shock attenuation cylinders connect it to the deuterium fuel tank and the skeletal structure of the ship, allowing it to 'float' free within the structure.
Within the vessels, the MRI contains redundant sets of crossfed injectors. Each injector would consists of a twin deuterium manifold, fuel conditioner, fusion pre-burner, magnetic quench block, transfer duct/gas combiner, nozzle head, and related control hardware. Other designs are in use by civilian craft and other species. Although operation varies from class to class, in general slush deuterium enters the inlet manifolds and is passed to the conditioners where heat is removed. This brings the deuterium to just above solid transition point; micropellets are formed and then pre-burned by a magnetic pinch fusion system. The fuel is them sent on to a gas combiner where it reaches a temperature in the region of 106 K. Nozzle heads then focus the gas streams and send them down into the constriction segments.
The Sambizie safety protocols require that should any nozzle fail, the combiner can continue to supply the remaining nozzles which would dilate to accommodate the increased fuel flow. The present generation of nozzles are constructed of frumium-copper-yttrium 2343.
The antimatter injector lies at the lower end of the warp core. Its internal design is distinctly different from that of the matter injector owing to the dangerous nature of antimatter fuel; every step in manipulating the antihydrogen must use magnetic to keep the material from physically touching any part of the structure. In some ways the ARI is a simpler device requiring fewer moving components. It uses the same basic structural housing and shock attenuation as the matter system, with adaptations for magnetic suspension fuel tunnels. The structure contains three pulsed antimatter gas flow separators; these serve to break up the incoming antihydrogen into small manageable packets and send them up into the constriction segments. Each flow separator leads to an injector nozzle and each nozzle cycles open in response to computer control signals. Nozzle firing can follow highly complicated sequences resulting from the varying demands of reaction pressures and temperatures and desired power output, amongst other factors.
Magnetic Constrictors
The magnetic constrictors make up the bulk of the warp core. They provide physical support to the reaction chamber, pressure containment for the whole core and, most importantly, guide and align the fuel flow onto the desired location within the reaction chamber. The matter constrictor is typically longer than the antimatter constrictor, as antimatter is easier to focus and so requires a shorter distance for the same accuracy. Typically, the magnetic constrictors are divided into segments; each segment will contain several sets of tension frame members, a toroidal pressure vessel wall, several sets of magnetic constrictor coils and related power and control hardware. Constrictor coils will have dozens of active elements, and on more advanced designs these will be configures to contain the magnetic field almost wholly within the constrictor, with minimum spillage into the exterior environment. Our warp cores usually have the outermost layers of the constrictors constructed of a semi-transparent layer which allows harmless secondary photons to escape from the inner layers, creating a glow effect. This gives an immediate visual cue to the current activity rates within the warp core.
As the fuel is released from the injector nozzles, the constrictors compress it and increase the velocity considerably. This ensures the proper collision energy and alignment within the reaction chamber.
Reaction Chambers
This is in many ways the "heart" of the ship. The principle function of any reaction chamber is to allow the matter and antimatter streams to come together and direct the resultant energy flow into the power transfer conduits. This apparently simple task is rendered highly complex by the need to allow the various sensor and other monitoring and control equipment to function within the chamber. The addition of dilithium to regulate and control the reaction, while allowing far higher efficiency and so increasing the power output, has also lead to ever more complex designs - most especially in more recent starships which are designed to allow continual recompositing of the dilithium whilst in use. Nevertheless, reaction chambers of today perform fundamentally the same task as those of a century ago or more.
Dilithium Crystals
Dilithium is a key factor in the design of any efficient matter / antimatter reactor, and has been incorporated into Sambizie Starship designs. The key to the success of dilithium lies in the remarkable properties of this material. When subjected to a high frequency electromagnetic field in the megawatt range, dilithium - or 2<5>6 dilithium 2<:> diallosilicate 1:9:1 heptoferranide to give it the full scientific name - becomes completely porous to antimatter. The field dynamo effect created by the iron atoms within the crystalline structure allows antimatter atoms to pass through without actually touching it; it is thus the only known substance which does not react to the antimatter fuel commonly used in our fleetships. Dilithium can thus be used to mediate the reaction, boosting efficiency.
Eventually reliance on natural dilithium was reduced after breakthroughs in nuclear epitaxy and antieutectics made it possible to synthesize dilithium for Starship use through theta-matrix compositing techniques utilizing gamma radiation bombardment. However, refining dilithium ore is a procedure which is still viable for Starships which are unable to obtain synthetic dilithium from a Starbase or other manufacturing facility. This is not generally a problem within known space.
Power Transfer Conduits
The power transfer conduits are similar in nature to the magnetic constrictors of the warp core, in that they are ducts designed to use high energy magnetic fields to carry energetic plasma from one point to another. But where the magnetic constrictors operate only across relatively short distances and require a very high degree of precision with a comparatively low energy plasma, the PTC's must carry very energetic plasma across large distances with - relatively speaking - far less finesse. The Sambizie ships are equipped with a separate PTC line for each nacelle, a measure which increases resistance to battle damage or other failures. Since most ships have twin nacelles, two PTC's will typically be arranged to be symmetrical about the ships centerline. These will proceed through the bulk of the engineering hull and along the connecting struts, if any, to the nacelles themselves.
Smaller versions of these heavy duty systems are also used to carry power to components such as the phasers, shields, high energy scientific laboratories and the temperal cloaking device, (TCD Generator).
Plasma Injectors
At the terminus of the Power Transfer Conduits are the plasma injectors. One of these devices is fitted in each nacelle, and has the task of sending a precisely aimed plasma flow through the center of the warp coils.
Because of the relatively low accuracy with which the plasma flow is usually controlled by a PTC, the plasma injector system must often be designed to re-condition the fuel flow in order to dampen down turbulence and so ensure a smooth flow through the warp coils. In many designs, most especially those systems with the highest raw power output, the plasma flow from the PTC is split into two parts and sent through swirl dampers before being recombined during the injection process. Our experience has found that this method reduces the size of the required hardware to a reasonable minimum.
Warp Coils
After its long journey from the fuel systems, the flow is finally directed down the warp coils. These devices are large split toroids which take up the bulk of the nacelle. In order to increase efficiency they are usually made from multiple layers of various materials; this complicates the manufacturing processes greatly.
The warp coils generate a multi-layered set of fields around the craft, creating the propulsive forces that enable a Starship to travel beyond light speed. Manipulation of the shape and size of the field determines the velocity, acceleration and direction of the vessel.

CORE SPECS:
The dielectric core elements are wrapped with an inner layer of tungsten-cobalt-magnesium, and an outer layer of verterium cortenide. This more allows the coils to use the low powered warp field that the warp plasma is already generating to greatly enhance the engines efficiency.


Inner Layer wrapped in this direction: ------> Using: Tungsten-cobalt-Magnesium

LVL. 1
25 ft. down from top. ( 5mm spacing)
5ft. up from bottom. ( 3mm spacing)

LVL. 2
5 ft. down from top. (2.5mm spacing)
25ft up from bottom. (1.5mm spacing)

Outter Later wrapped in this direction: / and \ Using: Verterium Cortenide

@ 0.687 degrees from top to bottom (No spacing)
@ 0.687 degrees from bottom to top (No spacing)
----------------------------------------*------------------------------------------
We are basing the demands of intersteller travel, utilizing the following to formulas:

Up to Warp 9 :
V/c = WF(10/3)

Beyond Warp 9 the formula becomes somewhat more complex. It is best approximated by :

V/c = WF[{(10/3)+a*(-Ln(10-WF))^n}+f1*((WF-9)^5)+f2*((WF-9)^11)]

We believe that "Warp 10" :lol: :lol: cannot be reached. Theoretically, at Warp 10 (Infinite Velocity) a vessel and it's occupants would be at all points in the universe simultaneously.

Anyone here read In Death Ground? An RP by those rules would rock... Warp Point assaults... *sigh*

(SBM HAWKS! w00t!)

Okay, here's my FTL and how it works. Unfortunately, there's quite a bit of techno-babble. Turn back if ye are of little heart!

I use Sub-Space (not Star Trek SUb-Space, this is from the Game FreeSpace)

While travel into Sub-Space is enabled via ship-borne devices (called “subspace engines”, “cores”, or “motivators”), it’s long been known that Sub-Space itself is a naturally-occuring phenomena.

In simple terms, Sub-Space is an N-Dimensional tunnel between one point in the universe and another. A vessel can travel through this tunnel in a matter of minutes, making a journey that might otherwise take decades or even centuries at light speed.

A Jump-Drive causes a ship to vibrate in multiple dimensions until it's modulations are in perfect synchronization with the Sub-Space Continuum. A vortex opens, creating an aperture from an infinitesimally small point in the Cosmos, enabling the vessel to cross the Sub-Space threshold.

There are essentially two modes of Sub-Space travel, inter-system and intra-system.

Intra-system Sub-Space travel is nearly instantaneous, and requires relatively little energy input to enable. Most of Klonor's advanced fighters are equipped with intra-system jump motivators, allowing them to travel at will within a given star system. There is little or no restriction on the beginning and end points of such a Sub-Space “hop,” except that they be in the same star system.

Inter-system travel via Sub-Space is another matter entirely. The end points of inter-system Sub-Space jumps are limited to the naturally-occuring focal points of Sub-Space, also known as “nodes.” These nodes were initially discovered by Prof. J. Whiteside (see McPherson’s Multipaedia (2557 ed.), pp 1132-1140). Only between two Sub-Space nodes is the fabric of Sub-Space strong enough to support inter-system travel. The defense of the physical locations surrounding such nodes proved to be a central part of the 14-year Terran-Vasudan War.

In addition, such massive amounts of energy input are required to open an inter-system node, that only the largest fusion pile reactors in existence are able to sustain it. As a result, inter-system Sub-Space travel is almost exclusively made by the largest vessels in production. This fact has made the Orion-class destroyer/carriers a pivotal and crucial part to Klonor's tactical forces during the T-V War.

Needless to say, the ability to deliver ships of war to nearly any pinpointed destination has forever revolutionized the concepts and long-standing tenants of space combat.


Currently Located Jump-Nodes

http://www.bateshome.com/jordan/kmap2.jpg

I'm not going to get into a detailed description of how Wazzu's superluminal drive works. Instead, I will describe three things; The social drive behind a uniquely Wazzu FTL system, the effects that drive had, what the FTL system is based off of, and why.

1: While every n00b and his second cousin thrice removed's dog's pet goldfish were pulling super-FTL drives out of their back-pockets Scooby-Doo style, Wazzu was struggling to make it's own system.

It took centuries. Centuries of monitering other people's FTL drives, correlating sensor data from use of such things as Menelmacar's use of stargates and Sentient People's discovery of wormholes, and of the brightest mathematical minds in Wazzu (and they are BRIGHT) trying to come up with a new system...all because it was important to do it oneself.

Well, that and because the corporate controlled government wanted to keep a scientific industry alife.

2: As the years passed without any FTL drive system, Wazzu scientists and engineers became experts in realspace. Think about it.

Nation A has some super FTL drive. They don't need to travel at sublight speeds between star systems, or even between planets. They don't have to worry as much about sublight drives, recycling, radiation shielding, hull strength, or a dozen other fields. So these areas excelled in Wazzu.

3: Eventually, a new type of FTL system was discovered. Based ICly off math gained from watching everyone else, and OOCly off of CJ Cheryh's Alliance/Union universe, the system sucks.

First of all, any person entering this type of "hyperspace" (perhaps not the same thing as other hyperspace drive systems) needs to be put asleep. If not, it literally drives them insane (to one degree or another, depending on the person).

Perhaps worse, the ship needs to be going at a fair percent the speed of light in order to "jump" (again, not a jump drive as described by others either) into "hyperspace", and can only jump towards other mass spots (it needs an anchor). The ships range and pitiful superlumanal speed depend on this real-space speed.

Talking about range and FTL-speed being terrible, here is an example. The Gamma-II transport (Wazzu's first FTL transport) can make "jumps" up to about 6-7 lightyears and requires about 3 real-time days per lightyear to make the crossing (thankfully, those aboard experiance only a fraction of this time). Patrons come out dehydrated and very hungry, with effects similar to a hangover.

As of now, the ONLY Wazzu military ships to have FTL are a research ship, an exploration ship, and about 4 Gamma-II (civilian!) transports converted for military use. That is to say, Wazzu has 0 (ZERO) purpose-made FTL ships.

4: Why?
a: I wanted something uniquely Wazzuian.
b: I didn't want to skim over R&D to get instant and great results.
c: I wanted a realistic claim on having better then average sublight ships.
d: Because I DISPISE "tactical-FTL" in space battles.
e: Because eventually, Wazzu FTL research should have other applications.
e: Most importantly, because characters need limitations. When they are given the best of everything, they don't have challenges to overcome, and RP dissappears.


I hope that helped some.

No FTL, nope,nope. It's against my nations religion, we can go on a ship that has it but none of our ships can have it. Altough we come pretty close to FTL..

A better question might be:

What are the military effects of your FTL drive?


A quick look at science-fiction reveals a plethora of possibilities. I'll start with a couple of the best-known models of FTL:

Star Trek- Ship's engines create an opening into sub space, allowing FTL travel. Sensors in "normal space" can detect ships in sub space. Ships in sub space can be engaged from normal space and sub space (and vice versa). Ships can apparently engage FTL drive at any time.

Star Wars- Ship's engines create openings into "hyper space", allowing FTL travel. FTL ships cannot detect or engage "normal space" targets while in hyperspace (and vice versa). Ships must be a certain distance from a gravity well to engage FTL engines.

There are several more esoteric descriptions:

Ships engines propel ship into "bubble" or "pocket" universe where slightly different laws of physics apply. Non-FTL engines apply thrust in pocket/bubble universe to effect greater than normal movement in sidereal universe. Ships outside of sidereal universe are detectable but cannot be engaged. Ships must be a certain distance from gravity well to engage FTL drive.

Ships engines create artificial wormholes to make effectively instantaneous transits to destination. Since FTL drive involves no elapsed time, ships in FTL are undetectable and cannot be engaged. Ships must be a considerable distance from any gravity source (several dozen AUs) to engage FTL drive.

Ship's engines create artificial wormholes as above, but only between nearly stationary points determined by stellar geography. Only jumps between certain stars are possible. Relationships between stars determine whether or not such a jump point exists, and jump points can change, appear, or disappear with changes in stellar relationships. Travel takes a finite amount of time, dependent on normal space distances. Ships under FTL drive cannot be detected or engaged.

Ships are incapable of independent FTL travel unless ships are large enough to carry enormous hyperdrive engines. Normal ships travel via "jumpgates" stationed at strategic points. Ships in jump space can be detected and engaged by other ships in jump space, and can be detected by non-FTL sensors only when passing near established jump gates.


Veteran readers of science fiction will recognize many of these. There are many other types, but these are some of the most "playable" (in that each type of travel has certain drawbacks to offset the advantages).

For example, a Star Trek warp drive civilization fighting a Babylon 5 jumpgate civilization would have a huge advantage militarily. Careful negotiations between would-be belligerents is essential for ironing out the variables in such a conflict before the roleplayed war starts.


Just my brace of small copper coins,

TEO

Ships engines propel ship into "bubble" or "pocket" universe where slightly different laws of physics apply. Non-FTL engines apply thrust in pocket/bubble universe to effect greater than normal movement in sidereal universe. Ships outside of sidereal universe are detectable but cannot be engaged. Ships must be a certain distance from gravity well to engage FTL drive.
A variation:
Ship's engines alter local constants in the same universe (usually g or c) in order to make STL engines more effective. For example, a Casimir bubble reduces the ambient energy density of space around the ship to increase c. Drive can usually be engaged at any point, but some restrictions may apply depending on the specifics. Detection, communication, and military engagement are possible two-way.