NationStates Jolt Archive

In other words, a must read series of background information that didn't warrent a dedicated RP. Items will be added as I feel inspired to write them.

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A brief background on the Sketch Imperium

The Sketch Imperium is a vast empire whose existence spans several millenia. Within its borders rests a wealth of resources, ranging from plentiful mineral deposists to abundant forests to rich waters. An empire of several billion peoples, the Sketch Imperium is constantly seeking newer conquests to feed its ever growing population. In the past few centuries, a large portion of the population (roughly one third) have been reloacted on the Jovian moon of Europa. With roughly half the moon retained for the Imperium's exclusive use, an ongoing terraforming project has been in place for roughly half a century. While far from complete, Europa will hopefully become the new resting place for the peoples of the Imperium away from the troubles of the tumultuous NSearth.

Although the Imperium contains nearly all the cultures of NSearth, a distinctive asiatic influence can be detected in just about all aspects of Sketchian life. Given that, one may find it highly unusal that despite a mainstream language very similar to the ancient Mandarin dialect of Chinese, the official governmental language is actually high German. This is further exmplified by the rather "western" style of government. Because of this discrepancy between language usage, all citizens of the Imperium are required to be bilingual (Mandarin and German), with the mainstream education curriculum typically including at least two other languages.

A traditionally isolationist culture, the Imperium has very little domestic contact with those from other nations. While the majority of the citizenry are aware of other intelligent, non-human species, one would be hard pressed to find any that have personally seen another non-human. Even in the present time of widespread travel and increased international relations, citizens of the Imperium seem content to stay within the domestic borders. Because of this tendency for isolation, the Imperium runs a completely self sufficient, self sustaining economy. As further enhancement to the burgeoning power of Sketchian industry, the Imperium boasts an obscene export market, able to reach out to the furthests stretches of the NSverse.

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Das Sketch, who is

Das Sketch is the absolute leader of the Imperium. The title is derived from the base name of the Imeprium - "Sketch", combined with the neuter (German) article - "Das"; symbolizing the unisex nature of the position. Established near the time of the Imperium's inception, this position is filled by a person chosen by those only known as the "Elders" from the elite class of the Imperium, known as the "Lords". This is believed to be a carryover from the ancient civilizations which utilized such things as "council of elders" to determine successors. This process is carried out without any involvement from the majority of the population and in near secrecy. In the eys of the general public, the face of Das Sketch is naught but a mask which represents the Imperium. Few, if any, beings have ever gazed upon the actual face of Das Sketch, in any of their incarnations.

The determination for appropriate successors involves a long, delicate procedure which typically spans several decades. During this time, every action of the potential canidate(s) are observed and analzyed by a dedicated organization called the "Royal Knights of Sketch", who are beholden only to the Elders. This organization is the body that watches over and eliminates canidates based on certain key attributes which inlcude - psychological profiles, emotional stability, decision making processes, doctrine, and other relevant data.

Each Das Sketch rules until they either die, or are replced by the Elders. Due to the many advances in life longevity sciences over the ages, typical reigns can last approximately four to five centuries, giving a whole new meaning to longterm vision. In order to circumvent an untimely end to the rule, Das Sketch never grants a personal audience to anyone (or anything) outside of the Imperium, nor ever leaves the safety of the Imperium. This security is viewed as paramount since Das Sketch is considered to be the personified manifestation of the Imperium. Also used as preventative measures are the forbidden technologies of cloning and syncording - often refered to as the "dark arts". These methods are reserved almost exclusively for Das Sketch, with only the most influential and powerful Noble families having similar, but greatly limited, access.

Sketchian Strategic Space Force (SSF) Space Marines - Wraith units

The Sketchian space marines are composed of an elite corps of hand selected veterns who have all proved themselves in battle and have decided (by their own free will) to dedicate themselves to a life of military service within the Sketchian armed services. Their mission is to to be a rabid response force capable of reacting to any hotspot with the minimum amount of preparation. Being lightly loaded (equipment wise)but heavily armed (firepower wise), space marines are the ideal force for ship board security (space) and initial assualt troops (stormtroopers, orbital drop troops, etc).

These soldiers are the creme de la creme, knowledgable in many assorted combat techniques and well schooled in the various arts of warfare. To even be considered eligible for a Wraith unit assignment, a soldier must have a minimum of 1500 hours of combat experience, a perfect service record, be able to pass all prerequisite performance tests with a 95% and have a recommendation from central command. Once they meet the requirements, the canidates must attend a four year academy where they will be inudated with doctrine, tactics, weapons skills, CQC, command, and countless other warfighting skills. Upon entrance to the academy, all canidates are stripped of rank and redesignated as "recruit". Once recommissioned as a space marine, all recruits will be redisignated as "sergeant" for purposes of maintaining command rank over the majority of the armed services (space marines have command priority in close combat situations). Due to the strict acceptance requirements, the academy has a 99% graduation rate - with failures due primairly to training accidents.

Because of the low entrance rates of viable applicants, the space marine corps has a very low turnover rate and thus has several technologies implemented to ensure that the high standards do not deplete its ranks over the long run. Among these technologies are life longevity treatments; which extends a persons life far beyond the natural biological limits, partial and full cyborg augmentation (ranging from cyborg replacements to full cyborg conversion), and dreamsleep stasis rest periods during times of peace or inactivity.

Space Marine equipment

Battlearmor

Each space marine is custom fitted with a unique armor from which they derive their namesake - Wraithsuits. These armored battlesuits are equipped with the latest and greatest of technologies and are constantly being upgraded with the times. They represent an enormous investment and thus, are the primary reason why all space marine canidates must sign lifetime contracts in order to become one. Each battlesuit is outfitted with a pleathora of detection gear ranging from active radar type to passive auditory sensors, making each space marine a fully capable recon unit. Underneath the protective reinforced ceramic battleplates is an electromusculor bodyglove which emulates body movements and maginfies strength up to 10x. Included in the bodyglove is the usual environmental control, health monior, trauma recovery, and waste recapture/reuse systems. The outer surface of the suit is coated with colorshifting layer which is controlled by the onboard AI (non-sentient low level processor, also controls all the other onboard systems) to blend in with the suit's surroundings. This, combined with the whisper silencing system (virtually zero auditory emmissions) give the suit a ghost-like quality to those seeing it for the first time in person. Hence the name - Wraithsuit.

Wraithsuit in standard battlegreen default setting
http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/troops%20weapons/armor_7_4.jpg

Battle Rifle

The M-225 battle rifle is variable guasscoil operated weapon. The M-225 chambers a specially designed 10x85 mm round size, for which several mission specific variants have been designed. These rounds include AP DU, HE, fragmentation, incendinary, flechette, and standard practice dummy rounds. Integrated into the rigle is an optical sight as well as a special slavelink feature which links the wraithsuit targetting system into the rifle's. Measuring only 62 cm in length and weighing in at 6.8 kg (empty) this rifle is the only standard issue side arm for the space marine corps. A standard space marine operational weapons load would include two M-225 rifles (incase one breaks during an op), four 100 round AP DU clips (two loaded), and two 100 round HE clips.

the M-225 battlerifle
http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/troops%20weapons/assualt_rifle_1.jpg

Project GENISIS

As many know, the study and development of cloning technologies has been and is a forbidden science. For generations, all advancements in the field of genetics related to cloning humans have been stymied due to issues of morality. As such, Sketch has always depended upon the natural human processes of advancing human capabilities. Now, with the advent of accurate genetic mapping and strain prognosis, science has been able to anticipate the probable outcomes of any genetic joining. This newfound ability to predetermine one's genetic makeup, combined with knowledge of genetic indicators, will usher in a new era of life. No longer will humanity be plagued by genetic diseases or limitations. Human life will be able to advance to the next stage of evolution.

However, this is not without its dark secrets. Long ago, when cloning and all related activities were banned, the Sketchian government secretly maintained a small, well funded facility. Overtime, the facility grew and with it, new technologies and theories. Eventually, when Sketch advanced into space, it was decided that in order to maitain the secrecy surrounding the science, all technologies related to human cloning would be moved into space. There, the major break throughs were made. For the first time, without the usage of any human reproductive systems, a full human was reproduced. From there, generations of human clones were developed. It wasn't long until clones were put to the ultimate test - integration into the human cycle. In an action that was questionable even by the standards of the cloning community, a generation of clones were infriltrated into society via surrogate mothers and unsuspecting families. The entire lifespans of the clones were tracked, every action, every growth, every little detail analyzed with the most intense scrutiny. The result was incredible, in every case, without fail, the clones have performed as humans - even to the point of procreation. Man hath created man.

This development did not go un-noticed. In a swift and thorough crackdown, the strong arm of the Sketchian government, previously tolerating the indulgences of the researchers, put an end to the experiment on human sanctity. All records of the experimentations were sealed. The scientists were treated to silence, a conditioning that rendered them incapable of speaking or even thinking of their previous research. In an act which was termed as a "divine cleansing of all that is impure", the government initiated an inquisition. Using the records taken from the scientists, all traces of the clones, their offspring and anyone in close contact were excised from Sketch. The result was the subsequent eradication of nearly 2 million people.

Before project GENISIS was terminated however, the Sketchian hierarchy had expressed interest in the viable military applications of this science. As a result, a subproject called SPARTAN was set into place. The subproject was based on the precepts of accelerated growth, genetic enhancements, hypnotherapy (subconscious indoctrination), and psychoconditioning in order to create the perfect soldier. The results far exceeded the highest expectations. Fully grown, physically perfect "humans" were created with only 2 years of growth and develomental period. Full functionality was acheived within 42 hours of hypnotherapy and psychoconditioning, bringing previously "empty vessels" to a sate of combat vetern experince. To call these new soldiers "human" however was a stretch. Each fiber of their being had been redesigned, from their bone structures to their musculature to their organs. If one was to cut open a SPARTAN, they would not find even half the usual amount of organs found in a regular human, entire systems had been fused for efficiency or removed and replaced by totally new organs of human design. SPARTAN was no human development project, it was a weapons focused endeavor, one which had succeded beyond anyone's wildest imagination.

Needless to say, even when project GENISIS was shutdown and sealed, Its subproject spawn, SPARTAN, remained. Since SPARTAN was based entirely off GENISIS, GENISIS could not be destroyed. After a long deliberation, it was decided to relocate GENISIS and SPARTAN onto a nearly completed deepspace station. Originally intended to be a deepspace docking station for Sketchian military vessels, Progenitor station LILITH (as it was rechristened) became the new home for the men without God.

Sketchian Strategic Ground Self Defense Force (SGSDF) - Stalker units

Due to the ever changing dynamics of war fighting, the battlegrounds of old have slowly shifted from the common killing fields of wilderness and open spaces to the vicious close in fighting of urban warfare. Because of this change, some of the more common tatics, strategies and equipment have been rendered far less effective, if not obsolete. One such unit that has sufered the most from urban warfare is the tank. Once the master of the field, able to charge across the open plains and engage targets from afar, the tank is now hampered by the obstructions that an urban environment would possess, as well as made extremely vulnerable to ambush and flanking on an unprecedented scale. These tatical changes have prompted the use of a newer technology called armor slaves (AS) (often erroneously called "mecha" or "powersuits" by the uninitiated).

This new tactical vehicle combines the best of Infantry mobility with the hitting power of armor. Utilizing a "clamshell" (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/power_armor_trainer.jpg) cockpit where the pilot's torso is housed within the main body and their legs within the upper "thighs" of the AS. The Armor Slave is operated by a single pilot who suspended inside the main body, using a specially designed slave rig (hence the name - armored slave) which imitates every move that they make. A self adjusting AI adapts the suit to each individual pilots' characteristics, creating a better, more effiecient command/control interface with each usage.

The cockpit of the AS sports a neural interface as well as the slave linkages. Although a small, heavily reinforced viewport is present, the primary and secondary sensory inputs come from assorted embedded sensors, providing the pilot with a 360° command of their surroundings. Cockpit viewscreens display both visual data as well as visual conversions of other sensor data (one of the primary sensors methods are auditory, as well as various radar based detection methods).

The latest armor slave models in use are the AS-205 Stalker. These units are approximately 2.6 meters in height and weigh roughly 15 tonnnes. Utilizing the latest in lightweight materials, the AS-205 armor slave posesses the armor equivilent of a battlefield MBT in a highly mobile and maneuverable battleframe. This of course, comes at no small cost as each AS has an initial and upkeep cost of roughly twice that of a standard MBT. In addition to the versitility of its humanoid frame, the Stalker is an effective weapon against "soft" opposition (ie, civilians, irregulars, beseiged troops, etc), often inducing fear and shattering morale. It was its imposing height in an urban environment and surreal appearance that gave the AS-205 Stalker its namesake - a demon creature harkening from the ancient tales of dark fears.

An interesting aspect of the AS-205 is the use of a dual set of arms - operator arms and "slave" arms. The use of feedback sensors and familiarity of physical movements virtually eliminate the learning curve for complex controls (since there are none), making the suit easy to use and highly responsive even in high stress situations. The smaller set of arms, the "operator" arms, allowing for delicate operations. The "slave" arms are used for carrying heavy armaments and/or other heavy duty work (eg. lifting, necessary removal of obstacles, etc). These arms have a lifting capacity of up to 5 tonnes, allowing for the armor slave to remove just about any obstacle in its way.

Powered by two sets of powercells, the AS has a combat operation period of 48 hours, making it necessary to reinforce Stalker units with mobile power stations during prolonged operations. The standard operational armament is a 20 mm caseless heavy MG with an underslung RPG launcher. Other weapon outloads are available as per mission requirements, such as lower caliber "crowd control" weapons (flechette shotguns, flamthrowers, etc), anti-vehicular weapons (20 mm gauss cannon) or heavier caliber "area effect" suppression weapons (artillery cannons, missile launchers, etc).

Action shots:

Here you have a standard assualt team (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_5.jpg), 6 units, landing on a building roof. SOP dictates that Stalker units operate in pairs, as can be seen in the hallway assualt (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_7.jpg) and room clearing (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_6.jpg). The size comparison can be seen here as a Stalker holds the remains of robotic practice unit (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_8.jpg).

A lone Stalker can be just as effective as a platoon of men when it comes to assualting a building (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_1.jpg). It can maneuver through halls (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_3.jpg) with relative ease and shrug off any small arms fire (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_2.jpg) that may have been smuggled in. Here is another one holding a robotic practice unit by the head (http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/mechs/mech_4.jpg) for size comparison.

OOC: Cool. Nice brief Sketch. Say, im curious what anime series/movie are those Mecha from?

OOC: Most interesting. I second Clairmont's question. Actually, I know jack about anime.

In time of war do your standards for you space marines go down? cuz if not that unit would be hard to sustain during an all out war

ooc: the mecha are from Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex

And no, the standards do not go down for the space marines, that's why they are an elite unit. No point in having über units if anyone could sign up. Hence the cyborg conversions, life extensions and other life preserving technologies; only the best for the best.

Besides, its not in their job discription to fight in prolonged operations, they're more like heavy hitting SpecOps (like force recon or green berets). In, OMG DESTROY!, and out.

Heh, it seems that you have seen or heard of Full Metal Panic in some point since the Mecha in FMP are called Arm Slaves :) Anyhow, its interesting to see you importing Mecha to your Armed Forces Sketch, atleast i now know they cant be THAT bad idea generally.

And naturally, no lowering standards in any time. How can my Army kick ass if the second a war breaks out, we start half-training our people?

ooc: I've heard of FMP! as well, used my last mecha design from that series.

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ooc: certain technologies will be designated as FM (Freakin' Magic) technologies. These are unexplainable or otherwise "wanky" items which are 1) crucial to my RP, 2) crucial to my tech level, 3) completely unplausible even by the most liberal of modern +1 standards or 4) all the above. So when you see something labeled as FM technology, please don't presume to explain to me why it won't work, can't work, or is otherwise impossible "j00 st0pid n00b".

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ic:

Negative Matter
FM tech

Negative matter is a type of exotic material which is crucial to the functionality of Sketchian technologies. Negmatter has the unique propety of being exactly opposite of regular or positive matter, including the interesting aspects of negative mass and other useful attributes. Negmatter should not be confused with antimatter. One way to differentiate them is this: When matter comes into contact with antimatter, both sets of particles annihilate each other with a violent release of energy. However, when negmatter (with a negative mass) comes into contact with posimatter (with a positive mass), the new net mass simply becomes zero. An equal amount of negmatter and posimatter simply cease to exist, with no release of energy. This makes negmatter difficult to work with. However, its inherent antigravity and "opposite" reactions to electric charges far outweigh any such difficulties.

Negative mass would produce "negative gravity" that repels ordinary positive mass, but would be attracted to positive mass and other negative mass particles in a normal matter.


For a negative value of m1 with positive value of m2, F is negative (repulsive). At first glance it would appear that a negative mass would accelerate away from a positive mass, but by Newton's law
http://en.wikipedia.org/math/b1365723a6484cc3ca9d0ce071b22f62.png
F = ma
If m is negative and F is negative, then a must be positive - the negative mass accelerates toward the positive mass. If m is positive, however, and F is still negative, then a is negative and the positive mass accelerates away from the negative mass. It can be shown that if m1 and m2 are of equal but opposite mass, then the combined system of positive and negative particles will accelerate indefinitely without any additional input into the system.

This behaviour is bizarre, in that it's completely inconsistent with our 'normal universe' common sense expected behaviour from working with positive masses, but it is completely mathematically consistent and introduces no apparent contradictions when physics analysis is performed on the behaviours.

Naïve first impressions are that this violates conservation of momentum and/or energy, but in fact if the masses are equal in magnitude, one being of positive value and the other negative, then the momentum of the system is zero if they both travel together and accelerate together, no matter what speed:
http://en.wikipedia.org/math/a6044d929dcea5c9d86d512b2e618932.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/math/e4ee36ad2de55f4d9b20dc44026eb247.png

...and an equivalent equation can be calculated for Ke:
http://en.wikipedia.org/math/bf4263e430ecf60cfe43644823491d0d.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/math/ab899172000d228cd4b83459bae7063b.png



Negmatter And Electric Charges

Most people are familiar with the effects of electromagnetism on normal matter. If you could charge a set of metal plates either positively or negatively, you would find that two plates of opposite charge attract, while two plates of the same charge repel each other.

Negmatter, as can be expected, is the opposite. Two plates of negmatter with the same charge will attract, while two plates of negmatter with opposite charges will repel.

In fact, the two plates do not have to be made of the same material. If a negmatter plate has a positive charge, and a posimatter plate has a negative charge, then the following will happen:
The posimatter plate (-) will be attracted to the negmatter plate (+).
The negmatter plate (+) will be repelled by the posimatter plate (-).
source (http://www.squidsoft.net/sc/reactionless_drive_guide/)

Diametric drives, reactionless drive technology
FM tech

Diametric drives depend on the use of Negmatter to create a "push-pull" reactionless effect. The basic principle: the negmatter plate is pushed away from the posimatter plate, while the posimatter plate is simultaneously pulled along by the negmatter plate. It is an action without reaction, propulsion with no energy released. Hence, the two separate forces described above combine into a single systemwide effect.

http://img76.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Worldeaters/misc/reactionless_drive_illustration.jpg

Of course, the illustration above represents only a very simple reactionless drive. A modern reactionless drive involves several more plates of both negmatter and posimatter, mounted in a spherical housing designed for fast rotation, providing full control over a starship's vector. Typical drives will employ an equal amount of positive and negative matter and use the application of electromagnetic forces to accelerate the craft.

Relevant notes: due to the nature of this type of drive technology, there are certain notable characteristics. Diametric drives are inherently "stealthy" via traditional detection techniques due to their emissionless nature. However, they do produce an easily detectable electromagnetic field as part of their operation. This magnetic field produced by the drive is a polar effect and can be used to determine the orientation of the drive. The size/strength of the magnetic field increases linearly with drive power.

ooc: So when you see something labeled as FM technology, please don't presume to explain to me why it won't work, can't work, or is otherwise impossible "j00 st0pid n00b".(How about explaining how it might possibly work and not be impossible?)

ooc: So when you see something labeled as FM technology, please don't presume to explain to me why it won't work, can't work, or is otherwise impossible "j00 st0pid n00b".(How about explaining how it might possibly work and not be impossible?)

If you actually looked at my tech posts, you would notice that I have done such. Stop trying to find flaws and just read for once.

Half way through reading this, I ask myself, "Why am I reading this again?"

Half way through reading this, I ask myself, "Why am I reading this again?"

You should ask yourself why you bothered posting. This information is here for your convience, should you ever RP with me. This has been done dozens of times by other people. So how about you sod off?

OOC:
This is just (probably unnecessary) details in a roleplay, it shouldn't serve as your 'explanation' as to how you do that. The chief aim of a roleplay is for everyone to have fun, not be bossed around by 'r00lz 0f p151cs and r3alty'. Godmodding is misunderstood, it shouldn't be defined by reality, but by what's acceptable on both (or many) sides of the roleplay. You don't like it, just ignore it, and don't make a fuss about it like idiots.

Zvarinograd: Yeah, its a much better idea to spend half of the actual RP threads explaining OOC:ly the necessary details so that the RP can continue :roll: I think this kind of threads are very usefull, and for Nations who RP future or fantasy they are really necessary. Once you have this kind of thread, you can simply provide a link to it the Opening Post of your RP's and thus no need to start explaining details during the RP.

ooc: So when you see something labeled as FM technology, please don't presume to explain to me why it won't work, can't work, or is otherwise impossible "j00 st0pid n00b".(How about explaining how it might possibly work and not be impossible?)

If you actually looked at my tech posts, you would notice that I have done such. Stop trying to find flaws and just read for once.Hey, no need to get upset. I /did/ read the tech posts, and I /didn't/ find, nor try to find, any notable flaws. Presumably, though, you have labelled the negmat stuff as "Freakin' Magic" because the production of negmat is unexplainable? Well, I can give you explanation or two if you want it. Point you to a few physics papers on the subject. If my presumption is totally wrong, or if you just don't want it, that's perfectly fine with me, but I figured it'd be nice to at least make the offer.

My apologises SG, I was feeling a little edgy when I replied.

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Mercury drives, FTL drive technology
FM tech

The Basics

All Sketchian FTL technology is based on the principle of hyperspace - an extra-dimensional universe which has distinctly different properties from our own realspace. However, it should be noted that hyperspace is not a distinctly separate universe, instead, hyperspace and realspace are overlayed upon each other and that each point and time in each universe is directly related to that of the other.

Very similar to spacefolding, hyperspace transitions involving shifting from realspace into hyperspace and then back again. However, the main difference is that hyperspace transitions are not based on singularity manipulation nor instantaneous. As Sketchian FTL technology improves, greater (realative to realspace) velocities are attainable via hyperspace. Current max hyperspace velocities are at 10 parsecs an hour (approx. 32 light years per hour), which are attainable only by unmanned courier vessels, standard vessel velocities are roughly half that.

Travel Mechanics

The mechanics of hyperspace transition involves a relatively straight foward procedure. In order to enter hyperspace, the onboard hyperspace navigation computer must predict/create tears in space-time in order to exploit a "pre-existing" gateway into hyperspace. This is done using the principles of chaos theory, in which all events are likely to occur at any given time. Thusly, a brute force method is used in which "infinite" gates are created "instaneously" until an appropriate hyperspace gate is acheived (although strictly mathematically speaking this method is as likely to fail as it is to succede, it is 99.999% statiscally reliable - no doubt implying that the chaos theory and its ramifications are still not entirely understood.)

Once a vessel makes the transition into hyperspace it travels along what can be called a "straight line" route between its entry point and its destination. The mechanics/pyhsics of hyperspace are still theory as of this point, but it is understood that objects are capable of traveling much faster (relatively) in hyperspace than in realspace (hence the point of hyperspace travel).

Exit procedures from hyperspace are nearly the same as the entry procedures - involving the same chaos theory principles and hyper-realspace transition. However, it should be noted that although a definite entry point must be calculated, the exit point does not need to be set until the vessel is ready to leave hyperspace. Meaning, the trajectory and course of a vessel entering hyperspace can easily be extrapolated, but its actual destination may be anywhere along that line.

Hyperspace transitions are easily indentified by the characteristic physical manifestation of a brilliant flash/sparkle radiation on all wavelengths as well as the appearance of certain particles refered to as Boson particles. Boson particles are a result of the interaction of realspace with hyperspace, creating an unexplained phenomenon of detectable yet uninteractable particles (eg. the existence of Boson particles is known via the full spectrum radiation emitted from them, however, no direct observation has been made as of yet).

Notable Details

Standard jump procedures dictate that vessels come to a near halt before executed a hyperspace transition. This is due to the need for the onboad computer to predict and create a usable gateway for the jump. Logially, the slower a vessel is moving the more time a computer has to "find" a gateway with which to use. However, vessels utilizing "intuitive" level AI are fully capable of computing "on the fly" and can successfully predict gateways up to 5 km away. A gateway normally takes anywhere between 10 and 50 milliseconds to form (virtually instantaneously). These factors combined, the maximum velocity of a vessel is determined by its size (faster for smaller and slower for larger). Failure to stay within the jump parameters (eg. going faster than max entry velocity) could result in a catastrophic midships manifestation of the gateway, thus rending the vessel asunder.