Einhauser
15-03-2005, 20:51
Ok, ive been developing a new FTL engine for a few days now, and here it is. Right now only The Federal Union and I can use it on our ships, due to exclusive rights I gave him.
My idea for an engine is called the Time Manipulation Drive. Let me explain how it works. When a ship begins to use its sub-light engines, it slowly begins to pick up speed. It can take quite a while to get going very fast, and even at full speed it is only going a fraction of the speed it could be going with it’s Faster Than Light (FTL) engines. That’s what the Time Manipulation Drive (TMD) changes.
The TMD uses a burst of energy from a Warp Coil (a big spiral of specially treated metal composites that conducts and stores massive amounts of energy) to force the ship’s shield generator to create multiple force fields. The two fields, one inside the other, trap layers of time. The first shield encompasses the ship and contours to it, trapping a layer of standard time, and the second, rounder shield surrounds the first field, which contains a second layer of time.
Special spikes are planted at strategic positions along the hull of the ship that protrude through the first shield and into the second. The tips of these spikes are filled with nanobots that can build new nanobots out of the bodies of the old. These bots will keep the tips of the spikes from being destroyed as time goes by. Now, beyond the second field is normal time, just like what’s inside the first shield.
After the two fields are in place, the TMD sends a second, higher pulse of energy through the tips of the spikes and into the second layer of time. This speeds it up vastly. For example, is you were going 100 MPH and you engaged the TMD for 300 years, the ship would essentially travel at 100 MPH for three hundred years. When you drop out of accelerated time, you would find out that you had been traveling at 30,000 mph.
What’s that you say? Wouldn’t the ship get deteriorated and the crew die over all that time? No! Remember the first layer of time? It doesn’t speed up. Life goes on as normal inside the first shield, even as millennia are streaking past in the second. The thrust from the engines is the only part of the ship to reach into the second layer.
When the destination is reached, the inner field expands (with the help of the rest of the Warp Coil’s energy) and cancels out the second field. The result is that you can move millions of light years in only a few seconds. The faster the ship’s sublight engines, the more fuel for said engines the ship carries, the number of warp coils the ship carries, how many planets are in between you and the target, and what kind of shield generator the ship has all effect the range and speed the ship is capable of.
Recharging the Warp Coil is problematic. It stores so much energy that it can take days to fully recharge using only the power from the main engines. This process can be speeded up considerably with the installation and use of solar sails. These giant, circular sails are 50 miles in diameter, and composed of a mesh of fabrics only 1/40th of an inch in thickness. The main drawback to these sails is the steep cost (the material is roughly $1,089 a square foot) and the lack of space to put them on board a ship. Their other main problem is that the fabric is white in color, and is very visible from quite a ways away. While using the sails, the ship cannot move for fear of wreaking the sails.
Here are some Pros and Cons to the TMD:
Pros: Nearly instantaneous travel to anywhere, can’t be damaged while using TMD, can’t be tracked with sensors.
Cons: Massive energy requirements, long recharge time, possibility of ending up in the apocalypse, cant be tracked with sensors while using TMD, cant fire weapons while using TMD, cant steer while using TMD, cant view the outside while using TMD, cant stop until destination is reached, must drop shields to engage engine.
The process of using the TMD is as follows:
The captain inputs the coordinates of the desired target into the TMD’s navigation computer. The computer finds the fastest path there while still avoiding plants and other such obstacles. When that is done, the captain sets the ship on the course laid out by the computer, then engages the sub-light engines, and then drops the ships shields. After this is done, he engages the TMD, and then waits for the computer to bring the ship out of accelerated time. As soon as the ship is out, you can turn the shields back on.
The pricing of the system is as follows:
Complete TMD: This set contains 1 Warp Coil (uncharged), 100 spikes, a starter pack of nanobots, and the navigation computer. $759 million
Extra Warp Coils: This item consists of 1 Warp Coil (uncharged) and enough wiring to hook it up to an existing TMD. $367 million
Solar Sail: Complete with cabling, storage and winch systems, and the sail itself, this item is all you will need for super-fast recharging of Warp Coils. $3 million.
Extra Spikes: If a ship is larger than the TMD is intended for, the 100 spikes included with the TMD may not cover it. This set remedies that by offering an additional 100 at the one-time low, low price of $1.98 million
My idea for an engine is called the Time Manipulation Drive. Let me explain how it works. When a ship begins to use its sub-light engines, it slowly begins to pick up speed. It can take quite a while to get going very fast, and even at full speed it is only going a fraction of the speed it could be going with it’s Faster Than Light (FTL) engines. That’s what the Time Manipulation Drive (TMD) changes.
The TMD uses a burst of energy from a Warp Coil (a big spiral of specially treated metal composites that conducts and stores massive amounts of energy) to force the ship’s shield generator to create multiple force fields. The two fields, one inside the other, trap layers of time. The first shield encompasses the ship and contours to it, trapping a layer of standard time, and the second, rounder shield surrounds the first field, which contains a second layer of time.
Special spikes are planted at strategic positions along the hull of the ship that protrude through the first shield and into the second. The tips of these spikes are filled with nanobots that can build new nanobots out of the bodies of the old. These bots will keep the tips of the spikes from being destroyed as time goes by. Now, beyond the second field is normal time, just like what’s inside the first shield.
After the two fields are in place, the TMD sends a second, higher pulse of energy through the tips of the spikes and into the second layer of time. This speeds it up vastly. For example, is you were going 100 MPH and you engaged the TMD for 300 years, the ship would essentially travel at 100 MPH for three hundred years. When you drop out of accelerated time, you would find out that you had been traveling at 30,000 mph.
What’s that you say? Wouldn’t the ship get deteriorated and the crew die over all that time? No! Remember the first layer of time? It doesn’t speed up. Life goes on as normal inside the first shield, even as millennia are streaking past in the second. The thrust from the engines is the only part of the ship to reach into the second layer.
When the destination is reached, the inner field expands (with the help of the rest of the Warp Coil’s energy) and cancels out the second field. The result is that you can move millions of light years in only a few seconds. The faster the ship’s sublight engines, the more fuel for said engines the ship carries, the number of warp coils the ship carries, how many planets are in between you and the target, and what kind of shield generator the ship has all effect the range and speed the ship is capable of.
Recharging the Warp Coil is problematic. It stores so much energy that it can take days to fully recharge using only the power from the main engines. This process can be speeded up considerably with the installation and use of solar sails. These giant, circular sails are 50 miles in diameter, and composed of a mesh of fabrics only 1/40th of an inch in thickness. The main drawback to these sails is the steep cost (the material is roughly $1,089 a square foot) and the lack of space to put them on board a ship. Their other main problem is that the fabric is white in color, and is very visible from quite a ways away. While using the sails, the ship cannot move for fear of wreaking the sails.
Here are some Pros and Cons to the TMD:
Pros: Nearly instantaneous travel to anywhere, can’t be damaged while using TMD, can’t be tracked with sensors.
Cons: Massive energy requirements, long recharge time, possibility of ending up in the apocalypse, cant be tracked with sensors while using TMD, cant fire weapons while using TMD, cant steer while using TMD, cant view the outside while using TMD, cant stop until destination is reached, must drop shields to engage engine.
The process of using the TMD is as follows:
The captain inputs the coordinates of the desired target into the TMD’s navigation computer. The computer finds the fastest path there while still avoiding plants and other such obstacles. When that is done, the captain sets the ship on the course laid out by the computer, then engages the sub-light engines, and then drops the ships shields. After this is done, he engages the TMD, and then waits for the computer to bring the ship out of accelerated time. As soon as the ship is out, you can turn the shields back on.
The pricing of the system is as follows:
Complete TMD: This set contains 1 Warp Coil (uncharged), 100 spikes, a starter pack of nanobots, and the navigation computer. $759 million
Extra Warp Coils: This item consists of 1 Warp Coil (uncharged) and enough wiring to hook it up to an existing TMD. $367 million
Solar Sail: Complete with cabling, storage and winch systems, and the sail itself, this item is all you will need for super-fast recharging of Warp Coils. $3 million.
Extra Spikes: If a ship is larger than the TMD is intended for, the 100 spikes included with the TMD may not cover it. This set remedies that by offering an additional 100 at the one-time low, low price of $1.98 million