Spacescifi

It has occurred to me that the flaws of MMOs has much to do with rogue griefers who won't play fair. I wonder how succesful an MMO would be if it was like PVE...except it it allowed players to BECOME different characters or spaceships from the original game plot. Yes...unlike most MMOs I am talking of one based on a PVE game with a definte begnning and end. The MMO players come merely to see how to shake up the plot more. Also, there would always be a higher NPC anount of players, some of which could monitor and attempt to keep players from changing the plot too dramatically. What do you think? I think it would require a LOT of separate instancing. For example, in a Superman game MMO a lot of people may want to play as Luthor, but we cannot have 20 Luthors on an MMO instant scene. So the servers would need to separate each instance of 'Luthor' so that each MMO instance only had ONE Luthor, Superman etc. This prevents players from going too hogwild and makes the worls seem bigger.

LOL. I tend to agree with you. Character is always more important than the limits of modern technology. Some of the modern day classics are firmly based on characters (I read and enjoyed Sherlock Holmes growing up). The original Sherlock was a larger than life character who had a unique ability to be right virtually all the time, tick others off, and be strong enough to bend iron bars with his bare hands. He also knew enough to be able to hold his own against bigger men than him who he ticked off, when any common person would assume Holmes, a walking stick of a man, would be a goner. Watson was the everyman who saw Holmes work his wonders, but also helping on occasion when Holmes needed it (Holmes had a drug problem and also put himself and Watson in danger at times), it helped that Watson was a doctor. Basically each main character served the needs of the plot very well, and occasionally stories were told from the POV of side characters and yet the story was still interesting. Perhaps my story will be akin to this, as characters working together to achieve a common goal despite obstacles has infinite relavence. Whether just two or many. As for reading....I could post a short story sometime next week. Not to say how often or how long. EDIT: While my tech searching may seem random, it is because unlike Star Trek or SW, I did not want every alien race encountered to use the same technology. At first anyway....but now that I see the needs of the plot, it will be rather necessary (rogue space traders being fairly common requires the requisite tech to also be). So my story will answer 'what if' to a smaller degree than say...how will this end? Because 'what if' is fictionally based tech, whereas character interplay is real and people always want to know how that ends.

I would not go there at all. But if it is anything like Earth...ever see how bad hurricanes and flooding damage the southwest USA? That's near our equator by the way.

That was only how it started. My main reason now is plot. Since using current science limitations means that people cannot ever visit any place they want without the backup of a huge space program. Rogue space trader fiction I find appealing...modern science won't allow for it I know. Influences shape us. If I played KSP in the past perhaps I would have done an alien space program story...but I could always do so as a very early prequel if I wanted to later.

My 'obsession' with SSTOs is likely spawned originally from watching the millennium falcon take off to space as a child, not realizing at the time what space travel involved IRL. Once I learned later real physics I only wanted to see if it were possible. It is not...at least if you want a meaningful payload. Currently my 'obsession' with SSTOs has likely a lot more to do with the fact that I play Oolite...a many times over modded clone of the original elite. It made me dream of writing a universe where civilians can own tramp freighters and make a living shipping and trading goods across the galaxy. Of course, my writing would be diffetent from the oolite verse in several respects, but I do have a fondness for the concept of having your own spaceship and doing WHATEVER you like with it...rather than being tied to any specific job per se. In Oolite I fly a Python that has a max payload of 100 tons. My cargo bays are usually very empty unless I resort to pirating. I make my money merely from doing tournaments at advanced tech feudal systems. Which can net over 10,000 credits in a single match max. That's how I was able to afford my Python relatively quickly. Currently I am in galaxy two, trying to upgrade to a vessel with even more cargo space so I can wipe out Thargoids more effectively. The Thargoid Wars OXP makes them attack more often. I don't play fair anymore than the game does (1v6? Come on!). I simply buy as many light fighters as possible and let them lase everything by a thousand tiny cuts before I slowly fly in and deal the final blows.

I never intended to eliminate all emotions. My point wad that even eliminating one breaks characters bad.

Well that is good . I recently discovered another 'alien' behavior method hidden in plain site. Animal behavior. The main thing about animals is that they lack a faculty of right and wrong. They do not understand the difference. They merely know that one way owner is mad, and perhaps they should not do that or else. They also understand and appreciate rewards. They have no guilty conscience whatsoever, and do not agonize over the past, they are very much creatures who live in the here and now. They don't agonize over the future nor the past, but if you remind them of something in their past or present to be feared, or negative experience, expect them to be nasty toward you assuming they don't flee. Their sense of right and wrong is no better than a newborn human baby. Translating this to alien humanoids would be interesting, but not something I would ever encourage readers to aspire to copy...they don'y behave human after all. That is one method. Another is to give 'aliens' partially instinctual behavior...meaning certain attitudes and actions they simply behave as such and do with little to zero training. Unlike a normal human who needs lots of training but also has complete freedom of his attitudes and behavior choices. Even if making them is hard at times

Oh no you didn't! You cannot say that word! LOL! The heat tolerance is big deal. That is why in a prior thread I suggested cooling stuff till the atoms stop moving. But why stop there? I would cool an SSTO's hull to a zillion degrees in the negative if that means I can ascend to orbit under MY OWN power and thrust using low propellant reserves. Consequences? Before launch. Do not. Touch. The hull. Will freeze your hand solid. To get the vessel that cold it will likely involve a vacuum chamber, cool temperatures, and electromagnetic shenanigans (inasmuch that is what the IRL experiment took). So this sort of SSTO could take off once under it's own power, then land, go into the cooling chamber, and do it all over again. The scifi dream is a vessel that can use air and electric or nuclear power to scramjet into orbit WITH lots of propellant. Basically using propellant for space, and thermal energy with air for launch and landing. Reentry would actually help. Dive into the plasma friction and engage the engines, fly down and loop back up before going horizontal again, and finally lose speed by manuvering and land using propellant rocketry...ideally on a world with refueling opportunities near the landing site.

Well...the goverments know already what is and is not currently possible. If I had the money I would try and see if magnetizing the air was possible with supersonic airflow. It should be easy to convert it into plasma if nothing else, and plasma we know can be diverted with magnetic fields. Also (google it if you wish), researchers say they have managed to magnetize regular unmodified air by messing around with lasers in a specific circular configuration. There is no real need for any of it that justifies the expense, but I kind of assume in a scifi setting that many current 'expensive' technologies would be cheap in a far future setting.

Liquid helium is coldest according to google.

I see. Perhaps then instead nuclear power is better used simply as lasers to heat up ship hulls as the ship ascends to orbit? Nuclear powered ground based lasers. That way you get the best of both worlds...the lessening of weight as propellant is expended and the power of nuclear energetic heat added to the engine's efficiency and thrust. Nothing physics wrong with this idea...politcally yes But in a scifi setting where a planet's populace is not pointing nukes at each other then they won't feel threatened by pointing lasers at launched spacecraft. They just need to avoid lasing orbiting satelites.

Google: shield need to be about 13.8 feet of water, about 6.6 feet of concrete, or about 1.3 feet of lead. Thick, dense shielding is necessary to protect against gamma rays. The higher the energy of thegamma ray, the thicker the shield must be. X-rays pose a similar challenge. NuclearConnect.org › ... › Science Protecting Against Exposure - ANS - Nuclear Connect

Hmmm....maybe if the SSTO's hull and engine is precooled? Like with a cold gel adhesive for the outet hull? It will likely vape away but the sooner it reaches orbit the better the precooling will be effective. As for weight, if nuclear reactors could be made smaller then the weight would reduce. As for shielding, all you really need is material with a high hydrogen content to catch the gammas, and lead. Both of which are...yeah...heavy. I guess your point is that the way we go to space is the best way we know of. In order to make SSTOs effective using known physics, we need to make extremely precooled vessels. Perhaps so cold they float off super conductors like magnets, and then take off vaping as they go? Also lightweight materials that could absorb more radiation or at least reflect it would be needed. So yeah....not current tech. The only thing we can do right now is dip an SSTO in super cold liquid nitrogen or perhaps LH and then take off as fast as possible? Perhaps boost it with a rocket sled for take off? Which is well within current tech too.

Good points...I unknowingly broke the setting without even trying LOL. You are right though. If portals are this good, then spaceships become mere portal gate shippers. Since lets be honest...what's easier? Warping and adjusting speed and trajectory, surviving reentry, and doing a powered thrust landing...or just walking through a portal? I forgot that humans will always take the path of least resistance unless they have a strong reason not to. So now the only way to make spaceships still relavent would be to change the setting so much that spaceships ARE needed. How? Portal gates still have a 7 LY range but only work in outer space vacuum...and I mean literally outside a spacecraft. How does this change the setting? Now you NEED a spaceship to warp and lay portal gates. It also makes refueling propellant an EVA affair everytime you do, so max efficiency designed NTR LH will grant longer burns for that. Otherwise crew would be doing EVA every 5 min LOL using hydrolox. Also spaceships use inertial guidance computer data to lay in a course for previously laid portal gates LY away.

I really do think you do need a lot of thrust if you are doing what I want...namely horizontal takeoff using only nuclear power with airbreathing. Having smaller intakes from dead stop won't help. Neither the Skylon nor the SR-71 do that. It has never been done that I know of. Using only known physics and science, SSTOs just expand our transit to orbit and back capability. If anything, reentry is the biggest issue of all. Remember how much work the reusuable space shuttle needed after each reentry? Without ablative tiles or propellant sweating of the hull, the craft wll take definite hull damage during each reentry. It cannot do that or it must be minimal to be a true reusable SSTO.

The premise for discussion involves portal gates that have a range of 7 lightyears. Spaceships using them use rocketry to reach orbit and are usually SSTO types because they have access to more propellant than their ships actually weigh via the portal gates carried on board. Portal radius: Portal ship carried circular gates have a portal radius of 3 meters usually. Which is large enough to push an oblong propellant tank through. Warping is used to reach other star systems in a reasonable amount of time. Because of the 7 LY portal gate limit, spaceships carrying them will deposit spare gates every 7 LY of travel and use them as links with other gates every 7 LY. The Main Question: Just because spaceships can now accelerate indefinitely in the home system won't mean they will. And I mean purely from an economic standpoint. Why? Because the dirty litle secret of efficient high thrust rockets thrusting in space is that it is resourcefully wasteful. What I mean is, for every 20 tons of LH you burn for a spaceship accelerating around the solar system, that's 20 tons of hydrogen from Earth you ARE NOT getting back (as it is likely exhaust at escape velocity anyway). Possible solutions: Off world propellant refineries. Likely from icy moons no one is using. Why use Earth hydrogen when you can mine Europa and portal it off to fuel your growing portal equipped space fleet? Just drop a few portals off on a moon with equipment and workers, let them at it, and send them back to waiting ships at regular intervals. Unexpected solutions: Artificial gravity is no longer a need, since crew can effectively hop from ship to ship through linked portals within the 7 LY range all the way back to the homeworld. Barring that they could also hop between portal satelites in deep space, but they need space suits for that to reach the next gate. You could go to a world 44 LY away and be back home for dinner if you wanted LOL. Assuming all the portal satelites were already laid in advance. Any place actually interesting will already have linked portal satelites if it was previously explored, likely in an orbit high enough that it can be maintained without having a need for any boosting to counter atmospheric friction. Additional questions: In such a setting will there still be a need for AM rockets? Or will NTR rockets rule just fine? Which engines will become obsolete? My guess? Solid propellant rockets, also kind of ion rockets. What do you think? And bear with me, I already recognize that mixing tech levels may seem absurd...however it also uses things we ACTUALLY can grasp which puts at least SOME limits on activity that are based on known physics and not mere plot devices. That is why.

It seems to me that SSTOs only make sense if they are airbreathing. The challenge is that airbreating SSTOs must fly longer in the atmosphere and experience more friction and heat doing so. SSTOs don't need to take off like airplanes, but they are easier to make that way. A wider forward profile will grant wider intakes which will provide more air 'propellant' to mix with with your nuclear power, but it will also increase drag. So what you need for an efficient SSTO is a lightweight but strong ship with a wide forward profile to scoop a lot of air. Some variant of a saucer or even linked saucers could work, since you obviously want payload/crew separate from engines. What are your thoughts on this design?

That is the irony of rocketry. Larger vessels have more propellant to go farther than smaller vessels, but the problem is that the heavier a vessel becomes the lower thrust it's engines can operate under. To be sure, if a ship is star destroyer huge and heavy, using any modicum of real physics and engines, it will do well to fight long range. Because the closer it is the more of a sitting duck is. The heavier a vessel is, the less one can change course with it. If anything, heavy vessels are best for travel to one destination with a refueling allowance, and then a turning back to wherever they will end up. If small vessels run out of propellant, you can at least take solace in that they will also require less propellant to refuel shoud you come upon of source of resources or help.

What properties would a material that is an x-ray mirror have? Exotic or unusual properties? Same question for a gamma ray mirror? Is a perfect mirror possible with known science? Or impossible? Meaning that 100% reflection is impossible? Some heat must be absorbed? Interestingly...perfect mirrors of any part of the EM spectrum would solve the waste heat problem in space. Even if it was only X-rays perfectly reflected, or gammas. Or IR, or even optical light. Just surround the engine with the material and radiate all your heat from mirror ports. It could even provide laser sail thrust minus the sail, since your ship's waste heatbeing reflected off mirrors would be the thrust. Intense heat could provide greater thrust. Imagine if you lit off a nuke and the X-rays and gamma rays were totally reflected, how much extra thrust would that generate? Side effect: Laser weapons only do damage now if one does not have 100% reflective mirrors that block that ray.

Profound. That logic applies to humans as well. Probably the main difference between us and them is that they lack the faculty of conscience. So thus the logic you said applies even more so to them. As for humans, they often justify or make excuses for what they do, but it does not change the logic.

The same thing all fictional writers do. The other option is...disposable fusion engine cores? I mean in a typical space opera setting with FTL and warp such a thing COULD be considered disposable.

Well folks...now we finally know how to do the classic fusion scifi spaceship we all know and love. Just cool the engine to such a cool temperature that the atoms comprising it stop moving...totally. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.livescience.com/amp/25959-atoms-colder-than-absolute-zero.html Then start the fusion process. I don't know how long it will take before the engine melts itself from the heat. So my guess is that one would use the engine on a limited basis, since you would have to cool off to get that fusion contained WITHOUT magnetic fields. Awesome stuff...we likely will get better at the hot and cold physics game in the distant future. Indeed...that's exactly what is needed to make big SSTO's...tolerating engine heat that melts all known materials. So the solution seems simple enough...just cool the engine down to super negative. I know this in practice is hard, but leave that to the future. For now, we can speculate on the implications of what technologies we would develop if we could do this on a massive scale.

Perhaps this is absurd, but some folks who are serious enough would plug a portable keyboard to their 'computer'....I mean phone Barring that? Voice control might become good enough, and simplified phone controls along with that. Just guessing.

My idea is a bit more...elaborate. Kerbals will poop. Kerbals can also grow fruits and veggies onboard. Then use poop made from eating that as rocket propellant for NTR or whatever else. Even try martian grown veggies...although I think that also poses health risk. I am also all for attaching asteroids to the hull and lasing them for virtually free RCS propellant, which is a lot more propellant than you would have otherwise, especially of you are running low from missions anyway.

Give it time... the tech will catch up sooner or later. Ditto.