Hard Space Redux

[Golan2072]

Are there certain technologies or design philosophies that each of the three blocs are known for?

This is more a matter of corporate technologies and design philosophies than those of the blocks who give the corps their "flags of convenience".

Equipment is TL9-10. TL10 is new - only from the last 15 years. There's a lot of TL9 stuff laying around.

Zhang-Markov dominates the UN market. Its technology is reliable and no-nonsense. A lot of heavy gear, industrial design focused on getting results, even if the human engineering elements are lacking.

The AF's giant is Iron Star Enterprises. Its technology looks better than Zhang-Markov technology but is often somewhat less robust - and is typically more expensive.

Two major players compete over the IC market - Royal British Interstellar Company (RBIC) and United European Minerals (UEM). RBIC has good human engineering; UEM, a mining company, has robust industrial products which are easier to use but more expensive than Zhang-Markov ones.

 

[mike wightman]

Shipboard gravity seems to be a genre convention in some of my source material, such as Alien(s) and System Shock.

It still makes me cringe when any sci-fi series has magical artificial gravity

By the way, my ship designs in Uranium Fever (a Stellagama Publishing belting supplement for Cepheus Engine) and their deck plans fit these modified rules perfectly - tail-sitters with fission reactors and fuel fitting #2's requirements, though without rotating habitats.

Tail sitters mean you can have gravity via continuous thrust and still take a nod towards the genre conventions you mention while maintaining a much harder sci-fi.

 

[Golan2072]

It still makes me cringe when any sci-fi series has magical artificial gravity

Tail sitters mean you can have gravity via continuous thrust and still take a nod towards the genre conventions you mention while maintaining a much harder sci-fi.

Hmmm... I can definitely consider this. Thanks for the input!

The "handwave" here is unrealistically efficient plasma drives* allowing 100 hours of constant 1G or higher acceleration/deceleration from 10% of ship volume in propellant.

There is also the subject of inertial damping; without it, crews are exposed to acceleration effects, and thus ships will rarely travel beyond 1G acceleration on the long term. Will 6G remain possible for combat situations?

___
* Or should I switch back to fusion and fusion torches to make the "handwave" smaller?

 

[BwapTED]

Hmmm... I can definitely consider this. Thanks for the input!

The "handwave" here is unrealistically efficient plasma drives* allowing 100 hours of constant 1G or higher acceleration/deceleration from 10% of ship volume in propellant.

There is also the subject of inertial damping; without it, crews are exposed to acceleration effects, and thus ships will rarely travel beyond 1G acceleration on the long term. Will 6G remain possible for combat situations?

___
* Or should I switch back to fusion and fusion torches to make the "handwave" smaller?

I'd go fusion torches with the High Guard 1979 drive as weapon optional tactic.

For high accelerations, why not use advanced acceleration couches?
I am thinking of something with a clam-shell top, fluid/gel padding, 'gravanol' or other drug injectors, mechanical life support, etc.
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=827

You could ride in one of those and use robots and automated systems to do other work as needed.


Are robots a notable part of this setting?

 

[Diveguy]

I'm enjoying seeing your revision/reapproach to Hard Space. Will definitely be buying the final version.

Also nice to see the similarities and differences in our two approaches to the same subsector (though, of course, it's YOUR original work!)

 

[wellis]

Hmmm... I can definitely consider this. Thanks for the input!

The "handwave" here is unrealistically efficient plasma drives* allowing 100 hours of constant 1G or higher acceleration/deceleration from 10% of ship volume in propellant.

There is also the subject of inertial damping; without it, crews are exposed to acceleration effects, and thus ships will rarely travel beyond 1G acceleration on the long term. Will 6G remain possible for combat situations?

___
* Or should I switch back to fusion and fusion torches to make the "handwave" smaller?

I'd go fusion torches with the High Guard 1979 drive as weapon optional tactic.

For high accelerations, why not use advanced acceleration couches?
I am thinking of something with a clam-shell top, fluid/gel padding, 'gravanol' or other drug injectors, mechanical life support, etc.
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=827

You could ride in one of those and use robots and automated systems to do other work as needed.


Are robots a notable part of this setting?

Would something like the juice from the Expanse be a good fit in this setting?:

The juice was a cocktail of drugs the pilot’s chair would inject into him to keep him conscious, alert, and hopefully stroke-free when his body weighed five hundred kilos. Holden had used the juice on multiple occasions in the navy, and coming down afterward was unpleasant. –Leviathan Wakes

https://youtu.be/6yKn_EqA0ik

 

[Golan2072]

I'd go fusion torches with the High Guard 1979 drive as weapon optional tactic.

I do like the idea... I'll have to look into fusion reactors to make sure that the process is messy enough.

Though I still like fission reactors very much, thanks to long endurance (per MGT1/CE rules), the ability to run for even longer times on minimal power levels, messy fuel and waste, and the adventuring potential of having several tons of Uranium on your ship as P-Plant fuel...

For high accelerations, why not use advanced acceleration couches?

I am thinking of something with a clam-shell top, fluid/gel padding, 'gravanol' or other drug injectors, mechanical life support, etc.
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=827[/QUOTE]
So G-tanks as in Event Horizon? Could be a possibility for fast ships... Maybe double-used as cryo tanks...

Though most civilian ships will go on 1-G acceleration when travelling for longer durations.

Are robots a notable part of this setting?

Indeed. These also create a lot of creepy potential, as they are hackable and may be influenced by various alien/occult events...

 

[Golan2072]

I'm enjoying seeing your revision/reapproach to Hard Space. Will definitely be buying the final version.

Thanks!

Also nice to see the similarities and differences in our two approaches to the same subsector (though, of course, it's YOUR original work!)

You mean Outer Veil, These Stars Are Ours!, and Hard Space?

 

[Golan2072]

Would something like the juice from the Expanse be a good fit in this setting?:

https://youtu.be/6yKn_EqA0ik

I like this idea! Yoinked!

 

[wellis]

I like this idea! Yoinked!

Here is a little more on the juice:

Going on the juice was pilot-speak for a high-g burn that would knock an unmedicated human unconscious. The juice was the cocktail of drugs the pilot’s chair would inject into him to keep him conscious, alert, and hopefully stroke-free when his body weighed five hundred kilos. Holden had used the juice on multiple occasions in the navy, and coming down afterward was unpleasant.

Alex began the countdown over the general comm. Holden checked the straps on his crash couch and palmed the button that started the juice. A dozen needles stuck into his back through membranes in his suit. His heart shuddered and chemical bands of iron gripped his brain. His spine went dead cold, and his face flushed like a radiation burn. He pounded a fist into the arm of the crash couch. He hated this part, but the next one was worse. On the general comm, Alex whooped as the drugs hit his system. Belowdecks, the others were getting the drugs that kept them from dying but kept them sedated through the worst of it.

Alex said, “One,” and Holden weighed five hundred kilos. The nerves at the back of his eye sockets screamed at the massive load of his eyeballs. His testicles crushed themselves
against his thighs. He concentrated on not swallowing his tongue. Around him, the ship creaked and groaned. There was a disconcerting bang from belowdecks, but nothing on his panel went red. The Knight’s torch drive could deliver a lot of thrust, but at the cost of a prodigious fuel-burn rate. But if they could save the Cant, it wouldn’t matter.

Over the blood pounding in his ears, Holden could hear Ade’s gentle breathing and the click of her keyboard. He wished he could just go to sleep to that sound, but the juice was
singing and burning in his blood. He was more awake than he’d ever been.

“Okay, buckle up, kids,” Alex said. “Here comes the juice.”
Even before Alex had finished saying it, Holden felt a dozen pinpricks as his chair pumped him full of drugs to keep him alive during the coming deceleration. His skin went tight and
hot, and his balls crawled up into his belly. Alex seemed to be speaking in slow motion.
“Five… four… three… two… ”

He never said one. Instead, a thousand pounds sat on Holden’s chest and rumbled like a laughing giant as the Roci’s engine slammed on the brakes at ten g’s. Holden thought he
could actually feel his lungs scraping the inside of his rib cage as his chest did its best to collapse. But the chair pulled him into a soft gel-filled embrace, and the drugs kept his heart
beating and his brain processing. He didn’t black out. If the high-g maneuvering killed him, he’d be wide awake and lucid for the entire thing.

His helmet filled with the sound of gurgling and labored breathing, only some of which was his own. Amos managed part of a curse before his jaw was clamped shut. Holden couldn’t
hear the Roci shuddering with the strain of her course change, but he could feel it through the seat. She was tough. Tougher than any of them.

How fast was it going to go? Even on the juice they couldn’t sustain
prolonged acceleration past seven or eight g without serious risk.

In addition, since this Traveller may not have artificial gravity, might that mean many passengers and spacers either use drugs or gene-engineering to help protect themselves against damage from micro/zero-gravity?

From The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton:

Joshua Calvert
Born in Tranquillity. His father, Marcus Calvert, was the owner and captain of the
starshipLady Macbeth. Marcus died from organ failure due to substance and neural-
stimulant abuse following a long term of depression after his last flight in theLady
Macbeth , during which the ship was damaged. Joshua was ten years old when
Marcus died, and inherited his starship. His mother subsequently remarried.

Joshua has considerable geneering in his heritage, since the Calverts have been
involved in the space industry for centuries, and have been modified accordingly.
They do not suffer from free-fall sickness, and their bones and internal organs can
withstand relatively high acceleration.

Joshua raised enough funds to repair theLady Macbeth by scavenging the Ruin Ring
for xenoc artifacts. The starship is now flown as an independent trader, traveling from
system to system with commercial cargo.

He started to take off his ship’s one-piece. His body was slim and well muscled, the chest slightly broader than average, pointers to the thickened internal membranes, and a metabolism which refused to let him bloat no matter how much he ate or drank. His family’s geneering had concentrated purely on the practicalities of free-fall adaptation, so he was left with a face that was rather too angular, the jaw too prominent, to be classically handsome, and mouse-brown hair which he kept longer than he ought to for flying. His retinal implants were the same colour as the original irises: blue-grey.

There was also a bit where Joshua is mentioned to grow no body hair or facial hair, like whiskers, due to dangers of the hair being shed and getting into electronics, IIRC.

 

[Ulsyus]

5. As I noted before, no grav vehicles and probably no fusion. Even if I'll end up using fusion, it will require bulky reactors (such as ship P-Plants), so no fusion-powered air-rafts zooming around.

So there's no cold fusion or similarly dense power source that exists for smaller (vehicular) scale vessels of any sort?

 

[kilemall]

So there's no cold fusion or similarly dense power source that exists for smaller (vehicular) scale vessels of any sort?

For simplicity's sake, I'd say give them advanced batteries for civilians, possibly solar charge backup, and radiothermal generators for microfission for military craft.

 

[Golan2072]

In addition, since this Traveller may not have artificial gravity, might that mean many passengers and spacers either use drugs or gene-engineering to help protect themselves against damage from micro/zero-gravity?

Most passengers travel for relatively short times from world to world or station to station. Dedicated spacers will probably undergo cybernetic/biotech modification to preserve bone density and other functions affected by zero-G.

 

[Golan2072]

So there's no cold fusion or similarly dense power source that exists for smaller (vehicular) scale vessels of any sort?

Even if I'll use fusion, then not at the small vehicular level. Vehicles use hydrogen fuel cells or advanced batteries for the most part. Large vehicles (such as larger watercraft or even large aircraft) can use fission reactors, as they do in real life. If I'll use fusion, the smallest fusion plant is 1 dton in size, thus possible for very large vehicles.

 

[wellis]

What are smallcract like fighters or ship boats or spaceplanes like in this reboot?

 

[Golan2072]

What are smallcract like fighters or ship boats or spaceplanes like in this reboot?

As starships are less likely to be streamlined, most will carry streamlined intermediate-range small craft, such as ship's boats or shuttles. I'm not sure, however, how well space fighters work in this milieu.

 

[Diveguy]

Thanks!


You mean Outer Veil, These Stars Are Ours!, and Hard Space?

That, and my "Fringe" writeup I did using your Near Space map. You're definitely going a harder science route than mine. I also like what you're doing with the polities in question.

 

[Golan2072]

That, and my "Fringe" writeup I did using your Near Space map. You're definitely going a harder science route than mine. I also like what you're doing with the polities in question.

Thanks!

The harder science essentially wrote itself; I started closer to Traveller tech (where Outer Veil was) and found myself sliding towards hard science as the narrative seems to require this.

I like your Fringe setting as well! Great use of my map.

 

[Golan2072]

One thing I am thinking about is setting Hard Space in 2120 rather than 2130. I do like the "(exactly) one century into the future"* vibe of 2120, thoughit requires significant developments (J-Drive and potentially fusion) in the 2050's. Even then, this means that all colonies are young - 1st generation colonies are 65 years old, 2nd generation colonies are 41 years old, and the oldest 3rd generation colonies are at most 16 years old. There are people born outside of the Sol system, and people who are the second (and in some cases even the third) generation of extrasolar spacers!

---
* If this develops into something substantiation, 2020 seems like a reasonable deadline for publication

 

[Diveguy]

One thing I am thinking about is setting Hard Space in 2120 rather than 2130. I do like the "(exactly) one century into the future"* vibe of 2120, thoughit requires significant developments (J-Drive and potentially fusion) in the 2050's. Even then, this means that all colonies are young - 1st generation colonies are 65 years old, 2nd generation colonies are 41 years old, and the oldest 3rd generation colonies are at most 16 years old. There are people born outside of the Sol system, and people who are the second (and in some cases even the third) generation of extrasolar spacers!

---
* If this develops into something substantiation, 2020 seems like a reasonable deadline for publication

This also gives you some help culturally - 3 generations is enough that the oldest colonies will have just started to really digress from their root influences, but not so much that things would be unrecognizable from the "modern" world.

In terms of the tech advances. Consider the fact that humanity went from the Wright brothers and first heavier-than-air powered flight in 1903, to humans on the moon 66 years later. Look at the advances in computing just in the past 30 years. Yes, jump tech etc. are a leap right now, but with the right postulates who knows.