@jacabyte, on Jun 24 2008, 12:53 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

Everything you'll ever want to know about Sci-Fi, and some stuff that you won't want to touch with a 10 foot pole. That link is an extended reading project, by far. Of course, if you don't want your descs to end up something like "This is a neutron gun; It's more powerful than the proton gun and the laser gun," then I suggest you read as much as you can.

I agree! That is FANTASTIC!!!! My favorite sci-fi author is Robert A. Heinlein so that could add to why I like that site so much.

@0101181920, on Jun 23 2008, 11:32 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

I'm going to work on some people you meet that tell you about it.) invention of the Shkin Corporation is "non-real space" (name liable to change) which they use to basically hyper-charge weaponry.

How about flatspace? Its more plausable than just shifting dimensions and hoping the space-altered components stay in the same position as your ship in the gap as your ship moves along. Flatspace was in ultraviolet. Molecular compression may be very plausable by the time Ev Nova blasts off into the dark.

The problem with that is that I don't think it would be possible for the weapons to fire out of this flatspace, plus the whole concept doesn't make much sense, and I am now trying to keep this believable, although not necessarily understandable :). Reading about it (ah, the wonders of Wikipedia), it seems like the flatspace is a way to hook a "pocket dimension" onto a given access point, which is exactly what my previous idea was. I'm sure that in my Wiki and Atomic Rocket trawls I'll find something that suits my idea to a point, but I'm definitely not going to find a perfect match. Like my new improved wraithii explanation, that would work. Everything in there is possible, or based off of credible scientific theories, except the original wraithii. Sorry, Pipeline and other developers, but what the heck is a mar-graviton field? Did you look up what a polaron is? It took a lot of work to validate that.

EDIT:
Hey, does anyone remember anything about octanitrocubane, that explosive that someone mentioned in the Science of EVN topic I created? I looked on Wikipedia, but there wasn't very much helpful info.

This post has been edited by 101181920 : 27 June 2008 - 06:20 PM

@shlimazel, on Jun 23 2008, 11:11 AM, said in Technical Manuals:

Oh, well. When has that ever mattered in sci-fi?

I suppose you could say that what's important above all is story-telling ability, but working with suspension of disbelief is tricky as hell and ######ing it up can detract from a story. Isaac Asimov, for example, had very well-written sci-fi that dealt with possibilities, and his ability to write what maybe someday could be real often affected the story. Some ###### using pseudoscience nanotech to explain goddamn near any trope/macguffin/deus ex machina, for example, could not have pulled off a book like Foundation. Then there's the other side of the coin - guys like Stanislaw Lem who could use out-there concepts with no trace of seriousness in order to parody or satirize. People who think writing foot-long blocks of text to explain why the universe they've created looks like a Star Wars novel redressed makes their universe totally different from Star Wars c'mon guys are on neither side of the coin, because they're talentless ######ing hacks.

That's why it's always safer to stick to shorter works or short stories when it comes to sci-fi or fantasy. There's some truly great stuff in that 'genre' grouping, but most of it over three hundred pages tends toward being insane garbage like what Terry Goodkind or George R. R. Martin writes (weird Ayn Rand endorsement/gag-inducing misogyny/raping ten-year-olds), which is all just boring crap totally derivative of Tolkien. edit: derivative of Tolkien with all that Rand/misogyny/pedophile s### added in, I mean. Don't want to look like I'm accusing him of all people of being a disgusting creep.

@pipeline, on Jun 23 2008, 11:22 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

EV Nova tried to use as little Handwavium as possible. We very carefully researched our technologies. I remember spending a good week looking into how you go about making a real railgun, and why they were built in the first place. My father happens to have his Masters in Engineering from the very same university where the first railgun was conceived of and constructed.

That's actually pretty sweet.

This post has been edited by Anax : 27 June 2008 - 07:20 PM

Are you saying that I'm making it up? The first ones, true, were complete handwavium, but this most recent one is completely possible. The one thing I don't understand about this thing is what mar-graviton fields are.

Goodness, what crawled under your skin today, Anax?

@0101181920, on Jun 27 2008, 08:18 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

Are you saying that I'm making it up? The first ones, true, were complete handwavium, but this most recent one is completely possible. The one thing I don't understand about this thing is what mar-graviton fields are.

If that's addressed at me, no. I didn't feel like reading a bunch of plug-in desc text, so I just skimmed through the replies and commented on stuff that piqued my interest.

Oh, that's fine then. I'm guessing about two people are going to really read the final products, so I'm more doing this for fun.

@jacabyte, on Jun 27 2008, 08:25 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

Goodness, what crawled under your skin today, Anax?

This post has been edited by Anax : 27 June 2008 - 07:43 PM

Panics... Get it away! Anyway, the only description you really need to bother reading is the latest one on the improved wraithii cannon. But could you please take that beetle of the thread? I have insectaphobia.

Personally, I make my outf descs more about what the outfit does rather than how it works.

Yeah, this isn't going in the description box. It's a bit big. This is a "fun" (for me. I like writing them) little thing that you can access in the BBS. If you can find a better place to put it, please tell me, and how.

Wow. You did some reading up on this one.

I think the pseudo-science is significantly better this time round, but I'd keep it simpler, and shorter.

Try this:

Quote

Wraithii, the projectile component of the Wraith Cannon, have long been the province of the Polaris and a few fortunate (or clever) outsiders. That elite group has now been joined by GLiTech, who have successfully reverse-engineered wraithii from "recovered" samples.

Shkin researchers have made great strides in adapting their dimensional shunt technology to the inherently unstable polaron matrix found in wraithii, and the resultant semi-stable devices pack quite a bit more punch than the stock original. They're costlier, certainly, but the extra firepower can come in very handy.

Simple, punchy and to the point. Not much extra Handwavium, but makes the pertinent facts abundantly clear to the reader:

• Gli-tech-nia now make wraithii.

• They've been uprated by Shkin scientists.

• They use dimensional shunt technology, whatever that is -- sounds dangerous.

• The extra firepower will cost you.

See? easy.

On the subject of the science of Nova, I just read an excellent book called "The Physics of the Impossible". One of the technologies discussed was teleportation. One of the possible teleportation technologies involved using a Bose-Einstein Condensate. I was all "Hey! They did that in Nova!". I've really been inspired to up the science level of my own TC. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that "The Physics of the Impossible" is must read for all of you.

I think this quote suits this topic well:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-- Arthur C. Clarke

gsn : I've read that book as well, it's pretty cool. Some of the stuff being worked on is pretty wacky (but cool).

@pipeline, on Jun 28 2008, 06:10 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

Wow. You did some reading up on this one.

I think the pseudo-science is significantly better this time round, but I'd keep it simpler, and shorter.

Try this:
Simple, punchy and to the point. Not much extra Handwavium, but makes the pertinent facts abundantly clear to the reader:

• Gli-tech-nia now make wraithii.

• They've been uprated by Shkin scientists.

• They use dimensional shunt technology, whatever that is -- sounds dangerous.

• The extra firepower will cost you.

See? easy.

Yeah, I suppose, but this isn't really supposed to be something that people read. It's just a huge amount of perfectly reasonable applications of technology, and is more created for my enjoyment (hey, it's fun. Try it sometime.) There are going to be short little outfitters descriptions that you read there, and then these are just made for fun and for the 1% of people who understand it or are willing to invest in two hours of Wikipedia and scientific research to understand it. There's no handwavium in that at all. Oh, just for my information, could you explain what a mar-graviton field is? It would prove very helpful in writing.

@gray-shirt-ninja, on Jun 28 2008, 06:54 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

On the subject of the science of Nova, I just read an excellent book called "The Physics of the Impossible". One of the technologies discussed was teleportation. One of the possible teleportation technologies involved using a Bose-Einstein Condensate. I was all "Hey! They did that in Nova!". I've really been inspired to up the science level of my own TC. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that "The Physics of the Impossible" is must read for all of you.

I'll definately try to check it out. I'll check if they've got it in the library at some point. If you're interested in science books, then you should try "The Science of Middle Earth". It's a really good book theorizing on how things in LotR could work, like dragon fire, the Ring, palantiri, mithril, and whether balrogs have wings, and, if so, if they could fly.

@mackilroy, on Jun 28 2008, 09:06 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

I think this quote suits this topic well:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-- Arthur C. Clarke
gsn : I've read that book as well, it's pretty cool. Some of the stuff being worked on is pretty wacky (but cool).

The whole point of this is that it is supposed to make it so it doesn't seem like technobabble, magic, or handwavium. Probably the effect is to make it more incomprehensible, but, hey, you don't have to read it.

@0101181920, on Jun 29 2008, 03:53 PM, said in Technical Manuals:

Yeah, I suppose, but this isn't really supposed to be something that people read. It's just a huge amount of perfectly reasonable applications of technology, and is more created for my enjoyment (hey, it's fun. Try it sometime.)

Call me odd, but writing something no one will ever read, in a style designed to be read, seems a bit... well, I don't know.

It's okay to call me criminally insane. It's true. Can you seriously imagine some who's not writing a couple hundred words that no one will read, just for the point of writing it? Probably my subconscious believes that it will give me some sort of bragging rights :).

@pipeline, on Jun 29 2008, 12:21 AM, said in Technical Manuals:

Call me odd, but writing something no one will ever read, in a style designed to be read, seems a bit... well, I don't know.

@0101181920, on Jun 29 2008, 12:23 AM, said in Technical Manuals:

It's okay to call me criminally insane. It's true. Can you seriously imagine some who's not writing a couple hundred words that no one will read, just for the point of writing it? Probably my subconscious believes that it will give me some sort of bragging rights :).

Believe it or not, I concur with 101181920 on this one. It really isn't that odd. I think what he is saying is there are so few of us that will care...it probably won't matter so he is writing it more for himself and not an audience. Those of us that do care will probably think like 101181920 and just want an insanely detailed explanation that fulfills our unquenchable curiosity.

To illustrate the point, I have a 5 or so page explanation on how the batch of hypergates were developed and how they might work, down to the "physics" (very very sketchy physics mind you) of how the process or moving through a hypergate works.

Will any of you ever read these five pages? I doubt it highly, but still for my sanity, I had to complete what I considered a "hole" in EV:N at least in some form that satisfied my curiosity.

So in a very strange way, I totally get what 101181920 is saying. It just so happens that he is putting it actually in a plug for another extremely curious observer to stop by and read it...like myself.

This post has been edited by Swithich : 29 June 2008 - 03:12 AM

I'll read it. Sounds great! But what do you mean by sketchy? As in it's mostly supported by todays technology, or your nearly making it all up? The first is better. I'd be happy to help you make it ten pages of stuff that would actually work :). Oh, by the way, you interpreted my point perfectly. Thanks.