So You Wanna Build a Rocket?

http://www.projectrh...cket/index.html

Everything from ship designs to laser pistols. This site will help you understand what's needed to make your own scientifically accurate sci-fi.

A great read, in any case.

Some interesting Aerospace equations to be sure. Thank you sir. Have you considered adding this to the "all the links you'll ever need" post?

Awesome read. The treatment of weapons is excellent, but their concepts of tactics are rather weak. Nobody would ever stand to gain anything by nuking every target into oblivion. Space is big and empty, its far more likely both forces would do everything in their power to capture enemy rescources. Also, the impossibility of 'dissapearing' in a spaceship while coasting is built upon the assumption that it would contain life support. This is just a silly notion. Both armies would be significantly, if not fully, automated.

Still all very interesting. The wikipedia article for phase array has one of the cooler pictures Ive seen recently.

Huh... I never knew plasma was complete bullcrap. Thats interesting.

Very interesting, but it seems like all of it is based off of our current understanding of science and it's capabilities. Let's not forget that we are creating stuff for a game that is centuries ahead of where we are today, anything could be possible, just an example: 100 years ago many people (not all) thought that you would be destroyed if you went faster then the speed of sound... that is until Chuck Yeager broke it in 1947

Asmodean, on May 22 2005, 09:14 PM, said:

Very interesting, but it seems like all of it is based off of our current understanding of science and it's capabilities. Let's not forget that we are creating stuff for a game that is centuries ahead of where we are today, anything could be possible, just an example: 100 years ago many people (not all) thought that you would be destroyed if you went faster then the speed of sound... that is until Chuck Yeager broke it in 1947
View Post

Not so long before that they were convinced that you would die if you were in a train that went more than thirty miles an hour, because you wouldn't be able to breathe.

Actually, we DO have things which can somewhat shoot steam, it's just that it's not always very useful. In a severe vacumme like space, there could very easily be a plasma beam, as there is VERY little resistence to the plasma (little enough that it's not a significant factor). Since elements in a plasma state are all conductive and (I think) magnetic, they could be launched by the same principals as a railgun. Storing and launching would still be a problem, as matter has to be VERY hot to become plasma, and we've only been able to have plasma suspended magnetically in a vacumme chamber. But because of such, if you find a way to store and launch it without vaporizing yourself, it will be a catastrophic weapon once it hits its target. Because of these things, it would probably only work in space, otherwise there will be too much resistence for the plasma to get to its target in any resonable time, and because the surrounding air will absorb the heat and convect it to areas you don't want it to. It's still possible, just not easy.

Looked at the site now -- it's actually out of date even based on what we currently know - eg, artificial gravity.

Likewise, it doesn't pick up the possibilities of the tachyon (where mass is imaginary (square root of minus 1) in its list of types of star drive, though this is a mathematical property of the mass dilation equation, not a demonstrably physical approach to conducting a working spaceship.

Really it's a compendium of 'golden age' SF ideas, hence the dedication to Heinlein and Clarke. Nice site, though.

Artificial gravity? Excuse me?

The problem with plasma, by the way, is that it is charged and very hot. It keeps going, but the beam spreads out so much that you cant concentrate for any meaningful distance. A directed lazer would move much more energy much faster towards the target.

A kinetic kill weapon (i.e. SDI) would be much more cost-effective than either a laser or a plasma weapon, if you really wanted to be realistic. After all, a kinetic kill weapon doesn't need the energy to burn through the enemy target, just to get the projectile to high enough velocities. And it would be much more difficult to stop than either a laser beam or a plasma pulse...strong magnetic fields or layers of thick armor at a practical level just wouldn't be strong enough to stop the kinetic kill weapon from punching a hole in the enemy target.

NebuchadnezzaR, on May 23 2005, 12:48 PM, said:

Artificial gravity? Excuse me?

The problem with plasma, by the way, is that it is charged and very hot. It keeps going, but the beam spreads out so much that you cant concentrate for any meaningful distance. A directed lazer would move much more energy much faster towards the target.
View Post

I think you mean laser.

Anyway, long distance plasma weapons would work with long distance tightly constrained magnetic fields, or some form of projectile creating said fields.

The main issue I have with that site is that it says things are impossible, whereas in reality they could well work, we just haven't found out how yet. Don't forget that for thousands of years they thought that people couldn't fly.

Quote

Don't forget that for thousands of years they thought that people couldn't fly.

And they were right! People can't fly. However, we've been able to create machines that can. I realize the distinction is small, but it's VERY VERY important. :laugh:

NebuchadnezzaR, on May 23 2005, 12:48 AM, said:

Artificial gravity? Excuse me?
View Post

http://news.bbc.co.u...ech/2157975.stm

No more speculative than most of the stuff on the site. The fact that Boeing are chucking money at it makes it significantly closer to us than many of the ideas they cover.

Sorry mate, I don't really buy it. Gravitons are imaginary, there is no way to block them. There is plenty of capacity to use electrostatics or magnetics to force things away, but that doesnt count as 'anti gravity'

Flyboy, on May 23 2005, 07:55 PM, said:

And they were right! People can't fly. However, we've been able to create machines that can. I realize the distinction is small, but it's VERY VERY important. :laugh:
View Post

OK, I'll correct that. People thought that machines couldn't fly. Then we had hot-air balloons, which were accepted because hot air rises, then gliders, which where light and it was known that light things don't fall as fast, and then powered aircraft, which people didn't want to believe as they were so heavy.

Point is, when people say things are impossible it normally means that it just hasn't been done yet.

NebuchadnezzaR, on May 30 2005, 03:52 AM, said:

Sorry mate, I don't really buy it. Gravitons are imaginary, there is no way to block them. There is plenty of capacity to use electrostatics or magnetics to force things away, but that doesnt count as 'anti gravity'
View Post

OK, prove gravitons are imaginary. You can't. Gravitons are just one theory of how gravity is transmitted. Since we haven't found of any way to influence them at the moment we can't do anything with them, but one day we might find something.

In physics nothing is absolute, things are only valid until the theory is found invalid.

Quote

Point is, when people say things are impossible it normally means that it just hasn't been done yet.

I agree with you completely Blackhole. I apologize for the smart$%^ remark. Sometimes these things hit me, and I have to share them. It's the people who refuse to accept the boundaries of science and engineering that ultimately redefine those boundaries.

"There is no impossible, there is only that which has not yet been accoplished."
Albert Einstein

Quote

Gravitons are imaginary, there is no way to block them.

It was not so many years ago that "science" said the exact same thing about atoms and germs.

Of course everything is theoretically possible, however I would like to underline two points:
First, not everything is plausible. Even if something may end up becoming true in the future, it may not sound realistic at all for the average Nova player, and that's who we're interested in.
Second, you have to keep it coherent, so if you want to have weird technologies in your plug, fine, but make sure you don't make them invent technology, that seems primitive compared to the ones already mainstream, at some point in your storyline.

This post has been edited by Zacha Pedro : 30 May 2005 - 10:17 AM

Martin Turner, on May 23 2005, 05:04 AM, said:

http://news.bbc.co.u...ech/2157975.stm
View Post

Eh. Looks like they're trying to make artifical gravity, but they say they're making antigravity. I mean, if you have something under you going fast enough, it'll be massive enough to pull you down, huh?