To help on descriptions

Well, in my time on the boards, I have seen some quite interesting facts about how the various parts of EV work. By this, I do not mean the game engine, I mean things like hyperdrives and blaster cannons. I thought that it might be helpful to assemble a list of these, as they could help in writing detailed descriptions. You can't write what you do not know. I would appreciate it if other people added their own observations, especially if they added how they found this out. All observations are open for debate if someone disagrees.

So a couple notes:

Hyper drives:
There is a minimum velocity requirnment to jump to hyperspace, as emphasized by the fact that you cannot jump while you are under the influence of a tractor beam.
The amount of fuel used goes up as the mass of the object being transported goes up, as larger ships usually carry less energy, even though they should have larger energy cells.
The velocity of travel in hyperspace is affected by the mass of your ship, as larger ships take longer to jump that distance.
You must make a powered "dive" into hyperspace, as if your ship gets disabled in the process of jumping to hyperspace, the jump is aborted.
The fact that energy is not used or affected by the standard electricity power of the lighting and other such things indicates that energy is not electricity.

That's all I can think of right now, so I hope this thread will be helpful to people.

Blasters fire a supercharged proton or neutron towards a target.

Railguns use electromagnetism to propel a metal pellet of the opposite polarity.

Fusion reactors are usually more powerful than fission reactors, and harness the energy given off when two particles fuse together. "Cold Fusion" is where the fusion happens at almost room temperature with a low energy activator, which allows you to harness far more energy than you use instead of simply changing the type of energy to electricity.

Fission reactors harness the energy when an atom splits. This is usually a radioactive atom, as a non-reactive substance will not start a chain reaction and simply give you an atom's worth of energy.

Anti-matter is a substance as yet unknown to man, as it has only been discovered in masses less than one quark in size. When it contacts matter, it results in "annihilation", a perfect matter to energy conversion, using e=mcc. That referst to how much energy is contained in one atom.

A railgun is in essence a small linear accelerator, in that it uses alternating magnetic fields to hurl the pellet of magnetic material at high velocities. (Note: that was just refining on Cosmic Nuisance's previous remark on this)

A hail chain gun appears to be a form of gatling gun. A gatling gun is a large repeating rifle hooked up with multiple (usually 6) barrels that are rotated into position, fired, rotated out of position, and reloaded, going in a circle to obtain an average firing speed in excess of 6000 rounds per minute.

The ion dissipater works by having radiation-reflecting panels mounted all around your ship, so that the ions simply bounce off.

The Thunderhead lance and many other beam weapons in the game basically appear to belarge, overpowered, long-ranged laser cutters.

Real Electro-Magnetic-Pulse devices work by detonating a "dirty" nuclear warhead, sending out a pulse that can destroy and disrupt electronics (a dirty nuclear warhead is a warhead that has had its radiation output boosted).

It is more likely that the one in the game is not really an EMP device, as nuclear warheads would deal more than 10 hull damage, and would be very expensive and dangerous, instead it is more likely that it is just a magnetic pulse. This would also explain why it doesn't just crash your ship. Instead, it would wipe all harddrives (although this would also crash), and disrupt circuits, and you could reboot over time.

The fact that EMP torpedoes do not crash your ship (via wiping harddrives) indicates that the ships use flash memory or some new non-magnetic based memory.

Fusion normally requires immense amounts of heat and pressure to start (the fusion in the sun could not nescicarily start if the sun was the size of the Earth). In fusion bombs, this is accomplished by setting off a fission bomb (in the epicenter of the explosion, it reaches temperatures over twice the internal temperature of the sun), which compresses hydrogen and starts the fusion.

Just a question, I now have the label Satu under my avatar. What does that mean?

This post has been edited by 101181920 : 15 October 2007 - 10:58 PM

"Satu" refers to the fact that you now have more than 100 posts.

When you surpass 200, I think it will change to "Dua" or something. I don't remember what offhand.

@0101181920, on Oct 15 2007, 09:19 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Real Electro-Magnetic-Pulse devices work by detonating a "dirty" nuclear warhead, sending out a pulse that can destroy and disrupt electronics (a dirty nuclear warhead is a warhead that has had its radiation output boosted).

It is more likely that the one in the game is not really an EMP device, as nuclear warheads would deal more than 10 hull damage, and would be very expensive and dangerous, instead it is more likely that it is just a magnetic pulse. This would also explain why it doesn't just crash your ship. Instead, it would wipe all harddrives (although this would also crash), and disrupt circuits, and you could reboot over time.

The fact that EMP torpedoes do not crash your ship (via wiping harddrives) indicates that the ships use flash memory or some new non-magnetic based memory.

Actually, that's what happens when a nuke goes off. There are several types of EMP generators that can just generate the pulse without the explosion. In theory, the EMP Torpedo could be a mobile EMP generator that simply detonates as it generates the pulse, and that could account for the meager armor damage. Also, a dirty bomb is simply radioactive material that uses conventional explosives to distribute the fallout, so it's basically a bomb that distributes radioactive fallout. There is no nuclear explosion involved with a dirty bomb.

@0101181920, on Oct 15 2007, 06:19 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Real Electro-Magnetic-Pulse devices work by detonating a "dirty" nuclear warhead, sending out a pulse that can destroy and disrupt electronics (a dirty nuclear warhead is a warhead that has had its radiation output boosted).

It is more likely that the one in the game is not really an EMP device, as nuclear warheads would deal more than 10 hull damage, and would be very expensive and dangerous, instead it is more likely that it is just a magnetic pulse. This would also explain why it doesn't just crash your ship. Instead, it would wipe all harddrives (although this would also crash), and disrupt circuits, and you could reboot over time.

The fact that EMP torpedoes do not crash your ship (via wiping harddrives) indicates that the ships use flash memory or some new non-magnetic based memory.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Oct 15 2007, 08:29 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Actually, that's what happens when a nuke goes off. There are several types of EMP generators that can just generate the pulse without the explosion. In theory, the EMP Torpedo could be a mobile EMP generator that simply detonates as it generates the pulse, and that could account for the meager armor damage. Also, a dirty bomb is simply radioactive material that uses conventional explosives to distribute the fallout, so it's basically a bomb that distributes radioactive fallout. There is no nuclear explosion involved with a dirty bomb.

Actually, there are differant types of nuclear bombs (boosted warheads) that emit more radiation than standard bombs, which is what I meant by dirty bomb. And what I meant was that it probobly wasn't a nuke. A nuke does emit an EMP blast, but in such intense amounts that it can melt circuit boards via the energy of the particles crashing into it, and that amount of radiation would probobly kill the human operators of the ship unless it was seriously lead lined. I hadn't heard of the other EMP generators, but they would fit as well. And the part about it being more of an MP was because these ships have a large resistance to energy, and so the amount of electricity required to break through might melt parts of the hull and or fry circuitry, and it's not supposed to be that destructive. I'm not sure about this, I don't know much electronics, I study physics.

Firebirds, and presumebly Phoenix's, are launched via electro-magnetic catapults that function along the lines of a railgun.

This post has been edited by 101181920 : 15 October 2007 - 11:02 PM

Ok. It just sounded like you were making "dirty bomb" into a radiation-boosted nuke. Also, I highlighted the wrong part in your post. :rolleyes: I meant this part:

Quote

Real Electro-Magnetic-Pulse devices work by detonating a "dirty" nuclear warhead, sending out a pulse that can destroy and disrupt electronics (a dirty nuclear warhead is a warhead that has had its radiation output boosted).

Not all EMP devices use nukes, and dirty bombs aren't nukes per se.

Yes, but I explained what I meant by it, so I don't think that it's that hard to understand. I made a small error by using the wrong terminology. So shoot me. And I told you already that I hadn't heard of the other EMP devices.

The FPC fires packets of supercharged, superheated energy-plasma.

Quote

And I told you already that I hadn't heard of the other EMP devices.

smacks forehead for just skimming your post
Sorry. My bad.

In the interest of being helpful and not just trying to pick a fight (or appearing to-- I just am obsessed with proper terminology, so sorry), here are images of an EMP generator setting off dynamite strapped to a crash test dummy.

This post has been edited by Cosmic_Nusiance : 16 October 2007 - 08:14 AM

Ooh, fancy!
Oh wait, there's nothing there.

ARG! edits

@0101181920, on Oct 16 2007, 01:19 AM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Anti-matter is a substance as yet unknown to man, as it has only been discovered in masses less than one quark in size.

Hi just thought I'd mention this isn't accurate. For reference, take a look at the antimatter article in Wikipedia and this article at Space.com. At the very least, CERN has constructed antihydrogen atoms in the lab, and it seems astronomers have observed at least the results of matter-antimatter reactions in the sun. I could imagine a cool thread using the colour of what we know in 2007 about antimatter as part of a story line bringing antimatter drives to a pre-interstellar civilisation, for example.

Here's how hypergates work:

Dave Williams said:

Omata Kane's fundamental principle is simple -- space, as Einstein pointed out, isn't flat. It's curved in a number of dimensions. The Hypergates work by assisting that bend via additional energy input. Each leaf of the gate mechanism is powered by a fusion reactor in the centre of leaf. The leaf itself is a Bose-Einstein condensate that slows the speed of light considerably inside it. When injected with enough energy at the correct frequency, the leaves start twisting space between them. The focal point of the twist can then be directed by fluctuating the power input.

When the focal point space-time pressure (measured in Kanes) approaches zero, the leaves start to unfurl, pushing the focal point away from realspace in the direction intended.

The endpoint of the new gate tunnel is usually paired with another gate for stability, but an unpaired sequence can be initiated for hyperprobe exploration and gate construction teams.

The Hypergates are very flexible. At maximum stretch they can accomodate even a Leviathan through the gate tunnel. They can even detatch their segments, which can be tug-boated out to allow even larger vehicles passage (like Diemos-class colony ships).

The BEC material that the leaves are constructed of is very resilient, and given usual circumstances it will remain viable for tens of thousands of years. However, the gate bombing carried out by the Armetis Group caused a hyperspace feedback pulse, the backlash of which caused the destruction of much of the gate system. The production of the BEC material is a lost art, at least in bulk. Hyperdrives usually have a microscopic amount of it to generate their local twist matrices.

Hypergates also require palladium for their superconductive elements in the spire linkages.

Hope that helps!

All the best,

Dave @ ATMOS

@cosmic_nusiance, on Oct 15 2007, 11:22 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

smacks forehead for just skimming your post
Sorry. My bad.

In the interest of being helpful and not just trying to pick a fight (or appearing to-- I just am obsessed with proper terminology, so sorry), here are images of an EMP generator setting off dynamite strapped to a crash test dummy.

That's fine, I am often occused of the same thing.

@guy, on Oct 16 2007, 01:26 AM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Ooh, fancy!
Oh wait, there's nothing there.

What do you mean?

@cosmic_nusiance, on Oct 16 2007, 06:14 AM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

ARG! edits

Good for you.

@bubbles, on Oct 16 2007, 07:06 AM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Hi just thought I'd mention this isn't accurate. For reference, take a look at the antimatter article in Wikipedia and this article at Space.com. At the very least, CERN has constructed antihydrogen atoms in the lab, and it seems astronomers have observed at least the results of matter-antimatter reactions in the sun. I could imagine a cool thread using the colour of what we know in 2007 about antimatter as part of a story line bringing antimatter drives to a pre-interstellar civilisation, for example.

Oops, sorry. Thanks for correcting me. That was what I remembered from my 7th grade physics class.

And correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that explosive missiles work in the near-vacuum of space means that they must carry a supply of oxygen along with the explosive.

@0101181920, on Oct 16 2007, 09:36 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

And correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that explosive missiles work in the near-vacuum of space means that they must carry a supply of oxygen along with the explosive.

I'm pretty sure you're mostly right, but I'm pretty sure that there are a few exceptions to it. Does napalm contain it's own oxygen? I know that burns underwater.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Oct 16 2007, 07:04 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

I'm pretty sure you're mostly right, but I'm pretty sure that there are a few exceptions to it. Does napalm contain it's own oxygen? I know that burns underwater.

Just looked it up. Napalm does chemically contain oxygen. However, it still did not burn under water because it mixed with water, causing the fire to go out. So they added phosphorus, which does not mix with water. Magnesium flares extract oxygen from the water. The Olympic torch contains its own supply of oxygen.

@0101181920, on Oct 16 2007, 11:22 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Just looked it up. Napalm does chemically contain oxygen. However, it still did not burn under water because it mixed with water, causing the fire to go out. So they added phosphorus, which does not mix with water. Magnesium flares extract oxygen from the water. The Olympic torch contains its own supply of oxygen.

Ok. If that's the case, you're probably right. Then again, there aren't sounds in space either... That's interesting about the olympic torch. I always wondered what would happen if it went out.

@cosmic_nusiance, on Oct 16 2007, 10:19 PM, said in The Physical Workings of the EV Universe:

Ok. If that's the case, you're probably right. Then again, there aren't sounds in space either... That's interesting about the olympic torch. I always wondered what would happen if it went out.

That is a good point about no sound. Anyone want to go and strip all the sound effects of of EVN? Anyway, from what I read, the Olympic torch is actually a welder, of the sort used under water. I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate, but that's what I read.

Quote

Anyone want to go and strip all the sound effects out of EVN?

I'll get right on it. Although if the sounds were made inside the ships (missiles chunking into place, for example, and vulcan guns rattling) that would be much more interesting than 'Sounds In Space!'. That would be good for a hard science TC, also.

Hmmmmmmmm....! That's something worth thinking about... cryptic grin

That's super easy for me. Just click, drag, I'm done!

EDIT: 18 Megs of extracted Nova Sounds, anyone?

This post has been edited by Geek : 17 October 2007 - 05:35 PM