Technology... (Galaxy at War)

[Stellar_Magic]

I thought we might want to start working with technologies and what specifically they'd be like in game. I decided to start of with Sub-light propulsion.

 

Propulsion Technology: (Sub-light)

 

Ion Drives:

Ion Engines are among the simplest form of propulsion yet conceived off, using nothing more elaborate then a small tank of a noble gas, and an electrical charge the vessel is propelled by a stream of ionized gas particles. NASA has already launched a few space probes which utilize this form of propulsion. Unfortunately the engines tend to deliver little thrust and are therefore less then perfect for human space travel in the amount of time it takes to get a vehicle moving at speed. The ideal role for this technology would be as maneuvering thrusters as the ion propulsion uses nearly no fuel and the low thrust released from such an engine would be more then adequate for maneuvering a vessel.

 

Max Speed: 1/4th the speed of light

Acceleration: Slow

 

Impulse Drive:

You’ve seen it on Star Trek, and the mars mission planned for 2018 will use one. The impulse drive uses radioactive particles created in a reactor and ejected out the rear of the vessel. This produces a medium amount of thrust, but the engine can burn for much longer then a traditional rocket enabling it to reach high speeds relatively quickly. It’s the ideal for short hops within a solar system and is capable of reaching nearby stars.

 

Max Speed: 1/4th the speed of light

Acceleration: Medium

 

Fusion Drive:

This is the Radiation or Impulse drive’s big brother, featuring what amounts to the thermonuclear reactions of a star at the vessel’s aft to propel the vessel. The thrust released would be nearly double that of a traditional Impulse drive, but the drive system would be extremely vulnerable and easy to destroy along with its parent vessel.

 

Max Speed: 1/3rd the speed of light

Acceleration: Fast

 

Solar Sails:

While not technically a drive system in the traditional sense Solar Sails are your best bet for interstellar travel early in the game, using photon pressure or the pressure of light, solar sails are able to travel much faster then traditional drives. Unfortunately there is a downside; solar sails take a large amount of time to accelerate to full speed, making them impractical for in system travel but ideal for long voyages to before the invention of FTL drives.

 

Max Speed: 3/4th the speed of light

Acceleration: Slow

 

Gravitic Drives:

This is the ultimate in sub light engines, manipulating gravity itself a ship can be propelled nearly to the speed of light. The use of gravitational drives also enables vessels to accomplish seemingly impossible maneuvers and reversals in direction.

 

Max Speed: 9/10th the speed of light

Acceleration: Very Fast

[Guest JediIgor]

Hmm, I'm not too familiar with this, but would it be possible to further subcategorize this by:

 

early, middle, late eras?

 

That is if you wanna follow my timeline (which most people liked hehehe ).

 

Also wouldn't it be better to list the speed of acceleration, maybe by the force it can provide? Everyone knows that "max speed" stuff is crap .

[Stellar_Magic]

Also wouldn't it be better to list the speed of acceleration, maybe by the force it can provide? Everyone knows that "max speed" stuff is crap

 

I don't personally agree with what you said JI, from a true simulation of space combat you'd find that there is a big difference, mostly due to the distances involved.

 

Rate of Acceleration is written in the form meters a second a second or meters/sec/sec. This means the following, for every second that thrust is applied the velocity (meters/sec or meters a second) is increased by that amount. The acceleration is determined by the force or thrust divided by the mass according to newtonian physics. f=m*v

 

f is force

m is mass

v is velocity

 

Not only that there is a speed limit other then the speed of light in space because unlike the common belief there are particles in a space which can cause drag, dust, gas, photons, excetra.

 

Now I'm moving on to the reason behind the actual top speeds for each of the engines.

 

Lets start with ion drives.

 

So an ion drive might have say an acceleration of 100m/s/s whereas a Impulse drive might have an acceleration of ten times that number. Finally a solar sail may have an acceleration of a mere 20m/s/s.

 

But when you start traveling between the stars you hit a major snag.

 

An impulse drive if you had it running constantly would eventually reach a point in which the surface area of the drive would keep the object from further accelerating. This is the theoretical maximum speed of the object. For drives like ion, radiation, and impulse these top speeds are far too shallow for interstellar travel to all but the closest stars.

 

But not so a solar sail, why?

 

A solar sail uses the very particles that are slowing down the other drives as its propulsion, primarily photons. This means it can achieve a much greater maximum speed giving such vessels much greater range.

 

Do you see why I put max speeds on them, so you could see that each drive is useful in certain situations but not other ones.

 

Now on to the era in which each technology appears...

 

Early Era:

Ion Drives

Impulse Drives

Solar Sails (A private foundation is planing on launching an experimental solar sail this year)

 

Middle Era:

Fusion Drives

 

Late Era:

Gravitic Drives (These require immense knowledge of string theory in order to create)

[Mad78]

Okay the propulsion technologies are fine but we should also think about weapons

 

early era: missles

torpedos

gaz driven machine guns (for space combet

magnetic shield

 

middle era:Rail cannon

high velocity rochets

particle gun

particle shield

 

Late era: offensive laser beams

fusion missile

gravific propulsed machine gun

energie shield

 

Just a few ideas. What do you think?

[Stellar_Magic]

It's a good start, but I think you've just barely scratched the surface... I'd also seperate shields intoa different class then weapons.

 

Here's what I'd have in the early era (Some of these You'll have to research to get in the early game but are available.)

 

Gas Power Rapid Fire Machine guns:

 

Very basic weapon that is incapable of penetrating most armor and has a muzzle velocity barely higher then the speed of the vessel that fires it. The weapon does have relatively long range but due to its lack of muzzle velocity it is inaccurate at those ranges.

 

Muzzle Velocity: 700m/s

Armor Penetration: Unarmored

 

Gas Powered Mass Driver

 

Basically a big gun, a gas powered mass driver hurrels large shells through space at its target, each gun can fire a variety of different shells. Its destructive power comes primarily from its shell's size and charge rather then its velocity.

 

Ammo Types: (Some guns may fire only one of these types of ammo.)

Armor Piercing:

 

Muzzle Velocity: 800m/s

Armor Penetration: Medium

 

Sabot:

 

Muzzle Velocity: 1,200m/s

Armor Penetration: High

 

High Explosive:

 

Muzzle Velocity: 600m/s

Armor Penetration: Low

Explosion Radius: 20 meters

 

Flechette Shell:

 

Muzzle Velocity: 650m/s

Armor Penetration: Unarmored

Explosion Radius: 40 meters

 

Cannister:

 

Muzzle Velocity: 750m/s

Armor Penetration: Light

Rounds per shell: 20

 

High Explosive Armor Piercing A.K.A HEAT

 

Muzzle Velocity: 700m/s

Armor Penetration: Medium

Explosion Radius: 10 meters

 

Liquid Fueled Mass Driver:

 

An updated model of the mass driver design, it doubles the muzzle velocity by using a liquid propellant and oxidizer instead of the old fashioned solid and gas used in older weapons. Seperate loading of the liquid fuel restrists it to massdrivers making rapid fire weapons impractical. (Just double the velocity of all shots shown before)

 

Magnetic Accelerator Gun

 

Commonly known as rail guns the early versions of the magnetic Accelerator Gun took several minutes to recharge the mag rail and load the bolt restricting it to a stand off weapon.

 

Muzzle Velocity: 4,000 m/s

Armor Penetration: High

 

Rapid fire Rail Gun:

 

Advancements in magnetic technology enable a faster firing time giving the rail gun a new home as a antistarfighter weapon. It's rapid fire enable starfighters to rake larger vessels and cause multiple hull breeches in one pass on a target. Vessels now use them for self defense.

 

Low Yield Laser:

 

This is basically what the US military is planning to deploy in the next ten years on a large airliner to intercept theater Ballistic Missiles. Testing will you soon begin on the design.

 

Damage Equivalent: 50 kgs of TNT

Range... suffers from the inverse square law. (I'll explain the inverse square law later)

 

Well thats all the direct fire weapons I can think of right now, I'll post on missiles later. (This is all Early Era.)

[Guest JediIgor]

Also wouldn't it be better to list the speed of acceleration, maybe by the force it can provide? Everyone knows that "max speed" stuff is crap

 

I don't personally agree with what you said JI, from a true simulation of space combat you'd find that there is a big difference, mostly due to the distances involved.

 

Rate of Acceleration is written in the form meters a second a second or meters/sec/sec. This means the following, for every second that thrust is applied the velocity (meters/sec or meters a second) is increased by that amount. The acceleration is determined by the force or thrust divided by the mass according to newtonian physics. f=m*v

 

Huh? Actually f = m*a . I don't know where you got your Newton's second law from . m*v gives you momentum, not force .

 

And if you are expecting a true simulation of space combat, ask God to give you one. Nothing we humans have will ever give you a "true" simulation of anything. Specifically, things like dust, random atoms in an-otherwise vacuum, etc, are neglegible. Moreover, it is not feasible to even come close to simulate Newtownian physics (most games fake it).

 

So maybe you can tell us how much Force the engine is capable of doing, then we will be able to calculate the acceleration in m/s/s through the mass of the ship . Yes, the max velocity will be dependent on the engine, but at least we won't be stuck with the crap that once you reach 100,000 m/h you can't go any faster like in previous Star Wars games.

 

Do you see why I put max speeds on them, so you could see that each drive is useful in certain situations but not other ones.

Well you are going to have to accelerate before you hit terminal velocity anyways, so the acceleration is still important. Also, acceleration will probably depend on mass, so Force is even more important. After all, what if we want to stick Fusion drives on a big battleship, or on a small destroyer? If it's the same drive, the acceleration would be different .

 

Now on to the era in which each technology appears...

Hmm, if they already have Fusion power in the late era, wouldn't it make more sense to have Fusion drives right away?

 

Otherwise.. I pretty much agree. I hope to see more weapons/defences too, I'm not too familiar with those (too much of a Star Wars fan to know other stuff ).

[Skynxnex]

This is odd..I thought most SW ships had a form of ion drive anyway. Combined with hyperdrive that is all thats needed though I could be wrong. Remember much of the SW galaxy has been in a tech stasis. Hyperdrive has been around for thousands of years in this galaxy.