Interstellar travel

[John Napier 698]

Torbyne wrote:

imagine a prison that just holds the galaxy's most dangerous in the hyperspace elevator...

Cruel and unusual punishment by any standard. :)

[Wei Ji the Learner]

Drahliana Moonrunner wrote:

John Napier 698 wrote:

*Shudder* A week's worth of Elevator Music? Please God, No! Make it STOP!!!.

There's a reason why the Traveller Space Merchant's Guide mentions the need for some level of entertainment on board ship, Elvis be Praised.

Hail to the King, Baby!

[John Napier 698]

Traveller: New Era mentioned the Church of Elvis. I forgot, was that Presley or Costello?

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

John Napier 698 wrote:

Traveller: New Era mentioned the Church of Elvis. I forgot, was that Presley or Costello?

No one really knows... that's the point I think. But I'm fairly sure it was Presley.

[John Napier 698]

Sounds reasonable.

[Drahliana Moonrunner]

John Napier 698 wrote:

Traveller: New Era mentioned the Church of Elvis. I forgot, was that Presley or Costello?

I believe the Church was mentioned as far back as the original series of Traveller books. And it's always the Church of Elvis... no last name.

[John Napier 698]

Ah, Okay.

[Bluenose]

John Napier 698 wrote:

Traveller: New Era mentioned the Church of Elvis. I forgot, was that Presley or Costello?

That's the Holy Church of Elvis to you, splitter. :-)

I would hope that a Profession: Steward skill would include a certain amount of ability to keep people entertained on long journeys. I always treated it that way in CT, and a certain amount of first aid, cooking and other things that would be sensible for a professional 'Looker-After of People'. Of course I'd rather like it if most skills got rolled into a variety of Professions and Hobbies, though I think that's unlikely to happen.

[Matthew Shelton]

Here's at least ten things it would be good to know. Some may not apply while others may spark some new ideas...

* how long does your FTL drive take to get from one location to another? (objective time)

* how long does it _feel like_ it takes? (subjective time)

* what can you and your ship do, or have done to you or your ship, while traveling FTL?

* how accurate and precise (not the same thing) is your FTL with maneuvering and coming to a full stop?

* how dependent on FTL sensors is FTL travel?

* what are the energy requirements for FTL per unit mass? Can you power it with fusion, fission, do you need antimatter? Some weird unobtainium substance?

* what are the personal restrictions or requirements of FTL? (need navigators, can't be conscious, etc)

* how expensive is FTL? Can only corporations and rich people afford to own one, or are they cheap enough that the working class can own them?

* how common is FTL? (is anyone able to access it or does it get licensed out, limited to public transport, locked away or suppressed, etc)

* what can compete economically with FTL travel, if anything? Magical teleportation? Jump drives? Stargates? Psionics? Dream travel?

[John Napier 698]

Exactly. Excellent list, by the way.

[Torbyne]

I want to know more about the relationship between realspace and hyperspace. because you and I both know players will try developing cross spatial weapons to bomb things from one side on the other.

[Jamie Charlan]

Or dual-phase weapons that devastate both along the way to deal with any targets that do that annoying "oh it exists in both at once" thingy.

[Mosaic]

John Napier 698 wrote:

Lastly, while instantaneous teleportation of starships does have its appeal, I'm unfamiliar with any settings that use it. Could you provide references or novel titles so that I may read up on the concept?

Dune. Guild navigators basically folded space around huge, "stationary" transport ships, and then those ships just appeared at the next destination. That's also why communication was so slow, because it had to travel by regular, non-folded paths. So it either traveled right at light speed, or messages were carried by couriers who traveled on Guild ships. (I seem to recall they did try sub-space communication once, but it called something "Bad."). But travel being faster than communication is a nice set-up for a feudal space opera setting, means that remote corners of the universe can be REALLY remote.

[John Napier 698]

It's been a while since I read Dune. Thanks.

[Jamie Charlan]

Also means that like in traveller jump drive quality directly affects a power's zone of influence.