Hard Sci-fi ideas

[kumakami]

so far I've had the following ideas for a sci-fi game......

Ships build for war being built and fighting more like subs, with hall ways having NO gav....

all commercial and public ships being more like ocean liners...

gravity is faked using Polymer single pole magnets in a fat soluble form (you any thing on ship is made with and/or lined with it) and the deck plates use mono-polar electro magnets of the other pole. (if your allergic to the polymer you must travel by cryo)

Computers run on fiber optics, light based computation (aka no elector-magnetic reactions)

By use of Co located links of quantum partials (they proved its possible) a form of Quantum radio is used as communications (no pictures ca be sent)

FTL is done by one way "gate" generators, you can send only returning requires another gate

That is what I got so far....any thoughts/ idea you've be having?

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

My one complaint about what you have so far, is that the magnets would keep you anchored, but not necessarily anything else. A centrifuge of some sort would be better for most applications (real pseudo-gravity) Subs/stealth in space is also inaccurate, but a bit more acceptable for game purposes. The site strikes again!

I've been working on my own hard SF game for quite some time. Most travel is via what amounts to roll-on/roll-off cargo ships driven by ion thrusters and small fusion reactors. Large & fast deliveries are by unmanned vessels with fission powered rockets. What kinds of power and propulsion are in your universe?

How advanced are the off-world installations? Are there Bernarl spheres, Stanford Torus, or O'Neil Habitats in quantity? How advanced is the movement off Earth - are colonies still frontiers, or thriving areas rivaling the old home world?

Do you go the Aliens and Firefly style SF of keeping old fashioned guns around, or has some breakthrough made energy weapons the preferred means?

How have technologies like nano-tech and genetic engineering impacted society (or what reasons have prevented them from doing so?)

To what degree do old national/ethnic groups and divisions continue? Does greater access to space, asteroid mining, and solar energy undermine capitalism as we know it, or is it still business as usual?

[BubbaBrown]

I actually talked to a friend, who's a war gamer and sci-fi enthusiast , about space combat. A few interesting points and concepts we touched on:
1. Most ship to ship combat would probably be at distances well beyond visual range. As with advanced targeting systems, being at close or medium range would be deadly to either side.
2. Most long range weapons would probably be missile or mass-driver based. Lasers and energy weapons would tend to lose their effectiveness after short and medium range.
3. Defensive shielding would either be too costly or ineffective for projectile or missile weaponry. A tractor/repulsor beam would probably be more effective as to alter the course of the missile or projectile safely around the threatened ship.
4. There would no fixed position weaponry... most weapons would be on a turret/gimbal system.
5. Small single pilot fighters would be rare and for special purposes, such as stealth and recon work.
6. Small frigate would probably the smallest ship you'd see common, since the hazards of space travel would make anything smaller excessively risky to use. This would also be the size that's minimally large enough to house all the facilities for deep space travel.
7. The toughest ships out there would actually be industrial/mining ships. Why? They're the one type of ship that purposely goes out into asteroid fields, is exposed to radiation, has to deal with micro-meteorite damage, suffers impacts from larger rocks, and has to wrangle whole asteroids.
8. Inertia would be a BIG problem.
9. Evasive maneuvers would probably be erratic and random, resembling nothing like atmospheric craft maneuvers.
10. Most warships probably wouldn't have windows, apart from observation areas. And the bridge would be housed deep inside the most protected part of the ship.

[Rob Lang]

It's interesting to see how hard sci fi fits into an RPG as a lot of the things that players want - the fun lunacy is often (not always) space opera like.

I am liking your technology, Kuma. I'd like to see more about the society. Is it a galaxy far far away or extrapolation from earth's history?

[I wrote a load of other questions but realised CA had already mentioned them, so I wrote this instead]

[kumakami]

[Chainsaw Aardvark]

Interestingly enough, modern nuclear submarines would be a good analog for the size of an atomic rocket - I believe the AR site has a worked example for something akin to the Oscar class.

Wouldn't your decay reactors just be a variation of (RTGs) already in use? Admittedly, with enhanced efficiency and sufficient size they would work for ion powered space-craft (perhaps with some solar/fuel-cell backup and limited to inter-planet travel) - but real reactors are still better for cites, high thrust fast travel, leaving planet side etc. (How do you escape Earth's Gravity well in this game - space elevator, laser launch, Orion blasts in the Pacific?)

"Low powered" for solar sails is a relative term - we're still talking hundreds of megawatts if not gigawatts. However, placing such lasers on the moon could be a very good reason for its neutrality/independence - economicly valuble projectors that serve everyone in peace, and vaporize anyone in war. (Read "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Henlien for a similar idea involving Mass Drivers) Between not having all that annoying atmosphere to get in the way and excelnt "targeting angels" propulsion lasers desrve to be on the moon. and some derivitves are also under current study, though unlike RTGs, haven't actually been used.

While there might be magnets in everything, that probably still isn't going to change the effort your heat needs for pumping blood and keep bones calcified. For that matter, having powerful magnets floating in your blood with the iron rich hemoglobin seems like a rather innovative and unpleasant way to expire.

Wether of not technology makes a certain form of government more or less likely is an interesting issue that you might want to explore. Socialism isn't so much anti-democratic as it is against the excesses of the free market - i.e. every company should be owned by its employees, not CEOs and stock holders. A sufficently advanced computer probably could stand in for the communist concil, and indeed on orbital habitats with strict rationing, such a manner of control may be necessary.

More to the point would be the question of . There should be enough resorces in asteroid belts etc. and free power from obital solar units to really undermine the normal thoughts of supply and demand - as any demand can be easily met.

Leaving the esoteric theories behind - is there going to be anything like hover tanks, power armor, or giant robots? Where are the players to fit in the various struggles between the planets? Ion engines have high delta-V but low thrust, so what might the combat look like?

[kumakami]

man CA you are on the ball....I love it!!

ok escape is done by refuel able shuttle craft. slow and awkward in space, similar to jet craft now in maneuverability once in atmosphere..... yes true reactors are use planet side. High thrust doesn't mean high speed....

I think I'm adding the moon lasers...thanks

I guess the magnets are the *fairy magic* of my game....never liked the centrifuge method

I never said socialism was the antithesis of democracy. but yeah part of the games "fluff" is tech vs government. The advancement of print and literacy made certain gov. on earth less effective. so why not in the future

on mars your right, earth uses false scarcity and other trick to adjust supply. Like I said earthling aren't very aware of there lives.

hover tanks no, there impractical in the maneuvering department. Power armor YES, Robots to a certain degree....a lot of "smart" weapons and Unmanned space devices. The game will focus on a lot of military and espionage with the possibilities of civilian adventurers. As the war progresses out of system colonization starts up. Venus will be mostly up the the GM....with allowances to input tribal Aliens in you wanted but in would be Non cannon.

as for space combat....ship to ship: its like bubba said, long range missile combat with counter-measures....in the end its mostly pointless one on one...mass battles on the other hand will result in hits and lost ships. On ship, No one sane enough to be fighting on ship would EVER use guns on ship. on ship hand to hand (armed or unarmed) is the best as there is little hull penetration. Some time a boarding party with be armed with NON lethal guns but military advancements make this a chancy idea at best.

[tygertyger]

I am part of the Orion's Arm creative commons community (, which is loaded with hard SF ideas -- much of which is eminently gameable. Indeed, I will be running an rpg session based on OA at the local gaming con in San Antonio, TX next year (. Even if you don't like the OA setting -- which is so vast as to be intimidating -- the site is a great source of inspiration for hard SF technologies.