Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

[thrash]

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

If we are doing a parallel setting for Space then we need a way to move familiar Earth cultures out into space as well as having vastly different and strange cultures among humans as well as aliens.

I wrote an article for the online JTAS called "Time Traveller" that was a crossover between Infinite Worlds and Traveller: Interstellar Wars. The idea was that Einstein got the last laugh, and Traveller's jump drive took you to alternate Earths instead of the stars.

The "Vilani" were from an alternate that developed agriculture during a warm period before the last glacial maximum, then got caught in a cultural vice as the ice closed in. Their tech gave them a head start when the ice melted, but their culture held them back to the point that they were only a few hundred years ahead of Homeline at first contact, rather than thousands.

It wouldn't be hard to scrub the serial numbers off and do it as a straight Space/Infinite Worlds crossover. You could start with the United States of Lizardia for aliens.

Originally Posted by whswhs

The Lensman novels are classics of (what we now call) space opera, and they had almost no swordplay; when they had melee it was often hand to hand, with at least one notable excursus into battlesuits.

I seem to recall Doc Smith was fond of battleaxes for boarding actions.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by thrash

I seem to recall Doc Smith was fond of battleaxes for boarding actions.

Well, that's true. I'd forgotten about VanBuskirk and his space-ax. Not much fancy swordplay, though!

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Well, that's true. I'd forgotten about VanBuskirk and his space-ax. Not much fancy swordplay, though!

For a Valerian a 30 lb space-axe is a one-handed weapon and Van Buskirk is described as brining it into "En Garde" position with ease. Probably still no Fencing Skill. :)

Kinnison had Fencing though. He won a saber duel (to the death for Klingon-style promotion) while being Traska Gannel.

Training at the Lensman Academy is apparently quite broad skill-wise. there's probably heavy use of telepathic instructors.

There is quite a bit of swordplay in other Space Opera. Flash Gordon might be the leading example.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by thrash

It wouldn't be hard to scrub the serial numbers off and do it as a straight Space/Infinite Worlds crossover. You could start with the United States of Lizardia for aliens.

Hmm.

If the jump drive only works in space, then only spacefaring powers are parachronic. That's OK. But if they have a spaceship that can land and take off again, they quite readily out-power almost any alternate timeline.

[thrash]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

If the jump drive only works in space, then only spacefaring powers are parachronic. That's OK. But if they have a spaceship that can land and take off again, they quite readily out-power almost any alternate timeline.

Globally, yes -- this is explicitly the central conflict of King David's Spaceship, for example -- but locally the characters often don't have those advantages or can't bring them to bear. There are quite a few examples in the source literature (Anderson, Norton, Piper, Tubb, Panshin, etc.).

You can also cut down on the advantage by setting things up so that the overpowered spacecraft lands once and then is almost entirely static. Adventure then consists of getting into trouble over the horizon and having to escape back to the landing zone. I eschew reactionless thrusters and contragravity for this reason, though I'm sure there are other ways to approach it.

[dcarson]

If the spaceship uses real world physics for takeoff and landing instead of antigrav or reactionless when you land you'll have empty tanks and need a sophisticated logistics setup to refuel. So you're stuck until you can setup and run a LOX and liquid hydrogen unit for probably days or buy and refine kerosene equivalent. This allows noticeably lower tech locals to make real problems for you.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by dcarson

If the spaceship uses real world physics for takeoff and landing instead of antigrav or reactionless when you land you'll have empty tanks and need a sophisticated logistics setup to refuel. So you're stuck until you can setup and run a LOX and liquid hydrogen unit for probably days or buy and refine kerosene equivalent. This allows noticeably lower tech locals to make real problems for you.

If the spaceship is using real world physics it isn't doing it on LOX and kerosene or even LH2.

A vehicle that uses HEDM in the form of liquid metallic hydrogen could have an onboard reactor and a fuel processor that compressed hydrogen into the HEDM fuel. Spaceships will let you try and fail to design the self-fueling hydrogen burner but allow you to successfully design the HEDM version.

It'd mostly be a matter of time to refuel after you landed. Also never ever engaging in combat in your lander. HEDM explodes like (at least) 30x its' weight in TNT when the tanks are breached.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

If the spaceship is using real world physics it isn't doing it on LOX and kerosene or even LH2.

A vehicle that uses HEDM in the form of liquid metallic hydrogen could have an onboard reactor and a fuel processor that compressed hydrogen into the HEDM fuel. Spaceships will let you try and fail to design the self-fueling hydrogen burner but allow you to successfully design the HEDM version.

Can't you just use a smaller system and take longer?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by ericthered

Can't you just use a smaller system and take longer?

Unless you're only ever going to visit large airports you need to do vertical take-off. Once you have the 1G+ for that there's no point in burning your fuel slower.

[thrash]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

If the spaceship is using real world physics it isn't doing it on LOX and kerosene or even LH2.

I don't think it's necessary to go totally hard science, as much as it's nice to constrain our space fantasy to capabilities that support rather than undercut the intended adventures.

For what it's worth, I use an uprated fusion drive (trading delta-V for thrust) and water for reaction mass. I can get pretty close to the same results with fission rockets and hydrogen, however -- the tanks are just bigger. My "Vilani" have an antimatter-water system (inspired by Crest of the Stars), which makes their spacecraft powerful but vulnerable and tied to their infrastructure.

Unless you're only ever going to visit large airports you need to do vertical take-off.

Amphibious spacecraft and water landings give a nice 1930's pulp feel, while still allowing frontier operations. One advantage to "Time Traveller" is that almost all Earths are habitable, with standard atmospheres and plenty of water.