Shared space setting

[Frost]

More questions, hopefully putting FTL to bed at least for a while:

14) Are the gates/ wormholes artificial?

Vote: Artificial.

15) Which systems have gates?

a) systems with established colonies

b) most systems with human activity

c) most/ all systems

Vote: a, FTL tech is not cheap it doesn't make sense to place a gate until there is significant traffic.

16) How are the gates organised?

a) the gates form a star network centered on earth I.e all connections are earth to colony

b) the gates form a star network centred on another system

c) the gate network has a 'tree' topology I.e earth gates connect to the closest systems, which in turn have connections to the next closest etc

d) tree centred on another system

e) the gates form a web, most systems have several connections with a certain amount of redundancy

Vote: a, gates depend upon significant volumes of traffic and the earth colony game is still the biggest game in town.

Votes are now closed.

[Daigoro]

NB- You doubled up a "15"

Originally Posted by Frost

14) Are the gates/ wormholes artificial?

14- Artificial
Natural ones exist, but these convenient connections to useful systems are by design, and the destinations were chosen as likely to support habitable planets from careful astronomical observation and modelling.

15) Which systems have gates?

a) systems with established colonies

b) most systems with human activity

c) most/ all systems

15B
The systems with human activity have it because a gate was put in.

16) How are the gates organised?

a) the gates form a star network centered on earth I.e all connections are earth to colony

b) the gates form a star network centred on another system

c) the gate network has a 'tree' topology I.e earth gates connect to the closest systems, which in turn have connections to the next closest etc

d) tree centred on another system

e) the gates form a web, most systems have several connections with a certain amount of redundancy

16E
The first connection is from Earth to each system, followed by extra redundant connections, then when it becomes technically and economically feasible, direct connections are made between daughter systems- and this process might not yet be complete yet, making it slightly hybrid with answer A.

[ericthered]

14) yes. Very yes. Let people play around with this
15B, leaning towards C, and with One of the first things you do with a usable system is send gates. Actually, I'd like to have them within the system as well as between
15(16)? e. A web. Just makes life easier. And my cheap vision of everything supports this.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Frost

More questions, hopefully putting FTL to bed at least for a while:

14) Are the gates/ wormholes artificial?

14N. No, they're naturally-occurring. This prevents the possibility to of 'cutting off' a system in case of an all-out war or other desperate cause.

Originally Posted by Frost

15) Which systems have gates?

a) systems with established colonies

b) most systems with human activity

c) most/ all systems

15B. Most systems with human activity. Or to put it more accurately, of those systems that were discovered, most attracted some human activity.

Originally Posted by Frost

15) How are the gates organised?

a) the gates form a star network centered on earth I.e all connections are earth to colony

b) the gates form a star network centred on another system

c) the gate network has a 'tree' topology I.e earth gates connect to the closest systems, which in turn have connections to the next closest etc

d) tree centred on another system

e) the gates form a web, most systems have several connections with a certain amount of redundancy

Votes close 12:00pm tomorrow (2/26).

16E. Even system-wide blockades are hard. Tramp freighters and smugglers get a lot of freedom choosing different routes.

[Emerald Cat]

Originally Posted by Frost

14) Are the gates/ wormholes artificial?

14) If we are talking hyperspace gates, then yes. If FTL functions using wormholes, then no. A civilization capable of artificially creating wormholes could create black holes. Planet destroying superweapons are a bit high power for my tastes!

Originally Posted by Frost

15) Which systems have gates?

a) systems with established colonies

b) most systems with human activity

c) most/ all systems

15) C

Originally Posted by Frost

16) How are the gates organised?

a) the gates form a star network centered on earth I.e all connections are earth to colony

b) the gates form a star network centred on another system

c) the gate network has a 'tree' topology I.e earth gates connect to the closest systems, which in turn have connections to the next closest etc

d) tree centred on another system

e) the gates form a web, most systems have several connections with a certain amount of redundancy

16) C

Originally Posted by Frost

Votes close 12:00pm tomorrow (2/26).

Which time zone?

[Frost]

Forgot two:

17) Do ships need specialised gear to use the gates?

Vote: no, gates are open to in system vessels, this is the major justification for building gates in the first place.

18) Can the gates be used for FTL communication?

Vote: yes. I don't particularly want FTL comms but I think that it is a logical consequence of having the gates and a good argument for reducing the number of systems served.

Votes are now closed.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Emerald Cat

Which time zone?

GMT -6, its easier to mark everything using the time stamp from the board.

Trust me to start getting new posters just when I stop specifying the time zone.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by Frost

17) Do ships need specialised gear to use the gates?

17 Yes
Gater ships need some kind of shielding to pass through for some reason- radiation, gravitational stress... extreme chronisation (as I mentioned upthread). I don't know if it should be be a kind of armour, or some kind of generated field.

18) Can the gates be used for FTL communication?

18 Yes But not point-to-point- on each side of the gate is an exchange, which then relays the traffic on to its destination. Comms companies control the comm traffic.
I know this trounces on the space tramper theme some were trying to develop, but I don't see them as integral to this kind of setting. I think they're more of something to work towards in a space opera (and we did that last year, I want to try to get a different flavour this time round).

[Emerald Cat]

Originally Posted by Frost

Forgot two:

17) Do ships need specialised gear to use the gates?

18) Can the gates be used for FTL communication?

17) No. Of course, ships do need enough fuel to reach the gate and then proceed to their destination.

18) Yes. Communication between systems is achieved by sending signals/message capsules thru the gate. However, intra-system communications are limited to radio. This means that messages only travel at light speed in system, and thus suffer lag.

Even with the lag, this process is still much much faster than sending light between systems. Therefore, I would classify it as FTL communication.

[Frost]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

I know this trounces on the space tramper theme some were trying to develop, but I don't see them as integral to this kind of setting. I think they're more of something to work towards in a space opera (and we did that last year, I want to try to get a different flavour this time round).

It remains to be seen what the setting ends up as. I consciously chose to let this setting find its own style and intend to put the final decision up to vote before we start working on small details.

I admit that I would be happy if it shakes out as a (new) space opera setting and I don't think that we are running any risk of of redundancy even if it does. If it doesn't then so be it we will see what we can do with middle of the road. My only concern would be that if we try to consciously avert the space opera angle we might tie our hands too much when we fill in the details.