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Old 08-12-2017, 12:34 AM   #1
David Johansen
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Default Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

So, I was thinking. A dangerous pastime I know.

And we never quite had a Generic GURPS Space setting in the same sense as we had with Yrth. Sure, we had GURPS Aliens with its implied setting. Sure we had three or four space atlases but we never quite had a full on setting.

Now I'm thinking this should be a really generic space opera with TL 10 being the norm. Maybe TL11, but not TL12.

Things were really agnostic about FTL but I think hyperdrive is the right answer. I think the sample ship construction system from page 89 of GURPS Space first edition would be a good starting point for nailing down the technology. So hyperdrives and reactionless thrusters but no force fields.

Pockets of TL 11 ^ exist like Kronin force shields and force swords.

I'd assume Space Atlas I - III probably form part of the setting but a larger area map and some political ideas might make it more of a setting.

Let's say most interstellar governments only hold around ten worlds but some larger entities control hundreds. There should be places for space pirates and rogues as well as some evil empires led by scenery chewing madmen.

Any thoughts?
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Old 08-12-2017, 06:22 AM   #2
Flaco76
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

I am interested in them.
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Old 08-12-2017, 06:56 AM   #3
Ronnke
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

Yrth 2250. :)

Planet Yrth is a balkenised state and declared neutral, diplomatic, territory by all worlds/colonies within the interstellar community.

Megalan Empire
Caithness Commonwealth
Al-Wazif Republic
Cardiel Confederation
Al-Haz Dominion
Araterre Alliance

Magic may still be a thing.

It's an interesting idea to ponder... :P
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Old 08-12-2017, 07:37 AM   #4
robkelk
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post
...
Things were really agnostic about FTL but I think hyperdrive is the right answer.
...
Does time in hyperdrive pass at the same time as time in the "real" universe? If time passes more slowly in hyperdrive (the way it does in the original Macross series), then you're opening up the same can of worms that you'd be opening with STL near-lightspeed time dilation effects. If it doesn't, then you get causality paradoxes. Which issue do you want to have to deal with?
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Old 08-12-2017, 07:43 AM   #5
David Johansen
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

I tend to prefer hyperdrive to be instantaneous for the passengers. None of Traveller's, "you spend a week in jump space and nothing happens." As this is a space opera setting we'll just handwave causality. However it might be that the hyperdrive manufacturers have built in a "time sump" that causes the ship to sit in hyperspace until time catches up so to speak. Big corporations might want to protect the stock markets from time travelling spacemen, so to speak.

It does occur to me that Yrth could be a planet in GURPS Space. It might have higher mana level but that doesn't really mean it isn't out there somewhere. Of course, the people there still think it's 2017, their time keeping is a bit off.
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Old 08-12-2017, 08:35 AM   #6
Emerald Cat
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

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Originally Posted by robkelk View Post
If time passes more slowly in hyperdrive (the way it does in the original Macross series), then you're opening up the same can of worms that you'd be opening with STL near-lightspeed time dilation effects. If it doesn't, then you get causality paradoxes. Which issue do you want to have to deal with?
Would these paradoxes crop up for variants of hyperspace that act as shortcuts due to their alien topography? Rather than having the ship achieve superluminal velocities in hyperspace.
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Old 08-12-2017, 09:38 AM   #7
Fred Brackin
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by David Johansen View Post

Pockets of TL 11 ^ exist like Kronin force shields and force swords.
In Gurps Aliens Kronin had Force Shields but not Force Swords (they used monoedge instead). I think the force shields came first because of 3e's game mechanical need for some sort of PD. It was weird.

I think space combat (using Spaceships as a default but other options would be similar in my experience) at a TL10-ish some superscience but no force screens paradigm will not work out well. You'll get all the problems of KE weapons and spend a lot of time explaining why there are no near c rocks.

My sample combats for Spaceships playtests at TL10 were eggshells-armed-with-hammers horror shows. A TL11^ Star Wars-ish test with force screens went a lot better.
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Old 08-12-2017, 02:25 PM   #8
David Johansen
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

Yeah, force fields would probably help with that. Why not go TL 11?

One thing that occurs to me is that Yrth has a wide range of reasons people don't like it ranging from real world religions to the influence magic in the setting. I think the generic implied space setting might not have those but it has the opposite. Too much that's not defined. Too much left to the GM. I suppose that's really what this thread is about. Finding a common ground for the GURPS Aliens universe.
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Old 08-12-2017, 02:39 PM   #9
Anders
 
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

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Originally Posted by Emerald Cat View Post
Would these paradoxes crop up for variants of hyperspace that act as shortcuts due to their alien topography? Rather than having the ship achieve superluminal velocities in hyperspace.
My understanding, from watching PBS Space Time*, is that they will.

* I am not a physicist
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Old 08-13-2017, 03:59 AM   #10
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Default Re: Yrth In Spaaacccceee!

Don't worry about time travel shenanigans; that assumes that FTL Drives are compatible with Einstein, whereas generic Space Opera assumes that FTL supercedes Einstein, or ignores Einstein entirely.

I'd make reactionless drives dependent on Hyperdynamic Grids (from Vehicles Expansion 1): they're not truly reactionless, it's just that what they react with is in hyperspace rather than normal space. This imposes a top speed on them, limiting their usefulness as kinetic kill weapons, and plays up the “wet navy and aircraft” tropes for which so much Space Opera is infamous.

Go with TL10+force fields, possibly allowing for something like the swashbuckling option mentioned in several editions of Space (where high-energy attacks are stopped far more effectively than low-energy attacks). Apply this notion to planetary shields, and you largely remove the incentive to try for Station Drops and possibly even orbital bombardment while still allowing for troop transports and carriers to project power.

(In the setting for which I originally developed these ideas, I had a sort of Unified Theory of Superscience, where everything marked TL^ was in some way dependent on hyperspace. As such, there were no dedicated Hyperdynamic Grids; instead, force fields doubled as Hyperdynamic Grids where it mattered.)
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