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Old 04-03-2017, 05:42 AM   #1
vicky_molokh
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Default Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

Greetings, all!

This is something I've been answering fuzzily over the years, but which I want to tackle now. When a ship turns on its Pseudovelocity drive, and assuming it doesn't have any special gravitic generators/compensators/etc., should the pilots experience some sort of shift in experienced gravity?

I'm intuitively inclined towards answering 'no', but maybe I'm missing something and the answer should be different?

Thanks in advance!
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Last edited by vicky_molokh; 04-03-2017 at 06:43 AM.
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Old 04-03-2017, 07:39 AM   #2
Diomedes
 
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

"Pseudovelocity" is sufficiently vague that it will depend on the specifics of how the drive is defined in any given setting.
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Old 04-03-2017, 07:49 AM   #3
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

The most reasonable version of psuedovelocity I can think of would be something like an alcubierre drive on very slow speeds, which means space is moving, and not you. I don't know for sure what that would look like, but given that you aren't under any stresses of forces, or that you aren't accelerating, I would think, by default, that it wouldn't.

Granted, I'm pretty sure series like Star Trek and lots of other space opera series use something like pseudovelocity, because it's more intuitive ("I've turned the engines off, so now we're just drifting."), and in those, there's definitely something of a lurch when they start moving, so that argues in favor of at least a small (likely miniscule, given the speeds involved) g-force going on.
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Old 04-03-2017, 07:50 AM   #4
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

My brain says "No, because you aren't actually moving."

My heart says "Yes, because in Star Trek, they say the inertial dampeners are broken and everything starts shaking."
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Old 04-03-2017, 08:02 AM   #5
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

At its most basic, pseudovelocity is a scheme where you change your position without "really" moving. So, everything else should work normally. Now, if in your setting pseudovelocity is due to some sort of field that stops you from interacting in certain ways with the universe, there may be other effects, but that's going to depend on the specifics.
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Old 04-03-2017, 08:19 AM   #6
Fred Brackin
 
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Greetings, all!

This is something I've been answering fuzzily over the years, but which I want to tackle now. When a ship turns on its Pseudovelocity drive, and assuming it doesn't have any special gravitic generators/compensators/etc., should the pilots experience some sort of shift in experienced gravity?

I'm intuitively inclined towards answering 'no', but maybe I'm missing something and the answer should be different?

Thanks in advance!
Trying to go back in my memory to psuedovelocity's creation in 3e, felt Gs would at the very least be reduced by the pseudovelocity factor. That would be the number that your Air Move is multiplied by to create your Pseudovelocity Drive Space Move.

100x was default to match the increase in space ranges for X-ray lasers. It's a problem in 4e that energy weapon ranges don't increase in vacuum. This makes it more difficult to make pseudovelocity space combat just like air combat.

This G-force reduction is a minimum because it's necessary that the 100x changes in direction required by the 100x higher speeds don't crush the pilots.

Invoking Alcubierre as the source of psedovelocity is definitely a retcon. It wasn't in our minds at all at the time. The Lensman "inertialess" drive was probably closer but mostly we were thinking of Star Wars and similar sources vague Air/Space equivalency drives.

So acceleration forces are at least reduced to maintain Air/Space symmetery or are removed altogether for some reason of logic are your leading answers. That acceleration remains to make pseudovelocity impractical was never considered and would obviously make the whole thing futile and why would you be doing that?
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Old 04-03-2017, 10:35 AM   #7
Anthony
 
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

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Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Invoking Alcubierre as the source of psedovelocity is definitely a retcon. It wasn't in our minds at all at the time.
Eh, I think I was the one to coin that particular terminology, and an alcubierre warp drive is an appropriate version -- most methods I can think of for pseudovelocity involve some sort of sublight warp drive (something like a 2300AD stutterwarp would also count). I would assume by default that there's no felt gravity.
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Old 04-03-2017, 10:35 AM   #8
David Johnston2
 
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

Quote:
Originally Posted by vicky_molokh View Post
Greetings, all!

This is something I've been answering fuzzily over the years, but which I want to tackle now. When a ship turns on its Pseudovelocity drive, and assuming it doesn't have any special gravitic generators/compensators/etc., should the pilots experience some sort of shift in experienced gravity?

I'm intuitively inclined towards answering 'no', but maybe I'm missing something and the answer should be different?

Thanks in advance!
Is there a rationalized model for pseudovelocity where the occupants could feel a slight nudge when you change your pseudo-speed? Sure. It's the one where pseudo-velocity is some kind of magic that vastly magnifies real speed without any inertial effects except for what come from the base acceleration. You can assume that the higher the "real" speed the more pseudovelocity engines you need to handle it to keep things from getting too weird.
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Old 04-03-2017, 10:38 AM   #9
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Is there a rationalized model for pseudovelocity where the occupants could feel a slight nudge when you change your pseudo-speed? Sure. It's the one where pseudo-velocity is some kind of magic that vastly magnifies real speed without any inertial effects except for what come from the base acceleration. You can assume that the higher the "real" speed the more pseudovelocity engines you need to handle it to keep things from getting too weird.
Maybe somewhere in the neighborhood of Lensman 'inertialess' spaceflight.
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Old 04-03-2017, 11:12 AM   #10
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Default Re: Pseudovelocity Drives: should "Gravity and Acceleration" apply?

Like with all magic and genre conventions, it's probably best to start with what you want, then work backwards to justify it.

Do you want there to be a jerk when shifting the drive on or off?

If so, then it doesn't have to come from the field itself but perhaps as a secondary effect from the technology.
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