09-12-2019, 02:50 PM | #21 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Persecuted groups don't have the resources to carry out a two hundred year project.
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09-12-2019, 03:07 PM | #22 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
So religious or ideological zeal. Spread the faith of Zardoz throughout the Universe!
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“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love ...” Marcus Aurelius |
09-12-2019, 03:39 PM | #23 |
Join Date: Sep 2019
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Assuming you're going with sleeper or generational ships here are some adventure ideas I've had (some of which have already been mentioned):
Early in the flight: -A cabal is seeking to take control of the ship and subvert the purpose of the colonization. Players must adapt to unexpected circumstances and improvise a resistance.Mid-Mission:Change course to a new destination.-"Your equipment was built by the lowest bidder." Things are failing, people are waking up. Players must assess the situation and put a solution in place. -Mutants. Radiation shielding has failed to do its job.Late Mission/Arrival:Biological terraforming tools have gotten loose and set up an ecology in the ship that is slowly destroying the ship.-Damaged systems -Someone's already there.Humans who left later.-Cabal waited until the end of the mission to take over. |
09-12-2019, 03:52 PM | #24 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Concerning the realism of ramscoops, it really depends on your maximum velocity. Drag increases by the square of the velocity while the energy produces increases linearly with the velocity. Using proton-proton fusion, you generate 26.73 MeV per chain (translating to 430.4 GJ/gram of hydrogen fuel). At 0.05c, each gram of hydrogen scooped effectively creates 112.5 GJ of drag, ~26.1% of the energy produced.
If we assume a 90% gathering efficiency, a 90% of the material gathered being hydrogen, and a 50% fusion efficiency, we have a total efficiency of 40.5% (174.3 GJ/gram). Since that is 55% greater than the drag, a spacecraft going 0.05c can divert some of the energy to powering the scoop, the fusion engine, and probably most of the other systems. Beyond 0.05c, the drag rapidly begins to overcome the energy production. |
09-12-2019, 04:45 PM | #25 | |
Join Date: Dec 2007
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Quote:
Ehn. It was as good a basis for planets of hats as any. |
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09-12-2019, 09:20 PM | #26 | |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Quote:
I chose to engineer a system wide depression and a conspiracy to hold Terra up long enough for STL ships to actually get to their worlds.
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Joseph Paul |
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09-12-2019, 09:22 PM | #27 |
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Indianapolis, IN
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
That would seem to be a bold pronouncement with out some more setting details.
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Joseph Paul |
09-12-2019, 10:12 PM | #28 | |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Quote:
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09-12-2019, 10:47 PM | #29 | |
Hero of Democracy
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: far from the ocean
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
Quote:
The obvious comparison here is the founding of some of the original 13 colonies of the united states, and I think its a good place to make observations. Most of the groups that came were both "persecuted" but also had access to a great deal of power. The Puritans (who settled most of new England) were a faction of protestants not favored by the current government -- at least when they founded their colony. Soon afterwards, they gained the political power to win a civil war and behead their former king. This is not a "poor" religious faction, but it was a minority faction facing persecution, despite its strength. Compare this with the English Catholics, who settled Maryland. They were a religious faction with less power in their home country, but powerful foreign allies -- who didn't speak their language or share their culture. They were "weak" by comparison with protestant factions in england, but still had a large amount of wealth and influence. Then you have the Quakers, who leveraged a few very rich members with fantastic connections to the king to get a colony in the new world. They are the smallest of the groups, but when you have famous members of parliament who the king owes huge debts to, that's not exactly a dearth of influence or resource. So religious factions (or any other faction, for that matter) can scrape together the big funds needed for that sort of project, but they generally are not small things that popped up just to make a colony. They tend to be large groups that feel disenfranchised but still have a lot of wealth and influence, even if they aren't able to leverage it like they'd like. They also don't all go to the new settlement, not by far.
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Be helpful, not pedantic Worlds Beyond Earth -- my blog Check out the PbP forum! If you don't see a game you'd like, ask me about making one! Last edited by ericthered; 09-12-2019 at 10:50 PM. |
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09-12-2019, 11:13 PM | #30 |
Join Date: Jul 2014
Location: New Zealand.
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Re: Realistic STL Interstellar Missions
There may be opportunities to hitch a ride on a passing chunk of reaction mass.
A hypothetical chunk of ice might heading in roughly the right direction. Other once in a thousand year occurances might be exploited as well. A wandering planet sized object might have the resources to support a population for quite a long time.
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Waiting for inspiration to strike...... And spending too much time thinking about farming for RPGs Contributor to Citadel at Nordvörn Last edited by (E); 09-12-2019 at 11:43 PM. |
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