[Spaceships] Actually GMing a world with Pseudovelocity drives?

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

An idea for another solution to the question of kinetic/potential energy and similar stuff - how about a PV drive:

• Has a an effect that makes this pseudo-velocity semi-persistent - it 'bleeds off' gradually if the drive is turned off (or if it exceeds the drive/ship's max PV), and it is reduced or redirected significantly on a collision (e.g. PV loss/deflection is 50× the value of normal velocity's loss/deflection).
• Has an effect that neutralizes 'real' velocity opposing its movement direction first, and only then starts giving PV. So if objects moves downward at 10 m/s, the PV drive of 1m/s² will spend the first 10 seconds neutralizing real speed, and spend the next 10 seconds giving PV upwards.
• (Optional) A PV drive grants a speed that is pseudo in a large fraction, but not completely. E.g. a drive/ship combo rated for 50mps of PV actually attains a speed of 5 'real' mps and 45 pseudo-mps.

Well if love un-needed complexity.

When you turn on a PV drive you are violating the laws of physics as we understand them. You're doing it pretty severely too. You are effectively de-coupling the ship from interacting with all massive particles. It's halfway to hyperspace. It does protect you from cosmic rays as a handy side effect.

Retaining a "real" velocity comes quite close to declaring the frame of reference where you turned on the drive to be "preferred". At least I'm not sure how you calculate a "real velocity" on a universal basis without a preferred frame of reference.

Really, you broke the rules when you turned on the drive. The easiest thing to do is avoid trying to "repair" the rules when the drive shuts down. Just declare that the ship gained a "normal" velocity compared to the nearest significant object in adjacent space.

You probably do need some technobabble explaining this but something about "interactions with higher dimensions" ought to cover it.

Do as you please but but adding quasi-arbitrary complications doesn't make PV drives any harder physics.