Spaceship Tech in your Setting

cvannrederode · 08-11-2021, 01:18 PM

I have an after the long night setting, where things were mostly TL10 / near TL11 before the nanoburn wars.

After the wars, the main human location is TL9, with most other planets less than that (some down to TL4 or 5 before climbing back up during the night).

The superscience available: Artificial Gravity, Rotary Reactionless Drives, and Hyperdrives. All powered by exotic post-transuranic alloys; the manufacture of these "PTU"s are the limiting valve for high TL societies. Reactionless drives have a "limit" of about 0.05c, due to "relativistic effects causing the metastable PTU alloys destabilize due to the relativistic quantum effects that make them metastable failing". Technobable at its finest. I also use the "accelerator tube limits" design switch on. Not that it affects the PCs much at TL9, but there are higher TL races about.

Hyperdrive speed is 1 pc/day per drive, with navigation rolls affecting how close you get to your target. Longer shunts are harder (-1 per pc), and with most ships having 0.1 or 0.2g acceleration, being way off is time consuming.

Communication (with no FTL radio) is via "comm cyclers": autonomous hyperdrive probes with extensive communication systems and 5 pc/day speed, that just go back and forth between worlds. Survey and military ships will carry one or two for emergencies.

The Kaa were the aggressors in the wars, and are around but TL8. They have hyperdrives, but are one-tenth the speed, but also have cloaking technology. The Engai are present too, at TL12 withwarp drives that are x100 speed, subwarp fast reactionless drives, and all the medical tech you can find in the book.

08-11-2021, 01:18 PM	#16
cvannrederode Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Pennsylvania	Re: Spaceship Tech in your Setting I have an after the long night setting, where things were mostly TL10 / near TL11 before the nanoburn wars. After the wars, the main human location is TL9, with most other planets less than that (some down to TL4 or 5 before climbing back up during the night). The superscience available: Artificial Gravity, Rotary Reactionless Drives, and Hyperdrives. All powered by exotic post-transuranic alloys; the manufacture of these "PTU"s are the limiting valve for high TL societies. Reactionless drives have a "limit" of about 0.05c, due to "relativistic effects causing the metastable PTU alloys destabilize due to the relativistic quantum effects that make them metastable failing". Technobable at its finest. I also use the "accelerator tube limits" design switch on. Not that it affects the PCs much at TL9, but there are higher TL races about. Hyperdrive speed is 1 pc/day per drive, with navigation rolls affecting how close you get to your target. Longer shunts are harder (-1 per pc), and with most ships having 0.1 or 0.2g acceleration, being way off is time consuming. Communication (with no FTL radio) is via "comm cyclers": autonomous hyperdrive probes with extensive communication systems and 5 pc/day speed, that just go back and forth between worlds. Survey and military ships will carry one or two for emergencies. The Kaa were the aggressors in the wars, and are around but TL8. They have hyperdrives, but are one-tenth the speed, but also have cloaking technology. The Engai are present too, at TL12 withwarp drives that are x100 speed, subwarp fast reactionless drives, and all the medical tech you can find in the book.