A thought on FTL travel in ED

Whilst doing a mission out of Futen Space Port whilst waiting for another allowance of Fujin Tea for that tea addicted engineer Broo What-his-name, I found myself undertaking a 500,000+ Ls supercruise and whilst watching the stars sit unchanged and the white flecks of who-knows-what matter whizz past the windows, I mused on FTL travel:
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By the time my craft had worked it's way slowly up to the top speed of 900 times the speed of light.... I was thinking IF these white flecks flying past the windows ARE micro-meteorites (or FDev's way of implying some movement rather than depicting space dust?).... I am thinking IF a tiny speck of space dust or a micro-meteorite was to collide head-on with the space vehicle at that speed ... it would be an instant catastrophic explosion as the ship was totally destroyed.....
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...hence the shields or screens...."meteorite screens" as well as being protection from nasty lasers and other ordnance for sure.....
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IF the ships shields are being impacted by all this galactic debris (aka, the whizzing white specks) then it would be nice to have sparkles showing on the outermost ring of our shield blue circles.... not the big blue flashes of weapon fire hits...but just some random low-level sparkles....just a thought!!! ...yawn:p

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o7 Commanders
 
Sorry to disappoint, but your ship is only moving at normal thruster speed within its own reference frame, space is being warped around you.

Ahh the "Alcubierre Drive" theory of warp drive..yes? Thanks for your thought Cmdr. If that IS FD's angle...why/what is the incrementally rising "C" number on the dashboard referring to if not "light Speed" velocity?
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o7
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Aye, we are travelling without moving.


space quest 3.
Initiate light speed.
and type
Look at window.
The reply is :
50 : "Gosh! Isn't it amazing how big a spot those space gnats make when you're traveling at light speed! "

http://spacequest.wikia.com/wiki/SQ3_transcript

my personal favourite was looking through the window at monolith burgers
"Outside, the cold vacuum of space pulls at the fragile steel membrane that surrounds you. Apprehension grips you as you realize your insignificance in the vastness of the universe. The whirling cosmic display seems to... you know, the usual science fiction kinda stuff"
 
Yes, the ship is moving by normal impulse speed, only through warped space.

But that brings up the gripe I have with the Supercruise - It shouldn't look so... normal. :D
 
Sorry to disappoint, but your ship is only moving at normal thruster speed within its own reference frame, space is being warped around you.

And do you think that your ship is the only thing that will travel in normal speed inside the warped ring? all the material objects that were near your ship would travel inside this warp ring with their own relatives speeds in normal space.
 
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Remember that big blue ring that forms when you step up to Supercruise velocity? It's a vacuum that sucks out all the space debris and dust prior to your ship entering the supercruise tunnel.
 
Ahh the "Alcubierre Drive" theory of warp drive..yes? Thanks for your thought Cmdr. If that IS FD's angle...why/what is the incrementally rising "C" number on the dashboard referring to if not "light Speed" velocity?
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o7
rep+1

Yes, Alcubierre type warp drive as far as I can discern. I guess the speed must be speed relative to the main star? Possibly other reference body, but likely the star.

And do you think that your ship is the only thing that will travel in normal speed inside the warped ring? all the material objects that were near your ship would travel inside this warp ring with their own relatives speeds in normal space.

Sorry if I'm missing the point, but what's the difference there to when we're flying round in normal space? Are you suggesting we should have the shields fizzing with minor impacts all the time?
 
I'm an explorer and fly without shields, I turn them on only when landing.

That said, I wish Super Cruise were more hazardous and that shield-less travel was a bad idea. I wish there were challenges to Super Cruise, requiring navigation and diligence. Meteorites, comets, solar flares etc. A journey across a system would have you checking the charts and planning your route, looking up the "weather" etc. These things would make chasing prey more interesting. Interdiction would require strategy as you prey could use the environment against you.

[Sigh]
 
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