Artificial Gravity... Why Not ?

synchromesh

synchromesh
Ok I opened this thread because I understand Elite Dangerous is going to be as accurate as can be for what we "think" space in 1000 odd years may be like....We will have interstellar travel, Light speed, shields and maybe Aliens...

However...Despite all those theories of what we can achieve why is Artificial Gravity such a no no ?

Everyone excepts all these other advances with ease except for Artificial Gravity ( as in something like star trek...Battlestar Galactica etc )

Right now we have the international space station...we float about and its Nasa's biggest headache...Hell they wont even go to Mars until they work something out even if it is just a rotating ship on a tether to create the gravity....

So Why is it so hard to believe that in 1000 years time we wont have found an alternative like in the movies considering this is so important to us right now in the present.

Davids huge carriers with rotating sections are without doubt ingenious but to be realistic surely we would have something more advanced that far in the future ?

Just thought I would get your take on this :)
 

Zieman

Zieman
Because artifical gravity is such a sci-fi cliché, and huge spinning structures are cool. :D

On a bit more serious note, in ELITE lore there was no AG, that's why the Coriolis (and Dodec) stations spin and make greehorn Jamesons' life so miserable.
 
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michaelfife

M
You could say that the absence of artificial gravity is due to the absence of any theory, however far-fetched, that could explain it. For FTL travel we have the concept of spacetime warp, or circumventing space time via a higher dimension ("jumping")...

But AG? on a ship that's not a rotating cylinder or ring? What, "gravity plates"? What the hell are those? How do those work? "Very well" I hear you say!

Mind you, you could say the same thing about shields...
 

Tinman

Tinman
Because of this! ;)
StationInterior.JPG

anamorphic_ws_stationdock_03_copy.JPG
 

Ittiz

Ittiz
David said that there wasn't any, simple as that. If you want it accelerate your ship at 9.8m/s^2. Wait scratch that the FD space cops will come out and ticket you once you get to 500m/s. ;)

Something that is a bit hard to believe in this game is that they'd have jump drives and no artificial gravity. You need heavy masses (or antimasses) to bend space hence you'd be able to make artificial gravity.
 

JohnStabler

JohnStabler
I think I'll echo what the developers said when this has been mentioned many times before: talking about realism in the context of the future (speculation) is meaningless.

Elite Dangerous is based in a universe where humanity has managed to find a way to travel huge distances in a short space of time, but they haven't worked out how to do artificial gravity. It's just as believable as any other fictional universe.
 

Hamerstein

Hamerstein
Perhaps because the idea of not having artificial gravity is more fun?

Historically, the reason why so many sci-fi tropes have AG is production costs - it's really expensive to convincingly simulate low/zero-G on Earth ;). ED doesn't have this issue and having the option to "fly" is pretty cool.

Extending that to planetary landings and EVA expansions, which is more interesting, walking about as if you're on Earth or having planetary gravitation affect how your avatar moves about? Having crude gravity control methods (magnetic boots etc.) emphasizes the transition from artificial environment to natural.

So far ED appears to strike a balance between high and low tech, suggesting that the time when ED is set is a transitional period in human history (a bit like the industrial revolution on Earth). Given how amazing it must have been to live in that time, with "miraculous" new discoveries occurring with frequency, it's not a bad scenario to imagine the start of our ED campaign in.
 

laforge

L
michaelfife said:
You could say that the absence of artificial gravity is due to the absence of any theory, however far-fetched, that could explain it. For FTL travel we have the concept of spacetime warp, or circumventing space time via a higher dimension ("jumping")...
Click to expand...
Artificial gravity in the sense of the OP is in fact artificial spacetime warping. So if we assume that E-D's FTL travel is based on warping spacetime, then it is hard to belive why there is no such artificial gravity as well. Of course, the hyperdrive in E-D can work differently, but i highly recommend to include this regardless of lore. It makes the interiors of ship- and station designs alot more easier, the walking out of ships 'uniform' and also space stations on weird places possible, for example in the atmosphere of gas giants.
 

Allen Stroud

Allen Stroud
Decisions have been made, loads of people have put time and effort into stuff based on those decisions.

Whilst I don't agree with everything decided, once the decision is made you accept it and move on.
 

laforge

L
Allen Stroud said:
Decisions have been made, loads of people have put time and effort into stuff based on those decisions.

Whilst I don't agree with everything decided, once the decision is made you accept it and move on.
Click to expand...

Sure, its not my problem to explain a hovering cloud city in the atmosphere of a gas giant (in case they want to include that) without the use of artificial gravity :p in fact, i am curious if you see this in the game at all. Ok you could say it is there because its just a game... but this is a poor explanation. I only gave a good advice.
 

Ittiz

Ittiz
laforge said:
Sure, its not my problem to explain a hovering cloud city in the atmosphere of a gas giant (in case they want to include that) without the use of artificial gravity :p in fact, i am curious if you see this in the game at all. Ok you could say it is there because its just a game... but this is a poor explanation. I only gave a good advice.
Click to expand...

They'd do it according to neutral buoyancy I'd assume. Could be difficult in hydrogen of a gas giant, but I assume by then you'd have materials that would allow you to do it with a vacuum bubble.
 

popuptoaster

P
The hyper drive uses a lot of fuel and has a limited range and works in short almost instant bursts so if it IS manipulating mass it may simply not be practical for it to generate a small sustained force rather than a big sudden one.

Floating city in the atmosphere of a gas giant could be utilising the magnetic fields or even the gas itself as a limitless fuel supply for a series of mass generators all working to produce a series of gravity pulses to keep it floating.

There ya go, some genuine (basic) techobabble about why ships don't have it, metal floors and magnetic shoes are just easier and cheaper.
 

JackWeaver

JackWeaver
The dev team have opted for the minimum amount of handwavium to explain future technology. Apart from FTL travel which we really need. I can't think of anything else that isn't believable future tech. I guess that gives it a reality factor of GRITTY.
 

Memnoch

M
Shields
Instantaneous interstellar communication
FSD (not technically FTL, just a significant fraction of)

I'm sure there are others.
 

Enjou

E
laforge said:
Artificial gravity in the sense of the OP is in fact artificial spacetime warping. So if we assume that E-D's FTL travel is based on warping spacetime, then it is hard to belive why there is no such artificial gravity as well.
Click to expand...

There could be any number of reasons why you couldn't make artificial gravity work even if you have space warping technology that works for FTL. Here's some possibilities:

1. Impractical energy cost: Going into hyperspace or even just super cruise takes fuel. Creating a sustained warp in space time just to make artificial gravity may consume unsustainable amounts of fuel, relegating it to being an impractical science project for the time being.

2. Smaller warps might more difficult: Super cruise is kind of like hyper drive lite, and it wasn't in the previous games so it could be inferred to be a more recent technology. Making a field that generates a sustained acceleration of only 1G might not be possible with the current tech level. Of course, shields may work on this principle, so that might not be the issue.

3. It's probably more complicated, and perhaps nobody knows how to do it. Warping space for FTL purposes is a rather simple idea at it's core - you just wrap a bubble of spacetime around your ship that will 'move' in one direction while your ship stays in the same relative spot inside the bubble. The bubble exists outside the ship never touching it, and is a relatively simple shape. Now imagine for an instant if the ship launched something at the edge of the bubble - what would happen to it? Nothing good I reckon. Even if it's a lesser warp, you're talking about making a warp of the correct shape inside the ship itself (for every variation of ship) that doesn't destroy the ship, doesn't kill or otherwise harm the passengers, and presumably doesn't affect anything outside of the ship. (imagine if you had 1G of gravity on the 'up' of your ship affecting the outside of your ship - it would be kind of like having a bunch of small planets around)
 

JackWeaver

JackWeaver
Memnoch said:
Shields
Instantaneous interstellar communication
FSD (not technically FTL, just a significant fraction of)

I'm sure there are others.
Click to expand...

Shields are a cover all for various types of reactive armour, which do exist in present technology. Yes you could have different shield types for each weapon but that will lead to spreadsheets and we can't have that ;)

Instantaneous interstellar communication - True, but doing it realistically?

FSD - Frame Shift Drives will need to be FTL or crossing systems will take hours.

There's a theme developing, realism unless it's really not fun (for the perceived audience).
 

Norbert

Norbert
Allen Stroud said:
Decisions have been made, loads of people have put time and effort into stuff based on those decisions.

Whilst I don't agree with everything decided, once the decision is made you accept it and move on.
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. Our lives are not at stake in ED. So if one doesn't like the decisions made, he/she can move on. It is only a game after all.
 
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