I know our reactors run off hydrogen fuel, and are presumably fusion based, but I was wondering did antimatter exist for the matter/antimatter anihilation type of reactor? Maybe if it wasn't used for power generation it used in bombs?
Does Antimatter exist in elite?
- Thread starter VR Jay Le Chardon
- Start date
But does Auntie Matter?
There doesnt seem to be mentioned anywhere in the current game, but in earlier versions (Frontier: Elite 2 and Frontier: First Encounters) there was something called Military Fuel that was used my Military Hyperdrives, once it was used in turned into an equal amount of Radioactives that you had to pay to get rid of.
This was widely thought to be Anitmatter fuel though I cant remember if this was actually stated in the games or not...
This was widely thought to be Anitmatter fuel though I cant remember if this was actually stated in the games or not...
Deleted member 182079
D
Only if Bob's your uncle.
there are anti-matter-containment-units in the current game.
i guess they are containing anti-matter.
More specifically, they actually contain salt. The deadliest form of antimatter.
All relatives matter.
Craith
Volunteer Moderator
put some thargoid goo next to it and blow up spacestations with it
As others stated above, "military fuel" from the previous two Elite games was, according to the lore, antimatter that was somehow stabilized in some kind of molecular lattice. To directly quote the FE2 manual:
So regular engines used hydrogen fusion drives, while "military ships" used antimatter-based-military-fuel-burning military drives.
What we don't know is whether or not this particular piece of lore has been retconned. I suspect it hasn't. We do know that Lucifer, the planet in the Sirius system owned by Sirius Corp for a thousand years, is described as being the original and primary source of the fuel; Sirius Corp invented it and sold it to both sides during the original Federation-Empire War, making themselves hyper-wealthy in the process. This description is still present, copy-pasted into the system description for Sirius on the ED galaxy map, which mentions the vast coils wrapped all the way around the planet's equator, used to harvest energy for the "synthesis of custom elements (particularly military grade fuel)". I'd think antimatter would qualify as a "custom element".
So, even though we can't buy, scavenge or sell it, or use it in any of our ships, this "military fuel" still seems to be a thing in ED, in lore at least.
I don't know of any other lore-based mention or use of antimatter.
So regular engines used hydrogen fusion drives, while "military ships" used antimatter-based-military-fuel-burning military drives.
What we don't know is whether or not this particular piece of lore has been retconned. I suspect it hasn't. We do know that Lucifer, the planet in the Sirius system owned by Sirius Corp for a thousand years, is described as being the original and primary source of the fuel; Sirius Corp invented it and sold it to both sides during the original Federation-Empire War, making themselves hyper-wealthy in the process. This description is still present, copy-pasted into the system description for Sirius on the ED galaxy map, which mentions the vast coils wrapped all the way around the planet's equator, used to harvest energy for the "synthesis of custom elements (particularly military grade fuel)". I'd think antimatter would qualify as a "custom element".
So, even though we can't buy, scavenge or sell it, or use it in any of our ships, this "military fuel" still seems to be a thing in ED, in lore at least.
I don't know of any other lore-based mention or use of antimatter.
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We can store anti matter containment units, but the in game description is limited. Sap 8 containers also hold anti matter, hence why the are considered extremely dangerous.
As a FE2 & FFE veteran I should have known those facts, shame on me for not knowing them, but thank you for bringing it to this conversation. Reading that description of military fuel incorporating antimatter makes me wonder did the combustion process anhilate some of the matter with the suspended antimatter, releasing vast amounts of energy, some of which would have ionised the substrate into an isotope that emmited onising radiation as it decayed, hence the radioactive waste byproduct?
I'm also wondering if that's still the technology that fuels the larger ships like the NPC megaships + the two superpower combat capital ships (Farragut Battlecruiser & Majestic Interdictors)? That would certainly explain why half the fleet seems to be in drydock masslocking everything within a 10km range of certain starports, if refueling them was kin to refueling a nimitz type carrier or a nuclear sub? Although that would leave carriers with their tritium powered reactors as an odball, being the only ships in the galaxy with that powersystem. And if Tritium was better than Military fuel reactors why didn't the superpowers refit their capitalships to the new fangled tritium reactors? Or if military fuel was better, why are out carriers powered by tritium?
SAP8 containers are interesting, but I didn't think they held antimatter? Aren't they some sort of tamperproof container with an unknown crystaline substrate? Going for an extra layer of tinfoil, given SAP 8 containers are only available from military convoys, could they be the containers that carry the aforementioned sirius produced military fuel?
Well, there is anti-fun quite in abundance so I guess anti-particles should come as no surprise.
