So if i hit a planet on FSD engines. with maths!
- Thread starter RobotMan
- Start date
Facts!! We don't need no stinkin' facts!
Seriously though, the thing generating the compression field is moving, yes?
Is it, then, moving though compressed space?
Y - then it too (ie. the ship) will be compressed, and moves no faster than normal.
N - then it is "normal" space, and moves no faster than normal.
The compression bubble is collapsing!!!
C'mon, Janaconda, you can do this! Keep up with me, c'mon! =P
Space is a fabric. That means it's like a towel, held on all ends by someone. If you grab the middle of the towel and pull it together, you're gonna have a small crumple of towel on your hands, yes? The moment you let go of that crumple, the force exerted by the people holding the towel will make it flat again, so it won't have a crumple. That is more or less precisely the way the universe fabric works in normal interactions, from movement to gravity.
Since that fabric stabilizes so ridiculously fast, there is no such thing as "moving into the space the drive compressed" -- that in itself is a break of causality, and therefore, in real space, impossible.
My 2p:
To an observer looking at a rocket time slows down on the rocket, to the person on the rocket time appears normal but the distance to the destination decreases. If the rocket has zero mass and is travelling at c the distance to their destination will be precisely zero; they literally can get anywhere in an instant... in their frame of reference. Meanwhile the rest of the universe will age without them, just ask Charlton Heston. Photons didn't get the memo about expansion and have no concept of spacetime; to them (or it?) the universe is still a singularity.
That all relates to movement in spacetime, FSD calls on stretching spacetime itself, akin to the expansion of the universe. Interestingly galaxies with a redshift greater than 1.4 are moving away from us faster than c, at this very moment. That is to say, the space between us is expanding faster than c. Nobody understands the underlying mechanism of expansion we just call it dark energy. It might as well be witchcraft. It's interesting enough without hopeless analogies; remove gravitational effects as it only propagates at c, call it witchspace, and make the game fun to play.
To an observer looking at a rocket time slows down on the rocket, to the person on the rocket time appears normal but the distance to the destination decreases. If the rocket has zero mass and is travelling at c the distance to their destination will be precisely zero; they literally can get anywhere in an instant... in their frame of reference. Meanwhile the rest of the universe will age without them, just ask Charlton Heston. Photons didn't get the memo about expansion and have no concept of spacetime; to them (or it?) the universe is still a singularity.
That all relates to movement in spacetime, FSD calls on stretching spacetime itself, akin to the expansion of the universe. Interestingly galaxies with a redshift greater than 1.4 are moving away from us faster than c, at this very moment. That is to say, the space between us is expanding faster than c. Nobody understands the underlying mechanism of expansion we just call it dark energy. It might as well be witchcraft. It's interesting enough without hopeless analogies; remove gravitational effects as it only propagates at c, call it witchspace, and make the game fun to play.
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Your ship isn't moving, it creates a bubble that compresses/decompresses space. Which gives the impression of moving faster than the speed of light which as we know is impossible.
Regarding the ship vs. planet damage calculation:
Mr. Prosser: Do you know how much damage this bulldozer would sustain if I just let it roll over you?
Arthur Dent: How much?
Mr. Prosser: None at all.
;-)
Mr. Prosser: Do you know how much damage this bulldozer would sustain if I just let it roll over you?
Arthur Dent: How much?
Mr. Prosser: None at all.
;-)
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We're not really compressing space here. The negative energy used destroys the space. But unlike fabric space can't have gaps, so all the space around the ex-space are pushed together making it appear like compression. But it's not.
The space will quickly be filled thanks to nearby energy but if we supply the energy readily we can choose were the fill goes. Notably we want it behind us.
We don't move into the space, we pick it up and put it behind us using energy manipulation.
This image is pretty good. Except it fails to show that the negative energy is actually destroying space. But more importantly it shows that it's not in a different dimension or a pocket of space time, so light can move in and out off the bubble freely.
Right, good point. However, I too have an education in physics, and as we're talking about a game, referencing the Alcubierre Drive is certainly within the context of the discussion. So while it may be "gilded with mathematical wankery" (I agree, FWIW), so is making the statement that we shouldn't reference the way it might work if something like that were made. Because obviously, we're not capable of traveling anywhere close to the speed of light in real life, let alone beyond it, so talking about a hypothetical science fiction device in a science fiction game is perfectly acceptable.
The energy harmlessly dissipates in sub space (harmless to our ujiverse/dimension)
No, it doesn't. We aren't dealing with normal relativity here, we are dealing with special relativity.
I understand how this discussion can be so engrossing and each person stating certain science to back up their supposition on how the FSD works... but...
Please don't go telling other players "FSD does this to space and that is how it works". The FACT is, we don't know. We're only SUPPOSING it works this way due to what we've observed and then we check it with WHAT WE CURRENTLY KNOW ABOUT SPACE.
Until the "Next Big Thing" comes along in Interstellar Propulsion technology theory, the current favourite seems to be "compressing space". Favourite or not, this has NOT been confirmed as how the FSD works. The correct answer when someone asks should be "We Don't Know, but we think it could be doing this......" rather than "FSD compresses space. This is how it works *sage nod*".
Please don't go telling other players "FSD does this to space and that is how it works". The FACT is, we don't know. We're only SUPPOSING it works this way due to what we've observed and then we check it with WHAT WE CURRENTLY KNOW ABOUT SPACE.
Until the "Next Big Thing" comes along in Interstellar Propulsion technology theory, the current favourite seems to be "compressing space". Favourite or not, this has NOT been confirmed as how the FSD works. The correct answer when someone asks should be "We Don't Know, but we think it could be doing this......" rather than "FSD compresses space. This is how it works *sage nod*".
I thought Op was talking about Supercruise... Because that is the only type of travel in game which allows us to crash stop at a planet.
That would be one hell of a sonic boom!
Has anyone mentioned Go-Faster stripes? Don't forget the stripes people, they are clearly the key to faster than light travel.