From the Wikipedia article, what Freeman Dyson said:
Space elevators and Dyson Spheres
- Thread starter Jon Jaymes
- Start date
A culture-style Orbital ring would still be my absolute favourite planetary/orbital feature in the game. Even if there were only one or two in the entire galaxy, and were uninhabited or from an extinct civilisation.Actually, that last post brought to mind that Elysium is effectively a tiny version of a Culture Orbital from the late great Iain M Banks books. Though from memory virtually all orbitals are not in orbit of a habitable planet, and in some cases may just orbit the star and not say a gas giant.
I think he most detailed description is of Chiark in The Player of Games.
Jon Jaymes
PS The Culture is my idea of the perfect society
I'd like to think FD could have them at the same time as the Landing On Planets module. Map the surface of a procedural planet to the inside of a ring, rather than the outside of a sphere.
Michael Brookes is apparently a big Iain M Banks fan, so here's hoping.
Dyson Sphere
Think they'll add them as one of the "Dark" systems we need to find?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
The concept of the Dyson sphere was the result of a thought experiment by physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, when he theorized that all technological civilizations constantly increased their demand for energy. He reasoned that if our civilization expanded energy demands long enough, there would come a time when it demanded the total energy output of the Sun. He proposed a system of orbiting structures (which he referred to initially as a shell) designed to intercept and collect all energy produced by the Sun.
Think they'll add them as one of the "Dark" systems we need to find?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
The concept of the Dyson sphere was the result of a thought experiment by physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, when he theorized that all technological civilizations constantly increased their demand for energy. He reasoned that if our civilization expanded energy demands long enough, there would come a time when it demanded the total energy output of the Sun. He proposed a system of orbiting structures (which he referred to initially as a shell) designed to intercept and collect all energy produced by the Sun.
Dyson spheres will not be included in the game
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12755
search page for 'Dyson'
http://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=12755
search page for 'Dyson'
Dyson Spheres also have the problem, that they need alot of material. More, than in one solar system (The sun cover 99% of the mass in our system and i assume everywhere else). So in order to build a dyson sphere, you'll need to travel to other stars. That would cost lots of enery, time etc. And if you have the energy to travel there, you probably dont need a dyson sphere anymore.
Dyson Spheres also have the problem, that they need alot of material. More, than in one solar system (The sun cover 99% of the mass in our system and i assume everywhere else). So in order to build a dyson sphere, you'll need to travel to other stars. That would cost lots of enery, time etc. And if you have the energy to travel there, you probably dont need a dyson sphere anymore.
How about a solar system in which all its rocky planets had been completely converted into nano machines which orbit the sun and use the stars energy to run the "metaverse" (or whatever) in which all the solar systems inhabitants have uploaded to...
That would be pretty cool
It might be, or it might not. There's a rather good (and especially good because it's free) cautionary tale about that kind of thing. Also there's lobsters.How about a solar system in which all its rocky planets had been completely converted into nano machines which orbit the sun and use the stars energy to run the "metaverse" (or whatever) in which all the solar systems inhabitants have uploaded to...
That would be pretty cool
While a Dyson Sphere would require a huge amount of matter to construct, there are also of course the lesser Dyson Bubbles and Dyson Swarms, which work along similar principles but on a smaller scale. A Dyson Swarm is a number of satellite-based solar power plants roughly surrounding a star, as a ring, cluster or similar. This seems a lot more feasible generally than entirely enveloping the star.
Dyson himself theorized that a Dyson Shell would be impractical, since he reasoned that a culture sufficiently advanced to envelop a sun into a massive superstructure would also be advanced enough not to need to.
Where are the Alphas? I compared the Alphas to the First Hundred.