What kind of tactics might this military sci-fi technology produce?

Discussion in 'Setting Development' started by X Equestris, May 26, 2022.

  1. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2015
    Messages:
    2,595
    Likes Received:
    3,186
    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Theoretically. This is why I decided to insert sensors capable of detecting the ripples these drives cause in spacetime.

    Otherwise, a warship is not only undetectable but also incapable of detecting anything outside its bubble. They’d have to extrapolate from the data their sensors collected the last time their bubble was down. That works for planets or space stations, but not so much against anything capable of changing course.

    Civilian ships rely on the same drive technology, so the blindness would cause problems. Lots of potential for catastrophic collisions, not to mention terrorist attacks using gravity drive starships. The latter would be really hard to stop if they couldn’t be detected.

    Yeah, I’d imagine they would cause some pretty pronounced gravitational lensing. It probably wouldn’t be used to find them very often, since the “hypergraph” sensors can detect ripples from those bubbles in real time, but I could see it being useful every now and then. And it offers a cool description if one transits across the face of a planet or moon.
     
  2. FFBurwick

    FFBurwick Member

    Joined:
    May 8, 2022
    Messages:
    90
    Likes Received:
    33
    Others would say don't borrow, but I would really borrow significantly from Star Trek episodes, the first four series anyway.
     
  3. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2022
    Messages:
    2,127
    Likes Received:
    1,398
    Location:
    US
    As much as I like the creative story telling, and examination of social issues I'm a setting removed from the society. You have to remember as it was pitched to the studios, it was cowboys in space.
     
    X Equestris likes this.
  4. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2015
    Messages:
    2,595
    Likes Received:
    3,186
    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Yeah, I’ve always found Star Trek kinda soft on the military aspects. It’s great science fiction, but not so great for this niche.
     
  5. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2022
    Messages:
    2,127
    Likes Received:
    1,398
    Location:
    US
    If we were talking about a shore/planetary bombardment, then Starship troopers has some good scenes for that. For ship to ship combat, David Weber does a good job with age of sail tactics in space, Jack Campbell 's Lost fleet series, for all it's other flaws, does a good job with more modern tactics. For that matter we can go very old school to the englobement tactics EE "Doc" Smith used in the lensman series.
     
  6. KiraAnn

    KiraAnn Senior Member

    Joined:
    May 6, 2019
    Messages:
    482
    Likes Received:
    336
    Location:
    Texas
    I'm starting from your original post, and looking at your setting in detail, so please bear with me.

    You non-alcubierre warp drive is limited to 20% of c, except for your "hyperspace" lanes between stars. How does this work, in relation to your non-alcubierre drive?

    The bubble of warped space-time is stated as being a shield, so what happens to light energy whether it is coherent like a laser or just light reflected from something? What about a physical object like a railgun pellet or streams of atomic or subatomic particles? This is very important because you later state that the bubble interferes with sensors. Wouldn't that make you blind to the outside world when the bubble is up?

    How is interia handled within your warp bubbles? Does it simply vanish, or is it preserved, and if the latter, is it preserved in a universal manner or a local manner? By that last part, is the interia based on your ship's relative vector, or on the star system's vector?

    IMO, these questions would need answering before coming up with tactics.
     
    w. bogart likes this.
  7. w. bogart

    w. bogart Contributor Contributor Blogerator

    Joined:
    Nov 5, 2022
    Messages:
    2,127
    Likes Received:
    1,398
    Location:
    US
    KiraAnn raises some very important question here. All of which would influence any tactical approach to the issue. I will take it a step further. If sensors are useless inside the bubble, and the bubble affects inertia, then Navigation becomes a major issue. Do they have to stop, and drop the bubble at regular intervals to get a position fix? See "Vorpal blade" by John Ringo for an example of how one author dealt with this issue. Do they navigate like a modern sub? with compass heading and time at a known speed?
     
  8. X Equestris

    X Equestris Contributor Contributor

    Joined:
    Aug 24, 2015
    Messages:
    2,595
    Likes Received:
    3,186
    Location:
    Oklahoma
    Basically there are specific points around the edge of a solar system where the gravity drive interacts with spacetime in such a way the starship can access hyperspace. This is a parallel dimension where the distances are drastically shorter than they are in normal space, so a starship can use its gravity drive in hyperspace to cover the distance between stars in days when doing so in normal space would take decades.

    Each of these points connects to one other star system. Sol only has one leading to Proxima Centauri, for example.

    Any form of radiation is bent away by the intense gravity, while physical objects touching the bubble are also ripped apart.

    As for sensors, I believe I mentioned this very briefly in the OP: light, thermal, radar, etc. sensors don’t work while the bubble is up. Instead, they used sensors called hypergraphs to detect the ripples gravity drives cause along the “membrane” between normal space and hyperspace. This offers real-time data.

    Most forms of communication also don’t work while the bubble is up, but little flickers in the bubble can be used to transmit messages in Morse code.

    This was a matter of considerable debate on the first page of the thread, but ultimately I settled on inertia being preserved when the bubble is raised and imparted when the bubbles drops. So a starship might be sitting in orbit around a planet, raise its bubble and accelerate to .1c, and remain at .1c when it drops the bubble to fire missiles on an enemy warship. There are inertial dampeners to handle the shock when the bubble drops, but failure is possible and very messy.
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
    Dismiss Notice