Space Travel in the 23rd Century of Panhumanic Space!
"It is theoretically possible to warp space-time itself, so you're not actually moving faster than the speed of light, but it's actually space that's moving." - Elon Musk
In the universe of Panhumanic space we, Critical Snail, endeavor to create fiction that is rooted in some semblance of real science. For this Monday's blog that brings us to the concept of space travel and BEND DRIVES!
The Bend Drive is the device that makes long distance faster than light space travel possible within the fictional world of Panhumanic space. In the real world, according to special relativity, it is impossible to accelerate an object to the speed of light, or for a massive object to move at the speed of light, but in Panhumanic space this conundrum is solved through the invention of the Bend Drive.
The Bend Drive does not accelerate an object at all, but rather through the manipulation of gravity, produces a bend in space-time. Once the bend in space-time is achieved, the object, in our case a starship, travels using its normal sublight propulsion systems. Imagine bending a thin iron rod nearly into a circle so that both ends were nearly touching. The starship travels that distance instead of travelling the entire length of the rod.
To produce this bend, the Bend Drive creates a singularity, similar to a black hole. The singularity causes space-time to bend around it through the application of massive gravity. The Bend Drive also (through copious amounts of science fiction) protects the starship itself from being similarly bent. When a bend is opened, starship captains refer to is "The Nickel" or "The Spark" because it produces massive levels of heat and light. Different factions within the game can travel using Bend Drives more or less efficiently than others.
The power required to open bend and the heat generated by Bend Drives in the fiction makes certain weapons for warships impractical and ship captains must always be mindful. Bend drives take time to power up before a bend and they take time to cool down after a bend. Explosive munitions fired from a ship that has just exited bend may detonate the second they are fired!
Critical Snail has some really cool things planned for a ruleset that details starship combat in Panhumanic space. We will integrate these rules into Aggressor so that space battles can be fought in tandem with ground battles. Instead of just having to roll for orbital supremacy in the Aggressor pregame, players will have to fight an ongoing space battle to seize and hold orbital supremacy that will in turn play a vital role in their ability to utilize orbital support in the raging ground battle below.
What do you think about the pseudo-science behind Bend Drives? Are you excited to see ground and space battles that can be played in tandem? Let us know on our forums!
This has been a blog post.
Rob, The Notorious DEV