Slavers have slaves on board, 'factions', 50+ suggestions

[R4V3-0N]

The people in the hanger is from a federation base evacuating before the rebels come.

They....

A) Manned the station till there final hours when the rebels arrive.

B) Take off in the other federation ships. (hence how you see federation ships yet not in the fleet. eg scout and bomber)

C) went into hiding.

Even if it was a ship, 1 ship is not a fleet. It's a ship. I also assume you are the first ship to come out of there since your important task. it may seem your ship is the only functional ship there ready for FTL jump, the other ones seemed they needed more repair. Could be ships that already encountered the Rebel fleet and manage to get to this station for repairs and supplies before the rebels caught up.

[chonwaen]

I do believe the following will answer questions 9(at least partially), 25, 26, and even 29 all in one fell swoop, mostly using real theoretical physics!!!

To begin with, all ships in the game have a reactor. If these are anything like nuclear reactors used on modern navy ships, you can literally go years without having to refuel these reactors. This means that you have effectively limitless sub-light speed fuel(question 9). Believe it or not, the reactor also powers the FTL generator as well!

You may then ask, "Why do you need "fuel" at all then?" Good question! it involves the theory of General Relativity especially as it pertains to wormholes (or "Einstein-Rosen Bridges"). The usage of jumps as opposed to a Star Trek style warp drive system pretty well lead me to believe FTL technology in this game revolves around artificially generated wormholes.

A wormhole connects two distant locations as though by a shortcut through normal space. It is a distortion that would need to create a very strong curvature in a highly localized region of space-time using immense gravity fields (hence the hefty power need to open one). To counteract the unstable nature, and prevent these distortions from collapsing under their own 'weight', one would need to introduce hypothetical (as of the 21st century of man) exotic matter or negative energy. In the FTL universe, "fuel" is merely the exotic matter needed to hold open a wormhole long enough for a ship to traverse it, but is consumed in the process. Hence the usage of a single unit of "fuel" for a jump, regardless of length (question 25). Why even call it "fuel" then? Probably because nobody wants to say "Neoultraunobtanium" more than they need to!!!

Generating these immense localized gravity fields artificially may also require a nearby celestial that generates enough natural gravity resulting in an already significant natural distortion in space-time, making the the artificial wormhole opening possible without having to use a burst of near-infinite energy to do so (merely a very large one). This means a balance needs to be struck between distance to a celestial object and the inherent danger of colliding with it (or being fried by it in the case of a star). Happily, most folks are far more interested in areas near celestial objects (habitable or minable areas) than they are in the vast emptiness of interstellar space. This explains the limited jump destinations in each sector of space.

A reasonably plausable theory for the need to shut down most ship systems (espeically weapon systems) may have to do with the systems energy storage field potentially interfering with the negative energy generated by the exotic matter "fuel" and risking the collapse of the wormhole while the ship is passing through it resulting in a squashed ship that won't be very useful anymore. (question 26)

So, if generating a wormhole can be done, and it can link any two points in the entire universe, why can't I just jump anywhere on the map at will, why is there a distance limit? To put it succintly, I am not 100% sure, but my theory is that you may need to measure the mass profile of a distant location as it exists to a reasonable degree of certainty in order to calculate its natural gravity profile to create a safe and useful exit point for your artificially generated wormhole. Since you cannot observe a distant star system by any other method than by direct observation (which travels to you at the normal speed of light), the further away a celestial is in normal space, the more potential error there is in the calculation. Too much error would probably have one of two very nasty consequences. In one instance, your exit wormhole will dump you out too close to an unsurmountable hazard such as a planet or star (Hello fly, meet windshield!). In the other, the exit wormhole would be too far away from any usable gravity well needed to continue your journey at supraluminal speeds, and your message will arrive way too late to be of any use.

As far as the want to "generate" FTL "fuel" onboard ship: Since exotic matter is needed, it probably would not be able to be created on-board a ship. How many cars do you know that carry around its own oil refinery? (question 9)

Why do stores have limited stock of "fuel"? probably because its hard to make, and/or difficult to contain, and/or the locals tend not to use it much cause most space travel is intra-system that is more cheaply done without using an artificial wormhole generator. Many people drive cars, many fewer pilot planes or fly interstellar ships(question 29).

[CrashSanders]

chonwaen, I don't know who you are, but I will find you and I will shake hands with you.

[chonwaen]

So, if generating a wormhole can be done, and it can link any two points in the entire universe, why can't I just jump anywhere on the map at will, why is there a distance limit? To put it succintly, I am not 100% sure, but my theory is that you may need to measure the mass profile of a distant location as it exists to a reasonable degree of certainty in order to calculate its natural gravity profile to create a safe and useful exit point for your artificially generated wormhole. Since you cannot observe a distant star system by any other method than by direct observation (which travels to you at the normal speed of light), the further away a celestial is in normal space, the more potential error there is in the calculation. Too much error would probably have one of two very nasty consequences. In one instance, your exit wormhole will dump you out too close to an unsurmountable hazard such as a planet or star (Hello fly, meet windshield!). In the other, the exit wormhole would be too far away from any usable gravity well needed to continue your journey at supraluminal speeds, and your message will arrive way too late to be of any use.

I realized after writing this part that the explanation I provided was actually too simplistic as far as the factors needed to be obtained to produce a proper jump equation that would be effective. The gravity profile of the destination is but one of the factors. The second would be the gravity profile of your ship and the space around it. Third, relative velocity and direction of the two points connected (everything in space is moving, often at tremendous speeds, you just don't realize it because everything else nearby you is moving right along with you). Finally, other large gravity wells along your path will have to be considered in order to compensate for the bending of your wormhole caused by them. I believe thats also why there are jump beacons in the game. These jump beacons probably give your ship's computers most of this information it needs for the remote areas along with much of the local area, merely leaving with your pilot having to enter the mass profile of his vessel and perhaps that of a short distance around it.

[UltraMantis]

Very well written.

A possible explanation for the relativly short distances of jumps could be that probability of "mis-jumps" inceases with distance or that quanities of fuel or power needed rise disproportionatly. So you could theoretically jump straight to the exit beacon but would require power and fuel in such quantity that no ship could afford it or have room for it. Or it would increase the mass of the FTL drive too much to be feasible. There's also the question of safety, such a jump could be unsafe and so in FTL all ships jump distances within a certain safe and near-optimal window.

The beacons themselves may be needed to provide navigational references and could be limited to providing stable and safe guidance to only certain nearby beacons. Sector beacons would probably also provide power needed to make a sector jump. This makes beacons both important and valuable which explains why the Rebels would not want to destroy them. They want to conquer and hold, not merely raze the inhabited sectors. Even if they're desperate to stop one fleeing ship carrying vital intelligence.

[wolfboyft]

Hm. Ban lifted. (Heh, I forgot about it so this is late. Natural, really)

I don't really understand the thing about me 'whining' or being 'confrontational' at all!

And also, because there is no way anybody would have so much kindness as to code a mod that renames the teleport system and turns it into a shuttle entrance thing, I decided I might as well get a modding tutorial.

[CrashSanders]

*deep irritated sigh* So you do not listen to anybody, really. And I had hopes... too bad.

I don't really understand the thing about me 'whining' or being 'confrontational' at all!

Then unplug the Internet cable right now and go somewhere outside your room. Maybe even ask your parents what does 'whining' and 'confrontational' mean and spare us from your ignorance.

And also, because there is no way anybody would have so much kindness as to code a mod that renames the teleport system and turns it into a shuttle entrance thing, I decided I might as well get a modding tutorial.

Is that all what you want? Just to RENAME a system and leave it work as is? Go and do something terrible to yourself, right now. Because you deserve it.

[wolfboyft]

*deep irritated sigh* So you do not listen to anybody, really. And I had hopes... too bad.

I don't really understand the thing about me 'whining' or being 'confrontational' at all!

Then unplug the Internet cable right now and go somewhere outside your room. Maybe even ask your parents what does 'whining' and 'confrontational' mean and spare us from your ignorance.

And also, because there is no way anybody would have so much kindness as to code a mod that renames the teleport system and turns it into a shuttle entrance thing, I decided I might as well get a modding tutorial.

Is that all what you want? Just to RENAME a system and leave it work as is? Go and do something terrible to yourself, right now. Because you deserve it.

...

?

[UltraMantis]

*deep irritated sigh* So you do not listen to anybody, really. And I had hopes... too bad.

I don't really understand the thing about me 'whining' or being 'confrontational' at all!

Then unplug the Internet cable right now and go somewhere outside your room. Maybe even ask your parents what does 'whining' and 'confrontational' mean and spare us from your ignorance.

And also, because there is no way anybody would have so much kindness as to code a mod that renames the teleport system and turns it into a shuttle entrance thing, I decided I might as well get a modding tutorial.

Is that all what you want? Just to RENAME a system and leave it work as is? Go and do something terrible to yourself, right now. Because you deserve it.

Crash, you are violating rule no.1 of the forum. Don't be a Jerk man.
You are certainly demonstrating you know what 'confrontational' means, and are currently the only person interested in publicly fighting with wolfboyft.

Frankly what you wrote above doesn't belong here and is pure flaming and flame-baiting. Knock it off. It was an error in judgement to attack someone that way, and i understand it was fueled by frustration, and we all make mistakes but knock it off nevertheless.

What i suggest is that you go to your User Control Panel and add users to your ignore list. That way their posts will be filtered out and will not cause you to make similar outbursts.

[agigabyte]

Hm. Ban lifted. (Heh, I forgot about it so this is late. Natural, really)

I don't really understand the thing about me 'whining' or being 'confrontational' at all!

And also, because there is no way anybody would have so much kindness as to code a mod that renames the teleport system and turns it into a shuttle entrance thing, I decided I might as well get a modding tutorial.

If you want to change the graphic that is hardcoded, otherwise the reason is that 99% of players do not care about it enough for the mod to be worthwhile, nice idea though.