Re: (TFT) Space travel

[Denis DesHarnais <denisdesharnais@gmail.com>]

I just flashed back to the 1980 film Flash Gordon, where travel between
moons by winged vikings and goofballs on electric surfboards required no
helmet whatsoever.  In comparison, gates, wormholes and FTL drive all seem
downright sober.  I'm still feeling my "Next Dirigble to Mars" fantasy,
however.  A couple of weeks in outer space, sipping a Mai Tai in the breeze
from the open window and then - BAM - the next day you're swordfighting
lizard men on Phobos.

On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 1:48 PM, gem6868 <gem6868@verizon.net> wrote:

> I bet George Lucas is working on something with bows and arrows right
> now...
> Alternate realities are probably the best way to get around the
> limitations of science as we know it, altho warp/hyperspace/gates cause the
> least amount of destruction to present scientific principles.  FTL drive
> seems like a pretty long shot just now.  Discovering a "gate" that allows
> you to pass to a place far away?  Interesting in both science and plot.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Denis DesHarnais
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2011 1:01 PM
> To: tft@brainiac.com
> Subject: Re: (TFT) Space travel
>
>
> Also, since this is a fantasy game, there's no particular reason things
> have to be so far from each other, or that outer space be airless.  As a
> matter of fact, space travel might just involve riding a balloon up to the
> giant, curved ceiling with all the little candles on it and talking to the
> dude who lights them every night.  In these cases, space combat could still
> be conducted with bows and arrows.
>
> Probably missing the point, by those are my thoughts....
> On Wed, Nov 30, 2011 at 10:55 AM, Margaret Tapley <
> barnswallow@sbcglobal.net
>
>> wrote:
>>
>
>  On Nov 29, 2011, at 2:52 PM, Mark Tapley wrote:
>>
>> At 10:41 -0500 11/14/11, JAy wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Okay...
>>>> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/****science-environment-15698439<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/**science-environment-15698439>
>>>>
>>>> <h**ttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/**science-environment-15698439<http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-15698439>
>>>>
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Is this FOR REAL?!?
>>>> I mean... I MEAN... WTF?!?
>>>> Really?
>>>> Is it just me or do Mars missions have a HUGE rate of failure?
>>>>
>>>>
>>> They sort of do, don't they? Not sure that's statistically significant,
>>> but it does seem noticeable.
>>>
>>>
>> Sure makes great conspiracy-theory fuel.
>>
>> My thoughts on space travel, as it relates to games, are this:
>>
>> For in-system travel (i.e. space bus to Mars) and space dogfighting, you
>> don't need a technology level that much greater than the one we have today
>> - give it fifty or a hundred more years and we'll be there, assuming we
>> don't get too distracted by whatever happens on Earth during that time.
>> Heck, ion engines have been used already (although they're pretty
>> underpowered so far - no TIE fighters yet...). And I'm betting ships would
>> actually slow down from cruising speed for combat, to reduce the accuracy
>> issues associated with traveling at several kilometers a second relative
>> to
>> your target.
>>
>> But interstellar travel, unless you have some way of going at the speed of
>> light or faster, isn't really feasible for games, since it would take tens
>> or hundreds of years, depending on how close to lightspeed you got, to get
>> to the next star over.
>>
>> Science fiction usually handles this by giving ships a device that allows
>> them to somehow bend space to make the actual distance traveled shorter
>> (warp drive), or pop into an alternate dimension (hyperspace), where
>> again,
>> distances are shorter, or just teleport to wherever they're going.  The
>> problems presented by three- (four?) dimensional, relativistic space as
>> you
>> approach the speed of light mean that the "alternate-dimension" idea is,
>> from a gamer's perspective, probably the best way to deal with it.
>>
>> Basically: "screw realism, we have plot!" Unless you're a realism junkie,
>> in which case go talk to the people at CERN.
>>
>> Dang... I  meant that to be short...
>>
>> - Meg
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