Talk:Space Travel

Subspace/Hyperlane Drive
Combining the ideas of subspace and hyperlane/warp drives, the revised subspace drive is able to access a network of hyperlanes that exist within the Void, but are sheltered from the Denizens of the Void. The revised subspace drive '''generate a subspace tunnel connecting the vessel to the hyperlane network. It achieves this by vibrating the vessel until it is synchronized with subspace, generating a vortex in the process.*''' These engines are capable of travelling for approximately 10-15 lanes worth of travel time before they must cool down in real space. Entry and exit points must be calculated based on these principles.

Easiest and most common form of travel.


 * - May be redundant to include this description, simply because every empire could access the hyperlanes in a slightly different fashion.

Additional suggested ideas:

-Void space "hubs" exist in every system, and can facilitate extended travel between multiple hyperlanes without exiting the Hyperlane Void Network (HVN) back into real space. These hubs could also explain short, shock jumps.

-Vessels exit hyperlanes between star systems due to the gravity wells of celestial bodies, which pull the lanes closer to a stronger gravity well. While this is not mandatory, it is easier than remaining in the aforementioned hubs. The pull of these gravity wells may inadvertently bring the vessels closer to danger of hurdling into these celestial objects.

Blue Thoughts:
In my opinion this should be the standard for ftl travel in eaw. Only thing that I find kind of odd is that it specifies that vibrating is how this form is travel is achieved. Also the number for lanes being travelled this way seems like it isn't based on anything but that is understandable since there isn't anything to base it on yet. For the sauran-zaretian conflict I am developing a map with lines, the assumption in that one is that lanes go from star to star. The idea being that massive objects attract space in such a way that it creates the lanes but when you get too close to them the gravity well disrupts them. Or maybe instead of that its background darkmatter that forms the lanes.

One thing I am going to specify in the map is the location within a system where ships can enter and exit the lanes. These locations are like an area in which you can enter and exit and they vary in size. This would also make it possible for a fleet to guard or ambush a fleet that exits one of these Jump points. Not sure on the name but that is something we can discuss and find a consensus on.

Standard drives
The cheapest, simplest and most common method of FTL travel is the standard drive, known by many names such as the interstellar drive. The standard FTL drive works by quickly accelerating the vessel to FTL speeds. This method, while easy to perform, has a number of drawbacks: it can only go in a straight line, it can be tracked and intercepted, and it is the slowest method of FTL travel, sometimes by a significant degree. At the same time, their relative simplicity compared to other models makes them easy to maintain compared to more complex engines. Standard drives need time to cool down and recharge between each jump, a process that can take several minutes. (just a copy and paste here, I see no reason to get rid of this)

To clarify, a vessel with a standard drive can only complete one hyperlane jump (or similar) before entering a cooldown phase. It cannot chain jumps to any extent. It can be tracked because it is predictable, and could technically be intercepted in the actual hyperlane itself by means of a projectile.

Blue Thoughts:
There are a number of concerns I have with this method of FTL travel, I will start with the most important one. With this FTL system, any ship or anything that can put these engine on will be able to launch itself with FTL speed into another object. Considering we would like to have large ships not be evaporated by a smaller vessel just FTL'ing into it we either have to come up with reasoning as to why this can't happen or something else to explain why this isn't done. For the sake of space battles I argue that this type of ftl travel simply doesn't exist in EAW. In my opinion it creates too many problems that aren't worth solving. As for the other concerns, the downsides of this type of FTL travel. I am not exactly sure in what way it would be a downside that it can only go straight forward as I wasn't aware any other type of FTL could go into another direction than that or how it even is a bad thing that it can only go that way. As for the tracking and interception, it simply is unclear how this is achieved and I would like to know more about how that goes. I have a hard time imagining how and where you would intercept something that goes many times the speed of light. The supposed slowness or speed of the different FTL travels feels hard to put into practical terms, since we don't have a grasp on what distances the races in eaw actually travel. Atleast, I don't have a clear idea of what those distances would be like and how the different method of FTL travel would impact that. Lastly, I find it strange how this FTL type and the one above are both the most common types. Still, that is far from the most pressing concern I have with this type. I argue that the lanes/subspace would be the main ftl travel method for all of EAW but this isn't the place to discuss that right?

Jump/Rift Drive
Jump drives bend space between the destination and the vessel before 'flinging' the ship towards the desired location in a manner similar to that of a slingshot. This method is significantly faster than a standard and Subspace drive, and is far more difficult, if not outright impossible, to intercept, though it is still not instantaneous. While this method allows ships to travel short distances and catch opponents off-guard, jump drives have both a warm up and a cool down period and are energy-intensive, especially for longer jumps. The time required to make a second jump makes retreating from an unfavorable situation difficult and risky, as jump drives are sensitive to stress caused by rapid jumps. (made a few wording changes to match earlier discussion)

Blue Thoughts:
You have heard the conversation between hang and me about this so I will spare everyone a text wall about this type. To keep it short, it raises the same concerns as with Standard Drive with the added bonus of adding another FTL type to EAW. In a vacuum (no not that one) this is pretty harmless but I worry that this type is variety for the sake of it. I m all for Lane-less travel here and there but this takes it too far. The reason I think all these FTL types haven't clashed or caused much trouble before is simply because they are rarely interacted with or mentioned. This goes back to the whole, the races feel like islands thing. Because every race does their own thing which makes it harder for them to interact with eachother.

Warp Drive
Allows for access to the free-floating Void Space by using advanced calculations to determine an entry and exit point. This is achieved by entering into the Void via a portal and then travelling at faster-than-light speeds towards the destination, where the ship will then exit back into real space. However, when inside the Void, the Denizens of the Void often harass those that encroach on the Void space, which can be potentially dangerous.

Additional Thoughts

-Still a poorly understood concept by most Empires, with the exception of the Rach. Significantly more flexible in terms of travel abilities compared to the Subspace/Hyperlane drive, but again, not understood by the greater galactic community to be used in this capacity.

Blue Thoughts:
From what I understand this type of travel is a Rach invention from their years in the Void and is supposed to revolutionize the war near year 18. It sounds like free form teleportation, or I guess just teleportation with the void being in between the locations. Personally I am not a fan of teleportation even though it isn't strictly that. But just the concept of being able to teleport or travel anywhere without limitations and very precisely even at short distances doesn't sit well with me. Still, I don't want to dismiss this idea entirely since it has been in the works a while and is involved in part of the story for the later years of EAW. In short, since it won't be a thing until the later years I don't see a reason to remove it.

Warp Gates
These I feel can exist on the principle they can be relatively unstable, they are also partly what the Rift Incident is based on. Logistics of building and supporting these gates would have to be decided in the future.

Blue Thoughts:
Connecting two points in space with a Warp gate feels like it would fit right in with EAW but it does leave some questions open. The limitations of these gates are up in the air but since the concept of them is well understood it rarely causes problems. Unlike standard drive. As far as I know gates like these have been used by a few races here and there but I guess the reason why not everybody uses them is because they logically need to be put where you want them in the first place which you can't easily do in enemy territory. Plus, if you can travel to the place you want to without the Warp Gate why would you need the gate to begin with? A possible answer to that could be that they are combined with another type of FTL. For example, say you want to travel between two systems but those are far apart and would take a while even when using the Hyper Lanes. A warp gate could by pass that, provided that you bring the gate there first. So it would be an investment on the Empires part to transport one. Still this leaves some questions open, like how far can a gate reach etc but since EAW hasn't had to answer question like that before it hasn't caused problems so far.