A Map Idea
alienchickenpie
Join Date: 2003-01-25 Member: 12710Members
Join Date: 2003-01-25 Member: 12710Members
<div class="IPBDescription">Does it fit NS's backstory?</div> My map idea is some sort of spaceship that "seeds" atmospheres in planets and, with the help of other ships, makes planets hospitable. I'm not here to discuss wether it's possible or not in real life (it's Sci-Fi after all), I just wanna know if it fits NS's backstory. Can you help me?
Comments
From what I can determine, new systems are surveyed by a process of sending in a scouting vessal first. Getting it there requires a Gate. Now I've theorised my own version of how exactly Gates work, and to explain this I'll have to go into it.
Gates create a gravitational field that produces a wormhole; a loop in space that allows virtually instantaneous travel. When a gate creates a wormhole, it needs a gravitational beacon to latch the other end of the wormhole onto. If there is another Gate that you wish to travel to, the first gate simply locks onto the gravitational signature of the other Gate, and the connection is established. Gates create gravitational signatures that are greater than anything else in the system theyare in, including suns. Travelling from one Gate to another is far more economical, in terms of energy and resources, than doing things the other way, which will be explained here.
Obviously the initial exploration of various systems couldn't take place between Gates. You could send a ship out by normal means to construct a Gate at the other end, but even if the ship could travel at the speed of light (and ships can't do that in the NS universe), it would take centuries for humanity to spread to just a few stars, and seeing as the time frame for the Expansion Period is around 90 years, that can't work. Unexplored systems are thus colonised as follows: A Gate, located in an already inhabited system, creates a wormhole and uses the gravitational signature of the sun in the desired system to complete the wormhole. This way, a colonisation ship can be sent through to contruct a new Gate in the new system. This could either be accomplished by using local materials or by sending through a dis-assembled Gate and putting it together on the other side. Sending ships via this method though is very uneconomical; because there is no Gate at the other end to take a share of the energy burden, the amount of energy required is around eight times greater than sending a ship between two existing Gates. This explains why the Expansion Period, which was mainly sending humans and colonies into systems without Gates, virtually bankrupted everyone involved. Now, with Gates established everywhere, travel is far more cost effective.
Once a Gate has been placed in a system, it becomes impossible to use other gravitational signatures within the system to establish a wormhole connection, due to the fact that the Gates generate such huge gravity "beacons". This explains why controlling the Gate in a system allows you to control the system as a whole.
Thus, a colonisation ship's first aim would probably be to construct a new Gate so data about the new system could be returned. The secondary goal would then be based on what information was found; if the system had a planet or moon that was possibly haibitable for life, the process of terraforming could then begin, whereas if there were valuable mineral desposits found, colonies could be set up to harvest them.
For your map, based around the idea of a ship terraforming the planet, ships would likely begin to bombard a potential planet with bacterium or self-replicating nanomachines that would begin to convert the existing atmosphere into breathable gas. Atmosphere processors (think Aliens) might be established to speed up this process. If the planet was too cold, and had large amounts of ice on the surface, the creation of an artificial greenhouse effect would be of some use.
Thus your map idea is valid. Some planets have been terraformed, and whilst the methods are of course just sci-fi speculation, within the NS universe colonisation ships certainly exist.
Current ideas:
Atmotpheric proccessing lab
Geological sampling lab
Greenhouse
Space vehicle garage
"SpacePort"
Crew quarters
Research labs
Nano control room
Communications room
Also, what does an atmospheric proccessing facilty look like? Does it have a lot of "chimneys"? Does it have gas canisters?
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A Hanger... or Docking Bay...
I don't know... Space Vehicle Garage doesn't sound quite right...
Because of such customisation required for terraforming you could put all sorts of cool stuff in your map.
*The firebombs I mentioned could use an orbital-to-ground bomb bay.
*You could have deactivated exploration/sample collecting vehicles around. Heck, you could do something crazy like weld through a restraining bar to cause them to crash through a wall to a hive like the doors on ns_lost. (Is that possible in the HL engine?)
*You could have the remains of a security drone 'killed' by the kharra.
*There could (and probably would) be a biology lab with local animals in glass containers, or behind forcefields.
*Nuclear Fusion Powerplant. Maybe a large circular room with the center walled off, said center containing the actual core. Of course, the lights & doors in certain parts of the station wouldn't work right untill you welded the power lines the Kharra cut.
More if I think if them.
I don't know... Space Vehicle Garage doesn't sound quite right... <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I know it doesn't sound right.
Anyway, I think I'll make the station sort of modular, like a bunch of seperate facilities connected by some enclosed paths and tubes.