3 ms·

I've always wanted to play a game based on defunct theories. I'm a fan of luminiferous aether myself. What are the impacts on a spacefaring civilization? Sci-

I've always wanted to play a game based on defunct theories. I'm a fan of luminiferous aether myself. What are the impacts on a spacefaring civilization? Sci-fi already grants alternative physics to enable FTL and other magic. What about hard sci-fi, but wrong-hard sci-fi? Extra credit: go back to Zeno and all motion is paradoxical, what would you even do in the game?

matthewdgreen 2y ago
If you haven’t read Greg Egan’s Orthogonal Trilogy, you might like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clockwork_Rocket https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clockwork_Rocket
macintux 2y ago
It feels like all space combat games I've seen rely on Aristotle's theory that objects prefer to be at rest.
- NovemberWhiskey 2y ago
  Try Frontier: Elite II if you want to try a "realistically modeled" view of space combat - things are pretty much strictly Newtonian.
  - vidarh 2y ago
    Terminus seemed to have pretty decent physics too, but it's been a long time.
  - voxic11 2y ago
    Children of a Dead Earth is my suggestion https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead...
  - shagie 2y ago
    Not space combat ... Flight Of Nova > Flight of Nova is a simulator based on newtonian mechanics in which you control spacecraft in the Noren star system. You fly multiple types of spacecraft doing transport and search missions in an environment with realistic aerodynamics and orbital physics. https://www.youtube.com/@flightofnova5746 https://www.youtube.com/@flightofnova5746
- not2b 2y ago
  And in old Trek it seemed that if the engines ever lost power the ship was in danger of deorbiting and crashing within hours for some reason.
  - kaashif 2y ago
    My theory was always that ships hardly ever orbited unpowered, they usually went into much lower powered "orbits" or even just hovered "in place" using the (immense) power of their engines.
    - not2b 2y ago
      But to fly so low as to slow the ship down if unpowered, they'd generate enormous heat from atmospheric friction. They could use shields but then the ship would glow, alerting the natives below and violating the Prime Directive. And they called it "standard orbit". Orbiting doesn't require power. Even a satellite in a very low orbit only needs a slight boost once in a while to counter the drag.
      - XorNot 2y ago
        There's no reason for the shields to cause friction though. They're not made of ordinary matter so an extended, very angular shield could probably cut through atmosphere seamlessly.
    - shiroiushi 2y ago
      Maybe they need a very low orbit to keep the planet's surface in range of the transporters.
      - not2b 2y ago
        Nice try, but: "According to The Original Series (TOS) writers' guide, the effective range of a transporter is 40,000 kilometers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_(Star_Trek) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_(Star_Trek)
Dylan16807 2y ago
Luminiferous aether in what sense, what physics? Relativity doesn't exactly disprove it, it shows that everything distorts in a way that would make any aether unmeasurable. So if you just say aether:yes by itself I don't think anything happens.
- mithametacs 2y ago
  [flagged]

matthewdgreen 2y ago

If you haven’t read Greg Egan’s Orthogonal Trilogy, you might like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clockwork_Rocket https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Clockwork_Rocket

macintux 2y ago

It feels like all space combat games I've seen rely on Aristotle's theory that objects prefer to be at rest.

NovemberWhiskey 2y ago
Try Frontier: Elite II if you want to try a "realistically modeled" view of space combat - things are pretty much strictly Newtonian.
- vidarh 2y ago
  Terminus seemed to have pretty decent physics too, but it's been a long time.
- voxic11 2y ago
  Children of a Dead Earth is my suggestion https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead...
- shagie 2y ago
  Not space combat ... Flight Of Nova > Flight of Nova is a simulator based on newtonian mechanics in which you control spacecraft in the Noren star system. You fly multiple types of spacecraft doing transport and search missions in an environment with realistic aerodynamics and orbital physics. https://www.youtube.com/@flightofnova5746 https://www.youtube.com/@flightofnova5746
not2b 2y ago
And in old Trek it seemed that if the engines ever lost power the ship was in danger of deorbiting and crashing within hours for some reason.
- kaashif 2y ago
  My theory was always that ships hardly ever orbited unpowered, they usually went into much lower powered "orbits" or even just hovered "in place" using the (immense) power of their engines.
  - not2b 2y ago
    But to fly so low as to slow the ship down if unpowered, they'd generate enormous heat from atmospheric friction. They could use shields but then the ship would glow, alerting the natives below and violating the Prime Directive. And they called it "standard orbit". Orbiting doesn't require power. Even a satellite in a very low orbit only needs a slight boost once in a while to counter the drag.
    - XorNot 2y ago
      There's no reason for the shields to cause friction though. They're not made of ordinary matter so an extended, very angular shield could probably cut through atmosphere seamlessly.
  - shiroiushi 2y ago
    Maybe they need a very low orbit to keep the planet's surface in range of the transporters.
    - not2b 2y ago
      Nice try, but: "According to The Original Series (TOS) writers' guide, the effective range of a transporter is 40,000 kilometers." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_(Star_Trek) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transporter_(Star_Trek)

Dylan16807 2y ago

Luminiferous aether in what sense, what physics? Relativity doesn't exactly disprove it, it shows that everything distorts in a way that would make any aether unmeasurable. So if you just say aether:yes by itself I don't think anything happens.

mithametacs 2y ago
[flagged]