Rift Generator

[Strangelove]

https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=rift_generator

A while back some may have noticed I was looking at the "pirate problem". Specifically, 'Why is there nothing stopping a military from simply steamrolling over them?' So I played with a few ideas, then took a look at the Vietcong, arguably one of the most successful guerrilla fighters in modern history. The secret of their success was tunnel networks, which allowed them to resupply and reposition almost invisibly.

I realized that a form of jumpgate-style technology fitted on a carrier could offer a similar form of protection and mobility (if put on a mobile platform like a ship), and would logically the best way to protect guerrilla forces from simply being overwhelmed by the sheer firepower/numbers of military forces.

I chose to make a separate "rift" technology rather than using traditional jump gates because I was unsure if they were interdictable; an interdictable network would defeat the entire purpose of the system, which is to give guerrilla forces the mobility advantage. These rifts would be sustainable rather than single-shot, acting as an actual portal or gateway rather than a hyperspatial catapult like jumpgates.


Overview
The Pros:
- The system is immune to interdiction and jamming (through the physical gateways are still susceptible to destruction)
- Provides instantaneous travel
- Protects a ship from "unstable space" anomalies
- Inversely can create an aura of unstable space as a defensive measure against incoming attacks or PA (but only while the gateway is inactive).

The Cons:
- The system currently only works for objects below a certain size threshold (fighters, bombers, patrol craft, etc).
- The system requires a gateway to stabilize it, so no ship can travel through its own rift. Said ship would have to resort to traditional propulsion, making it vulnerable to interdiction, etc.
- The rift-stabilizing gateway is especially susceptible to damage; a rift is too structurally destabilizing to be buried deep within a ship, thus will always be kept along the outside of the hull and vulnerable.
- The destruction of a rift gateway will destroy the entire ship
- The unstable space aura is indiscriminate; it will damage friendly and enemy ships alike. The aura is therefore mutually exclusive with having any reinforcements on the battlefield.

As you can see, I've taken a careful effort to add a number of balancing factor to prevent the "omg-wtf" effect of potential abuse issues. Hopefully I've covered all my bases here. Oh, and I apologize if the article may seem incomplete -- I always custom-tailor the description of each component for the ship I use it on, so it may not seem like a well-written "stand alone" article.

 

[Wes]

- The system currently only works for objects below a certain size threshold (fighters, bombers, patrol craft, etc).

I would like a number...

Also, I'm not too hot on this because we already have so many FTL systems.

 

[SUBLIMEinal]

I'm mostly okay with it, except for a couple things:

1. This thing should suck exorbiant amounts of power, like enough to make the ship using it pretty close to dead in the water, especially if its immune to interdiction. The only other devices of this type are the NovaCorp Gates, which are devoted solely to the purpose of making wormholes and are powered by crazy Quantum Foam.

2. I think that if its maybe only one or two small ships interdicting it, then it should be okay, but if its a gigantic space station or a small fleet concerting interdiction fields, which are meant to essentially "stabilize" space, then there should be some penalties on it, either reduced ability to move ships or shutting down altogether. I think something like that should be in place for two reasons:

• - As I said before, Interdiction essentially stabilizes space. As this is by all purposes a disturbance in space, it should be affected by that.

• - I believe being it would also make this piece of technology more balanced, so as not to have pirates simply spamming carriers on the front-lines and having them dumping out masses of ships to overwhelm everyone else. The Vietcong hid their tunnels, and tried to keep them pretty safe. This should be a similar case, in my opinion. The first point I brought up should also contribute to this.

3. Would there be a size limit on what types of craft could carry this? Such as only allowing it on capital ships? I'm really not partial to seeing a couple billion fighters coming streaming out the side of a ship only a hundred meters long.

Also, good to see you're still alive

 

[DocTomoe]

The Tomoe's opinion is: The Tomoe likes completely and entirely

Also, I'm suggesting a 25 meter width limit. Perfect for smallish freighters, gunboats, cargo containers, and the hefty corvette.

 

[Gamerofthegame]

Hm.

Reminds me of the Eldar. And I like the Eldar.

I approve... And I did have plans on doing some NPC pirate force or something sometime later.

 

[MoonMan]

What exactly is unstable space?

From the way it rings the universe on our Star Map, one gets the impression that it is an impossibly impassable area that nothing can get through, meant to corral us where we are currently.

If this is the case, I'm not really sure I like the idea of a ship being able to generate a god-shield.

 

[Strangelove]

The system is designed for clandestine use, as previously mentioned in my opening post. Thus my reasoning is this: If a rift-gateway is built too large, it will generate a huge energy signature and make a physically huge target. That in turn would totally nullify the entire purpose of a tunnel-network style system (which to remain mobile while stealthy).

There isn't so much a precise limit as there is a general size class. For my impending ship submission that is to go with this device, the idea is that nothing larger than a patrol craft (that threshold right between proper starships and large fighters) would be small enough to use the system.

Since the point of this system is a means for guerilla forces to operate, there is little point or sense in building a gateway large enough to move entire fleets of ships, if that's what you're worried about. Even if they theoretically could it wouldn't be practical for the above reasons.

 

[Strangelove]

Bump, for inactivity.

In regards to Sub's concern: Well, what I had in mind is the technology be quite bulky so can only be mounted on Motherships. (Possibly smaller versions, but those would be limited to stuff like personnel only or ammunition transport.)

Regarding your spam idea: remember this technology is going to be used by guerrilla forces. They don't have anywhere near the sheer numbers or production capacity to throw away ships at ease; a carrier or mothership would be a very expensive loss.

 

[Wes]

What if it only worked in unstable space?

 

[Strangelove]

Well I was actually hoping to use it as a replacement for hyperspace technology for the 'Spacers. Yes, completely replace among all non-capital ships. Why, you might ask?

• Retrofitting thousands of hyperspace drives onto current ships is not only expensive, but highly inefficient. Fitting a single ship for hyperspace with a rift generator would be a far easier task.
  
• While typically a burden for most nations, this would be especially feasable for the nomadic Freespacer life style. They already travel in vast carvans of ships in a community-centric nature, and already have to maintain Mothership proximity for support and repair.
  
• OOC-wise, I find it a bit bland that everyone uses essentially identical means of FTL propulsion. I thought it would add setting flavor and uniqueness to have some factions that relied upon a completely different means of travel; and I don't just mean "pseudo-different" like a faster point-to-point drive, or one with anti-interdiction, but a really different means of travel. The Rift Generator.
  
• Having a radically different means of travel also adds a new layer of depth to combat. Instead of "who has the biggest guns automatically wins" or travel being "who has the most interdiction vs anti-interdiction," you'd have to fight and travel smart. Hold gateway chokepoints to reinforce and resupply. If your local gate is destroyed, you'd have to play cat-and-mouse with the aggressors until you can reach the next network waypoint. A hidden carrier ambushing a convoy by summoning a large number of squadrons. And so on.

 

[Silverthorne]

The size of the 'rift' generator could be limited to the size of the ship carrying it. The better way to build this rift gate, would be to have a single ship basically a floating generator, one or possibly two ships to produce the gate itself. The two smaller ships could produce individual gates to let in 25 meter across ships. Together with the third 'generator' ship possibly up to a 50 meter wide ship, but the flare of it producing the ship would be very visible.

 

[alhazred23]

Or, the rift network could be interdiction-proof, but in exchange the 'entraces' to the network would be naturally occuring and stationary. You'd have to move 'gate platforms' such as capital ships to the 'entrances' via some other form of FTL travel, then either keep that location secret or defend it for the duration that you want to use it.

In that scenario, maps of the known rift network would become a valuable and closely guarded secret. Discovering and mapping new 'entrances' could involve either wandering the rift network to find 'weak points,' predicting them mathematically, or just searching them down in realspace.

 

[Wes]

I don't know, the whole "immune to interdiction" radically changes the nature of the game and I don't know if it could be considered in a positive way.

 

[DocTomoe]

It only causes unease because it takes away a degree of superiority which the major factions have a stranglehold upon.

These rifts will not be able to appear in a Deus Ex Machina type of manner, spontaneously becoming a pain in a Nepleslian or Yamataian captain's ass. I would think the rifts would be kept as far away from an objective as possible for that matter, considering the sheer amount of power required combined with the factor of pirates most likely not wanting the technology to fall into the hands of the law. Due to those factors, the little thing about interdiction is hardly even a concern, and it frankly makes things all the more fair considering that the little guy has absolutely no chance as it stands considering the overwhelming military presence in Yamatai space, and the absurdly tightly woven defense network of Nepleslian space.

 

[MoonMan]

What exactly is unstable space?

From the way it rings the universe on our Star Map, one gets the impression that it is an impossibly impassable area that nothing can get through, meant to corral us where we are currently.

If this is the case, I'm not really sure I like the idea of a ship being able to generate a god-shield.

I would still like to know the answer to this, if anyone would care to shed some light on it. Unstable space rings most systems and even appears to be basically an unapproachable, unbreakable barrier in the Uesu Military Sector.

If unstable space isn't some stop-all force that it appears to be, then I don't see much of a problem with the generator. If it is, I question the balances making technology like this would break.

 

[Strangelove]

I would still like to know the answer to this, if anyone would care to shed some light on it. Unstable space rings most systems and even appears to be basically an unapproachable, unbreakable barrier in the Uesu Military Sector.

If unstable space isn't some stop-all force that it appears to be, then I don't see much of a problem with the generator. If it is, I question the balances making technology like this would break.

Don't forget that the majority of interdiction-buffed defenses already have overwhelming fire superiority (e.g., star fortresses, pre-sighted artillery killzones, entire fleets in reserve). So breaking a military interdiction zone would be fairly useless anyhow, seeing as how you'd need an entire armada to break through the defenses.

Oh, and don't forget the vessel carrying the rift generator is still susceptible to interdiction since it has to travel by "normal" means. So a gate wouldn't be able to get through an interdiction zone anyways.

Or, the rift network could be interdiction-proof, but in exchange the 'entraces' to the network would be naturally occuring and stationary. You'd have to move 'gate platforms' such as capital ships to the 'entrances' via some other form of FTL travel, then either keep that location secret or defend it for the duration that you want to use it.

In that scenario, maps of the known rift network would become a valuable and closely guarded secret. Discovering and mapping new 'entrances' could involve either wandering the rift network to find 'weak points,' predicting them mathematically, or just searching them down in realspace.

Actually, I was contemplating building a stationary (and hidden) gate network in a future submission. These clandestine gates would create the equivalent of a tunnel network in controlled territories, giving friendly forces a "home field advantage" there. Sort of parallel to how other races build superfortresses to protect their zones, with the exception it supports guerrilla tactics rather than strong-arm ones.

 

[MoonMan]

Don't forget that the majority of interdiction-buffed defenses already have overwhelming fire superiority (e.g., star fortresses, pre-sighted artillery killzones, entire fleets in reserve). So breaking a military interdiction zone would be fairly useless anyhow, seeing as how you'd need an entire armada to break through the defenses.

Oh, and don't forget the vessel carrying the rift generator is still susceptible to interdiction since it has to travel by "normal" means. So a gate wouldn't be able to get through an interdiction zone anyways.

I'm not worried about this being used against Nepleslia, or Yamatai, or anything like this. I am more worried about what approving a piece of technology that can create unstable space (which still has not been clearly defined) can lead to.

If the Freespacers can make this, what's to stop them from filling whole sections of the starmap with unstable space as an aggressive measure? Again, unstable space hasn't been explained yet, which is a big part of my problem here, but if it's indeed an impassible barrier, then the Freespacers can, at will, create impenetrable areas of space that nobody but themselves can pass through freely. Not even the Nepleslian Defense Grid cannot do this, nor can any other defensive measure in the setting; unstable space makes a brick wall that you cannot pass, while other defensive measures have huge gaps in which we throw rocks at passerbys to discourage trying to cross the gaps.

I'm all for a little balance, but becoming unattackable isn't so much a balance as it is breaking the balance. Even if the ship cannot attack back, it's pretty much saved from anything and everything we could throw at it until more help arrives.

...I would really, really like to know what the properties of unstable space are.

 

[Strangelove]

Requesting approval, so I can get a chance to use this (and the ship I'm waiting to submit, once this constituent tech is approved). I might not get a chance to use this tech at all once Yamatai steamrolls over the entire 'Spacer sector.

 

[MoonMan]

Well, since my question about the properties of Unstable Space have been answered in the QA thread, I no longer have much of a qualm. Looks like a fairly sound wormhole device to me.

 

[Wes]

It's a shield system that tries to bypass the damage system combined with an unblockable propulsion system. That's overpowered.

I'm not going to approve this.