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.

 

[OsakanOne]

I thought it'd be relevant to the impact of the technology from an roleplaying perspective.

 

[FM]

Snark aside, the comment was quite relevant - besides the technical feasibility, the main issue with this technology is one of power level and the risk that the technology might be abused.

It's worth discussing, I believe. Technological feasability can be solved, restrictions placed - but politically, this is an issue, and one that shouldn't be swept under the rug.

EDIT: As it turns out, Osaka just said the same thing as me. ^^;

 

[Andrew]

Wes.

Give Yamatai something to worry about for a change. When characters have stuff to worry about, things become interesting in terms of roleplay. Things become less linear and above all: less boring. Life's far too easy for the cats right now.


It's why I refuse to play one.

Violation Site Rule #1.
viewtopic.php?f=16&t=982

Violation Submission, Review Policy #1
https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=submission_rules

Warning will be issued via the forum's warning system. Please keep on topic and review. The disapproval of this submission thus far has nothing to do with Yamatai.

Topic Locked.

Appeal Process can be followed as specified. https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=submission_rules by the submitting party.

 

[Strangelove]

Foreword: I apologize for the long speech in advance; I'm just trying to hopefully avoid what may potentially be months of submission rot (as happened with some of my previous submissions). To that end I am trying to address as much critique (even that which has not pointed out yet) as possible in hopes it will speed up the approval process.

After discussing it with several people, I realize that the main issue with these sort of technologies (see the ECM debacle) is that they're the result of thinking very much "outside the box".

For those who may not call said debacle, I once submitted a high-powered ECM jammer that was designed to be an alternative to brute force shielding technology; it disrupted accuracy severely instead of physically blocking the shots like shields do. Since ECM had never been used on such a large scale (it's a footnote in PA combat scenes, if ever used at all), and tech reviewers also shied away from approving such a setting-altering technology.

I think in the end it was concluded that while a chance-based defense could be abused by a GM -- energy shielding was equally abusable. Since the DR system was a bit broken (many ships can typically kill others of its own class in <60 seconds according to the system), most GMs would simply ignore it in order to create an interesting battle scene. Ergo, potential abuse issues really comes down to GM trust in both cases.

As I mentioned, this technology suffers from the similar issue of being perceived as too "outside the box". While the rifts carry abuse potential, the hyperspace drives create equal if not greater abuse potential. A gateship cannot jump into interdiction zones, since they'd use hyperspace drives. A traditional hyperspace-driven fleet would allow you the capacity to instantly drop an entire armada (complete with capital ships) on an enemy's doorstep. A gateship would have to drop on the door step, then open the gate, which gives the enemy more time to prepare for an attack -- but unlike the traditional fleet, the gateship is too small to deploy capital ships due to size restrictions. The only time it surpasses hyperspace systems is in a defensive regard -- to both hide from enemy detection, and to flee if the enemy interdicts a pre-deployed gate area. And while a gate could be abused by summon millions of small ships to battle...if a traditional hyperspace fleet had those same ships sitting around, they would just jump them in all at once with the rest of the fleet (via hyperspace drive instead of gate), so would result in the exact same combat strength regardless of whether one uses gates or drives.

(Side note: I'm getting a weary of having to fight tooth and claw, so to speak, in order to refute each and every abuse issue for a given technology, when once considers commonly available existing tech has equal or greater abusable potential. I understand scrutiny is required when reviewing new additions to the setting -- but please consider the abuse potential of currently existing tech and take it into context when criticizing new technology.)

Furthermore it adds a better degree of balance to the game. Part of the reason there are little to no active criminal elements is because governments have both a numerical superiority and technological superiority. Unlike in real-world conflicts, there currently exists no effective means for a smaller force to outmaneuver or hide from a larger opponent -- military ships have the fastest jump drives, and even in the very few circumstances they don't (which only happens with pirates armed with military equipment), you have omniscient scanning systems like PATHENON (with scanning ranges up to douzens of hundreds of lightyears) that make hiding and deception nigh impossible (see the Mishhu-Spacer meeting for a recent example). Thus without stealth and maneuvering technologies such as this, you may be breaking the kneecaps of all future guerilla fighters, pirate raiders, criminal cartels, and all other organizations who doesn't huge strong arm/brute force military tactics.

 

[Wes]

Approved.

 

[zephyrite]

-Applauds-