Tachyonic FTL and related technology

Zero Point Field Inertial Mass Manipulation. Most races in Enders Cluster use Inertial mass manipulation fields to reduce the effective mass of their vessels and thus improve the effectiveness of their drives. these are electromagnetic fields of a distinct configuration to manipulate the zero point feild, altering how the matter of the ship interacts with the underlying fabric of the universe. [link] By reducing the effective mass of the ships, you change its inertia and thus how much energy is required to move it. reduce the effective mass to a tenth of the true mass, and you require only a tenth of the energy to get it moving, or you can get it moving at ten times the velocity using the same amount of energy. likewise slowing down the ship becomes easier, as by dropping the field the ship will instantly slow to a tenth of its previous speed with no deceleration effect on the crew. because for the ship and its crew, the inertia is the same. since everything that enters the field is effected by it the same way, there is no special effect on weapons fire or explosions, nor even ramming. the primary issue is that a ship which wishes to remain in its orbit while its Zero point field is down must adjust its velocity to match the inertia level needed after the field is shut down. (GM note: this is why most races set their fields to reduce mass to 1/10th that of normal. acceleration values of ships using Inertial mass manipulation systems are listed assuming the fields are on. use of the drives without the fields produces 1/10th the acceleration, while using the same thrust point use as if the field is active. more common is accelerating to 10x the desired orbital velocity and timing the shut down of the drive to drop them into the proper orbit.) one side effect of reducing inertial mass is that the G-forces experienced by the crew and passengers is reduced by the same amount as the inertial mass reduction, allowing vessels to reach high accelerations without pinning its crew to their chairs and bulkheads. (for the typical system, acceleration G-forces experienced are reduced to 1/10th. thus the crew of a ship accelerating at 3 mach per melee does not feel the full 6G's, but instead a mere 0.6G's)[Writers Note: the CG drives used by most of the three galaxies already produces a similar inertial dampening effect, without manipulating inertial mass, and the two systems are effectively incompatible]

Tachyonics and Tachyon FTL.

This science deals is an outgrowth of Zero Point field applications, involving access to a dimensional realm in which speeds below that of light are impossible. This dimensional realm is not a separate universe, but rather an expression of the multidimensional universe. The visible universe is comprised of 3 dimensions plus one. The 3 dimensions we can perceive are Spatial dimensions, length, width, and height. in addition to these is time, which is a Spatial dimension in terms of the structure of the universe, but which we cannot perceive in its entirety. however, the universe in fact is comprised of 9 dimensions plus one. the extra 6 Spatial dimensions are not perceptible to us, and to our three dimensional perceptions have effectively 'curled up' into points. different combinations of these perceivable and 'curled up' dimensions effectively create 'realms' in which the expressed nature of the universe changes. one such expression is the tachyonic realm, in which all velocities exceed the conventional speed of light. in this realm no conventional matter can exist unprotected, rather it is home to currents of 'super-luminal' particles. Normally interactions between the tachyonic realm and the conventional realm are impossible, but with the proper strength and configuration of electromagnetic zero point fields, particles from the tachyonic realm or matter from the conventional realm can cross over. conventional matter in the tachyonic realm would be destroyed without constant protection from the Zero point field without the field, the matter would instantly dissociate into its component quantum particles. Protected by the field however, the entire mass functions as a single massive virtual particle, and thus the matter travels at superluminal speeds on the course it had when it entered with no need for additional propulsion. as long as the slight variations in shape of space time between the conventional and tachyonic realms are accounted for in plotting a course (automatic for tachyon FTL nav computers, -20% to navigation: Space for non-Tachyonic FTL optimized nav computers, and requires advanced mathematics and Physics at -40% to do manually. in an unmapped region there is a 10% chance of appearing 1D6 light-days off course) , this allows star ships with zero point field generators the ability to cross the voids between stars. as a drive, the speed of travel is linked geometrically to the strength of the zero point field higher speeds within the tachyonic realm require higher energy levels. to go from the speed of light, which is the slowest speed possible, to two times the speed of light requires not twice the energy, but rather four times the energy. to go from 2 times the speed of light to three times requires 16 times the energy. and so on. while the zero point field draws a portion of the energy required from the fabric of space itself, energy external to the field must be applied to stabilize the field, the amount of which increases the faster you travel. The velocity you travel at in the tachyonic realm (and thus the field strength required) must be set as you begin your 'jump' through the tachyonic realm. increasing the power mid-jump has no effect on your velocity, the energy being expended for no additional effect, while decreasing the power runs the risk of collapsing your field, as the field looses stability. Safeguard systems in most drives, intended to force a drop from tachyonic space in the event of drive problems, would normally revert the ship to normal space before the field destabilizes. (dropping below half power to the field is an automatic failure, otherwise it's a 40% chance. operating without proper safeguard systems on the field make this a 70% chance) leaving the tachyonic realm requires a slight alteration to the zero point field failure of the field in the tachyonic realm results in the dissociation of the matter in an instant.

A ship entering and exiting Tachyon FTL appears to vanish and appear in a blue flash. if recorded and slowed down, a ship entering Tachyon FTL is surrounded by a glowing blue field and appears to compress along its length, until it vanishes in a blue flash of chernikov radiation. a ship exiting Tachyon FTL reverses this effect. both entering and exiting occurs within a fraction of a second, so that the flash is all that can be seen. to an observer on the ship, entering tachyon FTL sees the outside world replaced in a flash with a swirling blue glow, with dropping out reversing this procedure. recorded and slowed down, the world would seem to be stretched out before and after the flash. while the actual entry occurs in an instant, powering up the drive from standby requires several seconds (about 1/2 a melee), and powering up from zero requires a full melee.

[GM Note: Tachyon FTL is extremely inefficient compared to the Standard Contra-gravitic drives. CG drives warp space using gravitons, quantum particles which form the force of gravuty, which warps space. producing and controlling gravitons requires less power than generating the electromagnetic fields for Tachyonic FTL, but the discovery of gravitons requires the development of specific theories of quantum physics, since the particles are very difficult to produce without an attendant mass. a tachyon FTL drive using standard three galaxies technologies would still be substantially less efficient than a CG drive, and because CG drive power requirements increase arthimatically and not geometrically, the top FTL speed achievable would be far slower than any CG drive (about 500x slower). detecting a Tachyon FTL vessel during its jump requires tachyon sensors, which are uncommon on three galaxies ships. these sensors can detect the passage of tachyon currents, including those created by a tachyon FTL ship passing close to the sensor (within one light-year)]

Tachyon FTL ships are not limited by gravity like CG drive ships, although entering or exiting FTL within a strong gravity well (what is referred to as the interdiction zone by three galaxies spacers) does complicate the course calculation for a jump (an additional -15% to navigation). however, a tachyon FTL drive ship cannot exit a jump where matter already exists. space dust and micrometeorites are cleared away by the energy pulse created by the reentry, but anything of substantial mass (over a kilogram) can damage a vessel by preventing a part of the ship from returning to normal space. attempting to exit where large amounts of matter exist (such as inside an atmosphere or inside a planet, asteroid, etc.) the ship will not reenter normal space, and be destroyed. a ship however can enter tachyon FTL from within an atmosphere or even from within a cavern or building on a planet or other planetary body, but the energy pulse from the entry creates effects comparable to a nuclear detonation (1D6x100 to everything in a half mile radius). A ship exiting Tachyon FTL has the same sub-light velocity it possessed before entering the jump, sometimes requiring time spent under thrust to match the relative velocity of the destination star system (or in the case of micro-jumps within a star system, to match orbital speeds with the destination planet, moon, or other body)

One alternative application of tachyonics is the Tachyon Drive, a sub-light drive which uses a Zero Point field to open a 'gateway' to the tachyonic realm in conventional space, allowing the superluminal particles to escape into the conventional realm. upon entry, they cease to travel at superluminal speeds, instead dropping down to near light-speed velocities and imparting a large amount of thrust on the device serving to generate the gateway. Thus creating an effectively reaction-less rocket drive with no reaction-mass requirement and a operational duration limited only by the ships power generation ability. this drive system is very unreliable however.