Random Worldbuilding Questions (Biology, Geography, Society, etc.)

[Spiryt]

Probably would need both active circulatory and respiratory systems then,probably even being warm-blooded, for it to work...

So probably wouldn't be very alike insects anymore.

[Beleriphon]

There's also the lack of support and structure chitin provides. Apparently, without a proper endoskeletal system for support, scaling them upwards and accounting for their poor respiration system, they'd still collapse under their own weight.

But yeah, in a fictional context, there's no reason something that resembles a beetle couldn't be the size of a Volkswagen

You could have a crude endoskeleton by giving the inside of limbs a crosssectional web of chitin. You could even do two chambered limbs if it really requires an explanation. That should work for most people that aren't entymologists.

[Aux-Ash]

There are some other obstacles than simply respiratory systems though.

For one, it's what chitin is. It is a massive polysacharide containing nitrogen. That in itself is no obstacle; but it does put a, compared to size, massive dietary requirement of nitrogen. In order for large insectoid/arachnoids to be around, that source need to be reliably available in their food. If sufficient quantities cannot be found they will simply not grow that large, and as anyone that has seen insects feed...the shell tends to be left behind. It is virtually impossible to process short of having a gastrointestinal tract of the vertebrate format (which combines mechanical and chemical processing of food).

Secondly, it's not enough to have a protective outer layer... you need to have the supportive structure to be able to lift oneself. It is no accident that the largest invertebrate are all creatures of the sea. The water helps them lift their frames. That bouyancy is much less reduced above sealevel.
The core of the question is thus, not how much chitin is required to resist a blow, but how much of it is needed to lift itself and the rest of the body. The vertebrate skeleton is surrounded by layers of layers of muscles for a reason, a big shockdampener surrounded by many many automated springs.

Thirdly, how will the body maintain a massive extracellular matrix throughout it's life. Chitin is easy to maintain when it's thin. But how useful will it be filled with cells doing the maintenance, the bloodveins required to supply those and the lymphatic systems to carry away waste? Can chitin be formed to accomodate that effectively? The ability to do maintenance (or for that matter, replacement) is crucial. Can it be done effectively to a large rigid structure (remember, scaled up to our size (or larger) it have to be much much thicker)?

Those a crucial details that affect how large insects can become. There's no doubt they can become big, scarily so even. But when does chitin start hit diminishing returns? That's where the limit to the size hits.

That we have an internal sceleton instead of an external is no accident. We're simply a much more efficient use of resources.

[Conners]

There doesn't seem to be much terrorism in ancient times. Do you have theories as to why there'd be a lack of it?

[Andreaz]

There doesn't seem to be much terrorism in ancient times. Do you have theories as to why there'd be a lack of it?

Gonna throw a few guesses
1) Because that was standard procedure then: Hit and run, strike where it hurts, leave the survivors broken. A typical incursion consisted mostly of warriors entering the place, burning everything they couldn't take, rape the girls and leave.
2) Mobility and modern weapons: Terrorism relies a lot on surprise, and most of it means you need to sneak in undetected and cause huge amounts of damage as quickly as possible. Putting particular assassinations aside, that means explosives and rockets. The closest they could do was setting things on fire, which they already did anyway.

[HeadlessMermaid]

There doesn't seem to be much terrorism in ancient times. Do you have theories as to why there'd be a lack of it?

Yes, the term hadn't been invented yet.
(Also, I think it's pretty hard to delve on this one without breaking several forum rules.)

[Yora]

Yeah, happened all the time. The Romans and Chinese had serious trouble with it all the time.

[awa]

It’s mostly a matter of terminology. Back then you would call it something like a raid or sabotage.
The other thing that makes those kinds of things look different back then as opposed to today is explosives allow a small group of people to cause a large amount of damage in an instant. And targeting civilians is no longer considered an acceptable practice.

[Milo v3]

I'm currently trying to figure out how FTL would work in my Sci-Fi system.
I was orginally thinking transverable wormholes, but that has too much time travel in it, and wormhole generators seem a bit farfetched without ridiculious amounts of energy and Applied Phlebotinum.

So what other methods could I utilise for FTL?

[Ksheep]

I'm currently trying to figure out how FTL would work in my Sci-Fi system.
I was orginally thinking transverable wormholes, but that has too much time travel in it, and wormhole generators seem a bit farfetched without ridiculious amounts of energy and Applied Phlebotinum.

So what other methods could I utilise for FTL?

The traditional non-wormhole method would be the Alcubierre drive, which most closely matches Star Trek's Warp drive. Energy requirements may be a bit high, although recent studies show that it's not quite as high as it was once thought to be.

Another possibility would be Krasikov Tubes, which are basically a man-made wormhole, although these also have the problem of potential time displacement (although in theory you could specify where and when the other end comes out) and energy requirements.

[Yora]

A quite simple one is hyperspace. You move the ship to another dimension where space and speed work differently, move to the place you want to go, and return to your own dimension.
Only problem is, that I am not aware of any discovery that such dimensions exist, could be reached, and would not annihilate the ship.

[Andreaz]

A quite simple one is hyperspace. You move the ship to another dimension where space and speed work differently, move to the place you want to go, and return to your own dimension.
Only problem is, that I am not aware of any discovery that such dimensions exist, could be reached, and would not annihilate the ship.

Eh, at this point it's all made-up, so he can do it.

If wormholes bother you, just rename them space foldings to remove the imagery of an actual tunnel, changing it to something akin to teleport.

[Ksheep]

Eh, at this point it's all made-up, so he can do it.

If wormholes bother you, just rename them space foldings to remove the imagery of an actual tunnel, changing it to something akin to teleport.

The problem seems to be that he is going for a hard sci-fi setting, so no handwaving or saying "Oh, it's powered by unobtanium and reversing the polarity of the flux capacitor".

[Andreaz]

Then he's stuck trying to fit a brown dwarf into an antimatter reactor.

[Ksheep]

Then he's stuck trying to fit a brown dwarf into an antimatter reactor.

Not necessarily. New research shows that, with some tweaks, the energy requirements of a Alcubierre drive could drop from the mass-energy of Jupiter to the mass-energy of, say, the Voyager space probe (no, not the Star Trek spaceship, the probe launched back in the 70s). See link above.

[Andreaz]

I saw it, and demanding "the entire energy of a 700kg ball" just to be able to accelerate past 1c is not viable unless that same stuff can last many decades. Traveling at 10c is still ridiculously slow when you consider most distances are measured in light-years.

[Yora]

No it's space. An object in motion stays in motion. You need energy only to accelerate and decelerate, but not to travel at constant speed.

[Ksheep]

No it's space. An object in motion stays in motion. You need energy only to accelerate and decelerate, but not to travel at constant speed.

Although you would need energy to maintain the warped field of space-time… Without the field in place, you'd drop to sub-light speeds relative to the rest of the universe. In reality, when you are in the field, you are traveling at sub-light speed inside the warped space-time, it's just that since space-time is warped around you, you are able to reach a much higher relative velocity.

[Milo v3]

The traditional non-wormhole method would be the Alcubierre drive, which most closely matches Star Trek's Warp drive. Energy requirements may be a bit high, although recent studies show that it's not quite as high as it was once thought to be.

Another possibility would be Krasikov Tubes, which are basically a man-made wormhole, although these also have the problem of potential time displacement (although in theory you could specify where and when the other end comes out) and energy requirements.

The Alcubierre Drive removes the limit of C, but isn't their still the problem of the vehicle having to mannually reach the FTL speed within the distorted space-time.

Also with the Krasikov Tube their is a severe time problem which means that while it would be possible, it wouldn't be practical. The problem being this:

In another 1.5 years of ship time they will arrive back on Earth, but at a time 6000 years in the future of their departure

[Ksheep]

The Alcubierre Drive removes the limit of C, but isn't their still the problem of the vehicle having to mannually reach the FTL speed within the distorted space-time.

Also with the Krasikov Tube their is a severe time problem which means that while it would be possible, it wouldn't be practical. The problem being this:

With the Alcubierre drive, the distortion to space-time would multiply your relative speed, so if you had a 10x distortion, you would "only" have to go 0.1c to reach light speed.

As for the Krasikov tubes, while I've only heard of it from a few areas, I believe that the problem you mention is only relevant to a 2-tube system; if you use a single tube, you would only lose the travel time (in the scenario given, 3 years). Their two-tube example was stating how you could set one up to arrive at a different time, and then travel in the reverse order that they were created to travel back in time as well as across the light-years.

[Milo v3]

With the Alcubierre drive, the distortion to space-time would multiply your relative speed, so if you had a 10x distortion, you would "only" have to go 0.1c to reach light speed.

As for the Krasikov tubes, while I've only heard of it from a few areas, I believe that the problem you mention is only relevant to a 2-tube system; if you use a single tube, you would only lose the travel time (in the scenario given, 3 years). Their two-tube example was stating how you could set one up to arrive at a different time, and then travel in the reverse order that they were created to travel back in time as well as across the light-years.

With that info, I think that Alcubierre would likely be utilised for "Short Range" FTL. And then Krasikov Tubes for "Long Range" FTL.

[Conners]

Could you combine the two systems (go through the tube using the drive)?


One question about the tube system: Could you be attacked mid-way through a tube, or are you on another plane as you're going through it?

[TuggyNE]

Eh, at this point it's all made-up, so he can do it.

If wormholes bother you, just rename them space foldings to remove the imagery of an actual tunnel, changing it to something akin to teleport.

*coughTesseractcough*

One question about the tube system: Could you be attacked mid-way through a tube, or are you on another plane as you're going through it?

Probably you could be. However, firing solutions would be extremely complicated, and perhaps prohibitively so.

[Conners]

Probably you could be. However, firing solutions would be extremely complicated, and perhaps prohibitively so.

What about dropping mines into the tunnel ahead of your enemies, then sitting on the flanks to fire when they're forced to come to a stop (or fire at them as they exit)?

[TuggyNE]

What about dropping mines into the tunnel ahead of your enemies, then sitting on the flanks to fire when they're forced to come to a stop (or fire at them as they exit)?

The main point there is simply the ability to be sure your enemy will be within a narrow area at some point in time: in other words, it makes ambushes easier. Doesn't do much for running battles, though.

[Conners]

Do you mean firing into the tube from the outside, or firing the tube from within it?

On that note, can you enter the tube from the middle? Or can you only enter from one of the ends?

[Andreaz]

*coughTesseractcough*

Most of that text describes a hypercube, and the rest claims it works like a wormhole...
Not buying that :p

[Conners]

Anyone know how much money prostitutes tend to have made in ancient times (the ones who weren't slaves, that is)? Relatively speaking (as in, compared to a labourer's pay).

[Yora]

From starving poor to filthy rich. It all depends on where they work and whom they work for. Dirt poor miners and fur hunters would be able to find one they can afford in their camps of leaking shacks, and noblemen at the royal court would have access to others that conform to their standards of dress and culture.

[Conners]

In a large town, when their clientèle are the regular townspeople, what would their income be like compared to other denizens? More than a labourer's pay?