Praelium technology database
From KruelWiki
Technology provides supremacy. Walking up to a tank with a spear is hardly going to do more than to get yourself killed ... quickly. However, walking up to a tank with personal sheilding and a big cake of C4 will do significantly more.
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Weapons
All ship weapons use an "order 5" numbering system. That is, class X of a weapon is 5^X times as power hungry than the base model. The power output scales similarly, but there is an increasing loss factor with each class due to increased heat problems.
Explosive weapons (missiles and torpedeos) scale similarly.
See Also:
Ray Shielding
Shields operate through vibrating at certain frequencies which have been proven to disrupt matter and diffuse beam technology. However, the tolerence of the emission feedback is remarkably slim, multiple impacts in rapid succession can cause a shield to oscillate. The Destabilization of a shield then causes a circuit break to protect the hardware of the vessel.
After a shield has overloaded it may take a short while for the circuits to be reset and a further time for the shield to reactivate.
Ray Shielding blocks physical attacks (Torpedoes and the like) by ripping them apart. They weaken explosions by repelling portions of the blast. Ray Shielding diffuses beam attacks by refraction.
Hyperspace
Hyperspace is a somewhat overused term in sci-fi. It's often some magical place where everything is much shorter... or something. We propose a somewhat different model of hyperspace. Think of the distance in hyperspace as being the same as mass in our dimension - the vast empty distances between stars shrink to a mere hair's width in hyperspace, while stars and planets themselves become large distances. It's this apparent inversion of distances that makes faster than light travel a reality. Needless to say, FTL travel is very dangerous - it's hard to accurately calculate the hyperspace distance between stars. To solve this problem, hyperspace transmission buoys are used much like lighthouses to mark clear areas for hyperspace exit.
This solution appealed very much to the Emperor who holds ancient history in high regard, and the system has been in place ever since it's conception. The buoys are also a handy way to restrict travel - no effort has been put into better hyperspace systems, and thus citizens of the Empire can only travel within the bounds of the Empire. This hasn't stopped rebel factions and pirates from finding homes of their own on the fringes of civilisation, however.
Hyperspace Buoys
Buoys are usually placed in a lonely orbit around stars - not too far from starports, but not close enough to dense objects to put ships in danger of accidentally dropping out of hyperspace into them. Luckily for the future of space combat, this also provides an early warning system in case of attacks. The buoys literally act as homing beacons, transmitting a signal from their point in hyperspace and guiding ships to a safe entry zone for their system.
Private Buoys
Similar to Hyperspace Buoys these are used for private use and transmit on different frequencies. Unlike normal bouys you will need to know the correct frequency to use these ones. Criminals and the Miniera Corpus are known to favor this method of long distance transport.
Space Craft
High Speed Launch Mounts
Provides a latching arrangement so that light fighters can be "shot out of a cannon". This means that ships comming out of a capital ship with appropriate mounts can gain significant distance from the ship in an extremely short space of time, decreasing the gap between launch and engagement.
Teleporters and Docking
Having teleporter technology allows players in first person mode to move from ship to ship quickly and efficently. However, in battle, a teleporter makes for difficult gameplay. As such, teleporter blocking technology is necessary, not only to defeat a teleporter rush but also to protect the privacy and sovereignty of spacecraft.
That said, without the ability to board a spacecraft and take control of it, the option of surrender in battle is lost. If you have bested your opponent you may choose to demand they lower their shields, turn off their transporter blockers and prepare to be boarded, or you may choose to fly away and leave them to repair their vessel or wait for someone to tow them back to port.
One might imagine that within these technological confines a sneak attack based on boarding an occupied spacecraft would no longer be possible, but I believe it would. Perhaps you have an insider on the spacecraft who can turn off the shields and teleporter blockers for you. Perhaps shields and teleporter blockers take significant amounts of power and the captain has decided to risk flying without them and has redirected power to the engines. Finally, and most interestingly, perhaps shields are ineffective against slow moving spacecraft (or EVAing crew!) and directly docking with an airlock on the target craft is possible. Finally, one can imagine the existance of sophisticated electronic countermeasures that can shutdown the systems of a target spacecraft, although their use is likely to alert its crew.
Hypersleep
On long haul missions crew will often get bored, perhaps even stir crazy. There's only so many hours you can spend staring at the majesty of space or playing poker in the crew lounge. As such, long haul missions will probably be avoided, especially if they make you an easy target for pirates. Hypersleep technology provides a means to place crew into a suspended state whilst automating essential ship functions such as navigation and defense. A hypersleep chamber includes intelligent software which evaluates current ship sensor data and determines whether crew review is required. If a situation is detected which requires immediate crew attention an appropriate member of the crew will be partially woken such that he or she has sufficient mental capacity to evaluate the threat. The crew member can subsequently order a full revival.
Translation: when someone attacks your ship you get an email and can login if you think your automated weapon systems can't handle it.
Artificial Gravity
It is debatable whether or not humans can form a space based society without some form of artificial gravity, and still remain human. In any case, having some form of artificial gravity for crew members will aid them in the transition between off-planet and on-planet duties. Artificial gravity can be expected to require significant power requirements unless it is generated by traditional means, such as rotating living modules, neither of which are practical in small spacecraft. The ability to turn off artificial gravity could be very strategic at halting the progress of invading troops on large spacecraft. It is inconceivable that artificial gravity generation would extend beyond the bounds of a spacecraft. As such, any extra-vehicular activity would be conducted in zero gravity.
Player control systems for ragdolls in zero gravity would be a very novel feature.
