Design Monologue 3: Technology

The setting assumes that, by the time of the launch of the original colony ships in 2088, we had already perfected the technology of teleportation gates. This is based on current possibilities suggested by quantum entanglement. Technically, the gates don't so much as teleport you as clone you while destroying the original. We can assume that consciousness transfers instantly from the original to the copy, as the brain and its impulses are teleported across the galaxy, just to keep things nice.

However, there is specifically no other form of FTL travel. Techniques to warp space have not been invented, or, if they have, they aren't quite good enough to get from Earth to the Homeworlds. The creation of arbitrary wormholes may have been mastered by the Earthlings, but it still requires cooperation on both sides, making it only slightly more useful than teleportation gates.

The use of gates for interstellar travel means that space is still big, even if the core worlds are only a few instant jumps away. If a gate is destroyed, disabled, or just off limits to you, you are impossibly far away from the next system. The gates are extremely important--the most valuable resource in the Homeworlds--and are jealously guarded by whoever controls them. This adds drama to the game, rather than, say, warp drives or hyperdrives, which just make space that much smaller.

While less essential in a tabletop game, the complications caused by zero-gravity are so annoying that it's well worth the expenditure to research this one. The original colony ships used the relatively simple method of centrifugal gravity.

It may well be that the way to create artificial gravity is so energy-intensive that is reserved only for the most essential uses. Military vessels might simply use centrifuges in larger craft, and smaller craft would have nothing at all. We already know people can last a few months in zero-g, with the right exercises, so military officers might only get a taste of good ol' gravity therapy every so often in a space station, should they not have the good luck of serving on a ship with its own centrifuge.

One imagines that the iceworlders developed artificial gravity first, perhaps because their home planet simply has lower gravity than Earth, and not everybody is okay with that. Most likely, it involves concentrating a whole hell of a lot of dark matter or energy in some sort of ballast container at the bottom of the ship. This would increase the mass of the ship, lowering its maneuverability, and increasing the amount of energy it takes to move, so it comes at a significant cost. Still, it would be quite suitable for space stations, which don't need to maneuver so much, and for civilian or diplomatic craft, where comfort is a top priority.

The technology was probably made possible on small craft only recently, as a result of the technology sharing after the Earthgate war. It remains a feature of only the newest small craft in the Foundation, and is unavailable to all but the most affluent independents or rogues.

Space gates are great, but you still need a way to get from one to the next, or to get into space in the first place.

Right from the get-go, we assume a superior sublight drive in the colony ships of 2088, which were capable of accelerating at a modest 0.08 meters per second squared (or 0.008 g) constantly to make the 4.6 light-year journey to Alpha Centauri in a mere 15 years. This may be possible with improvements to ion drives and similar technology, when starting with a ship as massive as the colony ship. The colony ship itself was only possible because of teleportation gates, which drastically reduced the cost of transporting massive building materials into orbit where the ship was being constructed.

And while we can assume the largest ships and stations are constructed in space, using materials teleported directly from the surface of a nearby planet or moon, that still leaves the problem of smaller vessels ascending into orbit, and all vessels moving about the system a little faster than 0.008g.

Theoretically, if one had a huge amount of energy at hand, one could use it to excite particles of propellant to near the speed of light, which would increase the particle's mass as a side effect of relativity. Ultimately, propelling the particle out of an engine in the opposite direction of your desired travel would cause Newtonian forces to propel the ship forward at an equal change in momentum.

This is similar to an ion drive, but more energy-intensive. It means very high specific impulse (read: fuel efficiency), but also requires a future power source. That future power source is probably either nuclear fusion or antimatter.

The colony ships probably used nuclear fusion. They were truly mammoth constructions, large enough for conventional "hot" fusion. Experiments to be completed in the early-to-mid 21st century will hopefully confirm that this type of fusion is possible. It is believable, then, that by 2088, we might be able to build sustainable fusion reactors capable of net positive power over a long period. On the colony ships, the reactor probably produced all the power the ship needed as a side effect of creating the thrust.

Later Homeworlds ships would use similar fusion drives. Smaller vessels would use antimatter rockets, using antimatter fuel produced on larger ships, stations, or planetside. Such rockets would make interplanetary travel practical.

In a world with jump gates, most important planets, and even moons, would probably have a gate or two to shorten spaceflight. Rockets and other thrust systems would be used to maneuver between gates, and also to cross interplanetary or even interstellar distances to bring new gates to points without them.

The realities of sublight gate delivery mean that the maximum rate of expansion of the Homeworlds can be derived from the duration of their existence (about 600 years) and the maximum speed a gate-delivery craft could achieve (we'll just say c, or close enough), giving them an upper limit of a 600 light-year radius. In actuality, the final radius is probably much smaller than that, though one would hope they kept sending new drone ships carrying destination gates as fast as they could produce them, knowing that they were limited only by the speed of sublight travel, and therefore achieved at least a good fraction of that 600 light-year radius.

As for atmospheric egress or ingress for capable craft, that is likely conducted using a hybrid approach. Using efficient combustible fuels like hydrogen, small craft would lift off the surface using conventional air-moving engines like the aircraft of today. Mastery of supersonic and hypersonic flight, as well as ramjet and scramjet engines, would hopefully allow for single-engine solutions for ground-to-hypersonic flight. At hypersonic speed, minimal rocket thrust is needed to achieve orbit.

Shuttles and transports would make regular trips to space to deliver goods and people to stations and long-range spacecraft, where direct ground-to-space teleportation gates were not instead used.

Military small craft would likely come in three flavors: short-range spacecraft, descent-capable spacecraft (capable of atmospheric egress/ingress under own power), and long-range spacecraft (capable of long-haul interplanetary or even interstellar voyages). Short-range spacecraft would be the most efficient, as they wouldn't be hauling around otherwise useless atmospheric or long-range engines.

While we entertain fancies of massive shipyards in which huge cranes guide massive fabricated pieces into place while men in spacesuits weld them to structural spars, that is probably only half of the truth. Given the current cutting-edge technologies in material science, it is a safer bet that the spacecraft of the future will be built using nanotechnology.

The simplest components of an manufactured item will be self-assembled by their own molecules, and the more complex structures will be guided by nano-scale robots and other forces. The efficiency of this process will drive manufacturing concerns, causing a shift toward sleek simplicity in industrial design. Organic polymers will likely be the easiest materials to craft using this method, so advanced plastics will continue to form the basis of most common items. Futuristic high-performance materials, such as amorphous (glass-like) steel, transparent aluminum (or Alumina), and carbon nanotubes will no doubt form the basis of military-grade construction.

In the 21st century, mankind will master weather and ecosystems to a great degree. Intensive study and computer modeling in an age of exponentially-increasing computational power will allow breakthroughs in the understanding of chaotic natural systems. The primary drivers for this advancement will be the need to compensate for global warming, as well as increasing pressure to protect endangered and dwindling natural resources.

This understanding will be vital to a practical science of terraforming. Mastery of biochemical processes, augmented by nanotechnology, will allow a greater range of options in colonizing other worlds. The ability to create a habitable atmosphere from a hostile one, or to spark the creation of cellular life, will be key to terraforming.

The colonists bound for Alpha Centauri and similar systems were equipped for terraforming, but the process would have required many years or generations, and was meant to be assisted by Earth via the teleportation gate. The colonists would have gradually settled the planets with enclosed modules while attempting to adapt a planetary system to human-friendly conditions.

They did not have that luxury when they crash-landed on the Homeworlds, thus the necessary coincidence that all three ships landed on habitable planets. This has sparked endless debates, many of a theological nature, and has spawned a vigorous religious movement among the Homeworlders, oddly, strongest among the iceworlders.

Homeworlders have colonized many worlds and moons which are not at all habitable--either far too hot or cold, or without a breathable atmosphere. Many colonies exist only as resource-gathering locations, where it is unnecessary to walk unprotected on the world's surface. Others are military or industrial installations that are entirely enclosed. A few rare others exist specifically to harness the natural conditions of the world, whether for industrial, medicinal, or even spiritual purposes.

Terraforming does not end when one departs a planet. Large space stations and ships are often lushly seeded with Earth-like flora and fauna. Civilian "comfort ships" have massive chambers which simulate outdoor conditions, like miniature flying cities in space. Even military vessels have some degree of "biological enhancement" for the morale and well-being of the crew, especially among greenworlders.

Human ingenuity is no greater a force than in wartime. The numerous major and minor battles conducted over 600 years have sharpened the tools by which man conducts war, but, in many ways, the fundamentals were mastered long ago.

Guns, bombs, and missiles remain as much as factor as they are today. Self-propelled bullets, modified for use in space, are a very efficient weapon in short-range combat, even more so than they are in an atmosphere. Bombs and missiles are commonly used to sink large ships, as vulnerable without their outer hull or structure as an oceangoing ship or submarine is.

Lasers have come into their own in an age of fusion and antimatter power plants. They have the distinct advantage of speed, which is crucially important in long-range space battles. Many engagements take place with ships moving at a tremendous relative speed--many kilometers per second--and great distance. Bullets become less useful, as the great distance they travel makes it rather easy to avoid them. Missiles are useful over long distance, but the further they must travel, and the faster they must get there, the more of their mass must be dedicated to propulsion, as opposed to payload.

Lasers fit the bill for long-range, high-speed combat, because they are very accurate and as fast as possible. The simplest lasers simply burn through a ship's outer hull, usually targeting critical systems within. However, these are relatively easy to avoid by rotating the ship so as to make it impossible to focus a laser on one point, or to plate a ship with materials of high thermal resistance.

More advanced lasers try to target vulnerable points, such as sensor arrays, weapons, maneuvering thrusters, and other exposed external systems. Some use very high or low frequencies to penetrate the outer hull, though these are of limited use since they also penetrate whatever internal system they were meant to damage.

Capital ships make great use of lasers, as the simple method of rotating targets out of line of sight does not work as well with ships of low maneuverability. Also, large ships can fit massive power plants which power truly monstrous lasers.

Given the relative ease with which a computer-guided weapon can target an object in space, great emphasis is place on electronic warfare. Computers scan the electromagnetic spectrum, looking well beyond visible light to find their target. To counter this, ships try to be as stealthy as possible, minimizing reflection of visible light and radar, and emitting little or no infrared radiation. A modern space battle bears less similarity to a modern naval encounter or dogfight, and more to a duel between two submarines. Often, victory goes to the ship who managed to lock on first.

One of the most reliable ways to find a ship is to look for a disturbance in background radiation. Against the backdrop of a sun or planet, or even the cosmos, even a stealth ship has a silhouette. Stationary emplacements tend to have the best detection capability, as they are greatly familiar with their surroundings, and readily notice disturbances.

By the same token, fleets usually employ large base ships in a sector to thoroughly map the local EM signature, so as to better spot intruders. This is complimented by bands of small craft who patrol around, constantly gathering sensor data and feeding it to the base ship, and also covering the areas the base ship or station might not see as well.

Nuclear Weapons

The human race is unlikely to forget how to make nuclear weapons. Though their earthly uses are abhorrent and dangerous, their use in space, as a military weapon, is more open to debate. Generally, the thought is "why use a thousand small warheads when one will suffice"?

From the first battles of the Koruunite invasion, it was unavoidable that nuclear weapons would come to the forefront. In fact, it is the unlikely greenworlders who bear, to their eternal shame, the responsibility for first breaking that suit. It was the only way for them to survive at the time.

The use of nuclear weapons in space combat is considered fairly routine. Generally, they are reserved for capital ship or space station destruction, as they are totally unnecessary for small craft. When delivered via missile or projectile, they are relatively easy to intercept, as they emit a radiological signature which can be tracked by point-defense weapons. A nuclear missile fired over long range at a ship is almost certain to be shot down by a stream of hyperaccelerated bullets or disintegrated by laser fire.

A more common method of delivery is to use bombers. Small craft, tough enough to withstand a few hits from screening fire, and fast enough to deliver the payload and escape safely, fly within spitting distance of a capital ship and drop a bomb onto it, literally sticking it to the hull. Generally, the drop site is inaccessible by the ship's point defense weapons. If all goes well, the bomb goes off, and the bomber gets away clean.

This is a common tactic among Koruunites, though less common among others, who see it as little different than firing a swarm of smart missiles with heavy armor, except with the caveat that most of the pilots will probably die trying to deliver the bomb.

The use of nuclear weapons on civilian installations or cities is considered reprehensible, so much so that, at no point in either Koruunite war were strategic nuclear strikes even considered. Some talk was made among the more militant resistance groups on Koruun during the iceworlder invasion, but they were dismissed as far too costly to their own planet and their own people's lives.

Generally, power in space is determined by ships and space stations more so than by cities. Military installations tend to be far from civilian ones, both on planetary surfaces and in space. Most military headquarters are in orbit of or built upon moons or worlds far separated from the civilian centers.

Defenses

The first and second Koruunite wars, and, more importantly, the Earthgate War, sparked a slew of research into advanced defenses for space ships and stations. The Foundation fleet, in particular, sought to find a much higher standard of ship survivability in pitched combat than was seen in previous wars. The actual words were, "to make fortresses of the iron balloons into which we place our most precious lives".

Beyond tougher armor, better maneuverability, and improved countermeasures, new, more esoteric technologies were researched. The iceworlders developed a device which causes a massive concentration of dark energy, which produces a wave of force that acts like negative gravity. When directed at incoming projectiles, it slows or even reverses their trajectory. The technology has since been advanced, leading to other devices such as tractor beams. The repulsor, as it came to be called, proved an effective shield against unseen projectiles (which might otherwise be neutralized by countermeasures), and low-strength repulsors are often used by even civilian craft to deflect micrometeorites.

Greenworlder scientists were able to develop a process by which conventional armor plates could be polished to a high degree of reflectiveness, rendering them highly resistance to laser fire. As lasers were the predominant weapon of Earth drones, this proved a critical development of the Earthgate war, especially since the process could be applied on existing ships, even in the field.

Even by 2088, computers will have evolved almost beyond modern comprehension.

Several key developments will almost certainly have occurred, and their respective technologies mastered, by 2088, most importantly quantum computing.

While we are no stranger in the modern to exponential growth in processing power, the degree of that growth is minor compared to what we will see with quantum computers.

The potential exists for computers not with 32 or 64 bits, but with millions or even billions of bits, where not only does there exist 2^(millions or billions) of states, but the machine can actually be in all those states at once.

Surely, most of the uses we can imagine for such a system are limited not by the computer, but by our own ability to program it. However, there are some modern-day problems that we know quantum computers will be good at.

One prime example is decryption. Currently, there are ways to encrypt data quickly that require months or years of processing to decrypt. However, many of our decryption algorithms would be accelerated to minutes or seconds using an appropriate quantum computer. It is entirely possible that quantum computers could permanently put decryption ahead of encryption. What would be the implication of a world in which it is virtually impossible to encrypt data?

One advancement that may help in that area is the same technology used in teleportation gates. Those gates, as previously explained, don't transport matter, but rather information. To use them to communicate would actually require far less complexity than using them to "teleport" matter.

The advantage of this method is that, when two ships communicate over such an array, they are not transmitting data into the intervening medium, as they would be with radio communication, or even a wire. The information is teleporting from one computer to the other directly. With no man in the middle to intercept the data, there is less need to encrypt it.

There are some far more interesting possibilities to be discovered with quantum computing. It may allow us to analyze systems otherwise too complex for conventional computing, such as global weather patterns. It may propel current research into pattern-matching algorithms, such as those used by computers who recognize faces and predict people's behavior, to new, somewhat scary heights. It may even allow us to build an electronic brain capable of matching or exceeding the processing power of our own.

It is highly likely that quantum computing, or, at minimum, other future computing technologies, will lead to human-like or superior Artificial Intelligence by the year 2050.

But what does AI really mean? Hollywood has taken a stab at it many times, and, almost every time, its with their typical ham-handedness.

AI will not automatically be hostile to humanity. The first AI will have the logical capabilities of a human, but not the emotional capability, as it simply lacks the hormones, physical body, and needs of a human. At best, it would simulate emotion in a predictable way. However, unless programmed to, it would have no reason to be hostile to mankind.

The Defense Department will not put AI in charge of firing the nuclear weapons. It's just too god damn risky. It's not worth whatever benefits it could provide. Period. That's just stupid.

What AI might well do is this: shortly after we develop the AI to simulate a human (complete with emotions), we will develop the ability to run that simulation in compressed time, with many humans, each with a different personality type. We could run simulations of human behavior. You could create a virtual replica of Earth, populated by realistic sim-humans, and then watch how they react to things. They might try global nuclear war, or alien invasion, or global natural disasters. Depending on who does the research, and what they find, scary or wonderful things could result.

It seems most likely that computing power will quickly exceed the human ability to harness it. Software will lag behind hardware. When all the video games look perfectly like real life (somewhere around 2015-2020), they will focus on modeling better AI. When the AI is perfect...there just won't be much left to simulate. When the drivers that push better computing power start falling off, computing will stop advancing as fast as it is. We will eventually master the technology, and it will no longer seem new or strange to anyone.

In the world of Homeworlds, it is quite feasible to build entire ships or even fleets that are fully automated. Robots and nanomachines could handle much of the work normally done by human crewmen. This was likely the case as of 2088, let alone 600 years later. However, the point of a spaceship is not simply to exist, but to bring man into the stars. The future of electronic warfare will make fully automated ships and automatons very risky, as you are one weak firewall away from losing your entire ship to a computer virus.

Education

The greatest impact of computers will likely be the ability of anyone, anywhere, to instantly access any information available to civilization. Knowledge will no longer be methodically stuffed into children's minds during their school years; it will seem as unnecessary as memorizing names and dates in the era of the Internet, or memorizing more than the most basic math problems in an era of calculators.

Imagine that you're a child, and you have an invisible fairy hovering by your ear with a laptop and wicked fast internet connection. Every time you ask a question--nay, think a question--the answer is there, whispered in your ear, in words you understand, by the helpful fairy. "Why is the sky blue?" You'll learn about light refraction in the atmosphere, about the spectrum of visible light, and whatever else you want to know, on demand.

How the information-starved, rapidly-learning brains of a child will react to this development is uncertain. Perhaps their brains will literally mature faster. Maybe too fast. Maybe they aren't actually that interested in the answers, so it won't change a thing.

Perhaps these "wired" children will have less of a connection with their parents, the traditional gatekeepers of information and wisdom. They will be able to call up any information they need and parrot it back, long before they have any real need to know it, and thus an appreciation for what it truly means. They will be inundated with the opinions and ramblings of billions of other humans, much as the Internet-savvy are today.

This author believes that will lead to a greater understanding and acceptance of other cultures and beliefs, though it will not erode the concept of culture or even nationalism. Even with every possibility to choose from, humans still have preferences--we aren't robots. A child might learn the difference between Koruunites and greenworlders at a young age. He would fully understand the conflicts that have arisen, and, indeed, perhaps understand and sympathize with the opposing point of view, but that doesn't mean he will necessarily think one side or the other was in the right. He will make his own decision.

This technology will greatly diminish, but not eliminate, the dangers of ignorance: racism, bias, hatred, etc. There will still be those who reject the information they are fed by their computers, in favor of a more personally-acceptable "truth". This can be mostly harmless or downright dangerous.

I'm not speaking specifically about religion. In the Homeworlds, the experience of arriving on other planets were life already flourishes would no doubt alter the way even the most fervent religious people think. For starters, some of the more ignorant and useless ideas, such as the Second Coming of Christ, or an eternal age of peace in the Promised Land become less sensible 50,000 light years away from Earth. Discrimination, intolerance, and hatred are products of ignorance, and, as more information is shared with all citizens (especially children), ignorance itself will diminish. Spiritualism and the belief in God will no doubt continue, though the structured religions of old will fade from popularity.

Perhaps new religions will emerge. A new prophet might bring a fourth branch of Judeo-Christian-Islam to the fold. A new Promised Land would give people something to fight over. We may never get over this most embarrassing fault of humanity.