Putting the Sci Fi in Star Wars

[Crothian]

That's a really cool idea

 

[d4]

the books were The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring, if you're interested in tracking them down.

interesting concept. the sun the gas torus circled was actually a neutron star orbiting another, more normal star. the atmosphere itself was gas that had "bled off" a gas giant in a close orbit around the neutron star.

over several hundred years, the colonists trapped in the smoke ring had adapted to their zero-gravity free-fall environment.

they're neat "idea" books, but Niven's characters are usually a bit flat.

 

[JimAde]

the books were The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring, if you're interested in tracking them down.

interesting concept. the sun the gas torus circled was actually a neutron star orbiting another, more normal star. the atmosphere itself was gas that had "bled off" a gas giant in a close orbit around the neutron star.

over several hundred years, the colonists trapped in the smoke ring had adapted to their zero-gravity free-fall environment.

they're neat "idea" books, but Niven's characters are usually a bit flat.

I have to agree. But he has such COOL ideas The Known Space books also included the Puppeteer "fleet of worlds" The Puppeteers were a high-tech race of inveterate cowards. They realized the galaxy was self-destructing and they had only 10,000 years to escape. Unfortunately they were all afraid of FTL travel. So they used gravity engineering to lash 5 planets together around their sun and they're slowly accelerating the whole thing out of the galaxy. Brain damaged

 

[Crothian]

sounds interesting, anyone else have some tech ideas?

 

[Asmor]

Well, I think it just makes sense that most of the planets are like California. One would reasoonably expect to find intelligence only in a small percentage of planets, after all.

/rimshot

 

[Turanil]

LOL!

 

[JEL]

I have to agree. But he has such COOL ideas The Known Space books also included the Puppeteer "fleet of worlds" The Puppeteers were a high-tech race of inveterate cowards. They realized the galaxy was self-destructing and they had only 10,000 years to escape. Unfortunately they were all afraid of FTL travel. So they used gravity engineering to lash 5 planets together around their sun and they're slowly accelerating the whole thing out of the galaxy. Brain damaged

Actually, they leave the star behind.

 

[JimAde]

Actually, they leave the star behind.

That's right, I had forgotten. They heated their homeworld entirely through industrial waste heat. I think they had artificial mini-suns orbiting the other worlds for agriculture, but I'm not certain. One thing they DID have (which might be interesting in a game) is stepping disks. They're public-access teleporters. Darn handy. Not very Star Wars, though.

How about beanstalks? Regular planets wouldn't have them (since space travel is so cheap) but some obscure planet that was outside regular galactic civilization might have developed them. Anything that lets you fall down a shaft for hundreds of miles is VERY Star Wars

 

[Pbartender]

How about beanstalks? Regular planets wouldn't have them (since space travel is so cheap) but some obscure planet that was outside regular galactic civilization might have developed them. Anything that lets you fall down a shaft for hundreds of miles is VERY Star Wars

They're called Sky Hooks in Star Wars. You can find stats for them in Starships of the Galaxy. They're very common over heavily populated planets like Coruscant.

 

[Slovak DM]

1)
Second, try going from San Diego to L.A. without leaving your car or opening the windows. Hypothetically possible, but extremely uncomfortable, right?
.

I've done this dozens of times, I suspect it happens thousands of times every day.