Editing FederalSpace:Technology (section)

==== Commentary ====

'''David Rhode:''' Transporters - one possible limitation on the system you describe might involve matching the velocity vectors. If you're moving mass from one inertial frame of reference to another, even if you have a 'space warp' effect that lets you cover the distance nigh-instantaneously, you still have to change the vectors of the mass transported, or it will fly off the planet, or ram through the wall of the ship or whatever. The transporter, in additon to the power required to initialize the space warp, will need to use power to cancel the difference in vectors. The greater the difference in magnitude between the vectors, the more costly and difficult the transport effect would be. Moving people up and down from a planet while you're in geostationary orbit would be pretty easy. Snagging the captain off an exploding space station while evading phasers would be difficult, mostly because of the power requirements.

I remember a scene from one of the Lensman novels where Kimball Kinnison, wearing some kind of armored suit IIRC, had to transport directly from one ship to another at top speed, meaning they couldn't slow down to match vectors, so they just tossed him off one ship into the other. They caught him inside a special room covered with shock absorbers, and he had to spend a good while bouncing off the walls until he finally matched vectors with the second vessel.

'''Shadowjack:''' While I'm using the handwave that transporter ''doesn't'' require vector matching… on the other hand, maybe it does, just for the sake of energy control. The warp compensates, but if you don't have enough power, you don't get as close on target. 

Exponentially-greater power for longer range castings seems like a good idea, and a solid limitation.


'''gc3:''' Note, I don't understand why someone would use the transporter technology with a pad rather than an enclosed vehicle. Should the transporter pad fall out of warp at the wrong spot (perhaps, due to a large bird flying by at the wrong time, or interference by an energy blast) you may be in vacuum, or in the sky. So the transporter explanation needs rework, any sane engineer would enclose the pad in a life support system that could fly and survive underwater and other hostile environments.

'''Shadowjack:''' That's why they carefully prepare the transports, just as rocket launches are carefully prepared today. And you ''can'' beam down with a vehicle or protective suit, of course…


'''Shadowjack:''' I do mourn the loss of the classic "Beam us up" line, but, damn it, that means I can beam up enemies, too. Or beam the enemy ship away. Unless I go back to the screens and jamming and tachyon particle interference anomaly defenses. :(

I decided to see where "you can send only, and only in line of sight" takes me.


'''LordDraqo:''' I've got to admit that I have had difficulty wrapping my head around the physical effects of this transporter. What happens to the air that is displaced at the target-location? How about the vacuum created at the origin?

'''Shadowjack:''' *whoosh* and *thwip*, respectively. So there's a breeze. Possibly ''Terminator''-style static discharges, as well; pads are grounded properly, of course.

I'd say you probably can't beam something into high-density atmosphere or liquid. And solid is right out.

I tried to arrange things to ''avoid'' having to think about the transporter too much, actually, because I didn't want to have to. It just moves shit. Draw a line segment on a piece of paper from your transporter pad to your target spot; if your line of fire crosses a significant amount of mass (more than a few klicks of atmosphere or a single bulkhead), or reaches maximum range of (say) one light-second, end the line there, and that's where your payload appears, "at rest" in comparison with whatever it's next to.

'''LordDraqo:''' So we are dealing with magical physics. I just wanted to be certain, as instantaneous arrival of 27 cubic meters of stuff will create quite a breeze. If you've never experienced a fifty mph wind-gust, you haven't lived :D

'''Shadowjack:''' The transporter and the warp drive are most definitely Super-Science! technology. I'm trying to keep them as my ''only'' bits of magic, though.

'''s/LaSH:''' Presumably it can't be instant instant, because that would involve infinite acceleration, albeit over small distances, and even very high acceleration over small distances can translate to "plasma pyroclasm in atmosphere". There might be a good reason for the twinkly lights of a traditional transporter - at least at the receiving end: some sort of 'clear the field' effect, initially a warning, and then some sort of heating pulse to clear out the atmosphere for a warp bubble. It is not going to be a comfortable area to stand in without safety goggles. There will likely be lots of wind, dust, and small rocks flying through the air. It's also easy to mistake the operation for an orbital bombardment, because the principles are identical.

'''Shadowjack:''' Which is why our scouts always seem to come down in isolated areas, and our visiting diplomats come to the specially-cleared and shielded landing pad.

'''LordDraqo:''' This I can get behind, and support, with whole heart. This also got me to thinking about the link to ''plasma windows'' and how that might work to produce a barrier around the transmission stage to prevent everything in the room from being sucked into the evacuated stage when the warp-bubble transmits.

'''s/LaSH:''' I believe this is the logical conclusion, yes. All important facilities are presumably jammed, probably including starships as a routine anti-piracy measure.

Oh, also, another reason for the 'transporter sparkles': a series of small disposable probes, little more than smart-paper beacons, designed to arrive in set patterns at set heights; if they don't show up in the right configuration, you assume that the site's being jammed or is otherwise unsafe. I would assume you could get nasty effects by using sophisticated dirtside ECM to make a starship think there's a building at point A, whereas it's actually a big hole in the ground with magma at the bottom. If you can get sparkles in the right place, it's obviously stable for materialization.



'''mindstalk:''' Take a page from the Culture, which had Displacers -- little wormholes -- for 'transporter' technology. No duplication problems, more ability than your warp bubbles to go through things, like ship walls. (OTOH, more ways to go through enemy ship walls, and no obvious defense.)

'''Shadowjack:''' Micro-wormholes is as good an explanation as warp bubbles, actually. I suppose the player-level physics works out about the same, and that more elegantly combines the FTL comm with the technology. Food for thought.



'''The Green Man''': If the transporters work in one direction, I suggest that they be matter ''receivers'' instead of matter transmitters.  This way, you can keep the traditional "Beam me up, Scotty" (under the right conditions of course) but force landing parties to use shuttlecraft or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropship_(science_fiction) dropships] à la ''Aliens''.

If transporters are matter transmitters, then they also become effective weapons -- just teleport a bomb into enemy territory -- which was rarely if ever used in the franchise if my memory serves.

'''Myth''' Whether wormhole or warp-bubble, it seems the transport must occur slowly (in physics terms, not human ones) to avoid pseudo-explosions.  AM warp bubble decaying, rather than bursting, might release energy slowly, perhaps as vibration and semi-Cherenkov radiation (which would coincidentally mimic the classic noise and lights thing).  A wormhole, expanding rapidly from a point, might do something similar.

As far as range goes, you might simply count it as "gravimetric distance"; other (non-Transporter) gravity sources, or just the general curve of space.  Interestingly, this you give you shorter range near heavy-mass objects, complicated gravimetric situations, and the like, and longer range in interplanetary, interstellar, or even intergalactic space.  Also lets you shield somewhat with, say, neutronium BB's embedded in your steel wall.  Possible some exotic matter channels for guided transporter effects, but I'd leave that as theoretical for the Federal Space guys.

Can an assemble-on-planet transporter pad transport itself as well, or does it stay behind, possibly resulting in some poor native beaming himself to orbit months later, once the ship has left?