Editing FederalSpace:Technology (section)

=== Warp-tech and high-energy miracles ===
There's only one major miracle: warp technology, used for the FTL drive, FTL comms, and the trademark ''transporter.'' I combine all of these because it feels satisfying to have all the obvious impossibilities in one place. 

There's no gravity or "force" control. Therefore, there are no contragravity vehicles, artificial gravity control, inertial dampers, tractor or pressor beams, force fields or deflector screens, or anything else along those lines. Spacecraft must spin or thrust, or their crews must accept the problems of microgravity. And we have the full variety of conventional vehicles to draw upon, from maglev trains and all-terrain vehicles, to aerodynes and hypercavitating submarines. 

Projected holograms—mere images—seem both cool and harmless to me, though, so I'll permit this minor bending of the laws of physics. Realistically, it's probably pretty easy to detect the trick except under controlled circumstances—outside of a holodeck or holotank, you'd likely see the light beam, for example—so we won't have invisibility cloaks or scare-the-natives god displays, but it's a fun detail for control rooms and R&R. 

There's no matter-energy conversion. The transporter just moves stuff, nothing else. "Replicators" are physical manufacturing units requiring materials and time, not anything-out-of-thin-air devices. Holodecks just make images and sounds (and maybe scent, from little chem units)—no manipulation of physical objects.

'''Commentary from LordDraqo:''' What form of propulsion do ship use, when they are not zipping around at warp?  It occurs to me that not every ship operating in a system is going to have warp-drive, and I can't see using warp to get around in orbit.  So people use transporters for all of their interplanetary travel?