CTD - Tachyon Emissions Detector

[tzuchan]

Hmm... I really should get around to working on the other CTDs I started instead of starting new ones...

 

Anyway, here's the HWD/TED CTD that just pushed itself out of me tonight...

 

Please read, review and criticize.

TED.rtf

[Anthraxus]

Looks good to me. Have you verified that it doesn't conflict with the stuff that was written about UFO Navigation and Power systems, if it was you that wrote those CTDs just consider that question answered.

[tzuchan]

Whoops! Forgot to ensure that there's no conflict!

 

Anyway, rewrote a few sentences that basicallt say that the comms system of a UFO in no way affects the function of both navigation and propulsion systems in NORMAL flight...

 

This leaves the door open for FTL research or for use in the [Avenger] CTD...

 

Anyway, here's the text, also attached in rtf file.

 

RESEARCH COMPLETED: TACHYON EMISSIONS DETECTOR

 

HEAD OF RESEARCH PROJECT: [Tzu-Chan Lim]

 

SPECIFICATIONS:

SIZE:______________________ [ONE BASE MODULE]

TYPE:_____________________ DETECTION ARRAY

OTHER:___________________ Can identify UFO type, heading, speed, coordinates, mission and race

 

We have long suspected that the aliens used a tachyon based communications. Unfortunately, due to the faster than light nature of tachyons, we were unable to design detection systems that triangulate the positions of the UFOs based on their communications. However, with data recently obtained by Section 9 (Interrogations), we are now capable of decoding their transmissions. Nevertheless, due to our inability to understand the alien's language, we can only obtain data regarding the speed, heading, and type of UFO, as well as the race of the crew and their mission profile.

 

 

Generally, when recovered UFOs are stripped down to their component parts, tachyon emitters as well as receivers are a standard part of all designs, from the various scouts to the larger classes of UFOs. Interestingly, the tachyon emitters are not only connected to the communications console, but are also intricately linked to the navigation and propulsion systems, and in the larger classes of UFOs, overbuilt for the task of communications.

 

Tachyons have been theorized to be the possible carriers for faster than light, or true instantaneous communications. Unfortunately, that which makes it so attractive for FTL communications also makes it hard to use, that is to say, technology to detect tachyons at faster than light speed have so far eluded researchers.

 

However, the alien invaders not only brought their advanced weapons technology to the battlefield, but also their tachyon based faster than light communications system. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the tachyon detection system can easily be replicated using human technology once our researchers had a chance to reverse engineer a recovered comms system, the understanding of the aliens transmissions proved otherwise.

 

Due to it's very nature, tachyon based communication systems are also heavily quantum based, and as a result, have built-in quantum encryption. The tachyon emissions are generated by using a series of quantum particles, and in order to receive the transmissions, the exact states of all the quantum particles used in the emitter must be known before hand. Due to the ability of a single quantum particle to exist in eight states simultaneously, as well as not knowing the exact number of quantum particles used by the aliens when they transmit, have left us with a very cheap, very easy to reproduce and very high tech, faster than light radio, with nothing to listen to.

 

Fortunately, recent intelligence obtained by Section 9 of the X-Corps Research and Development department have provided us to the key to intercepting alien transmissions. Unfortunately, partially due to the fact that the aliens do not use a common language, efforts by our best linguists have so far been unable to translate their transmissions. The fact that they do not use a common language lead us to suspect that there may be a telepathic part to the transmissions, and even though it is tempting to uncover and implement that as well, the risks of unintentionally revealing ourselves outnumber the advantage of understanding the aliens. However, based on the language used, we are able to idenitfy the race of the UFO's crew. Also, we have been able to decode information from the header of the transmissions which contain data regarding the type of UFO, it's coordinates and heading, as well as mission profile.

 

Nevertheless, there is still one piece of the puzzle still missing. The fact that the tachyon emitters are closely linked to the navigation and propulsion systems are far more complex than need be, yet even with the tachyon emitters removed, both navigations and propulsions systems still function without any sort of instability. As such, we suspect that the tachyon emitters may only be needed for some sort of functions that do not occur during normal flight. This, combined with the fact that it is the Navigator ranked aliens that have the detailed knowledge required to use the tachyon communications system hint that the tachyon emitters may very well play a role in the alien's faster than light travel. Unfortunately, we currently do not have enough detailed information on hand to do more than speculate.

 

"You telling me that those professor types down in the labs managed to develope a 56 terabytes per second modem? Great! That means I can download all the porn I could ever want off the Net!"

- Recruit Gonzales

TED.rtf

[Anthraxus]

For you upper fluff:

 

"As you can see our new prototype Tachyon Emission Detector tells us that the nearby UFO, which we previously only knew was large, is actually .... run by Mutons on a retaliation mission. This information can.... Oh man! Alert! Alert!" - former Xcorp research head Abir du Abdullah

[MagicAndy]

Looking really good!

 

Just a point, the secound fluff's structure feels contrived, with the "off the net" tacked on the end.

 

How about:

 

"Those professor types down in the labs have managed to develop a 56 terabytes per second modem! The benifits for the human race are unprecedented! You could ... uh... download ALL the porn on the internet in like half an hour!"

 

- Recruit Gonzales, overheard whilst running towards Labartory 4

[Cartesian]

I'd stay well away from ant FTL stuff. There are many theoretical problems with tachyons, and research into them has been all but abandoned.

 

The basic idea behind elerium/xenium bending spacetime seems to suggest that the aliens would move large distances by bending spacetime (the warpdrive idea from startrek) or by making wormholes and travelling through them (the stargate idea).

 

As for communication, one could for large distances use microwormholes to squirt the data through, and on smaller scales just use normal lightspeed communication.

 

I've put some stuff inot the "radar" CTD, which should probably be read first. I'll put soe thought into this later.

[tzuchan]

The basic idea behind elerium/xenium bending spacetime seems to suggest that the aliens would move large distances by bending spacetime (the warpdrive idea from startrek) or by making wormholes and travelling through them (the stargate idea).

 

I don't exactly plan on using tachyons for FTL, it's used to control the destination. My basic idea is more similar to the Stargate system, minus the need for stationary gates.

 

Also, just because we humans currently cannot form a workable theory for tachyon doesn't mean that aliens with better tech aren't able to. For that matter, this is a sci-fi game, so a certain leeway can be made for impossible tech... <_>

[Guest drewid]

Even we can do FTL comms right now with twisted pair particles.

 

Some boffs transmitted a big hunk of mozart FTL.

 

OK it was only 2 meters across a lab bench, but its a start.

[tzuchan]

"As you can see our new prototype Tachyon Emission Detector tells us that the nearby UFO, which we previously only knew was large, is actually .... run by Mutons on a retaliation mission. This information can.... Oh man! Alert! Alert!" - former Xcorp research head Abir du Abdullah

 

:: It's a pretty good fluff text. Problem is, will we really have a Muton retaliation immediately after the TED is researched? I think the general idea is to avoid gameplay specific events such as refering to base invasions and such...

 

"Those professor types down in the labs have managed to develop a 56 terabytes per second modem! The benifits for the human race are unprecedented! You could ... uh... download ALL the porn on the internet in like half an hour!"

 

Hmm... Feels a lot smoother than my version. I'll replace it next revision.

 

I think I'm going to work on my FTL text and give it to Cartesian to see if it passes his strict physics possibility standards ....

[tzuchan]

What can I say? Cartesian seems to be an expert in goading me to higher levels of production... Here's a possible FTL CTD, with explanations why we can only use it for a trip to Mars instead of evacuating everyone from Earth.

 

FTL Drive CTD

 

It has become become obvious that we cannot defeat the alien menace by fighting a defensive war. They not only outnumber us, but also have seemingly limitless resources. As such, not matter how many aliens we kill, how many UFOs we intercept, they will keep on coming until we are finally whittled down to nothing. However, we now have a trump card up our sleeves. Our research team have finally managed to replicate the FTL drives used by UFOs. Unfortunately, the aliens have the superiority in sheer numbers, much less technological advances. As such, the only possible way for us to succeed is through a single decisive covert strike.

 

 

The alien invaders travel through the vast distances between the stars by creating wormholes by means of their ability to create and manipulate gravity waves. Our scientists have managed to create wormholes under controlled conditions in the lab using the [uFO power source]s, until recently, we lacked the ability to control where the wormholes would take us. In other words, it would have been like taking a trip down a highway that not only is the destination unknown, a second trip down the same highway would lead to a totally different location.

 

However, with recent intel obtained by Section 9 of the X-Corps Research and Developement department, we have confirmed our suspicion that the tachyon emitters found in all classes of UFOs play a very important role in the creation of stable controlled wormholes. This is only possible due to the fact that tachyons can travel instantaneously through the vast distances in the universe. As such, through the use of controlled tachyon bombardment, the quantum states of the departure point and the destination points in space are forced into identical states. As a result, when the space at the departure point is manipulated through the use of intense gravity waves to form the wormhole, the quantumly linked point at the destination would mirror the events occuring at the departure point, and as a result, a two way connection is created.

 

Unfortunately, the tachyon emissions given off by this process is hard to miss, and while the alien may dismiss the amount of tachyons given off by the relatively small experiments conducted by our researchers, a tachyon emission of the scale needed to transport a craft would likely cause the alien invaders to up our threat level, and as such forgo their current doctrine of terrorism and covert operations and escalate to an all out war that we can not possibly hope to win. As such, it is imperative that information regarding our breakthrough must be classified Ultraviolet For-Your-Eyes-Only until we can find a way of using it in a single decisive strike against the aliens. Fortunately, Section 9 reports that they may have some valuable intel in that direction. We reccomend that priority be given to their research immediately.

 

[Anthraxus]

In regards to my proposed fluff text, I couldn't think of another way to illustrate the use of the TED without talking about an actual UFO report. But if we can't use game specific things, I try to think of another one.

[tzuchan]

Doesn't even need to illustrate the use of the TED... If you check some of the other CTDs with fluff texts, most of the time they are about amusing hijinks that came about through the use of or during the development of what the CTD is talking about...

[Robo Dojo 58]

FTL drive should be in it's own thread. That way there won't be confusion between FTL discussion, and HWD discussion.

 

Anyways, does FTL drive need to be on every UFO? The aliens are based on Mars, so they don't need to use a wormhole to get here. However, alien history shows that there is a mothership crash-landed on Mars. Maybe it could have the FTL drive, and rest of the fleet would be either inside the mothership, or outside and sharing the same wormhole.

[tzuchan]

assuming we agreed that UFOs can travel fast, but not as fast as the speed of light, then I would think that FTL drives in every single class of UFOs is a good idea, unless you have carrier types like in ID4. Otherwise, assuming we only have the Mothership capable of creating the wormhole, it'd have to expend the same amount of energy opening a wormhole to send a scout across as it would to send a Battleship. Doesn't seem cost efficient to me, especially if you can get away with creating wormholes using what already is part of the standard design for UFOs, namely the tachyon communications system.

[Cpt. Boxershorts]

I like the mothership-only ftl idea...it's another good excuse why there aren't reinforcements.

 

I don't think the communications sytem actually makes wormholes...it just transmit and receives tachyons (unless I missed something in the CTD). So it may wel be that smaller (non-mothership) ufos can't achieve FTL...they jsut don't have the power (I picture the mother ship with 10x the power units of smaller ships).

 

-The Captain

[Robo Dojo 58]

Otherwise, assuming we only have the Mothership capable of creating the wormhole, it'd have to expend the same amount of energy opening a wormhole to send a scout across as it would to send a Battleship.

So that'd mean that small ships would need the same amount of power sources as a mothership? Why would there be any small ships, then? I think only enough energy is needed for the size of the ship. A mothership would easily have enough power to make a mini-wormhole for a little ship. It doesn't have to make a mothership-sized hole, right?

 

Oops. I meant that a fleet could share a wormhole when the mothership travels. It can still make custom wormholes for different sized ships.

 

With the aliens on Mars, they aren't that far away with normal drives. It's only a week, or so. Wormholes would probably not be needed for such a short trip. It'd also explain why there's alot of comfy room on the inside. Legs get sorta cramped on long flights. The aliens need to walk around a little.

[Cartesian]

tzuchan... excellent! do you wanna have a go at fixing what ive put in the radar ctd? the bones are there...

 

just change the bit with "quantumly" (isn't a word). Here's a possible rewrite:

 

As such, through the use of controlled tachyon bombardment, the quantum states of the departure point and the destination points in space are entangled such that the quantum space-time geometry is identical. As a result, when the space at the departure point is manipulated through the use of intense gravity waves to form the wormhole, the quantum entangled space-time state at the destination mirrors the events occuring at the departure point, and as a result, a two way connection between the seperate regions of space-time is created.

 

Private clueless: "That's just like in Stargate, right?"

Lead researcher: "*Groan*... yes, thats what it's like"

[Guest Azrael]

TACHYON EMISSIONS DETECTOR

X-Net://Pegasus.net/Base/Facilities/Tachyon Emissions Detector

 

We have long suspected that the Aliens used tachyon-based communications. Unfortunately, due to the faster than light nature of tachyons, we were unable to design detection systems that triangulate the positions of the UFOs based on their communications. However, with data recently obtained by Section 9 (Interrogations), we are now capable of decoding their transmissions. Nevertheless, due to difficulty to understand the Aliens? language, we can only obtain data regarding the speed, heading, and type of UFO, as well as the race of the crew and their mission profile.

 

"Rule 69: The Tachyon Emissions Detector is not to be used to send text messages to the Aliens."

- Excerpt from "100 things Tommy can't do in X-Corps"

 

Generally, tachyon emitters as well as receivers are a standard part of all designs, from the various scouts to the larger classes of UFOs. Interestingly, the tachyon emitters are not only connected to the communications console, but are also intricately linked to the navigation and propulsion systems, and in the larger classes of UFOs, overbuilt for the task of communications.

 

Tachyons have been theorized to be the possible carriers for Faster-Than-Light (FTL), or truly instantaneous, communications. Unfortunately, that which makes it so attractive for FTL communications also makes it hard to use, that is to say, technology to detect tachyons at FTL speeds have so far eluded researchers.

 

However, the Alien invaders not only brought their advanced weapon technology to our planet, but also their tachyon based FTL communications system. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the tachyon detection system can easily be replicated using Human technology now that our researchers have had a chance to reverse engineer a recovered comms system, the understanding of the Aliens transmissions proved otherwise.

 

Due to its very nature, tachyon-based communication systems are also heavily quantum-based, and as a result, have built-in quantum encryption. The tachyon emissions are generated by using a series of quantum particles, and in order to receive the transmissions, the exact states of all the quantum particles used in the emitter must be known before hand. Due to the ability of a single quantum particle to exist in eight states simultaneously, as well as not knowing the exact number of quantum particles used by the Aliens when they transmit, have left us with a very cheap, very easy to reproduce and very high tech, faster than light radio, with nothing to listen to.

 

Fortunately, recent intelligence obtained by Section 9 of the X-Corps Research Division has provided us to the key to intercepting Alien transmissions. Unfortunately, partially due to the fact that the Aliens do not use a common language, efforts by our best linguists have so far been unable to translate their transmissions. The fact that they do not use a common language lead us to suspect that there may be a telepathic part to the transmissions, and even though it is tempting to uncover and implement that as well, the risks of unintentionally revealing ourselves outnumber the advantages of understanding the Aliens. However, based on the language used, we are able to identify the species of the UFO's crew. Also, we have been able to decode information from the header of the transmissions which contain data regarding the type of UFO, its position and heading, as well as mission profile.

 

Nevertheless, there is still one piece of the puzzle still missing. The fact that the tachyon emitters are closely linked to the navigation and propulsion systems is far more complex than needs to be, yet even with the tachyon emitters removed, both navigations and propulsions systems still function without any sort of instability. As such, we suspect that the tachyon emitters may only be needed for some sort of functions that do not occur during normal flight. This combined with the fact that it is the Navigator Aliens that have the detailed knowledge required to use the tachyon communications system hint that the tachyon emitters may very well play a role in the Aliens? supposed FTL travel capability. Unfortunately, we currently do not have enough detailed information on hand to do more than speculate.

 

"You telling me that those professor types down in the labs managed to develop a 56 terabytes per second modem? Great! That means I can download all the porn I could ever want off the Net!"

- Recruit Gonzales

Edited October 22, 2009 by Mad