New efforts!

[Arcana]

Wormholes? Portals? Stargates?

And another question, what effect will dark matter have on sub-light speed travel?

Possibly, not yet, rebooting as we speak, and not much.

[Ohioknight]

For those wanting a low-noise source of updates on the topic, here you go:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10649.0.html

Everyone else may proceed with assumptions, unverifiable speculation, and inane off-topic discussions. :)

Thanks again, Codewalker. 

Now continuing with unverifiable speculation

-- Nate just recently posted a joke on Facebook about how mean he could be by saying he didn't believe people would be playing the game by November.   
I think that if things were going badly, he wouldn't be joking about it.

I, personally, think "the deal", to one degree or another, is made.  I personally think they aren't announcing anything until they've proven their setup is capable of supporting operations, meaning they're proving they can run the image and building the pieces that are missing (account manager, store, etc).   It may well be that getting all that to work is a condition of the deal and if something technical prevents it, then they go to deal 2 or something.  But I believe there is some form of commitment and a justification to allow money to be spent.

Now to resume with inane, off topic discussion

Alcubierre drives fall under the category of "so advanced we can't even assess their plausibility."  That's like two chiselers at Karnak discussing the plausibility of the iPhone.  We probably won't get there, but the theoretical framework that would tell us with certainty lies *just* close enough in the general vicinity to be tantalizing.

I've always said the most significant thing about the Alcubierre warp drive concept is that it moved faster-than-light "travel" from being THEORETICALLY impossible, to being PRACTICALLY impossible.   And that's an enormous difference.

[darkgob]

-- Nate just recently posted a joke on Facebook about how mean he could be by saying he didn't believe people would be playing the game by November.   
I think that if things were going badly, he wouldn't be joking about it.

Because he believes people will be playing it by June?

*runs*

[Arcana]

-- Nate just recently posted a joke on Facebook about how mean he could be by saying he didn't believe people would be playing the game by November.   
I think that if things were going badly, he wouldn't be joking about it.

Then again, he's a CoH player.  Its possible he's not even showing up to negotiations wearing pants.

I've always said the most significant thing about the Alcubierre warp drive concept is that it moved faster-than-light "travel" from being THEORETICALLY impossible, to being PRACTICALLY impossible.   And that's an enormous difference.

Not quite yet.  Alcubierre drives sit between the theoretically impossible and the practically impossible by existing where theory is incomplete.  We don't have enough theory to rule them out, but we also don't have enough theory to rule them in yet either.  We just don't know if the negative energy that Alcubierre drives specifically require are theoretically possible or not.  We don't know if spacetime works precisely in the way Alcubierre drives require.  We don't have the quantum gravity knowledge to know what happens when Alcubierre warps are constructed, and we don't have sufficient knowledge to know if they can be exploited for propulsion even if they can be constructed (because we don't have a clear a to b to c path to how to get the space craft actually inside them).

Its most proper to say that Alcubierre drives are NOT YET theoretically impossible.  That might be because they are actually possible and we just don't know yet, or they are actually impossible but we just don't know yet.  There are a lot of uncertainties.  If the negative energy Alcubierre's drives require are possible, that suggests its possible to create negative mass with them (general relativity seems to require this).  But negative mass would repel positive mass while positive mass would still attract negative mass (see: Bondi).  That creates the somewhat ludicrous situation that a negative mass gravitationally coupled to a positive mass object would simply accelerate away along a vector from the negative to positive mass (see Forward).  That's pretty looney tunes if it was theoretically possible.

[Drauger9]

-- Nate just recently posted a joke on Facebook about how mean he could be by saying he didn't believe people would be playing the game by November.   
I think that if things were going badly, he wouldn't be joking about it.

Isn't he with Missing Worlds Media too? Taken out of context, I could assume he's talking about Titans Online as well.

I'm with you though OhioKnight. I believe we're in they yay or nah safe zone and since we haven't heard a nah. I can assume it's a possible yay if everything works properly.

*fingers crossed for solid news around May-Julyish*

Until then... back to level capping characters in other games. :)

[Kaos Arcanna]

Isn't he with Missing Worlds Media too? Taken out of context, I could assume he's talking about Titans Online as well.

I'm with you though OhioKnight. I believe we're in they yay or nah safe zone and since we haven't heard a nah. I can assume it's a possible yay if everything works properly.

*fingers crossed for solid news around May-Julyish*

Until then... back to level capping characters in other games. :)

I'm hoping we get our COT stand alone costume creator this year at least.

[Drauger9]

I'm hoping we get our COT stand alone costume creator this year at least

That would be nice, I can't wait for all these games to come out and for us to get our city back.

There's going to be so much to do then. LOL!

[Felderburg]

Who would be the test pilot willing to be in the craft that attempts light speed and would the test pilot survive?

A robot programmed to drive it somewhere, make sure that the craft has survived, without destroying the universe around it, and then pilots it back to somewhere near Pluto (I would go with Proxima Centauri, first, just in case, before heading back to Earth).

Well "comfortable acceleration" 1G (if you have live crew) and sooner or later you have to decelerate, I'm sure turning the ship around will be fun.

Is a ramscoop a one-way only device? Couldn't you have one propulsion exit at each end?

...discarded the protons cause they are nigh useless.

False: http://ghostbusters.wikia.com/wiki/Proton_Pack

For those wanting a low-noise source of updates on the topic, here you go:

http://www.cohtitan.com/forum/index.php/topic,10649.0.html

Everyone else may proceed with assumptions, unverifiable speculation, and inane off-topic discussions. :)

I'm keeping email notifications off, thanks. I'm pretty sure I also set up a filter to delete any emails that do come with the subject lines indicating they're a notification... :P

Maybe you have to master so many other things that by the time you have the capacity for FTL travel there's no reason to do so. You've solved all your material needs. You've worked out a peaceful coexistence with your species. Mastered your environment so you can handle any possible natural disaster from outer space or native to your planet that you don't need to go anywhere else or see anything else.

Escaping the impending red giant / supernova phase of your star seems like a good reason to book it outta wherever you are.

[Ohioknight]

If the negative energy Alcubierre's drives require are possible, that suggests its possible to create negative mass with them (general relativity seems to require this).  But negative mass would repel positive mass while positive mass would still attract negative mass (see: Bondi).  That creates the somewhat ludicrous situation that a negative mass gravitationally coupled to a positive mass object would simply accelerate away along a vector from the negative to positive mass (see Forward).  That's pretty looney tunes if it was theoretically possible.

But we do know now that SOMETHING LIKE negative mass has been observed operating in the universe.  I haven't heard of even a convincing BEGINNING of an explanation for Dark Energy, but we know it exists and it's increasing the expansion of space-time just as gravity decreases the expansion of space-time.  On the surface, that would seem to suggest the likelihood that the forces necessary to implement Alcubierre's scenario do exist.  Now as to how one would go about USING them...  Well, lets figure out what they ARE, first.  But the pieces seem to be there in SOME form.

[Ohioknight]

Isn't he with Missing Worlds Media too? Taken out of context, I could assume he's talking about Titans Online as well.

The context for his comment was somebody posted a facebook group poll that said:
How many of you think we'll be playing CoH by November of this year

And Nate commented "I could be so mean right now"

I then answered another guy who thought Nate was expressing deal doubts by saying
"I believe Nate was just saying that he could vote "no" and then a million voices would cry out in agony across the internet"

And Nate said "bullseye"

[Biz]

"I believe Nate was just saying that he could vote "no" and then a million voices would cry out in agony across the internet"

lol, a million.

[Sinistar]

I then answered another guy who thought Nate was expressing deal doubts by saying
"I believe Nate was just saying that he could vote "no" and then a million voices would cry out in agony across the internet"

And Nate said "bullseye"

Bravo!

[Joshex]

False: http://ghostbusters.wikia.com/wiki/Proton_Pack

I know we all know that santa claus is actually a tanker in paragon in the off-season, but I didn't want to have to be the one to tell you that ghost-busters isn't real. that kinda thing can ruin a childhood.

proton packs, if they were real would not function the way described, protons have a mass that is the only thing that can be considered energy that comes from them, so a proton gun is an atomic mass gun. good luck getting mass through a mass, you'd end up splitting the wires.

you can remove the electrons from an atom and yet it is still a mass, the mass is considered inert or 'still' and will eventually absorb other electrons from it's surroundings to replace it's missing energy.

[Twisted Toon]

good luck getting mass through a mass, you'd end up splitting the wires.

You know, electrons have mass as well. Granted, the mass of an electron is much less than the mass of a proton, but it is still there. So, mass travel's through mass every day with no wires being split.

[duane]

Given the number of suggestions in this very thread that aliens may be linked with cats, and the frequent depiction of flying saucers as completely ignoring gravity, I think it's a good bet that they have mastered Cat-Butter/Toast Gravity Nullification Drive technology.

https://images.weserv.nl/?url=vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net%2Funcyclopedia%2Fimages%2F5%2F5e%2FCat_toast.JPG%2Frevision%2Flatest%3Fcb%3D20110814023236

This is just awesome.

[Codewalker]

But we do know now that SOMETHING LIKE negative mass has been observed operating in the universe.  I haven't heard of even a convincing BEGINNING of an explanation for Dark Energy, but we know it exists and it's increasing the expansion of space-time just as gravity decreases the expansion of space-time.  On the surface, that would seem to suggest the likelihood that the forces necessary to implement Alcubierre's scenario do exist.  Now as to how one would go about USING them...  Well, lets figure out what they ARE, first.  But the pieces seem to be there in SOME form.

Dark Energy != Negative Energy

In fact, for dark energy to be able to exhibit the repulsive force necessary to accelerate the expansion of the universe, it would have to have a rather large positive energy density.

The only places negative energy has been theorized to exist is near the event horizons of black holes, and as one possible explanation for the Casimir effect (which ironically is also the basis for quantum vacuum thrusters).

[LaughingAlex]

Dark Energy != Negative Energy

In fact, for dark energy to be able to exhibit the repulsive force necessary to accelerate the expansion of the universe, it would have to have a rather large positive energy density.

The only places negative energy has been theorized to exist is near the event horizons of black holes, and as one possible explanation for the Casimir effect (which ironically is also the basis for quantum vacuum thrusters).

Negative energy is just code for "we don't really know WHY the universe is expanding".  It's not a literal form of energy.

[Felderburg]

proton packs, if they were real would not function the way described

You don't say.

Obviously ghosts are portrayed in Ghostbusters as far different than in reality. Ectoplasm is derived from the word plasma, which as we all know can be contained by magnetism (http://www.fusion-eur.org/fusion_cd/magnetic.htm). So really, shooting protons at a ghost wouldn't do much - you just need giant magnets (or very powerful small ones).

Of course, some of the entities in the documentary are demons (or whatever) which raises even more issues for containment. Given that science hasn't really devoted itself to ghost and demon containment since the film's release, you'd be better off with a holy person exorcising things than trying to find someone to build miniature nuclear reactors (or powerful magnets) to blast ghosts.

[Arcana]

But we do know now that SOMETHING LIKE negative mass has been observed operating in the universe.  I haven't heard of even a convincing BEGINNING of an explanation for Dark Energy, but we know it exists and it's increasing the expansion of space-time just as gravity decreases the expansion of space-time.  On the surface, that would seem to suggest the likelihood that the forces necessary to implement Alcubierre's scenario do exist.  Now as to how one would go about USING them...  Well, lets figure out what they ARE, first.  But the pieces seem to be there in SOME form.

We suspect dark energy exists, and we know general relativity supports the notion that gravitational energy is a form of negative energy, but for technical reasons those aren't (so far as we understand) negative energy in the same sense as Alcubierre drives require.  Its been suggested that casimir force energy could satisfy the requirement, but no one has been able to get from here to there yet either.

Its like time travel.  General relativity seems to suggest closed time-like loops can exist, but that's not the same thing as saying its only practically impossible.  It may seem the pieces exist in theory, but that might be due to incomplete theory.  At the moment general relativity predicts singularities at the center of black holes, but in a sense a singularity is often a sign your theory is incomplete.  Its possible when a better theory of quantum gravity arrives, one of the "pieces" necessary to form a physical singularity will disappear.  Some physicists have investigated the conjecture that closed time-like loops create quantum feedback situations that guarantee the loop closes instantly.  If so, that would be a case of all the pieces being there, but an additional piece messing up the picture.  A similar thing could happen for Alcubierre warps: one of the pieces that currently plausibly could exist could actually be an illusion due to incomplete theory, or we are missing another piece that makes the picture something else entirely.

[Arcana]

Obviously ghosts are portrayed in Ghostbusters as far different than in reality. Ectoplasm is derived from the word plasma, which as we all know can be contained by magnetism (http://www.fusion-eur.org/fusion_cd/magnetic.htm). So really, shooting protons at a ghost wouldn't do much - you just need giant magnets (or very powerful small ones).

The proton beams are not intended to contain the ghosts, but weaken them to the point where the containment traps can effectively catch them with magnetic fields.  The proton beams supposedly weaken the ghosts by firing streams of protons and associated plasma at the ghosts with interact with their own magnetic field to partially dissipate their physical energy.  That's why their plasma streams rapidly encircle targeted ghosts, they are following the magnetic field lines of the ectoplasmic energy fields.

Just don't cross the plasma streams.