Starting off this one is a description of the new FTL drives, Sublight drives, and who uses which.
First on the list is the
Goliath Nation.
FTL: Fold-Space Drive; Due to the size and mass of even the smallest Goliath vessels no traditional FTL drives are adequate to move them at FTL velocities as either they required too much power or any multitude of other reasons. And so instead of other methods they use still massive amounts of power to literally fold space between the two points and punch a hole through which they travel. This allows them to traverse no more than 100 lightyears at a time, with two hours required to actually do the spacefold.
STL: Orion Drives; Goliath vessels put too much stock in armour and size, and firepower, to use most normal engines, they are simply a waste of space. No, instead they put a giant slab of armour, from dozens of metres thick to hundreds of metres thick, behind the vessels "front" and sticking through it is a hole, this hole matches a cannon perfectly. Now people might think "well that's a weakness" right up to the moment they "turn the engines on" by firing fusion bombs out of it which detonate practically on top of the armour plate using the blasts to 'push' them along.
Of course, it is grotesquely slow, but nobody will ever ever try and get in close to "shoot the engines" for one they're the most heavily armoured part of the ship, for second, they're a constant source of fusion bombs going off. (Is actually a real concept.)
The Ancients
FTL: Supralight Drive; This accelerates the vessel until it passes the 'light-speed barrier' in truth the vessel is sheathed in its 'own reality' where not only is FTL easily achievable, but the velocity makes it one of the fastest drives in the known universe. Conversely its useless without shields to protect the ship, and if it's damaged, well catastrophic boom, or catastrophic "abandoned in the middle of space without power and life support because the reactor died" are the usual results.
STL: Impulsion Drive; This vessel uses advanced technology that most people fail to understand to act upon space like an oar accelerating the vessel without any Gee forces at all. It is not the fastest accelerating drive however as it isn't designed for the pure power input others might have. Relatavistic speeds may take years to achieve.(May not take "Relativity is a Bitch")
Nukem Nation
FTL: Acceleron Drives; Now you stop, yes you, don't even bother asking questions we don't know how their bloody FTL works, they accelerate, then they're at FTL velocities, then they decelerate and are NOT at FTL velocities. As far as we can tell they bend scientific fact over a bench and love it a little too much, then they're there.
STL: Flying Saucer Drives; Now the Nukem Nation might make their enemies, and friends, roll their eyes in ironic boredom when the flying saucers of the Nukem Nation come to visit, pass through, or anything that can actually be seeing. But the "spinning saucer" section is actually their STL drive and allows almost comparable performance to a Reactionless drive. Unfortunately it means all their ships, no matter how big, are flying saucers. All of them.
Hellscapers Nation
FTL: Hellgate Drives; The laws of reality don't apply to the hellscape, and as such we know that their home dimension is technically allowing FTL travel by some laws we don't understand, though most of its occupants describe it as an ocean of energy with thoughtform worlds of energy that are tied to it. As such they come out of their realm towards the outer edges of a solar system under most circumstances. But they can escape back into their realm at will.
STL: Blood Drives; No, this is NOT a bunch of people who go door to door asking for blood donations to pay for fuel for their ships. It is a nickname given to the observed way their drives work, most compare them to Antimatter drives for performance, but there is always a faint red nebulous residue around their ships, and left in their wake. Though study show it is just moisture most are suspicious of it.
False Gods
FTL: Hyperwarp Drives; These drives 'dive' the ship into subspace contained within their own material fields, this drive is not terribly fast but neither is it terribly slow. In the end it is a very dull and uninteresting drive.
STL: Fusion Drives; Nothing special here. Move along.
And that is it for today's feature. Keep your eyes open for tomorrows feature,... if any.
