Dyson Spheres..

[Iskandar]

I can see it working on a smaller scale than reality -- after all, StarMade itself has a vastly reduced scale.

Ingame stars are 10 to 30 kilometers away from each other (instead of light years apart, just one of which is 9,461,000,000,000 km -- 9 trillion kilometers... the closest star system to Sol, Alpha Centauri, is 4.37 light years, or 41.5 trillion kilometers away)... the current "platter" planets are under a kilometer or so I think.. never actually measured one :p (whereas in reality, Earth's equatorial diameter is 12,756 km), etc.

If SM used realistic measurements, with the way the game is currently designed, it would mean most players would never even reach Mars, distance-wise (54.6 million km at its closest). Heck, ingame I typically head about 30-40 km from spawn, which is usually far enough out that I can work undisturbed -- but in reality that would mean I wouldn't even be in low Earth orbit (anything below about 160 km will have a decaying orbit).

If we apply that StarMade scale to it, a Dyson sphere becomes a LOT smaller -- something that encompasses an area measured in tens of square kilometers at most, instead of the more realistic 2.72e17 square kilometers, which makes it a lot more feasible in terms of gameplay. Still a very big project, but doable with enough teamwork (tho crossing the sector boundaries would still be highly problematic) :D

There's a nice summary of Dyson spheres available here if anyone is interested

 

[Viridis00]

Seriously. O'Neill Cylinders. Dyson Spheres are way too big, and a complete waste of time.

Stop making me want to try and build one of those again. Last time I tried to make a full scale one, I crashed my home server after making a 3/32 km long center axis for the cylinder.

In all seriousness though, O'Neil Cylinders or Stanford Torus would be a lot more feasible (at a smaller scale) in game than Dyson Spheres. I'm sure if someone really wanted to (and they had a shit load of time), they could build a Dyson Sphere Dodecahedron around one of the new planets, replace the entire surface with lava blocks, and pretend that the lava is star plasma or something...

You know, that actually sounds kind of fun and would probably be feasible.

 

[Deleted member 301635]

Suuuuuure. Just like building a Dyson sphere is totally a practical thing to do.

If you think that's impractical, you should see Boulder's Ring.
(Think an exit hatch from the universe so large that it pulls nearby galaxies in towards it).

 

[Mork2]

It might be possible to setup a ringworld should be an order of magnitude easier. The new block logic systems in the dev builds was suppose to cut down on lag somewhat. And using inert blocks which don't produce or reflect light, or have anything to do with energy or shields generally doesn't contribute to much to lag.

 

[Mariux]

Reminds me of X3 TC... Good ol' times, although that Dyson sphere did something a little different...

 

[Ultraviolet Dugong]

There almost certainly isn't enough viable material available in ours or any other system, even multiple systems, to encase a single sun-like or even red dwarf star. The mass of the solar system is ~1.0014 Solar Masses, much of which (that isn't solar material) is gasses in the gas giants, micrometeorites and flecks of dust, and other unusable materials.

Actually, take a look at this: http://www.universetoday.com/25348/what-is-the-smallest-star/

The smallest known star is roughly the size of Jupiter. A sufficiently advanced and industrialized space-faring civilization might just be able to pull it off with enough time, but it would be a massive undertaking (pun intended). Granted, as you correctly pointed out, the practicality of such a project is dubious at best, as a civilization with access to the necessary resources and technology would likely have a better method of power generation, if not the ability to create small stars in a contained environment for power (which is really not a far cry from the nuclear power we use currently).

----

If I may just chime in on the solar scoop thing, stars are made of matter - we know this because they have mass. Now, this matter takes the form of superheated plasma, which, at its core, undergoes nuclear fusion, converting hydrogen into helium - this is where its power comes from. Whether or not this nuclear reaction could be deemed an "explosion" depends on your definition of explosion, but let's not dive into any sort of pedanticism here. The point is, stars are made of matter undergoing a constant process that produces a lot of heat and light. Occasionally, disturbances in its magnetic field will force some of this superheated plasma out of the star in the form of solar flares.

Now, Incap did make a good analogy in that trying to collect this plasma would be very much like trying to collect fire. Fire (or, more precisely, the flame), strictly speaking, is a mixture of air and combustible particles undergoing a chemical reaction that produces heat and light. Much like the sun, it's matter undergoing a process. Sometimes when fire is hot enough it can ionize the gas involved, creating plasma - something very similar to what stars are made of, albeit not nearly as hot. Theoretically speaking, if one were to try to collect the flame, it would only stay in that state so long as it had the fuel to keep the chemical reaction going. Once that ran out, it would begin to cool, and shortly afterwards you'd be left with air, smoke and perhaps a little ash as some of the larger particles settled.

Likewise, if one could somehow get close enough to a star, you could collect some of the superheated plasma (perhaps coming off a solar flare, as you wouldn't have to get as close that way). However, once removed from the star, it would begin to cool through direct heat dissipation with the surrounding matter and by giving off light, because it would no longer have a nuclear fusion reaction keeping it hot. It would eventually cool into gas. This would make it fairly impractical as starship fuel, IMO, simply because it begins releasing its energy as soon as it's collected, most of it in forms that are not easy to collect efficiently.

TL;DR: The sun is matter undergoing a process. While you could, in theory, collect some of the matter, the process is where all of the energy comes from.

 

[Keptick]

You can fully encompass a star with 6 blocks. The source block is only the size of a single block. This effectively stops all proximity damage from the star but not the light emissions. So yea, making a base in the middle of a star by covering up the source block in order to prevent damage is actually pretty good camouflage.

You're not recreating the entire volume of a star, only a thin layer over it Lecic

 

[Keptick]

What stellar material? A star is not a tangible object that you can just scrape a little off the top and haul it away. It's an enormous nuclear explosion in space, a furnace that burns millions of tonnes of hydrogen a second. The only solid part is the core. The very idea of harvesting a star itself is far beyond our comprehension and I really doubt it'll be something we see humans do for over a thousand years.

Isn't it actually a nuclear implosion, since the materials are fusing together and not being ejected all over the place like in a fission reaction? (the ejected energy comes from part of the matter being transformed into energy during the process)

Bout the fuel: according to Stephen Hawkins, the star is made up of layers. The inner ones being the result of fusion from heavier atoms together. Goes something like hydrogen> helium> something> iron> somethingheavier> supernova> gold, uranium, etc...

Edit: Oh shit, I didn't notice the flame war / argument. Please ignore this post. As for incap, don't inca-hulk RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE smash me

 

[Lecic]

You can fully encompass a star with 6 blocks. The source block is only the size of a single block. This effectively stops all proximity damage from the star but not the light emissions. So yea, making a base in the middle of a star by covering up the source block in order to prevent damage is actually pretty good camouflage.

You're not recreating the entire volume of a star, only a thin layer over it Lecic

My point still stands that there simply isn't enough material in the solar system (or likely any system, and importing from other systems would be to expensive to be worth it) to build a dyson sphere.

And yes, the age old interstar base is always something clever you can do. You can even (once you make sure everything is docked and its a faction home base) release the star and burn enemies.

 

[Keptick]

My point still stands that there simply isn't enough material in the solar system (or likely any system, and importing from other systems would be to expensive to be worth it) to build a dyson sphere.

And yes, the age old interstar base is always something clever you can do. You can even (once you make sure everything is docked and its a faction home base) release the star and burn enemies.

About the material thing, did you mean in starmade or irl? Cause I'm pretty sure the OP didn't give a rat's ass about real life dyson spheres, also why this whole argent is pretty funny.

 

[Lecic]

About the material thing, did you mean in starmade or irl? Cause I'm pretty sure the OP didn't give a rat's ass about real life dyson spheres, also why this whole argent is pretty funny.

Both, really. I don't think there's enough material in solar system in both real life or starmade to enclose a star, although its much easier to import material from other systems in starmade. If you add in all the blocks in shops, maybe there's enough material.

 

[Keptick]

Well, when you said that our solar system was 1.03... solar masses. I'm assuming that includes the sun?

I previously made the assumption that it didn't, that's why I sorta disagreed with your statement (cause the volume of material in a dyson sphere is much smaller than that of the sun it encloses)

 

[Lecic]

Well, when you said that our solar system was 1.03... solar masses. I'm assuming that includes the sun?

I previously made the assumption that it didn't, that's why I sorta disagreed with your statement (cause the volume of material in a dyson sphere is much smaller than that of the sun it encloses)

Yes, the solar masses includes to mass of the sun. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

 

[Keptick]

Yes, the solar masses includes to mass of the sun. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

It's pretty clear, I guess that my neural network derped for a few seconds.

 

[So-L]

View attachment 3984 View attachment 3984
Planet-size sphere WIP

 

[Proxima_Centauri]

do you think it within the realm of possibility to construct a gigantic Dyson Sphere fully encompassing the star, just outside of it's damaging range? It's a cool concept, and if it were even possible, the time it would take to build I imagine would be absolutely enormous.

It is entirely possible, but you would never be able to render it all at once.
(27 sector^3 sphere has more than 20,000 segments)

 

[NeonSturm]

It is entirely possible, but you would never be able to render it all at once.
(27 sector^3 sphere has more than 20,000 segments)

27-1 sectors^3 :p

I am imaging the shield strength of such a thing...
Then add omni-directional weapons to hit everything bigger than a scout.... For these you have render-bugs and pulsars. Missing most shots? no problem with your huge energy generation :D

 

[Unnamed25]

Actually, take a look at this: http://www.universetoday.com/25348/what-is-the-smallest-star/

The smallest known star is roughly the size of Jupiter. A sufficiently advanced and industrialized space-faring civilization might just be able to pull it off with enough time, but it would be a massive undertaking (pun intended). Granted, as you correctly pointed out, the practicality of such a project is dubious at best, as a civilization with access to the necessary resources and technology would likely have a better method of power generation, if not the ability to create small stars in a contained environment for power (which is really not a far cry from the nuclear power we use currently).

----

If I may just chime in on the solar scoop thing, stars are made of matter - we know this because they have mass. Now, this matter takes the form of superheated plasma, which, at its core, undergoes nuclear fusion, converting hydrogen into helium - this is where its power comes from. Whether or not this nuclear reaction could be deemed an "explosion" depends on your definition of explosion, but let's not dive into any sort of pedanticism here. The point is, stars are made of matter undergoing a constant process that produces a lot of heat and light. Occasionally, disturbances in its magnetic field will force some of this superheated plasma out of the star in the form of solar flares.

Now, Incap did make a good analogy in that trying to collect this plasma would be very much like trying to collect fire. Fire (or, more precisely, the flame), strictly speaking, is a mixture of air and combustible particles undergoing a chemical reaction that produces heat and light. Much like the sun, it's matter undergoing a process. Sometimes when fire is hot enough it can ionize the gas involved, creating plasma - something very similar to what stars are made of, albeit not nearly as hot. Theoretically speaking, if one were to try to collect the flame, it would only stay in that state so long as it had the fuel to keep the chemical reaction going. Once that ran out, it would begin to cool, and shortly afterwards you'd be left with air, smoke and perhaps a little ash as some of the larger particles settled.

Likewise, if one could somehow get close enough to a star, you could collect some of the superheated plasma (perhaps coming off a solar flare, as you wouldn't have to get as close that way). However, once removed from the star, it would begin to cool through direct heat dissipation with the surrounding matter and by giving off light, because it would no longer have a nuclear fusion reaction keeping it hot. It would eventually cool into gas. This would make it fairly impractical as starship fuel, IMO, simply because it begins releasing its energy as soon as it's collected, most of it in forms that are not easy to collect efficiently.

TL;DR: The sun is matter undergoing a process. While you could, in theory, collect some of the matter, the process is where all of the energy comes from.

I'm disappointed that the article didn't mention a single word about White dwarfs or Neutron stars

 

[Snk]

Borg Dyson Spheres, anyone?

 

[NeonSturm]

Stop calling the Borg. They may hear you!