Bunch of random sci-fi exposition & explanations for the CA universe by various CA devs. Non-canon!

Resources

Metal

Despite its name, "metal" is actually an umbrella term for a variety of solid substances used in manufacturing of units, few of which are actually metallic in nature.

The preferred material for unit hull construction is a fullerene matrix embedded in polymer; it is light, has high tensile strength, and is resistant to shocks. It is usually laminated with ceramic layers for hardness and heat resistance, and sometimes plasma-treated silksteel weave, which as the benefit of high thermal conductance as well as strength.

Saktoth: This would mean metal is actually carbon. You should be able to get it from trees. What the hell is silksteel? Are you making this up?
KR: Fictional material. Y'know, like every other sci-fi media in history.

Energy

Solar power is still the universally preferred energy source, simply because it is so abundant and subject to less variation than wind power. Some commanders prefer the use of wind energy on atmospheric planets, however, as it produces a greater yield per cost than photovoltaic cells. Aquatic planets with large natural satellites offer tidal power, which can be utilized with a simple tidal harness that can be used in almost any body of water.

For higher energy output, other sources are required. Geothermal plants are highly efficient, but places where they can be used are few. Nuclear fusion reactors are popular due to their low cost and reasonable output. Where energy requirements are particularly high, antimatter or black hole reactors can be used, but are unsafe: destruction of the reactor tends to result in the release of a colossal burst of gamma radiation, destroying most nearby objects.

Saktoth: Solar energy is subject to a lot of variation: Star strength, atmospheric conditions, and night/day. Tides are provided by satellites: The reason our tides are so strong is our abnormally large moon. Wave power is more sensible, as waves should exist on any planet with liquid water. We should probably rename the unit?

Technology

Aircraft Propulsion

For forward motion, aircraft generally use nuclear fusion as the energy source (to heat a gaseous propellant which is ejected through the exhaust), granting exceptional thrust. In atmospheric conditions, air can serve as the propellant; otherwise, hydrogen stored in onboard tanks is used.

While some aircraft obtain lift through traditional aerofoil wings, others rely on anti-gravity devices for suspension.

Saktoth: True antigravity breaks the laws of physics in a very profound manner.

Licho: currently infferred rules you mean? And which one exactly?

Saktoth: No point trying to explain it using science and physics if you arent using science and physics. Just say its an aircraft of some kind, its better to not specify the propulsion method than to make up some BS. What does it break? General relativity. I know a theory of quantum gravity or a unified theory of everything will supercede that but that doesnt mean that you'll be able to decouple gravity from mass. Gravity is a property of mass. If you could one would imagine it would require subatomic manipulation and more power than would be worth it. Even if you could by, i dont know, getting rid of all your higgs bosons, you would still be massless and basically fall apart.

Addendum: If you 'turned off' gravity, you'd just go flying off the planet. There wouldnt be anything keeping you stuck to it. You would inherit the planets momentum but the planet spins and orbits in a circle, you would just continue in whatever direction it was heading unless you were tethered to it. Antigravity would also allow you to gain potential energy by accelerating away from a source of gravity. This would break entropy and allow perpetual motion machines.

KR: If anti-gravity is simply a force that acts in the opposite direction to gravity (thus subject to the equation of work done and the like), it would be compatible with the Laws of Thermodynamics (in this regard at least, there might be other areas I've overlooked).

Logos Lasers

Logos are using material lasers - Bose-Einstein condensate matter is being manipulated as a wave and amplified using some (currently unknown) technology. Resulting "beam" cannot of course reach light speed, but can deliver more energy (including direct kinetic energy) to target and is harder to shield/reflect. Ejected matter probably loses coherence/wave properties instantly after leaving the weapon.

Saktoth: Or we can just say they're material slugs and skip this messy rubbish of slowing down light so we can call them 'lasers'.
Licho: its not any messy random rubbish! Material (atom) lasers are very possible. There is steady progress towards them.  http://cua.mit.edu/ketterle_group/Projects_1997/atomlaser_97/atomlaser_comm.html

Heat Ray

The Logos Heat Ray, rather than using EM radiation to heat the target as the name might suggest, fires a high-velocity stream of plasma. The plasma is comparatively cool (by plasma standards) at ~8000K and is fired at a pressure of several hundred MPa, allowing a stream dense enough to push through atmospheric resistance. Even with the low temperature and high muzzle velocity, however, the plasma stream rapidly spreads out in flight, greatly diminishing the weapon's effectiveness at range. Nevertheless, at close range the heat ray can rapidly melt even the most heat-resistant composite armors within seconds.

Nova Pulse Cannons

The Nova pulse cannon is a fairly conventional pulsed particle accelerator firing a mix of particles with an overall neutral charge. The accelerators are optimized for energy efficiency rather than sheer particle velocity, with a high rate of fire ensuring a high power transfer to targets. Cyclic accelerator designs are preferred due to their reduced space requirements as compared to linacs. More powerful weapons will generally utilize multiple barrels to reduce overheating. Pulse cannons are in wide use as short-ranged, rapid-fire weapons.

Cloaking

Nova has developed a highly effective thermoptic active camouflage (TAC) system that can conceal a unit from all manner of optical and infrared sensors. "Cloaked" units are very difficult to detect using normal means - more advanced models allow a unit to remain cloaked even when it is discharging a high-energy weapon.

TAC has its drawbacks, however. Firstly, units must have a constant supply of energy in order to cloak - if a power shortage occurs at any time, the resulting cloak failure will often have fatal results. Cloak is also not infallible - the TAC system does not block the wavelengths used in common radar systems, nor sonar imaging - although both can be defeated with anti-radar stealth or jammer systems. Most importantly, the concealment is not perfect - limitations in the ability to mask thermal emissions and light reflection mean a cloaked unit can be detected when enemies are too close, depending on its size and heat signature.

Saktoth: People know what a cloak is. Nobody is going to start calling it a 'TAC' because the fluff does.

Radar Jammers

Unlike traditional jammers which rely on flooding an enemy radar system with so much noise that it becomes unusable, the advanced jamming system used by both Nova and Logos utilizes destructive interference of radar waves to blank out all radar returns in an area. The jammer intelligently adapts to detected wavelengths, modulating its own frequencies accordingly. However, it cannot distinguish between allied radar signals and enemy ones.

Comments

Saktoth: Dont couch your explainations in vaguely scientific sounding technobabble. To people who dont know what it means they wont care, to people who actually know what you're talking about its just BS, and prevents them from coming up with their own explainations for it that fits within their own suspension of disbelief. Better to leave it unexplained. To most people, 'It is a laser' is enough. People who know more science can ask questions like what type of lasers they might be based on the visual wavelength, and ask questions about its power consumption and do the math to estimate how much an average solar panel could generate with 100% absorbtion of available sunlight under ideal conditions on a planet a typical distance from a typical star and then figure out the exact power consumption of an llt etc etc- and unless you are going to do that, you shouldnt spoil their fun by telling them 'its magic!'.

Trying to explain the actual game mechanics in terms of a coherant physical system is worthwhile: IE, explaining how cloaking fuctions (though actually, almost all cloaked units are stealth). Though you could probably just as easily explain its game mechanics and skip the technobabble.

KR:I think a little sci-fi fluff helps the story, if nothing else it can impress untrained readers. Most science fiction uses such explanations to a degree; granted, most of them are bad, but some, like Alpha Centauri, does them very well and the game is richer as a result. Granted, I was somewhat too eager to throw out real science whenever I deemed it inconvenient, but how many writers don't do this to varying degrees?

Of course, we have to be careful to make it somewhat feasible rather than "lol midichlorians", but even if this never makes it into the canon and ends up being nothing more than annoying fan fiction, it's still fun to write. It may be better to just let the reader come up with their own explanations, that I agree.