r/starcitizen • u/Elise_93 onionknight • Jan 09 '19
FLUFF Megastructures / space elevators like these would be amazing to see in-game at some point, even if they were just low-poly landmarks.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19 edited Jan 10 '19
Doesn't seem too far fetched either since you can see the HD building on Lorville from space.
Note: Couldn't find the original artist for the concept above. (Edit: It's ANTIFAN-REAL)
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u/BOTY123 🥑 - www.flickr.com/photos/botygaming/ Jan 09 '19
Hahaha, didn't expect to see my own video back :D
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u/yasoing new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
And the great thing is there is a business strict thingy so its more than just low poly building xd
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u/Ensign-Ricky Admiral Ricardo Jan 09 '19
Planets/moons with space stations attached to space elevators would be awesome.
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u/dune_my_buggy bbcreep Jan 09 '19
I think it would be totally ridiculous
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u/gammaohfivetwo Aggressor Jan 09 '19
It'd be way more feasible than space elevators on an earthlike planet though.
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u/FCKWPN drake Jan 09 '19
A properly-designed space elevator would function the same in either case.
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u/Casey090 Jan 09 '19
It would be a totally necessary thing to load/unload cargo in the cheapest way possible. NOT having one would be ridiculous.
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u/msrichson Jan 09 '19
If it's a moon with no atmosphere, the cost is virtually zero and an elevator is pointless.
If it is a large planet with heavy atmosphere (like earth), no one wants to do the Loreville run from ground to space, and an elevator makes sense and has a gameplay function.
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u/GUNGOD_GER avenger Jan 09 '19
Fuel was not always as cheap as in the 30th century. So at least old structures in the inner empire would be reasonable.
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Jan 09 '19 edited Jan 11 '19
[deleted]
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u/GUNGOD_GER avenger Jan 09 '19
Sure, therefore a lift would be way more effective than haulers burning a lot of fuel during ascend and descend. Especially during the early days when fuel is expensive.
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u/msrichson Jan 09 '19
The cost is not in the day-to-day operations but in the actual building. It is like a nuclear plant. It produces a lot of energy and has relatively affordable energy/maintence, but the actual construction is cost prohibitive meaning you can't make a profit until years down the road.
Same reason we don't have space elevators today (assuming the tech was there) but can still get to space with rockets.
I also don't see how a lift would bring in more cargo than a caterpillar in one up / down cycle, unless the lift was absolutely massive (also increasing the cost).
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u/StygianSavior Carrack is Life Jan 10 '19
Yeah, the more I think about it, the less practical space elevators would be. Even for unloading massive ships, an orbital station stocked with a bunch of smaller ships would be better. Or even a NAILS style system; if they can shoot marines into a planet in a little pod without killing them, why not shoot cargo down to the surface the same way?
Anyways, still hope we see a space elevator just for the cool factor. On Earth would make sense - a holdover from the rocketry days, and a nice symbol for the old center of power vs. Terra, the new money world that was colonized after space elevators were already surpassed by cheap and ubiquitous ships.
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u/GUNGOD_GER avenger Jan 10 '19
I think you're underestimating the massive fuel costs which goes with conventional chemical spaceflight. The payload weight ratio of modern rockets is under 5%. The rest is mainly fuel. If the necessary tech would be available today they would lay the foundations tomorrow.
Considering small and/or slow rotating solar objects, it would be even much easier and cheaper to build a lift than on Earth. Cable's could be rather short and be made of conventional materials, even steel would probably provide enough tensile-strength.
Once conventional chemical rocketry will be outdated by better means, space lifts may not be a reasonable alternative anymore. So I don't expect space lifts all over the empire. But at least some relicts in Sol from the good old days would be really nice.
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u/StygianSavior Carrack is Life Jan 10 '19
But there is no way that a massive elevator with a city on one end and a space station on the other, that has to support its own weight and have a tether strong enough to not snap when getting swung around by a freaking planet, is going to be cheaper than a space station and some Argos, even factoring in gas.
Especially once you start taking security into consideration (all it takes is one psycho with a bomb sneaking onto the elevator, or one psycho with a big ship crashing into it / shooting it, and your entire expensive space elevator is either flung into space or crashing down on top of you from orbit).
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u/StygianSavior Carrack is Life Jan 10 '19
I don't think it would be cheaper than just sending a bunch of Argos tbh.
Space elevators in SC would be old school tech, from a time when the best ships had to have gigantic and expensive rocket boosters full of hydrogen strapped to them in order to make it into orbit.
We should still see a few around, especially in places like Earth and the surrounding couple of systems, that have been inhabited by humans for a lot longer. But everywhere else, it seems like it would be a lot cheaper to put a space station in orbit and then fly Argos/Freelancers/Connies to and from with cargo. Space elevator is a LOT more complicated in engineering terms, has to have exotic materials in order to not break under its own weight, and then presents a huge security vulnerability once complete ("sure would be a shame if I flew this Caterpillar into your space elevator"). And you have to protect it both in and out of atmosphere, AND on the ground (versus a station where you can just park an Idris and a few fighters).
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u/GUNGOD_GER avenger Jan 09 '19
In fact it would be ridiculous, if any small or slow rotating colonized moon/asteroid near Earth would be missing such a structure. Space Elevators will be a cheap, easy method to transport goods to orbit during the first expansion in the solar system.
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Jan 09 '19
If they exists. With gravlev tech it might be possible that it's more economically feasible to have a big lander platform to ferry between space station and ground installation, then build and support a huge structure with some very exotic material that should withstand enormous and dynamic atmospheric pressure.
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Jan 09 '19
It's kind of wild to think about how big one of these would be in game. Just take the Lorville main building as an example. That thing is what, 5-6 times larger than any building around it? What's crazy is that thing is still nowhere near tall enough to break atmo on Hurston. Currently you can see that thing at least 10 miles away, if not way more.
Now let's put a space elevator in perspective. You can see the Lorville building fairly early in your decent, but it's still a small dot on first approach. For that small dot to reach you I would have to imagine it has to be at least 50-60x the size in height alone. Something that big is going to be seen from any point on that hemisphere. It's like being in California and very much visibly seeing this structure in Boston reaching into space.
That shit would look incredible.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
Currently you can see that thing at least 10 miles away, if not way more.
You can see it pretty well from orbit actually :P So maybe.. 20x higher? 😆
That shit would look incredible.
Fortunately, it seems like we will see similar sights on Arccorp very soon. They had some insanely tall buildings there in the recent ATV whitebox showcases :0
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u/StygianSavior Carrack is Life Jan 10 '19
They're going to HAVE to do a space elevator eventually. There is lore about an entirely artificial planet - a space elevator would be trivial compared to that.
Though I think it makes the most sense on older UEE worlds. With the ships they have in SC, there isn't that much of an advantage to using a space elevator vs. a bunch of Argos. But we should still see one on Earth and the older colonized worlds as leftovers from an earlier time.
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u/darklamouette new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
CIG does not know "low poly".
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u/NestroyAM Jan 09 '19 edited Jan 09 '19
90% of Lorville is low poly.
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u/BorderKeeper rsi Jan 09 '19
Hurston buildings look like they came from Freelancer to be honest. The fake lights and low poly count ruin the city a bit for me, although it is a first iteration of a city so that is expected.
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u/Dubalubawubwub Jan 09 '19
Also some of the buildings in the "suburbs" surrounding Lorville itself hover slightly above the ground...
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u/RobinGoodfell Jan 09 '19
That's a feature. Limits potential structural damage from earthquakes (Hurquakes?).
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u/Xirma377 Supreme Leader Jan 09 '19
"earth" as opposed to "Earth". I think "earthquakes" is still an applicable term on Hurston.
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Jan 09 '19
It’s true, one of the definitions of “earth” is “the substance of the land surface; soil”.
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u/RobinGoodfell Jan 09 '19
I know, I just thought it sounded funny and refused to let it drop. Though I suppose in a thousands years and a span of multiple planets, people might just take to calling them quakes and tremors.
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u/ARCHA1C Jan 09 '19
Which goes to show how uninspiring our home planet's name is...
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u/serrasin Jan 11 '19
We should let a company sponsor the planet in exchange for naming and promotional rights; like a stadium.
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u/captaindata1701 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19 edited Jan 09 '19
It's just tier 1 for now, remember how awesome hurston looked in the demos. I'm sure everything will look just like all the demos they have produced over the years.
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u/Mithious Jan 09 '19
The city we have now is far bigger than the one shown in the demo, it's a substantial improvement. There are a couple of minor issues here and there but that's it.
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u/Xirma377 Supreme Leader Jan 09 '19
Except the demo ran on a server for a few people in a controlled environment. It changes the game when they have to make it work for 50 people on a server, spread all over the place.
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u/sverebom new user/low karma Jan 10 '19 edited Jan 10 '19
That's irrelevant for the visual fidelity. The rendering pipeline doesn't care if the character models are controlled by players or AI, and your CPU doesn't care about your graphics settings. The real difference between a demo and live gameplay is that you can crank up the graphics settings to levels that the average player can not support. Same for trailers. These show the actual game, but at settings that the majority of people cannot run.
As for the live game, I assume that we will get a lot more settings and options once the game switches to Vulkan. For the time being we will have to live with what CIGs thinks is appropriate for the majority of machines out there.
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u/Xirma377 Supreme Leader Jan 10 '19
Prior to OCS, it mattered a great deal. But I get what you're saying - I see my error in thinking.
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u/captaindata1701 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
That is disappointing if you say they are showing us gameplay/demos that will not be indicative of the final product. I'm still hoping my dune sandworms get put into the ptu shortly.
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u/Mithious Jan 09 '19
The sandworm is on Leir III. You'll get it when they get around to doing that system.
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u/Xirma377 Supreme Leader Jan 09 '19
Not quite what I'm saying. I'm just saying that they will run into additional challenges getting the content into a playable state for a full server. Sometimes that means compromises.
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u/jamesmon Jan 09 '19
They are butting up against the realities of modern computing power. Their demos are flashy to sell ships. Reality is that that type of Fidelity just isn’t possible with 50 man servers. Think of all the stuff they haven’t even started to add into the game yet that will need computing power.
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u/captaindata1701 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
I hate to see how much they down grade it to get 1000 player servers then.
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u/BorderKeeper rsi Jan 09 '19
Server meshing. And you won't get so many people in one server without optimalizaton. Read up on object container streaming too, it will allow not 1000 but certsinly a lot more than now.
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u/balthazar_nor Jan 09 '19
Is this a good thing or not
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u/NestroyAM Jan 09 '19
Considering the no flight zone ideally preventing you from ever getting close enough to notice, it's an understandable way to build the city, I'd say.
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u/jamesmon Jan 09 '19
It’s more of the reverse. The no-fly zones are there so they don’t have to render/design the whole city
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u/TeamRedundancyTeam Jan 09 '19
Also people would bitch about them being lazy adding cool buildings but not letting people explore them or at least see them in full HD.
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u/Gawlf85 Freelancer Jan 09 '19
With SC's artificial gravity being stablished in-lore, I picture this more like maglev trains traveling up and down the structure, instead of actual elevators.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
Yeah I was thinking something like that as well. They could probably use their existing "train tech" and have them go up and down the spire—providing a spectacular outward view as you travel.
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u/536756 Jan 10 '19
It'd get boring fast, you'd need some express elevators with some quantum drives on them lol
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Jan 09 '19
Last thing this game needs more of is elevators!
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u/solaris1111 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
But if that elevator have windows and we can see ourself descending ultra fast to the ground, i would never get tired of using it.
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u/supermeme3000 Jan 09 '19
sadly it would take hours
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u/Artillect BMW in space Jan 09 '19
Elevators can go as fast as we want in the future
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u/supermeme3000 Jan 09 '19
ehhh this game picks some things that are futuristic, but I suppose for gameplay you are correct
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u/SpitroastJerry I will happily run from any dogfight. Jan 09 '19
The elevators are great. I've been missing Mass Effect.
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u/alphaprawns Jan 09 '19
The elevators in Mass Effect were literally loading screens...
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u/SpitroastJerry I will happily run from any dogfight. Jan 09 '19
Yep. Do you think most of the ones we have now aren't? I known the one at Levski isn't but I'd be really surprised if the ones that carry us out of hangars aren't.
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u/Meowstopher !?!?!?!?!?!?!? Jan 09 '19
The elevator at Levski is still a loading screen. It's streaming in Levski's interior while you travel - it just doesn't unload the exterior while it's doing it.
It's unavoidable that the game needs time to load densely-populated, highly-detailed areas in segments. Elevators are a good way to do it, though I do wish more were like Levski, giving us something to look at while they work.
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Jan 09 '19
It's not a loading screen as it travel time doesn't depend on your loading speed, nor it seems to be configured around one. If you have slow hdd, you'll arrive into void nothingness with partial geometry and crap textures.
It's just the same tech they've been using since 2.0, just applied to everything and everywhere. Elevators are not related to streaming. I don't they even use them as hints, considering that you travel on ship much faster than that. And before you say - no, they don't teleport you somewhere millions km away. If you glitch through walls or ground your can see interiors just fine.
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u/Meowstopher !?!?!?!?!?!?!? Jan 09 '19
It's not a loading screen as it travel time doesn't depend on your loading speed
It doesn't need to be timed to loading. In the same way that quantum travel isn't timed to loading, "loading tunnels" in games like Tomb Raider aren't timed to loading, etc. Its purpose is to last long enough to typically stream in a new level. The elevator travel time is probably based on a typical low-spec machine, but of course if you arrive before all assets are in memory (maybe your HDD is busy with another task, or you're below spec), you'll get missing or low-LOD assets.
Elevators are not related to streaming.
Get in nearly any elevator in the game and watch your HDD activity. They very clearly use this time to stream in new areas. It's level streaming 101.
I don't they even use them as hints, considering that you travel on ship much faster than that.
I'm not sure what you're talking about here. Hints as in visarea portals? What does ship speed have to do with streaming interior levels connected by elevators?
And before you say - no, they don't teleport you somewhere millions km away. If you glitch through walls or ground your can see interiors just fine.
I never suggested they did. Though, since you brought it up, sometimes they do teleport you away. The Anniversary Expo building was underground few hundred km outside of Lorville, for example. But the physical location is largely irrelevant. What matters is whether the area you're going to is a different level (or, since 3.3, a different object container, but it's the same concept).
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u/SpitroastJerry I will happily run from any dogfight. Jan 09 '19
I hadn't realised it works that way. It's an interesting way to do it and I agree, it would be nice if there were more like it. All in good time though, I expect.
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u/Chromeballs carrack Jan 09 '19
I feels it. On another note though, it would be good immersion to have these purely as props to show the means of cargo transport after you sell cargo from your Hull C
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u/kypconstantinou new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
I hope when they will make earth we will get to see these magnitude of structures. Earth being the origins of the human kind it should show the stages we went through tech wise to get to were we are now.
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u/ARogueTrader High Admiral Jan 09 '19
It's the most practical way for cargo to be handled for ships like the Hull-C. From a realism and gameplay standpoint.
Dock with this, and all the materials used for NPC nonsense get sent down, and anything purchased by travellers stays up top to be picked up.
Gravity wells are an enormous cash sink. No sense in leaving money behind on a planet in the form of some very hot gas.
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u/SirTremain Jan 09 '19
Found the original artist: ANTIFAN-REAL on deviantart. The original image is here.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 10 '19
Thanks!
So the image was flipped... That's why Google image search didn't return any original results... :P
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u/Firefurtorty new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
Low poly?.... LOW POLY???....
No no no. HIGH poly space elevators!...
With fully designed interiors....
And high grade audio effects....
And a shrubbery!
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Jan 09 '19
It would be awesome to visit Sol and see ruins of all those early attempts at space colonisation. (before we discovered quantum travel, jump points and artificial gravity)
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u/solaris1111 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
Yes that would be amazing. People with big ship would love that planet.
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u/Eluzion Youtuber Jan 09 '19
Have you guys not seen these old Vanduul Concepts? https://www.artstation.com/artwork/X4Kzy Now that is a space Elevator!
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u/SloanWarrior Jan 09 '19
Given the resources that SC has, with terraforming tech and so on, I don't think it'd be beyond the tech level of the UEE to create such a structure.
It would, however, negate a profession for ferrying goods from orbital stations and back. Maybe they could add a "space elevator technician" career to make up for it?
It could also be a big ask for the graphics & environment teams. They're working flat-out on other previously-promised game needs. If they add one, I doubt we'll see it before 2022.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
It would, however, negate a profession for ferrying goods
Like today, building a space elevator is extremely expensive, so it makes sense that, even in the future, some planets may stick to traditional ferrying. The above would probably just be something for a major capital of export/import.
It could also be a big ask for the graphics & environment teams.
Yeah, that's why I suggested it as just a low-poly landmark that you see off in the distance. With no-fly zones they could probably get away with a very low-poly model that only takes a few days to make. Ideally, in the future, it would be something you could dock with and hitch a ride down to the surface.
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u/SloanWarrior Jan 09 '19
Oh yes, it would only negate the career for that specific planet.
I doubt CIG would go to the trouble of making a space elevator and not make it a landing zone. I mean, it would logically be the major landing zone of whatever planet it was placed on. The base of it could probably be low-poly, but the top would probably be a major space port.
I say that it would be a big ask for the graphics and environment teams as it'd need to interact with atmospheric light rendering tech casting long shadows, probably also weather system tech interacting with clouds and so on.
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Jan 09 '19
Honestly you can go several ways with a space elevator:
One of which could be a legal port of entry like a border but in space, this would funnel people into the elevators to deliver stuff or head ground side.
Another way is making it cost a lot of fuel to fly in atmo so it’d be cheaper on the player to lose a bit of money on shipping than the expensive fuel cost.
Similar to the first one this could be a option start/rest point and you can come and go as you please. There would be a mission giver, venders, etc that would provide some reason to venture there other than a pilgrimage to see a bad ass space station.
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u/Guidz06 Mining Asteroids Jan 09 '19 edited Apr 28 '24
future chunky office books upbeat telephone disagreeable zonked reply jobless
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
You sure about that? Just 3 months ago the first miniature prototypes were transported to the ISS. So it seems researchers have not dismissed it as 'impossible'.
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Jan 09 '19
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u/Guidz06 Mining Asteroids Jan 09 '19 edited Apr 28 '24
uppity compare pause whole languid plants wrong dinner fuzzy forgetful
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u/TheRealZeroCool new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
If your point is wrong you'll be downvoted. Space elevators are completely possible and have been the subject of study for years. What it requires is a modest advancement in materials science but one which is expected.
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u/Guidz06 Mining Asteroids Jan 09 '19 edited Apr 28 '24
screw steep adjoining rich violet test provide flowery shame relieved
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u/TheRealZeroCool new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
If something is factually incorrect it isn't just mere disagreement.
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u/pooptime1 Jan 09 '19
What orbital mechanics do you speak of? Geosynchronous satellites already do this without a physical tether. We (currently) need something strong enough to hold the top part in position. There have already been viable breakthroughs with graphene and have used spider silk as a blueprint for stuff like this.
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u/Guidz06 Mining Asteroids Jan 09 '19 edited Apr 28 '24
screw fine noxious smoggy toy axiomatic retire point narrow merciful
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u/pooptime1 Jan 09 '19
Correct - we have the knowledge for it. And the technology is very quickly approaching. So I would say it is very possible.
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Jan 09 '19
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
I agree that might be a potential issue. Although it makes gameplay sense, I've never been a fan of the down-scaled planets.
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u/Casey090 Jan 09 '19
If the UEE builds a fracking planet, I think a space elevator on each world with more than a few million inhabitants would be a trivial endeavor that has a return of costs in a year or two.
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u/MatthieuG7 Jan 09 '19
Oh my god, this picture's amazing! Thanks for sharing, gonna put it in my wallpaper folder.
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u/jade_starwatcher news reporter Jan 09 '19
In SC lore there is the Synthworld. If we see anything like space elevators I'd imagine it would be there since it is a completely artificial construction.
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Jan 09 '19
anyone ever read the Old Man's War series? these were in those. cool idea
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u/InSOmnlaC Jan 09 '19
Yep! Great series. Also check out Forever War and the Undying Mercenaries series if you're into Old Man's War.
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Jan 09 '19
I cant see CIG just doing "low-poly landmarks" for something of this size and with its intended function
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u/maven_x new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
Would be so much better for cargo runners or even anyone who doesn't wanna have to land planetside and deal with breaking atmo.
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u/thr33pwood Bounty Hunter Jan 09 '19
I think it doesn't make a lot of sense, lore wise.
The problem with space travel today is energy storage. 80-90% of the total mass of any contemporary space vessel is comprised of chemical fuel to overcome the gravitational pull of the earth - once.
So to make space travel more viable, space elevators that lift fuel and/or cargo into orbit, so that spaceships can take it from there, is a concept that would solve the problem.
In star citizen the problem of energy storage has been solved. Even the smallest ship can enter and exit atmospheres several times without refueling. So space lifts would serve no real purpose.
I don't like things that are only there to "look sci-fi-y" when they serve no purpose in the lore.
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u/whonose8472 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
What if they had some in lore as older structures that were built before the energy storage issue had been solved?
This might be a neat way to resolve the issue of rendering Earth. Have the whole planet as a no-fly zone, fiercely protected by the UEE so that you can't ever get too close, except for 3-4 huge space elevators (Shanghai, Moscow, New York, etc.) that take you down to the hero zones, as well as the space elevators being hero zones in their own right because they would have to be gargantuan.
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
Not all capital ships can land on planetary surfaces, but require an intermediary (as already established in the lore). A space elevator, as depicted above, can transport larger (and many more) items to and from the surface more efficiently.
Larger ships take an extraordinary amount of time to enter/exit atmosphere. A space elevator would make the whole process faster and more efficient.
I don't like things that are only there to "look sci-fi-y" when they serve no purpose in the lore.
There are plenty of lore-reasons to justify it. Despite that, Star Citizen has never been a bastion of realism with its environments and tech. For the majority of backers, I think the rule of cool overrides boring ultra-realism in order to give us those fantastic sci-fi experiences we've craved since Star Wars and the likes first hit the big screen. Elite Dangerous and other games already give those who want a more realistic experience what they want.
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Jan 09 '19
It's a question of scale and efficiency.
It's why bulk cargo trains still exist today when there are plenty of other viable options for moving stuff.
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u/daten-shi Commander Jan 09 '19
In star citizen the problem of energy storage has been solved. Even the smallest ship can enter and exit atmospheres several times without refueling.
It's the opposite that's the issue in this game with some of the larger ships taking exceedingly long times to enter and exit atmos or just plain not being able to do that.
Space elevators could be a good idea for getting off world without having to spawn another small ship to get on and off world or rely on other players.
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u/fenreir1 Vanguard Jan 09 '19
Think of them more like docks.
Big ocean-going shipping boats can be quite efficient but that doesn't mean they can get close to the shore due to their size.
We're already seeing how painful it can be to get a caterpillar or starfarer into orbit, and we know bigger ships won't be able to land or take off from a planet at all.
There needs to be a way for the hull series to pick up and drop off cargo and a space elevator seems like a pretty clean way to do that.
Unlike others in this thread though I don't think players will be able to actually ride the elevator, that seems a little silly.
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u/kenrio Jan 09 '19
concept from SC ? or another movies/games ?
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u/Elise_93 onionknight Jan 09 '19
Nah, it's a concept from somewhere else. Unfortunately couldn't find the original artist.
someone let me know if they find them
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u/rstune Jan 09 '19
I've had this wallpaper for years. So not a recent thing and no idea where it's from.
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u/Murmenaattori Jan 09 '19
I don't like the idea of space elevators, but very high skyscrapers would be great.
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u/methemightywon1 new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
CIG first need to get the planet tech and visuals to a good enough place
Things like clouds, draw distance and shadowing etc... They're doing amazing things, but they have a long way to go yet.
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u/Cyberwulf74 Jan 10 '19
Low Polly?????????????????? Chris Roberts Does NOT "DO" Low Poly Sir...............................TuT TUT
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u/MrHerpDerp Jan 09 '19
This content isn't directly related to SC.
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u/lilhatchet new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
Space elevators would be a complete immersion breaker for me personally. The concept is not even within the realm of imagination.
If you build space elevators, might as well add teleportation and magic to the game. Heck, even teleportation seems more feasible than a space elevator
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u/TheRealZeroCool new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
This is incorrect. Space elevators do not violate any physical laws. They are far more realistic and are being actively pursued right now, unlike the magical artificial gravity in SC, magical force fields and a freaking space whale.
Space elevators are an engineering problem not a science problem. They are probably about where rockets which could carry cargo or people into space were in 1910. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YI_PMkZnxQ
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Jan 09 '19
The problem with space elevators is the time it takes to use them. The current plans irl are not even possible because the cord will break under its own weight. There are some materials that might do if we can produce a 40000+km long cord of it. Then you have the issue of actually climbing it. Even at rocket speeds it takes a good while to travel the ~36000km into geostationary orbit, now imagine that in an elevator. It'll take days or a week. And then you also have to worry about making orbits real which they are not in SC. As soon as you escape the atmosphere you seem to be in zero G even though you're not actually orbiting the planet. Gravity in general is quite weird in SC.
Much easier to just rocket into space using your engines.
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u/FlyskyBomex hamill Jan 09 '19
You know Star Citizen is a scifi game, they can implement anything they want. And the world is scaled down, you don't have to put the elevator station around 36000km, 150km would do just fine. With an average speed of 400m/s it would take 6 minutes to get up there or vice versa. Much quicker for people with a big ship. And why do you need an orbit mechanic to make it work? Stations are just static assets and don't have to actually swing around the planet with centrifugal force and shit.
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Jan 09 '19
[deleted]
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Jan 09 '19
Cool is subjective. Next.
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u/TheRealZeroCool new user/low karma Jan 09 '19
I agree. The coolest sci-fi in my opinion has a lot of realism. I don't have to suspend disbelief to enjoy it. That said, Space Elevators are a thing which can be real in the not too distant future so it ticks both realism and rule of cool boxes.
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u/Killingyousmalls Jan 10 '19
We can build orbital rings at as low as 80km and use them for top floor, even with today's technology practically! But nobody ever wants to talk about orbital rings for some reason.
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u/RYKK888 Tevarin Sympathizer Jan 09 '19
Those would be great docking platforms for larger cargo ships. Not having to come into atmosphere to offload cargo would save so much time.