This article is dedicated to the fleet technology and design of the DARK system. This orginization and technology is used by DARK INC in Nation Creation thread 41.
This amazing artist is also the one who created a number of the spacecraft images later in this article.
MAG Drive[]
MAG-Drives are a primary spacecraft movement drive - providing sub, near, and faster than light capability. Every MAG-drive is composed of three principle components: The Energy core, Graviton/Anti-Graviton Focusing Assembly, and the Gravity Impellers. This energy core is not the principle power-plant of the entire ship, with another core providing the energy for the rest of the vessel. However, in addition to raw power, these secondary energy cores are subject to the Horizon Effect. That is, at the interface between the vacuum and the wall of the reactor. This causes gravitons and anti-gravitons to rapidly spring in and out of existence. These gravitons and anti-gravitons are collected and stored inside the ship's stores to be used in propulsion.
The Gravitrons of both types are diverted from storage into the focusing assembly, which condenses the graviton/anti-graviton stream into a manageable mass of particles before it enters the gravity impeller. Inside the impeller, the gravitons are hyper accelerated before being slammed into a graviton/anti-graviton mass to the rear of the ship. The impeller is then used to focus and contain this mass at a point to the rear of the ship - usually one kilometer aft. The formation of this 'element point' produces a gravity wall which - producing either a negative or positive force on the ship - is then enlarged or reduced in order to produce the propulsive force. In addition to z-axis acceleration and decelerations, this technology is used in the ship's reaction thrusters, giving vessels a relatively high degree of maneuverability despite their size and mass.
Mode of Operation 1: MAG Drive[]
The normal mode of operation for MAG drives involves the previously described in the preceding section. Graviton/Anti-graviton walls are formed behind the ship and produce a positive (relative to the ship's own positive z-axis) or negative force. Using this mode of propulsion, ships can achieve a maximum velocity of 2.5% the speed of light (0.025c). This velocity is limited only be the effects of gravity shear stress a ship undergoes using a gravity wall. That is to say that a ship using a gravity wall experiences intense interactions between the gravity wall and local gravity wells. Were a ship to exceed 0.025c (or its own top rated speed), it would experience rapid failure of its inertial dampeners and integrity field generators resulting in a literal 'crushing' of the ship. This is referred to as "crush velocity" and varies for the type and size of ship.
In addition to raw velocity capabilities, another consideration is the accelerations a ship can survive in order to reach that velocity. In the case, accelerations are limited solely by the inertial dampeners and their capabilities. These dampeners can compensate for accelerations between 600 to 1000g. Military grade compensators are rated for accelerations between 1000 to 2000g, depending on the size and class of the ship.
Mode of Operation 2: MAG Pulse[]
After a ship has put enough distance between it and a standard intrasolar gravity well (planet, asteroid, etc) to have cleared the gravity limit (or g-limit) of that object but is still within the gravity limit of the solar system's star (k-limit), a ship can use a MAG pulse in order to travel at high velocities between different intrasolar locations or the k-limit itself. The MAG Pulse was a phenomenon discovered during the development the faster than light MAG Fold system. When the test ship was forming the MAG Fold field, there was a three second period where, when the field had achieved partial fold, the ship sunk partially into gravity space. In this pseudo space - what eventually became known as the K-Space Transition point or K-Space Interface - the ship was not affected by the gravity of the star and only partially effected by the normal laws of gravity. What this translated to was an observed velocity of 0.8c within the k-limit of the star. While some hoped that this would mean faster than light (FTL) travel within the k-limit of a star, full submersion in k-space resulted in subsequent gravity shear and destruction of the test bed. As a result, MAG Fold FTL travel is limited to extrasolar travel while MAG Pulse technology is used for rapid travel between objects within a star system.
Mode of Operation 3: MAG Fold[]
As alluded to in the previous section, MAG Fold is the drive configuration that allows for faster than light (FTL) travel beyond the FTL limit (or F-limit) of stars and other hyper-massive stellar objects. Simply put, MAG fold is a continuation of MAG pulse technology. As the gravity wall created by the impeller continues to expand, the ship's acceleration reaches a critical point and a normal space bubble forms around the ship as the fabric of time and space is torn apart at the foci of the gravity wall. As this occurs, the ship itself falls into the sub-dimensional space and can accelerate and decelerate in this normal space region, experiencing speeds of 1-4 light years an hour depending on what level of gravity-space the ship descends to, how strong the impeller is, and how well it maintains the gravity field against the inherent sheer of gravity space.
Currently, there are four known levels of gravity space. These levels are defined by the top velocities they can achieve. Level 1 is considered a transition level and ships in this level can only achieve speeds of 1-3 light years an hour. Level 2 is the primary level used by merchant ships and transports and speeds available are between 3 and 5 light years an hour. Level 3 is primarily used by warships during non-wartime and speeds available are between 8 and 10 light years an hour. Level 4 is the highest achieved level of gravity space currently available. Here, ships can achieve speeds of 25 to 30 light years an hour but the ships experience vibrations and as they approach the 'upper' wall of the Level 4 band the ships can begin to literally shake themselves apart if their systems are not perfectly aligned. There are theories of a 5th gravity level but as of yet it is unobtainable.
OBSIDIAN Drive[]
Still under experimentation. Details will be released forthwith.
Fleet Formation[]
1 Flagship
11 Dreadnoughts
6 Carriers
6 Transports
12 Civilian
15 Cruisers
24 Destroyers
30 Frigates
+Their accompaniment.
Spacecraft[]
Balboa Class[]
Class: Fighter
Length: 7.6m
FTL: Not without External drive (ExD)
Armament:
Dual Class V H-P Cannons (Class V HELIOS Pulse Cannons.)
