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[Furtuka]

the use of the word all was just hyperbole, not meant to be taken literally.

[Urist Tilaturist]

Reelya: That is fine, except that any device to move the spaceship faster than light moves space and not the craft itself. The beam engine would, to my understanding, be for slower than light travel only and would likely lack the massive power necessary for use as a weapon. Remember that space is huge so acceleration can be very slow since there is plenty of time to do it. The recoil from an engine being used in this way could also be deadly to everyone on board, if it could fire that intensely.

I am not really saying impossible, but wildly impractical and unlikely.

[Furtuka]

You question earlier were you asking to explain the difference between hard science fiction and soft science fiction?

[Rolan7]

Japan might not be the most progressive when it comes to the portrayal of women.

But yes it by far includes them in their media in progressive roles far more often then their western counterparts, as well as female oriented media.

As well the only time you get female only games (or rather games with only female characters) is in the Japanese market, trust me Touhou is not unique in that respect. As well the roles in which they can take are wider as well, no less stereotyped but more defense non-the-less.

It is certainly changing for the west, but not that quickly.

This isn't because Japan is more progressive itself mind you, but more because they market heavily towards women.

I had the same sense, glad to see it confirmed.  I wonder if that's why large-roster JRPGs are so common, which tend to have multiple effective and developed women player characters.

We've managed to mostly avoid those so far. There's also lots of drama about female characters in multiplayer and MMO armor.

Interesting factoid... In Ultima Online there is a chainmail bikini that you can make and wear... and males and females can wear it, it is less effective then flat out plate, and you could cover it up with other layers of clothing as well.

As well to my knowledge no female NPC wears the chainmail bikini.

Thief:  You wear a girdle?
Red Mage: For +3 endurance, I'd wear my own underwear over my armor.

Honestly though, that sounds like the best way to handle a chainmail bikini.  Everyone (male and female) can wear it, but they aren't encouraged to *only* wear it... pretty ideal.

That big WoW back-and-forth was kinda tedious, but I want to make clear: I wasn't saying the sexy armors ought to go, just that they'd be awkward for some people.  Would suck to finally earn an armor and not feel comfortable displaying it because it has prominent revealing gaps.  People should be able to wear the complete (male) armors too if they prefer.  Heh, and vice versa.

[i2amroy]

Spoiler: @Sci-Fi vs Fantasy (click to show/hide)

My favorite way of describing the difference between Science Fiction and Fantasy is this quote:

Fantasy is the impossible made probable. Science Fiction is the improbable made possible.

Fantasy genres generally deal with magic and other things that we have proven to be impossible (because they violate the laws of physics). Sci-Fi tends to address things that we view as unlikely to be so but haven't actually proven (such as zero point energy) and make up ideas for how they could be possibly done. It's a slim difference and one with plenty of opportunity for overlap, but it explains why most fantasy works are set in the "past" technology wise, while most Sci-Fi ones are set in the "future".

Spoiler: @Vacuum energy stuff (click to show/hide)

Just a note here, but most forms of zero point energy (such as the casmir effect) are pretty solidly believed to be unable to be extracted (though they haven't actually been proven to be impossible to harness yet). Yes there is a force there, but it's not one that we think you can extract to do any useful form of work.

Spoiler: @Wave Motion Gun (click to show/hide)

From the sounds of it and my dubious background consisting of many hours of self-taught high-end physics, it sounds totally possible if you assume a few things:
1) Tachyons actually exist
2) Tachyons have real mass (instead of imaginary)
3) Tachyons can't travel slower than the speed of light (else they wouldn't be tachyons)
4) Tachyons can be created with zero point energy, which functions as an unlimited energy source

If you assume all four of those (which we now know are almost certainly impossible, but at the time of the story's creation were new, cutting edge ideas), then it would work something like this.
The Engine:
1) The engine generates nigh infinite power through a zero point module and uses it to create tachyons at the back of the ship traveling forwards.
2) The engine then somehow tether's itself to the tachyons. The tachyons, limited by their slowest speed of the speed of light, force the ship to accelerate until it reaches the speed of light. (Presumably through tethers that moved down the length of the ship combined with constantly creating new tachyons to tether and untethering ones that reached the front of the ship, you could accelerate the ship slowly enough that nobody died from the acceleration.)
3) To slow down the ship creates tachyons at the front of the ship traveling backwards, and tether's itself to those to provide deceleration.
The Wave Motion Gun Type 1:
1) The engine generates tachyons.
2) The tachyons are trapped in a loop, a-la a particle accelerator
3) Once a sufficient amount of tachyons are built up they are released in a single burst. Because they have mass, however small, and are limited to the speed of light they can rip through anything if in sufficient quantities.
The Wave Motion Gun Type 2:
1) The engine generates energy as a zero point module, creating tachyons along the way (which are discarded as a byproduct).
2) The energy is stored in giant capacitors on the front of the ship.
3) The energy is released as a giant laser beam, destroying whatever it hits.

And there is your hard sci-fi explanations of a wave motion engine and wave motion gun based off of the explanation Reelya posted a few pages back. Either method of the Wave motion gun fits that description, I'm not aware of any further descriptions that might limit it to one or the other.

Personally I think the best games are ones that let you set different armor visually and gameplay wise. By separating the visual and gameplay aspects of the game it lets you wear your tier 100 +87 armor of skanky shielding and yet you can visually appear to look however you want. If you want your character running around in their underwear or totally covered from head to toe it's your choice, and you aren't limited gameplay wise on what you have to look like.

[Toady One]

I've removed some posts and sent out a warning.  I'd also appreciate it if people don't derail the thread.

[Urist Tilaturist]

Tachyons, or at least ones with real mass, look impossible to me given relativity (I can imagine tachyons of a sort without real mass but these could not be used for engines and weapons), and this seems well supported by many physicists; I remember one (Jim al-Khalili) saying that he would eat his underpants live on television if any particle with mass went faster than light. None of the theoretical engines I have seen yet seemed to rely on tachyons (the Q-drive was based on some kind of fluctuations in vacuum energy while the Alcubierre drive warps space itself).

I would not really call it a "hard" science explanation, since it relies on some very dubious ifs, but it does not at all smell of bullshit.

Science fiction is about things which are possible in the vaguest theory, in that case.

Divorcing appearance from utility is a bit silly for role playing purposes or even gameplay itself. Take DF for example. If a dwarf grabs a goblin's helmet and tugs it off him, then the goblin's head is bare and can be smashed with a *steel war hammer*. But if the goblin's armour was invisible, and he only appeared to be wearing a loincloth, the dwarf could not do this, or not as easily anyway, and might not think to do it, instead striking the goblin's invisible armour to little effect. If the game is multiplayer, it could be even worse - imagine shooting an arrow at an apparently naked enemy only to find that she was wearing an invisible cuirass!

[My Name is Immaterial]

Please be a good sport, Toady, and only ban/warn/delete trolls, spammers, and other lowlifes. People trying to discuss theoretical spacecraft engines are not in this group.

That is NOT what he removed. Someone posted an inflammatory thing, and people got mad about it. No spaceships were harmed.

[Fniff]

Though at this point, it's more suited for a separate thread rather then in a thread about feminism.
Unless you want to discuss a spaceship powered by equality. In which case, fire away.

[Urist Tilaturist]

That is NOT what he removed. Someone posted an inflammatory thing, and people got mad about it. No spaceships were harmed.

Good. Trolls are fortunately rare here, but they do appear occasionally.

[Fniff]

Eh, Smeepocket isn't a troll. She just should have made a more polite statement, that's all.

[pisskop]

Eh, Smeepocket isn't a troll.

+1. 

[Urist Tilaturist]

No, she's not a troll at all, just very annoying.

What was the inflammatory statement about? Of course you do not have to give it word for word.

[My Name is Immaterial]

What was the inflammatory statement about? Of course you do not have to give it word for word.

It got removed for a reason. Let's just move on.

[Urist Tilaturist]

We know it was removed, but knowing what it actually was helps us move on so we are not left in suspense. I have no intention of arguing about it.