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[Dorfus]

The main problem with these is the tensile strength. Rings are all good here on earth where gravity helps bind it together but even if you could build something that big (assuming you had an infinite supply of useful matter to hand) the moment you spin it for gravity it's going to do a good job of tearing itself apart.

As Da Vinci, U. said, it's no secret that such constructions would require some sort of super-material, and a great deal of it.

[Funtimes]

Not a proper ringworld, that is, a ring 1 AU distance from the sun making a solid band around the star.  Even paper thin, it would be too enormous to construct with conventional matter.  A lot of people over-estimate the abundance of mass, or rather they under-estimate the sheer size of space.  To make a small show of size, if you took all the asteroids in the asteroid belt, and pushed them together, their combined size would be smaller than the moon.

Somewhere around 5% of the Moon, disappointing how much Sci Fi tends to mislead. Still, there's always Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud to make up anywhere between 5 and 40 Earth masses. Oh wait, they're up to a lightyear away. Nevermind. Oh, and mostly water and gases, too.

[ZetaX]

Oh, and mostly water and gases, too.

Any Dwarf Fortress player should have no problem in imagining space stations built out of normal or methane ice.

[Girlinhat]

My station is built out of cast obsidian.  Let me tell you, keeping the water from boiling in space was the EASY part!

[Masterspartacus]

As Da Vinci, U. said, it's no secret that such constructions would require some sort of super-material, and a great deal of it.

Good Sir, I believe the dwarf term for it is "Cotton Candy"

[ZetaX]

As Da Vinci, U. said, it's no secret that such constructions would require some sort of super-material, and a great deal of it.

Good Sir, I believe the dwarf term for it is "Cotton Candy"

Let's dig deeper!