This was split off of DSTech by OP's request, so continue here. -D

Quick question: does anybody here actually know what a Dyson Sphere is? Protip: it's not something you live on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

... unless it's a Dyson Shell, which is a tad more specific. And laden with serious issues. Like serious issues. "There's no known material or construct even remotely capable of withstanding its own mass at that scale" issues. Crap that seriously couldn't just be hand waved by "it's the future."

Yea, if they can build this thing, their technology is way way way waaaayyyy waaaaaaayyyyyy wwwwwwaaaaaaaayyyyyyy way higher than any Tradestar stuff, almost god-like. Which I thought don't fit too much.

Ever read Ringworld? Basically it's about a giant 50ft thick ring made out of a super-strong substance orbiting at 1au from the star.

But it's made of a material with the tensile strength of strong nuclear force. If you are capable of making such material and have the technology to arrange it into a planet-scale structure then, well...You're god-like when compare to CC tech.

Do we know the full extent of technology in the CC World? How do we know that what we have so far seen is merely caveman stuff, just used for petty little squabbles?

I would imagine it would be more feasible for the "Dyson sphere" DSMK2 mentioned to be more a Dyson swarm connected by transportation, so more of a Venice-like space city separated by "canals" of empty space. Perhaps layered so that the entire city as a unit acts as a solid sphere in terms of energy collection.

EDIT: Apparently I just described a Dyson bubble.

Dude that's a freaking awesome idea, I love it. Also it could be either a sphere or a swarm. Or a net. It depends on how everything is designed to stay together.

Dyson was a freaking genius. I imagine a giant space lazer would be a good weapon to equip a Dyson sphere with. Also, 1200 post IN THIS THREAD.

Change of topic. Check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosivel ... _generator

This is freaking awesome. It's basically a small one-shot EMP generator, capable of putting out a short but powerful EMP before it destroys itself (because it does this by way of an explosive).

Why is it freaking awesome? BECAUSE THEY'RE ENERGY BULLETS. This ♥♥♥♥ could be fashioned into individual "cartridges," stuck in magazines or belts, and used as power sources for burst/pulse energy weapons. You'd wind up with a loading and ejection system pretty much identical to conventional firearms. ♥♥♥♥ amazing.

With this, I'm now completely re-considering the DarkStorm lineup of weaponry, since this pretty much says "rapid fire electrolasers." God damn.

Sorry if this is getting off of the DSTech topic a bit (though this information is just as useful in any mod really), but we seem to be in a constant discussion about future technology, and I figured it was applicable.

Oh god yes. Just think about the possibilities of one on a large scale. If it can hit terrawatts with a man portable version, ARTILLERY VERSION= AHMAHGADEVERYTHINGISDEAD

Chemical explosions look to be with us for many years to come, eh?

I wonder if this effect is increased in intensity when using more powerful explosives, or if it is only affected by the speed of reaction.

It seems the general idea is to quickly compress something conductive, while it's conducting. If you can compress more conductive material faster, you can get more output. So I think more and more powerful explosives would result in more output. Of course, you have to design a system that can withstand the explosion. But after ages of firearm and engine design, I don't think that would be a huge obstacle.

Some more thoughts: some of the explosive energy could be routed into the loading system, just like conventional firearms, keeping stuff simple. Though you could just as easily route some of the output power into a chain gun's motorized loading system. Suddenly, gatling lasers are looking a lot less silly and a lot more awesome. Also, since there's explosions going on, there'd probably still be considerations of recoil, though venting the explosion gas properly might prevent it, which would be easier since you wouldn't have to worry about applying most of it to driving a projectile.

And yeah, conventional explosives making lasers. Who would have thought, right? I'm still trying to figure out the scale of all of this though. I'm not sure if this system could be condensed to the sizes of conventional cartridges... though that's only considering modern technology. Hopefully in a few centuries more efficient means could be devised. Of course, there'd still be bigger compression generators for bigger guns. There could be a whole range of standardized shapes, sizes, and grades, just like contemporary calibers and metric cartridge measurements.

It's all the fun of projectile firearms combined with lasers. God, I'm so happy right now...

IE: Energy cannons in SPACE
This is making me want to make a laser cannon in CC like this... I shall need to learn how to MORay ObstacleRay though.

If you can't put it into a small scale, machine gun style cartidge, then just have larger cartidges for a more powerful weapon, and a smaller clip.
Ex: A laser/railgun (Probably not...)/Lightning/Energy based rocket launcher type dealy. Using a clip of these little monsters, you could avoid the typical reloading snafus, while still having craptons of power.

I wasn't necessarily suggesting that you couldn't. Every so often I'm willing to chalk things up to the fact that "it's the future."