Stellar and System Engine Types

Here's a listing of a couple ideas for star travel engines.

System Engines:  Note that the speeds I put down are just for relative 
comparison--do whatever you need to when putting them into your game!

Nuclear Rocket.  Powered by a nuclear reactor and reaction mass.  Physically 
largest engine.  Speed = 0.3 LY/turn

Nuclear Pulse.  Powered by dropping a bunch of bombs behind the ship that push 
it forward (see Project Orion for more details).  Perhaps the bomb-projecting 
mechanism could serve as a weapon in combat?  Large-to-moderate sized engine.  
Speed = 0.3 LY/turn

Fusion Rocket.  Same as nuclear rocket, but using a fusion reactor as power 
source and using much less fuel.  Moderate sized engine.  Speed = 0.5 LY/turn

Antimatter.  Reacts very small quantities of matter and anti-matter.  Requires 
a high level of competency with electromagnetics.  Small chance that when a 
ship is destroyed its reactor will go critical and damage nearby ships.  Small 
engine, fast in combat.  Speed = 0.8 LY/turn

Grav Drive.  Creates an artificial gravity well that pulls a ship in the 
desired direction.  Very small engine, very quick movement in combat.  Speed = 
0.999 LY/turn.

Stellar engines:

Warp drive.  Standard FTL, nothing fancy.  Moderate speed, size, etc.

Jump drive.  Enables instantaneous movement between two points.  Very large 
engine, requires advanced technology?

Other than that I don't have too many stellar engine ideas--those two are the 
main ways I can see moving, the rest is just coming up with names for 
fast/slower, bigger/smaller versions of them.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by RobertMe...@gmail.com on 23 Nov 2011 at 6:46

JosephClay / beyond-beyaan

Stellar and System Engine Types #22