Oolite Bulletins

I think that going through Witchspace is similar to what happens (as theorised by Einstein) when you fall into a black hole.

You would experience the passage as a few seconds, whereas an observer outside would see that it takes a lot longer, hours in fact. Not sure if that means for you that time slows down or speeds up.

But this would explain the observable effects in game. When you reach the other side, the ship's computer has to adjust the ship's clock to match with Galactic time.

Disembodied wrote:

It's definitely not clear ... that's the beauty of it, though! It makes no difference to the actual game, there's ample room for handwaving and we can squash it around as much as we like to fit with our own personal canons.

Currently writing a new short story based on the assumption that time through the tunnel "feels near instant" but actual takes many hours....

DaddyHoggy wrote:

Currently writing a new short story based on the assumption that time through the tunnel "feels near instant" but actual takes many hours....

Cool! Looking forward to reading it ... I've got one on the go that has a minor plot point happen during a witchjump, which (I suppose) presupposes that a jump takes several hours. When even The Dark Wheel isn't entirely internally consistent about this sort of thing I think it removes any pressure on us to stick to anything but our own preferences.

If you have to navigate the lanes and switchpoints in hyperspace, that suggests actual piloting, which takes time (and might be a fun mini-game in itself...for a while.)
unless it is all taken care of by an autopilot which comes free with the drive, but then why not have it navigate in normal space as well?
TDW clearly imagines WS as an alternate dimension, in which you can navigate to various places.
Probably transit goes too fast for human hands (or the human* mind just quits in HS) and destination needs to be preprogramed (as we do).

*homocentric, obviously means sentient barionic lifeform.

JazHaz wrote:

You would experience the passage as a few seconds, whereas an observer outside would see that it takes a lot longer, hours in fact. Not sure if that means for you that time slows down or speeds up.

I agreed, but you refer about an observer in witchspace, don't you? Because the wormhole last only 1-2 minutes.

I like the image of the pilot sitting in his commandthrone for ten hours, drooling, because the human mind cannot comprehend the madness that is hyperspace. Naturally this is stupid, (s)he obviously takes a strong sedative before jumping.

I've always taken the offtime view actually.

Arexack_Heretic wrote:

I like the image of the pilot sitting in his commandthrone for ten hours, drooling, because the human mind cannot comprehend the madness that is hyperspace. Naturally this is stupid, (s)he obviously takes a strong sedative before jumping.

I've always taken the offtime view actually.

Or s/he closes the curtains and nips down to the galley for a sandwich ...

Its why I always fly a ferdy or a python with a free berth.
I need the luxury!
a python is better, because ye can actually smuggle some merchandise for personal use. . . some pretty reortian slaves, Rixan wines, Bedisan coffee, etc.


...Imagine getting lost in WS for several weeks and exiting emaciated and with a heavy beard. (if the coma view is true)

crap! I forgot my towel!

DaddyHoggy wrote:

From the Dark Wheel:

The ship drifted in 'WitchLight', in the non-place in space and time. It was crossing the void between stars in seconds, but for those seconds it was in a twilight world whose existence was beyond imagination.

(which means Oolite sort of contradicts it with time advancement - unless you accept that this "in seconds" is actually perceived passage - both for you and your ship and therefore the laws of thermodynamics and entropy)

I checked out BBC Elite on an emulator, and doing a witchspace jump resets the laser temperature to zero. Oolite does not do this, perhaps it should?

The requirement of a memnsomn implies that witch-space transit is psychologically disturbing, and not instantaneous, but time-displacement is a known problem so it's also clear that time spent in witch-space does not necessarily equate to time spent in normal space.

The time a witch-space journey takes for the player measured by the in-game clock represents the time difference from entry to exit in the normal universe (the ship disappears in one system, appears many hours later in the destination system).

Again, sources imply that during this time the ship is not 'real', but that travellers experience real interactions during their journey implies that there is some perceived passage of time.

I can see the arguments for allowing lasers etc, to cool in witch-space - but I don't think it'd make any great improvement to the game - and might allow you to rapid-cool your lasers when taking on interrupted witch-space thargoid encounters.

Handwavium, yes. Food for thought for Oolite 2, definitely.