DevBlog #8 - First version of hyperspace!

Well it all depends on the speed and how closely to physics you want to get it. For example if we want the ship moving at near light speeds, we know that as an actual physical object, anything containing matter cannot achieve light speed, but instead begins to gain mass once it reaches its speed threshhold. Given that it's density increases armor would actually become more effective potentially reducing damage.

We also know that time flows differently at near light speeds and relative to the gravitational curve created by objects with a large mass. As such you could implement something with timed trips. For example, let's say you receive a distress call from a distant galaxy, if we are not actually bending space and time and just moving at Super high velocities, then a trip that might take say a week for the crew of the ship could put them at their destination several hundred years after the distress call was sent. Remember though that physics has not yet posited a theory that explains how to reverse time, just slow it down or speed it up in a relative sense.

This could be something that an experienced navigational officer might know. For example a green officer might make decisions that get the ship there in a fast time for the crew, but cause a slight time discrepancy where an experienced officer would know that a slower route might get the ship there on time instead of in the future.

There really are a lot of ways to balance it. You could also, if looking to obtain near light speeds, place into play a system wide infrastructure system with psychic characters. As you explore and expand the psychic team members could be left at certain way points created a near light speed anchor system by establishing get links between each other. Establishing something like this and having an experienced character with psychic abilities who can read the pathways between these characters, you could create a safer passage and lower the chance of significant risk to making the transition to warp speed.

I like the idea of Pirates setting traps, but thinking of Pirates makes me think of underhanded tactics. Pirates might set a trap to draw you near a space anomaly that their shipping are protected against but yours isnt.

I wouldn't see extra deminsional beings entering the picture unless we were using wormholes to bend time and space allowing for almost instantaneous travel between two points. The only reason I say this is if warp speed is just travelling fast, then the ship would not be stepping out of phase with this dimension unless taking a path connecting to anomalies that are connected by space and time overlapping each other.

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Hyperspace events depend on the randomness and hardness of the SF that you're going for, but here are some ideas:

- Electronic devices can go haywire

- Non-physical alien beings cause random epiphanies among the crew members. Someone can go smarter, someone can go insane

- Space gets warped on atomic level. Your ship is now 5% smaller but also 5% denser. Volatile materials might explode

- Matter can turn into antimatter or vice-versa. Check your fuel and storage compartments

- Your ship is replaced with the exact same ship from an alternate reality. There is just a tiny difference. This might be anything from a different crew member to a different color

- Time gets distorted. Travel takes up to five times as long or much shorter. In some cases, you may even arrive before you even got into the hyperspace

- Internal time distortion - everything arrives x years older or younger/newer. Things that weren't made back then (like a new computer) don't exist at all

- Alien visit - aliens that exist only in warp can visit you and try to observe, kidnap or help you. Too bad their logic is so much different than ours, so they might help by killing crew with low stats or cause random effects by "observing" you

- Clone - one of your crew or ships or devices is now doubled. You have two of the exact same thing

Imother only thing I would say with time travel is that going backwards requires theoretically at least a wormhole.  If we are not bending time and space and instead just accelerating a physical ship made out of matter to near light speed velocities ( no material object can surpass the speed of light) then we could slow down and speed up time, but there would be no way to reverse it.