Or, you could just take the plasma, that already is ionized Hydrogen, and hold it in place using powerful magnets. It will have a powerful negative charge, and could be compressed to a much higher density than if you had larger atoms (Due to sphere packing and the fact that Iron has anti-neutrons that take up space) The smaller the space you can get the fuel or whatever you wanna call it into means that your math on how to magnetically stabilize it is going to be a lot easier, and with simpler math generally comes simpler machines, so your container can be smaller. Since the antimatter already will most likely appear as anti-plasma, with the positrons flying off in one direction and the antiprotons off in another, it'd be a simple matter to make sure that the two don't get very close. Yeah, I change my recommendation from lasers to magnets. though I still hate the idea of producing anti-iron. As that would take more energy away from what you're using the antimatter for. And with plasma, it would probably cause some complications.
DNAY is probably confused why his thread became a scientific warzone but I just want to say I STARTED IT!
Right, but you'll need more energy to hold anti-plasma. At least anti-iron can form into a solid, which helps containment. Remember, this is antimatter. You don't need a whole lot of the stuff.
"atomic" anti-matter could be minable resource from places of huge galactic catastrophes, near blackholes etc. Basically as an "endgame" challenge where player had to craft tons of tech to even get close (and not explode), powerful shield generators for ship, some kind of tractor beam to get it, contaimend field etc. And then go to apex homeworld and beam it to captal
What would the point of this pointless mission be? If you really wanted antimatter you could use a particle accelerator and if you refer to one of my previous posts that would be pretty redundant too. The key word here is griefers. They are the only people who would find this in any way useful.
But I want to bomb Apex! The problem with any kind of manufacturing is that, once you do initial setup it's "fire and forget", just put materials in and go do something else. If it requires active engagement while making it players will have to balance it and think 'hey, do I wanna farm it for few hours just to get one powerful shot, or do I wanna go explore and get some good random drop from boss or dungeon'. If it's just "refill materials every hour" player can just do whatever he usually does and still get anitmatter For PvP, if weapon would take several hours to farm for one shot and require top-tier equipment to get, but insta-kills, I'm absolutely fine with it. If it's just "build infrastructure then get everything good with little effort" (minecraft tekkit and alike suffer from that problem a lot) then as you said, it becomes just griefing tool
Lovely. This is still going. One problem is that 'correct science' is just holding everything back, making gameplay suit the science instead of the other way around (and meanwhile just ignoring gameplay altogether). We're not playing a nomadic starship engineer simulator, so when science and gameplay collide, science loses. Real and feel aren't the same thing, which is why it's much easier to get away with cheap and easy space travel than with telling people neon reacts with everything. Make up some stupid quantum crystal subspace isotope and you get the same high-energy fuel and better gameplay compatibility without the excessive grief-laden novelty. The other problem is a complete lack of things antimatter does to actually add to the game. Four pages in and we've yet to find a good gameplay niche for it.Its only real purpose is ludicrous energy density and a tendency to release it all at once if not tended to, breaking the game in the process. By the time you've made it that far into the game, you should be honing your skills and choosing appropriate equipment instead of being tempted with an I WIN HA HA button. It doesn't matter if you have to grind for hours to get a single shot, you're still sending the message that a moron with tons of free time can instantly defeat you and make any boss fight an anticlimax. Its balance is not a gradient. It's either far too much work for a worthless gimmick or far too powerful and makes everything else a worthless gimmick. In either case, its only purpose is to cheese an encounter. Antimatter bombs are simply the same thought on a larger and more grieftacular scale. Antimatter weapons are completely different from other weapons because of their sheer power. And if antimatter weren't so powerful, its place should be taken by something with less scientific baggage.
SCIENCE CLASS!! I want antimatter to be harden in block and then build my own antimatter casino... with streapers and b1tchez. Now seriously, the idea has A LOT of potential, but I think (beyond fuel usage and maybe heavy weaponry) don't has nothing more to do... unless you can build an antimatter reactor. That'd be soooo nice
Do you know what the biggest bonerkill in the whole universe is? The Laws of Thermodynamics. Just knowing that the universe is going to die a slow heat death, that you can never do anything too awesome. That is infinitely worse than your princess being in another castle, And another castle, And another castle, forever.
You're forgetting better space engines, Tok. Plus which, if we could make handheld storage (For a milligram of the stuff), we can make better mining tools/cutting torchs(call them "disintegraters".) You'd spray tiny amounts(micrograms) of antimatter into the cutting area and the heat from AM-M annihilation melts out the spot(not to mention the effect of annihilating out bits of the target material.)
Containment interests me. In a solar flare, the antimatter would be in plasma form, would it not? If so, magnetic containment in a vacuum might keep it stable: constant power drain and heat production. A ship carrying such a load would not be able to disguise itself as it vents the waste energy, and would be an easy target for brigands. Storage on planet would be much more scary, though. With just a block, you hold at least 500 Quintillion Joules... One mistake... it takes just one... Edit: Then again, it would be used for griefing. I have to agree with some of my peers here, and say that weaponizing this power source could also lead to great harm. Still, how about a compromise? Load the antimatter as a weaponizable form only if a container is breached or a "planet buster" is launched. 1. A container breach could be negated using containment sheilding - if only for player's sakes 2. A "planet buster" would move at slower-than-light travel, and there could be frequent opportunities to shoot it down, disable, or otherwise defend against it. Now, placing a block of AM down might have to be disabled (or have it be impossible for you to carry an unshielded block), but a restriction that prevents the misuse of such a weapon might help. That - or have a player-started pact not to use AM in war.
If any damage caused is irreversible, if there is no ceaselessly vigilant eye of divine justice, never trust people to successfully avoid destroying their own or other people's fun. Intentionally or not. Why is a planet-busting weapon necessary in the first place? Never mind how you're going to balance it, what is it supposed to do for the game? Please don't tell me "because it's cool". That's the worst answer for a gameplay-affecting item. We aren't launching ships to the stars with nuclear bombs because as awesome as it is, it's also full of horrific consequences that nobody likes. Antimatter, the infamous little dangerous thing it is, comes with the consequence of being far too dangerous for in and out of universe reasons unless you neuter it to where it may as well not be antimatter, at which point...
You also seem to be confusing this with real life. THIS IS A VIDEO GAME. Was this not made clear? Hence, we can talk about nuclear and antimatter engines all we like. It's not like we're using it in real life.
To be fair, you have a point. Such power would eventually used to grief. Honestly, I don't know myself. Still, I believe I heard mention of the ability to destroy planets, and this could be a horridly expensive way to do so. Perhaps it could also be limited to a planet you control - used to reset the biome, perhaps. One may even be able to introduce their own flora and fauna then - it doesn't necessarily mean a bad day for an explorer. It is your last bit that I disagree with. Yes, we don't use nukes to travel through space for obvious reasons - but remember that, to a certain extent of ethics, mankind will eventually upgrade. We follow profit, or try to get an edge on each other in war. If the need or want is big enough... I understand your perspective. I agree to to an extent. However, I'm sure that Antimatter Energy will find a way in eventually. Still, I'd be willing to push for a peaceful usage - as a more stable power-production only resource. I'm more interested in that aspect, anyway! Great Debate though - as long as it stays civil, I can appreciate the opinions raised.
Isn't expense enough to stop AM griefing? Given the amount of effort you'd have to go to to make the stuff(AAARRGH STUPID SYNTAX), there won't be a lot of people who'd make the stuff just to grief. Especially if there's other uses, like the aforementioned spaceship engines.
