Actually, the universe is made up for by far the most part of the elements we have already discovered (hydrogen, mostly). The elements at the top range of what we have managed to discover are already often unstable; there are hypotheses about stable elements around up to atomic number 300, but an element consisting of millions of protons is not happening.
You could potentially have some planet where the electromagnetic forces are stronger than the strong force so as to combine the particles that make up the Universe in weird ways. You could have materials that don't have chemical bindings. I think saying we can't find anything else is a bit defeatist.
While it may be possible to construct an unlikely but possible environment for such elements to form, it would be of little use as it would be an environment so inhospitable to us that we could never land on it to mine this miracle substance.
Im quite happy having gold as a decorative thing for blocks, vanity and furniture, but it would be more interesting to see it in a more practical non-tool roles like the mentioned electronics in the poll.
I think you should be able to get made-up minerals, but as alloys of real elements (ex. iron + uranium = something or other)
Care needs to be taken going that route. Having some unknown element found in space having strange properties in relation to known elements is one thing, easy enough to ignore for the sake of immersion in the game, but when you start attempting to describe it with known science it tosses up a huge red flag for anyone with sufficient knowledge in that field of study. It is very difficult to maintain the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy fiction when everything you know is saying it is completely wrong. Hence the creation of this thread
^that as I have tried explaining to several people already you can only push "its just a game" and "suspension of disbelief" so far before it becomes total crap.
I know a song by the dwarves about Gold. Its called Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold, however, its not as popular as their timeless classic Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold Gold! Dwarves are big on gold.
Thanks for saying this already, because I would have been much meaner. Basically, it's highly unlikely we'll ever find any elements with an atomic number over 100 that have stable enough isotopes for use in any sort of practical application. Mendelevium, element 100, has a half life of only 51 days with its most stable isotope. The transuranic element that I recall with the most useful, widespread applications is californium (atomic number 98, which is used in smoke detectors on a regular basis. Its most stable isotope has a half life of some 900 years, so it's quite a bit more practical. Moreover, we haven't found any elements with an atomic number above just 92 (uranium) in nature. It's, of course, possible, even likely, that super heavy elements like that are formed regularly, but they usually decay into other elements very quickly. Obviously this is sci-fi and we can basically do as we please (you're talking to a W40K fanatic), but let's try to keep a semblance of sensibility. Now, on the topic at hand, gold is pretty crappy for anything as a construction material. It's a great conductor and very ductile, so it's used frequently in circuitry and other applications that don't involve much physical stress. You wouldn't want to make a sword out of it, but it's in your computer. I could see gold ore being a crafting requirement for that fancy new biological analysis computer, but not as armor.
If you want to use gold in armor, make it into some gloves that activate a troop of mech robots that destroy everything in their path! Like, Have these little buttons when you press em sends signals via gold wires in the gauntlets to the soldiers! Thatd be soo cool -w-
Well who cares about that? If it's already a sick gun then gold plating just makes it look more fancy. Personally I wouldn't do that, but I can understand why people would.
Oh what i wouldn't do for a novelty planet made entirely out of useless fools gold (Coloured dirt to you humans and me) and the gold made to look like worthless dirt. Teach the greedy fools a lesson.
Yeah, I agree Gold should be used for house decoration or maybe a building material. Gold houses seems great for me. But I also wanted an armor made from gold that have pro and cons, like it has less defense but have ... I dont know, maybe something.
