# What could a scientist in my Star Wars RPG be researching or working on?



## Maximum7 (Jan 31, 2019)

Im trying to write an RPG profile about a scientist who is working on something in the era of the New Republic. He does not believe in the Force. I just need something for him to be researching. It really isn’t that important to the story; it just has to sound cool and scientific.*It can NOT be game-changing or something that can alter the story in a dramatic way Also it can’t have already been done in Legends or Canon. I want a fresh idea.

It cannot be

- A time machine

-A teleporter

-A matter replicator

-A singularity Weapon

- Any type of droid

-Anything to do with holograms

-A food synthesizer

- Anything to do with the Force or Midi-chlorians

- A shrink ray

-A freeze ray

-pico and femtotechnology

-A Dyson sphere or any type of megastructure.

-Liquid metal armor or a nano morph 

-Any improvements on the hyperdrive 

-Limb regeneration

-Hyperspace nullifier

-Holodeck

- Knowledge Transfer (Instant learning like in the Matrix)

-Philosophers Stone

-Kinetic weapons

-Solar sail

-Anything to do with kyber crystals

-Gene editing

-Mech suit

-Exosuit

-Gender change 



In canon, during the Empire, scientists were researching methods to control droids, lasers that can punch through deflector shields and ship scale disintigrators. These ideas are therefore taken.*


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## Tonguez (Jan 31, 2019)

Nanomorph tech (armour or droid) sounds cool - and would be a cool plausible addition to your game world

Food synthesisers or even terraforming could be options too


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## Zardnaar (Feb 1, 2019)

Cloaking device that works or is using cheap synthetic crystals.


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## Aeson (Feb 1, 2019)

A tasteless glue for envelopes. Yuck.


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## Imaculata (Feb 1, 2019)

A cure for a fictional disease (that maybe only affects a particular species).


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## Aeson (Feb 1, 2019)

Imaculata said:


> A cure for a fictional disease (that maybe only affects a particular species).




There was a novel dealing with an alien only disease. It was released after Palpatine's death to undermine The New Republic.


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## MarkB (Feb 1, 2019)

How about personal shields? They were commonplace in the Old Republic, but were outpaced by advances in blaster technology. Maybe this scientist thinks he's got a way to make them viable again.


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## Janx (Feb 1, 2019)

Books.  
Social media. 
FTL Communication
TCP/IP over continuous FTL Comms
A shield to protect a planet from being destroyed, since that happens a lot
the iPhone
PropagandaTron 5000.  Not as flashy as the 9000 series, but just as capable of subverting a population to your side
BanthaWay - the only way to get rid of a dead Bantha
I Can't Believe It's Not Moon - artificial moons for planets that feel slighted on celestial bodies
OnTarget - an augmented reality training simulator to whip those StormTroopers into crack marksmen
HookedOnTronics - a toy that teaches your kids advanced circuit design


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## Deset Gled (Feb 1, 2019)

- Cost-affordable color screen technology.  Everything is Star Wars seems to use monochromatic screens, probably justifiable in-universe for cost considerations.  This guy's working to change that.

- Color-tunable blasters.  It's established in-universe that blaster bolts can be any color.  Invisible bolts (outside the human visual range) are possible, but not preferred because you can't see where your shots are going.  If you could change color from visible to invisible on the fly, if could give troops a tactical advantage.

- X-ray specs.

- Gravity manipulation (beyond what they currently have, possibly very small scale control or very fast control).  Bonus points if he's researching it for "good" purposes but it gets weaponized by someone else.

- Alternative fuels for star ships.  Fuel seems to be a big plot point lately (TLJ, Solo).  Run with it.


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## megamania (Feb 2, 2019)

Spy Gadgets, Outer Space personal suits, Nanites that feed on metal


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## Eltab (Feb 2, 2019)

Go with the 'hyperdrive improvements'.  Do you IRL drive a Model T?

If you decide the scientist comes up with something, the prototype gadget is somehow installed in a smuggler's ship.  The captain challenges Han Solo and the _Millennium Falcon_ to a race.  (The pilot/owner treats it a 'black box') The ship has really good speed, beyond its previous reputation. The gadget is NOT ready for mass production, though - the crew has to spend a lot of time tweaking and fine-tuning and replacing burned-out parts because of the gadget and its unpredictable side-effects.

If you decide the scientist comes up with nothing, then he is working slowly alone through a series of experiments (that a team of researchers sponsored by a big Corp has already completed in an off-the-beaten-path lab) promising stepwise refinements in existing technology and performance.

_Edit: had to change the tenses of all verbs because I originally thought the desired era was OLD Republic._


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## Eltab (Feb 2, 2019)

Scent chemicals with an eye to making new perfumes.  
The scientist thinks that studying alien noses and their ranges of sensitivity might grant him insight to create a scent molecule irresistible to humans.  He wants something like *Chanel No. 5*, but he might produce a batch of Troglodyte Stench instead.  For fun and giggles, one experimental batch gives him the scent of a juicy hamburger (or whatever the alien PCs in your group like to eat).


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## Michael Silverbane (Feb 7, 2019)

New flavors for the nutrient goop served as meal aboard many spaceships. The spaceship nutrient goop market has long been controlled by a small number of trade clans, and this situation is entirely untenable. A (or several) new and exciting flavors of spaceship nutrient goop could really shake up the spaceship nutrient goop market and and improve the lives of trillions of spacegoing sophonts across the galaxy!


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Feb 8, 2019)

Too bad megastructures are out - I always thought that one of the possibl explanations for the seeming lack of tech advancement in the Star Wars universe might be that the logistics of uncovering new knowledge has become too complex to manage. To find out new stuff about the nature of matter you might need particle accelerators larger than planets, but who is going to start building them in uncertain times or when they won't see their labor come to fruition in their lifetime / election cycle.


*Research*
A study for finding/describing "pre-historic" hyperdrive routes (e.g. there are no cultures that would have records of that time, but there might have been lost civilizations.)

Studying the Hawking Radiation on the smallest known black hole in the galaxy.

Extra-Galactic Planet Hunting / Spectral Analysis

Studying Migration Patterns of "Space Whales" or similar cosmological lifeforms. 

Tracing invasive species that were transported via colonization or interstellar trade/traffic. (Okay, the Bantha is found on X planets, but where did they really come from?)

Tracing the origins of an ancient and formerly common disease that died out due to a succesful vaccine development centuries ago. 

Coruscanti Mating Rituals predating the Old Republic

Cataloguing Alderaan Debris (Origins, changes due the destruction of the planet, any surprises on the nature of the planet's core now that it's laid bare?)

Archeology on an industrial world whose population died out before the planet could join the galactic civlization. (They won't have force secrets, revolutionary tech or anything. But you can certainly get some papers and cautionary tales on how you can ruin your planet and not make it.)

*Engineering*
Better particle filters for industrial applications

A disposable light-weight Chemical Scanner that can eschew with a rare earth in construction that make existing ones hard to recycle


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## Eltab (Feb 8, 2019)

Sociological / historical research:
He wants to study the earlier cultures that combined to form the original Republic, and how the resulting culture / government expanded to fill most of the Galaxy.  He is working from a base hypothesis involving 'cultural drift' and cross-pollination.  Some still-distinct modern cultural regions (ex: Hutt Space) are getting their hackles up because the researcher is a jerk who interacts poorly with other people.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 10, 2019)

Anything else?


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## Zardnaar (Feb 10, 2019)

Something small scale. Kyber crystal weapons for TIE fighters, shield equipped TIE interceptors, A scaled down Death Star or World Devastator that is ultra efficient at asteroid mining and cranking out more TIE.

 Even something like an affordable mass produced ship for the New Republic/Rebels.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 14, 2019)

Does anybody have any other ideas? I’m trying to look for something that was never researched until the era of the New Republic like kyber crystals weren’t until the Empire used them for a superlaser and even then, they had been used in weapons formation in the past. I’m looking for something that presumably hasn’t been thought of in the 25,000 years of time where almost everything has already been done.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 14, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Does anybody have any other ideas? I’m trying to look for something that was never researched until the era of the New Republic like kyber crystals weren’t until the Empire used them for a superlaser and even then, they had been used in weapons formation in the past. I’m looking for something that presumably hasn’t been thought of in the 25,000 years of time where almost everything has already been done.




Everything has been more or less down though unless you look outside Star  Wars with things like nano tech, megastructures, sentient AI,  Gauss weapons or rail guns, wormholes etc.

 If you want to make it more sci fi than sci fantasy that's an obvious one.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 14, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Everything has been more or less down though unless you look outside Star  Wars with things like nano tech, megastructures, sentient AI,  Gauss weapons or rail guns, wormholes etc.
> 
> If you want to make it more sci fi than sci fantasy that's an obvious one.




Nanotechnology has appeared many times. Nano droids were in Clone Wars. Megastructures like Centerpoint Station, AI is sentient, the Dugs had a rail gun in Clone Wars and wormholes appeared in old Legends EU and in canon in the Han Solo mini-series. Trust me I’ve done my research.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 14, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Nanotechnology has appeared many times. Nano droids were in Clone Wars. Megastructures like Centerpoint Station, AI is sentient, the Dugs had a rail gun in Clone Wars and wormholes appeared in old Legends EU and in canon in the Han Solo mini-series. Trust me I’ve done my research.




Center point station isn't that big. I'm thinking ringworlds big or Dyson sphere big.

 The nano droids are also different than say the replicators from SG Atlantis.

 Droids also are not fully sentient as they are still bound by programming. Sentient might not be the best word 100% free willed is more what I mean. The occasional droids might be free willed but most of them seem to be assassin Droid types.

 Maybe some type of bio Droid or droids that can't be programmed.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 14, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Center point station isn't that big. I'm thinking ringworlds big or Dyson sphere big.
> 
> The nano droids are also different than say the replicators from SG Atlantis.
> 
> ...




Dyson sphere appeared in one of the last SWTOR patches. Ringo Vinda is a ring world. 

I must realize. I. Am. Doomed.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 14, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Dyson sphere appeared in one of the last SWTOR patches. Ringo Vinda is a ring world.
> 
> I must realize. I. Am. Doomed.




Not that familiar with SWToR. The Galactic Empires population could fit in a Dyson sphere though.


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## Eltab (Feb 14, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> I must realize. I. Am. Doomed.



Oh, relax - you are trying all by yourself to out-think trillions of Galactic citizens (and several dozen IRL authors).  The things "nobody has thought of before" would be innovations at the cutting edge of _their_ high technology.  Or an event like Steve Jobs being struck by the thunderbolt and conceiving iTunes / iPads.

Go back and look at your "I don't want" list, see what would be capable of a step-wise refinement, have your Scientist be an erratic genius who is close to a breakthrough on something.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 19, 2019)

Yeah my I don’t want list is really what I don’t think will work in Star Wars. Or it’s already been done. Believe it or not teleportation exists in Star Wars Legends.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 19, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Yeah my I don’t want list is really what I don’t think will work in Star Wars. Or it’s already been done. Believe it or not teleportation exists in Star Wars Legends.




It's very rare and semi unique though.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 21, 2019)

Yes but not enough.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 21, 2019)

Will your players recognise it though? Hell I'm a big fan of the old legends but still missed alot of comics and prequel stuff. 
 The teleportation thing is in the old Lando adventures?  

 It's hard coming up with anything original as it's somewhere in Star Wars even in a minor or unique way. Ringworlds, Dyson sphere, teleportation, cloaking devices, ICBMs, zombie plagues, nukes, biotechnology, sentient AI, human AI, etc they are all there somewhere.

 Free willed bio organic droids was one thing I did come up with for an RPG game. Basically droids you can't program or ion bolts might not be to effective on.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 24, 2019)

I was down to 3 ideas. A Guided recirprocating deflector shield from someone on abovetopsecret forums, Synthetic coaxium from FFG forums and The Dynamics of an Asteroid Field on Sjgames. I decided against the shield because it was too wordy and could be a game changer. The coaxium I felt ruined the rarity of hyperfuel and the asteroid belt analyzation was good but their are likely billions of asteroid fields in the galaxy. Who the hell cares about plotting one.


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## Zardnaar (Feb 24, 2019)

How about a new ship? PCs get a hint of a new imperial super weapon.  They find out where it is but rather than something Uber its something like a heavy cruiser with point defence or shield equipped TIE interceptor that's cheap to produce.

 A Victory III star destroyer or a TIE that's not a TIE Defender but better than what the empire is using but logical and cheap.


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## Maximum7 (Feb 27, 2019)

Okay so my archeology idea didn’t work. My scientist is called upon by the New Republic to investigate why the supermassive black hole is more active than usual and sucking in things from a further range. I just need something for the scientist to be studying before he is called away. It has to sound fresh and cool.


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## Deset Gled (Feb 27, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> It has to sound fresh and﻿ coo﻿l.




Obviously he's researching new technology for CRISPR drawers.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 1, 2019)

I think they have that already. 

This is so frustrating! Everytime I find an idea it just doesn’t work. My scientist is called upon by the New Republic to investigate why the supermassive black hole is more active than usual and sucking in things from a further range. I just need something for the scientist to be studying before he is called away. It has to sound fresh and cool.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 2, 2019)

Quantum flux capacitor.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 3, 2019)

Okay someone on Reddit informed me that a supermassive black hole could never do what I want it to do. I’ve decided to scrap the whole story.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 7, 2019)

I decided to go with a quark star. It’s better than a black hole because we don’t even know if they exist. Perfect for expansion However, I still need something for him to be working on before he deals with the quark star. I’m looking not for a gadget or piece of tech. I’ve decided everything technological that we can think of, can be done. Speeders with deflector shields? Sure. We haven’t seen them but they can easily be done. I’m looking for something that would still be an emerging field of science. Something a Type II/III civilization would do next. Any ideas?


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## Eltab (Mar 7, 2019)

Hyperdrive cannot take you everywhere, there are zones and planes of random moving gravity wells that mess you up and drop you back into normal space.  But a big powerful telescope placed in a nearby system would let us see into the masked zone and perhaps find out what sent these worlds adrift and moving.  Your scientist was working on one such project and incidentally found some of the signs that a quark star might be lurking in there.  He published a research paper describing his findings, and thereby became traceable via an "Internet" search.


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## wingsandsword (Mar 8, 2019)

Given the limitations, I'd say the best shot, especially for something of military merit, is an improved cloaking device.

I don't know about in the reboot, but in the original Star Wars (that Disney brands as "Legends"), there were two basic cloaking technologies, using hibridium or stygium crystals.

Hibridium cloaking devices could be made with relatively normal materials, but had the huge disadvantage of being "double blind", that you couldn't see out from being cloaked.  This was a significant disadvantage that required lots of creativity to make the cloaking devices useful (like in the Thrawn trilogy, when Thrawn launches a number of cloaked asteroids into orbit over Coruscant, creating a de-facto blockade since there was no safe way to leave or approach the planet without risking hitting an asteroid).  You CAN fire out of cloak without de-cloaking, it doesn't forcibly lower the cloak, but it does reveal your general location, but not well enough for an enemy to get a weapons lock.

Stygium crystal cloaking devices worked more like the cloaks in Star Trek, where you could see "out", but not see "in".  These cloaks were far more elegant, but were also many times more expensive (because stygium crystals were insanely rare and only were known to be found on one planet).  

The actual source of the crystals was Aeten II, a planet deep in Wild Space. . .and after the known mines were depleted, the Empire blew the planet up in 3 ABY with the Tarkin superweapon (a prototype for the Death Star II's superlaser) so the Empire could mine the resulting asteroid field to find more crystals. . .which they turned into the TIE Phantom project to make mass-produced cloaking starfighters. . .but the Rebels destroyed them (and the self-destruct took the cloaking devices with them). . .ultimately meaning that after 3 ABY there's no known source for more stygium crystals.

Some way to improve on these limitations would be a major field of research, either a way to synthesize stygium crystals, or a way to work around the limitations of the hibridium cloaking device 

For reference, one failed attempt to work around hibridium limitations in the Hand of Thrawn duology was using a supercomputer to mathematically calculate the probable location of enemy vessels based on known locations before the cloak was engaged and known tactics and attack patterns.  Cloak during a fight so the enemy can't lock on to you, statistically calculate the probable location of enemy vessels based on last known information, fire in that direction. . .it didn't work.


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## wingsandsword (Mar 8, 2019)

Also, I don't know if it would fall under your "teleportation" prohibition, but the Gree did have their hypergates throughout their area of space, and to a limited extent on other planets (like the one on Dathomir).  The Gree lost the ability to activate (or maintain and repair) most of their super-advanced technology like the hypergates (think Stargates from the Stargate series, or Iconian gateways from Star Trek), leaving them as inert relics on so many worlds.

Trying to research a way to activate the remaining ones could be a big thing too.  I don't know if reactivating ancient Stargate-like transportation devices would be too close to your teleportation ban though, but they ARE something that already exists within Star Wars (heck, the "Terror from Beyond" raid in the Star Wars: The Old Republic MMORPG involves some horrible Lovecraftian tentacled monstrosity trying to come through one of the few functioning hypergates from some unknown part of deep space)


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Mar 8, 2019)

Hypergates are interesting.

In my own Star Wars campaign, I settled for "Hypergates" as an ancient, inferior hyperspace technology. Sure, your ship doesn't need a hyperspace engine, but you can only travel between linked Hypergates. Which meant transporting 
ne of the gates the non-FTL way. Later, maybe some tricks allowed "blind" jumps into a gate, and allowed establishing the second gate at wherever you blindly jumped to, but that required considerably trial and error.

Once the "modern" hyperdrive was invented, it was vastly superior. It required a certain level of logistics, to chart hyperspace routes, keep ships updated and requires computational resources. But it was vastly more flexible, since neither entrance nor exist point required a per-existing installation. And, also important- they only need power when someone actually uses them, not to maintain the link between the two gates.
Hence, Hypergates fell out of favor. People stopped maintaining them, or actively scrapped them for raw materials. 

Maybe your scientist is studying Hypergate technology for new tweaks, say, altering it that it helps a ship using its own hyperdrive engine to travel faster. Or maybe a new Hypergate technology that can switch between multiple linked gates on command, making it more flexible than before. Or maybe he's just repairing a Hypergate that leads to a for some reason still working gate somewhere in the Unknown Region or the Deep Core where hyperspace travel is risky or unreliable due to astrogation hazards or lack of star charts.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 10, 2019)

My Star Wars story will now involve a scientist who is studying the ancient servers of the Holonet. As he learns about its beginnings, he thinks of ways he can make the Holonet better for everyone. What improvements can he make to the Holonet?


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## Zardnaar (Mar 11, 2019)

It's just basically space broadcasts at ftl.


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## Eltab (Mar 12, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> My Star Wars story will now involve a scientist who is studying the ancient servers of the Holonet. As he learns about its beginnings, he thinks of ways he can make the Holonet better for everyone. What improvements can he make to the Holonet?




He comes up with an upgrade to the programming - which is "just a plug-in black box thingy that makes it work" to most people - that increases the screen resolution and clarity.  Look at the difference between Vietnam War footage and Reagan's "tear down this wall" speech; the picture is crisper and clearer, you can see more details.  However broadcast networks hate him because all their scenery has to be replaced with something better than an Impressionist painting.  This improvement can be overwhelmed if the entire scene is in motion, such as a storm-tossed lake, because there is too much data to process.


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## Sadras (Mar 12, 2019)

Evolutionary mating habits of the Gungans


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## tomBitonti (Mar 12, 2019)

Swarm based weapons?  Refractive invisibility for ships?  Cyborg ship pilots?  Improved planetary scale power distribution networks?  Force field contained metallic hydrogen explosives?  Planetary core mining hyperdrive stutter fields?

Thx!
TomB


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## Maximum7 (Mar 12, 2019)

tomBitonti said:


> Swarm based weapons?  Refractive invisibility for ships?  Cyborg ship pilots?  Improved planetary scale power distribution networks?  Force field contained metallic hydrogen explosives?  Planetary core mining hyperdrive stutter fields?
> 
> Thx!
> TomB




These ideas all sound great but can you explain what the last one is and does? Thanks!!


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## tomBitonti (Mar 13, 2019)

Last one is a hyperdrive flight through a planet that stutters the drive for a very brief instant to drop out of hyperspace and scoop up core material the go back into hyperdrive.  Need very precise control and a very strong force field to hold the pressurized core material — which is high grade metal ores.

This presumes that you can hyperdrive through matter, which might not work.  I don’t know SW hyperdrive genre well enough to answer.

Thx!
TomB


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## Maximum7 (Mar 13, 2019)

tomBitonti said:


> Last one is a hyperdrive flight through a planet that stutters the drive for a very brief instant to drop out of hyperspace and scoop up core material the go back into hyperdrive.  Need very precise control and a very strong force field to hold the pressurized core material — which is high grade metal ores.
> 
> This presumes that you can hyperdrive through matter, which might not work.  I don’t know SW hyperdrive genre well enough to answer.
> 
> ...




Interesting concept but that would destroy the planet.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 13, 2019)

I&#146;m going about this all wrong when it comes to asking what idea I want. I&#146;m looking for a science thing that my scientist could study. On Steven Jackson games forum, someone suggested the migration patterns of Purgills. It would have been perfect except for the fact that it might lead someone to Ezra and Thrawn. That story will be told in the future. I want something unique but also a science that my scientist can study as his main work. Not an invention.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 13, 2019)

tomBitonti said:


> Last one is a hyperdrive flight through a planet that stutters the drive for a very brief instant to drop out of hyperspace and scoop up core material the go back into hyperdrive.  Need very precise control and a very strong force field to hold the pressurized core material — which is high grade metal ores.
> 
> This presumes that you can hyperdrive through matter, which might not work.  I don’t know SW hyperdrive genre well enough to answer.
> 
> ...




No it wouldn't work but Hans stunt in TFA at Starkiller base would not work in the old EU. New one who knows. Generally you can't hyperspace in gravity wells. Hypothetically maybe if you switch off all the safe guards on the hyper drive system but then you are begging to smack into a planet.

 If you stuttered inside the planet for whatever reason the pressure and heat would collapse the shields and ship.

 In legends there were experiments in hyperspace weapons and tactics with things like interdictor cruisers which pull ships out of hyperspace with artificial gravity wells.


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## tomBitonti (Mar 13, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Interesting concept but that would destroy the planet.




Naw, this would take a tiny spec of material.  On a massive scale there would be problems, but the scale would have to truly massive.  The bigger problem is getting the ship to survive, since it would be briefly overlaying core material.

Thx!
TomB


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## Zardnaar (Mar 13, 2019)

tomBitonti said:


> Naw, this would take a tiny spec of material.  On a massive scale there would be problems, but the scale would have to truly massive.  The bigger problem is getting the ship to survive, since it would be briefly overlaying core material.
> 
> Thx!
> TomB




It might now or at least extinction level event. A star destroyer ship at hyperspace speed might be able to do it. Wouldn't work in old Star Wars might now idk. Since you can now use it as a weapon and hyperspace into gravity Wells.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 13, 2019)

Someone on writingforums.org knocked some sense into me. The Star Wars galaxy has had 1,000’s of years to develop stuff so all science left to do is theoretical or observational. I’m going to have him study asteroids. Thanks for putting up with me.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 15, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Someone on writingforums.org knocked some sense into me. The Star Wars galaxy has had 1,000’s of years to develop stuff so all science left to do is theoretical or observational. I’m going to have him study asteroids. Thanks for putting up with me.




 In some ways they are really advanced- very fast FTL for example along with FTL travel.

 In other ways their tech is stagnant, a lightsaber or blaster isn't drastically different from a 1000 years ago. You can uusally find some examples of anything in their somewhere but it is often limited to a single series, is lost tech or built by some mysterious race so its not galactic standard so to speak.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 16, 2019)

I’m thinking about doing something related to Hyperspace (but not Hypergates). What science can my scientist study about Hyperspace before he’s called away to deal with the supermassive black hole?


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## Eltab (Mar 16, 2019)

Developing the theory for a "hyperspace radar" that would let a ship see that a gravity well - such as from a wandering planet - is in its path, far enough away to do something about it.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Mar 17, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> I’m thinking about doing something related to Hyperspace (but not Hypergates). What science can my scientist study about Hyperspace before he’s called away to deal with the supermassive black hole?




A study on how Hyperspace travel routes change over time due to galactic drift and hyperspace-innate dynamics. This might allow predicting new potential spots for fast trade-routes, maybe even between systems that weren't connected well in the past. 
Or he studies a particular gravity well and its impact on hyperspace, in the hopes of finding a better route around or even directly through it, shaving off travel time for particular routes. (Say, if you want to travel between Bastion and Corellia, you could take a new short cut.). Maybe with the hope of generalizing this research enough to apply it to other gravity wells.


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## MarkB (Mar 17, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> I’m thinking about doing something related to Hyperspace (but not Hypergates). What science can my scientist study about Hyperspace before he’s called away to deal with the supermassive black hole?




Hyperspace travel in Star Wars involves travelling along hyperspace 'lanes' which allow fast travel between star systems along specific routes, and also pre-jump calculations in order to sync up existing navigational data to account for local planetary movement and galactic drift.

So, some reasonably good avenues for research could involve improved methods of mapping and discovering hyperlanes, or ways to make the calculations for a hyperspace jump more quickly.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 18, 2019)

MarkB said:


> Hyperspace travel in Star Wars involves travelling along hyperspace 'lanes' which allow fast travel between star systems along specific routes, and also pre-jump calculations in order to sync up existing navigational data to account for local planetary movement and galactic drift.
> 
> So, some reasonably good avenues for research could involve improved methods of mapping and discovering hyperlanes, or ways to make the calculations for a hyperspace jump more quickly.




How could I make navicomputers more efficient or better at making jumps?


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## MarkB (Mar 18, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> How could I make navicomputers more efficient or better at making jumps?




That's up to you - I don't know what works for your setting. It could be anywhere from something boring like improving the software coding to something spectacular like detonating warheads in hyperspace to create the hyperspatial equivalent of sonar pings.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 19, 2019)

MarkB said:


> That's up to you - I don't know what works for your setting. It could be anywhere from something boring like improving the software coding to something spectacular like detonating warheads in hyperspace to create the hyperspatial equivalent of sonar pings.




Basically you would need to invent a better computer.  Sometimes in Star Wars it's faster to jump to multiple systems than fly direct. It might be quicker to fly from Tatooine to Alderaan to Coruscant than Tatooine to Coruscant.

 Some sort of bio computer that can sense hyperspace routes might be an option. May or may not be force sensitive. Experimental of course.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 20, 2019)

I would be reluctant to imbue a piece of technology with Force sensitivity. Though it is a cool concept. 

Anything else?


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## Deset Gled (Mar 20, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Anything else?




Why?  What is going on here?

You've been asking for brainstorming for almost two months.  Your posts make it obvious you're asking this across multiple forums.  You have plenty of responses, but have shown little interest in fleshing any out.  You're still just fishing, with practically no feedback or direction other than you're still looking for things that are "cool" and "fresh".

If this is actually just a backstory (completely inconsequential to the game), just pick something already.  You'll never get anywhere in designing a campaign if you spend two months brainstorming on every little point.

If this is for something else that actually matters, be honest and tell us what it is.  Or at least tell us why you're so fixated on this.  Tell us about the character.  Tell us about the world he grew up on.  At the very least tell us the system you're using and his stats.  Show us that you're actually designing something instead of asking us to do it for you.  Throw us something constructive, rather than an increasingly long list of ideas you don't like.  There's clearly plenty of us here that enjoy talking about Star Wars tech.  But I have no desire to just throw every idea I've ever had at a wall.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 20, 2019)

Deset Gled said:


> Why?  What is going on here?
> 
> You've been asking for brainstorming for almost two months.  Your posts make it obvious you're asking this across multiple forums.  You have plenty of responses, but have shown little interest in fleshing any out.  You're still just fishing, with practically no feedback or direction other than you're still looking for things that are "cool" and "fresh".
> 
> ...



Wow. I didn't even know its been 2 months. Im obsessed with new ideas for technology and I am obsessive in getting this scientist to sound really official. But yes. I need to stop and pick something. Its just a me thing. I'll stop


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## Zardnaar (Mar 20, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Wow. I didn't even know its been 2 months. Im obsessed with new ideas for technology and I am obsessive in getting this scientist to sound really official. But yes. I need to stop and pick something. Its just a me thing. I'll stop




It's just unique is really hard in Star Wars. Some things are not very common and would require a decent knowledge of the old legends material to even recognize.

 One trick in RPGs is change names or file numbers off. I had a blabbermouth player who had read a lot of adventures. I printed one out stuck a different cover on it and he didn't recognize it. 

 Unless you're playing with hardcore SW fans odds are they won't recognize an obscure SW tidbit especially if you put your own spin on it.

 I'm using force aware bio droids that can be mass produced in a mini Star Forge. That's my campaigns super weapon.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 24, 2019)

Last time I post. I promise. I’m making one last round on all the forums I posted on. I’m looking for something highly advanced.


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## MarkB (Mar 25, 2019)

Most highly advanced projects could be seriously setting-changing. Is that something you want, or something you want to avoid?


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## Maximum7 (Mar 25, 2019)

MarkB said:


> Most highly advanced projects could be seriously setting-changing. Is that something you want, or something you want to avoid?




I potentially want it. Just no teleportation, mind control, matter replication or time travel.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 25, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> I potentially want it. Just no teleportation, mind control, matter replication or time travel.




Folding space count as teleportation?


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## Maximum7 (Mar 25, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Folding space count as teleportation?




Lol yes. Fold Space was a teleportation Force power in Legends.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 25, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Lol yes. Fold Space was a teleportation Force power in Legends.




I know I was thinking about something like the drives used in Dune.


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## MarkB (Mar 25, 2019)

Advanced shield projectors.

This is the same basic technology that allowed the Death Star II to be shielded from a nearby planet, but refined, miniaturised and weaponised. A capital ship with this technology can project a completely closed elliptical shield bubble to a point anywhere up to a few kilometers from the vessel itself, while still maintaining its own shields.

The shield bubble can be used defensively, bolstering the defensess of an allied vessel under fire, but also offensively, enclosing an opposing vessel in a particle shield from which it cannot escape except by overwhelming it. The shield cannot be detected visibly, and can be brought into existence very quickly in front of fast-moving enemy vessels, damaging capital ships and destroying starfighters that plough into it, and it can even be gradually reduced in size, slowly crushing an enemy vessel.


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## Zardnaar (Mar 25, 2019)

For superweapons of mass destruction something to ignite the atmosphere a'la Dune and Warhammer 40k.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 26, 2019)

Ok my scientist is studying sub-Hyperspace, the dimension in which quintessence can be turned into Phantom Energy and then travel to destroy star systems in real time. This is how Starkiller Base fires it’s weapon after draining a sun. (I’m sure Disney will explore it more in due time). However, in the mean time; I wonder what other things my scientist can study about it. Applications I’ve considered would be a sub-hyperdrive which would allow for instantaneous travel like Star Trek: Discovery’s Spore Drive. It also could be used for instant communications. Good stuff but too much of a gamechanger to tinker with. What else could my scientist be studying about sub-hyperspace?


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## Zardnaar (Mar 26, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> Ok my scientist is studying sub-Hyperspace, the dimension in which quintessence can be turned into Phantom Energy and then travel to destroy star systems in real time. This is how Starkiller Base fires it’s weapon after draining a sun. (I’m sure Disney will explore it more in due time). However, in the mean time; I wonder what other things my scientist can study about it. Applications I’ve considered would be a sub-hyperdrive which would allow for instantaneous travel like Star Trek: Discovery’s Spore Drive. It also could be used for instant communications. Good stuff but too much of a gamechanger to tinker with. What else could my scientist be studying about sub-hyperspace?




 The old EU Black Fleet Crisis the EMpire was exploring hyperspace weapons. They never really figured one out except maybe the galaxy gun which was fairly conventional really except for its scale.


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## Eltab (Mar 26, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> What else could my scientist be studying about sub-hyperspace?



Stepwise refinements follow.  You scientist is trying to figure out how/why the cutting-edge step would work.

- "Hyperspace radar" theory, which would let you see the planet in your way and drop out of hyperspace before you crash into it.
- Being able to maneuver in hyperspace to go around said obstacle and continue on your (original) way.
- Smaller-item detection capability, to find out another ship is in hyperspace near you.  Step One: Imperial Cruiser size ship.  Eventually: _Millennium Falcon_ and X-Wing size ships.  
- Hyperspace vector analysis to figure out what direction that other ship is going.
- "Hyperspace transponder" so The Authorities can identify the ship in hyperspace.  Smugglers will hate this.
- "Hyperspace radio", two-way communication.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 27, 2019)

I’m going about this all wrong. I need an advanced but totally BORING detail intensive thing for my scientist to be studying. I WANT to start my story and this detail is unimportant. Does anyone have some science gooblegook that sounds coherent that I can use?


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## Zardnaar (Mar 28, 2019)

Intergalactic perpetual hyperspace accelerator.


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## Maximum7 (Mar 30, 2019)

What could  a scientist do to improve bacta?


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## Zardnaar (Mar 31, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> What could  a scientist do to improve bacta?




Increase it's potency or make it a vapor.

 Or look into it's uses as a torture device.  Old legends material had electrical current running through bacta tanks.


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## Mustrum_Ridcully (Apr 1, 2019)

Doesn't the EU say that all Bacta comes from a single world?
And what happened to Kolto from the Knights of the Old Republic? 

Something along those lines - a new hybrid that can be grown in different environments, and thus also off Thyferra/Manaan?

Or maybe there are new bacta-resistant phages that require altering the Bacta to counter them, otherwise Bacta might lose its value in the next few centuries.


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## Zardnaar (Apr 1, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Increase it's potency or make it a vapor.
> 
> Or look into it's uses as a torture device.  Old legends material had electrical current running through bacta tanks.






Mustrum_Ridcully said:


> Doesn't the EU say that all Bacta comes from a single world?
> And what happened to Kolto from the Knights of the Old Republic?
> 
> Something along those lines - a new hybrid that can be grown in different environments, and thus also off Thyferra/Manaan?
> ...




In Legends all bacta came from Thyferra a single world.
 Bacta made kolto obsolete. Modern kolto may also be less effective than the ancient kolto.


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## Maximum7 (Apr 3, 2019)

I was asking for ideas on what a scientist could be working on in the Star Wars galaxy. However my list of can nots are more akin to what an engineer would be working on. Then I guess that’s what I really meant. So that being said I ask. What can an engineer in the Star Wars galaxy be working on?. He works for the canon New Republic. 

Things he can’t be working on

1.) Dyson sphere- Believe it or not it already exists in SWTOR

2.) Matrioksha Brain- Computers aren’t that advanced. (HOWEVER, if you have a genetic Star Wars name for this- I will take it. Matrioksha is Russian nesting dolls and would obviously not be applicable for Star Wars

3.) A Giant Underground City- Sullust has tons of these. 

4.) Kransnikov Tube- Would be too much of a gamechanger for travel

5.) Ford-Svaitar mirror- Too much of a gamechanger for travel

6.) Nicoll-Dyson Laser- We already have the Death Star and Starkiller Base

7.) Space elevator- They have those

8.) Shellworld- Waste of time. Plenty of planets to work with

9) Alderton Disk- Too big

10.) Ringworld- Exists on Ringo Vinda

11.) Underwater cities- Plenty of those

12.) Any type of space habitat. 

Any ideas?


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## Deset Gled (Apr 4, 2019)

Maximum7 said:


> it already exists




Pretty much all engineering is done to things that already partially exist.


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## Zardnaar (Apr 4, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Increase it's potency or make it a vapor.
> 
> Or look into it's uses as a torture device.  Old legends material had electrical current running through bacta tanks.






Maximum7 said:


> I was asking for ideas on what a scientist could be working on in the Star Wars galaxy. However my list of can nots are more akin to what an engineer would be working on. Then I guess that’s what I really meant. So that being said I ask. What can an engineer in the Star Wars galaxy be working on?. He works for the canon New Republic.
> 
> Things he can’t be working on
> 
> ...




Pretty much everything has been done though and you keep shooting down ideas. 

 Some of it like Ringo Vinda is fairly obscure as it's the Old Republic game? Cloaking device s are the classic Star Wars tech, Uber rare can't really be duplicated. Just put a spin on that or something else. Pick something ffs or we'll just assume u r a troll.


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## Maximum7 (Apr 4, 2019)

I’m not a troll. A troll wouldn’t spend this much time on this.


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## Zardnaar (Apr 5, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Increase it's potency or make it a vapor.
> 
> Or look into it's uses as a torture device.  Old legends material had electrical current running through bacta tanks.






Maximum7 said:


> I’m not a troll. A troll wouldn’t spend this much time on this.




Well you have shot down every idea people gave given you for over 2 months. Legends material spans 30+ years if Star Wars and almost everything has been done somewhere from mega engineering through to AI uprisings and bio engineering.


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## Maximum7 (Apr 5, 2019)

Zardnaar said:


> Well you have shot down every idea people gave given you for over 2 months. Legends material spans 30+ years if Star Wars and almost everything has been done somewhere from mega engineering through to AI uprisings and bio engineering.




Yeah you’re right. I just am very picky and like unique ideas but I’ll stop.


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## Arnwolf666 (Nov 30, 2019)

Ice cream. I never saw anyone in Star Wars eat ice cream. He will become a multi-billionaire.


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## tommybahama (Dec 1, 2019)

I want to know what the OP finally decided on after seven months.  If he's still looking for something, may I suggest galaxy-wide algorithmic decay:









						The Corroding Empire
					

Galactic society is ruled by algorithms. From interstellar travel and planetary terraforming to artificial intelligence and agriculture, ...



					www.goodreads.com


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## Eltab (Dec 2, 2019)

tommybahama said:


> I want to know what the OP finally decided on after seven months.



He started a second thread for ideas, and was referred back to this one.

Thanks for the suggestion, it seems to be a new addition to the list.


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