[icespeed]

had this weird idea yesterday and just remembered it.
if it were possible to make spaceships totally from some sort of transparent material without them collapsing in on you or anything (like glass but lots harder).
what do people think? stupid idea, interesting implications, rendering possibilities (lotsa people floating around midspace!)...?
(there's probably more to the idea, but i have to have people telling me what's wrong with it before i can add to it.)

[wEvil]

diamond.  hardest material known to man.

Physical imapacts...yer laughing.

Energy beams?  would YOU want to be in a massively refrative contruct when hit by a PetaWatt X-ray beam?

[Corsair]

It's a very interesting and different idea but there are so many things that could go wrong with it. Radioactivity floating around in space, heat, cold, all sorts of the nasty stuff in space could affect it. It's a very unique idea though, never heard of anything like it before.

[Nico]

Watch the old freelancer introduction, there's an alien ship about like that. Imagine the Aliens in Abyss if you want, they're almost the same design trend.

[LtNarol]

i think a more practical idea would be to have a diamond exterior but with collapsed molybdenum (sp) on the inside.  That would take care of the radiation and hot/cold problems.  The fact is that if it gets hit with a beam, the molybdenum wouldnt hold up as long because the diamond would sorta speed up the effects (wouldnt it?)

[Thorn]

Like a big assed magnifying glass...

[LtNarol]

Originally posted by Thorn
Like a big assed magnifying glass...

figures, be good for a missile though, cut right through the hull.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Thorn
Like a big assed magnifying glass...

except beams aren't lasers. if beams are amplified, any primary will be too (save the maxim I think), otherwise, nope.

[LtNarol]

and a ship completely made of some clear substance could cause some privacy issues...

[Thorn]

Originally posted by venom2506


except beams aren't lasers. if beams are amplified, any primary will be too (save the maxim I think), otherwise, nope.

Particles beams, or something else?

[wEvil]

Particle beams are made up of that..particles.  A beam weapon is an open-ended continuous particle accelerator.

Vasudan beams would work since they are big lasers (photon beams)

[ZylonBane]

Originally posted by Corsair
It's a very unique idea though, never heard of anything like it before.

You must not read much science fiction then. Fairly ordinary idea.

Now, clear gravy... that's a unique idea!

[KillMeNow]

i tried afew rendered based on this idea - tran parent ships with fancy imbeeded colour lumious displays to add abit of well fuctionality to the ship but retain the transparency but i have gotten satisfactory results yet and i given up on it for the moment but might try again soon

[Mr. Vega]

diamond. hardest material known to man.

Do you realize how expensive that would be?

[mikhael]

Originally posted by wEvil
diamond.  hardest material known to man.

Hard == Brittle == Brittle == Guaranteed-HullBreach

Due to its basic structure (crystalline lattice of carbon atoms), diamond (and all similar structures) cannot flex. Any localized impacts of sufficient force will cause the diamond structure to crumble to dust. Shearing stresses (such as those produced by uneven propulsion, or high speed manuevers) will likewise shatter/powder the material.

[Shrike]

Some kind of transparent superplastic would probably be superior than diamond.  But the thing is, what's the point?  I can't see any real reason to build a ship like that, except because 'we can'.  Which is a good reason in itself.

[Kitsune]

ST has 'transparent aluminum' in some of its' ships construction.
So why not figure out a way to make better 'transparent steel'?

[Stryke 9]

Forget transparent materials. Too easy. How 'bout a ship that's almost entirely made of force shielding?

[LtNarol]

diamonds are just about worthless until they're cut.  Its the crafting that goes into the cuting of diamonds that makes them worth so much.  As for the transparent steel, im pretty sure thats Star Wars and not Star Trek.

[Corsair]

Beams aren't lasers? What are they then?

Originally posted by ZylonBane
You must not read much science fiction then. Fairly ordinary idea.

Now, clear gravy... that's a unique idea!

Nah, I mostly read Tom Clancy and Clive Cussler nowadays. I'm into the modern navy thrillers right now. Finished with my big scifi obsession a year ago or something. I'll go back eventually.

And clear gravy? whoa, that'd be so cool.