[Marcov]

We all know that there were several subspace disclosures in the FreespaceVerse. But how did this happen? Based on FreeSpace Wiki, subspace was an n-dimensional tunnel, and that a vessel had to vibrate into different dimensions until it matched subspace's own dimension. However, how can a great blast seal off subspace? Does it change its dimension, making it tremendously hard for the GTVA to figure it out, or does the debris of the broken ship block the tunnel??

[The E]

If something big enough goes boom in a node, the node will destabilize. That's all we know about this from canon info.

NON CANON SPECULATION FOLLOWS: Note that it's the node that's being altered so that whatever permits intersystem travel from those locations doesn't work anymore, not necessarily the subspace tunnel itself.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I thought space curves around subspace (hence subspace being a conical tunnel), so if you nuke it, part of the curve is torn open.

[Liberator]

That would suggest a permanent opening though.  Seems more like a weld to me.  Big enough release of energy(I suspect that it doesn't necessarily have to be an explosion, a more directed method might be just as successful) cause the node(the weak point where we can for our way through) to be collapsed or perhaps the adjoining portions of the subspace barrier are reinforced so that standard node travel isn't possible any more.

The knossos most likely works by "whittling" away these thicker "walls" until the node is (re)stabilized for conventional drives to access.

[Aardwolf]

Conical tunnel? What?

[Killer Whale]

Conical tunnel? What?

[Droid803]

Well, if you're asking about what happens after a node gets blown open, aren't there some lines in Silent Threat that deal with that about trying to force through but not working, etc, Or was that made up in ST:R?

[NGTM-1R]

The destruction of the Lucifer collapsed multiple nodes systemwide.

You can say FS2 didn't believe that, but then I want to know why the Bastion was launched and detonated inside Capella, while the Nereid was to be launched from outside but still detonated inside. They were hedging their bets.

[Colonol Dekker]

To discover how to make apple pie from scratch, one must first invent the universe.
 
 
If the above quote confuses, then you're over examining it.
 
[non-canon
Specutlation]Much like subspace is a seperate dimension layered under/above our own one. It has a few new (or ignores a few existing even) seperate laws of physics as shields no longer function and travel times are drastically shorterned when compared to n-space.
 But subspace tunnels are like a metaphorical paper condom, if you blow enough crap up inside them, the things will just fall apart.
 

[ktistai228]

well, I would say otherwise. Don't think of subspace as a tunnel, but rather as a wire, stretched between to platforms very high in the sky. If the wire is strong enough and you are smart enough, you can cross from one side to the other. But if lets say you blow something up while on the wire, lets say a Orion full with a s***load of Meson bombs, the wire will break.
Now physically thinking, when you vibrate in n dimensions (we know 11 thus far), and thus bend the time-space continuum, it takes a lot of energy. Nodes are like natural curves in time-space, sort of wormholes. But again, blowing the Orion mentioned above might and most probably will affect the node, altering its frequency or eliminating it.
At least that's what I could come up with in 10 minutes. I'll keep on thinking


LE: Fixed, sorry for that. A tad bit sleepy.

[Killer Whale]

[nitpick=moderate]

...the wire will brake

the wire will break[/nitpick]

[Kolgena]

I'm leaning more towards the idea that certain properties of the node get scrambled.

I tend to think of a node as a point in normal space where its vibrations (pseudophysics) are in phase in such a way that the node is a constant, well, node, or 0 space vibration amplitude. This makes it possible to rip it open with proper subspace drives because you can do such calculations feasibly only on a static piece of space.

When you blow it up, you send any or all vibrational elements that create the node into a different phase or frequency, thus "destroying" the node completely.

Yeah, this idea is completely unfounded, but I like spewing stuff like this.

[Mongoose]

That's a decent way of putting things, actually.  It also kind of fits with the stylized campaign briefing animation from FS2, which showed the Nereid blowing up in the middle of its jump and the line representing the node "roping out" in a sort of sine wave pattern.

[headdie]

I'm leaning more towards the idea that certain properties of the node get scrambled.

I tend to think of a node as a point in normal space where its vibrations (pseudophysics) are in phase in such a way that the node is a constant, well, node, or 0 space vibration amplitude. This makes it possible to rip it open with proper subspace drives because you can do such calculations feasibly only on a static piece of space.

When you blow it up, you send any or all vibrational elements that create the node into a different phase or frequency, thus "destroying" the node completely.

Yeah, this idea is completely unfounded, but I like spewing stuff like this.

That's a decent way of putting things, actually.  It also kind of fits with the stylized campaign briefing animation from FS2, which showed the Nereid blowing up in the middle of its jump and the line representing the node "roping out" in a sort of sine wave pattern.

To sum up the functioning of the device, the interlocking circular motions of its components creates a subspace vortex that assists in stabilizing jump corridors otherwise too unstable to be used safely. Prolonged use of a Knossos can cause a node to completely re-stabilize, so that if the Knossos is destroyed or deactivated, the node remains usable.

actually seems to fit

[Woolie Wool]

I've always thought of a node as a corridor of realspace threaded through subspace (subspace itself is a thick soup of highly energized particles and other nasty things, which is why it's so glowy and swirly). When a sufficiently big boom is made in subspace, the "walls" of the corridor rupture, letting subspace ether spill in and destroying the node.

[IronBeer]

But I thought it was the flux of subspace and the formation of stable ...eddies and currents that made the nodes? If that's the case, then you probably have a simpler explanation- a sufficiently powerful release of energy stirs up the waters, so to speak, preventing the stabilization of a node. Probably not permanent, but who knows if or where a node could re-form once disrupted.