Worldbuilding Stack Exchange Community Digest

Top new questions this week:

Realistic protection for spaceships against kinetic projectiles

With relatively current technology (i.e. no force shields, etc) what are ways to protect a spaceship (or at least mitigate the amount of damage) against hypervelocity kinetic projectiles? I'm a ...

science-based spaceships space-combat  
user avatar asked by Oak135 Score of 16
user avatar answered by Starfish Prime Score of 13

Can we hit the spaceship

Setting: close to present day. Aliens in ships about the size of the Pentagon are detected at about 10 AU, moving at about 100km/s, and will therefore take about 6 months to arrive. Realistically at ...

science-based space nuclear-weapons  
user avatar asked by BenRW Score of 14
user avatar answered by Dragongeek Score of 13

Why are scout bots only used for reconnaissance?

Why would scout robots be used for recon only, not general combat? I have a situation in which scout robots akin to mars rovers are used for military applications by forces residing on a foreign ...

science-based internal-consistency weapons robots military-organisation  
user avatar asked by alkahest Score of 10
user avatar answered by TheDemonLord Score of 9

What range of altitudes would not be fatal for an astronaut falling from height on the moon?

Imagine I'm writing a sci fi thriller novel set in the modern day, on a space station orbiting the Moon. The crews are supposed to deliver supplies to a lunar station on the Moon, they board a shuttle ...

physics microgravity  
user avatar asked by user6760 Score of 9
user avatar answered by Dragongeek Score of 14

The science behind an invisible wall of pain

In this concept, a person is confined by a precisely-defined invisible barrier that causes extreme pain when any part of them crosses it. It affects only them, thus the source of the pain must be ...

biology nanotechnology  
user avatar asked by Gene Terry Score of 8
user avatar answered by L.Dutch Score of 17

Super-powered being flying over national airspace

I’m writing a novel about a superman protagonist. He is the only super in the world, and the first. Some friendly ETs gave him a skinsuit that can withstand speeds of up to 4,000 mph, and he uses it ...

super-powers  
user avatar asked by catsteevens Score of 8
user avatar answered by The Square-Cube Law Score of 8

Temperature of an Earthlike planet in Mars location?

In the future, Mars has been successfully terraformed to be Earth-like in terms of atmosphere so that humans can inhabit it safely. If Mars had an atmosphere similar to Earth, but was still 1.52 AUs ...

science-based planets atmosphere temperature  
user avatar asked by gumbo Score of 7
user avatar answered by causative Score of 3

Greatest hits from previous weeks:

Would intelligent life evolve any other body plan than humanoid?

Disclaimer: This question uses some liberal wording to get key ideas across. It's not meant to be academically rigorous, so please try to focus on the ideas and not the exact definitions of the terms ...

science-based evolution aliens science-fiction  
user avatar asked by thanby Score of 117
user avatar answered by Dewi Morgan Score of 134

How would having multiple moons affect tides?

We know that planets can have multiple moons, sometimes quite a few (like Jupiter). Assuming that a planet with several moons were habitable in the first place and has significant oceans (greater ...

planets moons  
user avatar asked by Monica Cellio Score of 119
user avatar answered by Liath Score of 92

Can we build a 3D maneuver gear from Attack on Titan?

Context In the animé Attack on Titan, armed forces use a special device called 3D maneuver gear (also called vertical movement gear) to move through the air. The system is based on a pair of ...

internal-consistency technology construction  
user avatar asked by The Square-Cube Law Score of 6
user avatar answered by GerardFalla Score of 12

What if the earth were physically split in half?

This question asks what if the world was divided into two regions? I'm asking what if the world were split into two planets. Let's say some aliens come to Earth and prank us (apparently they never ...

science-based apocalypse earth post-apocalypse  
user avatar asked by PyRulez Score of 8
user avatar answered by bowlturner Score of 35

Would the human body support living on planets with a greater gravity than Earth?

I once read a novel about a prison-planet which was chosen to make the prisoners suffer. One of the different "tortures" was a gravity three times higher than that on Earth. Would the human body ...

biology planets humans gravity adaptability  
user avatar asked by Garoal Score of 62
user avatar answered by Tim B Score of 63

How do I protect my shop from teleporters?

I live in a world where magic is common. Most people have enough magic to do simple tasks like lighting a candle or healing minor injuries. Higher magic is very rare, and those individuals mostly ...

magic teleportation security  
user avatar asked by Kys Score of 197
user avatar answered by Chris J Score of 165

How can I develop names for my fantasy land?

I'm writing a traditional fantasy novel (minus the cliches). I have a land that the novel takes place in. The land does have a name, which sometimes sounds all right, but most of the time sounds kind ...

language worldbuilding-process names  
user avatar asked by Thomas Reinstate Monica Myron Score of 84
user avatar answered by James Score of 77
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