Questions tagged [science-fiction]

Allows for fanciful, creative or imaginative solutions based on or rationalized by Real World science, but not necessary limited by Real World science. Entirely magical solutions must use the magic tag instead. This tag should not be used with the science-based, hard-science, or internal-consistency tags. This tag should never be the only tag on a question, because this tag frames how a question should be answered, not the topic.

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Glowing Eye Lenses: Why are the Mooks parading their location?

In many a sci-fi, the villains (and sometimes the good guys) have glowing lenses attached to their gas masks to help both identify them and provide a useful target for the protagonists. The obvious ...
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0 votes
1 answer
200 views

Could this be the toughest armor? [closed]

I am making a character that has all his body’s natural abilities increased about 300-fold and I am trying to produce a distinctive suite of Frog Mouth full plate mail that makes sense for his build ...
0 votes
3 answers
2k views

If an object weighing 330,000 pounds struck the earth at mach 50, what would happen?

I am working on a character that has multiple superpowers that work in a matter similar to My Hero Academia and has been transported to a world of magic. I am trying to figure out how some of these ...
3 votes
2 answers
130 views

How would Orbiting Lenses work for a Prophesied Day?

So I was thinking of having religions prophesy of a day where there'd be a massive beam of light coming down from on high at a specific holy spot. How would this be possible with lens orbiting the ...
5 votes
2 answers
445 views

How far would a shaft of light penetrate a hollow earth?

Imagine if all of earth's interior were suddenly replaced with a volume of atmosphere (78% N, 21%O, etc), and by some fantastic force the crust remained perfectly rigid and stable. My question is: if ...
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2 votes
5 answers
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What body or cockpit modifications are required to allow a human to survive short term high G combat maneuvers?

In the vein of the Expanse's juice or the Forever War's submergible tanks, what types of body or cockpit modifications would allow a human to survive high G maneuvers in short impulses in a combat ...
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5 votes
3 answers
696 views

Questions about Moon Phases in Fantasy World

I'm currently running a campaign set in a world where the calendar is based on two things. The moon takes the entire year to cycle through its phases. So instead of full moon to full moon being a ...
1 vote
2 answers
163 views

How to accelerate time?

Something in a spaceship, a box, an area in the space, whatever, that experiences a faster time than the rest of the universe. The opposite of the well known twins paradox. How could be that the twin ...
2 votes
3 answers
188 views

Would this atmosphere require humans to wear gas masks but perhaps get acclimated over time?

I got some great feedback on this atmosphere already, so I decided to lower the oxygen levels as a result of the feedback. I am creating an atmosphere for a planet in a science fiction book I am ...
3 votes
3 answers
234 views

water producing creatures

I'm trying to create a desert planet, and I plan on having water be produced by slug-like beings that consume oxygen and hydrogen from the atmosphere and produce water as a by-product f their ...
9 votes
5 answers
3k views

Is this a breathable atmosphere for human-like aliens that have more efficient oxygen-carrying blood? Normal humans would require a gas mask (oxygen)

I am creating an atmosphere for a planet in a science fiction book I am writing and want to make sure that this atmosphere is not too outlandish in regards to sustaining life. I know the oxygen ...
17 votes
14 answers
5k views

Why does space warfare not lead to total anhiliation of both sides?

The title is intentionally provocative, but let me try to justify it. Let's take a common science fiction setup of two interplanetary civilizations with a hand-waved FTL technology that are at war (...
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4 votes
4 answers
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Theoretically, how well could endothermic chemical reactions work as a heat radiation system in space?

I was thinking about the problem of waste heat in a large military space craft. It seems beyond a certain technological point, the ability to dump waste heat becomes the largest problem in quickly ...
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2 votes
3 answers
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Would the articulations/joints/bearings of a bulletproof full-body suit be easily pierceable?

Context: This armour was designed to be a full-body "bulletproof" suit, only capable of stopping bullets from military assault rifles that have the same capabilities of today's ones. Of ...
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5 votes
3 answers
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What kind of construction material would an advanced intergalactic civilization use to build megastructures?

In my novel, an alien species whose name is temporarily “Alphas” is a Kardashev Type II Civilization and has an entire galaxy under their control. My novel focuses on the interaction between the ...
14 votes
12 answers
3k views

What could be the justification for having isolated domes all over a planet with people living inside them and not knowing about the real world?

To elaborate a bit further: let's say there's a planet in which some higher power installed several giant "domes" where people live. Each of these domes, which are the size of a small city, ...
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9 votes
5 answers
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What are potential avenues for firearms and weapons technologies for a biotech-centric species?

In my setting, there is an alien world known as Totaria and an alien race known as the Totarians, who possess a special cell that lets them develop whatever organs, limbs, and creatures they want, ...
5 votes
1 answer
149 views

At what point do you release aircraft from an orbital lander

So I have a definitely-useful-definitely-not-way-too-big-mega-size-orbital-lander(tm) that is making planetfall. Some of the goods and passengers aren't that important and can be risked by unloading ...
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3 votes
1 answer
108 views

Physiological consequences of being a brain in a jar plugged into a robot body [duplicate]

In an alterante universe where Nazi Germany conquered the world, an unfortunate soul has ended up like Cliff Steele from Doom Patrol; his brain has been removed from its original body by a mad nazi ...
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1 vote
1 answer
119 views

How strong would a planetary magnetic field need to be in order to lighten the weight of ferromagnetic metals? [closed]

I am writing a fantasy/sci-fi where humans crash-land on a somewhat earthlike planet (continental distribution, great masses of water, similar element's abundance), however, I would like for one of ...
0 votes
3 answers
69 views

How could a teleporter scientifically be stopped from using their ability? [closed]

Background: Subject LN96TN04 is a teleporter. He was not born this way but made this way in a lab. He's kept in the laboratory and tests are run on him constantly to develop his abilities. Sometimes, ...
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3 votes
3 answers
257 views

Coilguns as spaceship thrusters second attempt

This is a second attempt for this question, the first time i put in too many different things that ended up derailing the question. I'm in the early stages of designing a scifi game and want to use as ...
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3 votes
3 answers
198 views

Could a planet much larger than earth have the same gravity if it were hollow?

Now- this is probably a stupid question but hear me out. If the planet I want to imagine were much larger than earth, would it have to have a massive difference in gravity? It sounds extremely ...
-1 votes
1 answer
91 views

Quantitying religious concept [closed]

Once upon a time, there were people on a planet far away who believed that our galaxy was a brain. Each star would be a neuron. In the absence of wormholes and other ways to get around the speed of ...
0 votes
1 answer
130 views

Feasibility living tissue product

Once upon a time, there was a gang that wanted young women to infiltrate the upper class. Unfortunately due to genetic modification and better nutrition the elite was much taller two feet on average ...
4 votes
2 answers
180 views

Steering Alcubierre bubble?

So the question is - let's pretend we managed problems with exotic matter and/or energy (there are theoretical solutions without exotic matter, with only positive energy https://iopscience.iop.org/...
5 votes
2 answers
205 views

Is it possible to Magnetize spaceship corridors to counter Aliens with iron weapons?

/-Transmission Received || Ansible-Sector-74 || To Prohibited Subject 248029:BA7-/ Trade Route Attacks With the Triptite Federation being gently convinced to open their borders for trade, merchants ...
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2 votes
1 answer
180 views

Tactics and formations to defend a convoy of starships [closed]

Once upon a time, there were two kingdoms at war. One of them had more starships and access to magnetic monopoles. For the purpose of this question, they could have been another exotic particle. ...
8 votes
10 answers
2k views

Logical/Scientific Explanation for Umbrakinesis?

I'm working on a story where the characters have elemental-based powers based on natural material/materials/phenomena found in nature. So far, each of the powers makes sense on a physical level, since ...
-2 votes
1 answer
76 views

How smart would my cyborg be? [closed]

I have created a world where the main character is a cyborg, a petri dish with neurons inside a machine, how smart could a neuron culture in a petri dish be?
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-1 votes
1 answer
100 views

Surgical techniques for physical makeover

In the world the elite tends to be tall. The commoners tend be much shorter two or more feet shorter. https://www.hss.edu/conditions_limb-lengthening-overview.asp talks about several inches of ...
14 votes
5 answers
2k views

Preserving medicines on a long-haul space flight?

So I have a really long space-flight section of my story with all necessary requirements for preserving the crew is in place (hypersleep etc.) But one thing went into my mind with preserving other ...
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1 vote
4 answers
670 views

How many magnetic monopoles are needed to disable an aircraft carrier?

Once upon a time there was an interstellar kingdom with access to hundreds of planets through wormholes. Geniuses or luck gave them magnetic monopoles. They exist!!! The next bit is somewhat magical ...
2 votes
2 answers
224 views

What would make an atmosphere green?

I am making a space sci-fi film. And the planet that it takes place on the sky is green (like how ours is blue). The air can be toxic but it need to be able to explode if oxygen is introduced in to it....
1 vote
1 answer
170 views

Shapes of Space-Time

Ok let’s get the legwork done first. A common way to visualize our current space-time is as a 3D grid. The lines of this grid are perfectly parallel until a significant amount of matter causes them to ...
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5 votes
2 answers
554 views

How could my cyborg live longer? [closed]

I have created a world where the main character is a cyborg, a petri dish with neurons inside a machine, the problem is most neuronal cultures only live for weeks, 60 days or up to 5 years, that's ...
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1 vote
6 answers
493 views

Could a powerful nearly omniscient magic AI God prevent humans from destroying themselves? [closed]

From an outsider's perspective this world looks like your typical fantasy realm with feudalism, mages and fantastic creatures. Only few entities know, that this world used to be a backwater colony of ...
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-1 votes
2 answers
149 views

What characteristics would my Enslaver Aliens find attractive in each other? [closed]

Each photo I have here is that of an Enslaver Alien. Thank you midjourney for helping me create these creatures. They are an alien species that can grow to the size of a fifteen story building and are ...
2 votes
2 answers
188 views

Saturnian Zeppelin Cities: can I use Aerographene coated with Titanium as the hull material to prevent getting crushed by atmospheric forces?

(After receiving countless suggestions from users like Sojourner, Wilik, and EngrStudent, I have come up with a solution to a cloud city on Saturn.) So, I ran a few calculations on Air Density ...
0 votes
1 answer
49 views

Explaining My Planet’s Weather

Alright so my planet is very similar to Earth, but slightly more unstable. Both geologically and atmospherically speaking. It orbits an orange star, slightly larger and more “angry” than the sun. It ...
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3 votes
1 answer
184 views

What would the launch and explosion of FTL-missiles look like?

In Effects of being hit by an object going at FTL speeds, the effects of a spear going at FTL speeds are debated in detail. For my setting, humanity's last hope of stalling an alien invasion comes ...
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6 votes
4 answers
1k views

What kind of alien homeworld would result in the following kind of alien (i.e. my Enslavers) naturally evolving? [closed]

Pictures are provided below. But overall there are three sentient alien species, at the top of the universe food chain in my setting. One of them are the Enslaver Aliens (different individuals shown ...
3 votes
4 answers
297 views

Day/Night on a Ringworld

In writing up an idea for living on a Ringworld, I've come to an odd question; Is there a moment of decreased exposure to the sun? I've seen this question asked previously, but people simply refuted ...
1 vote
2 answers
192 views

Uh-oh, the galactic bank just got blown up - what now? [closed]

I'm running a sci-fi tabletop game, and the current big bad the party is hunting down is a group of freedom fighters with big ideas, and a MacGuffin relic capable of large-scale destruction. The big ...
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4 votes
2 answers
118 views

Can I make a Binary star system with a class G star and a black dwarf?

I am constructing my own cluster of solar systems for a story I'm working on and had the idea of adding a black dwarf somewhere to indicate the timeline of this story. My question is. Does a black ...
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4 votes
3 answers
163 views

How could a two-legged chariot horse gallop?

I have a horse race design I think suits the world I created, but I don’t know how it could actually race. I need to resolve the actual propulsion. In that other question the best answer seemed to be ...
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19 votes
11 answers
5k views

How to reignite a sun?

I just had an idea in a sci-fi setting for an alien race that has re-emerged, but I don't know how plausible it is or if there is anything to make it more plausible. Consider a conventional universe, ...
3 votes
1 answer
144 views

Could HIV-1 evolve to successfully infect rats?

In my world that is set in a far future, a mammalian species from the Euarchontoglires superorder descended from brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) evolved to become sapient. One of the deadliest diseases ...
0 votes
2 answers
179 views

A synthetical virus created by a racist [closed]

In my science-fiction story, there is a vile scientist that creates a synthetical virus, because he wants to kill all humans of British and Irish ancestry all over the world. This virus ONLY affects ...
1 vote
3 answers
307 views

How possible is it for someone to be born without a sex(physically)?

When I say "sexless", I mean that they are born without male or female phenotypic sex. Not identifying or being nonbinary, but Anatomically sexless. Note: This is not to offend anyone who ...
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