Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Halo Science - Ringworlds and Plasma Weapons

Posted by Zonk on from the games-and-science-two-great-tastes-that-taste-great-together dept.

The book Halo Effect is an intriguing title that takes a look Bungie's best-selling Halo titles from a number of different angles. Each chapter includes coverage of specific elements; included are descriptions of pro events, a bit on the development process, and the making of the Red vs. Blue series. One of the most interesting chapters takes a look at the science behind the Halo world, talking about the physics and logic behind ringworlds and the hi-tech weaponry seen in the game. Thanks in part to a mini-review of the book on the GameSetWatch site, Gamasutra has been allowed to reprint the entire 'science of Halo' chapter on their website. "A 5,000 kilometer radius would yield a circumference of roughly 31,400 kilometers. If we assume a width-to-radius ratio similar to that of Niven's Ringworld, they would be approximately 5.37 kilometers wide. They are significantly wider, though, at 320 kilometers. The Halos, then, would have a surface area of 10 million square kilometers - slightly larger than the surface area of Canada, and approximately 2 percent of the surface area of Earth. Of course, since we know that there are lakes, seas, and rivers on the Halos, the livable surface area would be fractionally less." Update: 05/02 18:30 GMT by Z : The initial version of the article posted was from pre-production and contained some errors. They've been fixed in the article and now here in the post as well.

4 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Bad Calculations by rherbert · · Score: 4, Informative

    "A 5,000 kilometer radius would yield a circumference of roughly 31,400 kilometers. If we assume a width-to-radius ratio similar to that of Niven's ringworld, we get a width of approximately 53,700 kilometers. The Halos, then, would have a surface area of 1.68 million square kilometers."
    A width of 53k kilometers and a radius of 5k would be a very long cylinder. Given the other numbers, 1,680,000 km^2 / 31,400 km gives a width of 53.5 km, which is much more reasonable and ring-shaped.
  2. Ringworlds have a lot of problems by SirBruce · · Score: 4, Informative

    Unfortunately, there are numerous technical problems that make Ringworlds problematic, as Niven tried to address in later books. The Ring requires active stabilization, day and night cycles can only be crudely simulated, etc. Perhaps the biggest problem is that the structural material itself would have to have the tensile strength of the strong nuclear force just to hold together...

    Dyson Spheres actually make a lot more sense than Ringworlds. Any civilization capable of making a Ringworld would most likely be able to make a Dyson Sphere.

    1. Re:Ringworlds have a lot of problems by ip_vjl · · Score: 4, Interesting

      When I read Ringworld, I wondered why you wouldn't build something that combined both a ringworld and a Dyson sphere. Let's say the ringworld followed Niven's dimensions. At 1 million miles wide, it only occupies about 1% of the 'latitude' of the orbital sphere. All the solar energy directed elsewhere is wasted.

      It seems it would be good to build a smaller sphere that can collect this energy. If you built it at an inner orbit (like Mercury's orbital distance) you wouldn't need as much material. You would leave out a section of the middle that corresponds to the location of the 'ring plane' to allow the energy there to make its way to the ring. Both halves of the sphere could still be connected, but instead of solid sphere, it would be alternating solid/empty to provide the function of the shadow squares. You may want to perforate it in other areas as well to allow solar pressure to escape.

      Exactly what materials you'd use, I don't know ... but if you have the resources to build the ringworld to begin with, this shouldn't be a stretch.

  3. What about the edges? by Floritard · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm far too lazy to read the article, fanboys have all but ruined Halo for me, but does it mention anything about what happens on the edges of the Halo world? Would be really cool if they had a level in Halo near the edge. It's funny how they just kinda ignore that the game takes place on a world that actually has the pre-Columbus world-with-edges setup going on. What happens to the atmosphere (atmocylinder?) at the edge? If you're flying in an aircraft can you fly over the edge given enough momentum? How are the seas held back, etc?