Hi writing (and 11 Chapters in...) a Space Opera that's inspired by Warhammer 40k, One Piece and Honkair Star Rail.

Im quite a 'Write What You Know" writer. I based this Earth's history off of my country, the Philippines History being in the middle between 2 great powers China and the West.

But enough of that irl allegory here's my Timeline Prologue that sets up my story. Feedback is appreciated:

2028 : The NASA Voyager 1 Satellite was discovered by the wayward Dschinn Treasure Galleon ‘the Melunkur’. Tracing its origins back to the Sol System, and consequently to Earth, the mercantile vessel discovered the Human Race. Desiring Earth’s burgeoning technological advancements, monitored human communications before making a dramatic landing near Cape Canaveral, United States. Presenting exquisite gifts and advanced technology. The Combined Dschinn Syndicates initiated a cultural exchange, quickly bridging the language barrier and explaining the Galactic Community's existence to Humanity.

2029 : Earth's governments and citizens reacted with a mix of awe and fear. Following a tense series of negotiations, formal diplomatic relations were established. This marked Earth's integration into interstellar community.

2030: Spotting easy prey, Pirates from the Interplannetaire begins ransacking Earth, Humanity’s lack of Intergalactical Standard Aerofighters accelerates the development of defensive technologies to  combat them.

2033: A formal relationship is established with the Synod of Gaba, marked by the signing of the Treaty of Urumqi, site of the Earth’s first Galactic Pirate Attack, which includes provisions for Intelligence Sharing, Military Technology and Food Trading.

2040: Advancement in technology from alien trade lead to a new industrial revolution on Earth, significantly boosting economic growth and technological innovation.

2050: Recognition of Interspecies Marriages Law is passed on Earth.

2061: Galactic Standard mining facilities built by Saud Aram-Roze are established on Jupiter's moons, harnessing the rich resources of the gas giant and boosting Earth's economy with exotic gases and mineral deposits.

2077: Permanent human settlements are established in Mars thanks to advanced life support technology purchased from the Interplannetaire.

2079 : The Red Year. E-Coin Currecny Crash causes an economic depression amongst the Interplannetaire. Earth enacts controversial Austerity Measures to weather the worst of the depression with mixed results.

2081:  World War 3 erupts on Earth, fueled by conflicts over alien technology and resources. The war sees the use of advanced alien weapons, leading to unprecedented destruction.

2089: Intergalactic Community intervenes. Interplannetaire provided neutral humanitarian aid to all countries. Synod of Gaba militarily intervenes, backing pro-status quo factions and relieving them of all insurgent opposition. Led by the Synodian General, Exercitan Choejor ‘the Swift’.

2090: Large-scale immigration of humans to the Galactic Community begins, driven by the devastation of World War 3 and the allure of opportunities in other star systems. Over 70% of the Human Diaspora settled within the Interplannetaire, 20% into the unclaimed Miyunian Clove, 10% to the Synod of Gaba.

2091: World War 3 is officially over after the surrender of the last insurgents pockets surrenders.

2092: The construction of New Venice Island, a massive space station serving as a hub for interstellar travel, is completed in Earth's orbit. On schedule to host Earth’s first Intergalactic Cultural Festival, celebrating the diverse cultures of the Galactic Community and fostering greater unity and understanding between the Synod of Gaba and the Interplannetaire.

2098: Earth achieves full recognition as an Independent ‘Neutral’ State in the Interplanetary Community securing its place as a minor player in interstellar politics and trade.

2102: A surge in interests of the Intergalactic World above compels various Media Corporations to commission Journalists, called ‘Starfarers’ by the public to explore and report their stories back. Many of them became celebrities for their intrepid travels across the stars. However most Starfarers take assignments over at the Interplannetaire Space with no Journalists taking an assignment into the Synod of Gaba.

Until one Hussin Salahpuddin volunteered to answer than untapped niche.

So I have been working on my book for quite a while now, and I just found this sub a few days ago, which gave me the idea of asking you folks for some feedback on my Royal Navy battlecruiser deisgn.
I wish to know if the descriptions make the ship seem balanced, if the deisgn is appealing etc.

Pictured is HMS Sovereign, lead ship of her class.

Specs:

• Length: 1607 meters
• Beam: 185 meters
• Height: 225 meters

• Because this is first and foremost a warship, we of course have to start with the armament:

Two spinal coilguns, 6 meter diameter, accelerate slugs to 10%c barrel exit velocity. Additionally the ship posseses eight dual turreted railguns spread evenly around the citadel, with the two main hangars located port and starboard, each positioned in between the two groups of superfiring secondary railguns turrets.

For long range probing and missile combat the ship posseses 18 VLS launched kinetic kill vehicle torpedoes, each around 40 meters in length and capable of accelerating to up to 20%c before exhausting its fuel supply. (Idealy they'll impact whatever they were targeting before that happens). Lastly they have an intergrated array of PDC lasers (phased array mounted, no turret traversal limitations).

• Passive and active defenses:

The ship is clad in several meters of steel composite titanium armour, which is the thickest at the top spine of the ship (15 meters, flanks have around 8 and keel 4 meters respectively), due to the fact that my ships present their spines when flashing by each other in combat.

It has no traditional shields in the sense of a replenishable seconf armour layer (Star Trek, looking at you), but a kinetic energy shield that absorbs and releases the kinetic energy of incoming projectiles in form of gigantic bursts of light and plasma. The system is however not 100% efficient, so a projectile enetring the 1000 KM shield area around the ship with for example 10%c will still impact the ship with several kilometers per second of relative velocity. (I.E. Damage will happen, just the ship won't be deleted from existence because of a single hit).

As mentione for missile and torpedo defense it has a large amount of PDC laser arrays.

Ships in my setting also have structural cores running the length of them, all of which share the load of impact, acceleration and manouvering. A battlecruiser has the typical cruiser three, altough scaled up to match its size. (A battlship has four cores). They are also called keels, because humans are stubborn. As long as a ship possesses a single intact keel it can manouver and fly as designed, but the second it losses its last keel it'll shatter under the load of acceleration. (Although even a single broken keel will require a massive yard stay to fix. the navy does not encourage captains to go and break their ship's back on a daily basis.)

• Manouvering:

The ships of the Sovereign class mount 7 main dual mode fusion engines, 6 aft and one in between the two coilguns. (They can't however fire said spinal guns during a burn using the bow engine, their respective magnetic fields would go haywire interacting with each other).

These engines have two modes. Normal Fusion Torches, which accelerate plasma produced in the main fusion reactor with magnetic fields to generate thrust. In that mode The collective 6 at the back can push the ship forward with around 20 Gs of continous thrust. (Yes inertial dampeners exist).

The second mode is a bit more interesting. These engines are slang termed as MCEFs, which is an abbreviation of

Magnetically

Contained

External

Fusion

When put into MCEF mode superheated deuterium and tritium will be injected into the plasma expelled by the regular torch mode, then this entire volatile mix is compressed by external magentic fields outside the ship, producing a continuous fusion explosion that launches the ship forward at 200 G of thrust at full acceleration, 220 at flank. Like the kinetic shields my inertial dampeners are not perfect, so at flank thrust about 2 Gs will leak past, which is why the entire crew has to strap in during MCEF manouvering.

Now why would anybody use the first mode when MCEF promises a tenfold increase in thrust? Exactly what you think, fuel consumption. At full thrust the ship will drain it's entire fuel reserve in about 5 days, while it can operate for about one month on torch mode. And anybody who wants to know how my space combat works, go read the fantastic Lost Fleet series, it is heavily inspired by that, i.e. fleets meet at several % c, but in my setting the ships accelerate for at much slower rates, so they can accelerate continously in real space.

• Sensors:

The early warning system is comprised of an array of 4 very large optical telescopes mounted in a small winglet prodruding on the keel, all fixed forward. (Their size did not allow for a turreted mounting). They are designed to pick up contacts over several light minutes of distance (up to 8 on the most modern systems). They are optical because that way light only has to travel one way for them to notice the object emitting/reflecting that light. This is also in part because rasing a reactor from standy to full power takes time, precious time which the ship will have to spend motionless. Any additional hour of warning will allow a ship to leave port or its resting position earlier.

Once a ontact has been fixed, signature aparture radar arrays will try to get a clearer picture of the object. However the use of such active array systems is not encouraged when the engines are offline or operating in torch mode, othewise they'll give away the position of the ship. (Submarine like cat and mouse games can happen at long enough distances, as long as no active sensors are employed are employed and the MCEFs are shut off. If accelerating under MCEF mode a ship will light up on even the sensors of the planetiod orbiting the star at half a light year away).

• FTL:

Right a big topic in any Sci-Fi story, if present. First off, no FTL comms, news spread only as fast as the fastest ships can carry it.

Now. Imagine a hyperspace dimension, filled with really dense material. Similar properties to antimatter (but it isn't, just to be clear). So you really don't want it touching your ship. But this material varies in density, so there are routes within the "Rift" (creative, I know). That are passable by ships. Basically they form a bubble that keeps the material away, transit into the rift and then follow its "currents" (these lower density areas) to their destination. It is worth noting that far away systems will have to be approached using routes that resemble spilled pot of Spaghetti. Very complicated. (Also a ship can break out of a current and cross Rift space to enter another one leading to a different star, bu that requires an insanly strong Jumpbubble (military grade stuff) and a lot of time, because outside of the currents the rift is so dense that it'll slow the ship's speed to a crawl).

I forgot to mention that Rift entry can only happen at certain points in a star system. These areas are called Jumpfields. (gravity and a million other factors play a role). It is important to know that interstellar space is not ine gigantic jumpfield. No willfull jumping outside a system.

Travel in the rift can take several months, up to 4 to reach the farthest places of the empire from the core, with the fastest ships. That means the captain of a vessel has a very large amount of independance and authority. (No phoning back to wait for instructions.

TLDR for FTL: Icebreakers in space, differing icebreakers "strength" (their bubble specs) allow for transit of routes (currents) of ice (rift) that have a thicker density.

• Meta:

Halo really was the biggest inspiration for the ship design, but I take the most cues from the Lost fleet combat, although vastly downscaled speeds and acceleration rates. tell my what you think about the design, description or anything really that comes to mind. Cheers!

20 years ago, I self-published a space opera novel in my home country (Brazil), something inspired by a mix of Firefly, Star Wars and my own background coming from a "3rd World Country". A story about humankind discoverying by accident we were a "native reservation" to the much more powerful civilizations of the Galaxy, and that, now, we were little more than a, well, 3rd World Planet, used as cheap labor, a place to flood with low-grade and second-hand products. Troublemakers, a nuisance, pure chaos.

I'd say the novel was a success because, while it didn't sell more than 500 copies, it got me my first full-time job in the game industry (one I still work for).

https://preview.redd.it/4vcwmyztmsnd1.png?width=1452&format=png&auto=webp&s=ffffdf5520461ed2405cff74e2729ee1d3c9b314

Fast-forward to 2024, and I decided to take this universe more seriously. I got that novel translated to English (soon to come out!), I wrote a visual novel with friends (coming out this month!), I hired artists to illustrate this universe, and invited many writers to write their own stories in this universe. There is even a youtube channel where I create stories out of playing solo RPGs and miniature games!

And there is more to come because, like I said, I may be going a bit crazy :D

https://preview.redd.it/bgftw80ymsnd1.png?width=795&format=png&auto=webp&s=d97db2722937c432a20b4efc6058b308a40dc61d

I'd love people's opinion about where this is going, because there is a LOT of worldbuilding in this, spread out through several media.

There is a site here with some information and a fiction ebook about bounty hunters you can download for free, to have an idea of what I'm talking about - https://veiled-space.com/

And, of course, there is that visual novel of sorts inspired by Babylon 5 and Deep Space 9, with a free first episode on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1699900/Alexandria_IV/

Am I crazy? Does it make sense to go all out on this? Then again, I'm pretty sure there is no turning back now :D

Wish me luck!

https://preview.redd.it/rgv9hfmjmsnd1.png?width=1917&format=png&auto=webp&s=f34d4d9ce15744135e901b2b2b0601868fc573df

Bailey’s world is one of secrets, time, and unanswered questions.

Thrust from her familiar present into the gritty streets of the 1940s, Bailey finds herself entangled in a complex web of crimes, elusive suspects, and a looming bank robbery spree that leaves the city paralyzed in fear. With only her instincts, a team of skeptical detectives, and a cryptic set of clues—luxurious scarves, shadowy buildings, and an unexpected connection—Bailey must unravel the mystery before time runs out. Will she uncover the truth before the clock runs out, or will this case leave her lost in time forever? Click the link to start reading: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/t6h1r1onxhig6ws9ctnu5/Experimental-Mysteries-The-Journey.pdf?rlkey=7hcm33h5qafvskiq646io7bkt&st=5x265at9&dl=0

Consider how the invention of mobile phones damaged storytelling.

Overnight, LOTS of kinds of stories about danger became nearly impossible to tell unchanged, or required contrived explanations for why dialing 911 couldn't solve the situation.

Near-universal near-instant communication with basically anybody on the planet has also dealt great damage to the heroes' ability to act independently as well. Rules are so much easier to enforce. Some stories try to just ignore this reality, but it just ends up looking weird and paints either the characters or their superiors as kind of selfish assholes, and heroes often need to disregard direct orders to "do what feels right" (and inescapably, you'll have to paint this as a positive and a good thing to do).

Setting with casual space travel solves this problem, and even more, pushes the storytelling possibilities even further back into the past, to the Age of Sail, when some of your actors just by necessity needed to be entirely independent. Your superior isn't one phone call away, he's one letter that takes weeks to reach the recipient away! Space Opera is already influenced by the Age of Sail vibes to such a degree that this only feels organic in a high-tech setting too.

But. That works ONLY if you get rid of the FTL communications. Otherwise, you just superimpose the current shitty-for-exciting-adventures climate of the modern world onto the entire galaxy, and then you'll need to wrestle with it too.

Do we really need instant communication, anyway? Is the ability to write how emperor Zorlax personally grills out his failed minion on Tilsitter-3 in real-time right from their royal palace on Roquefort-4, or treating another planet in another solar system as just a nearby town just a single phone call away, such an important part of the story you can't part with it?

I say - toss those tachyon transmitters and quantum entanglement devices into the trash - you'd be better off without them!

This would be the only way to avoid the possibility of backward time travel in any truly hard story. Any truly hard FTL story is also a time travel story.

Idea list:

• Artificial globular cluster made via autonomous stellar engines

• Spherical Worldship or fleet no more than a few light seconds across

• Inner solar system only. Can be dense and habited as needed.

• Informal confederation acting over millennia with immortal cyborgs. No one communicates interstellar, but may laser their connectomes that way. Systems may use governing AI and/or memetic cults to maintain cultural cohesion.

• Aliens, true aliens, arrived long ago offscreen.

Okay hive mind let me lay it on the line. I’m a voracious reader but I have neglected sci-fi for years simply because it’s always felt a little intimidating. So I guess my question is where should I begin? My gut tells me to go for some of the big well-known names first Asimov, Banks, Hamilton, Simmons, are the few I am aware of but am happy to take suggestions. I’m also totally down for exploring sub genres and more abstract/challenging works. A series would be fine but I think stand alones would give me a flavour of a variety of different authors. Looking forward to hearing your suggestions!

Assuming that most bodies in the solar system have been settled and there is no FTL communication, how would internet work? Accessing servers on Mercury from Ganymede would take over an hour because of the distance. Would every planet/moon just have its own local internet, with only very few connections to the other internets?

What would your name be for a treatment that made you young forever?
A treatment that made you young again (or prevented aging if you took it while young).  Accidents, combat fatalities, and disease will still kill you.  You don’t become invulnerable.  You still get paper cuts and infections.  This won’t replace the need for medicine; you just don’t age.  Take someone that’s between seventeen and twenty and give them the treatment, and they would notice no change.

You can still die, from disease or injury, you just die in a young body, so it's really not immortality.

It would certainly have a number of names. A scientific name, a trade name, and a common/street name. Like Acetaminophen / TYLENOL / painkiller.

What names do you think work for this??

This might be a weird question or really set of questions, but how exactly do realistic particle weapons behave when compared to realistic lasers? do they do the same thing? Is a particle beam visible? Does it have recoil?

I have a good understanding of how real lasers work but particle weapons are so less talked about that I don't even know that a particle beam would even look like.

Also a really important question... does it go "pew pew" when it is fired?

I am currently writing a science fiction book and I had this long-time idea of a society ruled by corporations, each controlling a specific industry.

For context, the plot is taking place in a post-(post)-apocalyptical Eurasia, where civilization has no long restarted to build itself and grow fast. Only one of the societies, called Yanocia, has managed to reach a level of modernity resembling ours.

The whole story revolves around the clash of new societies and the rise of Yanocia, combined with the mystery surrounding what brought humans back to life, and if this world is really what we think. Think Horizon Zero Dawn merging with Game of Throne.

One thing particular in this world is that nearly every resources are lacking. No coil, no oil, no Gaz, no uranium, no nothing, and almost no cement left. It is a constraint that will drive the story but my problem is how could my idea of a somewhat advanced capitalistic state be implemented in such a world?

The means of industrial production and the over-consumption associated with such society would mean that they would have access to a lot of resources, which they can't. But at the same time I really want that "blade-runner" badass type of society that would break the otherwise "medieval" feel with the rest of the world, and make the reader wonder "how the hell did they get so advanced?".

Would you have any ideas of how such society could exist considering this context? I'm very curious what you can come up with!

I want making a worldbuilding that takes place in space, it will also have fanatsy elements and i want to have a similar vibe of studio ghibli movies, but i'm having a lot of difficulties.

This worldbuilding will take place in a very distant future, when technology will be really advanced and also will have the discovery of some of kind of magical energy, the problem is that i don't know how to make conflict in this kind of scenario.

Since is the future, medice will be really advanced, so people might live for centuries or just be immortal, people might be more resistent to deseases or physical damages, so how can i create exciting fights and make tha reader actually feel concerned about the character?

Genetic alteration will be a very common thing in this universe, i will have different types of humans, i want to write war stories, but when you can just alter your mind or genetically rise your empathy makes it difficult to want war, besides life might be basically perfect for everyone in the future, why would they want to go to war?

I don't want things to go easy for my characters, i want challenges but in the future technology might really facilitate life, in a way make people lazy, i don't that to happen.

I also have a problem with AI, that i think will basically take everyone's job, who need human workers, doctors or mecha pilots when you can have more durable, smart, tireless and useful machine?

I think about so much stuff that i can even think about a main plot for my story, please someone help me.

It seems every sci fi has some form of guy with gun using a jetpack, but how would that work practically?

When could a jetpack be useful? And what about the unpleasant consequences of having a soldier who uses one?

Are jetpacks even worth it in any circumstance or large number?

Is it is just a rule of cool thing?

10 years ago, an incident caused by selfishness, hubris and manipulation resulted in an entire galaxy being separated planet by planet by a red field of inconceivably powerful dark magic.

These hexagon-like fields incinerate any ship or being that tries to fly through them and communication between worlds slowly dwindle as a result. Within a mere few weeks, all alien life is completely isolated on their own planets similar to us.

Immediate consequences:

• All societies that depended on cross-planetary businesses and trade collapse very quickly, being forced to fend for themselves.

• Many friends and families that were off world or live on different planets altogether are permanently separated.

• Communication between planets ceased, meaning the ability to warn others of astral disasters such as incoming meteors and comets became far more difficult.

• The royal leaders of the galaxy, the Azvex were unable to guide the other planets and continue rule. Because many societies only followed their customs and not their own, they quickly became lawless.

• The biggest consequence of all. A race of magical beings known as Crescentians were wide spread across nearly every planet in the Hywind galaxy (similar to humans all across Star Wars) with their population being in the Quadrillions. The magic that created the Hexagon barrier was specifically composed of an element that weakens and eventually becomes lethal to Crescentians. This sadly resulted in every member of the species being wiped out in as little as a month. A galaxy-wide genocide.

• They were an integral part to nearly every planet and family, causing widespread depression at the sudden loss. Any hybrid beings that were part Crescentian through their bloodlines and such were spared from death but were instead subject to a new disease that plagued them. Most would fall into a coma and wouldn’t reawaken to this day.

• Crescentians were also the only known magical beings in the galaxy. Thus with their extinction, Hywind regressed into a purely tech based realm.

These are just some of the immediate consequences of a tightnit galaxy suddenly being separated. If you have any ideas yourself, let me know :)

Hey everyone, I'm trying to find a good online community for posting/hosting my science fiction stories. I'm looking for somewhere with lots of readers and community tools.
I tried a personal blog, but it's a ghost town. :-) Any ideas?

According to google, Deimos is the smallest moon at 7 miles in diameter. Now imagine a guy with practically infinite resources decided he wanted to terraform a barren moon with no atmosphere whatsoever into an Eden, could he do it? I have some ideas

The first problem, imo is the magnetosphere. Nothing can even begin to be done to the moon without it. My first idea was massive automated spaceships that can redirect solar winds away from the moon but it feels kind of implausible so maybe an artificial iron core? Use a robot to dig to the center of the moon and fill it with iron. Probably more complicated than that but theoretically it could work if we got the exact same materials as on earth no?

Say these earlier ideas worked, now we need oxygen.

My first idea was covering the entire surface with a layer of water and filling that water with algea, this algea combined with some oxygen generators could start the oxygen cycle on this world.

Now our guy can leave his little space house and walk fairly comfortably around the mood, if these plans worked. Now for the plants.

I was thinking eco friendly massive tractor esque machines that can plant plant seeds, he could either drive them or have them be autopiloted. These plants would also need to grow fairly quickly so either a quick growing plant or genetically modified plants.

Next step is animals, bugs should be easily but larger animals like say sheep, cows, bears and more would be difficult.

Our avians are easy, just bring some eggs and same thing with the fish. What about the mammals? I think the best course of action is some sort of dune esque artificial womb but for animals. Maybe a bit more humane than the ones in dune, have them be 100% artificial?

Feel free to tear my ideas apart in the comments, i havent tried my hand at hardish scifi in about a year lol

So, in writing a serial of short scifi series following an up and coming, would be champion in cyber boxing. Or cy-boxing

I'm not going for something too far future but basically the fighters use cybernetic parts and fight. Regulations prohibit any cybernetic not on the arms or hands

I've also got Mixed-Metal Martial arts as an up and coming sport that will kind of mirror some of the developments of UFC 1

But I got thinking about what other sports would meld well with cybernetics. I feel like running/sprinting would just be too much about the most advanced cybernetics, unlike boxing where the strategies and tactics and decisions of the fighter matter just as much as the machinary

Any thoughts or opinions would be appreciated

Edit: Thank you. You've all been wonderful for ideas and reference and general thoughts so far. I really appreciate it!

I’m working on vignette stories about life in a constitutional autocratic empire where Humanity has colonized around ten thousand planets and has a population of between several hundred trillion to one quadrillion not counting alien races. What’s a plausible length of time for the bureaucracy to take if each planet is an autonomous province? I was considering between years to decades for local planetary things and century plus for sector wide things.

I write sci-fi. I'm also a composer, and sound designer, who makes mostly sci-fi music.

Oftentimes, I will listen to some sci-fi video game, or film score when I write, to put me in the zone. I have a few go-to scores that just tickle the right spots.

Usually though, after writing my characters, locations, or even specific encounters and/or situations, I will oftentimes compose a theme, or some sort of atmospheric, ambient piece, or even some action track in order to add more depth to my vision.

I will then listen to that track, and further refine my writing, or I will listen to it, when I am editing what I wrote already.

I'm always thinking of ways to add more dimensionality to my characters, or to my worldbuilding.

For example, in one of my stories, I had a group of mercenaries attack a space station. This https://soundcloud.com/thelastsynthtopian/intruder-alert-mix-2 was the theme that I composed for this incident, including doing all the VO for it. I then listened to it while refining the encounter. It helped me, make the encounter more exciting.

I've done this several times now.

After reading William Gibson's Virtual Light, a few months ago, I got an idea to write a story set in 2084, about a deranged, LAPD killer cop. I wanted to set the *mood* for this setting. This was the end result, https://soundcloud.com/thelastsynthtopian/lapd-2084, and I created a few more, that I didn't upload anywhere that went steadily darker from that point on.

Another example...I read an article about NASA finding a planet made of, and where it rained diamonds. So I wrote a few chapters about an interstellar nomad ship, that had to enter a diamond nebula. This is how I imagined the situation musically https://soundcloud.com/thelastsynthtopian/entering-the-diamond-nebula

It's a weird track, but I was trying to figure out how a *diamond* would sound.

Then I thought, hey I could use these to market what I write, if I publish it, kind of like a commercial, or maybe give them away to readers as extras, to kind of "put them in the mood", so to speak. I've also seen a few authors make commercials for their books.

What do you guys think about that?

Do any of you add your own custom sounds or music, or do any of you try to find specific music that fits into your narrative, or worldbuilding, to flesh out your worlds, or help you ideate?

I posted here fairly recently asking for help with my book blurb. I received so much help, so thank you, and am incredibly grateful. What do you think with the result? (happy for brutal replies). I'm also posting in r/WritersGroup as they helped me too.

BOOK BLURB

"...If you like Iain M Banks, Neal Asher or just a really good story, read this book. When is the next one out please?!" ― release tour

Diyan and Kera are amongst the last of their kind.

Resurrected and preserved aboard the interstellar Great Ship, bound for deep space.

The destination—an ancient structure emitting a signal that obliterates machine intelligence. If they succeed in uncovering its purpose, a mysterious AI benefactor promises to release secrets of their species’ extinction.

But, aside from the fact no one knows who made the structure, no one can actually get in…

Until the Great Ship is attacked and Kera disappears, with Diyan’s escape pod making it through.

Betrayal and discovery collide in a race against time that could seal the fate of the galaxy, testing the bounds of Diyan’s loyalties. Have they found salvation or an elaborate trap from which there is no escape?

BOOK 1 OF THE TAPACHE'S PROMISE TRILOGY, SET IN THE WANDERER UNIVERSE.

Plot: A capitalist faction aims to conquer or destroy a solarpunk one.

Reader Objection: It seems that the capitalists would peacefully trade with the solarpunks, buying their superior tech while selling them minerals.

Solution: They want cheap deals, not just any deals. In a roundabout way the capitalist would pay for the solarpunk's good wages and self-sufficiency. However the capitalists could instead aim to install a puppet regime a la 13 colonies, forcing their victims to sell at a loss while paying huge margins for imports. I'm confident this much will be obvious to any reader smart enough to point out the objection in the first place. I also know subtle methods like deal discounts and astroturfing work too.

For good measure I will repeatedly stress the solarpunk's tech to be of the people-friendly sort the capitalists straight up do not want, much less would preserve a free society fit to invent more. At best it's non-exploitative stuff offering sub-optimal profit margins, at worst it's an open-source Drexler nanoprinter where no profit margin is worth the armed and self-sufficient populace.

I tend to enjoy stories with shorter chapters and a more detached narrative style - like old school "tale around the campfire" type storytelling. I also like it when I don't explicitly know what the character is thinking and I have to judge for myself as I would in real life.

I'm hoping to try and write some short stories in this way but would like some tips etc regarding this to set me off on the right direction

Cheers!

My book sort of falls apart when it comes to sports. I have a vibrant warring culture between the rich and poor in my mega-city but when it comes to the stadium, I can’t really come up with anything creative for it besides generic sci-fi stuff. I try to make it a tourism hub- with gardens, space ports, royal space ports, a mall, training grounds, hall of fame, and stables (my sport uses animals). Inside the stadium, there is historic murals (this sport inadvertently saved the human race and they like to brag about it) and there are typical food/merch vendors. That’s all I have so far and it holds up like cardboard. What are some ideas I can use to spice it up?

For more information about the sport: it’s a ground sport like Rugby mixed with American Football. Nothing overtly wild like zero gravity or jet packs. There are a few rules that spice things up but I will avoid talking about them to prevent confusion.

Hey folks,

I've got an idea for my next novel that I'm kicking around, and it's slowly coming together, but there's one major glaring piece of worldbuilding that I just cannot seem to decide on. That is, as you might have guessed from the title, whether I should set it in our solar system or in a fictional one.

Now, I'm not going to go through the whole plot as I've developed it right now, but suffice it to say that I want it to be a fairly hard sci-fi (with one or two major plot-related exceptions) contained to a single solar system. It's going to involve scientific discovery, corporate espionage, and political and military intrigue, while trying to play within as realistic a physics sandbox as I can manage. For instance, I'm really interested in exploring how orbital mechanics influence military, political, commercial, and communications issues. If you have a big system-wide war, which planets are near which others at any given time will matter quite a bit!

Eagle-eyes readers might have picked up on some similarities between what I'm trying to do and the Expanse, and I'm trying very hard not to just end up ripping that off. That'll come into play here in a moment.

One of the major issues in worldbuilding is where the thing is set, and that's a big problem I have right now. There are some serious pros and cons to setting this in either our real-life solar system versus a fictional one. The point of this isn't really to get you all to help me decide, it's more to learn how you decided, so I'll be quick about this, but let's explore a few.

Real Solar System

• Pros: it's going to naturally feel at least a little more realistic and hard sci-fi; a lot of research, such as how a given set of orbital bodies and paths would be realistically laid out, has already been done for me; people are going to have at least a little easier a time getting invested in something if Earth is involved, versus the planet Bligblorp or whatever (obviously I wouldn't use a silly name, but you get the idea)
• Cons: almost inevitably, it's going to feel like I'm ripping off other Sol-based sci-fi, particularly the Expanse - for instance, it seems like I should avoid having a Ceres station, but also, it makes no sense that there wouldn't be a Ceres station of some kind; also, assuming that the year is only a few hundred years in the future, I'd have to make predictions about the political future of nations of Earth, and inevitably some readers will see my predictions as stupid and wrong, which is fine, but obviously not what I'm going for.

Fictional Solar System

• Pros: I can make it how I want, with whatever planets I want, including - if I so choose - multiple at least semi-habitable planets; similarly, I can also decide what human history has been like up to that point, and no one can point at me and say "the Bligblorpians would never agree to an alliance with the Goobnoobers!" or whatever; this would also allow me to play around a bit more, for instance inventing materials or substances that could theoretically exist but do not appear to exist in our solar system.
• Cons: there would be a lot more work - knowing myself - in developing the planets, working out how big and dense a planet would have to be in order to orbit at this distance, how its many moons would influence that orbit, etc.; this would almost inevitably give the whole thing a bit more of a fantastical feel, which would make the kind of sci-fi I want to write, which leans to the hard side, more difficult to pull off.

I could go on, of course, but I'll leave it there. I've been mulling this over in my head for quite a while now, and while I've made progress in other areas, I've made little to no progress on this particular question. Unfortunately, there are some aspects of worldbuilding, and even plot and characterization, that I just can't tackle until I get this settled. Some people will probably think I'm overthinking it, and maybe I am, I don't know, but it does seem like a pretty fundamentally important issue.

Anyway, this is what I'm dealing with; has anyone else also struggled to answer this question? How did you eventually get past it? What did you decide, and why?

I'm working on a story where Earth and humans are colonized by aliens. I read the series Lilith's Brood probably close to two decades ago and I was blown away by how different it was from the typical alien invasion story.

I think we're all familiar with the "Independence Day" alien invasion format. Aliens invade, try to wipe out mankind, but their invasion force ends up being destroyed. Basically its one form of xenocide then another--aliens try to kill all humans, then humans try to kill all aliens.

In the real world, historically, invasions that result in the complete genocide of the invaded is extraoridinarily rare. In most cases, the invaders and invaded assimilate and eventually become one new people. Lilith's brood has been the only alien colonization story to approach alien colonialism from that perspective and I was wondering if anyone knew of any others.

From the VDCPC (Venikrian Data Collection and Processing Center)

Compiled Log Diary Entries of Jonat Dakh [III Degree in Literature, Philosophy; II Degree in Logic, Ethics; I Degree Molvertian Collective Interdisciplinary Base]     

Dates - redacted

Any statements perceived as slander against the Venikrian Federation or the High Council are to be considered the words of a deserter.  

The sky was a desaturated purple here. That was the first thing I noticed when I arrived. It was the chromium from the glives that reacted with the air.

Dekthra, was the only habitable city on planet Dekthra of the F4 system. A two light year journey from New Earth to Frein Hub, and then a shuttle pod to the F4 system, which only takes about an hour. New Earth still had to work through the sanctions imposed by the Venikrian Commission for Interstellar Transport, blocking access to the L.V. engine and affiliated technology. So travel from New Earth takes a long time.

Dekthra - the planet, did not host kindness. It was known in the quadrant as “the chromium graveyard”. The environment was ripe with hostility. Spores that leak unfamiliar lava, unpredictable storms that poison the breathing air and rain corrosive liquid, and living ground for one of the deadliest creatures ever recorded in the Molvertian Collective Archives, glives.

From an evolutionary perspective, if Dekthra was the barren womb, then the glives were its miracle child. They were similar to vultures in appearance, but with toxic, sharp talons and wings with knife-like feathers that could cut through metal at the edge. They were heavier and had the strength equalling 15 vultures put together. The deadly environment had forged them into psychotic beings that worshipped annihilation and drank lava. They conquered their harsh, oppressive habitat and became the apex predators of the entire system.

These are the first few paras of a short story I'm cooking up and I'd really like some insight.

Seriously, have we found a single tree outside earth? No

Just imagine an alien declaring a war and killing millions cause he wants a piece of paper, would you put that kind of stuff in your story?

I am writting a scifi-fantasy story. The premise of the story world is that iron was specifically removed from the world down to the molecular level. People from earth like worlds keep finding their way there.I am curious as to what the flora would be like

One thing that's currently amusing me quite heavily is the idea that they'd be incredibly good at picking out gifts for people they only recently met. Probably out of a personal collection cause stuff just keeps piling up.

After all. After a while you probably have a pretty good read on people and have been through enough varied circumstances that all it takes is some digging through the pile to find something they'd love.