Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist

Re:Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist by Semiapies on Thursday April 28, 2016 @07:12PM (#11592565)

You could direct the waste in two beams perpendicular to the plane of the galaxy, in order to balance net thrust.

I question how stealthy that would really make you, though. If someone was bothering to look for stealthy civilizations, they'd just have to scatter some observatories around their region of the galaxy, then watch. Eventually, your structure would occult a star from the POV of one of those observatories, or they'd pick up your beam scattering in interstellar gasses or dust clouds.

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Re:Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist by breischl on Thursday April 28, 2016 @07:25PM (#11592643)

Of course you'd need two beams. If you used a single beam it would be a stellar rocket... which might be fun in different ways. Certainly gives the phrase "interstellar warfare" a different meaning.

I realize this is all space opera, not hard SF. It's still fun.

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Re:Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist by Mtinie on Thursday April 28, 2016 @08:02PM (#11592827)

"But Sir, these are the correct stellar coordinates for the Zorgoph home world! They should be right here!"

"There's nothing here, Captain. Nothing at all. So you're saying that they moved an entire star system? In the last solar cycle?"

Good times, good times.

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Re:Type III Societies (Apparently) Do Not Exist by Grishnakh on Friday April 29, 2016 @05:05PM (#11598756)

Maybe they figured out how to create an artificial wormhole and direct their waste heat into that....

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