When Humans Encountered The Great 3 | HFY | SciFi Short Stories | Best of HFY

[@joshuaegbert3723]

This one should have been a series

[@bradwolf07]

Agreed 💯

[@SageofStars]

You know, much as I DO love the multipart epics and audio books, sometimes a one off short story with HFY is really relaxing.

[@SageofStars]

Never forget the first rule of space warship design. There's no such thing as 'multirole' You have battleships with guns bigger than their engines, and as much firepower along the hull as possible. Then you have screen ships, ones with as much armor(and if possible shields) as can be fitted into the largest hull you can safely construct). From there, formation is either a large ball or sphere that can open up to allow for fire between the screen ships. Or, if you have enough fine control, a coneshape, with the only 'opening' being at the tip of the cone, out of which you pour hot screaming death. Mind, this is for ship fights. If you want REAL fights, you start with throwing planets at enemy planets, and then go up from there.

[@inso80]

I think fantasy can have whatever rules they please.

[@inso80]

Also why is this "the first rule" and in what setting?

[@SageofStars]

@@inso80 I mean, it's the first because for big space battles, it pretty much IS the first one to do them. Lensmen, EE Doc Smith's work from so long ago that his first stories actually talked about air resistance in space in the ship designs. As for why design like that? Maximization of resources. Having a general weapon is good, something that can shield itself and fight in equal measure, but it will lose to something more specialized 9 times out of 10, and you always have to scale up, and in space, there's a LOT of room to go up.

[@inso80]

@@SageofStars So, you are referring to fantasy from the 60´s? Are you joking or something, because I don´t get it. There is a lot of up in space? I was assuming you could back some of that up with actual doctrine. A pebble at orbital velocity is a pebble at orbital velocity.

[@SageofStars]

@@inso80 I mean, shields being mentioned means it's science fiction. We don't have those yet...we are working our way to it though. But no, this is still a fictional thing, just like the story I'm commenting on. As for the timescale, we knew how space worked in the 60s. Lensmen's first part was written back in the 30s(actually the author started in the 20s). This is one of those primordial works of scifi, and one of the ones that goes up the highest. Heck, the trope Lensmen Arms race is named for it, and is about the steady escalation of the conflict in the novels, which starts out with single ships, following the doctrine described above, and eventually gets up to using entire planets as projectiles, and then farther. The farthest reach of the series being two planets, one made entirely of antimatter, both accelerated beyond light speed inside a pocket universe where the laws of physics have been altered, and then returned to normal space so they slam together around an enemy world. Should be noted that STILL doesn't kill the things on the planet, that takes a psychic battle with some new human types who will be the founding members of a new, superior, race...not in the genetic way, but in the psychic power way.

[@bradwolf07]

The Slaver Admiral demanding the Humans give him back his property? Oof, that's not going to end well for him

[@lightlegion_]

Wow! You’re doing an amazing job.

[@firedad7341]

Nice...thank you

[@stevenbuckley1416]

I love the story, if only we could be that future now, and how it would be better for us.

[@hillbillyhippipe]

greetings storytelling this story is very good man i liked it a lot two free slaves that are children despicable just too bad that didn't have more chapters to the story thank you for the story...

[@MichaelWinter-ss6lx]

🚀🏴‍☠️🎸

[@hillbillyhippipe]

greetings storytelling this is a very good story man i liked it a lot but too bad you did not extend the story to more chapters farewell...