Tech Comparison: Third Galactic Empire

Materials Science. Imperial durasteel, a tungstentitanium mesh with a cylindrical nanostructure, is the standard for military construction. Processed from metals and silicates easily found throughout the galaxy, durasteel is the most common industrial building material in the galaxy. Entire Imperial systems make their wealth just by breaking down entire asteroid belts or small planets into more durasteel for the galactic market. While extremely strong, durasteel's strength decreases when it is curved. Thus, most Imperial constructions are designed to be sharp and angular.

Power. Imperial hypermass reactors utilize hypermass, a form of highly energetic nonbaryonic matter found in hyperspace. The Empire possesses the largest amount of hypermass reserves in the galaxy, and given the tremendous fuel requirements for a hypermass reactor, this gives the Empire a virtual monopoly on hypermass reactors. The hypermass reactor of a standard Imperial battlestar can provide power equivalent to that of a mainsequence star. However, a side effect of the hypermass reactor is that it produces tremendous amounts of waste heat. This waste heat must be redirected from the reactor as soon as possible, otherwise there is a risk of a meltdown. This makes dumping waste heat a priority for engineers, a problem they typically solve through the use of cooling fins or by routing heat throughout the superstructure of a vessel. Imperial hypermass reactors are also far too large for most planetary vehicles to use, and so most Imperial planetary and small aerospace vehicles use less efficient reactors.

Faster-than-light Travel. The Empire relies on the hyperdrive, one of the fastest forms of travel around the galaxy. Hyperdrives operate by using hypermass as a catalyst for a transdimensional reaction, allowing a ship to access the greater dimensions of hyperspace. From there, a ship can move interstellar distances within a few moments, so long as they are in the right hyperspace lanes, and then exit hyperspace at their destination. An Imperial hyperdrive can transport a spacecraft across the galaxy in a few days. However, hyperdrives require the use of hypermass as a reactive ingredient in order to enter hyperspace. Further, reliance on hyperspace lanes limits the Empire’s power projection capabilities; the lack of hyperspace lanes in some arms of the galaxy led to many systems’ loss to the Federation, which also contributes to the Federation’s dislike of hyperspace.

Energy Weaponry. The standard Imperial weapons are the blaster, turbolaser, and ion cannon. These Imperial weapons are some of the most powerful in the galaxy, but they consume a lot of energy. The blaster fires a discreet “bolt” of high-energy particles, typically light gases such as hydrogen or helium, and can be fired rapidly (albeit at the cost of accuracy). The turbolaser fires a beam of coherent light, although as they are powered by a miniaturized nuclear fission reaction they are incapable of rapid fire and thus used in dedicated anti-armor roles. The ion cannon works similarly to the blaster, except that the particles are ionized in such a way that they disrupt electronic systems such as shields and computers; they are generally ineffective against armor. On the battlefield, Imperial energy weapons are colored blue, in order to distinguish friendly from enemy fire.

Kinetic Weaponry. The Empire generally eschews kinetic weaponry, with the exception of grenade launchers and thermal missiles. This is because of logistics: the Imperial military is massive, and equipping these forces with different calibers of ammunition is a logistical nightmare. Equipping these forces with weapons that can use identical power and ammunition packs greatly eases the logistical difficulties. In space, the Empire favors proton torpedoes for anti-armor roles. Proton torpedoes are, as the name suggests, torpedoes armed with a fusion charge that, once detonated, emits a charged particle beam of protons and neutrons against a target. This beam disrupts the nuclear structure of the target, causing atoms to break apart and release tremendous amounts of energy. While this does not initiate a chain reaction, it allows a proton torpedo to eat through just about any material. A similar mechanism is used by the more advanced photon torpedoes used by the Federation.

Special Weapons. The most advanced Imperial weaponry is often just an upsized version of existing Imperial designs. The superlasers on the super battlestars and the feared World Fortresses are a form of exotic laser, carrying enough firepower to explosively destroy a standard terrestrial planet or to ignite the atmosphere of a gas giant. Imperial nova weapons are similarly designed, often using the tried-and-true hyperlight design. A form of hyperspace energy, hyperlight weapons fire within hyperspace, exiting hyperspace around a large gravitational anomaly such as a star. This causes large portions of the star’s core to enter hyperspace, destabilizing the star and destroying the entire system. Bold and simple, hyperlight weapons allow the Empire to threaten the entire galaxy with annihilation. However, their major enemy, the Federation, is similarly armed, and can destroy the Empire before it is destroyed.

Shields. Imperial shields operate differently from their counterparts in the galaxy. Given the power output of hypermass reactors, Imperial ships often have two types of shields: ray shields and particle shields. The former defend against directed-energy weapons by dispersing redirecting heat from a weapon throughout the ship's hull, allowing the heat to harmlessly radiate away. Particle shields protect the ship from projectiles, such as micrometeorites or missiles. These are arrestor-type shields, and simply redirect a projectile's kinetic energy to the shield generator's inertial dampener. If too much kinetic energy is brought against a particle shield, the generator can short out or, in worst case scenarios, rip itself through the ship's hull. Imperial ships are shielded in sections, allowing areas that take heavy fire to temporarily collapse a shield for recharging, while keeping the other shield sections online. This allows the the ship to maneuver so other portions of the shield can take incoming fire.

Antigravity. Antigravity technology is common, and is a normal fact of life for civilians in urban environments in the form of the speeder. The skies of every major urban center in the Empire is filled with flying speeders; some skies are so crowded that there are designated lanes for speeders. Antigravity is not as common with Imperial ground forces, as the failure of antigravity systems means that a vehicle is incapable of moving without a replacement or repair complex systems, while even a walking vehicle can be powered through more primitive mechanical means.

Computers. Imperial computers are designed to consume far more power and take up more space than they otherwise need to. This is a consequence of the Imperial Rational Church’s edicts, which have retarded computer hardware and software development as they must approve every new development before it can be implemented. These designs are also intended to prevent a hostile artificial intelligence from gaining too much processing power if it infects an Imperial computer; the hope is that the Imperial computer is so slow that the AI itself is slowed and can be countered. For this reason, Imperial computers are not networked, and must either communicate physically or ask for permission codes to communicate wirelessly. Imperial AIs are strictly regulated: they are not permitted to have learning protocols, and are wiped every few months to prevent the possible development of learning protocols. Even then, AIs are frowned upon, and most Imperial computers have no thinking capacity whatsoever.

Automation. The strict edicts of the Imperial Rationalist Church and fear of a machine revolt curb the development of computer technology. Every system, from a factory to a starship, has a strict limit on automation. Human intervention is required on critical steps, making Imperial crew requirements tremendous. This has made Imperial targeting notoriously poor, as Imperial targeting computers are required to request double-checking and confirmation from a human operator; consequently, Imperial ships close in to distances where human reflexes are not a significant handicap.