Manifest Destiny
Authors: JoshB, simFly
Current status: Pre-alpha, prototyping
Contact: Private Message JoshB on the m6 forums [1]
Purpose[edit]
The purpose of Manifest Destiny is to make Orbiter persistent and meaningful. Currently, a player can fly from one place to another and pretend to have accomplished something. With Manifest Destiny, the cargo that a player delivered to the moon last week may become a new base this week. Scenarios are dynamically created and depend upon the results of previous missions. Players can choose to participate in the economy, where they earn credits for accomplishing missions, but must buy fuel and supplies, and repair their ships in order to take on a new mission.
The phrase Manifest Destiny originally referred to the belief that the United States was destined to expand from it's initial Atlantic coast states and territories westward, all the way to the Pacific. The belief was said to be obvious (manifest) and certain (destiny.) This concept is adapts well to space exploration as we also believe it is humanity's destiny to expand upward and colonize space. The Manifest Destiny project timeline, ideals, and infrastructure all reflect this.
Components[edit]
The Manifest Destiny Project is an add-on for Orbiter with these main components:
- Mission MFD - Loads mission files, automatically tracks the status of mission objectives, and saves the results. Missions can be loaded and saved locally or to a server.
- Mission Server - Supports one or more continuous "universes" and economies. Players can check out missions and automatically report results using Mission MFD. The results can affect the rest of the universe for other players in the future.
- Infrastructure - Additional vessels, space stations, and bases to support a rich universe for interesting missions
Infrastructure[edit]
- Salamander - The general purpose heavy-lift glider for transporting up to six TEU containers from Earth to LEO and back
- TEU - Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, adapted from terran shipping containers for space cargo transport
- Wells Fargo - A space station for holding and sorting TEU between different flights
- Stanford - A space colony for 20,000 people with two, counter-rotating toruses at 1 RPM to generate 1 G artificial gravity
- Antimatter probe - Two probes launched in 2016 to investigate naturally occurring antimatter trapped around Earth and the gas giants
- Antimatter collector - Satellite that generates a massive magnetic field to draw in planetary antimatter and trap it for later use
Additional ships are in the design phase. We are also going to include bases from other authors who have agreed to participate in the Manifest Destiny project.
Ideals[edit]
The makers of Manifest Destiny believe in using realistic or near-realistic technology. Certain concessions are made for the sake of playability, but all of the technology and capabilities should be able to be explained within our modern understanding of physics.
| In | Out |
|---|---|
| Limited Antimatter (AM) mining | Free energy for everyone |
| Nuclear/AM propulsion | Subspace propulsion |
| Advanced Physics | Sci-fi Physics |
| Feasible economy | Infinite economy |
| Realistic Technology Timeline | Who invented this overnight?? |
| If you want a big ship, first build it | If you want a big ship, just spawn it |
That said, we have no problem if someone wants to use Mission MFD with a sci-fi ship, or if someone wants to have a separate sci-fi universe. The official Manifest Destiny universe will follow what we believe in, though.
Manifest Destiny History depicts the history of the future, which the timeline between now and the start of our missions.
People[edit]
Manifest Destiny is a project by JoshB and SimFly. JoshB is doing all programming and vehicle prototyping. SimFly does 3-D modeling. Both handle research and cooperate to determine the best design.
Other Contributers[edit]
- anemazoso is meshing cargo cranes, and has agreed to let us integrate his new bases into the Manifest Destiny infrastructure.
- Willy88 created the Manifest Destiny logo
Wanted[edit]
We are looking for:
- People talented in making vessel skins and bases
- People interested in writing missions
We will also consider other integrating other vessels, as long as the ideals above are met and the vessel can be fit into the timeline without much disturbance.