Thread:Zillafire101/@comment-4960835-20160524105213/@comment-25309944-20160818061422

@Gorzill Thanks, that's a very helpful information dump. It seems like France's accel space projects are going to soak up a couple million francs (and no small number of specialists) before it figures out those limitations, and a couple more million before it realizes those are impregnable. Even as, one after another, the accel projects fall to cancellation, it's likely the missile program will continue churning away on a professor's computer somewhere. Meanwhile, accel physics will likely continue to be investigated by French academia in the abstract, and there's very little France can do about that.

If the UPD is so upset about French investigations into the nature of Accel space, the French are pretty open about this. The UPD can just ask them to stop and they can talk about it?

Just to make sure I understand the rules, these are the limitations of accel space:
 * 1) All ships in it are invulnerable. Period. This means that once they enter Accel Space, they cannot be touched, and can drop out at any point in realspace.
 * 2) Because ships moving in accel space cannot be touched or harmed in any way, except by expensive (read: impractical) interdiction, ships using accel space cannot be deterred from moving through a region. What I mean be deterred: the potential of being harmed cannot be used to make them change course, or consider certain zones (e.g. national territories) off limits.
 * 3) In effect, because ships using accel space cannot be deterred from being anywhere at any given time, strategy and tactics on a grand scale is effectively useless. Blockades, fortifications, front lines, control over shipping lanes, control over choke points, thoughtful allocations of troops based on astrography and strategic needs, and even spreading your forces out, makes little sense when you can just drop out at any point in space and you're invulnerable in transit.
 * 4) No other faction but the Persan and their descendants may use, know the details of, or see (directly) into accel space due to the fact that (1) it will drive any non-Persan insane and possibly kill them due to insurmountable physical limitations, and (2) the UPD will be very cross.
 * 5) However, it is possible to develop infrastructure which can detect the shadow of craft passing through accel space without too many ill effects.
 * 6) Accel space is just as fast, if not faster (unclear) than hyperspace travel.
 * 7) Accel space users will be unlikely to develop other FTL tech operating outside of these rules.

Let me know if I'm incorrect on any of the above points. I'm a little concerned that accel space might be a little bit unbalanced when weighed up against the limitations of hyperspace, bypassing some entirely. It should not be forgotten, though, that you clearly put thought into compensating for the benefits of accel space, and that making it balanced in a military sense isn't exactly the point for you. It is a central concern for me, though, and the first thing I'm like to notice. Let me know what you think.

Night, Charles