Admiral Valdemar wrote:I never knew the Sulaco had FTL. I assumed they used highly efficient STL drives for interstellar travel and relied on cryo-sleep chambers, but if they have something that can cross light-years within a week, it's certainly an improvement.
I recall reading in the old Aliens RPG game, I think it was based on Pheonix Command, that humans had to use the cryo chambers because some aspect of FTL travel was harmful to conscious humans.
The CMTM also has it being due to relativistic effects in FTL being dangerous/unpleasant.
Of course, it might just be a cost-saving measure.
AV wrote:Yeah, but see, I'm not thinking straight. Blindingly obvious isn't obvious enough after a day's work to me.
It would be interesting to see if the intention when they made Alien was for it to be FTL or STL, mind.
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It could go either way, given they may have started STL (we never once see FTL mentioned in the first film) and progressed to FTL after a few decades in the time the Nostromo was out mining. If they had gone at high relativistic speeds with some high efficiency drive like a catalysed RAIR, then they'd only have very short subjective time periods on ship, but millennia could fly by in the real-world.
Well, in universe, that probably doesn't hold up - Ripley was meant to have returned in time for her daughter's next birthday on Earth, IIRC.
Last edited by NecronLord on 2006-11-02 01:57pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Admiral Valdemar wrote:It could go either way, given they may have started STL (we never once see FTL mentioned in the first film) and progressed to FTL after a few decades in the time the Nostromo was out mining. If they had gone at high relativistic speeds with some high efficiency drive like a catalysed RAIR, then they'd only have very short subjective time periods on ship, but millennia could fly by in the real-world.
Nope, because Ripley had a child before the events of Alien transpired, and she was expecting to see her for her birthday. If this was a STL journey, to a planetoid in another star system - how would she have the time to have a child, leave on this job, and still expect to return for her birthday?
It would help if we knew where LV-426 was. If it was only another system away (say, something no further than Tau Ceti), she could have been back for a birthday, can't recall which one.
We still never see any mention of the drive the Sulaco has. The ship through the movie exists in real-space, so it must be assumed they dropped out of whatever hyperspace or other FTL mode they use prior to the audience witnessing events.
IIRC, the CMTM says that the Aliens-verse FTL causes relativistic time compression - from the point of view of the crew, more time has passed onboard ship than outside. Hence the cryosleep. the Nostromo may have taken a month or so from Earth's POV, but onboard ship, 50 years might have gone by.
"So you want to live on a planet?"
"No. I think I'd find it a bit small and wierd."
"Aren't they dangerous? Don't they get hit by stuff?"
Admiral Valdemar wrote:It would help if we knew where LV-426 was. If it was only another system away (say, something no further than Tau Ceti), she could have been back for a birthday, can't recall which one.
We still never see any mention of the drive the Sulaco has. The ship through the movie exists in real-space, so it must be assumed they dropped out of whatever hyperspace or other FTL mode they use prior to the audience witnessing events.
According to Wikipedia LV-426 is in the Zeta II Reticuli system which in real life is 39.5 LY from Earth.
This space is open to any inquiries at the moment...
andrewgpaul wrote:IIRC, the CMTM says that the Aliens-verse FTL causes relativistic time compression - from the point of view of the crew, more time has passed onboard ship than outside. Hence the cryosleep. the Nostromo may have taken a month or so from Earth's POV, but onboard ship, 50 years might have gone by.
I was actually thinking whilst just walking the dog now, that a reverse relativistic effect would be better for us, given all you'd have to do would be to put the crew in cryo-sleep and hope the ship is built to last. You'd be able to cruise at lighthugging speed, but the subjective time would be for the outside universe observers, not you. That means you could circumnavigate the Milky Way in a decade real-time, but ship-time would be a hundred millennia or so.
The Wiki info on the location of LV-426 helps. It'd still be too far away to be done by relativistic STL ships though and allow Ripley to see her daughter, so I guess that means FTL we never see in use.
andrewgpaul wrote:IIRC, the CMTM says that the Aliens-verse FTL causes relativistic time compression - from the point of view of the crew, more time has passed onboard ship than outside. Hence the cryosleep. the Nostromo may have taken a month or so from Earth's POV, but onboard ship, 50 years might have gone by.
I was actually thinking whilst just walking the dog now, that a reverse relativistic effect would be better for us, given all you'd have to do would be to put the crew in cryo-sleep and hope the ship is built to last. You'd be able to cruise at lighthugging speed, but the subjective time would be for the outside universe observers, not you. That means you could circumnavigate the Milky Way in a decade real-time, but ship-time would be a hundred millennia or so.
The Wiki info on the location of LV-426 helps. It'd still be too far away to be done by relativistic STL ships though and allow Ripley to see her daughter, so I guess that means FTL we never see in use.
It makes you wonder where the Nostromo was coming from with that ore refinery, it must have been pretty far out from Earth.
It stands to reason that as long as they had a sick crewmate (and then a parasite loose on the ship), they would stay in real-time, then.
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FTL is also heavily implied in both Aliens and Alien3 when there is discussion over whether anyone will be available to come help them. As I recall, the Marines in Aliens couldn't expect help for several weeks, and the Company showed up on Fury within days.
Acheron was fairly remote. The colony administrator complains about how he never asks 'why' to any of his orders, because it takes two weeks to send the message to earth and two weeks to get back a reply, and the answer is always 'don't ask'.
