Can the Empire build a ring-world?

[His Divine Shadow]

A ring-world, a much more logical concept than a dysonsphere(atleast an enclosed DS), can the Empire build one of those? Or maybe the Old Republic?
I'd like to see such a scene in Ep. III if so.

[jegs2]

A ring-world, a much more logical concept than a dysonsphere(atleast an enclosed DS), can the Empire build one of those? Or maybe the Old Republic?
I'd like to see such a scene in Ep. III if so.

As an uneducated guess: Yes.

[SirNitram]

A ring-world, a much more logical concept than a dysonsphere(atleast an enclosed DS), can the Empire build one of those? Or maybe the Old Republic?
I'd like to see such a scene in Ep. III if so.

HDS, if someone tried to make Ep III with everything you wanted in it, it'd by five hours long with nothing of an actual plot.

I don't expect Lucas to go over 2 without an actual plot.

[Howedar]

I believe so.

[His Divine Shadow]

HDS, if someone tried to make Ep III with everything you wanted in it, it'd by five hours long with nothing of an actual plot.

Please prove that, I don't remember having asked for anything really, not even on the dedicated threads about it, I only said it'd be fun to see the location, it's not like one has to skip a plot for that.
I also have a very hard time to think about things you can only include at the expense of a plot.

[Darth Wong]

Let's say the Ringworld has a diameter of 200 million km, a width of 500 km, and a shell thickness of 2 km. This would require more than 600 billion cubic kilometres of structure. If we assume similar bulk density to DS2, then we're talking about more than a quarter-million times the material requirement of DS2.

That's a considerable endeavour, but then again, DS2 was built in secret, in six months, using the freighters of a single private corporation. Give the Empire 20 years and a public, widespread effort, and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible.

Of course, it would be much easier if they use a dimmer star so they can cut down on the diameter.

[His Divine Shadow]

I'm thinking it might be possible that some could have been built during the few thousand years of the Old Republic too, they certainly had the resources and time on their hands.

[Darth Servo]

I figure someone should state the obvious: The Empire can do what ever the hell Lucas wants them to do.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

The using of a star like ours is needed for the life on the surface. The purpose of Ringworld was massive square footage, Lebenstraum for the breeders. Breeders are fussy, and don't like "strange" conditions.The type of sun chosen was to best simulate their homeworld.
Not to mention the "meteor defence."

Many smaller Ringworlds around the smallest of stars would definitly work better. Just how small do stars get?
Update. While doing this reply, I googled the answer, 40 times Jupiter's mass is the smallest possible. Next question, do stars that small have enough mass in the rest or the system to build one?
Yet an other case of the biological imperative screwing up the Pak"s plans.
If they could just get over the "hooray for me and to hell with all others" mentality.


But then, they wouldn't be Pak now, would they?

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

The using of a star like ours is needed for the life on the surface. The purpose of Ringworld was massive square footage, Lebenstraum for the breeders. Breeders are fussy, and don't like "strange" conditions.The type of sun chosen was to best simulate their homeworld.
Not to mention the "meteor defence."

Many smaller Ringworlds around the smallest of stars would definitly work better. Just how small do stars get?
Update. While doing this reply, I googled the answer, 40 times Jupiter's mass is the smallest possible. Next question, do stars that small have enough mass in the rest or the system to build one?
Yet an other case of the biological imperative screwing up the Pak"s plans.
If they could just get over the "hooray for me and to hell with all others" mentality.


But then, they wouldn't be Pak now, would they?

Except any ringworld builder would be pretty much constrained to stars of at least 80% of Sol's mass (K-class stars or better.) Red dwarves have a nasty habit of producing humongous flares that temporarily increase their luminosity by entire orders of magnitude. A ringworld around such a star would be scrubbed clean by a superflare like that.

[Darth Wong]

Except any ringworld builder would be pretty much constrained to stars of at least 80% of Sol's mass (K-class stars or better.) Red dwarves have a nasty habit of producing humongous flares that temporarily increase their luminosity by entire orders of magnitude. A ringworld around such a star would be scrubbed clean by a superflare like that.

You're assuming that the ringworld is open to the starlight, instead of using solar energy collectors to power interior lighting or a system of shutters or energy shields to block out light in order to protect from flares and simulate the cycles of night and day. The whole point of a ringworld or Dyson sphere is solar energy collection; it does not necessarily have to be completely open to the star's light.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Except any ringworld builder would be pretty much constrained to stars of at least 80% of Sol's mass (K-class stars or better.) Red dwarves have a nasty habit of producing humongous flares that temporarily increase their luminosity by entire orders of magnitude. A ringworld around such a star would be scrubbed clean by a superflare like that.

You're assuming that the ringworld is open to the starlight, instead of using solar energy collectors to power interior lighting or a system of shutters or energy shields to block out light in order to protect from flares and simulate the cycles of night and day. The whole point of a ringworld or Dyson sphere is solar energy collection; it does not necessarily have to be completely open to the star's light.

Even if there were energy shields protecting the surface of the construct from the blast of stellar radiation from a red dwarf's flare, that sort of occasional drastic variation in luminosity still isn't going to be good for the ringworld's inhabitants. Of course, anybody who builds a ringworld construct around a flare-star anyway probably deserves what's coming to them. In the long run, the operating costs of such a habitat would be lower if they built it around more stable sorts of stars, such as really bright Ms or Ks.

[CaptainChewbacca]

I don't think the OR ever built one. Remember, wholescale terraforming was an expensive and difficult thing back then, according to Fey'lya during the Cammaas incident.

If that was expensive, they probably didn't build any ringworlds. The Empire could, but it doesn't need one.

[SPOOFE]

I think "necessity" is being thrown out the window here, Chewie. People don't always do things that they don't "need" to do (like the pyramids of Egypt).

I would say that it's almost a certainty that the Empire could construct a Ringworld, without significantly harming its economy.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

The solar flares were stopped by the "shadow squares" pulling in tight, to block the flare. Charged particles would get in at the edges. (The Ringword Engineers)
Ringworld was NOT suposed to work on autopilot. It was just so well built, that it ALMOST ran itself until the idiots in Harloprillar's race dismounted the station keeping thrusters for starship engines. Let's cannibalise our artificial world. Fucking idiots. What kind of greedy short sighted fools would risk destroying their only habitable world, for material gain? (major sarcasm)
Would the magnetic fields used in the meteor defence be able to act as a particle shield?
The shadow squares stop rays, the field, (Pak are VERY good at improvising and reconfiguring) particles.Still, the flares would make station keeping a mondo bitch, even without the danger of radiation.
You are right about the PAK not using smaller unstable stars though. Such a risk to the breeders would be intolerable.
Again the biological imperative makes the real decision.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

Ringworld was also make under the assumption there was no such thing as FTL. The room, (the #1 reason to work so hard) and the defendability was why it was chosen. The Pak NEEDED the room.If they had just brought enough Thalium oxide with them!
That is why the Pak are no more. The biological imperative skews their logic. They can't do the best solution when it conflicts.

That and Larry Niven was better at coming up with fantastic ideas than practical ones!
He always wrote his best, when colaborating with Jerry Pournelle. JP had a much better understanding of human nature, politics, history, and the military. Boy could Larry come up with some awesome skellitons for Jerry to flesh out!

Sidebar, and attempted hijack. The Pak are famous for reverse engineering, with crossover tech and new improvements, just SEEING something done. If they ever saw hyperdrive in action, well!
If they ever made a deal with the Outsiders, kiss the non Pak in this quadrant goodbye!
Assuming they didn't try to kill the Outsiders on sight, and maybe get a NASTY surprise from these "pacifist" traders.
If the Pak COULD believe in the nuetralty/harmlessness of the Outsiders, they would have much to sell, and much to buy.

[Sriad]

Although they aren't as good for solar energy collection, the Habitats of the Culture are much easier to build than a ringworld. They don't actually encircle the star, they're just rings a few million miles in diameter that are spun a little off their axis to produce a day/night cycle and gravity. The Empire could definately build those.

[Sriad]

...That was posted before I read the Dyson Sphere thread, where Orbitals were mentioned several times.

But yea, using it's massive automated manufacture capabilities, the Empire could construct a ringworld.

[Enforcer Talen]

is there any more info on the ringworld? Ive only read the first.

[Howedar]

Read Engineers. Its better.

[Enforcer Talen]

been looking for some years.

[Soulman]

As far as I know a ringworld doesn't actually have a minimum size as it just orbits a star instead of being built around a star as a dyson sphere is. That would mean that even the Earth Alliance from B5 could build at least dozens as they could pretty much just be slices of Babylon 5.

[Companion Cube]

Halo!

[YT300000]

Halo!

Yes! A mini-ringworld around a planet!

A single planetary organization could do that, in a small amount of time.

[kojikun]

without the ability to actuate the planets position, having the ring around a planet is risky, youd have to adjust the position of the entire ring not just the hub at the center.