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[Vaun Erryk]

My impression (thematic and continuity concerns aside) is that the use of drones achieves the same end in terms of explaining the end result, without raising as many awkward questions to be answered.

"We use drones to grab the stuff -- like camera drones, you don't see them, but they do the job." against "We use teleporters -- but you can't teleport items between stations because w, you can't teleport things on or off enemy ships because x, you still need to use stargates because y, none of this stuff works in null either despite the lack of CONCORD because z...".

[Desiderya]

Still.
Where is the benefit if you'd include teleporters. I think that it'd make things insanely more difficult because you'd have to restrict it heavily while offering what exactly?

[Morwen Lagann]

Regarding warp drives, I'm not actually sure that warping works in lore the same way it does via game mechanics, with being able to see everything as you move.

I seem to recall the old scientific article saying it works a lot more like the MJDs work now, where you blink out of existence in your origin position, then reappear some time later at your destination.

[Lyn Farel]

The question is rather "what do we see at such speeds ?" With a microwarpdrive, it is still sublight, but with a classic warpdrive...

For microjumpdrives and jumpdrives, that's different, it's (mostly) instantaneous, like through a wormhole between 2 points.

Speculation : warp drives only partially distort space to make distances get a lot smaller, where jump drives distort it completely to make the distance between 2 points null.

[Horatius Caul]

Regarding warp drives, I'm not actually sure that warping works in lore the same way it does via game mechanics, with being able to see everything as you move.

I seem to recall the old scientific article saying it works a lot more like the MJDs work now, where you blink out of existence in your origin position, then reappear some time later at your destination.

The old scientific article says that warp travel works on a basis of quantum vacuum states.

No, I don't know what that means either.

[Morwen Lagann]

I may be thinking of some chronicles or other stuff then.

[Silver Night]

Regarding warp drives, I'm not actually sure that warping works in lore the same way it does via game mechanics, with being able to see everything as you move.

I seem to recall the old scientific article saying it works a lot more like the MJDs work now, where you blink out of existence in your origin position, then reappear some time later at your destination.

The old scientific article says that warp travel works on a basis of quantum vacuum states.

No, I don't know what that means either.

As I recall, there was something about a frictionless space bubble something something quantum something something faster than light something something.

[Aria Jenneth]

Regarding warp drives, I'm not actually sure that warping works in lore the same way it does via game mechanics, with being able to see everything as you move.

I seem to recall the old scientific article saying it works a lot more like the MJDs work now, where you blink out of existence in your origin position, then reappear some time later at your destination.

The old scientific article says that warp travel works on a basis of quantum vacuum states.

No, I don't know what that means either.

As in so many things, you can work out what the principle is by finding what works to stop it.

As I understand it, a warp drive functions by sucking energy out from around a ship, leaving the ship very "loosely stuck" in the universe. A useful approach might be to conceptualize a ship in warp as having been cut off from the universe, existing as an isolated pocket. Changing that pocket's position with respect to the rest of the universe is now much easier, and need not involve doing business with such pesky constants as C.

This is the impression I got from reading up on warp scramblers, which function by pumping energy into the "vacuum" envelope the warp drive is trying to create. This also explains why weaker scramblers can be defeated by stronger warp drives, and vice versa-- a stronger scrambler pours more energy in; a stronger warp drive bails more energy out.

Interesting idea. Still vile pseudoscience, but conceptually interesting.

[Silver Night]

It has also been used to explain why our ships seem to be flying in something like a light oil, rather than a vacuum, and have a top speed when not in warp. When not in use the warp drive exerts a sort of 'drag' on the ship, limiting its maximum velocity. That part is player, rather than dev, created though afaik.

[Ché Biko]

Vaun, Desiderya: I don't think I can provide better answers to your concerns than I have, I would just be going in circles.
I can only add some of the questions the Elf Drones can raise: How is it that they work instantly, even when extracting living human beings? How come even a shuttle carries enough drones to instantly teleport thousands of m3 instantly? Why do they only work when within certain ranges? Why can't I blow them up to stop people from stealing my stuffs? Why can't I use them to disable other drones? Why do they still work when I'm smartbombing?
I think Aristotle would have something to contribute to this thread. 

Oh, and here's the Warp Drives article.

[Vaun Erryk]

I think this has reached the point where one side is set against them well enough and one side so firmly in favour of them that continuing isn't going to lead very far in either direction, then.

[Lyn Farel]

Lol, depleted vacuum. Isn't a vacuum already depleted of everything by definition ? 

[Iwan Terpalen]

You'd think so, but no.

[Lyn Farel]

Sorry, I confused vacuum with void.

[Desiderya]

Vaun, Desiderya: I don't think I can provide better answers to your concerns than I have, I would just be going in circles.
I can only add some of the questions the Elf Drones can raise: How is it that they work instantly, even when extracting living human beings? How come even a shuttle carries enough drones to instantly teleport thousands of m3 instantly? Why do they only work when within certain ranges? Why can't I blow them up to stop people from stealing my stuffs? Why can't I use them to disable other drones? Why do they still work when I'm smartbombing?
I think Aristotle would have something to contribute to this thread. 

Oh, and here's the Warp Drives article.

Fair enough, but I still think the questions the elf drones raise require far less handwavium than the 'solution' to them. If you begin to slice down the game mechanics into small bits and try to explain them from a realism point of view you're not going to get far. The issues you're describing are mostly game mechanical limits, whereas the reasons stated against teleporters are more firmly rooted in a lore perspective. So, yes, I can understand why Star Trek style teleportation does a better job at explaining what we see in the client.
However, what we see in the client is not necessarily what happens in the game world.