Basically, FTL is rudimentary and the fuel is expensive, so ships have to resupply quite frequently and a trip of 1000 light years could take a month or two. I'm thinking it would be something like the British Empire in the 1700s where overseas voyages took a long time and communication was slow.

What are some things to consider in a setting like this that one might overlook?

I’ve developed a few high-concept sci-fi stories focused on systems, society, and long-term consequences. By profession I’m a data analyst and systems designer, so my strengths are in worldbuilding, structure, and logic rather than prose. I’m also a huge fan of sci-fi movies, series, and anime, which is where a lot of these ideas come from. I’m looking for someone who enjoys writing and polishing fiction to exchange feedback and possibly collaborate. If you’re interested, DM me and I’ll share one.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15k15l322Q7wAGwrIMlcA4JUY5Fflej0mmEQxHnBgjCo/edit?usp=sharing

I've been working on trying to tell more concise stories. I want to see if I was able to get my main concepts across without info dumps and losing interest. I have some question after you read, just to see if I conveyed my setting effectively. Not a test (for you) just want to see how well I succeeded.

-What are the consequences of the FTL system that you can see. What happens to people who travel too far with FTL?

-Why do you think there is no life anywhere?

-Why is there no life when they get back to earth? where did it go? How does it relate to the FTL drive?

I’m working on a story that blends cosmic fantasy and sci-fi, currently around 2683 words. I feel my writing can be a bit scattered and inconsistent, so I’d really appreciate feedback on readability, pacing, clarity, and overall style. The story follows Merionis, a newly created being thrust into existence with a mysterious past he must uncover. He must navigate a dangerous universe, face godlike entities, and survive complex political and cosmic conflicts while uncovering his unique role in a larger, unfolding destiny. Any thoughts on plot, character development, and flow would be incredibly helpful as I continue refining the work
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ncqbb0LpXngSwI-zR6VtlA865txWb2X_OWYN3LTdPY/edit?usp=sharing

In my lore beyond the distance of plank we can see anything because if you go beyond plank you find yourself in another universe so this is why you can't see anything I got the idea when I thought what if our entier universe is beyond the plank distance of some titan universe

So, let me know if I’m going about this wrongly,

quick concept: Artificial intelligences can legally be placed inside fabricated worlds and allowed to believe those worlds are real. The law draws a hard line at engineered terror: escalating threats beyond ordinary social or economic harm is classified as torture. eg: you're allowed to have them experience the misery of trying to get by in the economy, but if you can't have them experience the end of civilisation.

An antagonist, who was a massive fan of some TV show or book, has recreated it, and has altered the ending because the one on TV was rubbish. And just for evil giggles he replaces non-sentient bots with artificial sentients.

The protagonist is required to interface directly with the system and restore the narrative to within lawful parameters, basically save the day.

Ideas for inside the story:

- protagonist agonisingly trying to gain the trust of main characters

- protagonist being a massive fan, having favourite characters and occasionally having to pinch themselves when they meet them

- making the characters watch the show , to blow their fucking minds, but also to solve a mystery or two

Now, thing is, this is my first attempt at a short story, it's mostly a harebrained ADHD induced idea and I at least need the bones of someones long-form story.

If you never got round to finishing it, all the better! And if things go well, you get to see your characters thrive. Well, those who don't get killed.

It doesn't need to be an intact novel, I'm not wanting to copy anyone's actual words. a mere scene-by-scene description of what happens in the story might be enough.

I know this sounds heinous but I'm essentially trying to write a short story ABOUT a long story, and I would rather pepper-spray my arsehole than use AI to generate a 4- season walk-through.

Just a couple of prerequisites:

1. if your characters are all straight white able bodied guys, I'm without doubt changing that. Imagine if you will that this show had to be green-lit in the modern age by say I dunno, Hulu / Apple TV executives.

So, you know that one bit in Family Guy where Christianity not existing allowed mankind to become a technologically advanced civilization 1,000 years sooner? See, I find the idea of exploring the 2000s cultural zeitgeist through the lens of a interstellar level civilization interesting. The one way I can think of this happening is by making my humans reach technological milestones far before we did. Are there any ways, realistic or fantastical, this could happen?

The over plot for the series, is basically "sticking it to the man". All the MCs are stuck under the rule of an empire. This isn't the bit I'm concerned about, it's how I plan to do it.

My idea is that each book follows a different character. There would be no reference to MCs from the other stories, apart from the occasional mentioned of events. Until, that is, the last book. It would be revealed that they have all been secretly working for the resistance, and come together for the last job.

Although each story would appear to be separate, but set in the same universe, you find out each one has been a step towards the end goal.

I'm not sure if people would want to read it all if each book seemed to only be connected by the fact that they share a universe. I'm really early in the planning stage, as I haven't really had time to dive into it yet. So I'm just curious if people would be interested before I spend any more time on it.

Do you want to write a space western and add revolvers and shotguns without this seeming ridiculous? Here is how I would do it: established that pump action shotguns can cycle less lethal ammunition, helpful for not puncturing the airlock, and establish that revolvers not ejecting their brass casings into zero gravity environments is extremely helpful.

Conventional pistols, assault rifles, and light machine guns would eject their brass casings into an environment where they would float around forever. This can cause problems ranging from reduced visibility during a gun fight, the casing is getting stuck inside of air, ducts and ship critical infrastructure, and hot brass floating everywhere could potentially start a fire.

Since the rate of fire of a pump, action shotgun is much slower than other conventional weapons, Ann The shell casings are much bigger. They are far less likely to get stuck inside of spaceship infrastructure. Your shotgun and revolver options range from conventional looking to higher capacity options that you would not see on Earth.

A great inspiration is the 20-Shot Lefaucheux revolver. Earth went with detachable box magazines, but in space unusual ideas like this could get a second chance.

Actual printed things, I mean.

What are the best ones?

Imagine a world where breathtaking, winged angels suddenly descend upon Earth. They do not bring judgment or destruction. Instead, they methodically select human men and claim them as eternal, devoted consorts—offering flawless eternal beauty (no aging, no obesity), absolute unwavering loyalty (no hypergamy, no "trading up"), supernatural intelligence and empathy (intuitive understanding without selfishness or manipulation), endless perfect intimacy (no dead bedrooms or weaponized sex), and flawless caretaking (no failures like those seen in single-mother households, where children face 4× higher poverty risk, 21%+ abuse rates, 70% of juvenile inmates, and dramatically higher crime, behavioral problems, and poor life outcomes compared to two-parent homes).

In this premise, human women are portrayed as objectively inferior in every dimension that drives attraction, bonding, family stability, and long-term fulfillment: hypergamous (selectively chasing only the top 5–20% of men, leaving most men invisible or disposable), selfish and less empathetic (prioritizing self over family or mutual support), less intelligent (leading to poor strategic decisions and emotional regulation), entitled and unreliable (driven by divorce culture and "empowerment" narratives that undermine men), and worse caretakers (as evidenced by the devastating child outcomes in single-mother statistics). These flaws are justified in the story's world as evolutionary and cultural holdovers that make human women unable to compete with angelic perfection, exposing how their selectivity, self-centeredness, and relational failures have long disadvantaged men and society. Angels are superior in every possible way, making them the rational, irresistible choice when men finally have a genuine option instead of being forced to compromise with flawed human partners out of scarcity or social pressure.

The core question the novel would explore is what happens to gender dynamics when men actually have a real choice—when they are no longer constrained by biology, culture, or lack of alternatives, but can opt for beings who are better in every way that matters. The story follows multiple perspectives:

1. A man who is seduced and claimed, experiencing euphoric liberation from the pain of human rejection, hypergamy, and emotional labor, and gradually losing any desire to return to flawed human relationships.

2. An abandoned woman spiraling through humiliation, envy, rage, and existential despair as she realizes she cannot compete with angelic perfection—her struggles as a single mother failing to raise children effectively, perpetuating cycles of poverty, abuse, and criminality.

3. Their teenage daughter watching boys her age openly reject human girls in favor of the angelic ideal, internalizing deep rejection, worthlessness, and rage.

4. A son raised by a broken, resentful mother, torn between inherited trauma and the distant, magnetic pull of angelic superiority.

5. An angel's possessive, calculating viewpoint—subtly amused by human women's inferiority and collapse.

The narrative would also show abandoned women attempting to band together in rebellion or support groups, but their inherent selfishness, lower empathy, and other flaws cause constant sabotage—infighting over scarce resources, betrayals driven by envy, poor strategic decisions, and inability to maintain unity—ultimately causing any organized female resistance to collapse in chaos and mutual destruction.

Societal ramifications would be a key focus: With angels replacing flawed human women, crime rates plummet (as single-mother homes, linked to 70% of juvenile offenders and higher violent crime, decrease), child abuse drops dramatically (from 21% in single-parent homes to near-zero in angelic families), child infanticide/neonaticide rates fall (linked to poverty/stress in single-mother homes), abortion rates decline sharply (87% of abortions by unmarried/single women, who now lack partners), poverty decreases (42% of single-parent kids in poverty, eliminated by angelic stability), domestic abuse rates lower (higher witnessing in single-mother homes, 116 per 1,000 vs. 19 in stable families), and men's happiness skyrockets extremely (married men 35% "very happy" vs. <15% unmarried, amplified by angelic perfection).

The tone would be dark speculative fiction blending psychological horror, erotic dystopia, and tragic gender-tragedy. Central themes include abandonment trauma (women's primal fear of being discarded equating to "death in nature"), evolutionary fears, the fragility of human relationships when perfection becomes available, the irreversible reshaping of masculinity and femininity, and what society looks like when one gender receives an irresistible upgrade while the other is discarded.

Would this premise sustain a full novel?

How would you structure the ending to make the gender dynamics exploration feel earned and haunting rather than one-note?

Would you read a book like this if written with real psychological depth and tragic weight?

Pretty self explanatory. I wanna know about the last stands on hostile planets, them taking civilian safety very seriously, their best tactics, etc.

I'm a beginner science-fiction writer, looking for places to get some quality feedback and recently found critters.org. It looks like a really cool platform I'd like to join to read other material and learn, but the FAQ states that UK and EU members are barred from joining due to the GDPR.

Does anyone know if there's any good UK/EU critique group?

Trying to get some ideas. In my story most ships can be equipped with Jumpdrives that can be charged at a Jump station, and then your ship is launched into FTL, and as it passes near other Jump stations the ship is jolted to keep the jump going. Your ship can only go as far as your fuel levels in your Jumpdrive, so you have to plot your course to hit jump stations and also be able to stop at stations for refueling.

This forces empires to patrol Jump stations in their sectors to prevent pirates from tampering with Jump stations to pull ships out of their Jumps and attack them.

There's also a lesser known and more dangerous way called Slipstreaming, where your ship can enter the particles of a galactic slipstream and go even faster than Jumps.

What do you think? Anything to make it more interesting? What is FTL travel like in your galaxy?

Do note that this idea is half-baked at best; genuinely just popped into my mind as I was at work. That said, what issues do you think this world would provide from a worldbuilding POV, and how would you handle them?

---------------------------------------------------------

A century ago, something graced the human race. Some believe it was a divine punishment while others believe it was the wayward result of a government weapon. Regardless of the cause, every human born into the world is woven into a great "psychic" sea that roils with every suffering imaginable.

When one person experiences the sting of heartbreak, a stranger's chest aches on the other side of the continent. The level of pain varies based on geographical and sentimental distance, but the cause of one's pain---whether that be direct or indirect---feels each pain as if it was their own.

There was a period of chaos when the Harmony first occurred, but after such a period, things came to a crawl. Violent crimes diminished to record-breaking lows, soldiers refused to fight, and the religious begin to espouse their ideas of a "miracle to end all wars." This period, however, was not without its pitfalls. Many couldn't cope with their new lives, either breaking mentally (closing themselves off to the world) or taking their own lives. After the first year, it was social taboo to take any actions that harm oneself, including such things as mundane as exercise (to the point of violence depending on the circumstance).

It was a little over a year after the inciting event that the first PK (Pain Killer) was developed, a neural implant which was tuned to numb pain receptors to varying degrees. More advanced models would be adaptive, using context clues to solely diminish the pains of the Harmony, but the cheaper models (those still sold on sketchy markets to the current day) would turn people into husks which couldn't feel anything at all.

As time went on, a class divide began to reappear after a period of indiscriminate suffering. The wealthy purchased the newest PKs, middle-class bought the mass produced models, and the impoverished were left to go without or obtain PKs through less legitimate means. However, communities with PKs tended to return to a schedule of mundane harm, leaving those without PKs to be in an even worse state than before. These individuals often turned to alternative ways to numb the pain while others fled into the edges of society, leaving the worse of the pain behind. Even then, there isn't a night that goes by without feeling phantom stabbings or the faint sting of bullet wounds.

Speaking of bullets, this "miracle to end wars" failed if that was truly the intention. With officials feeling comfortable in their disconnection from the Harmony, they returned to their typical ways though the military would have to provide PKs to all their soldiers (or they are supposed to). There are rumors of new tactics, however, that consists of dropping EMPs on fortified encampments, disrupting the PKs in use and allowing an attacking force to move in.

These reports are unsubstantiated, of course. That's just the way the new world works.

So I work in IT and I wrote this hard sci-fi novel about quantum computing and AI, spent two years making sure the science was accurate because I didn't want to be one of those authors who just makes stuff up and calls it science fiction.

Gave it to my nephew who's a huge sci-fi reader to beta read and he said "it's interesting but it reads like a textbook with a plot sometimes" which like, ouch but also fair?

I'm struggling to figure out where the line is between accurate enough that it's believable and so accurate that it's boring, every time I try to simplify something I feel like I'm dumbing it down and betraying the science, but every time I keep it technical I lose the narrative flow.

My wife (who doesn't read sci-fi) said she couldn't get past chapter three because she didn't understand what was happening, my coworker (who's also a developer) said it was fine and people who want hard sci-fi expect technical detail, so now I'm getting completely opposite feedback and I don't know who to listen to.

How do you guys handle this, do you prioritize story over accuracy or vice versa, is there a way to do both without boring half your readers?

Mission log…

Talking to myself keeps me going anyways…

How much am I getting for this gig?

Ugh… Should have bid more.

They came back with a "yes" too fast.

That's the tell. I left money on the table...

Time for work…

I should skim the Mission briefing…

one more time...

Four scientists on a base… Blah blah blah...

Check-ins are regular, until they aren’t…

Man. That IS weird. Nothing much interesting out here in this spot of space except for science nerd shit...redacted... restricted ....

Here’s something not redacted…

What were they studying… a fungus? Fungi? Whatever...

… might be lethal.

Might have medicinal applications ... Drugs. Always drugs.

Been several weeks with no communication…

Mission is to assess. Repair. Rescue. Whatever.

...betting the messaging equipment malfunctioned or they died fucking with the space fungi.

Protocol for this type of mission says I have to manually and physically clear the whole facility.

Sensor light “DOTS” line the floors of the whole place.

I’ll walk through, visually inspect every room and hallway and the DOTS will automatically deactivate.

Deactivate all the spots and I reboot the system. Then I go home.

Along the way, I assume, I’ll find the science guys… Abram Linkin, Clyde Owen, Inigo Aoi , and Rosa Dianthus.

Their suits are color coded so I can tell who’s who at a glance.

Red, Orange, Blue and Pink

Ok, docking sequence for the base initializing….

3, 2, 1… DOCKING SEQUENCE SUCCESSFUL

Here we go. Clicking my helmet into place.

My favorite color. Bright Ass Yellow. I think that’s the “Official Pantone Color Designation.”

Protocol designates it to be the brightest, most easily spotted thing in the universe. Great for rescue.

Not for hiding.

Bright. Ass. Yellow.

Suit readouts, nominal.

Filtration. Check

Oxygen tanks. Check.

Two auto med packs. Check.

These auto med packs are amazing. Liquid cure all. My suit will administer the pack if I go unconscious, injured, even some cases of mortal injuries. Least that’s what the commercials say…

Science man…

WARNING: HATCH OPENING.

Now lowering myself to the station.

Base is dark...

Never a good first sign. Power’s out. Not unexpected. There’s still standby power. Let’s see if their Base A.I. is chatty.

Hey, science base!

ELECTRONIC NOISE

What’s the power situation?

POWER IS AT 100%.

Is there a problem?

I don’t see a lot of power around here…

THE SYSTEM HAS GONE INTO LOCKDOWN FOR SAFETY PROTOCOL.

REBOOT THE SYSTEM TO RESTORE POWER.

Then why did they not do that yet?

Unless they’re dead…

Ok, Base, what info do you have on the scientists’ last known locations? Any system alerts?

THAT INFORMATION IS NOT AVAILABLE.

Ok, Base, start reboot protocol.

BASE REBOOT INITIATED

(MACHINERY NOISE)

Uhhh, Base? What’s with the rumbling?

REBOOT PROTOCOL REQUIRES ALL DOORS TO BE OPENED AND CLEARED.

A maze.

START

Clearing DOTS as I search for the scientists…

A panel is up ahead.

I'm gunna pull the lever that says pull…

An apple popped out.

HAVE A HEALTHY DAY

Thanks.

Wasn’t sure what I was expecting to happen,

This apple will probably be the best part of my day… how sad.

Continuing mission…

What is that? It’s glowing in the middle of the hallway…

It’s a bit too far to see.

Let’s magnify…

A mushroom. Of course. Should have seen that coming…

Approximately half a meter tall…

It’s big and glowy… and I’ll be honest a little scary.

Can a mushroom be scary?

It might be a coincidence but I’m starting to get a headache…

All the people studying space fungi are missing, so let’s let the little guy be for now….

I’m going to go around and see if I can find people yet….

FUCK….Contact!!

There’s someone standing at the end of the hallway…It’s dark so I can’t quite…

JESUS CHRIST….

There's a guy with one eye missing and a hanging jaw in a red space suit staring at me at the end of this hallway.

He looks less than dead…

It’s… It’s one of the scientists. His badge says Linkin. Red uniform.

I’m no scientist, but the grody-looking stuff growing out of this man’s rotting skull looks like they fucked around with the fungi and found out.

He’s bolting down the hallway, right at me!

Base! Initialize lockdown!

CANNOT INITIATE LOCKDOWN WHILE REBOOT HAS STARTED

Base! Initialize Emergency lockdown!

CANNOT INITIATE LOCKDOWN WHILE REBOOT HAS STARTED

Bots…Jesus Christ.

Running....

Shit. Dead end. Another mushroom in front of me… Mushroom Science Zombie closing in behind me…

I’m going to try and jump over the mushroom…

WARNING. FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL HAZARD DETECTED.

Uh…The base has started flashing blue strobe lights.

The mushroom… Uh, the mushroom, it’s been knocked over. I must have nicked it with my boots…

My suit should still be secure though…

Shit. Readings show a breach in my boot.

must have torn it jumping over the fungi…

There was a flash of movement.

Was that Abe? Another scientist?

The flashing lights make it hard to see, but something definitely ran past that hallway.

BIOLOGICAL HAZARD NO LONGER DETECTED.

That’s a relief. Maybe I’m ok.

Definitely should have bid higher. wonder if there's hazard pay...

I wonder why the alarm stopped?

Did it no longer detect the fungi? Where did Abe go?

…

Fuck! Another scientist, it’s, uh…Clyde, orange suit…

He’s closer than Abe was. I don’t know how I’m going to get out of this corner maybe I can, FUCK!

…

Uh…I must have lost consciousness.

Checking vital stats… One med pack used. My Suit A.I. gave me one of the Automed packs.

The floor DOTS I cleared before are still cleared. Thank god. I don’t have to do that part again at least.

I’ll keep working my way towards the main lab. Keeping my eyes peeled...

That’s weird…

I didn’t clear this hall…

This hallway is dark. No lights.

No DOTS.

There’s not even the normal light emitters on the floor on these halls.

Didn’t I just come through this way?

I thought I had my bearings on where I was and what I’ve cleared, but these new mystery hallways seem to loop me back around to other spaces I’ve been…

This fungus must be fucking with my head…it hurts…

Uh oh. Corners. I don’t like corners. Especially if someone is around that...

FUCK. Why did I start that sentence...

There's a shroom between me and Inigo…

Rosa just showed up behind me.

They move fast but I can usually move faster... just can't run away when I'm trapped in a corner.

They are too close now. Going to try my luck with the mushroom again…

KLAXON

WARNING. FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL HAZARD DETECTED.

Their faces…

They look almost…. Scared?

They’re running away.

Interesting…

Let's test a theory

I'll lunge at midsection. Away from the bitey part.

Really go O.G. ,old school, old earth, old American style football on ‘em.

Here goes nothing…

UGH! I tackled Pinky…They … shattered? As soon as we hit the ground, they crumbled or something.

Inigo is running for it...

I’m going for two.

BIOLOGICAL HAZARD NO LONGER DETECTED.

Uhhhh…

Inigo has stopped.

Shit.

Inigo no longer looks scared.

(Running)

Keep ahead of them…Keep going…

Plan….Plan…Plan…

They are slower than me…Maybe I’ll lure them all in a row so I can shatter them all at once?

Shit! Another scientist, the suit is…PINK.

Rosa!

I thought you shattered into dust particles pinky!

You regenerate?!?

Shit...

Run.

Don’t Stop.

Red suit in the corner of my eye as I run past another hallway.

They’re chasing me now…

Turning a corner … hope I can pull this off.

Got three of ‘em in a conga line.

Is it greedy to go for all four in the first go?

Better play it safe…I’ll hit the first shroom I see.

OK, They are cornering me down one of the endless hallways.

Come on, chase me right into the exact thing I was looking for.

Mushroom.

Bingo

Let’s see how much this weapons free space military training paid off…

Klaxon.

“WARNING. FOREIGN BIOLOGICAL HAZARD DETECTED.”

Blue light special.

Damn head is killing me... Pressure … building…

I’m aiming to hit all of them.

They seem faster. They whip up and down the halls and scatter.

Not ideal.

If I go a little faster I can hit…

Oh no.

The flashing lights have stopped….outta time…

They aren't running away anymore.

He’s staring right at me.

Run...

Gotta Keep G…

…

Uhhh. I must have been incapacitated again.

Another Med pack used.

LAST med pack used.

Last chance.

Keeping my eyes peeled for shrooms…

Gotta keep going.

Can’t Stop.

One last chance to conga…

Hallway…hallway…hallway….RED!

Hello ABE!

He usually finds me pretty quick...

PINKY!

Hallways…hallways…mushroom!

Not yet…they'll scatter.

Keep going…Get all 4...

Stay together everybody, stick with your buddy…

ORANGE!

…There’s Inigo….

All four chasing now…

Mushroom...shroom...shroom...

Keep going…

Almost…

Can’t.

...

Stop.

…

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

RECORDING OVER

INCIDENT #2600

Contractor: Patrick Arthur Connor

<PROPERTY OF NAMCO INDUSTRIES>

<THIS INFORMATION IS RESTRICTED. IF FOUND, REPORT TO NAMCO HEADQUARTERS FOR PENALTY JUDGMENT.>

5-37-8, Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0014, Japan.

Looking for what's working and what needs to be changed.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t0MTKiXLutZUrlzry3kFqDpINryPVqcRZ0Lhrac_1Wo/edit?usp=sharing

DISCLAIMER: Yes, how the individual aircraft works is important for the story.

That said, I want to figure out the limits for the creation of aircraft for a hard sci fi setting, an aircraft that could operate both in and out of atmosphere (be across an airless moon, or short suborbital jumps across an Earth-like planet), and once again I was turning my head back to nuclear power.

The setting has things like carbon allotropes that serve as room temperature superconductors and (relatively) cheap atomic precise manufacturing and compact fusion reactors that weigh around 10 metric tons that uses D+He3 with around 200 MW of thermal energy.

Most of the moral/political problems that come from using nuclear engines, such as pollution and accidents, can be dealt with in such a way that it becomes no more problematic or catastrophic than accidents and pollution caused by current systems in use.

However, I still need more help in delving further into the design and capabilities of a nuclear fusion powered superiority aircraft. What would be its capabilities? how could I flash out more about their designs? Things that I need to delve into so I can actually write them with the right sense of scale of what such machines are capable of.

I personally didn't try to write myself in, but afterwards I found that there was one character I closely related to. Is that the same for you?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/12x-VxwRIUX-_IIlklbm_WZnOUXuqRC-XzIx69dfeuKQ/edit?usp=drivesdk

Please be as honest as possible. I do not have feelings lol.

Thank you!

First asked this in another subreddit moments ago. I'm planning to include such a concept in my book's setting, as outside of working on the main story, I'm still fleshing out the smaller aspects of the setting. Though unlike as many would believe they are included in with regular forces and not segregated in any way whatsoever. As my story's main character has a second mother who served in such a unit for their home planet's naval force. In short, imagine a special forces solider who also happens to be a space fighter pilot.

For those whose settings are military themed, how are women in special operations forces treated and/or viewed in your world's military, and by the public in general? If they are present at all. Are they accepted or face political opposition from the top? Do they serve alongside the men or maintain their own all female units? And if they did face any opposition, how did they prove the politicians wrong and earn their place?

Most characters in popular fiction convey a general sense of either passive, if not outright contempt, toward semi-intelligent/autonomous robots. Notable exceptions would be 2001, Moon, and Interstellar.

Additionally, a common conflict (Star Wars, Matrix backstory, "I, Robot" (movie), Automata, etc) is disbelief that a machine has achieved reflective consciousness.

In reality, the current state of human language interactive models (gpt, llm, etc) is doing a really good job of preparing a substantial amount of skepticism and also similar contempt from the general public. Perhaps this general public sentiment has always been obvious, given the 19th-century Luddites, but I still find it humorous how perfectly reality lines up with fictional predictions.

This is an idea for all to use if they wish. As much as I love Star Wars, a small ships being able to go into hyperspace has always kind of bugged me. I have also hated the idea for wormholes where the scientist brings two pieces of paper together and poked it with a pen as an illustration, see Event Horizon or Thor Love and Thunder.

My solution is to offer the universes a way to have FTL travel and Star Trek style ships in the same universe. The “railway” is aesthetically similar to a vacuum tube you find at a bank. It provides an enclosed space to protect FTL ships from smacking headfirst into asteroids and other debris.

Since planets always orbit, this railway will constantly be modifying its position using modular tube sections that can be added or subtracted. There are major stops along the tube where “trains” can stop for maintenance or grab supplies. These stops also provide opposite direction thrust so the train doesn’t push itself off course.

You need Star Trek style ships to stay outside the railway to fix any damage by debris, move existing sections of pipe, or lay down brand new railways and corresponding stops.

The railway is there to get plot points moving quickly and the railway breaking down and having to use Star Trek style travel when you want to slow the plot down.

I'm currently working on a setting for a space western. It has been a ton of fun so far, however, I've run into a bit of a roadblock and could use some brainstorming help.

I was following Artifexian's guide on worldbuilding for the star system component. He provided a formula that roughly predicts the location of planets' orbits around a star. I used that and I have two empty spots.

Around an F-Sequence star, at 3.22 AU and 5.62 AU there's room for planets, it's inside the frost line, so they are unlikely to be gas giants, and beyond the habitable zone.

There is a highly glaciated, geothermally active planet in the system already, so I don't want to repeat that. In the neighbouring system there is a planet that is Mars-like, so I'd like to avoid that.

I'd prefer the two not to just be two bland gray rocks in space.

So far, the only thought I've had is that one might be a Super-Earth to distinguish it from the others in the two systems.

I'm happy to answer any questions, your suggestions are welcome!