Mass Drivers
Mass Drivers — Terra Invicta technology. Engineers develop electromagnetic catapults that are viable as weapons and payload launch systems.
About Mass Drivers
Mass Drivers is a Terra Invicta technology in Energy with a research cost of 1,000.
Engineers develop electromagnetic catapults that are viable as weapons and payload launch systems.
No matter the technological advancements we might yet make, our ability to voyage through the stars will be inherently limited by what the human body can endure. Mined resources are not, however, at risk of liquefied internal organs during high-speed space transit. Mass Drivers employ electromagnetic acceleration to essentially hurl unmanned cargo through space at breathtaking speeds, charging and then firing their payloads in the manner of a catapult. Albeit one fueled by vast amounts of electricity and capable of firing its shots across millions of kilometers. While mass drivers are not a new concept, our latest breakthroughs enable us to instantaneously feed them far greater quantities of energy than ever before, thus enabling the rapid, long-distance transport of exponentially greater masses. The most immediate practical application of Mass Drivers is to ferry essential and precious materials mined from asteroids and other heavenly bodies back to Earth with a minimum of delay. This technology will bring about a sea-change in our ability to replenish and grow our local resource stores. Further research should be able to refine and even miniaturize the concepts behind mass drivers, in the hope of integrating them into weapons capable of truly devastating punch.