Tachyon Field Generator Drive

A Tachyon Field generator is a form of FTL drive fairly common among interstellar species. It functions by sheathing a vessel in a hyper-dense "cloak" of tachyon particles. A vessel is thus cut off from information exchange with the exterior universe; which then acts upon the cloaked space as if it were solely composed of tachyons. The craft will be propelled forward at the natural speed of the particles until the cloak is ruptured and information-exchange is resumed with realspace. Due to the strange relationship between tachyons and matter, several unusual effects have been observed while vessels are utilizing tachyon field generators.

Most noticeable, is the severe time-dilation experienced by those within the field. No matter how long the trip is in real-time, it will appear to be instantaneous for the crew of a ship utilizing this technology. This time-dilation actually has several beneficial effects, such as needing to devote less storage space to supplies and provisions, and that even a long voyage will pass in an instant to those undertaking it. Tachyon Field-induced time-displacement is a legitimate concern amongst most merchant ship lines and star navies, however, and measures are generally taken to keep it from getting too out of hand.

The other main effect is the speed of the tachyon themselves. In their natural state, tachyons are all but undetectable, with a velocity that is essentially 'infinite' as far as science is concerned. When energy is applied to them in certain ways though, the particles will slow down. This is true for ships utilizing tachyon field generators as well. The higher the mass of the ship, the more energy needs to be applied to the tachyons to form the cloak, which results in a lower overall velocity.

This technology tends to be a popular alternative to Warp Drive. Tachyon field generators are much less energy-intensive to operate, and the actual components take up less space on and inside of a ship than warp rings and the powerful reactors needed to operate them. Their high speed-to-power ratio is also very desirable as well. In the case of terran humans it took the better part of a century for reactor technology to reach a point where a Warp Drive was able to keep pace, and eventually outpace, a ship using a tachyon field generator drive.

It is important to note that every star and every planet has a distance from it where tachyon field generators just cannot sustain their cloaks, and a vessel using one will be forced to drop back down to sub-light speeds. For this reason, most ships that utilize this technology will also be equipped with a Photon Field Generator Drive as well, to handle short distance, usually intra-system travel. Both technologies utilize similar principles and are actually able to share components aboard a ship to conserve space.