Smashing Planets

[Peter Newman]

Canon tells us that the Ancients shattered planets in the Final War. It does not say that all such shattering was done by weapons. What if the Ancients shattered some planets just to make them easier to mine?

Just because you can transform elements does not mean that it might not be more efficient (I'd say cheaper but I doubt the Ancients had a market economy) to simply mine them. Since heavy elements tend to sink to planetary cores it may be easier to crack the planet for easy access. At Ancient tech levels you probably can mine planetary cores but it may not be as easy as just cracking the planet.

Thoughts?

 

[BytePro]

Or just for Aesthetics. :devil:

And maybe intergalactic expressways... even without Vogon Constructor Fleets!

 

[mike wightman]

Secret of the Ancients tells yu one method they used...

potral accelerated near c rocks.

They could probably do it using other technologies too.

One of the engineering reasons for the Ancients to destroy planets could be to get the materials needed to make orbitals and ringworlds.

 

[Timerover51]

Canon tells us that the Ancients shattered planets in the Final War. It does not say that all such shattering was done by weapons. What if the Ancients shattered some planets just to make them easier to mine?

Just because you can transform elements does not mean that it might not be more efficient (I'd say cheaper but I doubt the Ancients had a market economy) to simply mine them. Since heavy elements tend to sink to planetary cores it may be easier to crack the planet for easy access. At Ancient tech levels you probably can mine planetary cores but it may not be as easy as just cracking the planet.

Thoughts?

While I am not sure if Grandfather would have been smashing planets for resource access, my guess is that his children and grandchildren might have done so, as an asteroid belt does make it a bit easier to get access to raw materials if you have a limited work force. I also take note of the fact that while Grandfather made sure he took outl 420 of his children and grandchildren, there is no mention of his destroying all of their facilities. I assume that any asteroid belt, especially in the Spinward Marches, may contain Ancients facilities still in operable condition, and possibly with Ancient Droyne still present.

I am using something like the Tnuctipun stasis field from Larry Niven's Tales of Known Space series to hold the Ancient Droyne warriors in Twilight's Peak, but I have included a Leader with them to give orders. As a result, it is possible for the installation not to self-destruct, and for the adventurers to gain some very valuable assistance. This same idea applies elsewhere as well, so that functioning Ancient facilities, such as the one on Victoria/Lanth, are possible to locate and use.