Start sweeping the universe by rubbing the CPU with your hands.

The so-called working fluid is actually a substance used to be ejected to obtain reverse thrust.

Just like on a small boat, when a person throws stones backward, he can obtain reverse thrust and cause the boat to move forward. In this example, the thrown stones are the working fluid.

For chemical rockets, the high-temperature and high-pressure gas generated by the combustion of propellant is ejected, and the reverse thrust is obtained to push the rocket upward. Those gases are the working fluid.

When it comes to the spacecraft, the high-temperature ions ejected by the ion thruster are the working fluid.

The advantage of ion thrusters over chemical thrusters is that it can maximize the utilization of working fluid and obtain more reverse thrust with the same quality of working fluid.

But no matter how much savings are made, no matter how high the efficiency is, it still has a working substance.

Obviously, the working medium also needs to occupy the space of the spacecraft and has its own mass. This will affect the acceleration capability and speed of the spacecraft.

Once the working fluid is used up, the spacecraft will lose all propulsion power, and no matter how much energy it has, it will no longer be able to move.

It can be seen from this that the fluid-free propulsion technology is a breakthrough of great significance. Once this technology is mastered, the shackles of space navigation will be completely unlocked.

However, human civilization, which has now been promoted to the third level, discovered after mastering the power of unity that the so-called propulsion without working substance actually has working substance.

It's just that the working fluid it uses is "born out of thin air" and does not need to be carried extra.

The principle is based on the quark confinement effect.

By mastering the unification force, level three civilizations can break the quark confinement with higher efficiency, and then wait for it to cool down naturally. After the spontaneous break occurs, new quarks will be born next to the free quarks through energy to form something similar to neutrons. , protons and other baryons.

Simply put, one part of a substance can be turned into two parts.

Through this technology similar to "void creation", the spacecraft of the third-level civilization can obtain a continuous supply of working fluid without carrying working fluid, thus achieving a certain sense of "propulsion without working fluid".

In addition, more energy can be obtained through protium fusion, and this technology has the potential to be truly realized.

At this moment, Han Yang has not really figured out how to implement these technologies, how to implement them, and how to apply them in practice.

Just like we already know that there is huge energy in the nucleus of an atom, but we still don’t know how to build a hydrogen bomb and an atomic bomb.

But even so, Han Yang truly realized the power of level three civilization.

"Sure enough, the gap between different technological levels is like a chasm. Facing a third-level civilization, even if I can build endless second-level civilization pinnacle battleships, there is no way I can be an opponent of a third-level civilization."

The warships manufactured by the third-level civilization do not need thick armor at all like the battleships of the second-level civilization, because they have energy shield technology.

In this way, a battleship of the third-level civilization may only weigh half, or even lower, than a battleship of the second-level civilization with the same volume.

This means that the maneuverability of the third-level civilized warships is far greater than that of the second-level civilized warships, and they have longer endurance and higher protection capabilities.

Your level 200 civilized warship can only maneuver at a maximum of 400 meters per square second, but I can easily achieve more than meters per square second.

Your second-level civilized warship has to go back to replenish energy after continuing to operate for ten days, but I can continue to operate for more than a month.

In addition to super mobility, super endurance and super protection, the third-level civilization warship also has super attack power.

Everyone's electromagnetic gun projectiles are 0.5 grams each, and the speed is 500 kilometers per second.

The projectiles of the second-level civilization are just ordinary impacts. After the third-level civilization is placed in the "quark excited state" through special processing, the lethality can be increased several times with the same mass.

If you hit me, you can't break through my defense. If I hit you, a single projectile can penetrate your armor. No matter how thick your armor is, it will be useless. What's more, your mobility, battery life, detection, electromagnetic protection, etc. are all inferior to mine. What can you use to fight me?

The third-level civilization level almost completely crushed the second-level civilization.

Knowing this broad prospect, all the scientific research forces of the entire civilization have been invested in follow-up research and applications based on the "unifying force" theory.

Time passed slowly, and ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

On this day, the human scientific community and the military joined forces to launch an experiment on Pluto that attracted the attention of almost everyone familiar with the matter.

On the vast land of gray and white mixed with dark red, more than a dozen huge buildings formed a building complex. Different buildings are connected by passages extending in all directions, and there are also numerous underground passages that look like spider webs.

Countless pieces of huge equipment gradually began to operate under the debugging of scientists, and finally stabilized.

Following Han Yang's order, all the scientists evacuated, leaving only the robots busy among them. "The first test of the Pluto Energy Shield Experimental Base is started!"

Under the huge energy supply of the dedicated fusion power station, majestic power poured into the equipment developed based on the unified force theory. The ultra-pure copper-zinc alloy sheet used as the material vaporized and disappeared in an instant, turning into a ball of light that changed like a mist.

The quarks bound inside the atomic nucleus are excited by external energy and begin to be in a special state, possessing extremely high energy. Afterwards, under the precise control of the magnetic field, they spread out and gradually turned into a huge, hemispherical object shining with light blue light, which was placed upside down on the Pluto Energy Shield Experiment Base.

Ten Stardust-class battleships participating in the experiment came out under the order of the military commander and arrived above the experimental base. After a simple aiming lock, a total of more than a hundred electromagnetic guns began to fire at the hemispherical shield from different directions at the same time.

A large number of electromagnetic cannon projectiles roared away and slammed into the seemingly incorporeal energy shield.

The next moment, the energy shield glowing with a faint blue light was like raindrops falling on a calm pond, causing ripples.

The ripples became more dense, and even the entire shield seemed to begin to shake. However, until the shooting ended, the Pluto experimental base protected by the energy shield was always safe and sound and did not suffer any impact.

Wow!

In space, in the huge research ship hall, all participants stood up and applauded. In particular, the more than a dozen senior military officials who were invited to visit the test applauded enthusiastically.

Although the energy shield technology at the moment is still very immature, consumes huge amounts of energy, has average protection, and requires a lot of heavy equipment, it is impossible to install it on a battleship, even the largest asteroid-class battleship, but Think about it, technology is always improving.

One day, this technology can be applied to even the smallest warships, even unmanned warships, and automated defense facilities.

By that time, how much will the combat effectiveness of the human fleet increase?

They are deeply aware that from this moment on, the model of interstellar combat has undergone major changes.

After the major breakthroughs in energy shield technology, energy cannon technology also made major breakthroughs.

This experiment was also conducted jointly by the Academy of Human Sciences and the military.

On a certain planet in the asteroid belt, a huge energy cannon base has been completed.

Similarly, a small conventional electromagnetic gun only weighs a few tons and is only two or three meters long. But this experimental energy cannon, which also uses conventional electromagnetic gun technology, is as big as a large base.

The numerous devices are actually used to place electromagnetic gun projectiles in an excited state. As for the launching device, the ordinary electromagnetic gun can be slightly improved.

A grain of copper-zinc alloy only the size of a sesame seed entered through the huge entrance. Powerful energy from a nuclear fusion power station gathered on it. Gradually, it glowed with a faint blue light and seemed to be burning.

But it didn't burn. It is just at a higher energy level and has higher energy.

And this state is very stable.

Under normal circumstances, hitting it with a sledgehammer will not destroy this stability.

People can even hold it in their hands without getting burned.

But once it receives a relatively violent impact, such as a projectile hitting some armor, the energy contained in it will be released immediately, giving the target a layer of extremely powerful energy in addition to ordinary impact damage. Explosive damage.

This comes from inside the nucleus, from the release of energy between quarks.

In this respect, it is somewhat similar to an atomic bomb or a hydrogen bomb. Or it can be said that this is an ultra-miniature and reduced version of the nuclear bomb.

At this moment, after a series of processing, the excited projectile was launched by a special electromagnetic gun, or energy cannon, and swooped towards a target ship in space at a speed of 200 kilometers per second.

The target ship was a retired Stardust-class battleship. However, even if it is retired, its armor is 20 centimeters thick, and it adopts a variety of advanced protection technologies.

Under normal circumstances, it is completely impossible for electromagnetic gun projectiles of this mass and speed to cause damage to it. At most, make a small dimple on its surface.

But at this moment...

The moment the projectile hit the target ship, a violent fire broke out in an instant. The next moment the fire dissipated, people saw that a hole as big as a bowl was torn out of the target ship's thick armor, and the interior of the cabin was damaged like ruins by flying debris.

In a sense, this battleship has been scrapped.

One projectile can destroy a battleship!

Seeing this unimaginable and astonishing power, the top military officials in the scientific research ship applauded enthusiastically again.

In the following ten years, two key technologies, protium fusion technology and working fluid-free propulsion technology, also achieved breakthroughs.

More than ten years later, human civilization finally integrated these four key technologies into a battleship. (End of chapter)