Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

March 18, 3300 (Earth Calendar)

Twenty-four years have passed since the completion of the Grand Unified Theory and the entry into the fifth level of civilization.

Over the past 24 years, Starship Factory has never stopped, working overtime under Zero's control to complete various modification tasks.

As Cao Liangcai said.

Before heading to the new Heng system, the fleet needs not only warp drive technology, but also some technology that can "protect itself".

This includes, but is not limited to, gravity shields and various weapons and equipment.

There aren't many resources available for humans to use near black holes, and Lost Star is already the richest area in the vicinity.

Therefore, in just 24 years, after [Nus] was completely destroyed, the various resources on the Lost Star were exploited to the maximum extent.

Of course, warp drive experiments did not stop during the fleet's refit.

Following the successful warp drive of various plants and animals, the first manned warp drive has also been declared a success!

The successful establishment of the Grand Unified Theory and the breakthrough in its fundamental theories have once again propelled human civilization into an era of technological explosion!

In just 24 years, under Lü Yongchang's guidance, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has made several major scientific research achievements.

The successful breakthrough in gravity field control technology has significantly enhanced the strength of the starship's gravity shield.

Meanwhile, the magnetic shield technology has also made further breakthroughs.

Weapon systems are no exception.

The miniaturization of gravity field generators has also made warp drive weapons a reality.

However, due to resource constraints, not many of these powerful weapons were produced.

In terms of energy.

The introduction of gravitational field technology has increased the power of the antimatter engine several times over.

Under the combined influence of various factors, the maximum theoretical speed of the human fleet also soared from 10c to 50c.

However, for various reasons, in most cases, the fleet's sailing speed will still remain below 10c.

One reason is the limitation of communication technology.

When the warp drive speed reaches 10c or higher, the probabilistic decoherence of entangled quantum states will rapidly intensify and exceed the information repair threshold.

Electromagnetic wave communication goes without saying; electromagnetic waves, which travel at the speed of light, cannot even keep up with a starship that has entered a warp state.

On the other hand, there is the issue of energy and resources.

The higher the curvature, the greater the energy consumption to maintain it.

This is a fatal problem for the current human fleet.

In addition to the technologies mentioned above, artificial gravity technology has also been successfully realized in the laboratory.

Upon learning this news, Lü Yongchang hesitated for a moment before reluctantly abandoning the idea of ​​applying it to all starships.

the reason is simple.

The renovation was too large in scale and consumed too many resources.

In some ways, the cost of completely modifying a starship can even exceed the cost of rebuilding a starship from scratch.

Therefore, only a portion of the flagship, the Earth, was equipped with artificial gravity facilities.

……

"The time has come."

"Resources are already severely insufficient, and much of the research work in the laboratory has come to a standstill."

Standing inside the command center of the Earth, feeling the comfort brought by artificial gravity, Lü Yongchang said in a deep voice, "The fleet modification work is basically complete."

"Humanity needs to find new star systems!"

After saying that, he turned his head and looked around. Seeing that no one objected, he asked He Bilin, who was sitting in the first row.

"Academician He, has the selection process for habitable star systems been completed?"

He Bilin nodded and subconsciously reached out to touch the electromagnetic adsorption device on the side of the seat, but found nothing.

He stood up somewhat awkwardly, walked quickly to Lü Yongchang's side, and said loudly, "Currently, we already possess mature planetary terraforming technology, so I have relaxed the selection criteria for habitable planets."

As he spoke, he made a few gestures in the holographic projection beside him.

A list of names and a star map were presented to the crowd.

"Given the fleet's severely depleted antimatter reserves, the fleet's primary destination is the HIP3376 galaxy, located 13.7 light-years away."

"Based on our observations, the HIP3376 galaxy is a binary system consisting of two red dwarf stars."

"Currently, there is no evidence of the existence of planets."

"Once the Dyson Cloud device is successfully deployed, the fleet will have enough energy for navigation within fifty years."

The proposal to find a star system without planets to replenish energy actually came from Lü Yongchang.

Although human civilization has successfully advanced to a Level 5 civilization and has even mastered a small portion of the technology of a Level 5 civilization, in some ways, the combat power of human civilization is even inferior to that of a Level 4 civilization.

energy!

The energy consumption of interstellar warfare is an astonishing figure!

Whether it's a warp drive or a gravity shield, any device that involves a gravity field generator is a major energy consumer.

Therefore, the remaining energy reserves of the human fleet are simply insufficient to support a massive interstellar war!

The probability of civilizations existing in star systems without planets is greatly reduced.

After all, in the young universe, energetic stars are everywhere; what is scarce are actually habitable planets that can thrive for a long time.

Furthermore, although the human fleet has undergone minor modifications, these starships equipped with warp drives still belong to the satellite-class starships.

Human civilization still needs a period of development and effort to acquire planetary-level starships that qualify it as a Level 5 civilization.

"What's next?" Lü Yongchang raised an eyebrow, as if realizing something. "I remember that a while ago, quite a few Dyson Clouds were newly built at the Starship Factory. If we deploy them all..."

"Fifty years is probably enough time to produce a lot of antimatter."

"What is the final destination of the voyage?"

"Kepler 452, Professor," Hobilin said calmly, "is 1539.2 light-years away from the HIP3376 galaxy."

As soon as he finished speaking, a commotion broke out in the command center.

1539.2 light-years.

This is an incredibly exaggerated distance.

At least for previous human civilizations, this was a long and arduous journey that could have driven people to despair.

He Bilin added softly, "Traveling at ten times the speed of light would only take 154 years."

"Considering that supplies will need to be replenished two or three times along the way, a conservative estimate is that the entire voyage will take about three hundred years."

Three hundred years!

It will only take three hundred years!

Looking at the numbers before him, Lü Yongchang's pupils trembled slightly. For the first time, he deeply felt the transformation of human civilization.

"Kepler 452b?" After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang asked in return.

"Have you confirmed its existence?"

In Earth's time, Kepler-452b was a planet full of mystery.

This is the first potential super-Earth rocky planet discovered in human history. At the same time, various calculations show that this planet, like Earth, is located within the habitable zone of the Heng system!

This sparked endless imagination among humankind a thousand years ago.

However, due to limitations in observation technology during Earth's time, humans have been unable to prove its existence, only considering it as a candidate for exoplanet.

After the solar helium flash, although human civilization’s observation technology continued to improve, the vast distance of more than 1000 light-years directly crushed the Academy of Sciences’ desire to conduct observations—it would be more worthwhile to consider how to avoid the ever-present crisis!