In Portal, using the portal gun to get to the moon is the obvious space travel usage, but I think people are overlooking how it’d let you trivially break the rocket equation.

Hell, you could build a >1g torchship using nothing but the ocean.

  • Foone🏳️‍⚧️@digipres.clubOP
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    10 months ago

    But yeah this is the ultimate doomsday weapon. You can accelerate indefinitely for free, you just have to wait.
    (and if you can put your portals in orbit of a more massive object, you get faster acceleration than 1g)

    So you don’t need more than a portal gun, a tungsten rod, and some time to blow the atmosphere off a planet.

      • Foone🏳️‍⚧️@digipres.clubOP
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        10 months ago

        The Nihilanth could teleport an entire army to earth, the combine can conquer a planet in hours, the g-man has control over time and space, but Cave Johnson’s invention could put a hole in a planet

      • Stainless Steel Raziel@mastodon.social
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        10 months ago

        @[email protected]
        I think this is predicated on the assumption that a portal acts as if it’s anchored the same way a bell is to a rocket engine.

        I don’t think it is. Does anything in the games show a portal imparting thrust onto the wall/object it’s mounted on? I don’t think so. I think portals can’t be used for thrust.

        It’s also pretty clear to me that transfer through a portal is instantaneous, not limited to lightspeed. You can hang out/change direction halfway through a portal as much as you want.

    • Linus@schreibt.jetzt
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      10 months ago

      @[email protected] how do you make sure it’s aligned right? It’s no good if it drifts to the side and hits the edge of the portal, maybe already at a dangerous speed, at your weapon site rather than your target