The redstone drive is a device utilized by the Minecraftian Union.
A redstone drive in the engine room of a ship
History[]
Development[]
In the expansion years of the UHG, the Sol system began to overpopulate. The Citizens Council ordered the United Science Coalition to try and develop an engine that would allow their ships to travel at faster-than-light speeds. The USC's top scientists chose to use redstone, a mineral that acted as an infinite source of energy. When the redstone drive was fully developed, it boosted the engines of the UHG's ships, allowing them to reach distant star systems in mere hours or even minutes.
Present Day[]
The redstone drive plays a crucial part in the Union. Every form of transportation, space or terrestrial, requires a version of the redstone drive to power it. As a result, Minecraftia's environment was able to recover quickly as fossil fuels were used less frequently. By 12,390 AS, fossil fuels were completely abandoned throughout the galaxy.
Mechanics[]
When the stellar coordinates are plotted along the quantum filaments, the redstone within the drive generates enough energy to open a portal into slipstream space. A common myth is that the redstone drive also houses a form of artificial intelligence that also helps to navigate the quantum filaments and plot points, though this has not yet been confirmed.
The size and complexity of a redstone drive depends on the size and function of a ship. For example, a larger colony ship meant to carry tens of thousands may have larger, extremely complex drives, whereas a small merchant vessel may have a smaller, simpler drive.
Types of Drives[]
Slipspace[]
A safer and much more common method of interstellar travel, the redstone slipspace drive is utilized by every Union vessel. They are extremely easy and relatively cheap to produce, due to the Union's surplus in redstone supply. Since slipspace travel is easy to learn and utilize, nearly all Union civilians know how to pilot a deep-space vehicle with a slipspace drive.
Warp[]
Much less common and a more dangerous method of travel, redstone warp drives are installed only on wartime vessels. The redstone provides the energy needed to drop out of real-time space and into the Warp. The ship is then carried along the currents of the Warp much like fish in an ocean current. When the ship reaches a point that corresponds with their destination in real-time space, they leave the Warp.
Warp travel is extremely dangerous and only used if the vessel's slipspace drive is damaged or inactive. Safer warp travel should only be used to travel about 4 or 5 light-years from its starting point, whereas long-distance warp travel can be even more dangerous. Another danger of traveling in the Warp is a Chaos incursion, the Warp itself being home to the Ruinous Powers. Only the most prepared cruisers can travel in the Warp, whereas any small civilian vessel would be torn apart or even corrupted.