Abusing the Kardashev Scale For Fun and Profit: Difference between revisions

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 ==  Solid Type II: Clearly more power than a single star, but less than a galaxy.  ==
+=== Comic Books ===
+* In his most outrageous [[Silver Age]] incarnation, [[Superman]] could blow out stars with his super-breath, and reignite them with his heat vision. He was thus ''personally'' a Type II on the Kardashev scale.
+=== Literature ===
 * The unseen aliens in [[The Space Odyssey Series]] have the ability to make stars. This might indicate midlevel Type II power use, depending on just how they go about it.
-* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the F'sherl-Ganni Gatekeepers were a Class II Civilization, utilizing Dyson Spheres (or 'Buuthandi' as they call them) widely. Their recent defeat in the Teraport Wars, and the destruction of several of their Buuthandi, however, may have kicked them down to borderline II, or even lower if all were destroyed, but that situation isn't clear. They're dependent on protection from the local superpower—the Fleetmind, a gigantic AI network led by 'Petey', an [[The Unfettered|Unfettered]] AI. Petey controls a gigantic reactor that surrounds the very core of the galaxy. Originally built by the F'sherl-Ganni in an attempt to ascend to Class III, the reactor nearly destroyed the galaxy due to a flaw which Petey later corrected—allowing him to not only wield tremendous energy, but actually ''move the entire galaxy'' at will.
-** It is probable that Petey is not yet at Type III. A mid-high Type II, maybe, but it isn't clear that he has harnessed the power equivalent of a whole galaxy from just the core. While the core of an active galaxy can outshine the rest, the Milky Way's core emits only a tiny percentage of the overall energy output, so the Fleetmind is probably here unless they're force-feeding the black hole.
-** Whether the Andromedan Darkmatter Entities are classifiable as Class III, Class IV, or even classifiable at all, is another matter entirely... but for their sake, you'd better hope they're pretty high, seeing as Petey is dedicating most of his available forces to fighting them.
 * The ''[[Cordwainer Smith|Instrumentality of Mankind]]'' controlled a significant region of the Milky Way, including several Type I worlds, had effective immortality (though they limited lifespans to 400 years for most its history) and could intimidate other interstellar empires with ''<s>balloons</s> starships an AU in diameter''.
 ** It's explicitly stated more than once in-universe that creating a tachyon bubble (the faster-than-light travel method of the Lords) "consumes" a star. Whatever that means, precisely, it's almost certainly a ''lot'' more energy than simply using its entire power output, and is arguably sufficient to categorize them as Type III, though they don't seem to ''continuously'' require this amount of power. It's also possible... no details are really given... that the technology is extremely inefficient and most of the power is actually wasted.
-* At the maximum tech level in the ''[[Space Empires]]'' games, you are capable of creating and destroying stars, nebulae, black holes, [[Ringworld Planet|Ringworlds]] and [[Dyson Sphere|Sphereworlds]].
 * In ''[[Known Space]]'', Puppeteers are pretty solidly Type II. They (claim to have) disassembled at least one entire solar system to build their Fleet of Worlds and accelerated it to a reasonable fraction of the speed of light. They bought the technology to do so from Outsiders, but they were still able to implement their plans on their own.
+=== Tabletop Games ===
-* The Protoss in [[StarCraft]] have Warp Gates, shields, the ability to distort localized space, and no small amount of [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Even individuals and their robots can create local spacetime distortions. However, it is mentioned they are not a prolific race, so that may play with their measurements somewhat.
+* The Eldar in ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' were, at their height, capable of birthing and destroying stars. Much of their technology was lost with the Fall (such as the ability to maintain and expand the Webway, a pocket dimension used for safe interstellar travel), they are still able to "capture" stars to use as power sources.
+=== Video Games ===
+* At the maximum tech level in the ''[[Space Empires]]'' games, you are capable of creating and destroying stars, nebulae, black holes, [[Ringworld Planet|Ringworlds]] and [[Dyson Sphere|Sphereworlds]].
+* The Protoss in ''[[StarCraft]]'' have Warp Gates, shields, the ability to distort localized space, and no small amount of [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]. Even individuals and their robots can create local spacetime distortions. However, it is mentioned they are not a prolific race, so that may play with their measurements somewhat.
 * The Combine in ''[[Half-Life 2]]'' has most of their technology operate on exotic matter. Their Citadels are powered by dark energy reactors that screw around with physics to power themselves and generate infinite amounts of dark energy plasma. Said plasma is used for a number of purposes including portable power sources<ref>a fist-sized plasma capsule can power a [[Deflector Shield|wall-mounted shield generator]]</ref> and ammunition<ref>said plasma capsule acts as a [[Disintegrator Ray]] on contact with organic matter and Combine pulse weaponry fire plasma blasts that put bullets to shame</ref> as well as being fed into a dark fusion reactor that can literally [[Teleporters and Transporters|tear a hole in the fabric of spacetime and tunnel into other universes]]. While this already makes them Type II, the Combine has already [[Planet Looters|conquered an unknown number of worlds]] which makes them a solid candidate for Type III.
+=== Web Comics ===
-* The Eldar in Warhammer 40,000 were, at their height, capable of birthing and destroying stars. Much of their technology was lost with the Fall (such as the ability to maintain and expand the Webway, a pocket dimension used for safe interstellar travel), they are still able to "capture" stars to use as power sources.
+* In ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'', the F'sherl-Ganni Gatekeepers were a Class II Civilization, utilizing Dyson Spheres (or 'Buuthandi' as they call them) widely. Their recent defeat in the Teraport Wars, and the destruction of several of their Buuthandi, however, may have kicked them down to borderline II, or even lower if all were destroyed, but that situation isn't clear. They're dependent on protection from the local superpower—the Fleetmind, a gigantic AI network led by 'Petey', an [[The Unfettered|Unfettered]] AI. Petey controls a gigantic reactor that surrounds the very core of the galaxy. Originally built by the F'sherl-Ganni in an attempt to ascend to Class III, the reactor nearly destroyed the galaxy due to a flaw which Petey later corrected—allowing him to not only wield tremendous energy, but actually ''move the entire galaxy'' at will.
-* In his most outrageous [[Silver Age]] incarnation, [[Superman]] could blow out stars with his super-breath, and reignite them with his heat vision. He was thus ''personally'' a Type II on the Kardashev scale.
+** It is probable that Petey is not yet at Type III. A mid-high Type II, maybe, but it isn't clear that he has harnessed the power equivalent of a whole galaxy from just the core. While the core of an active galaxy can outshine the rest, the Milky Way's core emits only a tiny percentage of the overall energy output, so the Fleetmind is probably here unless they're force-feeding the black hole.
-* Referenced in the [[Alt Text]] for [http://xkcd.com/975/ this] ''[[Xkcd]]'' strip.
+** Whether the Andromedan Darkmatter Entities are classifiable as Class III, Class IV, or even classifiable at all, is another matter entirely... but for their sake, you'd better hope they're pretty high, seeing as Petey is dedicating most of his available forces to fighting them.
+* Referenced in the [[Alt Text]] for [http://xkcd.com/975/ this] ''[[xkcd]]'' strip.
 ==  Borderline Type III: power use roughly equivalent to a galaxy's radiant output. 1E36W  ==