Book about a time-travel war fought by computers
I read a paperback in the mid-1970's in which combatants fought a war using time travel and adaptive computers. After a battle, the victors had to quickly flee because the opponents would return from the future with superior technology.
In one case the victors failed to flee before coming under an attack from the future. There was a reluctant, last-resort defense using a massively explosive weapon, like an A-bomb, from which the earlier-time combatants were shielded by a force field.
I recall a description of some walking on a slippery surface of frozen methane, the danger being a fall in which the spacesuit's hot exhaust might contact the surface and ignite an explosion.
story-identification books time-travel artificial-intelligence
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I read a paperback in the mid-1970's in which combatants fought a war using time travel and adaptive computers. After a battle, the victors had to quickly flee because the opponents would return from the future with superior technology.
In one case the victors failed to flee before coming under an attack from the future. There was a reluctant, last-resort defense using a massively explosive weapon, like an A-bomb, from which the earlier-time combatants were shielded by a force field.
I recall a description of some walking on a slippery surface of frozen methane, the danger being a fall in which the spacesuit's hot exhaust might contact the surface and ignite an explosion.
story-identification books time-travel artificial-intelligence
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
I read a paperback in the mid-1970's in which combatants fought a war using time travel and adaptive computers. After a battle, the victors had to quickly flee because the opponents would return from the future with superior technology.
In one case the victors failed to flee before coming under an attack from the future. There was a reluctant, last-resort defense using a massively explosive weapon, like an A-bomb, from which the earlier-time combatants were shielded by a force field.
I recall a description of some walking on a slippery surface of frozen methane, the danger being a fall in which the spacesuit's hot exhaust might contact the surface and ignite an explosion.
story-identification books time-travel artificial-intelligence
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
I read a paperback in the mid-1970's in which combatants fought a war using time travel and adaptive computers. After a battle, the victors had to quickly flee because the opponents would return from the future with superior technology.
In one case the victors failed to flee before coming under an attack from the future. There was a reluctant, last-resort defense using a massively explosive weapon, like an A-bomb, from which the earlier-time combatants were shielded by a force field.
I recall a description of some walking on a slippery surface of frozen methane, the danger being a fall in which the spacesuit's hot exhaust might contact the surface and ignite an explosion.
story-identification books time-travel artificial-intelligence
story-identification books time-travel artificial-intelligence
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
edited 8 hours ago
TheLethalCarrot
45.4k16241291
45.4k16241291
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 8 hours ago
guest posterguest poster
893
893
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
guest poster is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
I'd suggest that this is likely to be a somewhat poorly-recalled "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
This does feature "time travel" although this is related to the difference in relative speeds for interplanetary travel due to time-dilation.
"Exactly. You've lost about nine years, though, to time dilation, while we maneuvered between collapsar jumps. In an engineering sense, as we haven't done any important research and development aboard ship.. . that enemy vessel comes from our future!" He paused to let that sink in.
Certainly it features passages where, during training, the possibility of suit heat exhaust causing explosions in contact with a frozen planet/moon surface is mentioned.
"All you have to do is lean up against a boulder of frozen gas; there's lots of it around. The gas will sublime off faster than it can escape from the fins; in escaping, it will push against the surrounding 'ice' and fracture it... and in about one-hundredth of a second, you have the equivalent of a hand grenade going off right below your neck. You'll never feel a thing.
And, finally, I seem to recall one battle where the combatants are forced to take shelter in a force field when a nuclear explosion is caused to eliminate/defend against an overrunning enemy.
I could evacuate everybody to the stasis field, and they would be temporarily safe if one of the nova bombs got through. Safe, but trapped. How long would it take the crater to cool down, if three or four-let alone sixteen-of the bombs made it through? You couldn't live forever in a fighting suit, even though it recycled everything with remorseless efficiency. One week was enough to make you thoroughly miserable. Two weeks, suicidal. Nobody had ever gone three weeks, under field conditions.
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
add a comment |
There is one I can think of that fits that synopsis, but was written in 2013.
The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr.
It's a series of 4 books and is a good read, in my opinion. In order to effectively combat the opponents, the human race had to quickly invent some adaptive computer intelligence. The constraints on the movement through time are thought out well enough to make the storyline compelling. Both sides progressed rapidly as might be expected when time travel is involved.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "186"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
guest poster is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f206670%2fbook-about-a-time-travel-war-fought-by-computers%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I'd suggest that this is likely to be a somewhat poorly-recalled "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
This does feature "time travel" although this is related to the difference in relative speeds for interplanetary travel due to time-dilation.
"Exactly. You've lost about nine years, though, to time dilation, while we maneuvered between collapsar jumps. In an engineering sense, as we haven't done any important research and development aboard ship.. . that enemy vessel comes from our future!" He paused to let that sink in.
Certainly it features passages where, during training, the possibility of suit heat exhaust causing explosions in contact with a frozen planet/moon surface is mentioned.
"All you have to do is lean up against a boulder of frozen gas; there's lots of it around. The gas will sublime off faster than it can escape from the fins; in escaping, it will push against the surrounding 'ice' and fracture it... and in about one-hundredth of a second, you have the equivalent of a hand grenade going off right below your neck. You'll never feel a thing.
And, finally, I seem to recall one battle where the combatants are forced to take shelter in a force field when a nuclear explosion is caused to eliminate/defend against an overrunning enemy.
I could evacuate everybody to the stasis field, and they would be temporarily safe if one of the nova bombs got through. Safe, but trapped. How long would it take the crater to cool down, if three or four-let alone sixteen-of the bombs made it through? You couldn't live forever in a fighting suit, even though it recycled everything with remorseless efficiency. One week was enough to make you thoroughly miserable. Two weeks, suicidal. Nobody had ever gone three weeks, under field conditions.
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
add a comment |
I'd suggest that this is likely to be a somewhat poorly-recalled "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
This does feature "time travel" although this is related to the difference in relative speeds for interplanetary travel due to time-dilation.
"Exactly. You've lost about nine years, though, to time dilation, while we maneuvered between collapsar jumps. In an engineering sense, as we haven't done any important research and development aboard ship.. . that enemy vessel comes from our future!" He paused to let that sink in.
Certainly it features passages where, during training, the possibility of suit heat exhaust causing explosions in contact with a frozen planet/moon surface is mentioned.
"All you have to do is lean up against a boulder of frozen gas; there's lots of it around. The gas will sublime off faster than it can escape from the fins; in escaping, it will push against the surrounding 'ice' and fracture it... and in about one-hundredth of a second, you have the equivalent of a hand grenade going off right below your neck. You'll never feel a thing.
And, finally, I seem to recall one battle where the combatants are forced to take shelter in a force field when a nuclear explosion is caused to eliminate/defend against an overrunning enemy.
I could evacuate everybody to the stasis field, and they would be temporarily safe if one of the nova bombs got through. Safe, but trapped. How long would it take the crater to cool down, if three or four-let alone sixteen-of the bombs made it through? You couldn't live forever in a fighting suit, even though it recycled everything with remorseless efficiency. One week was enough to make you thoroughly miserable. Two weeks, suicidal. Nobody had ever gone three weeks, under field conditions.
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
add a comment |
I'd suggest that this is likely to be a somewhat poorly-recalled "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
This does feature "time travel" although this is related to the difference in relative speeds for interplanetary travel due to time-dilation.
"Exactly. You've lost about nine years, though, to time dilation, while we maneuvered between collapsar jumps. In an engineering sense, as we haven't done any important research and development aboard ship.. . that enemy vessel comes from our future!" He paused to let that sink in.
Certainly it features passages where, during training, the possibility of suit heat exhaust causing explosions in contact with a frozen planet/moon surface is mentioned.
"All you have to do is lean up against a boulder of frozen gas; there's lots of it around. The gas will sublime off faster than it can escape from the fins; in escaping, it will push against the surrounding 'ice' and fracture it... and in about one-hundredth of a second, you have the equivalent of a hand grenade going off right below your neck. You'll never feel a thing.
And, finally, I seem to recall one battle where the combatants are forced to take shelter in a force field when a nuclear explosion is caused to eliminate/defend against an overrunning enemy.
I could evacuate everybody to the stasis field, and they would be temporarily safe if one of the nova bombs got through. Safe, but trapped. How long would it take the crater to cool down, if three or four-let alone sixteen-of the bombs made it through? You couldn't live forever in a fighting suit, even though it recycled everything with remorseless efficiency. One week was enough to make you thoroughly miserable. Two weeks, suicidal. Nobody had ever gone three weeks, under field conditions.
I'd suggest that this is likely to be a somewhat poorly-recalled "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman.
This does feature "time travel" although this is related to the difference in relative speeds for interplanetary travel due to time-dilation.
"Exactly. You've lost about nine years, though, to time dilation, while we maneuvered between collapsar jumps. In an engineering sense, as we haven't done any important research and development aboard ship.. . that enemy vessel comes from our future!" He paused to let that sink in.
Certainly it features passages where, during training, the possibility of suit heat exhaust causing explosions in contact with a frozen planet/moon surface is mentioned.
"All you have to do is lean up against a boulder of frozen gas; there's lots of it around. The gas will sublime off faster than it can escape from the fins; in escaping, it will push against the surrounding 'ice' and fracture it... and in about one-hundredth of a second, you have the equivalent of a hand grenade going off right below your neck. You'll never feel a thing.
And, finally, I seem to recall one battle where the combatants are forced to take shelter in a force field when a nuclear explosion is caused to eliminate/defend against an overrunning enemy.
I could evacuate everybody to the stasis field, and they would be temporarily safe if one of the nova bombs got through. Safe, but trapped. How long would it take the crater to cool down, if three or four-let alone sixteen-of the bombs made it through? You couldn't live forever in a fighting suit, even though it recycled everything with remorseless efficiency. One week was enough to make you thoroughly miserable. Two weeks, suicidal. Nobody had ever gone three weeks, under field conditions.
edited 6 hours ago
answered 8 hours ago
Paulie_DPaulie_D
14.8k25769
14.8k25769
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
add a comment |
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
2
2
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
Almost definitely. A great book, too
– Django Reinhardt
7 hours ago
add a comment |
There is one I can think of that fits that synopsis, but was written in 2013.
The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr.
It's a series of 4 books and is a good read, in my opinion. In order to effectively combat the opponents, the human race had to quickly invent some adaptive computer intelligence. The constraints on the movement through time are thought out well enough to make the storyline compelling. Both sides progressed rapidly as might be expected when time travel is involved.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
add a comment |
There is one I can think of that fits that synopsis, but was written in 2013.
The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr.
It's a series of 4 books and is a good read, in my opinion. In order to effectively combat the opponents, the human race had to quickly invent some adaptive computer intelligence. The constraints on the movement through time are thought out well enough to make the storyline compelling. Both sides progressed rapidly as might be expected when time travel is involved.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
add a comment |
There is one I can think of that fits that synopsis, but was written in 2013.
The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr.
It's a series of 4 books and is a good read, in my opinion. In order to effectively combat the opponents, the human race had to quickly invent some adaptive computer intelligence. The constraints on the movement through time are thought out well enough to make the storyline compelling. Both sides progressed rapidly as might be expected when time travel is involved.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
There is one I can think of that fits that synopsis, but was written in 2013.
The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr.
It's a series of 4 books and is a good read, in my opinion. In order to effectively combat the opponents, the human race had to quickly invent some adaptive computer intelligence. The constraints on the movement through time are thought out well enough to make the storyline compelling. Both sides progressed rapidly as might be expected when time travel is involved.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 5 hours ago
BlitzennBlitzenn
311
311
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Blitzenn is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
add a comment |
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
1
1
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
Does it include the other elements of the force field to protect against an atomic weapon, and the methane gas explosion?
– FuzzyBoots
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
not exactly as you describe it, but there is a part that mimics that. I would be curious to read the 1970's book now you remember to see if Dietmar Wehr ripped it off. The two sound a lot alike.
– Blitzenn
4 hours ago
add a comment |
guest poster is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
guest poster is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
guest poster is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
guest poster is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fscifi.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f206670%2fbook-about-a-time-travel-war-fought-by-computers%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown