Relativity and Cosmology

_{Focus Areas · Design document §3}

Available from: MA08 + EL03

10 breakthroughs — CORE 1 · STANDARD 9 — Modern – Space

Builds on: Mathematics (1) · Mechanics (1) · Thermodynamics (1) · Optics (1) · Electricity (2) · Quintessic Physics (6) · Quantum Physics (6) · Rocketry (2) · Materials Science (1) · Space Engineering (1)

Leads into: Quintessic Physics (1) · Quantum Physics (1) · Rocketry (1)

_{The numbers count prerequisite links between this focus and the other. How to read the tables.}

Theory-agnostic (dual-framed). Relativity is phenomenon-level — clocks slow with speed, light bends near mass, E=mc² holds — so the whole RC chain works in every world; only the account differs. Atomic worlds read these as the geometry of curved spacetime. Elemental worlds read them through Lorentzian aether-mechanics: the same equations and the same predictions, reinterpreted as effects of motion through the plenum (the aether / the medium of the great cycle) rather than of curvature. The aether that an atomic world's experiments rule out is, in an elemental world, simply real — a preferred medium whose density gradients do the work curvature does elsewhere. No RC breakthrough forks on this; Relativity (RC01) stands in both kinds of world, and nodes needing the deep account read the malleable-space primitive (QM-E27 elemental, QP08 atomic). Black Hole Thermodynamics, Dark Energy and Closed Timelike Curves each carry an elemental account — the dark star, the medium's tension at cosmic scale, closed circuits of the medium. See FTL in Elemental Worlds (§4).

Overview

ID	Breakthrough	Tier	Era	Prerequisites
RC01	Relativity	CORE	Modern	MA08 + EL03
RC03	Gravitational Waves Detection	STANDARD	Atomic	RC01 + OP07 (Laser) + MC10 (Precision Machining)
RC04	Black Hole Thermodynamics	STANDARD	Atomic	RC01 + (QP05 or QM-E04) + TH01
RC05	Dark Matter Identification	STANDARD	Space	RC01 + RK05 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
RC06	Dark Energy Understanding	STANDARD	Space	RC01 + RK05 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
RC07	Closed Timelike Curves	STANDARD	Space	RC01 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
RC08	Gravitational Coupling Experiment	STANDARD	Space	(QP08 Quantum Gravity, or QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation) + (QP04 Particle Accelerator, or QM-E08 Boundary Furnace)
RC09	Inertial Dampening	STANDARD	Space	RC08 (validated) + MS02 (Nanotechnology / Fine Structuring)
RC10	Gravitic Lift	STANDARD	Space	RC09 + EL11 (Superconductivity)
RC11	Gravitational Leakage Survey	STANDARD	Space	RC03 + SE02

Prerequisite map

flowchart LR
  n_RC01["RC01 Relativity"]:::CORE
  n_RC03["RC03 Gravitational Waves Detection"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC11["RC11 Gravitational Leakage Survey"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC04["RC04 Black Hole Thermodynamics"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC05["RC05 Dark Matter Identification"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC06["RC06 Dark Energy Understanding"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC07["RC07 Closed Timelike Curves"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC08["RC08 Gravitational Coupling Experiment"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC09["RC09 Inertial Dampening"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC10["RC10 Gravitic Lift"]:::STANDARD
  n_RC01 --> n_RC03
  n_RC01 --> n_RC04
  n_RC01 --> n_RC05
  n_RC01 --> n_RC06
  n_RC01 --> n_RC07
  n_RC08 --> n_RC09
  n_RC09 --> n_RC10
  n_RC03 --> n_RC11
  classDef CORE fill:#dbeafe,stroke:#1d4ed8,color:#0b1b3b
  classDef STANDARD fill:#f1f5f9,stroke:#64748b,color:#0f172a
  classDef UNCOMMON fill:#dcfce7,stroke:#15803d,color:#052e16
  classDef RARE fill:#fef3c7,stroke:#b45309,color:#3b2005
  classDef UNIQUE fill:#fae8ff,stroke:#a21caf,color:#3b0a3f

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_{Prerequisites within this focus. Box colour is the tier (blue CORE, grey STANDARD, green UNCOMMON, amber RARE, purple UNIQUE); dotted arrows are alternatives (“or”); a line can pass behind another box, so follow it from its start. 10 of these 10 breakthroughs also need breakthroughs from other foci, which the overview above lists.}

Breakthroughs

RC01 · Relativity

• Tier: CORE · Era: Modern
• Prerequisites: MA08 + EL03
• Unlocks: ⟨[+10]% [Gold] from Trade Routes⟩ (clocks corrected for motion keep every route on time); +10% Insight to Nuclear and Quintessic Physics (E = mc²). Special and general relativity together: the light barrier, and gravity as geometry (General Relativity, merged here in v3.124). Prerequisite for all FTL theories. Theory-agnostic: stands in every world; in elemental worlds read through Lorentzian aether-mechanics (see the focus note).
• Leads to: QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation, QP08 Quantum Gravity Theory, RC03 Gravitational Waves Detection, RC04 Black Hole Thermodynamics, RC05 Dark Matter Identification, RC06 Dark Energy Understanding, RC07 Closed Timelike Curves, RK04 Orbital Mechanics

RC03 · Gravitational Waves Detection

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: RC01 + OP07 (Laser) + MC10 (Precision Machining)
• Unlocks: Gravitational Wave Observatoryⁿ [national wonder; 1000; +6 Science]; fires the FTL report where it applies. Requires the Laser (OP07), which exists in every world.
• Leads to: RC11 Gravitational Leakage Survey

RC04 · Black Hole Thermodynamics

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Atomic
• Prerequisites: RC01 + (QP05 or QM-E04) + TH01
• Unlocks: Fires the report that decides Wormhole FTL (§4, Conditions and Their Tests). Elemental: the dark star — a body dense enough to rarefy the Aether so deeply that light, a tension-wave in it, cannot climb out, its rim glowing at the Aether's limiting fineness (Substance; Model I, axiom 5 and §5); or an eddy whose inward draw no Fire-movement can escape, its rim at the flow's fastest rhythm (Process; Model II, §2 and §5). Michell's dark star of 1783, read through Lorentzian aether-mechanics; the report speaks of a fold in the medium a vessel might pass.

RC05 · Dark Matter Identification

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC01 + RK05 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
• Unlocks: ⟨Triggers a [Dark Matter] event⟩ on discovery — the Science Advisor reports the missing mass, found. Extra gravity, found; prerequisite for Dark Energy (RC06). Hosts dark matter is a hidden sector (Hyperspace, W14): a sector interacting only through gravity, identified by lensing maps from space — blocked by measurement, so it unlocks the shared Survey Telescopeⁿ [national wonder — every civilisation may build its own; cost set at spec, about 3–6 turns of construction; lensing maps and the expansion history, as Euclid measures both; on completion it answers each of the two questions — this one and RC06's — whose breakthrough the civilisation holds].

RC06 · Dark Energy Understanding

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC01 + RK05 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
• Unlocks: +10% Insight to every FTL-prerequisite breakthrough; hosts dark energy is a tachyonic field (atomic Tachyonic; elemental: the medium carries a superluminal mode, for Tachyonic and Plenum) — blocked by measurement: it also unlocks the shared Survey Telescope (RC05), whose completion answers it. Researched alongside RC05, not behind it: dark energy waits on the expansion history, not on dark matter. Elemental: the same accelerating expansion, read as the Aether's own tension at cosmological scale (Substance) or as yang's outward flow set against the world-eddy's inward draw (Process) — the observation is shared by every world; only its account differs.

RC07 · Closed Timelike Curves

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC01 + (QP08 or QM-E27)
• Unlocks: Prerequisite for Wormhole FTL — the geometry of closed timelike curves is the geometry of a stable throat. Elemental: closed circuits of the medium — the Aether's natural motion is the circle, and a fold lets a circuit close upon itself (Substance; Model I, axiom 4); loops of the flow that return to their own beginning across a fold (Process). Where the medium gives a preferred frame these are closed paths in space, not in time — and still the geometry of a stable throat. Hosts closed timelike curves are stable (Wormhole and atomic Tachyonic; elemental: closed circuits of the medium are stable, for Wormhole and Tachyonic) — theoretical at root, so the breakthrough is the answer (W14).
• Notes: Not practical for time travel — but the mathematics of CTCs directly inform traversable wormhole design.

RC08 · Gravitational Coupling Experiment

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: (QP08 Quantum Gravity, or QM-E27 Plenum Gravitation) + (QP04 Particle Accelerator, or QM-E08 Boundary Furnace)
• Unlocks: ⟨Triggers a [Gravitational Coupling] event⟩ on discovery — the result. Frontier Question FQ7: in Gravitic worlds (~15%) it validates and reveals Inertial Dampening (RC09); otherwise it dead-ends with a clear negative report ("gravity resists every attempt at local control").
• Notes: The experiment exists in every game. The answer doesn't.
• Leads to: RC09 Inertial Dampening

RC09 · Inertial Dampening

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC08 (validated) + MS02 (Nanotechnology / Fine Structuring)
• Unlocks: ⟨[+2] Range <for [Air] units>⟩ (acceleration limits removed); Arcologyⁿ [190/1; ⟨[+25]% growth [in this city]⟩] — structures engineered under controlled gravity climb taller and pack more people onto the same ground: denser cities, growing faster. Gravitic worlds only. Gravity control needs no exotic matter in either kind of world — it is control of spacetime's coupling, of the Aether's rarefaction, or of the world-eddy's inward draw (Models I and II, §8) — so once the Gravitational Coupling Experiment validates, it is built with ordinary fine structure.
• Notes: Only reachable in Gravitic worlds.
• Leads to: RC10 Gravitic Lift

RC10 · Gravitic Lift

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC09 + EL11 (Superconductivity)
• Unlocks: Gravitic Platformⁿ [1500/3; ⟨Can only be built <in [Capital] cities>⟩; ⟨Destroyed when the city is captured⟩; ⟨Launch Complex⟩ (tag); ⟨Remove [{Launch Complex} {non-[Gravitic Platform]}] [in this city]⟩; ⟨[+50]% Production when constructing [Spaceship part] units [in all cities] <if [Space Elevator] is not constructed>⟩ — cargo to orbit without rockets]; Floating Foundryⁿ [world wonder; 1500; +8 Production, +4 Culture]. Gravitic worlds only. ("Cities that fly" and terrain-ignoring cargo have no Unciv mechanism and are dropped.)
• Notes: The crown of the gravitic chain — a civilisation whose cities can fly.

RC11 · Gravitational Leakage Survey

• Tier: STANDARD · Era: Space
• Prerequisites: RC03 + SE02
• Unlocks: Hosts gravitational leakage shows the extra dimensions are open (Hyperspace; elemental: leakage into the strata), which can hold only where they exist — blocked by measurement: unlocks the Space Interferometerⁿ [national wonder — every civilisation may build its own; cost set at spec, about 3–6 turns of construction; a gravitational-wave detector in orbit, as LISA is planned for the 2030s; on completion it settles the condition]. GW170817 already ruled out leakage at about 40 megaparsecs; larger scales need many more distant standard sirens.
• Notes: W1/W14 — the evidence row added by the redesign; priced as a decider.