What is Tough Science Fiction?

Any science fiction enthusiast has faced multitudes of worlds, built for games, movies or stories, that fall apart the moment you take a closer look at them. 

They might be your favourite worlds: Star Wars, Halo, or lately, The Expanse, so this isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, they force the audience to suspend disbelief more than they should, creating an extra level of difficulty when it comes to hooking them in.


One genre defined by the struggle to create living settings in science fiction is Hard SF. 'An emphasis on scientific or technical detail' is a sure-fire way to create a realistic and functional universe, but often the need to adhere to realism slows creativity, stresses the narration, leads to improbable results or otherwise has negative effects. One of the biggest complaints is that it just isn't 'fun'.

Not every can work under the constraints of hard science fiction and still realise their original vision.

They said the projectiles are too slow, the system too mass-inefficient, but there are ways...

This blog therefore try to help authors, world-builders and game designers to create Tough Science Fiction. This is science fiction that is as resistant as Hard Science Fiction to criticism, review and general prodding and poking by the audience, but does not sacrifice the author's vision or core concepts to pure, dry realism. 

This will be done by proposing science fiction concepts, worked examples, illustrations, simplified mathematics and science explanations that will bridge the gap between realistic science fiction and the liberties taken for granted in Space Opera and Fantasy.