Spaceships Propulsion Types in Scifi/TLLH

So this is another table about ships lore, this time about types and stats of different ship propulsion systems. Most of it based on real stuff, but the latest ones (bottom) I had to fill in the blanks with made-up technobabble bs lol

I tried to research a lot about it, but I might have gotten several stuff wrong, because googles ai might just have made up some stuff up in the end.. i checked some of the sources but not all

FTL in this setting was only discovered around years 3500-3600, in an evolving timeline of greater and further techs discovered.

Isp (Specific Impulse) denotes fuel efficiency; thrust/weight denotes the total force or power of the ship. Oh and and yeah it should have been thrust/mass, not weight lol.

I abbreviated many words and terms to make them fit into the table size.

This post is kind of complementary to my last big timelines post.

Also note that relativistic, STL travels never really disappear, even with the discovery and spread of FTL, due to its high costs and limitations, leaving most of the heavier, cheaper cargo to still be transported via the slower method (think of it as the by-sea vs by-air transport costs of our time, but much greater still in the time differences and costs differences). [although some warplaunched colonies are so far away that FTL is their only option to reach other significant powers - but building that up from scratch on their end is of course very hard and costly]

I know the single picture is heavy with information, but I preferred to do it like this, in one post, instead of multiple ones; I prefer to have it one big, complete thing instead of doing hundreds of separate ones. 

Please see the quote below for a quick setting context, or the other links further down instead. Hopefully the text is not too hard to understand - i had to fit and summarize basically every single one of them due to lack of space lol.

Feel free to discuss or comment whatever you'd like.

Here I'll copy just an attempt of summary of the setting from another post of mine.

"This scenario is set around the years 8000s, in an era that is characterized by the vast expansion and differentiation (and even mutation) of humanity into many splinter branches, cultures and adaptations, with of course many advancements in all sort scientific fields and technologies. Total organic human population is estimated to be around 25 trillion people (15 trillion on the milky way alone) (not counting ais, synths, cyborgs, virtuals and xenos), spread at around 1 million major star systems, in a 1bly radius from Sol.     

FTL is performed through travel via an extra dimension with different tachyonic properties, enabling up to 10\^7 faster speeds than the light (eg. crossing our galaxy would still take about a month with it). Special sets of conditions are required to breach into the warp; exit is done automatically as the ship’s central warp-magnet loses all its tachyonic charges and drops back into normal spacetime. 

FTL is very restricted. It can only be launched from complex stations located extremely near to heavy gravity wells - they are only launchable from stars. The heavier the star, the further it can launch you. These stations and its similar sun-farms also serve to produce fuel necessary for those launches. The main power source comes from the station - the ship’s warp-magnet is only able to keep to its transferred charges, gradually spending them inside the warp.

(...)"

extra notes:

- i dont expect you to read all of the text hehe, just read what catches your attention

- if you wanna reuse any ideas of this? yeah i dont mind.

- fell free to correct me on what I got wrong

- generally, the things said on the items beyond QSFs are partially or mostly made up, due to being untested or entirely speculatory technologies

- i tried to be somewhat realistic, although many of those things are made up or theoretical

- obviously most of the top speeds are made up; but perceived time just follows the calculus of relativity

- some few known propulsion ideas i read around i did not include, because they didnt seem to make sense even with technobabble bs

- forgot orcdrive = stop mukkin' about and just paint it red, stoopid oomie!

back up links for the images above

https://imgur.com/a/kHev42O

This is just some details about a scifi setting me and my brother have done over the years. Honestly it's nothing too serious, I kinda enjoy making up and filling up our map of space colonies and locations more than actually having to write stuff lol, but this image was kind of fun to do.

below I'll just post some links if anyone wanna read more:

Roles and types and sizes of ships (Colonial)

Roles and types and sizes of ships (Military)

Scifi Ship Example Schematics - Patrol Ship

TLLH: Timeline x Regions x Ex Space Colonization

Warplaunches: Star Sizes / Faster-Than-Light Warp Distances

3D Stars Colonies Map - Old Solar Neighborhood (~30ly radius)

Scifi Setting Infographic: United Cosmos of Laniakea's Humans Population

full map of the setting, latest version that I keep updating on the same post:

Population Numbers And Ai Intelligence Tiers

Notes and Discussion on a scifi FTL setting (there I basically try to explain a bit the how faster-than-light travel works in this setting, which kinda helps explain these stats in a way)

Intergalactic Lost Colony Found (news article) [Long Laniakea Horizons] 

big google doc with all the lore setting + notes on the maps

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e4aJy3Xuo8tG4ZZqrmtjX_IySliv20B7r3qM1VwdXtM/edit?usp=drive_link

image sources of each illustration from the left:

Space Planes = Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Suborbital SpacePlane - https://spaceexplored.com/2025/03/21/what-is-virgin-galactic-up-to/

Chemical Rockets = Alternative Propulsion Engineering Conference - Conceptual Salwater Rocket

Electrothermal Rockets = Sojourner Spacecraft - For All Mankind Series

Electric Rockets Ion Thrusters = Nasa's electric propulsion illustration

Advanced Electric Rockets Ion Thrusters = Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Chris Smith (KBRwyle)

Advanced Nuclear Fusion Propulsion = The Expanse's Rocinante Epstein Engine

Helium Nuclear Propulsion = Ion Thruster | Space Engineers Wiki - Fandom

Photon Rocket = Project Daedalus Starship - Rendered image of the Daedalus, courtesy of Adrian Mann.

QSEF Fusion Engine = The Expanse's Razorback Solo Ship

Electromagnetic/Solar Sails = Grahamtg devianrt - https://www.deviantart.com/grahamtg/art/Solar-Sails-614710248

Bussard Ramjets = Altpropulsion Engineering - https://www.altpropulsion.com/the-bussard-ramjet-and-polywell-fusion-reactor/

Mach Effect Thrusters = Nasa's Mach Effect Article - James Woodward - Space Studies Institute, Inc. - Graphic depiction of Mach Effect for in space propulsion: Interstellar mission u003cstrongu003e Credits: Tom Brosz, SSIu003c/strongu003e

Gravity Wave Generators = Popular Science Magazine May 2001 - Space At Warp Speed -  http://www.zamandayolculuk.com/html-3/popular_science_warp_speed.htm

Nano Electrokinet Thrusters = Nature.com article - Recent progress and perspectives of space electric propulsion systems based on smart nanomaterials - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-02269-7

Em Drives = Em Drive as depicted in the fictional TV show "Salvation" on CBS

Quantum Vacuum Plasma Thrusters = Archiwa Class Warship - Three Body Problem Series

Quantum Fluctuation Drives = Endurance Space Exploration Vehicle - Interstellar movie

Diametric Drives = Vadimsadovski's Alcubierre drive ship prototype - https://www.reddit.com/r/sciencefiction/comments/1jldr21/alcubierre_drive_ship_prototype_what_is_the_most/

Ghost Neutrino Drives = The Expanse's Amun-Ra Stealth Ship 

High Nuclear Torch Drives = Orions Arm - Torch Drives https://www.orionsarm.com/eg-article/4df241e826b03

Vacuum Energy Drives = Model Rocket Engine In A Vacuum Chamber - 4K Slow Motion - @WarpedYT Youtube channel

Displacement Alcubierre Dribes = Medium.com - Alcubierre Warp Drive -  https://medium.com/unknownimous/time-travel-theories-paradoxes-possibilities-e5c2ed1e944f

Conversion Drives = Brittish Interplanetary Society - Project Icarus

Antimatter Drives = Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space - Lighthuggers - art by ZandoArts deviantart

Ultimate Relativistic Hybrids = Arkship - Exodus Game -  James Ohlen on X, Studio Head of Archetype Entertainment

Flux Drives = Black Hole Engine - Principal Investigator: Kelvin F. Long - https://i4is.org/what-we-do/technical/black-hole-engine/#gsc.tab=0

Bioships / Living Ships = Star Citizen's Vandul Kingship

DeepDark Wagons = Pond5 - Spaceship With Warp Drive Opening A Wormhole Video

Hyperdrives Axionic Warpers = Science Alert - an artist's impression of a spacecraft initiating a warp drive. (3000ad/iStock/Getty Images Plus) - https://www.sciencealert.com/wild-discovery-suggests-a-warp-drive-is-possible-within-known-physics

SlipDrives = Star Citizen - An RSI Aurora MR during quantum travel.

HaloDrives = "Faster Than Light" short film - Artifex Studios - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L25KJr

VoidDrives = Stellaris - Horizon Needle Ship - https://www.reddit.com/r/Stellaris/comments/1d188v4/xenonion_has_obtained_exclusive_live_footage_of_a/

StringDrives = Droplets - Three Body Problem Wiki - Fandom