History Mohs / OneBigLie

* ''TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds'': The core worlds of Homeline and Centrum have physical laws largely identical to ours, with the exception of Parachronic Conveyor technology enabling access to various other nearby alternate realities. These accessible universes can range from "like our own but Conveyors are possible" worlds to outright fantastical worlds where conventional physics holds little sway, however.

* Luke Campbell's [[http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/Settings/VergeWorlds/TheVerge.php Vergeworlds]] has manufactured traversable wormholes, which are arguably physically possible, and the entire fictional but consistent physical principles behind Affector technology, but is otherwise quite grounded in real physics. The game was written by a professional laser physicist, and it shows - the laser guns common in game have enormous focusing lenses and fire millisecond length pulses to explosively bore through target, using superconducting solenoids to gain the extreme levels of energy storage and power output required.

* Luke Campbell's [[http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/Settings/VergeWorlds/TheVerge.php Vergeworlds]] has manufactured traversable wormholes, which are arguably physically possible, and the entire fictional but consistent physical principles behind Affector technology, but is otherwise quite grounded in real physics.

* Ad Astra's Attack Vector: Tactical has FTL, but it's mostly just use to set up setting background and is designed to have as little effect on combat as possible. The rest of the technology is almost all stuff that could be built today or in the near future, with exception of a moderately powerful (though still quite conservative by space opera standards) fusion drive.

** Squadron Strike, a multi-setting game by the same publisher using simplified AV: T mechanics, varies from Cold War alternate history Futurology (RocketPunk) to mid-future Speculative Science (Newton's Cradle) to full on Space Opera settings.

* Luke Campbell's [http://panoptesv.com/RPGs/Settings/VergeWorlds/TheVerge.php Vergeworlds] has manufactured traversable wormholes, which are arguably physically possible, and the entire fictional but consistent physical principles behind Affector technology, but is otherwise quite grounded in real physics.

* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': Actually one of the hardest SF shows, period, though its use of wormhole-like jump gates moves it into the One big Lie category. Interestingly, these gates are not used to travel outside of the Solar System, instead this incredible technology is used to make travel between the terraformed planets within our Solar System easier, showing a unique and refreshing aversion of ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale. Spaceships are regularly seen using reaction control thrusters to orient themselves in space, the travel time between even orbital interceptions is highlighted, and everything else is painstakingly researched. However, one does wonder what on earth is powering the spaceplanes...

Back to Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness.

* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' universe mostly uses [[ShownTheirWork real-world science like dark energy, string theory and quantum entanglement]] to explain the presence of the (wormhole-based) teleportation technology that fuels the whole plot. The reason why it's not any higher on the scale is due to the presence of a few oddballs:
** Energy weapons - particle[[note]][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_%28particle%29 Tau particles]], which indeed demonstrate a penetrating ability at petaelectronvolt energy levels[[/note]] accelerator the size of an assault rifle and backpack-mounted WaveMotionGun that can rip apart matter on the quark level,[[note]]its namesake, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gluon gluon]], is an elementary particle that mediates the strong nuclear force between quarks, thus being essential to the existence of the atomic nucleus by allowing the formation of hadron particles like protons and neutrons[[/note]] both powered by an ultracompact fission reactor that can somehow utilize depleted uranium as fuel.

** Combine pulse weapons are actually a PlasmaCannon firing dark matter - which too is a material of interest in real-world science, mostly by astrophysics. The source of the dark matter in this case, however, is some kind of ultra-high-tech reactor powered by spacetime itself... [[HigherTechSpecies or something like that]].

[[folder: Webcomics ]]

* ''Webcomic/QuantumVibe'' has a form of ArtificialGravity, somewhat poorly explained methods of travel, and the main characters are researching a means of using [[QuantumMechanicsCanDoAnything quantum vibrations]] to access {{Alternate Universe}}s
* ''Webcomic/QuestionableContent'' is basically a slice of life comic, but with advanced Artifical Intelligence that has reached the singularity. Several of the major characters are themselves AI, and the rights of AI entities in the context of larger society is a running theme

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''[=StarCom=]: The US Space Force'', developed with the cooperation of NASA, had the hardest science fiction ever seen in a MerchandiseDriven cartoon. FTL travel exists, but it can only be used between the planets of the solar system, and one episode had an alien city discovered on Mars with technology still active. Unfortunately, ran for only one season in 1987.

* ''Anime/Obsolete'' is premised on aliens selling dirt cheap MiniMecha that can operate indefinitely without refueling, but other technology is largely realistically portrayed evolutions of modern day hardware built for the new combat environment. Exoframes mostly use modified HMGs and autocannons, and portable lasers are bulky and used for defense against indirect fire weaponry.

* Despite being a massive [[GenreThrowback Genre]] ''[[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstruction]]'' of the SpaceOpera genre, the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series is surprisingly very accurate in the overwhelming majority of its scientific fields, with its Big Lie being the eponymous mass effect, which is the source for almost all advanced technology. By manipulating the mass of matter, one can create FTL, artificial gravity, hover technology, force fields, handheld weapons that fire grains of dust with the force of bullets. The effect is created when running a current through [[{{Unobtanium}} Element Zero]], and people whose bodies are laced with the substance (either by accident or on purpose) can use the electric potential of their nervous system to gain pseudo-telekinetic powers. This is based, however loosely, on theoretical applications of dark energy, even if exaggerated quite a bit. Outside of eezo, though, most of the AppliedPhlebotinum is [[ShownTheirWork thoroughly well-researched]] and pretty squarely in the realm of Mohs/SpeculativeScience (ArtificialIntelligence via quantum computing, {{Subspace Ansible}}s via quantum entanglement, and they even account for [[SpaceIsCold heating and cooling problems in space]]). The only other reasons outside of eezo why ''Mass Effect'' isn't a tier higher is the game getting a few facts incorrect either through misguided (as opposed to [[CriticalResearchFailure flat-out wrong]]) research[[note]]Mostly regarding biology; [[MirrorChemistry levo and dextro amino acids]] are most assuredly ''not'' fatal in real life, alongside the biological implausibility of [[IntelligentGerbil clear species analogues to Earth]], [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe the existence of the asari race]] even with genetic engineering as a HandWave ([[FridgeLogic which doesn't explain why]] they look like blue-skinned ''humans'' versus blue-skinned [[spoiler:protheans]]), on top of NoBiochemicalBarriers outside of the poorly-understood MirrorChemistry. It's pretty minor stuff on the wholesale though, given aside from that it gets just about everything else right[[/note]] or deliberate [[NecessaryWeasel Necessary Weasels]], the cutscenes still tend to lean on RuleOfCool (especially in space combat) since the games are thematically {{homage}}s to its genre.

* Despite being a massive [[GenreThrowback Genre]] ''[[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstruction]]'' of the SpaceOpera genre, the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series is surprisingly very accurate in the overwhelming majority of its scientific fields, with its Big Lie being the eponymous mass effect, which is the source for almost all advanced technology. By manipulating the mass of matter, one can create FTL, artificial gravity, hover technology, force fields, handheld weapons that fire grains of dust with the force of bullets. The effect is created when running a current through [[{{Unobtanium}} Element Zero]], and people whose bodies are laced with the substance (either by accident or on purpose) can use the electric potential of their nervous system to gain pseudo-telekinetic powers. This is based, however loosely, on theoretical applications of dark energy, even if exaggerated quite a bit. Outside of eezo, though, most of the AppliedPhlebotinum is [[ShownTheirWork thoroughly well-researched]] and pretty squarely in the realm of Mohs/SpeculativeScience (ArtificialIntelligence via quantum computing, {{Subspace Ansible}}s via quantum entanglement, and they even account for [[SpaceIsCold heating and cooling problems in space]]). The only other reasons outside of eezo why ''Mass Effect'' isn't a tier higher is the game getting a few facts incorrect either through misguided (as opposed to [[CriticalResearchFailure flat-out wrong]]) research or deliberate [[NecessaryWeasel Necessary Weasels]] [[note]]Mostly regarding biology; [[MirrorChemistry levo and dextro amino acids]] are most assuredly ''not'' fatal in real life, alongside the biological implausibility of [[IntelligentGerbil clear species analogues to Earth]], [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe the existence of the asari race]] even with genetic engineering as a HandWave ([[FridgeLogic which doesn't explain why]] they look like blue-skinned ''humans'' versus blue-skinned [[spoiler:protheans]]), on top of NoBiochemicalBarriers outside of the poorly-understood MirrorChemistry. It's pretty minor stuff on the wholesale though, given aside from that it gets just about everything else right[[/note]], the cutscenes still tend to lean on RuleOfCool (especially in space combat) since the games are thematically {{homage}}s to its genre.

* Despite being a massive [[GenreThrowback Genre]] ''[[{{Reconstruction}} Reconstruction]]'' of the SpaceOpera genre, the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series is surprisingly very accurate in the overwhelming majority of its scientific fields, with its Big Lie being the eponymous mass effect, which is the source for almost all advanced technology. By manipulating the mass of matter, one can create FTL, artificial gravity, hover technology, force fields, handheld weapons that fire grains of dust with the force of bullets. The effect is created when running a current through [[{{Unobtanium}} Element Zero]], and people whose bodies are laced with the substance (either by accident or on purpose) can use the electric potential of their nervous system to gain pseudo-telekinetic powers. This is based, however loosely, on theoretical applications of dark energy, even if exaggerated quite a bit. Outside of eezo, though, most of the AppliedPhlebotinum is [[ShownTheirWork thoroughly well-researched]] and pretty squarely in the realm of Mohs/SpeculativeScience (ArtificialIntelligence via quantum computing, {{Subspace Ansible}}s via quantum entanglement, and they even account for [[SpaceIsCold heating and cooling problems in space]]). The only other reasons outside of eezo why ''Mass Effect'' isn't a tier higher is the game getting a few facts incorrect either through misguided (as opposed to [[CriticalResearchFailure flat-out wrong]]) or deliberate [[NecessaryWeasel Necessary Weasels]] [[note]]Mostly regarding biology; [[MirrorChemistry levo and dextro amino acids]] are most assuredly ''not'' fatal in real life, alongside the biological implausibility of [[IntelligentGerbil clear species analogues to Earth]], [[GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe the existence of the asari race]] even with genetic engineering as a HandWave ([[FridgeLogic which doesn't explain why]] they look like blue-skinned ''humans'' versus blue-skinned [[spoiler:protheans]]), on top of NoBiochemicalBarriers outside of the poorly-understood MirrorChemistry. It's pretty minor stuff on the wholesale though, given aside from that it gets just about everything else right[[/note]], the cutscenes still tend to lean on RuleOfCool (especially in space combat) since the games are thematically {{homage}}s to its genre.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' has its eponymous mass effect, which is the source for almost all advanced technology. By manipulating the mass of matter, one can create FTL, artificial gravity, hover technology, force fields, handheld weapons that fire grains of dust with the force of bullets. The effect is created when running a current through [[{{Unobtanium}} Element Zero]], and people whose bodies are laced with the substance (either by accident or on purpose) can use the electric potential of their nervous system to gain telekinetic powers. This is based, loosely, on theoretical applications of dark energy, exaggerated quite a bit. Outside of eezo, most of the AppliedPhlebotinum is pretty squarely in the realm of Mohs/SpeculativeScience (ArtificialIntelligence via quantum computing, {{Subspace Ansible}}s via quantum entanglement, and they even account for [[SpaceIsCold heating and cooling problems in space]]), though the cutscenes still tend to lean on RuleOfCool (especially in space combat) since the games are thematically {{homage}}s to classic SpaceOpera.

* Despite being an UrbanFantasy, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' falls pretty squarely into this category. It posits the existence of TheLifestream, a BackgroundMagicField which encompasses the cycle of life and death; The Lifestream can be consumed as "Mako energy" and crystallized as "[[GreenRocks Materia]]." Basically everything else in the game either descends from this One Big Lie or harmonizes with known physics (the rocket program, GeneticEngineeringIsTheNewNuke, chocobos, even the fact that the BigBad happens to be an ExtraTerrestrial).

* ''[=StarCom=]: The US Space Force'', developed with the cooperation of NASA, had the hardest science fiction ever seen in a MerchandiseDriven cartoon. FTL travel exists, but it can only be used between the planets of the solar system, and one episode had an alien city discovered on Mars with technology still active. Unfortunately, the series was TooGoodToLast, running for only one season in 1987.

* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' posits what would happen if humans could use technology to construct, control and enter each others' dreams. The entire plot comes from that sole technology, although TheRules of dream-traveling are mostly RuleOfSymbolism.

* While the first season of ''Series/The100'' was SpeculativeScience, Season 2 moved into One Big Lie territory, with the way radiation poisoning works changed to serve the plot and/or make for a more dramatic visual. Subsequent seasons introduced more scientifically-questionable {{Phlebotinum}}, till by the end of Season 4 we were definitely in PhysicsPlus territory.

** "The Robots of Death" is based mostly on plausible technology and science bar the Doctor's existence and presence, and possibly whatever travel mechanism bought humans to the Kaldor City planet in the first place. In particular, even the psychology of the most highly advanced and intelligent robot in the story is markedly different to that of humans and they struggle to recognise certain objects and commands. Various laws of physics are encountered in the story and dealt with realistically, like the inability to stop the sandminer while in motion for fear of it sinking, and then-cutting edge robots research is incorporated into the story (specifically, the UncannyValley Effect). There is even a stage play adaptation that removes the Doctor and Leela [[ExiledFromContinuity due to rights issues]], making the scifi even harder.

* The titular device in ''Cylinder van Troffa'' by Creator/JanuszZajdel slows down time [[spoilers: it can also reverse time, but this is harder to do]], which mostly serves as a vehicle of one-direction time travel. Right into ColdSleepColdFuture.