Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I don't know Ptah, is there any force that works that way?
Enlighten me. What is a reactionless drive ?
- Thread starter weasel fierce
- Start date
TheEngineer
SOC-14 1K
Yep, guess the main motivation for reactionless stuff during core rule design was to keep it simple = constant accelaration regardless what load. It would result in a pretty amount of technical accounting, if mass, accelaration and traveltimes were treated dynamically
BTW, when calculating agility in starship design the real mass of the construction is used...
Regards,
TE
TheEngineer
SOC-14 1K
Hm, perhaps something like Lorentz-force, where a magnetic field causes travelling charged particels to be affected by a force pendicular to the field direction....
Fritz_Brown
Super Moderator
I believe the agility (based on mass) thing only comes up in MT and later.
You are right the emag fields and charged particles (like electrons!) interact in that way. Hadn't thought of that. Of course, that would make it hard to go straight up and achieve orbit.... :file_22:
You are right the emag fields and charged particles (like electrons!) interact in that way. Hadn't thought of that. Of course, that would make it hard to go straight up and achieve orbit.... :file_22:
Icosahedron
SOC-14 1K
AFAIK, at a planet's surface, the NET gravitational force is vertically downward, but there are components of the force in all directions within a cone beneath the craft and tangential to the planet.
Presumably, a device that can neutralize gravity could be angled to neutralize more force components in the rearward direction, so that the planetary gravity has a net forward pull.
It would get trickier in space though as that cone becomes a needle.
Presumably, a device that can neutralize gravity could be angled to neutralize more force components in the rearward direction, so that the planetary gravity has a net forward pull.
It would get trickier in space though as that cone becomes a needle.
Daneel Olivaw
SOC-11
MT uses both Surplus Power and Mass.
[from MT Referee’s Guide]
Agility: Space-faring craft also list the craft’s agility, which
is used in starship combat. To compute the craft’s agility (drop
fractions): Agility = (Excess power output in megawatts -
unloaded weight of craft in tons) x 5 4. Agility can never exceed
6 Excess power output is the power left over from the
power plant after all other components have been powered.
Agility is “the ability to change your craft’s orientation over
time” (more a function of ship mass than speed). It is obvious
that smaller vessels tend to have greater agility. Which is faster,
the Queen Mary or a rowboat? Which can change its heading
more quickly? The rowboat has the greater agility, though its
“maneuver drive” speed rating is less than the Queen Mary’s.
[from COACC]
Agility: Agility is used to help determine which aircraft has
the advantage in air-to-air combat Use the following formula
to calculate an aircraft’s agility rating:
(MS/100 + G x 100)/100 - ME + MP.
MS is the aircraft’s maximurn speed
G is the G rating.
ME is the percentage of weight devoted to maneuver enhancement
MP is the number of maneuver points from the aircraft controls
Maneuver points for each type of controls are listed in
the Controls Table
[from COACC]
G Rating: An aircraft’s G rating helps determine its top speed
and agility Calculate the G rating by dividing the aircraft’s total
thrust by its weight and multiplying the result by the airframe
efficiency factor for the airframe type listed on the Airframes
Table. Calculate the G rating using both the aircraft’s clean
and loaded weights (for two different ratings).
Good point - thanks for putting me straight on that. Equally helicopters do something about pushing air molecules around when they angle their lift. That'll teach me to discuss physics with people who really understand it. Reminds me of the hours it took me to understand conservation of angular momentum. Doh!
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
What is Straybow's agility 
Gnusam Netor
SOC-13
What is Straybow's agility
It depends on his excess energy. You should know this!
Straybow
SOC-14 1K
Which in turn depends on time since last caffeine boost.It depends on his excess energy. You should know this!What is Straybow's agility
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
But I lack hard numbers for Straybow's mass and volume, and a rule as to which to factor.
But I lack hard numbers for Straybow's mass and volume, and a rule as to which to factor.
Since the units are Metric Tons and dTons, both can safely be assumed to be close to ZERO.
Which rule to use depends on your plan of action:
A BASIC attack or an attempt to overcome his HIGH GUARD need consider only volume.
If you are planning a MEGA attack, attempt to knock him into THE NEW ERA, or hit him with FIRE, FUSION AND STEEL, then you will need to consider his mass.
By the way, Laithwaite thought he had a real reactionless drive:
http://www.alternativescience.com/eric-laithwaite.htm
And NASA says that angular momentum doesn't work that way.
So ... physics is not only hard, there are considerable barriers to market entry in the marketplace of physics ideas.
http://www.alternativescience.com/eric-laithwaite.htm
And NASA says that angular momentum doesn't work that way.
So ... physics is not only hard, there are considerable barriers to market entry in the marketplace of physics ideas.
far-trader
SOC-14 10K
Fascinating article, deserving of it's own thread I think.
EDIT: Or not. It does fit here, I just wonder if it'll get seen widely after the recent topic drift
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