>} Movement: I am inclined to make some changes in the movement rules.
>} First, I want to make heading changes somewhat more difficult. As in
>}Interceptor or Leviathan, it costs thrust points to change heading. What I
>}want to do is require a certain number of hexes travelled at a given velocity
>}before allowing a one hex side course change. How many hexes to travel may
I think you are confused...my understanding is that heading is the
direction you are pointing, course ( = vector, i guess) is the direction
you are moving.
>}depend on both maneuver gee and/or agility. Using this rule would make it
>}appropriate to limit the arc of the spinal mount to forward.
>
.....
>
>What you are suggesting sounds vaguely reminiscent of the fact that aircraft
>cannot instantly bring their nose to bear on target as they approach higher
>and higher speeds. In a vaccum this will not be a problem: No wings.
I'll answer this with the proviso that I may be corrected by any REAL aero-
dynamicists(SP?) out there....
Airplanes run into this problem because they must change COURSE to target an
enemy ship. Since they only have a limited ability to change heading w/o
changing course, in atmosphere they are essentially the same thing. Take any
airplane, mount small maneuvering jets in strategic places (nose, tail, wing
tips...) and put it in space and you separate the two. You can now do things
that any self-respecting plane in atmosphere can't (move in direction A while
pointing in direction B)
You change heading with the manuevering jets, and course with the main engine
(if heading <> course). The problem in atmosphere is that high-G turns put
the plane at the outer rim of a circle. Since the linear speed is constant,
a smaller circle places a higher G-force on the plane/pilot. Too much stress
on either the plane's structure or the pilot's and things start to fall apart.
Take a spaceship, change it's COURSE as fast as you change the plane's and
you will place an equivalent stress on it's structure. The limiting factor
becomes how much stress the ship's/occupant's structure can take. That's what
inertial dampers were invented for.
Question: putting inertial dampers on an airplane should allow you to make
higher-G turns. The limiting factor here becomes max linear speed (remember
frictional heating) + max rotational speed (which depends on elevator
deflection and moment arms and other things I don't want to think about).
True or not?
>
>Changing VECTORS is a totally different story. You can't suddenly switch
>your heading by 180 degrees without applying your maneuver drive. ie you
Again, HEADING <> COURSE.
>}DAMAGE RESULTS
>}Fuel Tank. I'm going to change the "fuel tank shattered" to "fuel leak".
>}A certain amount of fuel will be lost per turn. Subsequent hits will make the
>}leak more severe.
>
>In a 20 minute turn, a fuel tank that is open to space will evacuate itself.
>Even a slow leak. I have trouble seeing it not empty itself even in the
How big is the leak? How much fuel is left in the tank? These things will
all affect how fast the fuel will be lost. Unless the leak approaches a
significant fraction of the tank size or there isn't much fuel left in the
tank, it won't be lost immediately.
>
>Scott "2G" Kellogg
>
I await all flames in a state of Zen (or was that Pennsylvania?)
Paul "Unka" Baughman
student glider pilot
- ----------
Captain Sir Michael Talmoth, UPP: BA5A8B
"You see me now a veteran,
Of a thousand psychic wars,
I've been living on the edge so long,
Where the winds of Limbo roar.
- -- BOC