Saturnyne
Vice Admiral
The afterburner thing in Wing Commander has bothered me... why does one need to keep them active if there is no resistance to stop your craft? According to physics, if you fire off your afts, and turn them off, you'll continue to cruise along at that speed.
I have come up with something of a theory as to why. I'll need some clarification on a point, though...
First, about the craft's engines. They don't use up fuel, and are always on, unless the ship is at a complete stop. Chances are that the ships have some kind of retros or inertial dampening system such as the type mentioned in Star Trek so it will stop when the engines are off. Likewise, these dampeners would probably provide the resistance the afterburners need to keep firing. However, that is unlikely. In order to turn and flip the way the ships do, the engines would have to be active the whole time you're flying. That way, they can help turn your ship as you manuever through space.
Now, the afterburners. When they fire, the ship uses the fuel allocated it to keep them ignited. If a pilot fired them once, and they turned off, then the ship would continue on in one direction no matter where the pilot turned their ship. Hence, the engines must remain activated to help the ship turn. So, the pilot needs to keep the afterburners on to turn the ship as quickly and sharply as possible. At least, that is my theory.
Here is the point I need clarification on: Let's say Tamara Farnsworth goes out in a Panther (Hehe ). She fires her afterburners and accelerates to 1200 KPS. After turning the afterburners off, the ship continues to coast at 1200 KPS. Could she use the regular engines, which are designed for slower speeds, to turn and manuever as easily as if she had kept the afterburners on?
Something about the turning of ships...
The ships obviously cannot use wingflaps to turn and twist the way they do. The Panther and Vampire also have nacelles (sp) to turn their engines for them, so the nacelles (sp) just have to re-align, and the ship can travel in the new direction. Is the turning mechanism in ships explained in the novels? The only theory I can think of that makes sense is that there is some kind of gyro turning the ships which would provide the force or weight to turn the ship, but I haven't thought out yet just how that would work.
Any thoughts? I know LOAF is miffed about the flight physics... Am I way off? Am I onto something? Could it explain what's going on in WC? Now, obviously the way ships turn differs in each game... but if my theory is right, it could still apply to all the games. The games would just handle them slightly differently in terms of turning and such.
I have come up with something of a theory as to why. I'll need some clarification on a point, though...
First, about the craft's engines. They don't use up fuel, and are always on, unless the ship is at a complete stop. Chances are that the ships have some kind of retros or inertial dampening system such as the type mentioned in Star Trek so it will stop when the engines are off. Likewise, these dampeners would probably provide the resistance the afterburners need to keep firing. However, that is unlikely. In order to turn and flip the way the ships do, the engines would have to be active the whole time you're flying. That way, they can help turn your ship as you manuever through space.
Now, the afterburners. When they fire, the ship uses the fuel allocated it to keep them ignited. If a pilot fired them once, and they turned off, then the ship would continue on in one direction no matter where the pilot turned their ship. Hence, the engines must remain activated to help the ship turn. So, the pilot needs to keep the afterburners on to turn the ship as quickly and sharply as possible. At least, that is my theory.
Here is the point I need clarification on: Let's say Tamara Farnsworth goes out in a Panther (Hehe ). She fires her afterburners and accelerates to 1200 KPS. After turning the afterburners off, the ship continues to coast at 1200 KPS. Could she use the regular engines, which are designed for slower speeds, to turn and manuever as easily as if she had kept the afterburners on?
Something about the turning of ships...
The ships obviously cannot use wingflaps to turn and twist the way they do. The Panther and Vampire also have nacelles (sp) to turn their engines for them, so the nacelles (sp) just have to re-align, and the ship can travel in the new direction. Is the turning mechanism in ships explained in the novels? The only theory I can think of that makes sense is that there is some kind of gyro turning the ships which would provide the force or weight to turn the ship, but I haven't thought out yet just how that would work.
Any thoughts? I know LOAF is miffed about the flight physics... Am I way off? Am I onto something? Could it explain what's going on in WC? Now, obviously the way ships turn differs in each game... but if my theory is right, it could still apply to all the games. The games would just handle them slightly differently in terms of turning and such.