Re: Vector Rules

On Tue, 7 Oct 1997, Stuart Ford wrote:

> >On Tue, 7 Oct 1997, Imre A. Szabo wrote:
Status: RO

> >
> >> No!  It uses lots of small little manuevering thrusters to do so. 
There
> >> is no reason why a billion ton supper-battleship couldn't rotate,
stop
> >> rotating, and then fire its main engines in one turn.  Remember
> >> micro-gravity.  It doesn't take that much thrust to rotate and stop
> >> rotating a billion to supper-battleship.
> >
> >Ehhhhhhhh, what?
> >
> >Tell you what, let's go down to the nearest lake.  To you, I'll float
a 8'
> >long, 1' thick oak log.  I'll take a 8" long, 1" thick oak twig.  You
turn
> >yours in the water, I'll turn mine.	One rotation, then stop. 
Reverse
> >that motion.  Repeat a hundred times.  Let's see who's out of breath
and
> >wishing he hadn't been sitting hip-deep in the lake.
> >
> 
> 
> You seem to be forgetting that there is a major difference between
trying to
> rotate an object in space Vs rotating it in water fighting the
resistance of
> the liquid.  You should be able to maneuver the big ships quite
quickly, the
> only drawback is that the further you are away from the point of
rotation,
> the more inertia you will have to deal with.	Captains take note...
make no
> surprise high speed maneuvers, lest your forward gunners become salsa.
> 
> Stuart F.
>

You seem to be getting a bit confused regarding inertia...although you
do
have a point about the centrifuge (sp?) effect of turning, a big ship
has
inertia all over, not just at the extreme bow and stern ends. You need
to
push the WHOLE mass of the ship around on its axis to rotate it, not
only
the bow and stern ends.

For SDNs and other big ships, mass and inertia stop them from spinning
like tops. For little ships, destroyers and the like, it may indeed be
the
salsa-ed crew problem that stops them from pulling 360s and stuff - the
crew and possibly the ship's frame would be damaged...

The as-written costs of rotation seem to work - I've not playtested
them,
but they read well. The inertia of big ships cannot be forgotten.

Brian (burger00@camosun.bc.ca)