Re: Realistic movement thoughts

On Tue, 21 Jan 1997, Samuel Penn wrote:

> I had a few realistic movement games over Xmas, and the rule we
> used was that a ship can accelerate in any direction (backwards,
> sideways, whatever), regardless of facing. At the end of its
> movement, it can turn to face any direction it wants.
> 
> (the basic idea behind this, is that since drives are reactionless,
> there's no reason why they _have_ to be pointing in the direction
> they're thrusting. It also simplifies things greatly - and you still
> have an exposed rear arc). 

Well... my thought on the realistic movement rules is that the drive 
_isn't_ reactionless - of course, it all depends on your gaming
background!
 
> > Finally... Mike, you said something about Jon wanting to go to a
purely 
> > mass-based design system. Any ideas of how to represent engines in
such a 
> > system (without _really_ screwing battlecruisers or light cruisers)?

> > (...I don't know if it's very realistic, but I like the idea of 
> > high-thrust escorts and slow capitals...)
> 
> I would assume each point of mass gives X thrust. Once the ship
> has been designed, divide the total thrust by the mass of the
> ship to get its acceleration. Would make for much more interesting
> ship design (do you sacrifice performance to squeeze in one more
> pulse torpedo?).

Yes, BUT this means capitals will have the same main thrust ratings as
escorts - they pay just as much mass... What I found necessary was a
sliding scale (which I haven't been able to figure out yet) where a
small
ship can use a smaller percentage of its mass to get a certain thrust
rating than a big ship does... or else the speed 6 or speed 8
dreadnoughts
(which I don't like too much, since I'm a firm believer in fast small
and
slow big ships...) crop up again. 
 
> Kra'vak should possibly get a higher amount of thrust per mass
> of drives. Even better would be to bring in tech levels for each
> of the various technologies (but I can already hear cries of
> "simplicity!" from some of you lot :) ).

Or more efficient manouver thrusters, allowing them to turn their ships 
faster. Perhaps.

Later,

Oerjan Ohlson

"Father, what is wrong?"
"My shoes are too tight. But it does not matter, because
 I have forgotten how to dance."
- Londo Mollari