Re: Vector Rules

>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.