Lunar combat - Reply

Somehow I missed it, but Thomas Barclay wrote:

>> I'm not sure what the movement you are looking at is like, but I'd
imagine the
following facts come into play:
1. Banking to turn sharper is mostly (AFAIK) a technique that utilizes
air
pressure to aid the turn (Hence the Star Wars fighter game is true to
the movies
but an offence to physics)
2. Gravity on the lunar surface is like 1/6th of earth. It is there, but
won't have as
much pull as earth, hence dives to build up energy will be less
effective, and
energy losses as one climbs will be less pronounced. <<

Correct in both cases, although a qualifier or two may be in order:
1) Banking to turn can be used without an atmosphere; what the ship is
doing in
that case is using motion about the pitching axis to change its heading.
An
example could be Narn Frazi fighters, which are very flat and don't have
side or
reverse thrusters; what the pilots do is roll and pitch the ship, using
the
thrusters mounted behind the cockpit. This is the space equivalent of
"twist-to-steer" control, as used by some missiles -- although the
missiles are
using aerodynamic lift to do the turning; spacecraft have to use
thrusters or the
main drive(s).
2) Energy gains and losses from diving and climbing (respectively) will
be equal
in an airless environment, and will both be advantageous (i.e., the
gains will be
greater and the losses smaller) when compared to motion in an atmosphere
because there won't be the added losses due to drag. Having said that,
the size
of the changes will be much less on the Moon than on Earth due to the
much
smaller gravitational strength.

Jon T. replied:
> AFAIK, diving in an airless environment will simply slam you into the
surface
harder! With no air to act on lifting surfaces (wings, whatever), the
only way to
"pull out" of a dive is with raw thrust vectored downwards. <

Again, correct, although this assumes that the vehicle in question isn't
moving
at orbital velocities. If it is, then a "dive" is a perfectly good way
to pick up some
speed, courtesy of the change in gravitational potential energy.

> Combat over the lunar surface should (IMHO) be just like combat in
open
space, except for a 1/6 gee vector (decreasing with altitude?)... <

Only if you're using _large_ altitude excursions (I missed the start of
this; are we
talking FT or SG/DS combat here?)

> ...constantly pulling you "down" toward the surface -- in other words,
use a
vector movement system with an automatic "gravity" vector applied to
every
move in addition to whatever thrust you apply... <

This sounds like SG/DS -- anything at orbital speeds will require either
a _huge_
map, or the grav vector will be miniscule.

Phil
-------------------------------------------------------------
 Gravity is a Downer... So let's go flying!
   -- so sayeth Phil Atcliffe (p-atclif@uwe.ac.uk)