Re: DS2 Another armour\mobility idea

Hi,

Actually, without the massive amount of weight, the bulldozer could go
much faster, but it would also need a totally different transmission. 
Most
heavy vehicles have their speed limited mainly by their transmission,
which is geared very low to account for both their large weight and
their need to have loads of power.

The reason that you will never get to the speeds of a NASCAR is that
they have ten times the power and less weight. Even if you were dropped
from a Hercules at 20000 feet, the NASCAR would still be faster,
although you would stop much faster ;)

Simply put, the acceleration of a car is determined mostly by it's
power to weight ratio, whereas its top speed is determined by its
gear ratio (transmission) as well as suspension and braking (for
safety reasons). A vehicle may be unable to reach its theoretical
top speed if the power is insufficient to overcome friction, but IMO
that is not particularly relevant to DS.

I think that mobility should be described by engine output, vehicle
mass and mobility class. I'll try to come up with some sensible
combination that fits somewhat within the current system.

On Tuesday, April 9, 2002, at 06:37 PM, Dances With Rocks wrote:
> This just feels...wrong. I'm not able to see how you can have
something
> that's nominally "slow tracked" be cooking along at just about the
same
> speed as "fast tracked". The way I understand engines (and I'll be the
> first to admit I'm no mechanic ;-) is that they have a certain torque 
> and
> mobility output and whatnot (the "whatnot" part is my non-mechanic
lack-
> of-jargon portion of the understanding ;-), and you can't make 'em go
> faster than they are designed to go. I mean, a bulldozer is not going
to
> go much faster than it already does if you strip off all the heavy 
> weight
> attached to it. My Indymobile is not going to keep up with Nascar 
> vehicles
> no matter how much I strip off the car (I can get up to 90 mph on a 7%
> grade and 7 miles of uncontested road in front of me - 95 if there's a
> stiff wind at my back ;-). I think the "mobility" factor is a limit to
> how much an engine on a particular vehicle can move said vehicle.
>
> Sorry, Rob, the idea just doesn't feel right.  :-/
>
> Mk