Combat in Space

The problem is that in space you don't have "Brakes". You can only turn your ship around and begin accelerating in the opposite direction until you stop. It takes just as long to stop in space as it takes to get started. If you accelerate for 60 seconds, you will have to "deccel" for 60 seconds at the same G force to stop.

Originally posted by PinkFloyd
One problem I read about when I played Starfleet Battles regularly was that someone had complained that there should be no "penalty" for going from "warp speed" to a very low speed (or even stopping). The argument was that since there is no friction in the vacuum of space, he could "slam on brakes" with impunity.
Not being a physics expert, I thought he had a good point. 🙂

If you don't understand the relationship between friction and brakes, you need to study more physics.

Or ride a bike and pay attention to what happens when you hit the brakes...

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
If you don't understand the relationship between friction and brakes, you need to study more physics.

Or ride a bike and pay attention to what happens when you hit the brakes...

That was the point of the 🙂 -- I am well aware of my lack of knowledge in physics. My example only meant to show that I am not alone. Geez...

Originally posted by dinosaurus
The problem is that in space you don't have "Brakes". You can only turn your ship around and begin accelerating in the opposite direction until you stop. It takes just as long to stop in space as it takes to get started. If you accelerate for 60 seconds, you will have to "deccel" for 60 seconds at the same G force to stop.

I see---how about this one? The game had a mechanic that stipulated that, in order to make a turn (on a hexagonal grid = 60 degrees), one had to check the speed your vessel was moving. The faster the speed, the more "straight ahead" moves you had to take before you could make a turn. Some fans of the game wrote the designer complainig that, again in the vacuum of space, you should be able to zoom along at the speed of a Romulan plasma torpedo and make as many turns as you wished. Did they have a point, or would physics prohibit that as well?

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
It depends. If you have a huge number of conscript pilots and capital ships like Star Destroyers, you go with the TIEs. If you only have a few precious pilots and no carrier ships, you need the X-Wing.

Even if you've got the star destroyers, all you need is one X-wing and one tricked-out YT-1300 freighter to beat them. 😀

Regarding turns ...

There are two limiting conditions that would first need to be considered. First, the rate you can accelerate will control the minimum radius you will be able to use for your turns. If you have a lot of speed, a lot of mass and a small amount of accelerating capability, you will have to turn very wide circles. One of the terms used in this discussion is "Rating your nose", which refers to the rate you can turn the nose of your craft measured in degrees per second. In fighter aircraft, the best rates occur between 330-440 mph. In space however, there are other things you can do like execute a slipping turn that you can't do in the atmosphere.

The second condition you still have to deal with is the maximum G-force your body can withstand. If you snap the spacecraft around too quickly, you could just kill everyone inside. At these accelerations, you might have a real problem keeping the structure of the spacecraft intact too.

My guess is your other game didn't allow you all the freedom you really have in space, but you buddies are expecting to be able to do too much as well.

Originally posted by dinosaurus
Regarding turns ...

There are two limiting conditions that would first need to be considered. First, the rate you can accelerate will control the minimum radius you will be able to use for your turns. If you have a lot of speed, a lot of mass and a small amount of accelerating capability, you will have to turn very wide circles. One of the terms use ...[text shortened]... m you really have in space, but you buddies are expecting to be able to do too much as well.

I think you have it nailed. I recall one ingenious fellow wanted to get around the "decelleration" rule (which said that you could not drop your speed by more than 1/2 in a given turn) by using his "tractor beam" on a planet his ship was passing by. A novel idea, but was ruled invalid by the judges.