Dumb question about manoeuvre drives
- Thread starter Vidgar
- Start date
Reisender
Cosmic Mongoose
That is correct. Some early models may have auxiliary thrusters/nozzles that help to fine align the ship but once M-drives are fully established the M-drive will take over this task.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
That gravitic pressure is going to have to go somewhere.
alex_greene
Guest
This is actually quite a smart question.
Ships might use gravitic landing thrusters routinely to sweep platforms clear of debris, and uncover hazards which could cause damage to the underside of the ship. The expanding cloud of dust and debris could look very much like the cloud being swept off the platform by chemical reaction retros.
GabrielGABFonseca
Emperor Mongoose
As per T5 (and now Mongoose 2nd), in the OTU the M-Drive "grabs" onto nearby masses and, using gravitic shenaniganry, pushes against them and via Newton's Third Law is pushed back. It is somewhat coarse though, and because angling its thrust in directions other than directly aft (see High Guard 2022, Page 45, 'Concealed Manoeuvre Drive') reduces its thrust significantly, it can be complicated to use it alone to land a ship via Vertical Take-Off/Landing.
Because of that, most ships have something called Lifters; they're what make G-Cars and other gravitic vehicles go. They're derived from similar (albeit simpler) gravitic technology as M-Drives, but have an upper operational limit of about 1 planetary diameter from a given planet's centre. Ships equipped with Lifters (which is most ships meant to land on planets) can use them to hover off the ground.
Not to spoil the potential/eventual Starship Operator's Guide; but what we went with for Lifters is that, while earlier TL lifters make a somewhat whirry, buzzy sound, later TL ones are almost completely quiet. The surface of a lifter plate feels lukewarm to the touch, so if a ship strafed you, you might feel a slight warmth.
More notably, you might feel a weird sensation like that of being in an elevator that started moving up; you'll momentarily feel slightly heavier as the ship is overhead and then as it flies off you'll stop feeling it.
But further details are left for if/when the book comes out.
Because of that, most ships have something called Lifters; they're what make G-Cars and other gravitic vehicles go. They're derived from similar (albeit simpler) gravitic technology as M-Drives, but have an upper operational limit of about 1 planetary diameter from a given planet's centre. Ships equipped with Lifters (which is most ships meant to land on planets) can use them to hover off the ground.
Not to spoil the potential/eventual Starship Operator's Guide; but what we went with for Lifters is that, while earlier TL lifters make a somewhat whirry, buzzy sound, later TL ones are almost completely quiet. The surface of a lifter plate feels lukewarm to the touch, so if a ship strafed you, you might feel a slight warmth.
More notably, you might feel a weird sensation like that of being in an elevator that started moving up; you'll momentarily feel slightly heavier as the ship is overhead and then as it flies off you'll stop feeling it.
But further details are left for if/when the book comes out.
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GypsyComet
Emperor Mongoose
Depends on how fast the ship comes in. While M-Drives don't produce a physical thrust, a ship the size of a Free Trader is still pushing air out of the way in respectable amounts, and even 1G is a LOT of available velocity change. What you were thinking of doing with thrust might still be doable with the bow wave and maybe a little latent heat. Ships put off a lot of heat, and moving through the atmosphere at bow shock wave speeds might build up a little more.Happy I was right, Sad, I was planning to use the landing to clear away the snow and ice to reveal something.
The gravitic Manoeuvre drives has minimum disruption to the landing area,
alex_greene
Guest
I've a feeling that the OP wants their dramatic entrance to be spoiled by the discovery of something like a dead body on the platform.
Condottiere
Emperor Mongoose
The problem with the current edition customization system is that you can't balance advantages and disadvantages for a min/max result, so the orbital disadvantage is meant for an early prototype manoeuvre drive, which might be interesting for the slingshot school of human trafficking.
Also, for gravitational effects, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
Also, for gravitational effects, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
