Okay, let me just put my own thoughts out on this. I like the "glow" effect but not the "fiery rocket exhaust" when it comes to Traveller ships.
Disclaimer 1: Most (but not all) of the original artwork done for Traveller by William H. Keith Jr. did not have rocket exhaust, and he was my favourite Traveller artist until Rob Caswell then Ian Stead came along. Therefore I am admittedly biased.
Disclaimer 2: I was influenced by Megatraveller's Starship Operator's Manual Vol. 1 when it came out back in the late 80's or so. Again I admit my own bias.
So, to quote a small snippet from that book for those who do not have a copy:
Observing an Operating Maneuver Drive: When a maneuver drive is in operation, it builds up a slight ionization field around the thruster plates. This phenomenon, which is not unlike St. Elmo's Fire, causes the plates to acquire a faint aura of blue light while producing thrust. The intensity of the ionization is greater when the drive is operating at higher levels. Thus, a drive producing full thrust (or in overdrive) glows more brightly than one which is at half thrust. It is possible to estimate the maximum acceleration of a craft based on its current acceleration and the brightness of its thruster ionization. Attempts to reduce the ionization effect have always resulted in a loss of thrust, so that it is now accepted as an inescapable side-effect of the maneuver drive's operation.
Within the quoted text above are a few things that I think have to be dealt with. One is the idea of "overdrive". I think I remember someone talking about just that on this beta forum. Nobody was liking it and neither do I.
The other thing is figuring out max thrust from a visual clue. I do like this and think it could be incorporated into the Mongoose version of Traveller (but it is by no means required or damaging to the end product if it is not).
So based on the above verbal diarrhea, I'm all for the "blue glow" and not for the "fiery rocket exhaust". However, if someone else likes it then by all means go for it and if you produce a really nice piece of art work that just happens to have the rocket effect, I will still enjoy it immensely.
In other words...hiro is right! :mrgreen:
Disclaimer 1: Most (but not all) of the original artwork done for Traveller by William H. Keith Jr. did not have rocket exhaust, and he was my favourite Traveller artist until Rob Caswell then Ian Stead came along. Therefore I am admittedly biased.
Disclaimer 2: I was influenced by Megatraveller's Starship Operator's Manual Vol. 1 when it came out back in the late 80's or so. Again I admit my own bias.
So, to quote a small snippet from that book for those who do not have a copy:
Observing an Operating Maneuver Drive: When a maneuver drive is in operation, it builds up a slight ionization field around the thruster plates. This phenomenon, which is not unlike St. Elmo's Fire, causes the plates to acquire a faint aura of blue light while producing thrust. The intensity of the ionization is greater when the drive is operating at higher levels. Thus, a drive producing full thrust (or in overdrive) glows more brightly than one which is at half thrust. It is possible to estimate the maximum acceleration of a craft based on its current acceleration and the brightness of its thruster ionization. Attempts to reduce the ionization effect have always resulted in a loss of thrust, so that it is now accepted as an inescapable side-effect of the maneuver drive's operation.
Within the quoted text above are a few things that I think have to be dealt with. One is the idea of "overdrive". I think I remember someone talking about just that on this beta forum. Nobody was liking it and neither do I.
The other thing is figuring out max thrust from a visual clue. I do like this and think it could be incorporated into the Mongoose version of Traveller (but it is by no means required or damaging to the end product if it is not).
So based on the above verbal diarrhea, I'm all for the "blue glow" and not for the "fiery rocket exhaust". However, if someone else likes it then by all means go for it and if you produce a really nice piece of art work that just happens to have the rocket effect, I will still enjoy it immensely.
In other words...hiro is right! :mrgreen:
