Design flaw in Imperial Cruisers

[Obadiah]

Spinny bits on ships

It occurred to me watching the capital ship battle that the spinning ring should be stopped during a fight. Imagine if an explosion caused minor damage to the bearings (or some other obstruction), the inertia of the ring could tear the whole ship apart.

(For the purposes of enjoying the video I assumed that the battle started unexpectedly and before the ring could be stopped).

Regarding manoeuvrability, the spin could be a plus as well as a minus. The Sopwith Camel (a WW1 fighter so arguably not directly comparable!!) 'featured' an unusually large torque effect from the airscrew, I believe as a result of concentration of the planes weight toward the front. This made the plane very difficult to fly, but meant that an experienced pilot could make right hand turns VERY quickly (or was it left? Anyway, they could turn in one direction very quickly). This contributed to making the Camel a particularly effective fighter.

Perhaps this effect is more useful on a fighter than a capital ship though...

 

[Ian Phillips]

It occurred to me watching the capital ship battle that the spinning ring should be stopped during a fight. Imagine if an explosion caused minor damage to the bearings (or some other obstruction), the inertia of the ring could tear the whole ship apart.

I had though that they would be using some sort of frictionless bearings. A supercooled magnetic floaty thing, like maglev trains, which would also provide the motion for the ring.

 

[Flavio]

May I say that we do not know yet if the ring can be moved from a horizontal to a vertical position depending on the ships acceleration direction so that the unwanted effects are negated. Personally I just think that you suspend you disbelief and it rotates when desired and they ignore any accelerating effects to the people within a spinning ring or ship as a whole. When you are walking around a traditional ship, it will feel like 0g but if a section is rotating, the gravity effect will be constant at the desired level up to 2g lets say.
They obviously may make tweaks in future releases in order to make it more realistic but for starters, making it simple to implement is probably best.

 

[Oss133]

[NerdMode]

I had though that they would be using some sort of frictionless bearings. A supercooled magnetic floaty thing

There could still be the possibility of damage to the rotating section forcing it to come into contact with the main hull though.

May I say that we do not know yet if the ring can be moved from a horizontal to a vertical position depending on the ships acceleration direction so that the unwanted effects are negated.

You may, but, regardless of its alignment, the forces of acceleration would not be negated.

[/NerdMode]

 

[Cathy]

(For the purposes of enjoying the video I assumed that the battle started unexpectedly and before the ring could be stopped).

[contextualising panic mode] I assumed the ship's non-Imperial captain/crew were too inexperienced/inefficient to power it down first.

 

[Cosmos]

It occurred to me watching the capital ship battle that the spinning ring should be stopped during a fight. Imagine if an explosion caused minor damage to the bearings (or some other obstruction), the inertia of the ring could tear the whole ship apart.

(

I wonder if the damage model of this ship would allow for the ring to fall off like broken bicycle wheel, and subsequently break in half. That would be cool.

Queue the entire player-base attempting to destroy capital ships..

 

[Slythe]

I wonder if the damage model of this ship would allow for the ring to fall off like broken bicycle wheel, and subsequently break in half. That would be cool.

Queue the entire player-base attempting to destroy capital ships..

Maybe it's a secret Imperial weapon and they'll be able to fire it at the enemy like some sort of giant Frisbee!!

 

[Obadiah]

[contextualising panic mode] I assumed the ship's non-Imperial captain/crew were too inexperienced/inefficient to power it down first.

Captain: "Battle stations! Lieutenant, halt habitation module rotation!"
1st Lieutenant: "Yes Sir!... "

<2 minutes later>

Intercom: "Could whoever last had the manual please return it to the bridge immediately!"

 

[Blethigg]

(For the purposes of enjoying the video I assumed that the battle started unexpectedly and before the ring could be stopped)

Or perhaps that was an element of the subterfuge which facilitated the ambush?

"Imperial Cruiser approaching Captain."
"Attack vector?"
"Negative sir. Also their hab ring is spinning, they're not on a combat footing sir."

 

[Darren Grey]

This is most insulting as everyone knows love is best done in zero gravity.

Not true, it's very messy with all those fluids in zero G.

Regarding the capital ship, I'm guessing it would run at half G or so instead of full G, as that would be a little more comfortable for those used to lower Gs. At half G any acceleration would utterly overwhelm the centripetal acceleration, so anyone inside would have to be strapped in, just like in any normal ship.

 

[Jenner]

Not true, it's very messy with all those fluids in zero G.

See, I'm out of the thread for awhile and look at where it's gone!

 

[Oss133]

See, I'm out of the thread for awhile and look at where it's gone!

And you think the character in your sig is likely to clean things up?

 

[Jenner]

And you think the character in your sig is likely to clean things up?

Wow...I tip my hat to you, sir! Nicely done.

 

[Quantum Enigma]

It might also be desirable to have some of the routes for your transport system via lower radii tubes to increase the angular speed within the ring station without increasing the simulated gravity.

Good idea. You could also have multiple concentric tiers of habitable rings, each with independent control. This would allow different gravity's to be simulated for different tasks (eating, sports, sex, manufacturing) and could aid with travel around the structure. That's probably more useful in a station though, and i think it's something the dev's have mentioned.

Also, you could counter-rotate two or more rings to negate the problem of torque that has been mentioned. Or use a contra-rotating fly wheel.

 

[Quantum Enigma]

it's very messy with all those fluids in zero G

Exactly. Messy and better.

 

[insanephoton]

I'm not sure I buy the panic mode/ didn't have time to stop the ring hypothesis. Although we can only speculate about events before the video, everything points to the Imperial built ship being the aggressor. If we accept that, then timing of the attack was in their hands. So we are left with three possibilities:

1. Incompetence. Maybe they didn't buy the training package with the ship?

2. Subterfuge. Appearing to be unprepared for combat.

3. Arrogance. They thought they had the edge with whatever disabled the Damocles' systems and maybe they were showing off to invited guests.

 

[DraQ]

3. Arrogance. They thought they had the edge with whatever disabled the Damocles' systems and maybe they were showing off to invited guests.

I'd go with this one. Very Empire-like.

What I really didn't like about the video was ships exchanging broadsides at point-blank range.
I mean, come on.

 

[Darren Grey]

What I really didn't like about the video was ships exchanging broadsides at point-blank range.
I mean, come on.

They got close to exchange goods or sign a contract or something, one side betrayed the other, and then combat was initiated. For both crews moving would mean taking away certain weapons and defences that rely on mobile crew (accelerating away would need all crew strapped in) so neither is going to flinch and back off.

 

[Dr Wookie]

I'm not sure I buy the panic mode/ didn't have time to stop the ring hypothesis. Although we can only speculate about events before the video, everything points to the Imperial built ship being the aggressor. If we accept that, then timing of the attack was in their hands. So we are left with three possibilities:

1. Incompetence. Maybe they didn't buy the training package with the ship?

2. Subterfuge. Appearing to be unprepared for combat.

3. Arrogance. They thought they had the edge with whatever disabled the Damocles' systems and maybe they were showing off to invited guests.

I go with 4. It was an ambush, and the ship wasn't going anywhere, so spinning could go ahead with no problem

 

[Dull Bladerunner]

A Noob "Sugar Sponsored Idea" regarding the ring.

With the Elite Dangerous universe having force fields/shields that deflect or cushion/absorb external forces to certain degrees, couldn't you have a force field/shielding surrounding the ring itself that was in addition to the one surrounding the ship as a whole. This cover/buffer shield rotating in the opposite direction but same rotation speed of the ring itself.

The effects of the one closely encompassing the ring would throttle up and down depending on the external forces being put on the the entire ship, kind of putting the brakes or dampening on to the external forces coming from outside when the ship is in motion.

When the ship was stationary the ring shield/dampener would be stationary/powered down.

Too much sugar?