why are there fans on the hull of the anaconda?

[jmg]

You know those cold cathode things the PC master race gets a kick out of? They don't do anything useful, either.

was that a shot in the dark, are you making fun of the nixie tubes in my rig?

 

[Samosa]

was that a shot in the dark, are you making fun of the nixie tubes in my rig?

Oh! They look... Uhm... Lovely!

 

[jmg]

Oh! They look... Uhm... Lovely!

haha... I love those things. I'm telling you, nixie tubes are making a comeback
But they do serve a purpose... they show lots of random numbers that have some relationship to the interior temp... or ... something....

 

[Valethar]

nope.
maneuvering jets are completely separate. I thought maybe this was the case, and checked with the debug camera while moving. No, they just move sedately at the same slow speed no matter what you're doing..

Why would they do anything while in Debug? As soon as you activate that you lose control of the ship, so you'd never see them fire anyway.

 

[Teljkon b]

They are heat dissipation fans You don't need air to have motion if the back side of the fan is hotter than the front they will spin and since the back side is facing into the heat and the front cooling faster bam you get fans on the top of a ship.

 

[jmg]

They are heat dissipation fans You don't need air to have motion if the back side of the fan is hotter than the front they will spin and since the back side is facing into the heat and the front cooling faster bam you get fans on the top of a ship.

Why would they spin if the backside is hotter?
seems like we're reaching here guys.

 

[Teljkon b]

look at a radiometer for example of the physics

 

[jmg]

look at a radiometer for example of the physics

comeon, that is possibly the most inefficient way of cooling.
and what exactly is it cooling? Assuming it's not venting atmosphere, running what, engine collant to the little teeny vanes of the fans?
I'd love to hear FD's take on this -- no chance those things are for cooling, must be we're missing something.

 

[FetalDave]

Wouldn't you put spinners on your Anaconda if you could?

 

[Teljkon b]

IT's a game not a simulator! supposed to be fun and look cool not make perfect sense. I was just playing ball with you for S&G your right that would be an inefficient cooler how ever it would indeed be an explanation for what your question is why? the Fans?

 

[jmg]

IT's a game not a simulator! supposed to be fun and look cool not make perfect sense. I was just playing ball with you for S&G your right that would be an inefficient cooler how ever it would indeed be an explanation for what your question is why? the Fans?

I get its a game, but it's supposed to be based in some reality.
the fans are such large features on the conda, I'm betting FD had SOMETHING in mind...

Now, any idea why they put nixie tubes in my cockpit area, right next to the Atari 2800 to my left?

 

[Grumpy181155]

how do fans cool in space? there's no air to push around ....

Of course there is air in space, just not much of it and so you need realllllllly big fans

- - - Updated - - -

Why would they spin if the backside is hotter?
seems like we're reaching here guys.

If your backside was hot you would be doing some spinning too.

 

[Wullail]

how do fans cool in space? there's no air to push around ....

They cool by venting air outwards containing the heat, the spinning is because....umm...THARGOIDS!...OMG...THARGOIDS...OVER THERE...LOOK......OMG...

*quickly runs away in the opposite direction*

 

[Perseus]

Now we know why we never see people in the space stations! They get sucked into the conda vents.

Anacondas don't suck, they blow.
Doesn't the Eagle have rotating disk objects near the underside guns?

 

[Alex Brentnall]

Since the only other thing that has these fans apart from ships is stations (check docking hangars) I would assume it's to allow atmospheric cooling or even taking on oxygen when landed and venting that stale space air thats being recycled around your ship for weeks.

 

[IceFire122]

The fans could be molecular turbo pumps running in idle mode except when doing a system jump.

Turbo pumps are use in real life to improve the vacuum level by pumping out remaining gas molecules by high spinning speeds. When not in active use, they keep running in low revolution idle mode to keep the pump in good shape.
Running the pump at full speed in atmospheres would destroy it due to the high air friction.

 

[RhymeRhyme]

I've been looking at those honking big industrial sized fans on the outside of my conda.
Any thoughts on why they're there?

It can't be to cool anything. In an atmosphere, a fan moves hot air that's close to a heat source (like a processor) and replaces it with cooler air.
No air in space so...

Don't forget planetary landing. A ship might need big fans flying through the atmosphere of a planet. : D

 

[Nonya]

They're exhaust ports for the steam drive.

 

[Caramel Clown]

For the same reason some ships have something like a rudimentary wings. They probably suppose to fly in planetary atmosphere. And as we all know, fans can come in handy if there's gas to blow around

 

[specialsymbol]

They look cool