Artificial Gravity for Ships not Stations

[Eldragon]

You have to take into consideration that ships can land on planet surfaces, atmospheric and or otherwise — if they were designed as ships for space ONLY, that would be true.

What do you think is gonna happen to a landed, tall and narrow ship at moderate wind levels?

Even landing on stations, tall narrow ships would be horribly unstable due to the coriolis effect.

Fair. But that doesn't explain the capital ships that are too large to land on planets.

Even if you want to take the "Ships spend more time on planets/stations than they do in space" viewpoint. That explains the shape, but it does not explain the design of the decks. Stairways, Catwalks, Railings, etc are terrible choices for any ship that spends any time in microgravity.

IMHO ships are designed for looks first, realism second (Similarly, ships are about 2x too large). As I already stated we can just hand-wave away the issue by either by claiming advanced Mag-Suits, or Artificial gravity. Both have the same result.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

Oh, and in order to contribute a little bit more seriously to this thread:

‘Lone Echo’ seems to have solved movement in micro gravity quite well. I never played it, though.
Additionally, floating in around in space ships is planned by FDev at least according to the (now admittedly quite old) concept art.

 

[adni86]

So let me get this straight. We have magic Force Fields that can hold an atmosphere but let's solid matter trough and our ships align automatically to the station rotation once we enter the slot, but can't have micro gravity on the ship?

 

[Naskoni]

That'd require a lot of lore-rewriting. I vote 'no' to artificial gravity suddenly becoming a thing without a massive scientific effort over decades or centuries first.

But we already do have magical gravity technology implemented purely for player convenience - every time you enter a bigger space station and pass through the mail slot your ship will suddenly experience an undocumented phenomenon in that it will start rotating with said space station without having to come in contact with it nor use any thrusters, simply because it is inside.

So let me get this straight. We have magic Force Fields that can hold an atmosphere but let's solid matter trough and our ships align automatically to the station rotation once we enter the slot, but can't have micro gravity on the ship?

The ninja is real...

 

[valbarr]

Yup zero space sickness in lone echo. And you move about fast in that game turning spinning etc. Check youtube. If frontier used something similar to lone echo i would be so happy.

 

[Vardaugas]

The mail slot has magnets attached that induce rotational synchronizing. Similar the landing pads use magnets.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

It is already decided to be magnetic boots. Anything else is moot really at this point.

 

[Muetdhiver]

Zero G and magnet / gecko boots and gloves all the way. Do It right and "legs" as something unique about it.

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

But we already do have magical gravity technology implemented purely for player convenience - every time you enter a bigger space station and pass through the mail slot your ship will suddenly experience an undocumented phenomenon in that it will start rotating with said space station without having to come in contact with it nor use any thrusters, simply because it is inside.

When inside it uses thrusters, it is bort computer taking over. You can turn it off.

 

[Eldragon]

So let me get this straight. We have magic Force Fields that can hold an atmosphere but let's solid matter trough and our ships align automatically to the station rotation once we enter the slot, but can't have micro gravity on the ship?

Shhh!!! don't point out the holes in the simulation! Don't think about it! You might break people's brains!

The mail slot has magnets attached that induce rotational synchronizing. Similar the landing pads use magnets.

That would imply the ships are made with large amounts of iron, and magnets so strong that will almost certainly disrupt the functioning of the ships internals. Not to mention anyone walking around the deck with "mag boots".

I think the rotation is best explained away with the ships computer compensating via thrusters for you.

 

[PhanttoM]

Fair. But that doesn't explain the capital ships that are too large to land on planets.

Even if you want to take the "Ships spend more time on planets/stations than they do in space" viewpoint. That explains the shape, but it does not explain the design of the decks. Stairways, Catwalks, Railings, etc are terrible choices for any ship that spends any time in microgravity.

IMHO ships are designed for looks first, realism second (Similarly, ships are about 2x too large). As I already stated we can just hand-wave away the issue by either by claiming advanced Mag-Suits, or Artificial gravity. Both have the same result.

We don't actually if know whether or not the capital ships can land entirely on planet surfaces.
They are still capable of entering atmospheres/gravity wells - just look at some of the videos of the Federal capital ships near planet surfaces.

Stairways are redundant in microgravity yes, but I don't know why you included railings in the list. Ships need a lot MORE railings in the current designs. Railings mean more stuff to grab onto in microgravity, especially if magboots fail.

 

[Jukelo]

Fair. But that doesn't explain the capital ships that are too large to land on planets.

What about the capical ships? It's quite likely their interiors are designed with zero-g in mind. In fact the imperial one has a rotating section specifically designed to provide artificial gravity because it's a luxury ship as much as it's a warship, so it's safe to assume the rest of its interior is more utilitarian.

Even if you want to take the "Ships spend more time on planets/stations than they do in space" viewpoint. That explains the shape, but it does not explain the design of the decks. Stairways, Catwalks, Railings, etc are terrible choices for any ship that spends any time in microgravity.

Then again that is why it's highly likely our remlocs will be equipped with mag boots.

IMHO ships are designed for looks first, realism second (Similarly, ships are about 2x too large).

That's an entirely different point though. Of course from Frontier's perspective the ships are designed to please the players, but one important aspect is to make sure things are consistent in-universe because ED isn't just a game existing in a vacuum, it's the continuation of a long-running series with established lore that shouldn't change just for convenience.

As I already stated we can just hand-wave away the issue by either by claiming advanced Mag-Suits, or Artificial gravity. Both have the same result.

Artificial gravity is out, it was deliberately kept out of the lore.
I'm 99% certain mag boots will be what Frontier will go for. But at the same time, since boarding actions should also be included in any implementation of space legs, we'll also need the option of moving around without said boots for combat situations.

 

[Old Duck]

Frame Shift Drives can bend space-time in order to travel FTL, therefore they can create gravity (a bending of space-time). Anything too large for FSD, like a station, would still need to create gravity through rotation.

But if "Lore" is what's holding this game back, then the Guardians are the answer - we're discovering new technology all the time in these ruins, so what's one more advancement?

 

[Cmdr Eagleboy]

Frame Shift Drives can bend space-time in order to travel FTL, therefore they can create gravity (a bending of space-time). Anything too large for FSD, like a station, would still need to create gravity through rotation.

But if "Lore" is what's holding this game back, then the Guardians are the answer - we're discovering new technology all the time in these ruins, so what's one more advancement?

I will get to the point - artificial gravity is boring. Magnetic boots and floating in my ship is not.

Rule of cool my friend.

 

[PhanttoM]

So let me get this straight. We have magic Force Fields that can hold an atmosphere but let's solid matter trough and our ships align automatically to the station rotation once we enter the slot, but can't have micro gravity on the ship?

The excuse of "if technology A exists, so should technology B" only makes sense if both technologies are directly related.
The force fields generate a wall of energy yes — but how does a wall of energy equate to being able to create gravity?


If we had the force fields that can hold an atmosphere, but ship shields did NOT exist in the game — then I would agree with this logic 100%.

 

[Jukelo]

Frame Shift Drives can bend space-time in order to travel FTL, therefore they can create gravity (a bending of space-time). Anything too large for FSD, like a station, would still need to create gravity through rotation.

But if "Lore" is what's holding this game back, then the Guardians are the answer - we're discovering new technology all the time in these ruins, so what's one more advancement?

The FSD is a necessary bit of magic allowing the game to be multiplayer while also having supercruise. There was hardly anything else they could have done, other than making a single player game to keep the old time compression feature.
There are non-magic tricks to adding walking around spaceships that don't need to involve the guardian story arcs and doesn't require further explanations as to how exactly you're going to retrofit the millions of already existing spaceships overnight.

And just because the producers at Frontier have already compromised in part what made the series interesting, doesn't mean it's a license to do it again.

 

[Eldragon]

One more point about the lack of "Artificial Gravity"-- How do surface skimmers work then? They are on an airless planet. I can only conclude they are constantly applying thrust in both the vertical and horizontal directions? Seems really inefficient, but hey we have unlimited power. Of course then I have to ask: Why do our rovers have wheels.

Again, I really don't care if the solution is "Mag Boots"... so long as they acknowledge its a whole suit integration and not just the boots. A full suit integration can provide all the counter force required to make the pilot feel like they are in gravity. Boots alone are just a way to snap your legs off at the ankles. Half-baked realism is worse than no realism at all.

For extra credit on realism: Ships need to have padded walls with lots of hand holds. No catwalks, no stairways. Elevators and ladders only.

We don't actually if know whether or not the capital ships can land entirely on planet surfaces.
They are still capable of entering atmospheres/gravity wells - just look at some of the videos of the Federal capital ships near planet surfaces.

Stairways are redundant in microgravity yes, but I don't know why you included railings in the list. Ships need a lot MORE railings in the current designs. Railings mean more stuff to grab onto in microgravity, especially if magboots fail.

Railings in a hallway against a wall are good, aka hand holds. railings in the middle of the hallway, and catwalks are dangerous - A sudden shift in acceleration and you get pushed over the railing and/or slam into it. Its basically a giant obstacle to hurt yourself on. In a pure freefall environment with no shifts in acceleration then they are just redundant. Why have a catwalk at all when you can just float to that location.

 

[Old Duck]

The FSD is a necessary bit of magic....

And just because the producers at Frontier have already compromised in part what made the series interesting, doesn't mean it's a license to do it again.

You should have told them that before they added massless and volumeless materials to the game. You forgot your limpets? No problem, just take some iron and nickel (whatever the recipe is) from your Timelord pockets, and poof, tons of limpets in your cargo hold! Magic indeed

 

[Jukelo]

One more point about the lack of "Artificial Gravity"-- How do surface skimmers work then? They are on an airless planet. I can only conclude they are constantly applying thrust in both the vertical and horizontal directions? Seems really inefficient

Yes, just like our ships.

but hey we have unlimited power. Of course then I have to ask: Why do our rovers have wheels.

Because as cheap as energy is, not wasting it away constantly is even cheaper, so a lower-tech solution would be of interest to some people. There's no reason we couldn't have a skimmer-like SRV, other than the fact Frontier hasn't really dedicated resources to adding more SRVs.

You should have told them that before they added massless and volumeless materials to the game. You forgot your limpets? No problem, just take some iron and nickel (whatever the recipe is) from your Timelord pockets, and poof, tons of limpets in your cargo hold! Magic indeed

I did.

 

[Daniel Cloudsifter]

Check out the expanse, they use mag boots.

According to the various Elite Dangerous novels, as well as the EDRPG, our flight suits (REMLOK) have mag boots installed. They work the same way you see them work on the Expanse.

The only inconsistency I've seen so far is on the Krait II. How is one supposed to use that coffee maker/coffee mug on the bridge in low or zero-G?