Rotation stations and floating debris

[markgritter]

So, aren't stations rotating to provide some "gravity" for the inhabitants (and the docked ships)? Then why does debris from destroyed ships bounce around the interior of the station like it's zero-G? I admit if the effective gravity is pretty low then they may bounce when hitting the walls rather than sticking, but I've sat there on the pad and observed a piece of debris next to me bounce around like it's a perpetual motion machine.

I also assume there is atmosphere in the docking area (to hear the echo-y announcements) but this doesn't seem to slow the debris down either.

I love watching other ships come in. I'm somewhat less impressed when the computer wedges itself into the portal or even on random parts of the interior. Even my docking computer puts in some pretty rough landings, way off-center on the pad.

 

[Aerius]

firstly, the gravity is only provided on the inside of station, like within in not the docking area. This is another reason why the ships in the game dock using magnets rather than depend on the spinning on the station because it's still zero-G within the docking area. The trucks you say probably have to go through the same routine or atleast in the docking area. Someone more knowledgeable than me please do correct me

 

[Kadaeux]

firstly, the gravity is only provided on the inside of station, like within in not the docking area. This is another reason why the ships in the game dock using magnets rather than depend on the spinning on the station because it's still zero-G within the docking area. The trucks you say probably have to go through the same routine or atleast in the docking area. Someone more knowledgeable than me please do correct me

Theoretically, depending on the rate of spin, you should encounter some slight gravity near the landing "walls" though not in the centremost area. You should also encounter some of this pseudo-gravity on the outside (but instead of pulling you down it'd attempt to be 'throwing' things off due to centrifugal force)

I think the extra effort to code in such a marginal thing that'd just cause some people to screw landings even more would just eat up a lot more CPU and RAM cycles for not enough benefit.

 

[EtherDragon]

It's a good question!

The amount of artificial gravity imparted has to do with a lot of things:

First, the rate of rotation - the faster, the more apparent gravity.

Second, the radius of the surface. This is why, in a Coriolis Star Port, all the prime real-estate is at the "bottom" floors. These floors are the ones furthest away from the center of mass, and thus have the most apparent gravity, 0.1 G in the case of a Coriolis station.

Third, inertia. You have to be moving at the same speed as the surface you are on (and in the right direction) in order to feel artificial gravity. There is actually a MISTAKE in the game regarding this! See those trucks that like to drive around on the roads? The ones that are driving in the same direction of station rotation would feel as though they had gravity - because they continue to rotate. Any truck that is driving the other direction, though, would come come to a stop in space (as seen by any outside observer) and start floating off of the road, because there's no actual gravity!

Those things bouncing around the inside - if they aren't already near the outside and already moving in the direction of rotation, there's no force acting on them so they just continue to float around.

For your own experiment, you can try this (BE VERY CAREFUL!) Turn OFF Flight Assist and Rotational Correction. Now you can see what it's like to be floating debris inside the station.

The inner docking spots, are actually still fairly close to the center of mass/rotation, so they have a fraction of a G of artificial gravity - I think it's 0.05 G's or something.