The theory behind the vapor trail.....

Ism

I
I haven't seen this topic discussed in 7 months I've been playing this game, so I apologize in advance for bringing it up if it's already been discussed.

They all run the same hydrogen fuel so does anybody have an explanation for the darker "brown" color vapor trail on the Python, Clipper, T7, and Diamond backs?
 
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CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost

C
Ism said:
…
They all run the same hydrogen fuel so does anybody have an explanation for the darker "brown" color vapor trail on the Python, Clipper, T7, and Diamond backs?
Click to expand...

To make it easier to identify fun targets in a RES? The T7 is just added in as a distraction…

For a short time I wondered why some trails are darker, but then I got distracted by wondering why I hear explosions in space and why combat ships aren't the best ships for combat and …
 

Soopyyy

S
CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost said:
To make it easier to identify fun targets in a RES? The T7 is just added in as a distraction…

For a short time I wondered why some trails are darker, but then I got distracted by wondering why I hear explosions in space and why combat ships aren't the best ships for combat and …
Click to expand...

Actually there is a reason for that. It's all simulated by the ship. Part of the Elite lore states that ships never use to have a ambient sound simulator and on long trips some pilots would lose their mind, resulting in some carnage when they flew suicidally into stations.
So law was passed stipulating that all ships must be fitted with an ambient sound simulator to accurately recreate the sounds that would otherwise be lost in vacuum.

As for the trails, well, how do the engines function? Could it be just vapour, literally water being ejected from the thrusters as exhaust. Being that Hydrogen is one element needed to create water and oxygen is needed to create a flame....
 
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askavir

askavir
Well it may not be scientiffically accurate, but it looks good :)

Once I follower an Orcas trail exitting a station, and I managed to see it jumping out of the system when I was very close to it, and it looked great.
 

bkc02010

B
Soopyyy said:
As for the trails, well, how do the engines function? Could it be just vapour, literally water being ejected from the thrusters as exhaust. Being that Hydrogen is one element needed to create water and oxygen is needed to create a flame....
Click to expand...

>oxygen is needed to create a flame
>oxygen is needed
>to create a flame
>mfw no greentext
>mfw no face
>mfw
>

Have you ever taken high school chemistry? Do you know what a redox rxn is? You know you can blow atomic fluorine at almost anything and it will burst into flame? This country needs to stop spending money on new fighter jets that are worse than the old ones and redirect it to public education

All derision aside, it is entirely possible to use a different reaction to achieve propulsion other than hydrogen plus oxygen equals water and a buttload of heat, but oxygen taking electrons from hydrogen is so a really really good one. They are also very common in the universe so getting more fuel wouldn't be an issue.

edit

>is so a really good one

back to school for me
 
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CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost

C
Soopyyy said:
…

As for the trails, well, how do the engines function? Could it be just vapour, literally water being ejected from the thrusters as exhaust. Being that Hydrogen is one element needed to create water and oxygen is needed to create a flame....
Click to expand...

Since fuel scooping works with a lot of different suns, it's almost save to assume that oxygen is certainly not part of the equation.
It could be a fusion reactor that only requires hydrogen and that the matter that gets ejected form the thrusters is simply helium. It could be a multi-stage fusion reactor that uses hydrogen then helium, then … It could be something else or just something the designers thought looked cool and helped to spot space ships in combat. ;)

The environmental simulator is a cool idea.
 
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[VR] Deggial

[VR] Deggial
Oooookayyyyy....

1) The ships in ED are not actually propelled by a chemical reaction. The fuel is used to power a space compressor that creates "waves" in the space/time continuum. Your spacecraft doesn't move actively, it "rides" those waves and is pulled and pushed forward by them just like a surfer. (I am not joking here. This is a physically possible mechanism, discussed for spacecrafts in a far future!)

2) There is a (again: real!) theory that, should you ever be able to fly close to the speed of light, you would be able to experience a quite surprising effect in the surrounding space. All of a sudden, space would start to "boil" and all sorts of matter will spontaneiously pop into existence out of nothing - a direct transformation of the vacuum energy into matter.

3) Combining 1) and 2), we could state that what we do see as trails is the direct effect of space compression by the ships engines, "creating" matter (in form of gas) out of vacuum energy.
The different colors are based on the created molecules, as different elements do interact differently with light - a fact used in all sorts of spectral analysis. (Okay, this is SF now and pure fantasy. But it fits, doen't it?)

I do not know though, if the matter creatred varies due to the ship's masses and are an inevitable physical consequence or if the engineers just went creative and thought, different colors migth be a fancy effect...

I hope, this does help! :D
 
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Ism

I
Thanks for the funny and thoughtful replies.
FD seems to go to great lengths to incorporate detail in the game so I thought maybe there was a method to their madness.
 

Soopyyy

S
Deggial said:
Oooookayyyyy....

1) The ships in ED are not actually propelled by a chemical reaction. The fuel is used to power a space compressor that creates "waves" in the space/time continuum. Your spacecraft doesn't move actively, it "rides" those waves and is pulled and pushed forward by them just like a surfer. (I am not joking here. This is a physically possible mechanism, discussed for spacecrafts in a far future!)

2) There is a (again: real!) theory that, should you ever be able to fly close to the speed of light, you would be able to experience a quite surprising effect in the surrounding space. All of a sudden, space would start to "boil" and all sorts of matter will spontaneiously pop into existence out of nothing - a direct transformation of the vacuum energy into matter.

3) Combining 1) and 2), we could state that what we do see as trails is the direct effect of space compression by the ships engines, "creating" matter (in form of gas) out of vacuum energy.
The different colors are based on the created molecules, as different elements do interact differently with light - a fact used in all sorts of spectral analysis. (Okay, this is SF now and pure fantasy. But it fits, doen't it?)

I do not know though, if the matter creatred varies due to the ship's masses and are an inevitable physical consequence or if the engineers just went creative and thought, different colors migth be a fancy effect...

I hope, this does help! :D
Click to expand...

So why do we upgrade thrusters?
I think the way you've described the ship propulsion is mostly regarding the supercruise mechanic.
 

Iskariot

Iskariot
Ism said:
I haven't seen this topic discussed in 7 months I've been playing this game, so I apologize in advance for bringing it up if it's already been discussed.

They all run the same hydrogen fuel so does anybody have an explanation for the darker "brown" color vapor trail on the Python, Clipper, T7, and Diamond backs?
Click to expand...

Because of reasons.

I'd like to see even more variation.
I also want different colors for laser beams.
 
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