Dunno if anyone mentioned this before. If so, sorry for double post!
In the Elite universe gravity inside space stations is generated by rotation (duh!). The centripetal force serves as a substitute to real gravity. So what's been bugging me ever since I first entered a space station is the weightless delivery trucks.
"Which weightless trucks?" you say? If you look at the inside of the docking cylinder there's "ring roads" with trucks driving on them. Crucially, they are driving in both directions. Now position your ship near one of the ring roads and turn off rotation assist. Suddenly the trucks going counter-clockwise hardly move anymore. What's happening is that they are driving in the opposite direction of the station's spin, with very nearly the same speed as the station's spin. Et voila, that's what a weightless truck looks like. Now how it stays glued onto the road, or why the station regulations allow such hazardous activities, is anybody's guess. Must be fun driving in the truck, that's for sure.
This kinda bugs me a bit. Not in a major way, but what with the Elite universe trying hard (and largely succeeding) to keep in line with science, this feels a bit ... sloppy?
Disclaimer: I loooove the game! Really really! No, I'm not whining. Not at all! I never whine. Wouldn't dream of whining, ever!
In the Elite universe gravity inside space stations is generated by rotation (duh!). The centripetal force serves as a substitute to real gravity. So what's been bugging me ever since I first entered a space station is the weightless delivery trucks.
"Which weightless trucks?" you say? If you look at the inside of the docking cylinder there's "ring roads" with trucks driving on them. Crucially, they are driving in both directions. Now position your ship near one of the ring roads and turn off rotation assist. Suddenly the trucks going counter-clockwise hardly move anymore. What's happening is that they are driving in the opposite direction of the station's spin, with very nearly the same speed as the station's spin. Et voila, that's what a weightless truck looks like. Now how it stays glued onto the road, or why the station regulations allow such hazardous activities, is anybody's guess. Must be fun driving in the truck, that's for sure.
This kinda bugs me a bit. Not in a major way, but what with the Elite universe trying hard (and largely succeeding) to keep in line with science, this feels a bit ... sloppy?
Disclaimer: I loooove the game! Really really! No, I'm not whining. Not at all! I never whine. Wouldn't dream of whining, ever!
