From: FieldScott@a...
Date: Thu, 6 Mar 1997 11:41:52 -0500
Subject: Fighter speeds [Was: The Liberator and fighter speed]
I just realized that we've all been having such a good time with the Liberator and poking fun at Blake's 7 special effects that no one responded to the poster's second question (I didn't keep the original post, so I can't remember who you were) about fighter speeds at launch. I haven't tried using the fighters-move-like-ships-with-12-thrust varient yet, but I'd say that if you're doing away with the "max speed" for fighters, then when they launch they should start out with the velocity of the ship that launched them -- conservation of momentum and all that. Of course, it really depends on how your launch bays are mounted. If your fighters launch forward (ie -- in the direction the ship is heading), then maybe they start out with the carrier's velocity plus 6 (half their thrust), since they would have to accelerate out of the bays. If they're rear-mounted, like the good-ol' Battlestar Gallactica, maybe they start out at zero-thrust. If they're are side-mounted (something like B5's cobra bays maybe) I guess you could do it either way. It all in the PSB! ;-)