[nexiusevaro]

Hey guys

Anyone have a link or seen any info on the early propulsion system evolution for the terrans?  Did a few searches and checked the wikki and I don't see much specific to the history or concept behind engine systems in the fs universe.  Playing with a retro model idea and could use some reference info...

thanks!

nex

[darkship]

you could try looking at this model

http://hades-combine.com/web/index.php?ind=downloads&op=entry_view&iden=57

might not be official but it could give you something to go on.

[nexiusevaro]

thats very helpful actually

I have been keeping a pic of the angel up for reference, and the engines on that prototype support what i am trying to do. 

In trying to come up with something of my own, i decided to try to do an early Terran fighter with the transitional feel of a mig or sabre.   Something retro and still retaining elements that may be necessary for getting into deep space from the surface or fins that are still there, specifically as markers, to help orient pilots who are new to combat in space.   

That being said, I'm wondering about how the engines work and came to evolve to what we see "now."  Guessing there was a jet technology that then became or was coupled with a new technology for space combat fighters.... was curious if anyone had seen anything on this...

hanx

nex   

[General Battuta]

Freespace vessels use fusion drives. Somehow we got from chemical rockets (today) to fusion rockets. It might have been a one-step process, without any intermediates.

[darkship]

actually i would imagine ion drives be used before anything remotely like a fusion engine would even be prototyped, thats wat i think anyway

[S-99]

Perhaps fusion drives gets read from the fact that terran ships are powered by pile fusion reactors.

[General Battuta]

Really? They are? That's neat. Where did you learn that? I am curious.

There's direct canon confirmation, in a Freespace 2 command briefing on gas miners, that Freespace vessels use fusion drives.

[nexiusevaro]

I was under the impression there were fusion units driving the power system... have no idea where i got that from though.   I was also under the assumption that some sort of fusion system was in place to drive the ships and maybe thrusters to maintain attitudinal control?    Just got to thinking about retro ships when reading about the TVWP mod and wanted to play with the idea of making a transitional ship somewhere before the angel.  The more i thought about the engine system, the more i realized that i didn't really know much of anything about how it came to pass that ground bound terrans got space worthy.... so I thought i'd ask

thanks responses too btw!

nex


edited for pluralification purposes

[Aardwolf]

I also always thought (and still think) of it as a fusion reactor, not a fusion engine...

[Man-Whore]

I also always thought (and still think) of it as a fusion reactor, not a fusion engine...

Why not fission?

[General Battuta]

Because a command briefing in Freespace 2 says that the ships of the fleet use fusion drives. There's got to be fusion involved somewhere.

[Aardwolf]

Because they say so.

Edit: why did I have to ignore that message-in-red?

[Man-Whore]

Fair enough. I stand corrected.

[S-99]

Really? They are? That's neat. Where did you learn that? I am curious.

There's direct canon confirmation, in a Freespace 2 command briefing on gas miners, that Freespace vessels use fusion drives.

Fusion could be involved in the power source of the engine system. That's all i was really referring to battuta.
Other than that....GEEEEEEEEZZZZZ wtf?

I have been majorly denounced...oh no the cannon troll.

EDIT: Anyway it seems i'm right as opposed to battuta. Yes fusion drive is misread as a form of transportation as opposed to the power source. Fusion reactor and fusion drive is used interchangeably in freespace.

To go where battuta went i shall go.

To quote from the zephyrus.

The deuterium gathered by Zephyrus ships powers the fleet's fusion drives.

Here we get the fusion drive entry. And yes even in real world with stuff like hydrogen powered cars you'll have the manufacturer calling it hydrogen propulsion (something similar to calling a fusion reactor a fusion drive). Yet again also similar to star trek with the warp core. The warp core doesn't make the ship go to warp, the warp nacelles do, the warp core is simply a power source to provide energy so that star trek ships can be capable of warp.

To go further than battuta, i found the entry on freespace ship reactors.

The reactor is the heart of any ship in the Freespace universe, providing power to all its systems. Terran and Vasudan reactors are fusion based, and run off deuterium collected by Anuket and Zephyrus gas miners.

There you go. Fusion drive refers to fusion reactor which is a power source.

[General Battuta]

I'm sorry about the 'Where did you learn that? I'm curious'. I actually meant that genuinely; it wasn't sarcasm. It seems like you took offense. I am sorry.

As for the rest, Freespace ships probably do actually use fusion torches as a drive system. What else would they use to move around? 'Fusion drive' really does mean 'fusion drive'.

[darkship]

in the command briefing before training simulator 4, the squadron leader of the 107th raven (his name eludes me at the moment) states that the Herc II uses advances in fusion drive technology, which increases speed and maneuverability without sacrificing loadout. So from this we can reasonably say that the fusion "drive" is indeed the propulsion system used. it may refer to the energy system as well but i doubt that as he made no mention of the fusion drive affecting other systems.

[S-99]

And yes lets also ignore the second part of information i brought along for ****s and giggles. Which says that the power sources in fs are fusion reactors. Which seems to go along perfectly with gas miners who supply the gases necessary for propulsion of the ships (as in the kind of complete propulsion system...fuel tank and engine). After this it's apparent that gas miners provide the gases necessary for reactors as well. It's just lovely when the reactors in fs tech get a more technical description and basically almost no technical descriptions on the thrusters in game.

[General Battuta]

Um, yes. I read it. I'm really sorry if I'm giving offense here; I'm trying not to.

But in all likelihood if you're going to have a fusion reactor on board your ship you'll also have a fusion torch as a drive system.

What else would you use?

I am afraid I think you're wrong.

[Nuke]

id say they use fusion driven field emission drive, which is why you dont see any massive propellant tanks (as their using liquid metal as propellant). this explains the blue or green engine glows for the terrans and vasudans. shivans are probably using something entirely different.

[S-99]

I was thinking along the lines that a fusion reactor would output electricity to power the rest of the ships systems. Having a fusion reactor on board does not absolutely mean you'll have a fusion torch as a drive system. A fusion reactor puting electricity for the rest of the ships systems nav computer, lasers, communications and radar would be powered by the fusion reactor. You could also power stuff like ion thrusters to be able to drive the ship somewhere (fs doesn't use these but satellites do as an example of an electricity powered propulsion system).

This is where thinking along the lines of a fusion reactor being only a power source and nothing more leads me.