[General Battuta]

But in that case, what would the drive system be?

I'm absolutely fine with there being a fusion reactor powering the vessel. However, it seems unlikely that 'fusion drive' means 'fusion reactor but not fusion drive' rather than 'fusion reactor and fusion drive.'

Nuke, what's a field emission drive? I've never heard of it.

[S-99]

I wasn't disputing the fusion drive thingy anymore. Just saying that a fusion drive doesn't necessarily mean that there will be a fusion torch on the other end if you classify a fusion reactor as strictly a power source. And then if you wanted a drive system, it's like i said in my last post you could get ion thrusters.

[General Battuta]

Those would be a lot slower, I think, so you'd be better off with a fusion torch.

I guess we just disagree on terminology. I really do think that 'fusion drive' means 'fusion drive', and the mentions of fusion reactors imply that both are used.

[Nuke]

But in that case, what would the drive system be?

I'm absolutely fine with there being a fusion reactor powering the vessel. However, it seems unlikely that 'fusion drive' means 'fusion reactor but not fusion drive' rather than 'fusion reactor and fusion drive.'

Nuke, what's a field emission drive? I've never heard of it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Emission_Electric_Propulsion

current feep thrusters are only capable of putting out a few milinewtons at present, but it looks like you can scale them up with more power. they do have a small profile and use dense propellant, which uses smaller tanks. you need to have an electron source to keep the ship electrically neutral. some kinds of fusion create an abundance of electrons. this makes feep the perfect candidate of what freespace is using.

[General Battuta]

I'm not convinced it'd be more effective than simply using a fusion drive.

[Dysko]

The truth is that FS ships use a special engine that doesn't move the ship, but moves the Universe around the ship.

 

[S-99]

That's just like in futurama.

[nexiusevaro]

quick update

so far the basic design entails 3 fusion reactors in a series.  I'm basing the look of these reactors off of the ITER design being worked on currently by the JET folks.  Its a torus shaped reactor and there is more info on it here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power

and here :  http://www.jet.efda.org/pages/jet-iter.html

I went with three because i'm assuming that although the reactors are scaled down in overall size, they would still lack the efficiency as singles.

Our real life test reactors produce heat which is then converted to electricity via a steam turbine.  Assuming a better method of conversion is available in the fs universe, I was thinking of two reactors for engine power and one for subsystem/lifesupport  power.  Looking it over i think i will go with an ion engine design.  The picture in the above link looks like it will look cool as a model/texture.

Very early on, but he's a pic of where it's at... this layout assumes that the fusion power converters are attached to the engines.

thx a ton for the input thus far!

nex

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I've visited the JET, and they told me that the bigger a fusion reactor is, the more efficient it works. So - at current level of tech - one big reactor would be way more efficient than 3 smaller ones. I don't know if that will change for the next 300 years.

It does raise an interesting question: where do fighters get their power from? The JET hangar could accomodate 8 Myrmidons (I think), and it's full of equipment. It is, however, not large ( = efficient) enough to provide more energy than you put in it. Have we made that much of technological advance in 300 years? Do fighters run on 'batteries'? Or - dare I say it - have we found out about COLD FUSION?

[diceman111]

Actually I think all GTVA ships are powered by genemodified Hamsters running in wheels, while shivans have evil hamsters and the vasudans use sharks who swim or something......

[nexiusevaro]

FreeSpaceFreak, wow,  getting to check out JET firsthand.... very cool....

I am working through a go at this ship; moving out towards the wings and nose now.  Mainly trying to learn blender and chase down this idea I had of a transitional ship with retro feel to it.  (I decided to call it the mallard- see pic below as to why.)  I thought i'd through post an early version for any input anyone wants to throw out there.   New to blender, fs modding, etc.  So... here are a few blender questions by the by... silly questions I know... but...

1.  Where does my 3d cursor keep disappearing to?  (not the translational tool cursor, the other one you use to place new meshes or planes.)

2.  Can you bevel an edge or the edges on a single polygon in blender?  All i seem to be able to find is a button which starts a process by which the whole model gets beveled.... cool looking and all, but very expensive poly wise and not super useful.  I have been extruding and scaling to do it as the bevel function seems nutty... but it's prolly just me...

3.  At one point, I had this nifty circle that allowed me to vary the impact of moving a set of vertices had on the surrounding mesh by adjusting the scroll wheel while translating or scaling... That function seems to be gone now and the scroll wheel simply varies the zoom when editing.  How did I manage to poof that and how do I get that back again? 

I have added in a pair of plasma cannons that dump plasma out of the secondary reactors in bursts.  Maybe i will leave the regular guns on the wing tips or just have the cannons and the missile bays instead.  I have not run through the boards looking for any plasma weapon posts, but i will take a look later.  (Got a feeling there will be a few for some reason.)   

I'll post a pic because the ship currently looks very much like a duck.  Not sure why, but I like that.  I am sure the duckness will continue to dissipate as I work on it more, but I thought the reason for the name should be saved for a posterity, or at least as long as pics are left up here.  =)

regards,
nex

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[nexiusevaro]

heres an updated WIP pic - put a page up on that crappy free spam infested website with a few more pics and some senseless late night typing text

ugg ,,starting to alliterate ... must bed now

Anyone happen to know how you get the vertex paint to show up in the uv window or to export in the tga for reference for painting textures and unwrapping in blender?  cant seem find the switch for it .. so...

if anyone knows...that would be cool...  gnite all

nex



doubt angelfire will let me direct link - but ill try - ill attach it if it blocks it...

[Getter Robo G]

Out of curiosity, did you use DOGA to make that ship or scratch build?

[nexiusevaro]

scratch - with an apollo mesh on a separate vis layer to compare basic dimensions,  ship orientation, and how parts are separated for fs pofs, etc...

whats DOGA?  just curious =)

nex

[S-99]

You're fighter reminds me of this plane. Mainly the nose part and sort of set back cockpit.

[Mobius]

Is that a Reggiane Re-2008?

The truth is that FS ships use a special engine that doesn't move the ship, but moves the Universe around the ship.

 

That's just like in futurama.

Yeah...but what if there's more than one ship using that engine?

[Krallis]

One of the ANI's in FS1 had a wireframe view of an Apollo spacecraft. It zoomed in on the engines and labelled various parts of it. If you have FS1 or can get hold of the ANI it may well be worth a look.