[haloboy100]

I still think the movement caused by subspace.

[General Battuta]

Except for radiation and constant micrometeorite bombardment...and the gravitational tug of the elements on each other.

Gravity tug only present if there's a planetary body present. Iirc there were none where any of the Knossos portals are ...

No, because the different elements of the Knossos should pull on each other.

[Herra Tohtori]

Or inertia. Why would they stop working?

Well they do move on a circular path, which means there is a centripetal force present keeping the pieces from getting onto trajectories tangential to the circle. Since there's nothing physically keeping the parts together, it can't be mechanical tension force, thus it needs to be some other kind of force. Gravitational pull of the parts themselves would not work, Knossos is a four-body system and it would collapse pretty fast if left to it's own devices.

It could be explained by the Knossos creating an artificial gravitational field that causes an acceleration towards the center of the circle. Of course the ships around don't seem to be affected, but that doesn't happen in FreeSpace anyway (and very clearly FreeSpace tech does have gravity generators and most likely antigravity as well) so it might be the case.

Also, invisible massless wires are a very strong possibility. And of course, ultimately the same things makes Knossos rotate that makes the Faustus sensor system spin...

[Droid803]

But doesn't the Faustus solar panel array spin because there's some sort of motor where it attaches to the main body?

[Snail]

At some places it's not attached IIRC.

[General Battuta]

Or inertia. Why would they stop working?

Well they do move on a circular path, which means there is a centripetal force present keeping the pieces from getting onto trajectories tangential to the circle. Since there's nothing physically keeping the parts together, it can't be mechanical tension force, thus it needs to be some other kind of force. Gravitational pull of the parts themselves would not work, Knossos is a four-body system and it would collapse pretty fast if left to it's own devices.

It could be explained by the Knossos creating an artificial gravitational field that causes an acceleration towards the center of the circle. Of course the ships around don't seem to be affected, but that doesn't happen in FreeSpace anyway (and very clearly FreeSpace tech does have gravity generators and most likely antigravity as well) so it might be the case.

Also, invisible massless wires are a very strong possibility. And of course, ultimately the same things makes Knossos rotate that makes the Faustus sensor system spin...

Um, yes, I know. The fact that I didn't mention the need for some force to keep everything moving in a circle doesn't mean I wasn't aware of it.

The point remains that if you spin a wheel in space it's going to keep spinning at a constant rate until something makes it stop, since angular momentum has to be conserved. Whatever makes the Knossos act like a circle -- well, that's something else entirely.

[Mobius]

I share Herra's point of view as I also find massless wires something possible.

I'd like to focus your attention on the cb ani showing how the Knossos works...the vortex is on the other side.

I think of it as a spinning top...you're not going to be influenced if you're on the safe side...

[Herra Tohtori]

But doesn't the Faustus solar panel array spin because there's some sort of motor where it attaches to the main body?

No, it spins because it's a rotating subsystem. Which is the same reason the Knossos rotates...

[Read: It's a game. Cool>>physics.]


Battuta: Yeah, I pretty much knew that you know all this rather well... a wheel would keep spinning, but two halves of a wheel wouldn't without something keeping them together.. obviously. I just interpreted the question about what's keeping the parts rotating in the sense that "what is the force that keeps the parts on their circular paths" rather than what's keeping the rotation going... I think I took it for granted that the rotation itself wouldn't need anything particular to keep it going any more than any other space ship of comparative size.

By the way. For all we know, it could've been rotating since it was built. That doesn't necessarily mean that the node-activating/generating mechanism had been activated. Kinda like you can have a car's engine running idle while the transmission doesn't move any torque further through the drivetrain. The NTC Trinity could have just put the gear on, so to speak.

[General Battuta]

Yes.

[Stormkeeper]

As I said, there are no planets in GDrax, and having 2 stars would undoubtedly screw stuff up on Knossos 3 if it was using planetary gravity to stay in motion. Plus having a field of ionized gas can't be great either.

I'd say the Knossos uses its own gravity (ormagnetism or something)

Thats ... what I said.

[Excalibur]

There could be invisible tractor beams pulling the thing together, and they are craft specific...

[jr2]

..Look at the inside of the subspace vortex.  You have to counterrotating fields visible, one inner, one outer.  (Looks freaky, yes.)  The Knossos is also counterrotating.  Hmm.  *shrugs*

[Stormkeeper]

..Look at the inside of the subspace vortex.  You have to counterrotating fields visible, one inner, one outer.  (Looks freaky, yes.)  The Knossos is also counterrotating.  Hmm.  *shrugs*

Point. A palpable point.

[nuone]

(Back to the original statement that started this thread) Blueplanet has shown that projectile weapons can be even more effective than beam weaponry. The GTVA uses long range torpedoes that have varying trajectories which cannot be shot down by AAA batteries. Blueplanet: WiH will show earth-ships with railguns and high-speed energy turrets that annihilate GTVA vessels.

[Herra Tohtori]

And I can make a blob turret that can deal out N amount of damage and trigger a supernova SEXP every time it is fired.

I didn't see that in FreeSpace2 though, but I can do that.


Now was there a point to this necrothreadage...?

[General Battuta]

(Back to the original statement that started this thread) Blueplanet has shown that projectile weapons can be even more effective than beam weaponry. The GTVA uses long range torpedoes that have varying trajectories which cannot be shot down by AAA batteries. Blueplanet: WiH will show earth-ships with railguns and high-speed energy turrets that annihilate GTVA vessels.

Sweet Jesus, the idiocy.

The long range torpedoes can be shot down by AAA batteries, and often are.

WiH's UEF ships are slightly inferior to their GTVA counterparts. They won't be doing any annihilating without a tactical advantage.

And yes, as Herra said, it's a non-canon campaign.

[blowfish]

Just as a general rule, any weapon can be more effective than any other weapon, given how it is set up in the table.  Is there anything else to it?

[Polpolion]

Is it possible that the Ancients put some weird sort of thruster on it?

EDIT: Oh rats, you guys stopped talking about the knossos.

[Androgeos Exeunt]

Now was there a point to this necrothreadage...?

Well, it is relevant to the topic, so I think "yes".

[AlphaOne]

so in the end this thread has gone really wrong at some point. Beam cannons especially the direct fire ones. Not the slashers can dish out a HUGE amount of damage to the enemy warship. Oh yeah and i have yet to see a torpedo that an move fast enough so as not to be shot down by either flack or aaaf beams or some other laser turret.

What i would love to see is missile turrets intercepting enemy bombers and torpedoes.


Now that would add a whole new dimension to aaaf deffences of a cap ship. I mean have perhaps 3 or 4 such turrets that fire against bombs/torpedoes and enemy fighter craft. couple this with aaaf beams flack and such and you have a most impressive aaaf defence screan.