New Spaceships

If were going to talk about aerodynamics then we should talk about contoling a ship in space. How do they get around with jets only in the back? They would need jets on all sides. Planes only need them in one direction because of the air but without air you can only go in directions where you have a force...

 

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought "Stargate" when they saw the Avian ship. And the Apex ship design might just tip me over the edge to choosing them over Humans for my character.

 

Neat, is the human ship the bottom left or right?

 

Bottom left.

 

For a Beta release this week, I could explore the universe cruising in a damn 1980 Lada !
Sheeeeeeeeit !

They see me rolliiiin'....

 

While I like whats going on with the new ships, I was in love with the ideas happening with the original Floran ship. Having the plant-like stuff be a PART of the ship, rather than just outer decoration was really cool, and felt pretty wild and dangerous, not necessarily SPACE-FARING, but really sweet none the less.

 

'Ere ya go

 

Ehh... Still like the old ships. They sorta had that simple, Budget Bob's Discount Starships charm to them.

But I do love the Floran ship. It symbolizes the Floran's toil and success at reverse engineering.

 

Two things.

One, it depends on how that ship is being controlled in space. Things like Star Wars-style dogfighters would require unrealistic amounts of propellant for the size of the craft, since they're turning on a dime without trouble... not to mention that there's no such thing as inertia for them. However, if you're just orbiting, you actually don't need any more than one thruster to change the altitude and/or inclination of your orbit - and here's why.

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

That. Basically, ships in space can take advantage of the conservation of angular momentum. Stick a little flywheel in the spacecraft, and they can turn around using nothing more than some electricity, of which an FTL-capable spacecraft has plenty.

Go play Kerbal Space Program to see what I mean. Actually, just go play Kerbal Space Program, it's tons of fun once you learn it.

 

The new one wasn't reverse engineered it was stolen.

 

We can assume the ship can flip using it's bottom thrusters. They may have unseen side thrusters for turning as well.

 

I realize Starbound is soft sci fi, but come on. It doesn't "flip" using those bottom thrusters, since it's a non-atmospheric craft. Now what those bottom thrusters are for is beyond me. Linear reaction control system?

 

Possibly for pre-Lagrange-point stabilization?

 

Those thrusters seem like overkill for that. I'd prefer to have small, low-thrust thrusters for that - monopropellant, maybe ion thrusters.

 

Floran ship is a bit disappointing. It looks like they stole the Apex ship, painted it pink and then covered it in vines. I love the colour scheme, but I wish they came up with something more plant-like.

 

Look up the Floran lore. They reverse-engineer other races' designs with bio-organic technology. All their stuff is effectively stolen/copyright infringed.

This makes them pirate plants. Arr.

 

The entire point IS that it's an apex ship covered in vines!
That's what the Florans do!

 

i agree but i also feel as some of the others do that they could still do a bit more. maybe something with the inside. i like the idea, it fits the lore, but i feel like a little more plant "take over" wouldn't be a bad thing. i want to be able to look at almost any point on the ship and say "yep thats Floran" not just the top half.

 

Yes! and it not being pink!

 

It's more about aesthetics than aerodynamics. I happen to think the lopsidedness makes it look 'fugly'.

Actually Enterprise is aerodynamic, mostly. The entire saucer section is basically a huge Frisbee. (They crash land it on a planet on at least one occasion, at the end of the movie where Picard and Kirk team up.)

And, IMO, it doesn't look cool. I definitely won't be going near that ship is all.