I think I have a potential solution to the speed standard controversy.
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Being able to turn and maneuver at high speed is vastly more difficult than doing the same at low speed. So perhaps maneuverability should be the qualifier. Rather than say your ship has a top speed of .4 before it is inexplicably unable to generate thrust we could keep the same rating while still respecting physics by saying that it cannot maneuver at speeds greater than .4. Using this concept wouldn't even significantly change spacecraft dogfighting since most of those engagements do not occur at top speed.
But this is only a concept, what does SARP think?
As long as you mean STL speed I'm in agreement, that makes the most sense.
@FrostJaeger I do not believe the inertia altering equipment on SARP ships would hinder this concept.
Consider, even that space bending equipment requires some form of energy to operate, mostly electricity. All of that technology needs to be increased in size as the ships increase in size with far more energy being required to operate the equipment and achieve the effect needed.
This means that even SARP-level technology is not without limitation. The equipment moving a plumeria gunship is fantastic, granting this ship amazing FTL and STL performance. However, that same excellent system would be insufficient for a Sharie battleship, it simply does not have enough output to realistically meet the needs of such a large ship.
So how does that apply? The same principle applies to any technology in our setting, as more stress is applied to a system the harder it will be for that system to achieve the same performance it usually achieves without a load. We should also consider that just because a device can do something extremely difficult doesn't mean it should.
For example, just because you're fighter is capable of coming to an immediate stop instantly doesn't mean you should. Just because your airframe will not be stressed by doing so does not mean the burden of what you just did affects nothing. In fact, all of the stress of that maneuver will be put solely on one system, your CFD. I can only imagine that would be like shifting into first gear while traveling at highway speed, your engine and transmission might be okay but they are going to hate you so bad!
But of course, my main point is that no technology is unlimited. Everything has a breaking point, exemplified by the fact that war is still a possibility in our setting.
A certain output requires input, a greater output requires greater input, and so on until the device is physically incapable of accepting more input or increasing output. This is the point where this speed concept would apply, it would show the absolute highest performance of it's maneuvering thrust.
I think the solution is to compartmentalize a bit more.
Instead of saying ships go .35c, the ship should be listed as 'fast' (or 'High Technology: Fast). There should then be a second page that describes what that means (IE: .35c top speed)
We could then just change the second page, and this would automatically update every ship on the setting. Pinning a top speed and an acceleration value would be nice but really all you'd need to know is what speed tier the ship is in.
@Zack, that might work to a degree, I just think it'll be a real boon trying to find someone willing to put in all of that work just to throw physics to the wind again by declaring a top speed.
Yeah, you're over complicating this frost. Even military tech has its limits. Don't believe me? Ask a veteran. Just because you can push limits once or twice doesn't mean it'll work the third time.
https://i.redd.it/72e7u8gphjzz.jpg
This happens when you fire a tank cannon some number of times more than it’s raited for. Some equipment you can push over the limit but there is no telling exactly when a failure will happen.
At the worst time. That is when things always break.
Are we assuming that an OOC GM should affect how IC characters talk about vehicle performance? That sounds like blending IC and OOC information to me.
Did this occur somewhere? I've never heard of such bragging before, ICly anyway.Why would a character with no knowledge of the OOC system we use brag about his ship's top speed in space? It's senseless, really, since this character would know that in space there is no such thing!
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