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Supplement Speed Measurements

Jimmy

Jimmy

Lover of Purple
Inactive Member
This is not a major complaint, but I was just wondering if we should implement a supplement speed rating of m/s or km/s for new submissions?

This is not a demand to slow things down, but I believe with the current system of Mach, and C people are losing sight just of how fast these speeds actually are. These ratings do not have to be dead accurate, but used as a reminder to the designer of just how much is too much.

Case in point, Mach is not a very good system, oneupmanship means people will just tack on an extra unit to make it faster, but at Mach 3 (1029m/s) you're already creating a pressure wave that can KILL people on the ground if you fly low enough. I shudder to think what Mach 6 (2058m/s, that's two kilometres a SECOND) would do.

In order to discover these speeds you can use a simple converter from the net, but I'm also willing to create a conversion table for the wiki if it helps. I just don't want to see people chucking around c like it's nothing.

Please consider.
 
I agree, we should add metric speeds stats to any submission that doesn't have them.
 
I agree with Jimmy on this. In addition, I also believe we should do something about atmospheric air speed and ground speed. I see people making mecha that go 2 to three times as fast as the SR-71, and that aint right.
 
I've spoken with Ex and Five about taking their mess outside. I'd also appreciate it if no one took this as gospel until we figure something out more adequately, and make provisions for designers to work with, not chafe against.

I've recieved questions about how this will work on IRC, I envision this as a simple add-on to the end of any current speed rating. If any designers look at their supplement speed and feel that it may be too fast then I can only say that the add-on is doing it's job, it should not be used as a beating stick.

Example:

Speed: Mach 1 (343m/s)
or
Speed: 0.1c (29,979.24km/s) 1
[note these numbers can be rounded so 30,000km/s if you want]

so:
Speed: <current speed> (<conversion in metric/s>)


1: Speed of light has not been cross-checked, possible error.
 
In my own experience running a plotship, I've had my latest battles come to be calculated in distances that were beneath the light second. I've had to use kilometers, and sensibilize my players with the relative speed which could be reached just with 0.3c alone and how o.6c, 0.8c and 1c travel speeds were already pretty fast.

Within that realm, it felt to me as if actual CDD FTL jumps were almost redundant, considering the distances that could be crossed at a high fraction of sublight speed, and the speed involved with the enemy maneuvering and using weaponry.

So, yes, I approve of giving better access to smaller units of speed. When things start seeming too high, they can get incomprehensible. It might help people grasp those values better, at any rate.

I'm actually glad this thread cropped up, because - to tell the truth - I never could quite measure supersonic speeds. I knew Mach 1 was the speed of sound, but I didn't know what Mach 2 and 3 were - they didn't seem to be equal to 2 or 3 times the speed of sound.

When I ran the Bowhordia mission, I ended up not being exactly sure how to deal with range, distance and such. I gave my dropship the speed of 4 kilometers per second. While trying to design around my Miharu-refit, I was thinking about aerial speed and I was uncomfortable choosing a value above 6 kps because it just... felt too fast.

I'm glad to now know that 1kps is really good and 2kps is probably the top-end of what a craft would go at in an atmospheric environment. It was a reference I lacked.

Thanks Jimmy.
 
Is this what you had in mind?

For conversions, Google can help.
 
I am with Jimmy on this. The Metric system is accurate and fairly easy to use. Also the idea of measuring things in units of ten is not a hard concept to grasp and can be used universally.
 
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