[Steve A]

Raynor,
Orbital velocity at the sun's surface is 436 km/s. Spacecraft size does not matter as long as it is significantly smaller than the sun in mass.

If a ship fell towards the sun's surface from very far away, it would be traveling roughtly at escape velocity straight towards the core when it hits the surface. That velocity is 616 km/s at the sun's surface. To get into a circular orbit at that point, you would have to reverse the 616 km/s to stop the fall and add 436 km/s sideways to enter orbit. You can do both at once (a**2 + b**2 = c**2) with a delta velocity of 755 km/s.

The game engines don't really use delta V so it's hard to answer your question. The various books and board games SE4 is loosely based on have engines that propel spacecraft at 1% to 5% of lightspeed (3000 km/s to 15000 km/s), so it should be no problem for them to hover over the surface of the sun.

Steve



[This message has been edited by Steve A (edited 31 March 2001).]