[jimbob]

Nomor asked:

Would it not be relative. If a pea came hurtling at you at .99c and hit your 6 foot steel hull would that not be the same as a 6 foot steel hull hitting a pea at .99c. The greater mass would win?

If my Newtonian physics memory serves me, the equation for momentum is p=0.5 x mass x velocity^2. Therefore an increase in velocity has far more effect than mass in determining the total kinetic energy delivered. Of course this only applies at lower (Newtonian) velocities. I think that the energies required to accelerate a mass into the higher velocity realms would be much higher, imparting a greater kinetic energy, and so a higher damage potential than would be expected by Newtonian equations.

As to how well a 6 foot steel hull would stand up to this, you would need to determine how much kinetic force it could withstand (steel grade, reinforcement, any curvature for ablative effects, etc. all would come into play).

Val: I think that the intention of ship size is to indicate how much mass could be held within the confines of the ship (that is "inside" the ship). So while anything bolted onto the exterior should, in purely physical terms, count towards the mass limit for the ship type, the game simply doesn't allow us to model the difference between total ship mass and interior volume.
So, for the sake of gameplay, reducing the mass of external components remains the best method for modelling the fact that it is on the exterior, leaving more room inside the ship for other components. I suppose there should be a limit to how many externally mounted items there are (maybe limit of 1-2 of each item per ship) to indicate that you can't just keep stapling on more and more parts - there should be a theoretical limit to how much surface area a ship has afterall.

Just a few pennies worth...
Edited some sentences, now my pennies make more cents

[ September 18, 2002, 00:31: Message edited by: jimbob ]