Battlestar Galactica II (No Joke)

[Puke]

now you guys have me aching for a good space combat sim. bastards.

the Last tabletop one i played was aerotech/battlespace, i always wanted to take a stab at silent death or full thrust. SFB was always too complicated to be enjoyable. like ASL, you know? the paratrooper modules for ASL were fun, but when you have a stack of rulebooks 3 feet high, its not a beer and pretzels game anymore.

a on-off-topic question for you aviation experts out there though: regarding flight ceilings on aircraft (aforementioned bit about our fighters being able to hit 50,000 feet by flying vertically, and such). why the limit? is it because the plane uses aerodynamics to translate forward momentum into vertical momentum, and then maintains it with its thrust until gravity overcomes the thrust its putting out? or is it because the atmosphere is thinner and the engines are not able to operate as efficiently and they are not achieving the right fuel air mixture and combustion is not working right?

its sure as heck not because gravity is getting stronger the further you are from the earth, and its sure as heck not because the atmosphere is thicker and harder to penetrate at higher elevations.