 October 10, 2013 - 8:04pm | Call me sentimental about the old Battle Star Galactica but I always love the scenes when they hit the afterburners on the Vipers, the pilots were slammed back in their seats, flame spouted out the back of the fighter and you knew they were hauling but. Clearly the UPF fighters are powered by atomic drives but could they also mount a chemical drive with a limited ammount of fuel? The limited fule would be used a certain number of times to tact on an extra 1 ADF when the pilot "hit the afterburner"? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 October 11, 2013 - 1:20am | Or better yet, a magnetic rail system that fires the Fighter out of the ship like a large matal slug from a mass-driver. The fighter would not need to fire its radioactive afterburners, but get shot out of the ship by the Carrier's own power supply - no extra systems needed on the Fighter. |
 October 11, 2013 - 1:30am | I think it was done - SFMan #5, pg 11 After Burner. This injects fuel directly into the ignited exhaust (“after” the engine), causing the vehicle to increase its acceleration beyond its standard acceleration. This can be useful for escaping an enemy, catching up to an enemy, or getting that extra burst for escaping atmosphere. However, this is an extremely inefficient expenditure of fuel, so use it wisely. This is available for any engine planet-side or in space. |
 October 22, 2013 - 10:06pm | Atomic Drives can be fitted with equipment and structure that mimics vernier thrusters and afterburners... in theory. I saw the engineering hypothesis somewhere, but it amounted to one man's extensively researched speculative fiction in an untested science... so I don't remember where. A rail-launch fighter tube basically allows a fighter to leave the carrier ship or base at any capable speed... no internal fuel spent. Also great for getting out to an interception point ahead of the ship for a fly-by scouting... but it's the afterburner that will slow the fighter back inside the safety zone. Oh humans!!  We discover a galactic community filled with multiple species of aliens, and the first thing we think about is "how can we have sex with them?".~ anymoose, somewhere on the net... so... if you square a square it becomes a cube... if you square a cube does it become an octoid? |
