 October 15, 2007 - 7:33am | http://starfrontiers.us/node/1258 Some have the opinion that aircars ride about 10m off the ground, anything else would be considered an aircraft, especially base on the posts above. I'd like opinions so that I can remain true to AD in the Expanded Project.  |
 October 15, 2007 - 8:01am | All I could find was "it takes off and lands like a helicopter but flies like an airplane." That's straight from the AD rules. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
October 15, 2007 - 8:04am | ...but can it leap tall buildings in a single bound??? |
 October 15, 2007 - 8:08am | I guess I'm not envisioning them properly. I see them as ground-effect vehicles. I guess AD intends them to be more like The Fifth Element or Attack of the Clones. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe. -- Carl Sagan |
October 15, 2007 - 9:31am | ...but can it leap tall buildings in a single bound??? I would say yes. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
October 15, 2007 - 9:35am | My guess is it would have an operational ceiling of a kilometer, maybe two(3-6,000 feet roughly), at most. Maybe higher if the cabin were pressurized, but from what I understand, the stock aircar isn't pressurized. I think the creators had The Jetsons more in mind when they envisioned this. "Jane, stop this crazy thing!" "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
October 15, 2007 - 10:24am | I guess it could be said that AirCars are just a type of aircraft that are named "aircar" (kinda like airplace, helicoptor and so forth). I think there needs to be several types of aircars, from the Basic game when the PC's were prusing the Sathar agent their aircar....ok it was a skimmer. so, Corvus, a skimmer max altitude is 10m and and aircar 3000m Sata Agents We jumped into my waiting skimmer and maneuvered into traffic, gliding smoothly above the road. ''It is fortunate Bakchu the Yazirian is guarding the spaceport,'' C'hting rasped. "If that big monkey can't handle Dalmor, no one can," I replied. "That's only if Dalmor's going to the spaceport, though," I added. "There are two other monorail terminals on the way. Maybe we can get to one of them before his car does." The skimmer was running at top speed, but I clenched the controls in frustration at every corner as the magnetic control fields slowed us to a safe speed. We arrived at the terminal just as Dalmor's car was pulling in. |
October 15, 2007 - 4:39pm | Aircars and hover cars are two different things. An aircar would, as Corvus pointed out, and which is coming to reality today, act like a helicopter. Here's a real aircar: http://www.moller.com/ Here's a non-FAA-clearance required aircar: http://www.moller.com/videom200x.htm Here is the inspiration for the hoverbike with 3 hover fans (originally appearing in Boy's Life, through the 30's and 50's): http://www.hovercraft-aircar.com/ |
 October 15, 2007 - 5:59pm | Looking through a few Dragon articles this is what I could find: Tanks Alot, it states that bombs can be mounted on pylons on an aircar. Here Comes the Cavalry gives a brief description of an VTOL Fighter-Bomber as "An armored aircar with exterior weapon mounts this is designed for high-speed bombing runs. However, it is versatile enough to hold its own in a dogfight. From Freighters to Flying Boats, under the description of Amphibious Aircar we see "... Its underside and wings have pontoons to keep the craft afloat." There is still no type of altitude given, but it would seem to allude to the aircar being capable of actual flight. In the adventure Mission to Alcazaar, pg 18 (remastered edition), an encounter with an aircar has the vehicle aproaching at 400kph with an altitude of 50 meters. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
October 16, 2007 - 6:19am | thx for the info Rum Rogue. SF is such a cool framework you can have different articles with different ideas about the same topic. this has changed my thinking, instaed of making "one set" of ideas, rules and cruft for the Alpha Dawn Expanded project, I just want it as a place holder for information that is easly accessible to run our campaings. I will be adding your articles cites.  |
October 16, 2007 - 7:53am | Would the expanded project be a good place to put some of the Dragon articles? Or do we want to wait for them to be posted in the Frontiersman? I have looked at aircars as being great for getting around your extended area, but if you want to cross the atlantic, you would be better off using an actual jet. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
October 16, 2007 - 9:02am | Would the expanded project be a good place to put some of the Dragon articles? Or do we want to wait for them to be posted in the Frontiersman? We could use those articles to build out the Expanded project but the actually articles belong in the Digitally Remastered project, right CleanCutRogue? I have looked at aircars as being great for getting around your extended area, but if you want to cross the atlantic, you would be better off using an actual jet. good point. do you know the max range of an aircar? how long does a parabattery last? SEU consupmtion? I don't like to get in the weeds with this but a shell outline might help GM's in their campaign. |
October 16, 2007 - 10:43am | According to a generic entry in Alpha Dawn, "All vehicles listed above can travel 1,000 km on a new parabattery before it is out of energy and must be recharged." (pg 68 remastered) Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 October 16, 2007 - 12:31pm | According to a generic entry in Alpha Dawn, "All vehicles listed above can travel 1,000 km on a new parabattery before it is out of energy and must be recharged." (pg 68 remastered) Note that a parabattery can be recharged by a power generator... can SEU powerclips too? 3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
October 16, 2007 - 12:36pm | btw - am I the only one who noticed this post's title is about air cats? Who wants to stat up flying felines for Issue 7 of the StarFrontiersman?  3. We wear sungoggles during the day. Not because the sun affects our
vision, but when you're cool like us the sun shines all the time. |
October 16, 2007 - 3:32pm | btw - am I the only one who noticed this post's title is about air cats? lol. yeah. I think I noticed it during my 2nd post. I try not to point out spelling mistakes unless I just dont understand what is being said. My spelling is nasty enough. lol Bring on the flying cats. Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
October 16, 2007 - 3:44pm | Hehe. Note my "cat pack" reference here: http://starfrontiers.us/node/1274 |
October 16, 2007 - 3:51pm | That's pretty neat, and easy math... but not horribly realistic, as it takes more to accelerate than it does to stay at a fixed rate :-P But it's simple enough to use in-game. Note that a parabattery can be recharged by a power generator... can SEU powerclips too? Yeah. should look at how many SEU each type of battery has and see if some sort consumption multiplier can be determined. Example: for every 50kph above cruise speed SEU drain increase by factor of .5. Aircars have an acceleration factor of 100 m/turn. increase power drain for a full-burn? I think combat should increase the power drain as well. After all, the vehicle would be pushed alot harder than in normal travel. In my SFU I determined that special aparatus had to be attached to the generator in order to recharge powerclips and packs. It could recharge up to 5 clips at a time, or 2 beltpacks, or 1 backpack in a couple of minutes. I also made a few pcs nervous when they tried to jury-rig something to recharge clips. 
Time flies when your having rum. Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time. |
 November 2, 2007 - 2:14pm | I know I'm a little late to the conversation. But I always thought of (and treated as in my game) air cars like aerodyne vehicles (AV's) in cyberpunk. Kind a boxy like an M-113 APC, but haveing ducted jet exhaust vents like a harrier jet. Granted some are sleeker than others. You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug, especially when its waving a razor sharp hunting knife in your eye. |
