 January 8, 2011 - 3:52pm | Refer to: Space Stations: Rotation Speeds & Size Specifications. any way to know what a space stations width will be on the wheel? Does the a space stations wheel need to be a circular tube? Could it be a hexagonal tube or a square tube? Would ships docking to the outer wheel unbalance a station's rotation? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 8, 2011 - 4:55pm | Your last question first: I think as long as the docking ship matches the station's rotational speed exactly, it shouldn't unbalance its spin. I think the sizes are somewhere in the description of the six station classes. Not sure, though. And, I think stations do have to be either toroids, O'Neill cylinders, or a similarly-circular shape to ensure proper rotation. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
January 8, 2011 - 5:47pm | I had to look up what an O'neill cylinder was found a cool 3d animation inspired by Clarkes Rendezvous With Rama of what a cylindrical ship on that scale would look like- very cool http://www.nss.org/settlement/space/rama.htm I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
January 8, 2011 - 10:38pm | Oh. My. God. That animation was freakin' sweet, and the web page is a gold mine of information. Thanks for the link, jedi. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
January 9, 2011 - 10:13am | As for the width of the station's wheel(assuming a torus), the wheel can be as wide as the radius of the station as measured from its hub to the rim of the torus. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
January 9, 2011 - 10:04pm | so if someone was trying to work up a map of a station section then they could make it any width that was convienent to them. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 10, 2011 - 1:14pm | Width will only change the mass of the station, not the required speed or rotation for a given radius. This is assuming that the rotation control thrusters are robust and powerful enough to adjust for the mass. Good engineering design would be to pick the rotation thrusters for the expected mass variation of the station. Typical bureaucratic design is to spec the cheapest station and then add to it thus breaking the engineering design and requiring new thrusters to be added after the design is complete. Oops, did I say that? There are no rules in KH for rotation thrusters so assume the engineers get their way and the station is properly designed with appropriate rotation thrusters. -iggy |
 January 10, 2011 - 2:34pm | When I created the rules for space station design in my project I based them off of the rules I had modified for building spaceships but I did include maneuverability thrusters as part of the design sequence to allow the command crew of the station some way to make adjustments to the station's spin, or orbit in order to provide the station with some defense against unforseen accidents, such as out of control spacecraft or rogue asteroids that might strike the station. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
January 10, 2011 - 5:31pm | so if someone was trying to work up a map of a station section then they could make it any width that was convienent to them. Basically. " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
January 10, 2011 - 5:33pm | Width will only change the mass of the station, not the required speed or rotation for a given radius. This is assuming that the rotation control thrusters are robust and powerful enough to adjust for the mass. Good engineering design would be to pick the rotation thrusters for the expected mass variation of the station. Typical bureaucratic design is to spec the cheapest station and then add to it thus breaking the engineering design and requiring new thrusters to be added after the design is complete. Oops, did I say that? There are no rules in KH for rotation thrusters so assume the engineers get their way and the station is properly designed with appropriate rotation thrusters. Not necessarily properly designed, but the engineers do get their way.  " 'Beware the Beast, Man, for he is the Devil's pawn. Alone among God's primates, he kills for sport, for lust, for greed. Yea, he will murder his brother to possess his brother's land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him; drive him back into his jungle lair, for he is the harbinger of death." |
