First the moon, then the stars!

[Proemial]

Okay, next question. Yeah, brain got going.

 

Been surfing the FREd and have been trying to figure out how a character gets into Orbit. What speed would be necessary, given that gravity eats 1" of flight for each 1" travelled upward.

 

I'm assuming Flight as the method to attain orbit. Obviously, someone could use a Teleportation power

[death tribble]

Flight with Megascale.

 

Look at people like Firewing who came in from space and then have to get out through the atmosphere.

[Tom McCarthy]

Technically speaking, even 1" of flight will allow you to escape the atmosphere, assuming you have sufficient time, END, and Life Support. Unlike a conventional rocket which has a limited fuel charge, and must use it quickly to escape gravity before it is expended, a character with 0 END flight and appropriate LS can take his time, climbing slowly but steadily (within the limits of SFX).

[Blue]

Yeh, exactly. That thing about subtracting for gravity threw me for a second ("Did they change something in the rules I hadn't noticed?").

 

Generally the only time you MAY have to consider subtracting inches of movement from your flight is when you have been falling. I say "May" because GMs for simplicity will sometimes say if you have flight you can come to an immediate stop. I tend to do it the hard way: Say, you're uncoscious and falling near terminal velocity (Can't remember if it's 30" or 32", so I'll say 30"). You wake up and have 20" of movement, you could slow yourself to 10", then on the next turn reverse yourself and come up (assuming your GM doesn't consider this NCM. If he rules it non-combat movement then you could actually stop and reverse yourself 10" in the same phase).

 

But if you're just lifiting off the ground, like the man said, 1" and all of the life support you can get, is all you need to reach the stars.

[Proemial]

Huh, thanks peeps!

 

I could have sworn, though, that it costs 2" of flight to go up. However, I'm perfectly willing to admit I'm wrong. Fairly new to the Heroes, having only picked up the FREd last week.

 

Thanks again.

[Tom McCarthy]

It does cost 2" of flight to climb 1" in combat, but most GMs will let that guy with 1" of flight climb 1 metre (1/2") per phase for his slow noncombat ascent.

[Proemial]

Aha! That mostly certainly does clear things up in my muddled mind.

 

I'm sure I'll get the hang of this eventually.

[Tamashii2000]

any amount of flight with enough end will get you to orbit, if the GM wanted to inpose an 'escape velocity' Star Hero puts that at 66600 Hexs per turn

[Proemial]

Speaking from a physics perspective:

Escape Velocity is a "point velocity" term. It is the velocity you would need, at ground level, to overcome *all* the slowdown imposed by gravity all the way up to orbit. (25 thousand miles per hour, 40 thousand kilometers per hour)

 

It doesn't cover constant acceleration nor speed maintenance.

 

It would be interesting, however, to have a character that could point launch themselves at escape velocity:

 

Enough flight to cover that much speed (I'd go with NCMs, less hexes to buy, and who really can maneouver at that speed), with the disadvantages of "No turning" "Stops only when hits things" "Cannot decelerate" "stupid to use in any direction but straight up"

 

[Blue]

Ouch...head...hurting...Gonna go look at the pretty pictures in the book.

[Proemial]

In case you care:

5" with a x4096 NCM will do it

 

1" requires a x32768. one step less is just a tidge under the required speed.

 

Yes, I am procrastinating from doing work. Not too hard to tell is it?

[BobGreenwade]

Originally posted by Proemial

Speaking from a physics perspective:

Escape Velocity is a "point velocity" term. It is the velocity you would need, at ground level, to overcome *all* the slowdown imposed by gravity all the way up to orbit. (25 thousand miles per hour, 40 thousand kilometers per hour)

 

It doesn't cover constant acceleration nor speed maintenance.

There was an argument on the HML several years ago. At the time I was about the only person holding this position (there may have been one or two others). If you have a link to a scientific research page (preferably from NASA), or if someone here with a certifiable background in a related field would post agreement, I'd feel very vindicated.

It would be interesting, however, to have a character that could point launch themselves at escape velocity:

 

Enough flight to cover that much speed (I'd go with NCMs, less hexes to buy, and who really can maneouver at that speed), with the disadvantages of "No turning" "Stops only when hits things" "Cannot decelerate" "stupid to use in any direction but straight up"

 

What about MegaScaled Leaping?

[Proemial]

"What is Escape Velocity?" PhysLink.com

 

Link Supplied

 

Notice the line:

"Given that initial speed, an object needs no additional force applied to completely escape Earth's gravity"