Aye, I have it, too. I haven't finished reading through it, but so far I like most of it.
I must say, though, that there are [i]severe[/i] problems with the collision rules. For one, they ignore Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Instead, according to these rules, weightier objects take less damage (less physical force of impact) than lighter objects. Lemme give an example....
From the book:
[quote]
For example, a novice Starfury pilot on his first training mission inadvertently loses control of his craft and flies into the Hyperion heavy cruiser he launched from. The Hyperion is stationary but the Starfury is moving at speed 4 (perhaps the novice pilot accidentally activated his afterburners while trying to dock...). The base damage of this collision is therefore 4, multiplied by 5 for the spacecraft scale, for a total of 60 points.
The Starfury is a huge vehicle so, using the table above, the damage it deals to the Hyperion is multiplied by 3 for a total of 36 points of damage. The Hyperion, on the other hand, is a colossal II vehicle and so the damage it does in return is multiplied by 8 for a total of 160 points! The Starfury's Damage Reduction of 6 barely registers and its 30 hit points are soon consumed. The smaller craft explodes, likely killing its pilots(sic) unless he manages to find the ejector seat switch. The Hyperion, however, has its Damage Reduction temporarily increased from 18 to 54 (being multiplied by 3 as the Hyperion is three size classes larger than the Starfury), and so easily brushes aside the 36 points of damage the Starfury deals it. At best, the paintwork has been scratched from this relatively low speed collision, but the Hyperion's mass is enough to finish off the smaller craft for good. However, had the Starfury been travelling at speeds more common in combat, the Hyperion may not have got off so lightly....
[/quote]
See the problem? According to these rules, the Starfury and the Hyperion take vastly different amounts of damage for the same collision. Moreover, the Starfury would take different amounts of damage for the same collision depending solely on how massive the larger object is! To illustrate, let me use the same rules to crash that Starfury into Babylon 5....
Using the rules provided, B5 is not taken to be a single structure, but instead to be comprised of "sections," each with DR 18 and 250 HP. I haven't yet found anything that says exactly what a "section" is, so I'll just assume each section is one of the different sectors (blue, red, green, brown, grey, yellow). Even broken up like this, each section still easily classifies as Colossal VI, the highest size category. The speed of the collision is 4, multiplied by 5 because we're in space, for a total of 20.
The damage dealt by the Starfury is the base multiplied by 3 because of its Huge size, for a total of 60 points. (I think the damage dealt by the Starfury in the book's example was wrong; it should also be 60, not 36. The number given for the Hyperion's damage looks right, though.)
The damage dealt by the section of the station is the base multiplied by [i]16[/i] because of its Colossal VI, giving us a total of 320 points.
As you can see, the damage taken by the Starfury actually [i]doubles[/i] just because the section of B5 is more massive than the Hyperion.
Let's take a look at what physics has to say about this.
First, Newton's 3rd Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that if I slam my fist into the ground, the ground slams into my fist with equal force. In game terms, this means that both objects involved in the collision should take the same amount of damage (before damage reduction). The idea that the Starfury receives 320 points while the station receives 60 points is ludicrous.
Second, [url="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/impulse.html"]impulse of force[/url]: The impulse of force is defined as "[t]he product of average force and the time it is exerted".
Let's work this out in real-world terms first. I'm getting the masses from [url]http://www.b5tech.com[/url]. I know it's not canon, but it will do for these purposes.
We've got our Starfury, at 48 metric tons, or 48000 kg. (This seems a bit large to me, but we'll go with it.) Using speed 4 as above, we have the Starfury moving at about 2300 mi/h.
Okay, we've got the setup... now, let's bang these things together.
The Impulse of Force site I linked to earlier has a handy impact force calculator. According to that, the force of impact required to stop the Starfury would be about 600000 tons. This is calculated using the length of the Starfury (9.56 meters) as the total distance over which it is brought from 2300 mi / h to a complete stop relative to whatever it's impacting.
Note that the mass of the other object, be it the Hyperion or B5 itself, is not even considered in the calculations. This is because both structures are so massive relative to the tiny little Starfury that the effect of the impact on their velocities is negligible. Thus, the two collisions are of almost exactly the same magnitude; in game terms, both collisions should deal exactly the same amount of damage.
Comments
I must say, though, that there are [i]severe[/i] problems with the collision rules. For one, they ignore Newton's third law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Instead, according to these rules, weightier objects take less damage (less physical force of impact) than lighter objects. Lemme give an example....
From the book:
[quote]
For example, a novice Starfury pilot on his first training mission inadvertently loses control of his craft and flies into the Hyperion heavy cruiser he launched from. The Hyperion is stationary but the Starfury is moving at speed 4 (perhaps the novice pilot accidentally activated his afterburners while trying to dock...). The base damage of this collision is therefore 4, multiplied by 5 for the spacecraft scale, for a total of 60 points.
The Starfury is a huge vehicle so, using the table above, the damage it deals to the Hyperion is multiplied by 3 for a total of 36 points of damage. The Hyperion, on the other hand, is a colossal II vehicle and so the damage it does in return is multiplied by 8 for a total of 160 points! The Starfury's Damage Reduction of 6 barely registers and its 30 hit points are soon consumed. The smaller craft explodes, likely killing its pilots(sic) unless he manages to find the ejector seat switch. The Hyperion, however, has its Damage Reduction temporarily increased from 18 to 54 (being multiplied by 3 as the Hyperion is three size classes larger than the Starfury), and so easily brushes aside the 36 points of damage the Starfury deals it. At best, the paintwork has been scratched from this relatively low speed collision, but the Hyperion's mass is enough to finish off the smaller craft for good. However, had the Starfury been travelling at speeds more common in combat, the Hyperion may not have got off so lightly....
[/quote]
See the problem? According to these rules, the Starfury and the Hyperion take vastly different amounts of damage for the same collision. Moreover, the Starfury would take different amounts of damage for the same collision depending solely on how massive the larger object is! To illustrate, let me use the same rules to crash that Starfury into Babylon 5....
Using the rules provided, B5 is not taken to be a single structure, but instead to be comprised of "sections," each with DR 18 and 250 HP. I haven't yet found anything that says exactly what a "section" is, so I'll just assume each section is one of the different sectors (blue, red, green, brown, grey, yellow). Even broken up like this, each section still easily classifies as Colossal VI, the highest size category. The speed of the collision is 4, multiplied by 5 because we're in space, for a total of 20.
The damage dealt by the Starfury is the base multiplied by 3 because of its Huge size, for a total of 60 points. (I think the damage dealt by the Starfury in the book's example was wrong; it should also be 60, not 36. The number given for the Hyperion's damage looks right, though.)
The damage dealt by the section of the station is the base multiplied by [i]16[/i] because of its Colossal VI, giving us a total of 320 points.
As you can see, the damage taken by the Starfury actually [i]doubles[/i] just because the section of B5 is more massive than the Hyperion.
Let's take a look at what physics has to say about this.
First, Newton's 3rd Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that if I slam my fist into the ground, the ground slams into my fist with equal force. In game terms, this means that both objects involved in the collision should take the same amount of damage (before damage reduction). The idea that the Starfury receives 320 points while the station receives 60 points is ludicrous.
Second, [url="http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/impulse.html"]impulse of force[/url]: The impulse of force is defined as "[t]he product of average force and the time it is exerted".
Let's work this out in real-world terms first. I'm getting the masses from [url]http://www.b5tech.com[/url]. I know it's not canon, but it will do for these purposes.
We've got our Starfury, at 48 metric tons, or 48000 kg. (This seems a bit large to me, but we'll go with it.) Using speed 4 as above, we have the Starfury moving at about 2300 mi/h.
Okay, we've got the setup... now, let's bang these things together.
The Impulse of Force site I linked to earlier has a handy impact force calculator. According to that, the force of impact required to stop the Starfury would be about 600000 tons. This is calculated using the length of the Starfury (9.56 meters) as the total distance over which it is brought from 2300 mi / h to a complete stop relative to whatever it's impacting.
Note that the mass of the other object, be it the Hyperion or B5 itself, is not even considered in the calculations. This is because both structures are so massive relative to the tiny little Starfury that the effect of the impact on their velocities is negligible. Thus, the two collisions are of almost exactly the same magnitude; in game terms, both collisions should deal exactly the same amount of damage.
Worf
Worf
Worf
WORF, move to oregon, we can play then =Þ