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A question which is commonly asked by new [[capsuleer|capsuleers]] is just how the different propulsion systems work on modern vessels. These subjects are not covered by the base capsuleer training as they do not effect the actual usage of the ship, however they are listed here for those interested. | A question which is commonly asked by new [[capsuleer|capsuleers]] is just how the different propulsion systems work on modern vessels. These subjects are not covered by the base capsuleer training as they do not effect the actual usage of the ship, however they are listed here for those interested. | ||
= | = The basics of Warp Drive = | ||
Warp drive, as found on all modern vessels, allows faster-than-light travel throughout New Eden. The drive core maintains a hyperspace 'bubble' which negates the mass of the core, which when attuned and expanded around the ship, causes the ship to be dragged through hyperspace to the destination at faster-than-light speeds, compressing the space in front of the ship while expanding the space behind it, 'warping' space around it. | |||
== Continuous Energy Input == | |||
Once a drive core has been powered up, it can not be shut-down safely without slowly reducing the energy input over the course of weeks (for smaller ships such as frigates) or years (in the case of capital ships), and improper disposal of a drive core, such as interruption to the energy feed (typically caused by critical damage the ship it is housed in), results in the uncontrolled collapse of the hyperspace bubble, releasing the stored energy into both hyperspace and normal-space, causing a chain-reaction of explosions which feed the collapse further, invariably resulting in the total destruction of the vessel containing it. | |||
== Discharged Drive Cores == | |||
When a ship is first constructed, the drive core is in its new and discharged state. This is charged by the ships power systems, but then cannot be disposed of safely without the required facilities, typically found at all stations. Once a ship is 'repackaged', the live core is removed and replaced with a pre-discharged core, ready to be reassembled with the ship, and the currently charged core is moved into special storage facilities. | |||
== Hyperspace Drag == | |||
While charged and un-attuned, the drive core generates drag in hyperspace, which prevents easy or rapid movement within normal-space at sub-light velocities. Without the drive core, ships would be able to accelerate to significant fractions of the speed of light, and turn and change direction rapidly, however this is a trade-off all capsuleers must accept for FTL travel. Some older ship designs included separate drive modules, however as the drive module became strategically important (allowing a rapid retreat) and systems such as the [[MicroWarp Drive]] were developed, they were integrated into the rest of the ship to allow for their defense. | |||
== Energy Requirements == | |||
The energy required to simply maintain the drive core is immense, and consumes the vast majority of the energy output of a ship. The remainder, a small fraction of the total output, is used to charge the ship's [[capacitor]] and from there consumed by the other systems on the ship, such as sub-light propulsion, defenses, and life support for any crew. Similarly, some of this capacitor energy is used to expand the bubble around the ship when entering warp. | |||
== Minimum and Maximum Warp Distances == | |||
There is a minimum amount of energy which must be transferred to the warp core, or it may cause a instability in the field, resulting in a premature collapse - this means that each ship effectively has a minimum warp distance, typically around 60km for most ships. Due to [[CONCORD]] regulation, this must be in excess of 150km, after a short warp by an early capsuleer which resulted in total destruction of the testing facilities. Effective maximum warp distance is only limited by the amount of energy which can be transferred to the core from the capacitor, however in all cases the core must be properly attuned to the relevant destination such as a planet, beacon, or other ships warp core. | |||
== Warp Destinations == | |||
To warp to a specific location, the core must be attuned to the relevant hyperspace coordinates (which when recorded are typically displayed in relation to the local star). These are non-linear, and so far scientists in each of the empires have not been able to predict them, however a warp can be safely targeted to a point within 0-100km of the destination, by attenuating the hyperspace field properly before entering warp. | |||
Stations and other man-made structures such as stargates and beacons as well as ships within the same fleet pass their coordinates automatically, and celestial objects with significant mass such as planets and moons can be warped to within a few thousand kilometers due to their significant mass shadow in hyperspace. Other items such as asteroid belts are mapped and their locations transmitted by the local stargates. Finally, the coordinates of other items, such as wormholes, anomalies and non-fleeted ships can be identified by quadrangulation via use of specialised probes. | |||
== Typical Warp Process == | |||
To prevent the sudden stresses from transit to hyperspace from tearing a ship apart, it must be traveling toward its destination at greater than 75% of its top speed. Successfully entering warp reserves the required amount of energy from the ships capacitor, aligns and reaches the required speed, then properly attunes the ships warp core while expanding the hyperspace bubble around the ship. This allows it to be attracted to the destination coordinates, and the ship then accelerates to faster-than-light speeds as the field strength of the bubble is increased until the ship reaches it top speed. While nearing the destination, the field strength is slowly reduced, thereby reducing the attraction and the speed of the ship, while moving it back into normal-space as it reaches its destination. | |||
== Invulnerability Within Hyperspace == | |||
While in hyperspace, a ship can be observed by the typical sensor-suites aboard other ships, however it has no mass so cannot be targeted or collided with, meaning normal weapons are ineffectual. This allows a ship in warp to effectively pass though any other items such as ships and celestials without harm. There are some exceptions to this such as energy pulse weapons (for example, smart-bombs) which permeate both normal-space and hyperspace, and can do significant damage to a ship while entering and exiting warp. | |||
== | == Vulnerabilities == | ||
As entering warp with an improperly formed bubble will invariably destroy the ship from the stresses, all warp drives must be properly stabilized for them to operate safely, however the use of items such as Warp Scramblers, Warp Disruptors and Interdiction Spheres cause instability with the field generated by a warp core, preventing it from being fully formed around a ship. These forms of interdiction can be negated in some cases by the use of Warp Core Stabilizers, which provide extra resources beyond the ship's default to stabilize the bubble. Also sometimes used are Mobile Warp Disruptors - as well as disrupting the ability for a ship inside its field to properly form a hyperspace bubble, these distort hyperspace, causing local hyperspace destination coordinates to be focused in their location, meaning attempting to warp to somewhere within the area will see you exit warp at the bubble rather than your planned destination. | |||
== Linked Cores == | |||
Multiple charged warp cores aboard the same ship (such as ships which are located in a maintenance bay, or otherwise being transported while packaged) must have their cores linked to the host ship otherwise they would generate differing stresses when entering warp, potentially leading to a catastrophic failure. Linking the cores of the guest ships to the host ship negates this issue, however the cores aboard these ships are not used to generate or augment the field of the host ship. This is of course not a problem for ships which have been packaged as their cores are discharged. | |||
== MicroWarp Drive == | |||
MicroWarp Drives are a recent development, and allow the ship to utilize the warp core along with significant structural reinforcement to massively increase the top speed of a ship. This works by expanding a very weak hyperspace field around the ship, while attuning the core thousands of times per second to a point directly in front of the ship, effectively augmenting the ships normal drive systems. However, doing this requires a significant proportion of the capacitor be reserved for the field generation, and the constant attuning of the core results in the ships effective signature radius to increase massively, while weakening armor and shields, making the ship easier to target and hit harder. Similarly, due to the fact this utilizes the warp core, a MicroWarp Drive can be shut down by a Warp Scrambler, as it prevents the core from properly being attuned. | |||
= Sub-light Propulsion = | |||
The | == Maneuvering == | ||
Maneuvering in [[New Eden]] is somewhat complicated compared to archaic models of spaceflight, due to the friction generated by the modern warp drive. The drive core itself generated what is best described as sub-space friction. This friction means that a ship must constantly run its engines to maintain its speed, and shutting down its engines will see it slow to a complete stop. | |||
These requirements also mean that modern ships are only able to move 'forward' at non-trivial speeds as the combination of the field emitters must be aligned properly. While it would be theoretically possible to construct a vessel which could move in any direction without turning, the extra mass of the engines, field emitters and support technology would require a significantly larger power core, making this configuration inefficient. | These requirements also mean that modern ships are only able to move 'forward' at non-trivial speeds as the combination of the field emitters must be aligned properly. While it would be theoretically possible to construct a vessel which could move in any direction without turning, the extra mass of the engines, field emitters and support technology would require a significantly larger power core, making this configuration inefficient. | ||
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== Propulsion Methods == | == Propulsion Methods == | ||
Sub-light propulsion is classed as any movement which does not utilize | Sub-light propulsion is classed as any movement which does not utilize an [[FTL]] [[Warp Tunnel|warp tunnel]], including Afterburner and MicroWarpdrive usage. | ||
=== Impulse === | === Impulse === | ||
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Ship impulse maneuvering systems include both the ships drive used to maneuver in normal space. | Ship impulse maneuvering systems include both the ships drive used to maneuver in normal space. | ||
Each | Each faction's ships typically use one of four propulsion methods, which have generally the same propulsion 'strength', although this does effect the color of the engine exhaust seen. There are a number of exceptions though: pirate-constructed ships, some joint-ventures and a number of [[Tech 2]] ships. | ||
==== Fusion ==== | ==== Fusion ==== | ||
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=== Afterburner === | === Afterburner === | ||
While the modules are named | While the modules are named [[Afterburner_Details|Afterburners]] after the systems used on atmospheric vehicles to burn unspent fuel in the exhaust of a jet engine, and they have a similar effect, this is somewhat of a misnomer. | ||
In effect, the modules in question actually expend energy from the ships power core to increase the propulsion efficiency, effectively running the ships impulse drive systems at greater than normal levels. In order to do this, the magnetic containment of the engine must be reinforced significantly, power input to the the deflector field must be substantially increased, as well as the structural integrity of the ships hull itself to prevent catastrophic damage to the emitter mounts. | In effect, the modules in question actually expend energy from the ships power core to increase the propulsion efficiency, effectively running the ships impulse drive systems at greater than normal levels. In order to do this, the magnetic containment of the engine must be reinforced significantly, power input to the the deflector field must be substantially increased, as well as the structural integrity of the ships hull itself to prevent catastrophic damage to the emitter mounts. | ||
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This has the effect of significantly increasing the maximum velocity of the ship, while also increasing the effective mass considerably, making turns much slower and slowing acceleration. | This has the effect of significantly increasing the maximum velocity of the ship, while also increasing the effective mass considerably, making turns much slower and slowing acceleration. | ||
While a module of this type can be used indefinitely, when | While a module of this type can be used indefinitely, when traveling at greater than normal velocity, the fuel scoop cannot be used to replenish the reserves, which will typically expire after approximately 24 hours, at which point the vessel would then need to slow to normal impulse speeds. | ||
=== | === MicroWarp Drive === | ||
The | The [[MicroWarp Drive]], typically referred to by capsuleers as an 'MWD', is a system which uses elements of both FTL and 'Afterburner' propulsion systems. | ||
This operates by using the warp drive to form a warp containment field around the vessel, distorting space around the ship, thereby reducing the effective pressure on the deflector field. The ships structure and drive-core are then reinforced in the same methods as an afterburner, allowing much higher speeds than are conventionally available, but only with the same fuel requirements as the afterburner. | This operates by using the warp drive to form a warp containment field around the vessel, distorting space around the ship, thereby reducing the effective pressure on the deflector field. The ships structure and drive-core are then reinforced in the same methods as an afterburner, allowing much higher speeds than are conventionally available, but only with the same fuel requirements as the afterburner. | ||
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== Jump Drive == | == Jump Drive == | ||