attack speed

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Frankly, I'm surprised the Arabic numbers survived the "Special Special Edition." I'd figure everything would be replaced with Aurabesh.

[StarshipTitanic]

Frankly, I'm surprised the Arabic numbers survived the "Special Special Edition." I'd figure everything would be replaced with Aurabesh.

As I learned earlier, there are no Aurabesh numbers.

[Tychu]

Just to put in. Anybody who remembers their Physics class knows you can have a negative acceleration. acceleration just simply means a change in your current velocity. Accelerate to Attack speed can mean decrese speed to a safe attack speed.

[McC]

Just to put in. Anybody who remembers their Physics class knows you can have a negative acceleration. acceleration just simply means a change in your current velocity. Accelerate to Attack speed can mean decrese speed to a safe attack speed.

The thing bugging me is "We're going in, we're going in full throttle, that ought to keep those fighters off our backs." And then, constant velocity...wtf?

[The Silence and I]

This bugs you? [ ] If you notice, every single measurable instance of observed (read, camera following the craft) flight in space involves constant speed. Hoth asteroids fly past the Falcon at x m/s one minute and ~x m/s several minutes later. Same with Jango and Obi Wan; same with Ani+the other fighters over Naboo. No one ever accelerates meaningfully, ever, unless we cannot see them directly (i.e. the inferred acceleration approaching the DS in ANH, or planet take offs).

That, along with the atmospheric properties inferred from space (you know, the non-newtonian turns) result in the conclusion:
I haven't a foggy idea what's going on, but I bet there's room for improvement in the theory of movement in Star Wars.

[McC]

That, along with the atmospheric properties inferred from space (you know, the non-newtonian turns) result in the conclusion:
I haven't a foggy idea what's going on, but I bet there's room for improvement in the theory of movement in Star Wars.

I'll probably get chewed up and spit back out again for suggesting this, but is it possible that SW ships don't in fact use directed exhaust for propulsion (then what the heck are the thruster nozzles on every singe ship for?), and instead use something else? Something that has a "setting" that makes a ship go at "X" speed?

Yeah, doesn't sound very likely to me either.

[Alan Bolte]

The acceleration is there when they need it, but generally you're going to want to go at a more or less constant speed relative to your surroundings because with all that accelerative capability you're already going as fast as you and your flight computer can handle. I mean, they could try jousting at extreme high speeds and then trying to stop fast enough to turn around before they go out of range, but how often would you hit each other? The clone wars cartoon demonstrates this handily: in the fighter one-on-one between Ani and Ventress, they approach each other at a pretty good clip from beyond visual range, then turn away from each other at a distance of maybe a few meters. When Ani gets behind Asajj Ventress there's not much she can to to outmaneuver him by turning, but she doesn't have a particular battle zone to stay in or extremely limited fuel to deal with (apparently) so she accelerates and is decending to the nearby planet in moments. Skywalker is left behind for a moment before increasing power to his engines and matching her, and managing to continue the battle planetside.

This can also be seen when the Falcon is being pursued in TESB: the Falcon doesn't just turn around, it turns and has a huge visible thrust trail for just a moment.

So the accelerative capabilites of ships really matter only in direct pursuits with no hazards or other objectives. Their jerk - that is, the derivative of acceleration - might be worth looking into for matters of maneuverablility, especially for looking at fighter vs capship combat.

I must admit, however, that the fact that Luke is going no faster than Red Leader is irritating and suspicious. What happened to 'at that speed, do you think we'll be able to pull out in time?'

[The Silence and I]

There are problems with that idea though:
The Falcon's huge thrust tail amounts to nowhere near thousand gee acceleration--if it had he would have flown past the ISD in a moment's notice.
The Hoth asteroid scene, a max pilot speed makes sense for the Falcon, too fast and you can't handle dodging the asteroids...but what of the ISDs? They can't dodge asteroids, they ignore them or shoot them--so why not use a fraction of a percent of their inferred acceleration ability and pull up along side the Falcon, right in the sights of their tractor beams for instance? Bam! Chase over, everyone can go home...well, not Han, or Chewi, or Leia...but yeah, the rest of us can!

[Batman]

but what of the ISDs? They can't dodge asteroids, they ignore them or shoot them--so why not use a fraction of a percent of their inferred acceleration ability and pull up along side the Falcon, right in the sights of their tractor beams for instance? Bam! Chase over, everyone can go home...well, not Han, or Chewi, or Leia...but yeah, the rest of us can!

Small problem: We already know one of the ISDs was damaged by an asteroid (propably thanks to shield wear-down). Increase the speed of the ISDs, you increase the risk of damage thanks to
a)the asteroids having a higher relative speed and thus KE/Momentum, and
b)the asteroids having a higher chance to hit thanks to the ISD's having les time to shoot them down.
Meaning that you and me get to go home early, and so do the Imperials-the ones that are left...

[The Silence and I]

I don't want to sound like this is obvious or anything, but:
A) Do this at the beginning of the chase, before shield wear down occurs
B) All the ISD's need to overtake the Falcon is a few extra m/s--I'm not talking about order of magnitude increases...