How do Star Wars fighters maneuver in space?

Ronaldo · Post by **Ronaldo** » 2003-09-05 09:38pm

I have been looking for information about how Star Wars fighters maneuver in space. Does anyone know of an official source that states this? I have found information in a few RPG sourcebooks and at the Star Wars Technical Commentaries regarding the Tie fighters,but I have not found anything on the other starfighters. I would appreciate any help you could offer.

Thanks.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2003-09-05 09:41pm

They all use the same basic methods, for the most part.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-09-05 10:40pm

Largely it's by thrust imbalance, with finer manuvers caused by use of vectoring their thrust streams via EM fields, or by use of tractor beams/repulsors. To roll they have electric gyroscopes connected to the hull so that when they increase power to one over the other it causes the fighter to turn in that direction. This explains manuvering given the lack of thrusters and why they move by banking and such in the movies.

Fighters with offset engines (EG the ewing) would rely on mass balancing to try and even it out, and for reversing and snap turns, some fighters (X-wings and presumably E-wings) can fire a limited amount of engine thrust forward.

Between the ICSs, Saxtons Tie page and an X-wing alliance analysis of the X wing out there, you should be able to put together a good picture of how things work.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2003-09-05 10:41pm

They use electromagnetic fields to deflect the output of their ion engines (i.e. "etheric rudders"), thus letting them change course.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-09-05 10:43pm

Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?

Ryoga · Post by **Ryoga** » 2003-09-05 11:49pm

Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?

I dunno....G-Diffuser?

*pre-emptively flees from the hail of tomatoes for cross-pollinating F-Zero and Starfox with SW*

Ronaldo · Post by **Ronaldo** » 2003-09-06 12:08am

Ender wrote:Largely it's by thrust imbalance, with finer manuvers caused by use of vectoring their thrust streams via EM fields, or by use of tractor beams/repulsors. To roll they have electric gyroscopes connected to the hull so that when they increase power to one over the other it causes the fighter to turn in that direction. This explains manuvering given the lack of thrusters and why they move by banking and such in the movies.

Fighters with offset engines (EG the ewing) would rely on mass balancing to try and even it out, and for reversing and snap turns, some fighters (X-wings and presumably E-wings) can fire a limited amount of engine thrust forward.

Between the ICSs, Saxtons Tie page and an X-wing alliance analysis of the X wing out there, you should be able to put together a good picture of how things work.

They use electromagnetic fields to deflect the output of their ion engines (i.e. "etheric rudders"), thus letting them change course.

Thanks for the information. These explanations make the most sense based on the visual and written information that I have seen.

PainRack · Post by **PainRack** » 2003-09-06 12:57pm

Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?

What do you mean?

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-09-06 01:58pm

I think in the Black Fleet Crisis, Luke was talking to a chick about thrust vectoring on the ship they were on and in relation to other fighter sized vessels. On top of that, there are alot of ships in SW with some visable vectoring flaps or baffles (ie Stardestroyer MKI, Millinium Falcon, Y-wing) while others have parts that are named as such though are not visually a baffle or vector flap (ie A-wing).

So it apears that thrust vectoring in fighter type or even larger craft is used for gross movments and combat manuvers which explains the atmoshpere like manuvering in space. Though not completely. Also remember that the Accleration Compensator is suppost to creat a Zero G bubble around the ship and would supposedly take care of the pesky inertia problem.

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-09-06 02:50pm

I had always assumed that the inertial compensation only extended as far as the cockpit, which is why boosting the power to counter coralskipper attacks was such a big deal in the NR.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2003-09-06 02:55pm

PainRack wrote:
Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?
What do you mean?

I mean if a X-wing yaws to the left, it does not continue to fly along its old heading.

Knife · Post by **Knife** » 2003-09-06 02:58pm

Darth Yoshi wrote:I had always assumed that the inertial compensation only extended as far as the cockpit, which is why boosting the power to counter coralskipper attacks was such a big deal in the NR.

I'll have to hunt down the quote or phrase, I know I've read it refered to in a couple of books. Though, we do know that the AC does create a zero G enviroment around at least the pilot but if it doesn't extend to the whole ship, wouldn't that exert serious stresses between where the field is and where it isn't?

Darth Yoshi · Post by **Darth Yoshi** » 2003-09-06 04:42pm

Howedar wrote:I mean if a X-wing yaws to the left, it does not continue to fly along its old heading.

I seem to remember reading in one of Stackpole's novels that Corran Horn rudders his fighter until he's flying backwards. I'll try to find a quote.

Knife wrote:I'll have to hunt down the quote or phrase, I know I've read it refered to in a couple of books. Though, we do know that the AC does create a zero G enviroment around at least the pilot but if it doesn't extend to the whole ship, wouldn't that exert serious stresses between where the field is and where it isn't?

You've got a point there.

His Divine Shadow · Post by **His Divine Shadow** » 2003-09-10 06:17am

Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?

Interial Dampener side-effect?

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2003-09-10 03:29pm

Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?

Repulsors and/or tractor beam-like effects probably help in steering.

Additionally it does in fact seem like Inertial Dampers do have some "affect" on the mobility of the ship (EG, Tales of the bounty hunter. Heir to the Empire, supposedly TESB, plus some of the recent NJO material as well.) I am fairly convinced that what it might be is simply a variation of the "repulsor/tractor" ability above.

Some ships do use manuvering thrustsers incidentally. Differential thrust does seem to be the primary ability though.

Slartibartfast · Post by **Slartibartfast** » 2003-09-10 03:59pm

Having no "inertia" would mean that the object "stops" before changing heading, and there's no such thing as stopping in space (because everthing from stars to planets to other ships around you are moving, and whole star systems move VERY fast, I think). To me, whatever the ship uses as a reference point, it uses its thrusters automatically to shed the excess velocity in any direction other than the intended. Kinda like Independence War 1/2 when the thruster-override is off. Only that the thrusters on a SW fighter rate thousands of Gs.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-09-10 08:23pm

Connor MacLeod wrote:
Howedar wrote:Do we know why the fighters maneuver as if they possess no inertia?
Repulsors and/or tractor beam-like effects probably help in steering.

Only on shielded ships with tractors though. Remember the rest of that line, the shields must be set there. My impression of that bit based on his TIE page is that it has to impart momentum on the shield or else it violates COM

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-09-12 11:05am

Darth Yoshi wrote:
Howedar wrote:I mean if a X-wing yaws to the left, it does not continue to fly along its old heading.
I seem to remember reading in one of Stackpole's novels that Corran Horn rudders his fighter until he's flying backwards. I'll try to find a quote.

He does, though I don't remember which book. He's being chased by a TIE, and flips the X-Wing, fires a shot (torpedo, I believe), then flips it back over again. The move is recognized by the idiot Intelligence* officer as "vintage Horn," suggesting such maneuvers are rare.

*I think...it may have been another character.

Post by **Kuja** » 2003-09-12 09:09pm

ROGUE SQUADRON, page 173:

"Watch our tail, Whistler." Corran kicked his shields full forward and dove in straight at the Interceptor. The rangefinder on the targeting computer scrolled numbers off with blurred speed. His crosshairs went green and he fired, but couldn't see how much damage he'd done because of the light show created by the Interceptor's lasers eating away at his shields.

Corran stabbed the right rudder pedal with his foot, swinging the ship around a full 180 degrees. Punching his throttle to full, he killed his momentum, then dropped his engines to zero thrust. With his thumb, he popped his weapons control over to proton torpedoes and got a solid tone when he trapped the fleeing Interceptor in the targeting box. His finger tightened once on the trigger and a single torpedo shot away on a jet of blue flame.

Page 184:

He had no objective confirmation about the squadron being Rogue Squadron, but one communications intercept had included the name "Wedge" and Kirtan thought he heard some faint trace of Corran Horn's voice in other messages. The end-for-end swapping maneuver that led to the damaging of one Interceptor had been vintage Horn, providing Loor all the evidence he needed to label the X-wings as Rogue Squadron.

Ender · Post by **Ender** » 2003-09-12 09:37pm

He does something similar later in the book, only flipping on the z axis.

Connor MacLeod · Post by **Connor MacLeod** » 2003-09-14 01:58am

Ender wrote:Only on shielded ships with tractors though. Remember the rest of that line, the shields must be set there. My impression of that bit based on his TIE page is that it has to impart momentum on the shield or else it violates COM

No, the shields on Geonosian ships are intergrated, but the "spread of ray shield energies" is a distinct and separate method for enhancing manuverability. Tractor beams only require something to anchor onto nearby, just as repulsors only require a nearby mass to act against.