Comments on: Heat management is crucial

By: Bruce

Bruce — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 02:45:54 +0000

John Sandford and Ctein's excellent Saturn Run USS Richard Nixon has the best radiators in SF spaceships yet. Good puff from Larry Niven, and it earned it — it's like a good Niven-Pournelle from the eighties.

By: Candide III

Candide III — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 17:47:46 +0000

The Mote in God's Eye, despite fictional "Langston fields", has quite realistic heat management, positioning etc. Over in big-eye animation, "Starship Operators" has a minimum of fictional physics and has ships melt during battle through overheating. Another realistic touch is that turns (i.e. changing the direction of your velocity) are difficult in space if your ship is moving — on the same order as stopping and starting again — and this fact can be used to box in enemy vessels. "Starship Operators" final battle features this kind of set-up. However, because space is three-dimensional, it is much easier to evade engagement and much more difficult to force one on your opponent.

By: Isegoria

Isegoria — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 17:26:30 +0000

Spaceships and mammals need radiators.

By: Aretae

Aretae — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 14:01:04 +0000

This is one of my theories. Heat management is the central advanced problem. In almost all domains.