How does the atmospheric flight model affect the difference between maneuvering thrusters and VTOL thrusters?
TL;DRPlanned for this version: VTOL thrusters only counter gravity, leaving maneuvering thrusters at near-space performance, while ships without VTOL lose upward thrust; sustained versus impulse thrust is a plan not yet implemented.
Well, it's still evolving. Right now, what I plan to check in for this version is that for vehicles that have VTOL, those thrusters will be utilized strictly for countering gravity. That's their primary role. And so that leaves your maneuvering thrusters free to give you as much acceleration as you would normally have, because essentially the VTOLs have nullified the gravity. As opposed to if you don't have VTOLs, then you're taking at least one G, depending on the planet, out of your upward thrust, and then whatever's left you can have for maneuverability. So with a vehicle that has VTOLs, you would expect that its plus-Z maneuverability would be close to what you have in space. But without VTOLs, it would be significantly less.
And I know other developers have said that if you're flying in a ship that doesn't have VTOL and you're using your maneuvering thrusters to hover, when the wear and tear comes in for ship components, that's going to wear a lot more on maneuvering thrusters trying to hold your ship in place.
Right. And heat. That'll hopefully be a factor as well.
So while you may be able to float like a butterfly in a Hornet or whatnot in the atmosphere, you're going to burn those thrusters out a lot quicker than if you have a dedicated ship with VTOL, like a Terrapin.
Yeah. Well, the plan we've talked about, and I haven't had a chance to really bring that in yet, is that your thrusters are going to really have two modes. One's going to be: how do you generate sustained thrust, like you would need for gravity, for a long period of time, versus what thrust can you generate in a quick hit, a quick delta-V, to get from zero to max SCM velocity or whatever. Those are going to be two different acceleration levels. Basically call it sustained thrust versus impulse thrust. So the thrust that you have available for combat maneuvers, which are quick impulses to change velocities, is not going to be the same acceleration that's available for staying up in gravity. So yeah, that'll make a big difference, even without VTOLs, because a lot of our fighters aren't necessarily going to have dedicated VTOLs.