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The Mobula
Arthem White:
--- Quote from: Queso on May 19, 2013, 01:49:40 pm ---I still don't see how this thing stays in the air. All the forces on the top are pushing down thanks to gravity and all the forces on the bottom are pushing up. It should flip itself over. What you would need is a heavy weight hanging down beneath the balloon and that would just weight the whole ship down. http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5213/5450356439_4d252602fd_z.jpg This thing only works because all the actual weight is down at the bottom and the fake basket at the top is probably cardboard.
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Indeed, stability was my first concern when seeing the ship. There are some possibilities though.
The bare minimum for stability is that the center of mass of the whole metal structure lies below the center of mass of the balloon, right? Looking at the picture, the only way this could be is that the bottom parts of the structure were much heavier than the entire deck above the balloon, which seems unlikely. So there is a chance the ship is stable by itself through having very heavy materials below the level of the balloon, but this would be bad design. Why having unnecessary weight?
Then there's a second theory, one that I find much cooler: Maybe there is some sort of control system to stabilize the structure. The balloon seems to be divided in segments; one way to do it would be to have a mechanism that works as a level sensor. When the ship is leveled it does nothing. When it tilts, the weight displacement opens a steam valve that powers up a pump, so the balloon that is causing the tilt deflates and transfers air to the one on the opposite side.
Of course this would be a bitch to calibrate (by the industrial revolution they were just figuring out the Centrifugal Governor) but it is at least feasible without electricity.
LordFunPants:
i really love seeing you guys dig deep into this ship. a lot of what you guys are talking about right now about the physics of the ship was well debated at muse. ultimately though, if it interferes with what we are looking for from a gameplay standpoint we sorta have to make a compromise in places. hell the concept of a ship with its balloon on the bottom was apparently considered "never going to happen" at one point for some of the reasons you're pointing out now . . . and trust me, i went through like a hundred designs before the one we have here,. . . and when i mean hundreds, i mean it literally. . .
Chrinus:
Perhaps with the extended tail fins, the purpose of those vertical turbines near the front fins is to provide a counter to this toppling effect. The whole idea has me thinking of the old nickname for the F-117: "The Wobblin' Goblin".
Sgt. Spoon:
--- Quote from: Moo on May 19, 2013, 02:54:19 pm ---
--- Quote from: Queso on May 19, 2013, 01:49:40 pm ---What you would need is a heavy weight hanging down beneath the balloon and that would just weight the whole ship down.
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Maybe that's the purpose of the weird "nose" and the big plates hanging down? Anyway, plenty of things already don't make any sense, so something else isn't really a problem 8)
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Indeed, our current ships shouldn't really be able to fly either. This ship looks "plausible" enough.
-Muse- Cullen:
--- Quote from: N-Sunderland on May 19, 2013, 12:06:42 am ---It's hard to tell, since the engineer running along the deck is clearly out of proportion (like half the size of a gat, lol). Looking at the size of the other crew members, it definitely looks bigger than the Galleon to me.
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....maybe its 5 medium-sized guns?
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