Author Topic: Pilot tools  (Read 8034 times)

Offline Daft Loon

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Pilot tools
« on: June 01, 2015, 09:32:37 pm »
More obvious in some cases than others but:
What are they and how do they function?

My take on some:

Drogue chute - Large canvass flaps attached to the side of the balloon, fixed at the top and with ropes holding them down at the bottom. Adding some slack to the ropes makes them billow out to the sides - something like a horizontal sail. Much easier to deploy and recover than an actual giant parachute.

Phoenix claw - Dangerous engine modifications that the pilot only has the confidence to use with his lucky charm in hand.

Stamina - Careful use of all kinds of modifications, hydrogen,moonshine etc in small quantities to avoid damage to the ship. The extreme concentration needed for this means most pilots can only sustain it for a few crucial seconds at a time.

How do you think they work?

What kind of big red button/array of levers/bell + trained monkey with bottles of moonshine would you want at the helm of your airship to control these abilities?

Offline Carn

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #1 on: June 01, 2015, 09:49:23 pm »
Extra arms.

Offline Kamoba

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #2 on: June 02, 2015, 02:10:50 am »
I like to think of some tools in very specific ways...

Kerosene/Moonshine is a set of fuel tanks attached to a foot pump near the helm leading to the engines, as the pilot pumps on the pedal it sends the kero/moonshine into the engines, the engines then begin to work harder with the added strain on the nuts and bolts holding them in place, so the engineer must work on tightening those bolts to keep the engines in place and stop fuel leaks.

Claw is the foot pump again, but this time the pilot has turned the helm in the maximum turning for left or right, blocking fuel intake to one engine and pumping kerosene into the other, this cauases one engine to stall so the engines both require engineer attention.

Drogue chute, as above, the pilot loosens a rope either side and it increases wind resistance, may take a few seconds to get the side flaps back down.

Hydrogen forces the balloon pumps to work much harder often stretching the canvas, or causing the cogs in the balloons pumps to rattle and grind, engines attention.

Drogue vent, empties the balloon faster than normal, often leading to the balloon pump.coming loose or the balloon canvas needing engineer attention.

Impact bumpers, air bags which operate via a lever which moves pipes which fill the air bags but block exhausts, this being why the engines perform less effectively. The air bags being covered in armour to avoid being easily popped.

Tar, barrels of a potent mixture are left near the engines, at the pilots command the crew fill the engines with the tar (to avoid it clogging the fuel pumps kero or moonshine use.) once in the engines the tar spreads behind the ship, but its potency causes a lot of damage to its own engines.


Offline The Mann

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #3 on: June 02, 2015, 07:52:28 am »
My reflection of tools I use.

Moonshine - "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM"

Drogue shoot - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIQn8pab8Vc

Tar Barrel - "You will watch this engine" "Release the Tar Barrel!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqtfI7hWpwc
« Last Edit: June 02, 2015, 08:04:18 am by The Mann »

Offline Squidslinger Gilder

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2015, 05:19:44 pm »
Tar may be simpler than that. From a car site:

"Black smoke coming out of the tailpipe on a vehicle with a gasoline engine is a sign of a rich fuel mixture (too much fuel, not enough air). A brief puff of black smoke may be visible during hard acceleration when the fuel mixture goes momentarily rich, but under normal driving conditions and idling the exhasut should be transparent. If black smoke is visible all the time and the inside of the tailpipe is coated with heavy black carbon deposits, it would tell you the engine has a rich fuel condition."

The issue is similar for other types of engines too. Cept for older diesel engines it was often with harder acceleration that they'd spew black smoke. But rich fuel mixture could also cause it. So if you translate that to GOIO, it could be shutting off the standard fuel line and utilizing a richer mixture.

Another option is you are starting an engine fire purposely to create the thick black smoke. Similar to airplane engines when they emit the smoke. To stop it, the engine gets sealed up again, choking the flames out. However, damage is done.

Course this means Kero and Moonshine should probably smoke too.

Stamina is more or less adrenaline.

Offline Carn

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2015, 05:26:39 pm »
While the tar explanation makes sense for how it looks, and why it damages the engines. That does not explain why it damages ships that pass through it.

Offline Koali

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2015, 11:42:22 am »
It's burnt, sticky exhaust, which wouldn't be very pleasant in an air-breathing engine.

Offline Kamoba

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2015, 11:53:50 am »
Or an air breathing crew who while coughing and chocking press wrong buttons, drop ammo crates, hit the wrong pipes...
But I think its safe to assume there is more than just smoke in that "rich fuel" perhaps some lead shavings and other nasties

Offline Daft Loon

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Re: Pilot tools
« Reply #8 on: June 03, 2015, 07:41:41 pm »
Every time you mallet the engines it dislodges chunks of rust and broken metal that were jamming it up. These collect in the exhausts of your engines until you use tar which picks them up and transfers them to the engines of your opponents.

@Kamoba - i like your set of explanations, it all fits together nicely