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Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?

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Clunker Clunker's picture
Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
To clarify - Which of the Mobility Systems for Morphs allow full flight in full-gravity and atmospheric conditions? Was modding up a character's synthmorph, and was wondering what are the options. The various options mention 'better' manuverability in zero-G - but don't specify if any of the options fully work within a full grav/atmosphere, like in most larger habitats...
Malakh Malakh's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
As far as I know getting Ionic, Thrust Vector and Winged will cover any of your flight needs.
Yerameyahu Yerameyahu's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
And rotorcraft. Those are the 4 that work in 1g/atmo. I had a thread a bit back asking about thrust vector and 'flying' in vacuum, as well. The conclusion is that thrust vector (despite the description in the core book) is intended to have vacuum versions.
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
BY THE BOOK, I believe all of those work equally well. However, EP assumes your GM will runs a game based on reasonableness rather than pure rules. So with that in mind, we have several flying options: Ionic, microlight, rotorcraft, thrust vector, winged. Of these, thrust vector is the only one that should work in a vacuum. On the flip side, it will work the worst under gravity. Microlights, wings and rotorcraft will work the best in a high pressure, low gravity environment (and worst in the inverse environment). The big difference is some of them will be more sensitive to gravity (such as rotorcraft), and some more sensitive to air pressure (such as microlights). All of these will be built for a specific gravity and atmospheric pressure. Some of them will be more adaptable than others (wings are perhaps the most adaptable, assuming a good engine, since lift/drag are based on speed. The book suggests ionic drives are also extremely adaptable.) I really don't know much about ionic thrusters. Reading up, it seems to be more sensitive to gravity than to air pressure. I assume everything except vector thrust will be fully effective under 1g, 1 atmosphere. The next step is to also consider the additional costs. Wings require speed to operate, which limits operations in tight confines. Ionic turns air into plasma, which sounds pretty dangerous in a crowded habitat. Vector thrust are noisy and burn through fuel like nobody's business. Microlights are slow and have weight restrictions. Rotorcraft are also noisy and fuel hogs (although much less so than vector thrust). Note that I'm not a physicist, so I can only give general, ballpark information on what I understand to be correct.
Clunker Clunker's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
Ah, I was under the impression that only 'Winged' might work in 1g/Atmosphere, with 'small-sized' morphs. Probably due to the fluff around the Lunar Flier morph in Sunward, that it can only fly in .2g. Then again, it only has 2 wings, where the Winged Mobility System states it normally has four wings for proper use. Somehow, I was also under the impression that Ionic would work in full-g environs; not sure where I got that idea now. So, basically, the general consensus is that all the flight options should function (more or less) in 1g and normal atmosphere? Good to know. Thanks for everyone's opinions and clear explanations!
Yerameyahu Yerameyahu's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
It's important that you're comparing the Robot Winged to the Biomorph Winged, but yes: smaller things in lighter gravity.
Clunker Clunker's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
Yerameyahu wrote:
It's important that you're comparing the Robot Winged to the Biomorph Winged, but yes: smaller things in lighter gravity.
Waitaminute - 'Biomorph Winged'? Now that you mention it, the Lunar Flier in Sunward, along with the Ripwing in Gatecrashing are the only biomorphs I can recall that have full flight - as an Advantage, not as an Enhancement. Does "Biomorph Winged" refer to the "Wings (Physical Augmentation)" listed on p. 166 of Sunward, or am I being dense? Assuming so, that Sunward "Biomorph Winged" disallows 'full size' fliers in 1g - gotta have the 'small' trait to get away with 1g flight. Odd thought - could the "Robot Winged" be allowed reasonably RAW, for a "Xmen Archangel" style Biomorph? There seems to be cyberlimbs for those that like that sort of thing...
Yerameyahu Yerameyahu's picture
Re: Mobility Systems: Which allows full flight?
Well, 'Winged' is a Mobility system in the core book; it's only for robots and synths (and it's described as 4 wings for small things). Sunward added the idea of winged biomorphs, and it's limited by morph size and gravity. You're right, it's a totally different feature.