Wasn't somewhere in BattleTech Lore, that mechwarriors were emergency-auto-ejected, and were launched into planetary orbit to be rescued just before their mechs were destroyed?
If so, would love to see animations for this during matches.
And didn't the mechs have a small nuclear explosion when their engines were destroyed; with the resultant blast wave, concussive wave of dust and debri? Would love to see that animated when an engine is cored.
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Need Animations For Pilot Ejection From Abandoned Mech; & Tactical Nuclear Explosion From Engine Destruction
Started by BATARA KALA, Feb 17 2020 11:42 AM
2 replies to this topic
#2
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- Overlord
- 1,566 posts
Member
- LocationCanada
Posted 17 February 2020 - 01:11 PM
Greetings,
Reference the pilot ejection;
- In almost all cases the Mech does have an ejection system.
- It's a standard ejection, not orbital.
- Sometimes, depending on the environment, underwater, or space this may change.
- System could/would fail if the Mech is quickly cockpit killed.
Many Lore related instances of the Pilots being captured after an ejection, so the distance traveled by the "ejected pod" is just enough to keep the Pilot safe from the battle location they just left.
And now for the issue of the engine.
- what you are referring to is the story novel reference of the "Stackpole event".
- This was an effect written about by the novelist Michael Stackpole to add additional fluff and drama to the story.
- This effect can never happen in the type of engines used.
- The engines reaction is contained by a very strong magnetic field, disrupt this for any moment and the reaction stops!
Doesn't go boom, no mini mushroom.
At the most, a suddenly cracked engine core would allow the internal vacuum and super cooled parts to suck in environmental atmosphere and expel superheated steam. Yes, it might look locally spectacular but no nuclear explosion. Sorry.
From Sarna: Only 1 reference used, there are many.
Fusion engines usually will only shut down if damaged or if heat is uncontrolled. Unlike popular belief, there is absolutely no risk of a fusion engine accidentally becoming a nuclear weapon. [17] There have been a number of cases of fusion engines being "over revved" and exploding with devastating force, but this is more akin to a boiler explosion than a true nuclear explosion. More often a destroyed engine will be punctured by weapons fire. Because the plasma is held in a vacuum chamber (to isolate the superheated plasma from the cold walls of the reactor; contact with the walls would super-chill the plasma below fusion temperatures), a punctured reactor can suck in air where the air is superheated. Normal thermal expansion of the air causes the air to burst out in a brilliant lightshow often mistaken for a "nuclear explosion". This thermal expansion damages anything within 90 meters of the destroyed 'Mech.
Such dramatic failures are rare, though. It is difficult to sustain the fusion reaction and very easy to shut down. Safety systems or damage to containment coils will almost always shut down the engine before such an explosion occurs. The massive shielding of the engine (in the case of standard fusion engines, this is a tungsten carbide shell that accounts for over 2/3 of the weight of the engine) usually buys the safety systems the milliseconds needed to shutdown the engine when severe damage is inflicted.
[17] TechManual, pp. 36-37, "Fusion Engine Explosions: The Great Myth"
Note here: MW5 does have these animations of the ejections, if a Mech is double legged, or totally stripped of weapons, or Ct is destroyed the animation is shown.
For reference only,
9erRed
Aim True and Run Cool
Reference the pilot ejection;
- In almost all cases the Mech does have an ejection system.
- It's a standard ejection, not orbital.
- Sometimes, depending on the environment, underwater, or space this may change.
- System could/would fail if the Mech is quickly cockpit killed.
Many Lore related instances of the Pilots being captured after an ejection, so the distance traveled by the "ejected pod" is just enough to keep the Pilot safe from the battle location they just left.
And now for the issue of the engine.
- what you are referring to is the story novel reference of the "Stackpole event".
- This was an effect written about by the novelist Michael Stackpole to add additional fluff and drama to the story.
- This effect can never happen in the type of engines used.
- The engines reaction is contained by a very strong magnetic field, disrupt this for any moment and the reaction stops!
Doesn't go boom, no mini mushroom.
At the most, a suddenly cracked engine core would allow the internal vacuum and super cooled parts to suck in environmental atmosphere and expel superheated steam. Yes, it might look locally spectacular but no nuclear explosion. Sorry.
From Sarna: Only 1 reference used, there are many.
Fusion engines usually will only shut down if damaged or if heat is uncontrolled. Unlike popular belief, there is absolutely no risk of a fusion engine accidentally becoming a nuclear weapon. [17] There have been a number of cases of fusion engines being "over revved" and exploding with devastating force, but this is more akin to a boiler explosion than a true nuclear explosion. More often a destroyed engine will be punctured by weapons fire. Because the plasma is held in a vacuum chamber (to isolate the superheated plasma from the cold walls of the reactor; contact with the walls would super-chill the plasma below fusion temperatures), a punctured reactor can suck in air where the air is superheated. Normal thermal expansion of the air causes the air to burst out in a brilliant lightshow often mistaken for a "nuclear explosion". This thermal expansion damages anything within 90 meters of the destroyed 'Mech.
Such dramatic failures are rare, though. It is difficult to sustain the fusion reaction and very easy to shut down. Safety systems or damage to containment coils will almost always shut down the engine before such an explosion occurs. The massive shielding of the engine (in the case of standard fusion engines, this is a tungsten carbide shell that accounts for over 2/3 of the weight of the engine) usually buys the safety systems the milliseconds needed to shutdown the engine when severe damage is inflicted.
[17] TechManual, pp. 36-37, "Fusion Engine Explosions: The Great Myth"
Note here: MW5 does have these animations of the ejections, if a Mech is double legged, or totally stripped of weapons, or Ct is destroyed the animation is shown.
For reference only,
9erRed
Aim True and Run Cool
Edited by 9erRed, 28 February 2020 - 06:29 PM.
#3
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- The Howl
- 64 posts
Member
Posted 18 February 2020 - 01:07 AM
Thank you for taking the time to educate me regarding BattleTech Lore. This was an interesting read. I have played BattleTech and its many offshoot games for decades, but never read a book regarding its history.
If including the pilot's jettisoned escape pod is good enough for MechWarrior 5, PGI should now consider its inclusion in MechWarrior Online.
If including the pilot's jettisoned escape pod is good enough for MechWarrior 5, PGI should now consider its inclusion in MechWarrior Online.
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