shadow ships (spoilers)

An out of control spaceship would continue going in the same direction at the same speed. You may get weird effects like the ship flying in a circle because it was turning at the time control was lost so it can not stop turning.

In "Walkabout" Lyta says she was unable to stop the Shadow ship's pilot from sending a distress signal. This suggests that Lyta may have taken control of the ship rather than just jammed the controls, possibly issuing an emergency stop command. Lyta took control of everyone in the room in the "Wheel of Fire" getting them to drum their fingers.

Yes I can just see Kosh teaching that to Lyta onboard his transport.

Kosh: "Now Miss Alexander, I wish you to perform an emergency stop at the hour of scampering. I will slap my encounter suit on the dashboard and emote stop. when I do this, you will be in the right place at the right time. Do you understand"

Lyta: "Yes I think so!"

Kosh: "You do not understand, but you will!"

Lyta: "Kosh, I can do this!"

Kosh "Good!"

Kosh: "Stop!"

(Vorlon transport stalls)

Kosh "Incorrect!"

Lyta: "I'm sorry!"

Kosh: "Disobedient!"

Lyta: "Alright Kosh will you shut up already, I almost got it!"

Kosh (opens airlock) "JUMP, JUMP... NOW!" /forums/images/graemlins/devil.gif

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by A_M_Swallow: </font color>
An out of control spaceship would continue going in the same direction at the same speed. You may get weird effects like the ship flying in a circle because it was turning at the time control was lost so it can not stop turning.

[/quote]

It may be that the fail safe state of a Shadow ship, when the connection between the CPU and the ship is disrupted, is to stop all activity (e.g. like the engine brake on a lawn mower).

Stopping all activity would mean flying forward with the speed and direction the ship possessed pre-accident (pre-jamming or pre-getting-shot-at). Now, stopping in space would require...

1. Choosing what your stop is relative to. Problem -- the core is unlikely to choose an enemy ship, the jammer is unlikely to be capable of directing the choices of a Shadow vessel. If they could do that, they could also order the Shadow vessel to attack (or collide with) another Shadow vessel.

2. Instantly applying lots of energy to achieve that stop, even if the vessel is currently breaking down under fire. Problem -- even Shadow vessels in full health never pulled off such a "full stop" in their ordinary manouvers. Not even when it would have benefited them.

That makes it odd.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by Lennier: </font color>
Stopping all activity would mean flying forward with the speed and direction the ship possessed pre-accident (pre-jamming or pre-getting-shot-at). Now, stopping in space would require...

1. Choosing what your stop is relative to. Problem -- the core is unlikely to choose an enemy ship, the jammer is unlikely to be capable of directing the choices of a Shadow vessel. If they could do that, they could also order the Shadow vessel to attack (or collide with) another Shadow vessel.

2. Instantly applying lots of energy to achieve that stop, even if the vessel is currently breaking down under fire. Problem -- even Shadow vessels in full health never pulled off such a "full stop" in their ordinary manouvers. Not even when it would have benefited them.

That makes it odd.

[/quote]

Stopping all activity would NOT mean flying forward with the speed and direction the ship possessed pre-accident (pre-jamming or pre-getting-shot-at). I'm talking about an automatic response of a shadow ship when communication from the CPU is stopped, a pre-programmed fail safe state, a shutdown, like my engine brake on a lawnmower example. If it was moving, it stops moving. If it was firing, it stops firing. etc. etc.

It could also be an involuntary (reflex) reaction to the Psi jamming.

It would still have to (somehow, without the core) decide which object the stop is relative to. Also, it would still have to apply energy to achieve this stop (a feat it could hardly pull off, in the process of falling apart).

KOSHN your lawn mower is stopped by friction. There is no friction in space.

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by Lennier: </font color>
It would still have to (somehow, without the core) decide which object the stop is relative to. Also, it would still have to apply energy to achieve this stop (a feat it could hardly pull off, in the process of falling apart).

[/quote]

The Shadow ship is still a living thing. Who's to say that it doesn't have sensors and some rudimentary shutdown instructions programmed into it, that take effect if the sentient CPU quits functioning?


</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
<font color="yellow"> Originally posted by A_M_Swallow: </font color>
KOSHN your lawn mower is stopped by friction. There is no friction in space.

[/quote]

No kidding. As a engineer, I was never aware of that. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Well, actually there is a minute amount of friction because space is not truly empty, but that's negligible, so we won't go there.

Programming mentioned above, could include braking maneuvers to negate the last known velocity vector. To know for sure, we'd have to see the motion of a moving shadow ship when it's core is removed.

More specifically you would need to know a wee bit more about the actual mechanics of the ship. my two cents worth . Gotta crawl before walking and The shadows technology was based almost entirely on nano technology!