whats up with the fighters on the firepoles?

[Cern]

I mean it looks kinda cool, but it doesnt seem very practical to me.

I had thought, when i first saw the design sketches of the Excalibur, that the fighters would launch like the 'Furies on B5, you know, gravity dropped out of the "neck" of the ship.

Oh well. I still love that dang ship...f'n TNT...mutter mutter...

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Marcus, "Well They said I was carrying around a lot of repressed anger.
Lennier, "and?"
Marcus, "I'm not repressed anymore."

 

[raven2032]

I like the pole things. I thought it was pretty practical but on second thought it does seem a bit odd. I guess the neck of the ship had the bullet cars in it. Interesting thought though. Good ship

, bad Network

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What are those Earth creatures called? Feathers, long bill, webbed feet .. go 'quack'?"

"Cats."

"Cats. I'm being nibbled to death by cats."

 

[bakana]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> gravity dropped out of the "neck" of the ship. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's fine for a space station. It even gives them a faster speed at launch. Saves Fuel.

On a ship moving through space, they would suffer a momentum Penalty if they launched at right angles from the ship's motion. Launching along the axis of the ship allows them to retain the Ships forward velocity.
IOW, most of the time, it saves Fuel.

That "fire pole" is most likely a catapult of some sort. The Excalibur provides the energy to launch the Starfuries. Again, you save a bit of Fuel.

Notice a common thread? You launch in the manner that gets the craft out with a Full Gas Tank. It's very embarassing to run out at just the Wrong moment. Every drop counts when someone might be shooting at you.

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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?

 

[Quagmire]

Since the station was spinning simplying releasing the ships sent them on their way. This would not be the case on the Excalibur, a catapult would be needed.

Also the ship is nowhere near the size of b5 so if you want to launch all fighters at once you have to overcome the space limitation some way.

Always seemed like a neat idea to me.

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Bus
"Authorities say the phony pope can be recognized by his high-top sneakers and increadibly foul mouth." Kent Brockman

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Another thing they could do is scrambling fighters in pre-configured attack patterns.

I don't think this was specifically covered in the series, but that's an advantage you couldn't pass up in terms of tactics. Launching attacks tailor-made for a given scenario, being able to diversify your capital ship and fighter resources on the fly.

I'll stop there before I start sounding like a military brochure.

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Joe Medina (neargrai@aol.com)

"...that which are, we are"

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

and how do they get back on it...

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I have always been here...

 

[Quagmire]

They enter the big docking bay and are backed onto the pole one at a time. They don't have to get back in as fast as they leave.

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Bus
"The pink ones keep ya from screamin'." Grandpa

 

[GideonsMine]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Doctor Gonzo:
They enter the big docking bay and are backed onto the pole one at a time. They don't have to get back in as fast as they leave.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Cool.



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Colleen L. Stanford
Gideon's Mine, all Mine
(he just doesn't know it yet, LOL)

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> cool <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


that pretty much sums it up, but how can you know this

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I have always been here...

 

[Quagmire]

Shots of the interior of the docking bay, small bits of dialogue, a similar system used on B5(cobra bay out, regular docking bay in), putting two and two together, speculation, the usual.

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Bus

"How am I supposed to hallucinate with all these swirling colors distracting me?"-Lisa