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Never mind. Just found it on the Reviews page. That works.

Yabba dabba doo! Amy's edits for chapter 35, Apollo's Faith, are done. Now to clean up Joseph's Sword, then Caligula, and then I get to write new sh*t.

Exlax

Never mind. It's done. Easier than I thought.

Amy, nobody gives better feedback than you and it's greatly appreciated! I'm not in your league. Please keep it coming.

I eliminated the word banking because it was causing confusion, replacing it with come about or circle back. That allows for the possibility of using maneuvering jets and omnithrusters to fly in circles or arc toward or away from the target ship. They circle next to the target ship, not around it. They arc in, fire a few rounds, then arc back out. The reason for "arcing" is to avoid becoming an easy target for nearby novas. I assume the reader understands that they are not running in pure circles, since that would allow the nova operators to predict exactly where the attacking starfighters will be before they get close.

Better?

The entire book is 3rd person limited. Everything I, as the narrator, write is through the point-of-view character's lens.

Just to clarify, the character turning beet red was in narration (Joseph turned beet red and looked to the marine for his reaction). It was, however, from Joseph's POV. It looks odd when written as dialogue.

Turns out banking as we understand it for atmospheric flight does have a use in space. My cadets execute banking moves as they arc toward/away from the Actium's main hangar bay, trying to overload the shield emitter while minimizing exposure to cannons surrounding the bay. As far as I can tell, it's doable using jets and omnithrusters. It helps that omnithrusters can apply thrust in any direction.   It needs a different name than banking, though, to avoid further confusion. Any suggestions? I was thinking arcing...

I really regret not taking physics in high school and university. It would have been a great minor in addition to comp sci. Your explanation is over my head. Let me switch to examples. Assume a 2D plane to keep this easy.

Ship is flying at high speed in the direction of the sun. Pilot wants to reverse course. As far as his controls are concerned, he pulls hard to the left (or right) until his maneuvering jets line up the ship in the opposite direction, away from the sun.. Pilot stops pulling the controls left (or right). The computer then manipulates the big thrusters to completely counter the ship's momentum toward the sun and to provide forward movement in the opposite direction. There is a fixed amount of time when the pilot is facing away from the sun but his craft is still moving toward the sun, even though the thrusters are trying to overcome the momentum of the ship's previous course toward the sun.

Have I got that right? And am I using the term momentum correctly?

I'll add to the example in my next post assuming I got the above correct.

Thanks!

K caused trouble on the playground today. He noted (quite rightly) that the flight mechanics in my dogfight look an awful lot like atmospheric flight. I checked through my old posts and realized I had never actually settled on a reason for why my flight mechanics work. Flight cocoons are no longer in the running. Too complicated. There are two remaining possibilites:

1. It's space opera. Deal with it. -- Not my favorite option.

2. A combination of specially mounted thrusters that can fire in any direction (including reverse), and maneuvering jets. Asimov would not approve, but he's dead, so I win. Correct me if I'm wrong, but since the thrusters can fire in any direction, the maneuvering jets are simply there to point the ship in the direction you're trying to move in. That keeps your lasers and missiles pointing in the right direction, even while your thrusters/computer are working like crazy to overcome the momentum from your last course and get you on the new one.  It's a little like ice skating. I should add that there's an inertial dampener ("splat inhibitor") so you don't turn into pancakes when the thrusters kick into a new direction.

Is option 2 possible? I have no intention of explaining it in detail, but would like to know if I understand it correctly. I can throw in a few buzz words in the story like omnidirectiional thrusters ("the omnidirectional thrusters canee take much more captin").

Thanks
Dirk

Fly, be free!