Author Topic: Warning Physics Question  (Read 2938 times)

YingJanshi

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Warning Physics Question
« on: 25 December 2012, 15:02:58 »
   Can someone explain the physics of this to me? A while back was playing a game with a friend. At one point my friend decidede to DFA a Thunderbolt with a Spider. In the WA phase I fired everything I could from my lance at his Spider (might of been his intention all along, took some nasty hits from the rest of his lance). Everything missed. :(  Anyway during the PA phase he rolls for his DFA. He whiffs. Ok so he falls. On his head. Because of a previous hit, the fall damage goes internal. He rolls for crits. Rolls one. Its the cockpit. Bye, bye MechWarrior.
   So how in the world do you miss a DFA an end up on your head?

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Lorcan Nagle

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #1 on: 25 December 2012, 15:05:39 »
Either pilot or mechanical failure sends the mech into a spin?
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #2 on: 25 December 2012, 15:06:16 »
Not a physics answer per se, but my bet is that the mechwarrior lost his orientation using the jump jets to dodge fire, over rotated and plowed in head first.

In other words pilot error.
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #3 on: 25 December 2012, 15:13:38 »
Well the rules are pretty vague as far as actual interpreted effects.  He missed the DFA, and landed on the cockpit.  Okay, so with the failed PSR, then he was cinematically aiming to flying-kick your 'Mech into this sharp boulder behind you, only you got out of the way in time - and the ten meter difference in height that the pilot was expecting meant he tripped when he landed, the momentum of the 'Mech carried him forward, and face first right onto that very same rock.  It's so deliciously ironic that the Catgirl Film Crew approves of this particular explanation.
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #4 on: 25 December 2012, 15:34:57 »
   Can someone explain the physics of this to me? A while back was playing a game with a friend. At one point my friend decidede to DFA a Thunderbolt with a Spider. In the WA phase I fired everything I could from my lance at his Spider (might of been his intention all along, took some nasty hits from the rest of his lance). Everything missed. :(  Anyway during the PA phase he rolls for his DFA. He whiffs. Ok so he falls. On his head. Because of a previous hit, the fall damage goes internal. He rolls for crits. Rolls one. Its the cockpit. Bye, bye MechWarrior.
   So how in the world do you miss a DFA an end up on your head?

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evilauthor

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #5 on: 25 December 2012, 15:58:29 »
Another possibility:

Unless you land on a completely empty paved hex, the ground is rarely going to be completely flat. There are things that stick up out of it (boulders, light posts, trees, civilian vehicles, statuary, etc etc) that while under normal circumstances are easy to avoid and don't impair line of sight or movement, can do damage if you land on it wrong. So you attempted to do a DFA, missed, landed badly and fell forward or back landing in the prone position. And you fell down just right that your mech's head (and the pilot in it) gets impaled on one of these normally trivial projections.

Heck, since we're talking a DFA, your "miss" could have been your mech headbutting your target's knee or shoulder or something instead of landing on your target feet first. A well done landing on the ground is usually depicted as the mech bending its knees to absorb the impact, and the torso (with head!) leaning forward for balance reasons. But if the space you're leaning into is already occupied by your target...

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #6 on: 25 December 2012, 15:59:41 »
Darn - just beaten by evilauthor. Although I imagined the cockpit impaled on a lamppost or something, along the lines of the way straw gets driven into palm tree trunks during hurricanes ;)
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #7 on: 25 December 2012, 16:32:21 »
    So how in the world do you miss a DFA an end up on your head?

You land badly, trip, and fall on your head. Onto some bullets.

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #8 on: 25 December 2012, 18:00:05 »
  Simply falling down from a standing position has a chance of hitting the head. A faceplant is less probable but still possible on the random hit table.

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #9 on: 25 December 2012, 19:24:57 »
  Simply falling down from a standing position has a chance of hitting the head. A faceplant is less probable but still possible on the random hit table.
I was thinking of something like the James May Accident from the Top Gear Middle East Holiday Special.  Gets flung backwards by a tow strap, his feet skid along the ground and flip his body down - which was fine, except for the rock sticking up where his head was.  There's your cockpit shot.
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #10 on: 25 December 2012, 19:45:01 »
Play it that the Thunderbolt grabbed the spider by the leg and proceeded to bash him head-first into the ground repeatedly. When finished the green Thunderbolt walks away muttering "Puny spider."

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #11 on: 25 December 2012, 20:22:52 »
Play it that the Thunderbolt grabbed the spider by the leg and proceeded to bash him head-first into the ground repeatedly. When finished the green Thunderbolt walks away muttering "Puny spider."

Naaaahhh, it should yell "bamm, bamm!" while bashing the Spider around :D
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #12 on: 25 December 2012, 22:02:38 »
   Can someone explain the physics of this to me? A while back was playing a game with a friend. At one point my friend decidede to DFA a Thunderbolt with a Spider. In the WA phase I fired everything I could from my lance at his Spider (might of been his intention all along, took some nasty hits from the rest of his lance). Everything missed. :(  Anyway during the PA phase he rolls for his DFA. He whiffs. Ok so he falls. On his head. Because of a previous hit, the fall damage goes internal. He rolls for crits. Rolls one. Its the cockpit. Bye, bye MechWarrior.
   So how in the world do you miss a DFA an end up on your head?

When your pushed him as he went by and he tumbled out of control.     I like the way that looks in my head so it works for me.

Hersh67

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #13 on: 25 December 2012, 22:10:47 »
Imagine an NFL reciever up in the air as a defensive back clips his legs/feet flipping him over.  You get the picture. 

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #14 on: 25 December 2012, 23:59:56 »
Pilot Error
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #15 on: 26 December 2012, 12:50:44 »
Well the rules are pretty vague as far as actual interpreted effects.  He missed the DFA, and landed on the cockpit.  Okay, so with the failed PSR, then he was cinematically aiming to flying-kick your 'Mech into this sharp boulder behind you, only you got out of the way in time - and the ten meter difference in height that the pilot was expecting meant he tripped when he landed, the momentum of the 'Mech carried him forward, and face first right onto that very same rock.  It's so deliciously ironic that the Catgirl Film Crew approves of this particular explanation.
That reminds me of a drawing I saw on DeviantArt once.  It was a Marauder impaled on a tree; the description said it was inspired by the time the artist saw marauder blow it's PSR and take a TAC to the cockpit.

It's always fun to come up with creative reasons for certain freak rolls like that.

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #16 on: 26 December 2012, 20:15:01 »
Imagine an NFL reciever up in the air as a defensive back clips his legs/feet flipping him over.  You get the picture.

This is what I was thinking ... or even on the way down the opposing mech managed to deflect the incoming foot/feet with an arm and spun the Jumper in mid-air, which then ended up on it's head.  Ouch.
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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #17 on: 27 December 2012, 09:06:48 »
This is what I was thinking ... or even on the way down the opposing mech managed to deflect the incoming foot/feet with an arm and spun the Jumper in mid-air, which then ended up on it's head.  Ouch.

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #18 on: 27 December 2012, 10:21:04 »
Either that, or his chair broke loose, and the actual damage to the head was pilot and chair impacting the front of the cockpit.....

Most likely, when he missed the DFA, he tried to land.... stumbled forward a few steps trying to regain balance, and then belly flopped with a nice face plant, which caused the above issue with his chair......

Or as my Fiance' says...... he hit so hard, that the shock glitched his ejection seat.... unfortunately, the head armor didn't open, and the pilot got to play ping pong ball in the cockpit as his seat bounced around.....

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #19 on: 27 December 2012, 10:50:07 »
Maybe it wasn't a complete miss.  If the SDR caught just enough of the TDR to change its course, but not enough to do damage, it could have spun or rotated.  That's not difficult to picture, if you figure that the course would normally send the SDR flying feet-first toward the TDR, almost on its back.  Rather than the impact "standing" the SDR back upright for its drop to the ground and its hopefully intact landing, a miss means it continued flying almost on its back.  The slightest bump along the way (such as one of the feet glancing off the TDR's shoulder) could tilt the head down and make that hit first, trailing behind the rest of the 'Mech.  Firing the jump-jets might slow the horizontal motion, but at that angle would do nothing to save the Mechwarrior from a nasty vertical and slightly head-down fall.

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #20 on: 27 December 2012, 18:17:30 »
Quote
Or as my Fiance' says...... he hit so hard, that the shock glitched his ejection seat.... unfortunately, the head armor didn't open, and the pilot got to play ping pong ball in the cockpit as his seat bounced around.....

 :D :D

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Re: Warning Physics Question
« Reply #21 on: 28 December 2012, 04:17:13 »
Or as my Fiance' says...... he hit so hard, that the shock glitched his ejection seat.... unfortunately, the head armor didn't open, and the pilot got to play ping pong ball in the cockpit as his seat bounced around.....
I'm suddenly reminded of the Very Last Time the Mythbusters ever tested a rocket indoors.  I believe the scientific description given by Mr. Savage was "It was like Wooooo wooo, Wooooo wooo!"
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