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This topic has moved here: Subject: Why are UNSC Cruisers unsuited for atmosphere?
  • Subject: Why are UNSC Cruisers unsuited for atmosphere?
Subject: Why are UNSC Cruisers unsuited for atmosphere?

Why can frigates and destroyers be groundside while Cruisers like Halcyons and Marathons can`t?

  • 12.01.2010 11:24 AM PDT

I don't care. I really don't.

They're too heavy for their downward thrusters to keep them aloft in the gravity well of a planet; it's not just atmopshere it's gravity wells in general as I know.

  • 12.01.2010 11:29 AM PDT

to be honest, the whole idea that even a frigate can go planetside is a little stupid. they must tip the scales at something like a million tons, easy and the UNSC technology simply doesn't include any known 'anti-gravity' devices or anything like that. cruisers will be in the millions of tons as well and they are built like bricks, so the chances of them being 'airworthy' is very very unlikely.

  • 12.01.2010 11:33 AM PDT

I don't care. I really don't.


Posted by: PLUT0NIUM 235
to be honest, the whole idea that even a frigate can go planetside is a little stupid. they must tip the scales at something like a million tons, easy and the UNSC technology simply doesn't include any known 'anti-gravity' devices or anything like that. cruisers will be in the millions of tons as well and they are built like bricks, so the chances of them being 'airworthy' is very very unlikely.


UNSC has had antigravity and artificial gravity since before the Human-Covenant War. It's just been less greater in cruisers as they are not aerodynamic plus are huge, so antigravity is harderto utilize.

  • 12.01.2010 11:36 AM PDT

So they could eventually create antigravity enabled for Cruisers, but it just takes a lot of time and resources?

  • 12.01.2010 11:39 AM PDT

I don't care. I really don't.

Yes. For example, the Autumn had gravity well rating due to it's major upgrades, however it cost quite a bit.

  • 12.01.2010 11:42 AM PDT

Bungie Pentathlon - who actually cares ?

I saw a cruiser in the video "Arms Race" as it floated above various industrial areas

Yes - promotional material is not canon and yes, it would be impossible to keep something like this in the air....

...I forget the point I am trying to make.

  • 12.01.2010 12:06 PM PDT

I am alpha, i am omega.

I am the last of the primes.

They may point up at angle so their main thrusters can reduce weight, this along with anti gravity and underneth thrusters could possiply keep a cruiser on a planet for a short time.

  • 12.01.2010 12:26 PM PDT

Maybe with the yellow thrusters the Pillar of Autumn used on Halo Reach? Or wait, that sounds stupid....

  • 12.01.2010 2:10 PM PDT

Better question:
How does the Spirit of Fire menage to hover in atmosphere? That ship is 2,6km long! Skip to 0:40 to see what I'm talking about

Maybe UNSC does have the tech to make Cruisers fly in atmosphere, but there's simply no need for that since Cruisers are mainly for ship to ship combat?

A Colony ship being able to enter atmosphere does make sense since its useful, especially if the colonists want to use the ships parts to build a colony from it.

  • 12.01.2010 2:44 PM PDT
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Posted by: Vercetti24
Better question:
How does the Spirit of Fire menage to hover in atmosphere? That ship is 2,6km long! Skip to 0:40 to see what I'm talking about

Maybe UNSC does have the tech to make Cruisers fly in atmosphere, but there's simply no need for that since Cruisers are mainly for ship to ship combat?

A Colony ship being able to enter atmosphere does make sense since its useful, especially if the colonists want to use the ships parts to build a colony from it.

that what the cruisers are for. colonists use it for resources
and basically maroon them selves on the planet

  • 12.01.2010 5:23 PM PDT

I don't care. I really don't.


Posted by: Vercetti24
Better question:
How does the Spirit of Fire menage to hover in atmosphere? That ship is 2,6km long! Skip to 0:40 to see what I'm talking about

Maybe UNSC does have the tech to make Cruisers fly in atmosphere, but there's simply no need for that since Cruisers are mainly for ship to ship combat?

A Colony ship being able to enter atmosphere does make sense since its useful, especially if the colonists want to use the ships parts to build a colony from it.


A Colony ship is built for colonists, and colonists are volunteers and a colonist won't volunteer if the trip to their destination is uncomfortble becuase of null gravity, and if the ship is up in orbit and takes forever to get supplies down they won't volunteer either.
So the UNSC uses artificial gravity to keep the volunteers happy, and since the Spirit is simply modified to be a warship and can carry quite a bit of supplies, the UNSC didn't remove any of the antigravity tech.

  • 12.01.2010 5:36 PM PDT

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The UNSC has artificial and possible anti gravity tech, thats why in space people aren't tied down or just floating randomly.
I would think that only the relativley light ships (frigates) could enter and leave atmosphere.

And Halo Wars is not cannon, the spirit of fire shouldn't be able to do that. In contact harvest it is mentioned how the colony ship that first brought settlers was stripped for parts. (Colony ships are simply to large to escape a planets gravity well or maintain powered flight in atmosphere.

[Edited on 12.01.2010 8:11 PM PST]

  • 12.01.2010 8:09 PM PDT

Posted by: Venator82
They're too heavy for their downward thrusters to keep them aloft in the gravity well of a planet; it's not just atmopshere it's gravity wells in general as I know.

In the case of Reach the atmosphere is a major factor. If reach were airless, a cruiser could orbit at an altitude of an inch above the highest point in it's path. Inside an atmosphere, though, drag takes effect. Especially at hypersonic velocities, air resistance can slow an object the size of a cruiser at an alarming rate. This slowing decays the orbit to a smaller radius than that of the planet. Laymen call this "crashing and blowing up", and it is poor policy.

  • 12.01.2010 11:58 PM PDT

On hiding dead bodies:
Posted by: Psuedo
Posted by: teh Chaz
Inside another dead body. It's the last place they'll look
A corpse within a corpse.
CORPSEPTION.
Win.

UNSC Frigates are the only main ships of the line that we see in atmosphere with anti-gravity systems.
Colony Ships have this technology, but they're not warships.

Frigate's weights were never retconned, but Cruiser's were to over 100,000 tons. The amount of thrust or power to antigravity to keep a 100 thousand tonne piece of dead weight in the air is ludicrous. I don't think that a reactor could provide that much power.

  • 12.02.2010 12:54 AM PDT

frigates are 100%, definately in the million ton range without a doubt in my mind, already been over this in another thread before. they are longer, taller, wider than the seawise giant (biggest ship ever constructed, loaded weight is soemthing rediculous like 500,000 tons and the hull of that is only about 3 - 4 centimetres of steel, i know titanium isn't as heavy as steel but frigates have like 60 centimetres of titanium plating and thats just the armour, there will be another layer below that which will be the actual hull containing the atmosphere. not to mention fuel and stuff, frigates are absolutely enormous. also im sorry but there is no canon reference as far as im aware to UNSC anti-gravity, them having such technology would be totally illogical. longswords have wings for example for atmospheric flight, why have wings (for lift) if they have anti-gravity technology? think the whole frigate coming in atmosphere thing was just stupidity on bungies part, trying to do something to seem cool without giving it much thought. so personally i think for the sake of keeping halo grounding in reality the developers should stop being idiots and stop having half-kilometre long spaceships floating, magically in mid-air without giving a damned good excuse why that is happening!

[Edited on 12.03.2010 3:15 PM PST]

  • 12.03.2010 3:13 PM PDT