I didn’t say the projectile will be 16”. Tight now the sabot is 5”,with the projectile a certain ratio of that diameter. If the sabot is 16”,the projectile will be larger since that ratio should be preserved. 16” diameter allows for more powder and thus more imparted kinetic energy. Thus you get a larger projectile…

This projectile is not just solid iron. It has a guidance system, control surfaces, and a sabot. The article talks about low tech versions filling the space of the guidance system with high explosive. While the rail gun could operate with plain metal rounds, the guidance system adds significant flexibility at a cost…

Yeah, but this is a 5” shell. Up it to 16” and the kinetic energy imparted will be much greater.

It appears to be some form of insulation. Note the umbilical cord going into the fairing.

Its a cover for the fairing. As you can see, it is removed before launch.

References

In his GDC talks, he explains his process of taking a complex system(a city, daily life, the UNIVERSE!) and boiling down to some of its essential elements and making it fun to play. Those prototypes showed some of those elements. The game looked incredible in 2005-2006. However there was a stumbling block on the…

The scope was possibly too big, however the gameplay and simulations created for it had so much more potential than the final product. I am disappointed that the game had potential, the developers had fleshed out that potential, and then purposely chose to simplify the game.

Spore was supposed to be Will Wright’s crowing achievement, taking the universe and dividing it into fun gameplay systems. There are prototypes you can still get from the Spore website that date from as early as 2009 that showcase gameplay more in depth than the final shipped product. The “creepy vs cute” schism in…

In my opinion, I feel the whole Spore “cute vs creepy” fiasco disenchanted him to the video game industry and its processes. To have a whole decade of work ruined in a few years (06-08) must be terrible.

It was so heartbreaking to hear Maxis was shut down. I was at GDC when it happened and I knew several people who went across the bay for GDC that day and were unemployed by the time they go home.

Its just sad that the tech demos, some dating back to 1999 had greater gameplay depth than the final product. There was a large change between 2005-2008 where the “cute” faction of Maxis, backed by EA management, in my opinion destroyed the game’s potential to truly be great.

I really hate EA. Spore was going to be Will Wright’s crowning achievement and EA(with a little help from Maxis management) turned it into a disaster. It was also pretty shitty that they brought Wright back for the disastrous launch event for SimCity. If Maxis could have stayed independent with enough financial…

I always chuckle when a space sim presents “accurate physics” as a selling point. Gamers don’t want accurate physics. Accurate physics is boring for combat. All space sims borrow heavily from ww2 flight sims with a few momentum based movement systems shoved in.

The most efficient mixture, the stoichiometric ratio, means the maximum amount of energy is extracted from the fuel. They run the engines fuel rich to reduce the maximum temperature. Cooling the engine is one of the main issues in rocket engine design.

The rocket is not flying fast enough during reentry to cause significant heating. Also the rocket enters engines first, which are designed to take high temperatures.

It is an RP1/LOX rocket. RP1 is highly refined kerosene and experiences incomplete combustion since the engine is run fuel rich.

If this engine actually works, then you don’t need to bring your reaction mass with you. This brings a dramatic reduction in mass. Basically, you need fuel to go faster and you need fuel to make that fuel go fast before you can go faster and so on and so on.

Developers will be getting it in their hands tomorrow...Guess you didn’t read the article

It's all about the fan wank. That's why there is a vader helmet, hero in stormtrooper armor, falcon flying through superstructure, speeder flying across the desert, etc. Take the nostalgia from the good ole days and regurgitate it with a bit more sheen.