02-12-2019, 11:22 AM | #11 | |||
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
Quote:
Quote:
https://peerj.com/articles/2908/ I lifted the following quote Quote:
Luke |
|||
02-12-2019, 11:53 AM | #12 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
Quote:
The supernatural pterosaurs should be adapted to life in a Low Mana zone, which makes them about 40% stronger for their weight than they'd be without magic, but they must be capable of surviving in No Mana zones, where they are no stronger than real animals of that size, and Normal Mana, where they are almost twice as strong for their weight, though in such areas there are even more exotic critters that out-compete them handily, not to mention that some of them can kill them easily with supernatural powers. As mana is used by many animals in this world as a partial food source, Normal and High Mana areas are incredibly rich in biodiversity and in biomass, which means that the supernatural pterosaurs do make occasional forays into higher magic areas to hunt or scavenge, but they prefer to live and breed in Low Mana zones, where most of the strongly-supernatural predators that can pose a serious threat to them do not usually go. The reason they have to be able to live in No Mana Zones is that mana fluctates over time and some areas might suddenly become No Mana and if the supernatural pterosaurs were incapable of even escaping such areas when that happened, they'd be that much more likely to be extinct. Which, don't get me wrong, a lot of these magic-adapted critters do, with some regularity, but I wanted to feature these species as particularly successful survivors in this magico-Mesozoic era.** *Dragons are cooler with teeth, if only so dragon hunters can wear necklaces of dragon's teeth. **I probably don't even need to specify that it exists inside a Hollow Earth and that the external world is a frozen snowball, in accordance with the best Welteislehre. The Antarctic Space Nazis mean that this is just sort of implied. Also, that the mana is called vril by all serious Antarctic Space Nazi occultists.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 02-12-2019 at 12:25 PM. |
|
02-12-2019, 07:28 PM | #13 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
1) If a pterosaur with Luke's proposed BL 100 or so can lift its own weight of 550 lbs. and maybe 50-100 extra lbs. of food, either in their belly or beak, what can the same pterosaur, but with its muscles enhanced with magic up to a BL 135, lift as it achives flight?
Realistically, I mean. That is, the magic doesn't play tricks with physics, it's the same creature with the same biomechanics, only instead of ST 22, it's got ST26. Do I figure it as BLx6 (or so) for 600 lbs., which is used for 550 + 50 lbs. = 50 lbs. payload, in the first case, and BLx6 = 870, which results in 550 + 320 lbs. = 320 lbs. payload in the second? Or is there a less simple, but more realistic formula? 2) How do you ride a pterosaur? I mean, physically? In a harness strapped below, somehow? Strapped between the wings? You'd use a harness, how much would one of these weight, assuming you made it from TL6-7 materials and were trying for the best design you could get while remaining light?
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
02-12-2019, 08:24 PM | #14 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
Quote:
Depends how they're set up. Strapped on top seems the least likely to kill you during takeoff and landing, but the straps might interfere with flight muscles. |
|
02-12-2019, 08:34 PM | #15 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
Quote:
And, yeah, I imagined they'd be correspondingly faster and more agile in flight if flying in mana zones without any encumbrance. Yep, that's why I figured I'd ask around, as I've seen many different interpretations of pterosaurs and don't really know if there's a plausible design that allows for a rider, but would welcome ideas.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
|
02-13-2019, 06:46 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Biomechanics, Riders and Harness
If we take the Hatzegopteryx as our prototype as regard shape (size comparison of lower bound of size to human, one artist's interpretation, another interpretation in flight), what kind of harness would allow a human to ride a 550 lbs. specimen of one, assuming magic made it strong enough to manage the weight?
If the shape is wrong for anyone ever riding on it, what kind of pterosaur shape should I be looking for? And what should the position of the rider be?
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
02-13-2019, 10:05 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: The plutonium rich regions of Washington State
|
Re: Biomechanics, Riders and Harness
Quote:
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/...20120916030724 https://i2.wp.com/www.danconnolly.co...uet.jpg?w=1023 http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pkBi4wOu0n...isode%2B7a.jpg I'm not sure it is the best design, but it is a design, at least. You want the rider to be right over the center of mass while in flight (which also happens to be at the center of lift). This will be approximately at the centroid of the wing shape when viewed from the top, so from http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/...teryx-size.jpg it looks like you want the rider's center of mass to be about the middle of the back - still over the rib cage but behind the shoulder blades. Luke |
|
02-13-2019, 10:23 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Re: Biomechanics, Riders and Harness
Quote:
That actually looks like a fairly comfortable shooting position. Arm the riders with rifles with shortened barrels for maneuverability and a baffle suppressor, the latter to try to minimize harm to the poor mount when shooting, and you have a pretty decent scouting unit with self-defence capability.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! |
|
02-14-2019, 06:03 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
The grenade in a jar trick from Vietnam would also work. Pull pin, stick in a glass jar, drop. When it hits the ground the jar breaks and the spoon comes off.
|
02-14-2019, 07:33 AM | #20 | |
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Iceland*
|
Re: Pterosaur Size, Weight, ST and Maximum Encumbrance when Flying
Quote:
Which really depends on how much they can comfortably carry in Low Mana Zones. I imagined that the Antarctic Space Nazis would train a few (using magic) to serve as mounts for scouts that went ahead of anyone else into new worlds discovered through the World Tree and found to have higher levels of mana than Germania Hyperborea (a Low Mana world with occasional Places of Power, environs and 'ley lines' that are higher). It's in Germania Hyperborea where bombs dropped from the air would be most useful to the ASNs, as in other worlds, they rarely want or need to engage more than point targets, at least not until they bring over more of a military presence than flying scouts. I'm sure that in Normal Mana and higher, these pterasaurs are absolutely strong enough to easily carry a human rider, saddle, harness and even some arms and supplies. I'm equally sure that in No Mana Zones, they could never achieve flight with a human on their back. What I haven't fully worked out is if they could serve as mounts useful in warfare in No Mana Zones, where their strength-for-weight is 'only' 35-40% higher than than of actual, natural pterosaurs. Knowing the weight of the saddle and harness could be important there, if every pound of weight matters.
__________________
Za uspiekh nashevo beznadiozhnovo diela! Last edited by Icelander; 02-14-2019 at 08:21 AM. |
|
Tags |
dragons, pterodactyl, pterosaur, pterosaurs, realistic fantasy |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|