Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Actually, I wouldn't want to argue that they are practical*. Just that the drivetrain itself is not necessarily a divergent-TL one. Now, the issues of practical size and mass are another matter - craft with inflated hot air balloons don't fit the G:SS standards of mass/size either.

* == Actually, I'm pretty sure some stuff in G:SS is impractical. I recall some jet/turbine was in every way better than another, no worse in cost, and no higher in TL.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Who's going to use a jet engine? Propellers have superior performance at low velocities, and can be made as small as ornithopters, you can buy RC planes that are roughly hummingbird weight.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Prop-driven fixed wings can't hover and don't look like birds. If you need something that can hover and loiter for long times it's a better choice. If you want something that can be camouflaged as an animal it's your only choice.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

I know that I never like their status as divergent either. They are superscience for efficient human carrying sized ships. TL 9 or so for small autonomous drones.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

It's in SS7 for clockpunk settings. Spacecraft flying through the ether on mighty wings is absolutely divergent, it requires divergent physics!

Just because something exists in our TL progression doesn't mean it's not also possible in divergent ones. That Eberron's lightning rail is TL4+2 (or whatever), doesn't mean that trains aren't still TL5.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Well, they can hover if they have tilt rotors and sufficiently powerful props, it's not particularly hard for microplanes to hover. Looking like birds is a rather specialized purpose.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

That is the definition of superscience not divergence.

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Call me when they can actually make a tilt rotor that doesn't regularly kill everyone board.
I may be behind on new tech, so ignore the sarcasm if anyone's done it by now. :)

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

Is it? Then almost all "-punk" divergence is also superscience. It's not plausible that Da Vinci could have built a working Ornithopter at all. I guess you can just pencil in the "^" if that makes you happier.
The V-22 has been in service since 2007. There's been only one crash since then and it was a pretty typical combat aircraft incident (and could of happened to any aircraft under the same circumstances).

Re: [Spaceships] Ornithopter Wings no longer TL5+2!
 

I was talking about microplanes; zero crew on board anyway, and in some cases terminal velocity so low they can fall out of the sky and just bounce. The Osprey works better than any similar mass ornithopter (since no such even exist).