05-25-2016, 02:22 AM | #1 |
Join Date: May 2016
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Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
For the longest time I've wondered, "What's the weight limit on carrying things while using Winged Flight?".
And I'm still wondering that, so I'm asking you! Could a 5oz bird lift a 1lb coconut? What about rocs and elephants--or simply elephant calves? |
05-25-2016, 02:25 AM | #2 |
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
This XKCD What-If reckons the limit for birds of prey is about half their own body weight. The squire/cube problems with Rocs are a different matter.
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05-25-2016, 02:30 AM | #3 | |
Join Date: May 2016
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
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05-25-2016, 09:56 AM | #4 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
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Short answer for RAW is: Your extra-heavy Enc, unless you take some kind of limitation (above and beyond Winged, which just gives you wings that can be crippled to prevent you from flying). Reduce your Fly move (and ground move) as normal for the Enc level you are at. A Roc needs lots of ST, but it should have lots of ST due to its size. For real birds, you get a wide range. There are quite a few birds that can lift well over their body weight, but none of them are even the size of humans. I propose a new limitation that includes your own body weight in the calculation (removing the somewhat clunky "Requires Low-G" limitation from Biotech) and couples with Arm (here, Wing) ST to get things close.
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05-25-2016, 12:07 PM | #5 | |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
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Realistically, it's going to depend a lot on the details of how the critter flies and the amount of surplus metabolic power it has. |
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05-25-2016, 08:06 PM | #6 | |
Join Date: Aug 2008
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
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As for the air speed of an unladen swallow...which species?
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05-25-2016, 08:48 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
Encumbrance reducing speed is not the way real world flight works. Generally, if you can get off the ground, being overweight makes it impossible to fly slowly.
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05-26-2016, 08:51 AM | #8 |
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Behind You
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
This question was answered in 3E, not sure why it wasn't in 4E.
I think I'd go with two hand basic lift?
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05-26-2016, 08:54 AM | #9 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
In 4e, the principle is to use the general rule unless a specific one that overrides it. That is, use the same weight that you can carry. Add more limitations on Flight if you don't want to be able to carry as much (though there is some ambiguity about which ones to use).
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05-26-2016, 10:09 AM | #10 | |
Join Date: Jul 2012
Location: A crappy state called Illinois
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Re: Rocs and Elephants -- An inquiry of Lifting and Winged Flight
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Tags |
flight, lifting, winged flight |
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