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1: NC

2: NC and TR

3: NC, TR and Vanu

[Flying Dice]

Because they couldn't possibly put the a-grav units in swivel mounts. It's not as if a similar mechanism is already in use in all of the VTOL aircraft in the game.

And in that case the tank would fly rather than levitate.

I was referring to the sort of swiveling mount used, not the propulsion system. Though also note that, as gravitational fields are gradations of strength rather than a binary on/off setting, agrav would presumably behave the same way.

As far as i see it, there is two possible mechanisms behind the levitation.
  1# A force that counteracts the planetary gravity. In which case the terrain wouldn't matter as the tank would basically be flying.
  2# A force that pushes against the terrain underneath. This could use a swivel mount but taking the design of the tank in consideration I would say that a large part of the "wings" would contain the a-grav, possible multiple emitters that would exert various force to cope with variations in the terrain. In this case I doubt that the a-grav emitters or what ever function there is would be able to exert force at an angle capable of traversing such high degree slopes.

In case 1, it would still need to be directional. If it wasn't, everything that approached the magrider would be repelled. This obviously isn't the case.

In case 2, you're talking about presser beams, not agrav. Unless you mean to suggest that they're air-cushioned. I don't think you are, though, as it's plainly not the case. It's essentially a tossup between a localized, directional agrav field and multiple presser beams, though I think the former seems more likely, as the latter would be akin to attempting to "walk" the tank on invisible, single-jointed legs, which seems excessively awkward. Given the rounded nature of the magrider's hull and relatively low profile, it doesn't seem unreasonable that it can scale steep slopes. It wouldn't even be a matter of whether or not it has the force to do so, only at what angle the magrider's center of balance would be such that it would do a backflip off of the cliff. Add in the non-trivial forward thrust from the magboost, and...

Though from a gameplay perspective it should probably be toned down slightly, but still enough to be markedly better than other tanks at going up steep slopes.

[Sordid]

Honestly, the magrider's got an excuse in that it uses some form of agrav to levitate.

And as an counter argument you could assume that the agrav would be directed downwards from the chassis and would flip the tank over if it actually attempted to climb a slope at that degree.

I don't see why it should even climb slopes at all. Levitating one meter above the ground wouldn't take any more energy than levitating a kilometer above the ground. They behave like hovercrafts, which they're not. Their levitating effect has nothing to do with the ground, as the name suggests it works via magnetism. They should just be able to fly around at any altitude they damn well please, as far as I can tell.

[Ivefan]

In case 1, it would still need to be directional. If it wasn't, everything that approached the magrider would be repelled. This obviously isn't the case.

In case 2, you're talking about presser beams, not agrav. Unless you mean to suggest that they're air-cushioned. I don't think you are, though, as it's plainly not the case. It's essentially a tossup between a localized, directional agrav field and multiple presser beams, though I think the former seems more likely, as the latter would be akin to attempting to "walk" the tank on invisible, single-jointed legs, which seems excessively awkward. Given the rounded nature of the magrider's hull and relatively low profile, it doesn't seem unreasonable that it can scale steep slopes. It wouldn't even be a matter of whether or not it has the force to do so, only at what angle the magrider's center of balance would be such that it would do a backflip off of the cliff. Add in the non-trivial forward thrust from the magboost, and...

case 1; Yes, directional towards the planet core of course, because thats the only gravitational field there is and if you negate the gravity from the planet you basically got a flying vehicle with no need to be constrained to one meter above the ground.

case 2; Considering that the magrider basically acts like it is air-cushioned in a 90 degrees relation to the ground i would say that the vehicle is emitting a continuous force akin to that of say a moon lander. It might not be strange for it to be able to climb the slopes with enough speed behind it but the problem that comes in game is that they can stay on the wall and fire at a target horizontally.
And i don't see why presser beams would be like walking. Its not like they would be a solid force. Example; You have the main ones that keep the tank levitating by pressing against the ground, then you have other emitters that would be able to be directed to the sides to some extend to press against the ground to move the tank sideways. Turn them 45 degrees left and the tank would strafe right, turn the front ones left while the back ones turn right and you rotate.

Gotta remember to take a screenshot the next time i see a spiderrider.

I don't see why it should even climb slopes at all. Levitating one meter above the ground wouldn't take any more energy than levitating a kilometer above the ground. They behave like hovercrafts, which they're not. Their levitating effect has nothing to do with the ground, as the name suggests it works via magnetism. They should just be able to fly around at any altitude they damn well please, as far as I can tell.

Quite so, but they do not which leaves us to theorize the manner of propulsion.

[Sordid]

I've seen mag-riders use the terrain like ski-jumps so they can get on top of buildings, this then makes them immune to the random engineer who might want to use a pack of C4.  Imagine a Mag-rider sitting on the defensive walls of a tech-plant or wedged into one of the towers.

Light Assault get C4 too, walls and rooftops are their hunting grounds. Also, once in such a position, the Magrider would not be able to maneuver very much, thereby losing its main advantage, so I think it would become easy prey to Heavy Assault and their rocket launchers.

[Sensei]

Honestly, the magrider's got an excuse in that it uses some form of agrav to levitate.

And as an counter argument you could assume that the agrav would be directed downwards from the chassis and would flip the tank over if it actually attempted to climb a slope at that degree.

I don't see why it should even climb slopes at all. Levitating one meter above the ground wouldn't take any more energy than levitating a kilometer above the ground. They behave like hovercrafts, which they're not. Their levitating effect has nothing to do with the ground, as the name suggests it works via magnetism. They should just be able to fly around at any altitude they damn well please, as far as I can tell.

It obviously repulses against the ground. One theory is that the antigravity requires matter to act on, and atmosphere doesn't have enough mass (not to mention it flows) to repel the tank into the air. Thus, it needs to be withing a specific distance of the ground or a sturdy floor. The same logic would allow it to, arguably, move along water as well (but not at the same height).

Why, then, is it called the Maglev? Because when it levitates, it looks kinda like magnets an' shit.

[Jelle]

  1# A force that counteracts the planetary gravity. In which case the terrain wouldn't matter as the tank would basically be flying.

Newton would like to have a word with you! Can't have a force outside a pair, gravity effects both the object and the planet, so some form of hover would need to exert force on something as well as the vehicle.
Don't shoot me if I word it wrong, I don't usually talk physics in english.

[Siquo]

  1# A force that counteracts the planetary gravity. In which case the terrain wouldn't matter as the tank would basically be flying.

Newton would like to have a word with you! Can't have a force outside a pair, gravity effects both the object and the planet, so some form of hover would need to exert force on something as well as the vehicle.
Don't shoot me if I word it wrong, I don't usually talk physics in english.

Not really, you could just stop gravity from working. It's like a graviton-shield, that stops the gravity-interaction between tank and everything else. This would mean that the tank is essentially weightless and will fly off of the surface due to spin of the planet, so careful regulation of said shield (turning it off and on at high frequency) will make it "float" above the surface.

[Aptus]

Nooooooooooooooooo they have since the beta removed my favourite sniper douche spot. I used to be able to drop pod or fly up to those green house roofs and drop down a hole in the middle, landing on a platform that gave me a firing arc for basically the entire inside of the green house. Like 99% of my kills in the beta came from that spot :p

[Siquo]

There was a hole there?! Pfft, good they fixed that.

[Knight of Fools]

They removed the LA skill that allowed you to get up there, too.

Of course, LA's don't have sniper rifles...

[Flying Dice]

  1# A force that counteracts the planetary gravity. In which case the terrain wouldn't matter as the tank would basically be flying.

Newton would like to have a word with you! Can't have a force outside a pair, gravity effects both the object and the planet, so some form of hover would need to exert force on something as well as the vehicle.
Don't shoot me if I word it wrong, I don't usually talk physics in english.

That wasn't me, you derped your quotes. 

In case 1, it would still need to be directional. If it wasn't, everything that approached the magrider would be repelled. This obviously isn't the case.

In case 2, you're talking about presser beams, not agrav. Unless you mean to suggest that they're air-cushioned. I don't think you are, though, as it's plainly not the case. It's essentially a tossup between a localized, directional agrav field and multiple presser beams, though I think the former seems more likely, as the latter would be akin to attempting to "walk" the tank on invisible, single-jointed legs, which seems excessively awkward. Given the rounded nature of the magrider's hull and relatively low profile, it doesn't seem unreasonable that it can scale steep slopes. It wouldn't even be a matter of whether or not it has the force to do so, only at what angle the magrider's center of balance would be such that it would do a backflip off of the cliff. Add in the non-trivial forward thrust from the magboost, and...

case 1; Yes, directional towards the planet core of course, because thats the only gravitational field there is and if you negate the gravity from the planet you basically got a flying vehicle with no need to be constrained to one meter above the ground.

THAT IS NOT HOW GRAVITY WORKS. EVERY THING WITH MASS GENERATES A GRAVITATIONAL FIELD. Also note what Sensei said.

case 2; Considering that the magrider basically acts like it is air-cushioned in a 90 degrees relation to the ground i would say that the vehicle is emitting a continuous force akin to that of say a moon lander. It might not be strange for it to be able to climb the slopes with enough speed behind it but the problem that comes in game is that they can stay on the wall and fire at a target horizontally.
And i don't see why presser beams would be like walking. Its not like they would be a solid force. Example; You have the main ones that keep the tank levitating by pressing against the ground, then you have other emitters that would be able to be directed to the sides to some extend to press against the ground to move the tank sideways. Turn them 45 degrees left and the tank would strafe right, turn the front ones left while the back ones turn right and you rotate.

Do you understand the concept behind tractor/pressor beams? They're beams. As in, straight projections of force. In order to maintain stability over anything other than perfectly flat ground, they would need to move around, which would be akin to supporting the magrider on a number of variable-length poles, except the poles are invisible. This would make for a marked degree of instability, hence why agrav is the most reasonable explanation.


Also note that agrav must by necessity not cancel the effects of the planet's gravitational field, as the planet is moving at incredibly high velocity in orbit. The Earth orbits at ~30km/s; as a similar rocky planet in the Goldilocks zone, Arraxis (or whatever) can be construed to have a similar orbital velocity. Cancelling the influence of the planet's gravitational field on the tank altogether wouldn't mean that it could fly, it would mean that it would be ripped from the surface and hurled into space. The field is likely either a partial reduction or generates a "bubble" of reduced gravity which itself is still subject to the planet's gravitational pull, but which allows the tank to 'hover', being inside of it. Sort of like being in an incredibly low stable orbit.

[miauw62]

Either way, if magriders can do as in the video, that means they need a nerf in climbing ability. Magriders aren't supposed to go there, so they should not be able to go there.

[Ivefan]

THAT IS NOT HOW GRAVITY WORKS. EVERY THING WITH MASS GENERATES A GRAVITATIONAL FIELD. Also note what Sensei said.

Relativity. As I see it the only thing with a field strong enough to affect the vehicle is the planet so the anti gravital function of the vehicle would be working against that.

The field is likely either a partial reduction or generates a "bubble" of reduced gravity which itself is still subject to the planet's gravitational pull, but which allows the tank to 'hover', being inside of it. Sort of like being in an incredibly low stable orbit.

Then consider that the tank will keep levitating at the same height no matter the elevation of the terrain. If it would be able to climb a mountain it would just as well be able to climb to the same height without the mountain by changing the output of the "bubbles" power.
I have not used a scythe but they can hover perfectly, right? If they use the same kind of drive, the magrider would also be able to fly.

Do you understand the concept behind tractor/pressor beams? They're beams. As in, straight projections of force. In order to maintain stability over anything other than perfectly flat ground, they would need to move around, which would be akin to supporting the magrider on a number of variable-length poles, except the poles are invisible. This would make for a marked degree of instability, hence why agrav is the most reasonable explanation.

I did compare the function to a moon lander, didn't I? The difference would be that a moon landers propulsion works with corrective all or nothing combustive power bursts while the beams emit continuous beams of variational force. You would have bearing beams capable of lifting the weight of the rider and directional emitters for correction, anchoring and horizontal direction.

btw. would continuing this discussion be topic derailing? 

[Aptus]

Ok this was weird, was assaulting a base doing my usual snipey campness when all of a sudden I get a humongous lagspike and after that all I could see was the sky, it was as if I was flying except... well I wasn't :p

[miauw62]

Weird. Reminds me of the time i stood under the barrel of a lightning, the barrel moved down and i was pushed trough the terrain.