marklein's Ion Storm Navigator

VGA Planets ion storm drag calculator

Movement Warp Heading Heading must be between 0 and 359 Your ship will be dragged: light years horizontally & light years vertically. Adjust your waypoint accordingly. Note that only Class 4 (150meV) or stronger storms will drag ships.

Damage Storm Voltage [!] Ship's Mass [?] Ship's Crew Ship's Engine Tech Level Ship has fuel? % damage caused to ship crew lost Above results are approximate. Ship's crew experience cannot be read and is assumed to be zero.

General Usage:

1. Enter the ion storm speed and heading into the form above.
2. Set your ship's waypoint to the intended destination.
3. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to move your ship's waypoint in the opposite direction of drag to compensate.

Important Navigating Notes:

• Ships are affected if they're inside the storm after the storm has moved, but before the ships moved themselves.
• Ion storms can and usually do change direction and speed by as much as 10 degrees in the next turn and cannot be predicted. If this happens then your location will be off by several light years. When aiming for a planet then aim for the center (not the warp well) and hopefully you will be within the warp well. Minor direction variation is almost guaranteed, while speed changes are rare.
• If you are caught in a storm and attempting to fly to a fuelless, warp 0, or otherwise immobile ship also caught in a storm you do not need to adjust your waypoint. Just set your waypoint directly to the target ship, you will both be dragged the same distance and direction, and therefore will fly right to it.
• Intercepting ships that are being dragged do not require any adjustment.
• Intercepting while being dragged does not require any adjustment.

More Ion Storm Facts:

• All starships can navigate a Class 1, Class 2 or Class 3 ion storm with full shields.
• Class 4 and Class 5 storms can damage or even destroy a starship.They can also kill the ships crew. When a storm enters class 4 or class 5 the ships shields will be rendered inoperative.
• Only Class 4 and Class 5 ion storms will drag starships along with them.
• Minefields who's center is within an ion storm cannot be swept by enemy beams and do not show up on mine scans. Colonial fighters can still sweep enemy minefields inside an ion storm.
• For more great weather information, please see http://www.vgaplanets.com/hostdoc3.htm#mark48 or http://www.phost.de/~stefan/ion.html

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marklein recommends Planets Nu for your VGA Planets pleasure, where I will destroy you.

Please send error reports or requests to mark at markdepot dot com.

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