Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Jun 20, 2006 11:48:36	When a Spelljammer ship lands on a planet, it's gravity planes all go to "normal". This is is a serious point of ship design and danger. For true, "space only" vessels, it's not a concern, but for those that can land, and have muiple decks, it is a real problem. The point is, a staircase that's in a REVERSE GRAVITY area becomes utterly useless in normal gravity. The picture explains this. Therefore, when designing ships capable of landing, make sure decks below the gravity plane do NOT use staircases or ramps. Instead, have them use ladders *only*. At the gravity plane boundry itself, a large open hole, with hand grips, with a staircase leading up, is the best design. In space folk can easily reach through and flip themselves into the other deck, or use ladder on a planet. Something interesting to consider when palying or ship desgining.
#2 zombiegleemax Jun 20, 2006 16:17:29	Very interesting!
#3 greatamericanfolkhero Jun 21, 2006 0:35:07	I thought of a chair bolted to a swinging platform. You would sit down, the platform would spin, then you would stand back up. At least the gnomes would use something like this.
#4 wyvern76 Jun 21, 2006 15:04:00	Can't they just walk on the underside of the stairs? Wyvern
#5 rhialto Jun 22, 2006 4:02:08	Can't they just walk on the underside of the stairs? Not really. The holes in the decks would be on teh wrong side of teh staircase to do that.
#6 zombiegleemax Jun 22, 2006 15:50:49	Not really. The holes in the decks would be on teh wrong side of teh staircase to do that. put the deck on a hinge and then just flip it over when the gravity well shifts. something like a trap door.
#7 wyvern76 Jun 22, 2006 16:04:18	put the deck on a hinge and then just flip it over when the gravity well shifts. something like a trap door. Well, I was going to say, why don't you just put holes at both ends of the staircase? The hole at the "bottom" would be "underneath" the staircase, so you wouldn't fall through it (unless you're really stupid and/or clumsy). Plus, it would allow you to travel between decks. (In the diagram as drawn, there's no way to get from the "top" deck to the "bottom" deck, regardless of which way the gravity's oriented. Putting hatches in the middle deck, at the end of both staircases, would fix that.) Wyvern
#8 rhialto Jun 22, 2006 17:53:52	A hole properly placed and making teh stairs double sided would work I guess. I suspect stairs would have to be specially designed if this were so, as they'd have to be able to take heavy stress coming from either direction, something no normal load bearing structure ever has to. I also think trap door hinges for the landing at the foot of the stairs would be a bad idea, as that is the part of the deck that takes more stress than anywhere else, partly because of more traffic, partly because of people tend to come down harder after descending stairs. Double sided stairs at higher expense (and sacrificng storage space normally used under-stair) seems to be the way to go for stairs. Either that, or poles and ropes.
#9 Silverblade_The_Enchanter Jun 23, 2006 22:05:55	that's jsut way too much hassle for normal ships ;) you'd be better of making folk use a ladder, lol, space is at a premium on ships