Macross SEED

[DKnight54]

It's your story, and everything in here is IMHO only, but there are some things that you might want to take into consideration:
Nice aerodynamic design == lousy spacecraft design
Given that a spacecraft is VERY dependent on thrusters in order to change vectors, a design where the main thrusters are placed facing back only is a lousy design. A space fighter, like a fighter jet, needs to be manuverable, ie able to change vectors rapidly. In a conventional Space Shuttle like design, the spacefighter will have to rotate then fire thrusters in order to change vectors efficiently. Even assuming that the spacecraft manuevers using vector jets, the most manueverable design would prolly look like a ball with thrusters at various points. Thus far, the closest I've seen to a really viable spacefighter is prolly the B5 Starfuries
Flying airplanes/fighters != flying "normal" spacecrafts
In your story, the hero starts of as a normal intra atmosphere pilot. This does not equip him with the skills one would need to be a spacecraft fighter pilot. While he prolly has the reaction time and hand eye coordination desired, he will have been trained for the wrong type of reactions. At best, he will be training from scratch. Worst case senario? He'll have to unlearn how to fly in atmosphere...
Of course, being that it's fiction, you can very well write it off as being unnecessarily complicated. Which brings me to the next point.
While realism is fine and all when writing a story, some times you have to take a step back and see if that's really where you want to go. Admittedly, since your story will likely end up only being told in a text format(Yes, it would be nice to see it made into animation, but short of you actually selling the script to some animation company? *shrugs*) it's less of an issue. Remember, the fun part about science fiction is that it's Fiction. Make it plausible, make it fun. We may like to really dig into the tech behind the universe, but at the end of the day, it's the story being told that makes it fun.
I mean, Macross had all the problems you're trying to plug, but we all still enjoyed watching it right?

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[DKnight54]

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The idea is that the MOBFG, in the Macross's original configuration, was nothing of the sort - it was the main engine, and after the crash it had had so much of its peripheral equipment trashed that the reverse-engineering team thought what was left looked more like a scaled up gun than a scaled-up reaction thruster.

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Ye Gods! Unless you're telling me that the SDF has braking thrusters larger than the main thrusters, the RE team re-built the bloody thing ass backwards!

Be the Ultimate Ninja! Play Billy Vs. SNAKEMAN today!

[Valles]

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Ye Gods! Unless you're telling me that the SDF has braking thrusters larger than the main thrusters, the RE team re-built the bloody thing ass backwards!

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Close to it, anyway. My current image of the original ship looks something like a six-legged starfish, with the main engine fixed perpendicularly to the plane of the ship but surrounded by vectoring baffles that can direct its thrust out of vents between the 'legs'. Only the legs got torn off, either in battle or during reentry, and the baffles and ducting were about the same size and consistency as various other internal apparatus, so the 'open' one - which had been pointed due forward for braking purposes - got taken for the initial stage of a beam weapon.
Joukahainen's expression the first time Skywatch fires off the Most Obscenely BFG should be priceless. ^_^
Re: Space Combat and maneuver -
The thing about the Valkyrie is that it wasn't really designed for space superiority. It's a close air support design, in a universe where 'close' is anything on the same planet... and for that matter, evolutionarily speaking, its more closely related to the Desdroids than an F-22. Many of the airframes stored aboard the SDF-1 for launch were earmarked for the 'anti-extinction insurance' bases on Mars and Venus. Their space ops ability is essentially aimed at letting them stage against ground targets from orbit... kind of like a swimming tank.
On the other hand, they're still greatly superior to a Zentradi mook in a suit, especially if you have some hand FAST packs on hand, and are without a doubt the best option the SDF-1 will have on hand.
Ja, -n

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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

[drakensis]

> Nice aerodynamic design == lousy spacecraft design
That strikes me as an excellent reason for there being a gerwalk mode for the Valkyrie. The legs and arms would let thrusters be aimed in varying directions depending on what was needed, (admittedly, the steering would be... complicated). That would leave:-
Battroid: ground combat mode
Fighter: air combat mode
Gerwalk: space combat mode.
D for Drakensis

You're only young once, but immaturity is forever.

[Florin]

Pfft! Everyone knows that in space constant thrust equals constant speed! In order to slow down, all you have to do is cut the engines.
As for turning, flaps should do it. After all, the noise of explosions carries nicely, so their must be air or something up there.--
"An errand is getting a tank of gas or picking up a carton of milk or something. It is not getting chased by flying purple pyromaniac gorillas hurling incendiary poo."
--
If you become a monster to put down a monster you've still got a monster running around at the end of the day and have as such not really solved the whole monster problem at all. 

[classicdrogn]

Meh, if you have gravity control, all you have to do is shift around the apparent center of mass so the axis of thrust is off to one side in the direction you want to turn away from. This could possibly solve the guns-not-looking-cool-with-thier-own-rcs-thrusters problem.
- CDSERVO: Loook *deeeeply* into my eyes... Tell me, what do you see?
CROW: (hypnotized) A twisted man who wants to inflict his pain upon others.
A kung-fu nun in a leather thong was no less extreme than anything else he had seen that day. - Rev. Dark's IST: Holy Sea World
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
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