How does the Prydwen stay afloat?

[MoonC A T]

I see no bottom mounted thrusters and there is no mention of helium or other gases.

[steventirey]

It has some sort of propulsion system that requires a lot of energy, which puts a strain on the nuclear reactor, requiring a good amount of reactor coolant. At least according to Proctor Ingram, who will give you a repeatable quest for it after the main quest is finished.

[Chaosium]

Nanomachines, son

[Zes]

maxson keeps it there by being awesome

https://youtu.be/0rgBWhNIDOE

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by MoonC A T:

I see no bottom mounted thrusters and there is no mention of helium or other gases.

Handwaving. Lots and lots of handwaving.

Its all metal - including the envelope. So its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to heavy to float even if the inside was all vacuum. Its certainly not large enough to be the main support craft for what is effectively an invasion force.

So it must be some sort of repulsor lift/anti-grav. Which is not evident *anywhere* else.

But if that's the case - then why make it in a dirigible form? You could have made a literal flying aircraft carrier.

[Joe Coffee]

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

Originally posted by MoonC A T:

I see no bottom mounted thrusters and there is no mention of helium or other gases.

Handwaving. Lots and lots of handwaving.

Its all metal - including the envelope. So its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to heavy to float even if the inside was all vacuum. Its certainly not large enough to be the main support craft for what is effectively an invasion force.

So it must be some sort of repulsor lift/anti-grav. Which is not evident *anywhere* else.

But if that's the case - then why make it in a dirigible form? You could have made a literal flying aircraft carrier.

Because the S.H.I.E.L.D. one was already taken? And that airships would be more feasible, less expensive to maintain, and easier to handle?

[goatfish]

with the hopes and dreams of little children on christmas morning

[gamester512]

My guess is that the Prydwen uses a combination of rotors (it is equipped with top-mounted rotors), thrusters hidden in difficult to see locations (they'd be an easy target for hostiles that want to shoot down the Prydwen otherwise), and perhaps some variation of the VTOL functionality that the Vertibirds possess).

I doubt the Prydwen uses just one form of vertical thrust to remain airborne, so it most likely utilizes several different methods of producing enough vertical thrust in order to stay airborne.

It is possible, however, that it could be using some form of experimental anti-gravity technology, and it's something that's deemed to be only on a strict "need to know" basis, and even at a high rank in the BoS, we aren't deemed to fit that "need to know" basis. Hell, for all we know, it could be some kind of stolen/reverse-engineered experimental Enclave tech that the BoS is testing out for their own purposes.

[Cellulanus]

It's a Zeppelin. It uses hydrogen with the assistance of the rotating thrusters to stay afloat.

The Railroad destroy it by placing bombs on the hydrogen tanks.

Did you even play the game?

[Iron Knights]

Originally posted by Cellulanus:

It's a Zeppelin. It uses hydrogen with the assistance of the rotating thrusters to stay afloat.

The Railroad destroy it by placing bombs on the hydrogen tanks.

Did you even play the game?

Very Good Point !

[Vali Riversong]

Originally posted by Cellulanus:

It's a Zeppelin. It uses hydrogen with the assistance of the rotating thrusters to stay afloat.

The Railroad destroy it by placing bombs on the hydrogen tanks.

Did you even play the game?

Entirely possible they just haven't done a Railroad Ending.

[Xenon The Noble]

It floats on the bitterness of the common settlers who were robed of the generators that became it's power source.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by Cheeky Bastard:

Originally posted by Incunabulum:

Handwaving. Lots and lots of handwaving.

Its all metal - including the envelope. So its waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to heavy to float even if the inside was all vacuum. Its certainly not large enough to be the main support craft for what is effectively an invasion force.

So it must be some sort of repulsor lift/anti-grav. Which is not evident *anywhere* else.

But if that's the case - then why make it in a dirigible form? You could have made a literal flying aircraft carrier.

Because the S.H.I.E.L.D. one was already taken? And that airships would be more feasible, less expensive to maintain, and easier to handle?

1. That doesn't matter. Its lifted by antigrav, not by big ass jet engines.

2. Its still NOT AN AIRSHIP. Its a big metal ball. That's not 'more feasible' or 'less expensive to maintain' and certainly not 'easier to handle'.

[Incunabulum]

Originally posted by gamester512:

My guess is that the Prydwen uses a combination of rotors (it is equipped with top-mounted rotors), thrusters hidden in difficult to see locations (they'd be an easy target for hostiles that want to shoot down the Prydwen otherwise), and perhaps some variation of the VTOL functionality that the Vertibirds possess).

I doubt the Prydwen uses just one form of vertical thrust to remain airborne, so it most likely utilizes several different methods of producing enough vertical thrust in order to stay airborne.

It is possible, however, that it could be using some form of experimental anti-gravity technology, and it's something that's deemed to be only on a strict "need to know" basis, and even at a high rank in the BoS, we aren't deemed to fit that "need to know" basis. Hell, for all we know, it could be some kind of stolen/reverse-engineered experimental Enclave tech that the BoS is testing out for their own purposes.

There's no possibility for this tech to be 'need to know' - the very fact that you have a giant metal ball floating in the air renders any attempt at secrecy moot.

[DouglasGrave]

Originally posted by Cellulanus:

It's a Zeppelin. It uses hydrogen with the assistance of the rotating thrusters to stay afloat.

The Railroad destroy it by placing bombs on the hydrogen tanks.

Did you even play the game?

In case anyone hasn't noticed them, you can actually see the four thrusters mounted fore and aft on either side of the Prydwen's gondola/undercarriage, even if they don't seem like they'd be quite enough for something that looks so bulky.

I will also take the opportunity to point out that while Maxson describes the Prydwen as a "40,000 ton airship"when talking about Proctor Ingram's achievements in keeping things running, Evan Watson of the Institute offers a more likely figure of "several hundred tons of airship" crashing down on Liberty Prime during the Airship Down mission.

I'm assuming the sensible figure, and that the thrusters could make some difference to an aircraft intended to fly, instead of them trying to shove around the weight of a battleship.

[Root]

Need more techno bable, please. How about it uses room temperature super conductors that are powered through hepto-scale machines that are controled by a GUI made in Basic. If something goes wrong they activate a manual bypass to reverse the polarity. But heaven forbid if they get back hacked, then they will have to change the frequency and thus spoil the milk. After of course enhancing the image.