Science
The real science and hardware the game is built on. Every real-world figure is cited; numbers from the game are marked “in game”.
- 74 to 78 aircraft: what a US carrier air wing carries
A modern US Navy carrier air wing has 74 to 78 aircraft and about 1,500 people. Here is what flies from the deck, and how Hostile Flagship models it.
- Why fuel is mass: the rocket equation, explained
Tsiolkovsky published the rocket equation in 1903. It says why far trips cost so much more fuel than near ones, and Hostile Flagship uses it for every jump.
- Never dark, never seen: the far side of the Moon
The Moon always shows Earth the same face, but its far side gets as much sunlight as the near side. Why, and how Hostile Flagship's far-side point uses it.
- 326,400 km out: the Earth-Moon L1 point
Earth-Moon L1 is 326,400 km from Earth's centre, where Earth's and the Moon's pulls balance. What it is, and why it is the gateway in Hostile Flagship.
- 7.8 km a second: what low Earth orbit means
Low Earth orbit is any orbit of 128 minutes or less, below about 2,000 km. The ISS flies at about 400 km. How Hostile Flagship uses two low-orbit points.
- 4,500 rounds a minute: how the Phalanx defends a ship
The Phalanx close-in weapon system fires 4,500 rounds a minute from a 1,550-round magazine. How it works, and how Hostile Flagship's point defence copies it.
- 35,786 km up: why a satellite can hang still in the sky
A geostationary orbit is 35,786 km above the equator, where one orbit takes one turn of the Earth. What it is, and how Hostile Flagship uses three points on it.