I’m sure pirates knew the answer. Probably fighter pilots as well.

  • Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml
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    8 months ago

    Funny copypastas aside, I think that’s missing the point of this question and my addition to it. In this scenario as the OP described, the thing being pursued is slower than the pursuer, but faster at turning. Among the various answers they got one saying that the superior turning ability would not help with completely escaping because even if the pursued could temporarily increase the gap between themselves and their pursuers by well timed turnings, the gap would always be shrunk again by the pursuer’s superior speed. They noted however that though this meant they’d never escape, they could theoretically never be caught either because they could keep just evading with well timed turns. They also made an analogy to missiles and aircraft saying that in that instance, aircraft turning away from a missile that’s faster than the aircraft can be an effective evasion strategy because the missile can ‘lose’ the target if the aircraft gets behind the missile making it unable to detect the aircraft with its forward facing sensors.

    What I’m saying is that another reason that trick might work with aircraft and missiles is just the fact that the missile can only chase for so long before it has no fuel left, even if it is faster than the aircraft its chasing. I figure the same goes for the hypothetical with the ships. If the pursued ship can continue to shake off the pursuer with well timed turns for long enough, it could maybe escape just through attrition, as long as they had more fuel than their pursuers, who are still faster but obviously unable to continue the chase indefinitely.