Unfortuniately, about 400 years ago, all ships were capable of obtaining much higher top speeds, and yes, fighters could easily out-accelerate the much slower freighters. However many freighter pilots thought this was unfair and filed a class action lawsuit against most of the ship/engine builders. This case would have probably been thrown out of court immediately, but the law system was still reeling from the impact of the Tunny vs. Spacefoods lawsuit, in which Mrs. Tunny was awarded 400,000,000.00 credits when her ship passed to close to a gravity hole, causing her Galaxy Moca to spill in her lap, thereby causing a rare moca-related skin rash that caused her 7 days of discomfort. Apparently there was no warning on the side of the cup that warned of possible spillage from gravitational fluctuations when the spill-proof cap was removed to allow her to more easily lick the cream froth from the top of the moca.

Fearing this, all engine/shipbuilding companies agreed to limit ship speeds and top accelerations to the slowest ship flying at that time, which happened to be the 200 year old x-591 snail freighter flown by old man Gropo. They also paid an undisclosed sum in reparations to the traders union to offset lost income from the unfairly fast fighters that had been preying on them.


Hope this helps clear things up a bit

If it helps suspend your disbelief, think of it this way: aerodynamics doesn't do jack for you in space. There is no gravity, so the biggest freighter weighs as much as the smallest fighter - nothing. Both engines are pushing the same amount of resistance, ie., none. The only difference in speed might be the acceleration, which is minute due to the fact that we're talking about the speed in which chemicals burn. All of those used as engine fuels are too fast for the human to compare without some expensive timing gear.

This doesn't go for maneuverability, however. Here, size really does matter. A light fighter can pivot faster than a freighter simply because the arc they have to fill is smaller. Even though the angle of the arc is the same, the arms of that arc are much greater in length for the freighter than for the fighter. Here's a quick example you can create yourself to see what I mean:

Place a cup or round glass in the center of a piece of paper and draw an outline around it's base with a pencil. Remove the cup and place a quarter in the center of the circle you've drawn. Draw an outline around the quarter. Remove the quarter. Draw a straight line from the center of the circles to the edge of the outer circle. This is your start and finish line. Now, using your pencil, follow the outermost circle around it's entire diameter, doing your best to set a steady, slow, pace. Count how many seconds it takes you. Repeat this for the smaller circle, keeping the same pace. You should see a drammatic difference in time, with the smaller circle being completed much faster. The small circle is your light fighter, the big circle is the freighter.

You can also do a test of the acceleration. Take the quarter you used for tracing the circle. Hold the quarter in the center by pinching it between the index fingers of your left and right hand. Holding it thus, place the edge of it on the bridge of your nose. Now, slowly roll the quarter from the bridge to the tip of your nose. Having done that, immediately head for a crowded area, if you're a student, I recommend going to school, otherwise a grocery is just fine. Weave through the crowd, imagining that the people are an asteroid field. If it helps your imagination, you might hold your arms out like wings and make a space ship thruster noise.

Report back your results to let us know what you found out.

"There is no gravity, so the biggest freighter weighs as much as the smallest fighter - nothing."

They still have mass, and they still have inertia.

I'm telling ya, just try my experiments, and you'll see that it all makes perfect sense. Take pictures and post them here so we can all see. I'd do it myself, but I don't have a camera.

LOL Zaratomb.

Scary.. I actually believe you.