I've been thinking about these maneuvers myself, in the context of a vertical half-loop around the spherical planetoid. A one-level altitude change might be a little easier than that.
Vertical motion/changing altitude is different from the other movement in this game in that it is simultaneous with horizontal movement, but it kind of has to be. I think that the key thing to remember here is that changing altitude is a maneuver itself with a Kinetic Energy (KE) of 3, but it does not require a card. Stopping and changing altitude is a legal move for raiders with any KE and for vipers with any KE from 0 to 6. Following any maneuver, an "Immelman" or "Split-S" can be done in two turns:
Turn 1) Pick any maneuver card because you are going to stop. Set your control panel to (a) an altitude of +1/-1, (b) stopped velocity, (c) kinetic energy of 3, and (4) 180 rotation.
Turn 2) Pick the change direction and straight maneuver cards. Set your control panel to (a) an altitude of 0, (b) velocity of choice, (c) kinetic energy to match, and (4) 0 rotation.
*Note: To perform a turn around the spherical planetoid requires an additional change of altitude on Turn 2, which should still be legal according to the rules with any straight maneuver.
*Note 2: If a visual helps,
look at this diagram from Wikimedia Commons. Turn 1 goes from point 1 to point 2 (the vertical climb) in the diagram and Turn 2 goes from point 2 to point 3.
It looks like there is a lot going on in Turn 1, and part of that is because the ship rotation doesn't make sense there in real life. However, the game requires a rotation the turn before a ship changes direction, if I am not mistaken, so it has to be done during Turn 1. Call it the ship doing a barrel roll early. If I misunderstand the altitude change rules or the rotation/change direction rules, please let me know.
I'm a physics teacher, so please don't take offense at this correction, Mike. A 180 degree change in vector requires
velocity to reduce to zero in the initial direction of motion. Acceleration is change in velocity, so it cannot be zero during the turn. During an Immelman, the acceleration on the pilot is always directed toward their head, but their horizontal velocity is zero when the plane is vertical.
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