Forums » Suggestions
Flight Physics
It would be interesting if acceleration vectors varied with direction.
All the ship models seem to have giant exhaust ports on the back and few or no ports in any other direction. That seems to suggest that ships can accelerate faster in the direction they're facing than they could in other directions, i.e. strafing or breaking.
Aside from matching the ship models this would have 2 practical effects on the game.
1) It could be an other way to differentiate ships. A small fighter may have strong breaking and strafing capabilities compared to their forward thrust while a capship might have high forward thrust but relatively little ability to strafe or break.
2) It would be an other way to differentiate combat style. A ship that can strafe easily can always point their weapons at the enemy but a ship that can't strafe well might have to do flybys or some other tactic. This would presumably be balanced with some advantage like more forward thrust, greater turning, more weapon slots or whatever.
All the ship models seem to have giant exhaust ports on the back and few or no ports in any other direction. That seems to suggest that ships can accelerate faster in the direction they're facing than they could in other directions, i.e. strafing or breaking.
Aside from matching the ship models this would have 2 practical effects on the game.
1) It could be an other way to differentiate ships. A small fighter may have strong breaking and strafing capabilities compared to their forward thrust while a capship might have high forward thrust but relatively little ability to strafe or break.
2) It would be an other way to differentiate combat style. A ship that can strafe easily can always point their weapons at the enemy but a ship that can't strafe well might have to do flybys or some other tactic. This would presumably be balanced with some advantage like more forward thrust, greater turning, more weapon slots or whatever.
This has been suggested before, though mainly with a focus on cutting the ratio of reverse to forward thrust from 1:1 to preclude backing away as fast as one can move forward. It's an idea that those of us who like gauss, flares, rockets, and AGT would love to see put into the game. Those who like light ships and low autoaim energy weapons would suffer for it.
The thing is, the idea is already in place on a lot of cases other than non-turbo x-axis thrust. Strafing is controlled by a separate thrust variable than is forward/backwards motion. Turbo thrust, too, is different on some ships (see, e.g., Greyhound) than the non-turbo x-axis thrust.
The thing is, the idea is already in place on a lot of cases other than non-turbo x-axis thrust. Strafing is controlled by a separate thrust variable than is forward/backwards motion. Turbo thrust, too, is different on some ships (see, e.g., Greyhound) than the non-turbo x-axis thrust.
To be clear, the giant exhaust ports are associated with turbo thrust, which is greater than normal thrust on most ships. Normal thrust is produced by some internal magic.
Dr. Lecter: I didn't know it had been suggested before. In that case I'll add my vote in favor of it. Not for all ships but for some.
Maalik: That's a reasonable, if somewhat unsatisfying, explanation. But in that case the graphics should be changed so the exhaust isn't visible when thrust is off. I watched a few fight videos and it seems to be on all the time, even when the ship is turning.
Maalik: That's a reasonable, if somewhat unsatisfying, explanation. But in that case the graphics should be changed so the exhaust isn't visible when thrust is off. I watched a few fight videos and it seems to be on all the time, even when the ship is turning.
The ships are being worn by ghosts. That "exhaust" is actually the ghost's tail. It stretches and glows brighter when the turbo is engaged because the ghost is working very hard to accelerate the ship.
Yea the large engine ports are for the turbo and warp drives. You can go faster forward than you can in other directions, so this matches just fine. As for the engine glow effect. Heh yea that probably should trail according to the direction the ship is moving...
For maneuvering thrusters, some of the ship models don't have them. My guess is nobody thought about it when designing them. Others, like the Marauder, Revenant, Prometheus, Raptor, EC, etc do.
Heck, at low resolutions, it's difficult to tell which is the "business end" of a Prom until it's already too late.
For maneuvering thrusters, some of the ship models don't have them. My guess is nobody thought about it when designing them. Others, like the Marauder, Revenant, Prometheus, Raptor, EC, etc do.
Heck, at low resolutions, it's difficult to tell which is the "business end" of a Prom until it's already too late.
I've often felt the Revenant should have a much better strafing speed due to the two thrusters on the side.
http://www.vo-wiki.com/w/images/5/59/Revenant.jpg
But yeah, +1
http://www.vo-wiki.com/w/images/5/59/Revenant.jpg
But yeah, +1