SETA - Not so well-thought out it seems

[VioletRapture]

First off, the name of the device, Singularity Engine Time Accelerator, is wrong. The SETA actually decelerates the time inside your ship, so due to relativity, everything outside speeds up. So it should be a Singularity Engine Time Decelerator.

B, shields and laser energy recharges faster. If time OUTSIDE the ship appeared to be going fast, why would the shield and laser generator, which is INSIDE the ship, go at the same speed? It would remain the same because the SETA keeps the entire ship at the same time-speed (or else your ship would be torn apart instantly while moving.) If it were only the engine that was being accelerated, then it would simply work as a shoddy afterburner.

3, if you can create a device that slows down time in a specific area, you can definitely create a device that SPEEDS UP time in a certain area, and due to relativity, it would slow down ships outside the host ship, leading to greatly improved reflexes on the pilot's part.

[PhantomDG1]

Me thinks you either work for NASA ?

Or you spend TOO MUCH time thinking and not playing...lol


(only kidding as you are actually correct)

[VioletRapture]

Me thinks you either work for NASA ?

Or you spend TOO MUCH time thinking and not playing...lol


(only kidding as you are actually correct)

I'm actually a 15 year old kid that values the tiniest degree of realism in the games I play where applicable.

[LynkDead]

You can't REALLY know that 3 is true. For all we know slowing down time may be a lot easier.

Also, as for recharge rates, what if they created the SETA device to simply slow down time for the pilot? That would make sense, since it would have been obvious to the makers that having slowed laser and shield rates would suck.

Finally, the name is ok. Time APPEARS to be accelerated, which is all that really matters. And, for all intents and purposes, time IS accelerated, relatively speaking

[VioletRapture]

You can't REALLY know that 3 is true. For all we know slowing down time may be a lot easier.

Also, as for recharge rates, what if they created the SETA device to simply slow down time for the pilot? That would make sense, since it would have been obvious to the makers that having slowed laser and shield rates would suck.

Finally, the name is ok. Time APPEARS to be accelerated, which is all that really matters. And, for all intents and purposes, time IS accelerated, relatively speaking

"This product is based on the phenomenon of time and space anomaly observed in the presence of singularity. The SETA is an attachment to the ship's normal operational engine, which can, when activated, compress time up to ten fold. Due to the constrains of the space warp it is not possible to alter one's course and velocity due to time compression and the device will be deactivated as soon as any interference to the ship's controls are detected."

Therefore, it is an attachment to the engine, which, theoretically, would only speed up the ship.

If the SETA only affected the cockpit itself (like it appears to do in the game), this description and the name itself would be quite invalid.

Perhaps slowing down time is a lot easier than speeding it up - at light speed, time inside your vessel would appear to almost entirely stop relative to any outside observer. It's not really possible to reverse this process without the use of caffiene.

[LynkDead]

"This product is based on the phenomenon of time and space anomaly observed in the presence of singularity. The SETA is an attachment to the ship's normal operational engine, which can, when activated, compress time up to ten fold. Due to the constrains of the space warp it is not possible to alter one's course and velocity due to time compression and the device will be deactivated as soon as any interference to the ship's controls are detected."

Therefore, it is an attachment to the engine, which, theoretically, would only speed up the ship.

If the SETA only affected the cockpit itself (like it appears to do in the game), this description and the name itself would be quite invalid.

Eh, just because it's connected to the engine and runs off the power of the ship, doesn't necessarily mean it can't affect just the cockpit, or even just the pilot.

Further, the description IS innaccurate, but in another way. It says it doesn't allow for changes in velocity...but it is actually possible to maneuver while in SETA, just very slowly.

[Lancefighter]

I'm also a fifteen year old kid. But - i don't go about complaining about a game mechanic that ultimately HELPS YOU. Later in the game, when you have multiple stations, an HQ, and a bunch of ships, do you think that you would make credits quickly... at no time conpression? You wont. As a matter of fact, it would take... (someone quote me a game day where they have multiple factories and some cap ships) <- that many days, translated directly into hours of gameplay, or leaving your computer on, to get that far. This way... its totally possible to get to day 10 of gameplay with 2 days of playing... or playing 8 hours a day for 6 days, but still. (after all, who is gonna sit at their computer for 2 days straight?

Don't complain about this game mechanic. Leave it be... or go back to the days where you don't have it, if you've got that much of a problem with it. Ultimately, your choice.
Off you go now.

[VioletRapture]

Further, the description IS inaccurate, but in another way. It says it doesn't allow for changes in velocity...but it is actually possible to maneuver while in SETA, just very slowly.

If you've ever played a WWII flight sim like Aces High II, you'd notice that if you go too fast in a propeller plane, then compression comes into effect and your maneuverability becomes crap. That's what SETA's maneuverability effect seems like.

[LynkDead]

If you've ever played a WWII flight sim like Aces High II, you'd notice that if you go too fast in a propeller plane, then compression comes into effect and your maneuverability becomes crap. That's what SETA's maneuverability effect seems like.

The effect might be similar (wouldn't know, haven't played any WWII flight sims) the compression of air over the body/wings/propeller of an aircraft and negatively affecting its maneuverability is probably quite different than the effects of compressed spacetime.

[Lancefighter]

Further, the description IS inaccurate, but in another way. It says it doesn't allow for changes in velocity...but it is actually possible to maneuver while in SETA, just very slowly.

If you've ever played a WWII flight sim like Aces High II, you'd notice that if you go too fast in a propeller plane, then compression comes into effect and your maneuverability becomes crap. That's what SETA's maneuverability effect seems like.

wait a sec. You are trying to tell me, that in a game that tries to mirror WW2 tech, that an aircraft, going at high speeds, is not very maneuverable? Did you stop to think that, in WW2, fighters were not fly by wire? that means, the pilot had to wrestle with the controls to get it to turn. (if i remember right) So yea, when you are going fast your gonna be unable to turn, since you trying to move the rudder is gonna be blocked by the air hitting the rudder at high speeds, deflecting the rudder back into its neutral position.

[VioletRapture]

Further, the description IS inaccurate, but in another way. It says it doesn't allow for changes in velocity...but it is actually possible to maneuver while in SETA, just very slowly.

If you've ever played a WWII flight sim like Aces High II, you'd notice that if you go too fast in a propeller plane, then compression comes into effect and your maneuverability becomes crap. That's what SETA's maneuverability effect seems like.

wait a sec. You are trying to tell me, that in a game that tries to mirror WW2 tech, that an aircraft, going at high speeds, is not very maneuverable? Did you stop to think that, in WW2, fighters were not fly by wire? that means, the pilot had to wrestle with the controls to get it to turn. (if i remember right) So yea, when you are going fast your gonna be unable to turn, since you trying to move the rudder is gonna be blocked by the air hitting the rudder at high speeds, deflecting the rudder back into its neutral position.

I'm saying that the SETA reminds me of that situation.

[Lancefighter]

well then stop whining about a game mechanic and start using it! imagine what you could have done in the time it took you to complain and get a few responses!
tsk tsk.

[esd]

SETA works by slowing time in a local vicinity using the effects which are seen in reality. Gravity affects the passing of time - the closer you are to a gravitational body, the slower time passes for you (and thus, faster for everyone else). This effect has been proven using identical clocks and very high buildings, aircraft and probably also the ISS by now.

Doing the reverse has not yet been shown to be possible. I've not seen any effect that would allow time to pass faster for yourself but slower for everyone else.

The reason weapons and shields charge "faster" on SETA (though in actuality they take the same amount of game-time) is because SETA's effect is constrained to the cockpit.

With regard to it's naming, because time slowing down for you speeds everything else up, it's name's still accurate. It's accelerating the passing of time outside your cockpit.

[Rapier]

Explanation 1:
The SETA doesen't actually do anything to time, it simply alters how time effects a small area of the ship in the vicinity of a controlled singularity. The effect of this is to put the pilot into a kind of stasis, with only intermittant awareness of teh outside world. Thus, to the perception of the pilot, time speeds up.

Explanation 2:
If you read any of the back-story to the X-Universe, you won't find any mention of SETA. It doesn't, in fact, exist in the X-Universe. It's just been added to the game to make it more playable and the join has been papered over (but you can still see it ) If this really detracts from the game for you, just eject your SETA into space and fire a Hornet at it.

[VioletRapture]

SETA works by slowing time in a local vicinity using the effects which are seen in reality. Gravity affects the passing of time - the closer you are to a gravitational body, the slower time passes for you (and thus, faster for everyone else). This effect has been proven using identical clocks and very high buildings, aircraft and probably also the ISS by now.

Doing the reverse has not yet been shown to be possible. I've not seen any effect that would allow time to pass faster for yourself but slower for everyone else.

The reason weapons and shields charge "faster" on SETA (though in actuality they take the same amount of game-time) is because SETA's effect is constrained to the cockpit.

With regard to it's naming, because time slowing down for you speeds everything else up, it's name's still accurate. It's accelerating the passing of time outside your cockpit.

Then why does the scrolling text readouts inside my own cockpit speed up as well?

[esd]

Then why does the scrolling text readouts inside my own cockpit speed up as well?

Because they're on a REALLY fast computer that actually slows itself down the rest of the time, and does that to show you that SETA is on and functioning.

Honest.

Or, the effects localised to within a particular material, in which the cockpit and all surfaces are covered, thus the display is actually millimeters outside of the range of SETA's effect.

Really.

[VioletRapture]

Then why does the scrolling text readouts inside my own cockpit speed up as well?

Because they're on a REALLY fast computer that actually slows itself down the rest of the time, and does that to show you that SETA is on and functioning.

Honest.

Or, the effects localised to within a particular material, in which the cockpit and all surfaces are covered, thus the display is actually millimeters outside of the range of SETA's effect.

Really.

Now that's just impractical. There's absolutely no reason why I would want all the vital tactical information inside my ship to suddenly become unreadable.

[LynkDead]

Then why does the scrolling text readouts inside my own cockpit speed up as well?

The real question is, why does it matter?

There's probably a dozen other things you could nitpick about this game. SETA is obviously a feature put in to make it more playable and fun.

ANY problem you can come up with, can easily be refuted by a "what if...". There's no evidence to say that SETA can't just affect the individual in the cockpit.

It's really a pointless argument.

[esd]

Now that's just impractical. There's absolutely no reason why I would want all the vital tactical information inside my ship to suddenly become unreadable.

And what about the other explaination I offered?

[Rapier]

And whilst we're being picky, isn't your signature 2% too tall?