Game alignment with Newtonian & Einsteinian physics - ideas

[dtpsprt]

2.5. There should be no maximum speed, only maximum acceleration

This is actually a really big problem to implement. The result is a combat system that's unrelatable and unintuitive. Space battles decided by jousting at high velocity. Wouldn't resemble the combat we have now, much at all.

You DO realise that you posted on a "dropped" discussion from May 2019 right?

[abisha1980]

Realism needs to take a back seat when designing a "space game"

There are only a few reasons for this.
1- Space is BIG. Like really freaking big.
2- Relativistic Combat in space would result in firing solutions with a timeframe on the order of a few nano-seconds or shorter.
3. It would not be fun.


Some facts to back up my claims above.
TRAVEL
Earth to Sol is ~90,000,000 miles and it takes a photon 8 minutes to travel that distance
Light travels at ~186,000 miles per second (690m mph)

4000 meters per second is about 8900 miles per hour
so it would take an average X4 ship (with Mk3 engines) several real time years to cover the same distance.

COMBAT
Energy based weapons mostly make use of photons, see above for how fast they are.
If someone can visually see you and they press the fire button, to all intents and purposes you are hit INSTANTLY … you don't "strafe" out of the way of laser beams. it is literally impossible at such incredibly short distances.

who is to say it's not fun to put in space drag into the game?.

but all thing's aside real physics are not really possible ingame it would request a super computer to caculate the complexity of space etc.
for example the booster how do that drain shield when pressing the booster on, should it not consume fuel (energy) on top of that if you keep accelerating you also need the same amount of time to decelerated and space stations are not motionless objects they also have a Projectory
also when fire a energy based weapon like plasma it should travel at LS and should alway's be red while when being fired on should always be blue.

even more crazy i seen a sector with a active blackhole not the best place to be around do to timedrag the universe is already ended while you travel trough the sector at 1100 m/s

[HoneyBadger]

Considering this game has a vibrant and smart community, I'd like to propose a collection of ideas of better alignment of game physics with "our reality" physics. Hoping for an open ended thread.

1. Weapons and explosions
1.1. Xenon ships are supposed to be solid, therefore why do they explode exactly like any other ship, when destroyed? Lack of oxygen should result in minimal effect.
1.2. Destroying a vessel inside the "artificial atmosphere" of a docking platform, should actually result in a bigger explosion than in outer space, due to the presence of Oxygen and higher temperature
1.3. Splash damage. Considering a modern rocket right now has impact on Earth of about 0.5km, in space, with no friction the impact should be much wider. For example, in X4, firing the biggest torpedo against a mine field should trigger them all if they are within 1-2km.
1.4. Energy-based weapons, since are larger (more power throughput), should have proportionally increased ranges/speeds.
1.5. Bullet based weapons should be explained how they compensate the recoil effect, otherwise flying and shooting should have negative impact on ship speed.

2. Movement
2.1 Considering no friction, and ignoring the Keppler's law or impact of planets and moons, in short, the bigger the ship, the faster it should move in any direction. I understand however that can be counter-intuitive to players.
2.2. Missiles have their own propulsion, which is relative to ship propulsion and therefore should be added up.
2.3. Flying with boost through the "artificial atmosphere" should have some serious overheat results due to high speed and high air density.
2.4. Ship debris should not stop in space, since there's no friction.
2.5. There should be no maximum speed, only maximum acceleration
2.6. Collisions of objects without shields (or with shields too - depending how shield tech is explained/narrated) - should have a strong impact. E.g. a space suit bumping into a station at the speed of 3-4m/s should result in death.

3. Gravity
3.1. Most stations are not rotating to create artificial gravity, yet player movement on stations is "earth-like". EDIT: I don't suppose races in X4 are able to harness the power of gravity, because otherwise it would be number 1 weapon choice.
3.2. on stations, debris should fall to the ground

4 Time & Tech
4.1. Communication over radio (and limited to few KM but instant - judging by the static) instead of quantum.
4.2. Time flowing 1:1 when traveling through accelerators which seem to go to/beyond light speed?
4.3. Why is electronics still based on FPGA (therefore, CMOS)?


Any others?

i know this is a necro, but at 2.4 that is not correct.
Air conducts heat MUCH better than the near perfect vacuum of space.

[Falcrack]

Considering this game has a vibrant and smart community, I'd like to propose a collection of ideas of better alignment of game physics with "our reality" physics. Hoping for an open ended thread.

1. Weapons and explosions
1.1. Xenon ships are supposed to be solid, therefore why do they explode exactly like any other ship, when destroyed? Lack of oxygen should result in minimal effect.
1.2. Destroying a vessel inside the "artificial atmosphere" of a docking platform, should actually result in a bigger explosion than in outer space, due to the presence of Oxygen and higher temperature
1.3. Splash damage. Considering a modern rocket right now has impact on Earth of about 0.5km, in space, with no friction the impact should be much wider. For example, in X4, firing the biggest torpedo against a mine field should trigger them all if they are within 1-2km.
1.4. Energy-based weapons, since are larger (more power throughput), should have proportionally increased ranges/speeds.
1.5. Bullet based weapons should be explained how they compensate the recoil effect, otherwise flying and shooting should have negative impact on ship speed.

2. Movement
2.1 Considering no friction, and ignoring the Keppler's law or impact of planets and moons, in short, the bigger the ship, the faster it should move in any direction. I understand however that can be counter-intuitive to players.
2.2. Missiles have their own propulsion, which is relative to ship propulsion and therefore should be added up.
2.3. Flying with boost through the "artificial atmosphere" should have some serious overheat results due to high speed and high air density.
2.4. Ship debris should not stop in space, since there's no friction.
2.5. There should be no maximum speed, only maximum acceleration
2.6. Collisions of objects without shields (or with shields too - depending how shield tech is explained/narrated) - should have a strong impact. E.g. a space suit bumping into a station at the speed of 3-4m/s should result in death.

3. Gravity
3.1. Most stations are not rotating to create artificial gravity, yet player movement on stations is "earth-like". EDIT: I don't suppose races in X4 are able to harness the power of gravity, because otherwise it would be number 1 weapon choice.
3.2. on stations, debris should fall to the ground

4 Time & Tech
4.1. Communication over radio (and limited to few KM but instant - judging by the static) instead of quantum.
4.2. Time flowing 1:1 when traveling through accelerators which seem to go to/beyond light speed?
4.3. Why is electronics still based on FPGA (therefore, CMOS)?


Any others?

i know this is a necro, but at 2.4 that is not correct.
Air conducts heat MUCH better than the near perfect vacuum of space.

An fine example of Cunningham's law right here.

https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Cunning ... this%20law.

[Alan Phipps]

.. and a fine example of a pointless necro and even of quoting the wrong number. <click>