Standard Model - newtonian physics limited

[Destraex]

How much has the physics model newtonian physics model been retarded?

Is it just the acceleration that has been limited?
Is there a way of making it more realistic?

[Papi]

It depends on what you mean. You can do all the "stunts" with existing physics model. For example flying sideways backwards and such is possible.

[Moriartie]

Well, from what I can tell, it's just acceleration that is limited and maybe there is a top speed too (seen reference in another post). That and the fact you can't NOT use fuel in fighters, even when drifting.
There may be other quirks but they're too nuanced for me to notice.

[Destraex]

the acceleration limitations were the main thing I was interested in.
THe game Babylon5 Ive Found Her has no limits and I have to admit its easy to accelerate to a dogfight and not be able to stop when you get their to join in.... its almost like you have to carefully consider and plot your course and speed in space to make damned sure you do not overshoot your destination. Starshatter does not seem to have this.  I think you accelerate to a fairly low speed and then stop accelerating ?? and its not too hard to stop (decelerate).
Would acceleration retardation be explained away by not wanting to kill the pilot during acceleration??
Also what are the odds of having humans man fighters by the time we hit that kind of thing anyways? ---- I know I love flying them too

[p10ppy]

its pretty easy to mod in a ship.def file
check out the vlimit: parameter (as opposed to the thrust: parameter under drives)

from the starshatter site

vlimit The exhaust velocity of the main drive in meters per second. Beyond this velocity, the ship will accelerate much more slowly.

note the ai is pretty limited in coping with speed much beyond what it expects [&:]
and its "fairly" newtonian correct, exhaust velocity does kinda limit speed in rockets

[Destraex]

thats good to know p10ppy.
IS the speed the only thing that is limited in the newtonian physics model or is their more?

I would also like to know if the cap ships have a slower top speed than the fighter - newtonian I would expect that if you had powerfull enough power to weight ratio that Cap ships should be just as fast

[p10ppy]

Weelllll

Of course there “should” be no difference between ships of differing masses top “speed” (given the same propulsion type, accel is a different matter)
But I guess the BSG/Starwars et al crowd expect their dinky fighters to be faster than their basestars…(TV)[;)]

Of course vlimits should be much higher than in game (200 – 400 m/sec in game iirc)
But its not that much fun at “realistic” speeds and as I said the AI doesn’t like it much

Fuel kinda breaks it for me in terms of a realistic flight model (Powerplant rather than thrust based) but again wouldn’t be much fun if you were constantly having to drift to save fuel fractions

theres all sorts of parametres in the full blown flight model...

And there’s always been some confusion (in my mind anyway [:'(]) which are for atmo and which are for space (and their corresponding impact on flight characteristics)

but its all pretty configurable

For example:

agility:general rating of the ship's ability to turn. Smaller numbers mean the ship turns more slowly
vlimit: The exhaust velocity of the main drive in meters per second. Beyond this velocity, the ship will accelerate much more slowly
roll_rate:Similar to agility, but just sets the rate at which the ship rolls about its long axis
scale:A number used to multiply the vertex coordinates in the mesh when rendering the ship in the game engine
trans_x:Strength of the lateral (side-to-side) thrusters. Helps control how rapidly the ship can turn
trans_y:Strength of the longitudinal (foreward/aft) thrusters. Helps control how rapidly the ship can slow down
trans_z:Strength of the spinal/ventral (top/bottom) thrusters. Helps control how rapidly the ship can turn
roll_drag:How quickly the ship stops rolling after you let go of the stick
pitch_drag:How quickly the ship stops pitching after you let go of the stick
yaw_drag:How quickly the ship stops turning (yawing) after you let go of the stick
drag:Body drag coefficient. Used to calculate drag in flight regimes that have drag (e.g. atmosphere, arcade space mode)
CL:Coefficient of Lift. Realistic flight model, atmospheric only
CD:Coefficient of Drag (Wings). Realistic flight model, atmospheric only
stall:Stall onset angle of attack (radians). Realistic flight model, atmospheric only



Its been awhile and I used to remember more
and my docs from early on are history
And the original starshatter forum seems to be toast
Maybe Milo has it archived some where…lots of good modding info was there…