Re:Space Frigates
by mortenjorck on Wednesday February 05, 2020 @01:35AM
(#22244527)
I like the conservation of angular momentum, a nod to physics realism relatively uncommon in classic space shooters. The "brakes" (down arrow key) seem like they should follow the same rules, though, that you should start moving backward if you fire them too much.
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Yes, you are correct! Nice catch!
I left the brakes as is for now because the game was very difficult with out them.
However, to retain the level of realism that I was hoping for I plan to rework the brakes such that they show the ship slows to a stop properly.
For example, the onboard computer should calculate the actual thrusters needed to stop the ship for the player.
Re:Space Frigates
by FriendlyNormie on Friday February 07, 2020 @06:08PM
(#22272139)
Can you be honest, did this actually make the game more fun to you? And why should a pilot, whether in a game or in real space, need to think about conservation of angular momentum when computers can very easily handle that themselves and perform the calculations necessary to emulate simple steering instead?
Counterintuitively that's actually not realistic. Distances and velocities in space are so large that the thrust required to change a spacecraft's orientation and angular velocity to essentially any desired value will always be completely trivial compared to the thrust it needs to go anywhere.