Sup. I've got some stuff for the Purchasing and in-flight UI. Oh, and something on Chording

#1

Sup. I’ve got some stuff for the Purchasing and in-flight UI

Shop:

Okay, when you are buying a ship, all you have is the cost, rank requirements, and a description.

What needs to be there is the amount of slots it has for the various systems (Cannons, Missiles, Active Modules, and Passive Modules), it’s Hull, Shield, Energy capacity, Energy output/regen, and it’s top forward velocity.

We all know that cannons the three ship types carry by default, so that’s not a problem, but it would be nice to have a little icon next to the ship, or put that in some kind of help-box, you know, for the newbs.

I would also like to be able to preview the ship in my hangar before buying it as well. That would be beast.

Oh, and I know people have already sent this in, but there needs to be a little scroll-bar for the text. Don’t forget to add scroll-wheel compatibility

Flight:

I like the central reticle; it’s really nice and easy to use.

However, the icon for your targeted ship (solid arrow) and [LMAFO, I don’t pay a lick of attention] the closest person locked on to you (hollow arrow) should be on the reticle’s outer circle, and not off to the edge of the screen or just a red circle(regardless of how many), unless of course they are cloaked, then it would pick the next one.

Also, I would like to be able to know the distance (it doesn’t have to be exact) and direction of any missiles currently being jerks.

Also, I’d like to be able to move the cursor in the fixed-camera mode to anywhere on the screen. This is a must for good combat. If it exceeds the turn-speed of the craft, then it just doesn’t do anything extra.

Chording:

Okay, this isn’t a suggestion of “please add this” but “please don’t remove this.”

If you are in fixed-camera flight and use two or three flight commands, if their vectors add up (such as Forward, Up, and Left thrust), you will get a light increase in speed, even with ABs. This is called Chording, and it’s awesome.

Please, do not remove this or make some ridiculous patch to get rid of it. Chording is not only a staple in gaming history (Descent, Doom, and pretty much any other twich-FPS), but it’s also scientifically accurate, seeings that you are using more than just your main engines.

gooby pls

That is all :3

#2

Re chording being scientifically accurate

EITHER:

There is a fixed maximum velocity dependant on factors like air resistance, in which case the thrust gain from using manouvering jets will be negligable even when all thrust vectors are pointing in the same direction, and when they’re perpendicular to each other your straight-line velocity will be nearly the same as with the mains if you’re lucky

OR:

There is no air resistance in space, in which case there should be no upper limit on velocity anyway, and said point above about thrust vectors applies not to top speed but to acceleration and, sure, is actually accurate.

There is, however, no scientifically accurate model that allows for a magical increase in “maximum speed” by using three thrust vectors at right angles to one another. As to it being a staple of gaming, lots of things are “staples” to gaming, finite lives and no saving in platformers and FPS being the quintessential example. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s one more needless thing new players have to learn. I’m not advocating Star Conflict be Hello Kitty Online, but I am opposed to making things difficult for the sake of making them difficult.

Now, obviously you’re going to point out that the second model is the case here, because there is no air resistance in space. Well you’re half right, there’s no air resistance in space. But there is an arbitrary maximum velocity in Star Conflict, which means we’re playing as though there is some kind of resisting medium. Thus from a purely game mechanics standpoint, no, we are using the first model.

TBH, Chording is an artifact of a physics model that can’t decide whether it wants things to behave like airplanes or spaceships. This is why you see it in games like Freespace and Decent, and not games like Ace Combat or Elite.

#3

As to it being a staple of gaming, lots of things are “staples” to gaming, finite lives and no saving in platformers and FPS being the quintessential example. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s one more needless thing new players have to learn. I’m not advocating Star Conflict be Hello Kitty Online, but I am opposed to making things difficult for the sake of making them difficult.

Now that’s just a flat-out Strawman and Guilt by Association ಠ_ಠ.

I just thought it was cool and a nice shout-out of sorts (purposeful or not). From what I could tell it gave you maybe 10-15 units extra (when using three directions). Side-thrusting is not that fast, so the vectors wouldn’t add up to much more.

I actually did the math, and with 210 forward thrust and only 50 side thrust, you get 216 units total. That’s like what, a 3% increase? It’s not that big of a deal, dude.

In Descent, all of the directional commands had equal speed. If they were all 100, then using two would give you about 141 total. That is a huge difference.

Now, obviously you’re going to point out that the second model is the case here, because there is no air resistance in space. Well you’re half right, there’s no air resistance in space. But there is an arbitrary maximum velocity in Star Conflict, which means we’re playing as though there is some kind of resisting medium. Thus from a purely game mechanics standpoint, no, we are using the first model.

The ships themselves would have to have a set speed each, but with having that tactical jumpdrive on the Ints, that would almost render that theory null and void, unless there is some special code for it, which I doubt.

Also, FS works the same way. Regarding the forward thrust and AB, they are not dissimilar in any way that I’ve seen yet.

TBH, Chording is an artifact of a physics model that can’t decide whether it wants things to behave like airplanes or spaceships. This is why you see it in games like Freespace and Decent, and not games like Ace Combat or Elite.

No, Chording, especially in Descent, occurs because you have multiple sources of acceleration; this is Chording’s basic infrastructure. When you go forward, that’s one vector, and when you go to your left, that’s another vector. You’re not using one max-velocity bubble of sorts, where you choose how to travel in it. If you use both they are added like vectors in physics, if you use another you get even more speed.

Also, the game is stated to be a zero-g environment, so I don’t see how it’s an artifact of any kind.

In vanilla Freespace there is no side thrusting; you can only move one direction: Forward. You can rotate and get smacked around by explosions and impacts, but your engines can only send you forward. FS, however, does have an easter egg that allows you to enable Descent’s flight engine for your craft, but that’s only in FS1, and you must enable cheats and it doesn’t have AB.

Other than that, both FS and D operate using a vector-based physics engine.

Again, it’s not at all an artifact.

#4

I suppose we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this point then.