Forums » Suggestions

Shock Waves

Feb 13, 2008 SuperMegaMynt link
Some time past it postulated that VO will one day have sectors with high concentrations of stuff, like Xith Ore dust or whatever, the effect being similar to the visual blurring in ion storms.

In space with significantly denser 'atmosphere', explosive weapons would project a shockwave, yes? Suggestion: Rockets and misslies have some sort of bonus in such sectors... be it a larger splash radius, or damage, concussion, or even something creative like a second purely concussive blast that hits after a .5 second delay.
Feb 14, 2008 moving target link
Sounds amusing for gameplay.

For actual physics, if there is enough particulate matter to be transmitting shock waves, then missiles and even ships should be moving slower and energy-based weapons would be almost worthless as the energy would be diffused as they move through the mass.
Feb 14, 2008 toshiro link
Shhh, let's not bring logic into this. If there was enough matter to allow waves to be transmitted, a whole 'nother can of worms would open.
Feb 14, 2008 SuperMegaMynt link
Heaven forbid VO includes additional content.
Feb 15, 2008 moving target link
Not saying I am against it. Nebulas and such would be rather interesting. I think I read another post about making them mineable.

Planets with a gravitational field would also be interesting, but that might be rather difficult to build into the current game physics code. Especially if it affected everything including missiles, ships, mines, and cargo.
Feb 15, 2008 toshiro link
As said, no logic. Logic would destroy a lot of things in games.

I think it would be interesting to have varying efficiency of explosive weaponry when it comes to concussive force, depending on location. Sadly, to make it variable within a sector, I guess the cost would not be in a nice correlation to the benefit.
Feb 15, 2008 SuperMegaMynt link
This game operates strongly on logic. Not only because it's a *computer* game, but because logic provides an intuitive interface for the players. As far as I'm concerned, that makes for a quality game.

Gravity would be ridiculously simple to simulate with this game engine. This very instant I can imagine the structure of a Lua plugin that would command your ship to slowly accelerate towards a certain point in the skybox, pending the availability of displayshippos. I'd be surprised if the game wasn't designed with such care if thy Devs didn't plan to add gravitational effects sometime soon™.

Nebulae would be no harder than ion storms without jump exit points. Arguably, ion storms are the nebulae in this universe, as I gauruntee there's going to be a storm of ions in any nebula.

Really, toshiro, if you take like 5 minutes to think through this stuff, you might notice it doesn't hail the end of the VO universe as we know it. You might even suspect that I already considered what the game would be like with my suggestions, and decided that it could potentially not wreck your precious life. So the next time you make a "No, I don't like it, cuz it'd be bad, durr" kind of reply on this board, please, you better make damn sure you actually give some supportive reasons.

Besides, this is about Shock Waves, not logic. This entire suggestion is relatively quite bereft of logic.
Feb 16, 2008 Shapenaji link
Um, just a little update from the astrophysics community... shockwaves DO travel inside of molecular gas clouds... but its still very diffuse matter.
Feb 16, 2008 toshiro link
Mynt, read my post, and read it well.

I said, and I quote, "I think it would be interesting to have varying efficiency of explosive weaponry when it comes to concussive force, depending on location."

Nowhere in this thread did I say I was against it. I was skeptical as to whether it would be feasible to have it be variable within one sector (as opposed to being uniform for an entire one). And I jokingly replied to moving target's thoughts about the resistance molecular clouds would offer in space. I will add winking or standard smileys to my next attempts at sarcasm, cynism or plain old humour for your viewing pleasure.

As for the propagation of shockwaves in molecular clouds: Sounds interesting, and I stand corrected, having assumed that density would not be high enough (in nebulae) to allow such a thing to happen to a significant extent (i.e. you would feel it within a space ship with roughly 30 m2 as impact area).

Still, I stand by my words. Logic would destroy a lot of things in games. Saying that because they are computer games, they would not work without logic is comparing apples to oranges, since I am talking about rules and phenomena, dictated by the coding of the game, not about the code of the game itself.

Also, I don't think it is a bad thing that there should be some things that one cannot explain logically in a game; it's just the way it is. If, for example, my character receives a Fierce Dragon Kick to the face from Jann Lee in Dead or Alive 4, and gets up again, ready to fight like before (albeit with less health), I keep playing, fully aware that in real life, having my nose kicked in would have severely hampered my ability to breathe.

If my character dies in Vendetta Online, I am happy with the explanation that my genetical information was stored somewhere and my memories and all he other important stuff was transferred to a clone of me, so be it! Or perhaps we mastered the disinteration and reintegration of living beings. But it does not make sense, since I know (or believe to know) otherwise.

Do you understand what I meant, now?
Feb 16, 2008 moving target link
Hey, no logic in the forum posts either.
Feb 16, 2008 Shapenaji link
Well, they do travel, but its going to be a very long wavelength shock.

it wouldn't buffet your ship, but it might make some pretty colors for you...
Feb 17, 2008 toshiro link
Pretty colours would be nice, especially since it would be a telltale sign that your rockets, mines or whatever floats your boat, will behave differently.

What would they look like in reality, something like aurorae?
Feb 23, 2008 SuperMegaMynt link
The atmosphere on Earth is molecular enough, and the shockwaves from an appropriately sized explosive are sufficiently noticeable. Yet I'd imagine these high-density areas would contain ionic compounds, (ferric ore?) not molecular gases, though I don't really know much about the chemicals in 'empty' space, or how they react within extremely cold vacuums. I don't understand where you're getting your assumptions from Shapenji, but I can't see what's so unlikely about an area in space where the density of junk is enough to rival that of Terran atmosphere.

Nor do I understand how any education of chemistry beyond the most basic teachings of astrology is going to help you determine the probability such a place. Do not some sectors exist near planets? Do not some planets of rings? Are not these rings formed from dust, a less concentrated supply of very dense rocks? Only one potential example out of many, you only need to look around you to find the information you need to imagine what I'm suggesting, but if scientifically approved labels helps you to understand, that's your cup of tea.

My favorite changes to balance are those which balance themselves; if rockets and missiles do get their shockwave bonus, it'd be appropriate if they recieved a debuff as well; say to their velocities. Ships as well, and I conjecture that energy based weaponry is more traumatizing against slower targets than explosives. Thus all will profit.