Here's one of my [many] musings. I was thinking about how engines use energy and I came to the conclusion that they are amazing, in that they consume NO power when at full thrust, the same NO power when at no thrust, but some power while boosting. So I was thinking, can you make engines consume power at ALL levels? It would be a welcome change and would go with my "Thrust/Maneuverability Ratio". Say, an engine going at 60m/s consumed 40 energy per second. This means that, with nothing else happening, a medium battery would neither lose or gain charge at 65m/s, and everything else would be suitably affected. But this isn't all. Make this battery drain dependant on speed. Make it so an engine going 0m/s consumes 0 e/s, and an engine going at, say, 15m/s consumed 10 energy and so on and so forth. I think this, like my "Thrust/Maneuverability Ratio" would add a depth to the game in the sense that the higher speed wouldn't always be the best one.

Energy drain depending on how fast the ship is moving? Sorry but I'm a little uncomfortable with that idea since the game has pseudo-newtownian physics in the background which always makes me think that fuel (energy) should only be consumed when the player is thrusting. I see that you are trying to add another layer onto the gameplay but I would imagine that with these rules energy based fights would be at a snails pace - you couldn't back away from a fight to recharge either because as soon as you accelerated to doso you would loose more potential energy than you would gain.

Interesting idea, but sadly I don't think it would work in it's current form. I do, however, agree that engines in regular use should consume some form of energy just when thrusting (changing vector of flight) but that would put anyone using arcade flight mode at an unfair disadvantage. Wonder what other people will think.

- and, and_but_red!, and_only_gold!

I would comment that we are in space. And therefore, there is no drag. QED once an object has a specific vector, it will continue to move in that vector. (remember vector == speed + direction).

Actually, vector = direction. Velocity is the word you were looking for. And we have drag, because it's just a game and it'd be unrealistic without it. If you don't believe me, boost up to full speed then let go fo the boost button.

I thought a vector had both direction and magnitude.

- and, and_but_red!, and_only_gold!

drag caused by space dusts! ;)

And the green stuff s7 station is venting.

snip1:
remember vector == speed + direction).

snip2:
I thought a vector had both direction and magnitude.

in fact they are both right, but not completely :D A vector has a speed (so startingpoint, x0). Now the vector also has a general direction where it is heading and at the same time has a certain magnitude.

So in short, a vector = x0 + direction + magnitude

cheers

There's no reason for this.

Unless engines always consume slightly more than batteries put out, there's no reason to have them consume energy at all. It would go unnoticed otherwise.

Besides, I think this is the case now...engines consume less energy than the battery puts out in normal mode, but turbo pushes it so that they consume more.

Renegade, Magnitude? Remind me again what that is please.

Having engines use energy just for flying would make combat needlessly complicated. But speaking of energy and engines what if energy use/engine efficiency was based on ship mass? That way you could use a light engine on a light ship without losing engine power although you'd have to give the engines themselves mass so that a heavy engine on a light ship wouldn't be as effective as a light engine on a light ship. Just a thought.

magnitude=

the Bigness of the vector, you know, the attached value of it. Naturally this value is compared to the unity vector "name could be a little off, it is just the base vector"

for instance:

unity vector: x->

vector1 : x---->
vector2 : <-------x

as you can see the difference between the both of them, is the startingpoint (x0 "or in this example x"),the direction (left or right "actually it is somewhere between -180 and 180 degree")and to tip it off, the actual value of it compared to the unity vector. for vector1 the value would have been 2 and for vector2 it would have been 3.

Furball, I hope this was a little bit understandable :D. I couldnt remember some of the exact english names for it, I know the dutch ones though :D

x0 is not the vector's attribute! vector has only directon and "magnitude" (i think in english, it's "size" or something :) )

speed can be described by vectors, location can be described by vectors, but the big difference is that speed couldn't have source point (x0).

(( if i can remember, Newton has a theory about this. ))

No sir, i don't like it.

I like the energy for other stuff idea. like the shields/engines/weapons thing star wars games have got going on. That could prove interesting & perhaps fun. There could then be x2 pools of energy that could be linked to different outlets. If you need that extra juice to get away from somewhere you could pipe the energy from both pools into the boost, if you are carrying the flag you could pipe all the energy into your weapons.

just an idea...



*edit*

Broken ascii space ship :(

Hmmmm this would me we get to dodge or shoot..... wouldn't this just nerf all energy weapons? If you shoot to the bottom of your bat then you either stop moving or stop accelerating (changing speed and/or direction) either one makes all your opponents shots hit with the aim bot.