Greetings VO,

Hopefully this isn't a re-post of something that's been posted before, but my searches didn't turn up anything similar to this.

In a nutshell, ships in VO are SLOW. Maybe I'm beating a dead horse, but the physics don't match up with the game world.

First, some math. At full turbo (220 m/s max), it would take a ship in VO ~*20.25* days to get from the Earth to the Moon. (Distance from Earth to the Moon: 384,400 km/238,900 mi) If you didn't have a turbo and were flying at 70 m/s, it would take a ship in VO ~*63.55* days to get from the Earth to the Moon.

It took the lunar mission space craft 2-3 days to get the Moon from the Earth. I know they had help getting there, but it took the same amount of time to get back...with simple fuel engines. Assuming it took 3 days to get from the Earth to the Moon, or vice versa, the lunar ships were traveling at ~1483.3 m/s...with simple fuel engines.

Second, my beef overall with this.

If you read the back story of the VO universe, the citizens of VO have been flying around in space for 2,292 years (current year in the back story AD4432, first year in the back story AD2140)...at supposedly speeds of 50-200 m/s.

Am I supposed to believe that in 2,292 years no one has bothered to soup up their spacecraft and seriously push the limits of space flight? Are people really content to fly at speeds less than ground vehicles? (I assume ground vehicles are much faster in VO...who doesn't love going fast in a car?)

In the world we live in, there are currently small probes (NASA's Deep Space 1 and Dawn Probe to name a couple) using the first ion engines in space. Don't get me wrong...even ships in VO are faster than these probes. The deep space probe has a 0-to-60 mp/h of around 4 days. (60 mp/h is ~26 m/s) Deep Space 1 was launched in 1996 and the Dawn Probe was launched in 2007.

I find it hard to believe that even by AD2140 we would still be limited to speeds of 90 m/s. Human kind is, if any thing, always wanting to go faster and faster. In the 2,292 years of the VO universe, I find it extremely odd that we haven't pushed our ships well beyond the current game mechanics.

Third, and lastly, I understand that there is something of a balance that is being achieved with the current game mechanics. I just can't help but feel the (as I see it) lack of thought about the vastness of empty space. It lends it self well as to why landing on planets in VO isn't possible. That doesn't mean the balance is out of balance though.

Maybe I just like the idea of going faster (which I do). Maybe I just like the idea of 2300 years of space flight teaching us how to go faster (which I do). Maybe I just like the idea that humanity will never stop wanting to go faster (which I do).

What I don't like though is going slow. After nearly 2300 years of space flight, I'd like to think we, as a people, would have been quick to speed up our ships.

I know all to well how difficult it would be to start integrating faster and faster speeds into VO. Not just from a game mechanics stand point, but also from a back story stand point. While I know how I would go about handling those issues, I know how tricky it can be to implement such drastic changes.

Ultimately, I for one would GREATLY appreciate seeing the game mechanics "catch up" with where space flight technology should be in VO. For the moment, I'm simply content to rant about it and wait hopefully for change.

- Vatdec

Good gameplay is *always* more important than realistic gameplay, unless the "game" is a simulator (Vendetta isn't). I believe the developers eventually want to add some sort of intra-sector jumping/speed-boost that's better than turboing, but for regular fighting scenarios the current speeds are "slow" for a very good reason: they're much more fun than faster speeds.

VO ships actually can fly at speeds in excess of 10,000 m/s in some cases; it just requires lots and lots of concussion mines.

Otherwise I agree with slime: gameplay is the reason ships move at their present speeds. This becomes readily apparent once one gets into PvP.

I'm well aware of the reasons for the current ship speeds. I also agree that game play is more important than realism in most games. That doesn't mean there isn't room for more balance with the game overall or more accurate realism.

I'm not suggesting a huge change in VO that makes it not VO, that would be silly. I'm just suggesting giving the game (as I see it) a bit more realism within its own universe.

I'm sure this will ultimately end up a moot point, but it's the one thing over all the other things I've pondered for VO that I would like to see the most. I've been gaming for a very long time, and VO is on my top 5 list of great space based games. If I can help improve it then I will. It just so happens my suggestion falls in the realm of realism and could threaten to change the game in undesirable ways.

- Vadtec

P.S. As for the concussion mines: if you could make a concussion engine, that would be excellent for some laughs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) ? :P

Yes slime, yes.

"Jousting with thumb-tacks while driving formula one cars"

-TROLLSTALK

what if they stay the same speed but we multiply the numbers by 10
will that make you feel better

VO ships also don't use any fuel and have jump drives. Why fly to the moon at 225m/s when you can just jump to the next sector over? :)

CrazySpense...true to his name. Alas, no, I'm not that easily fooled.

@arf: If sectors were so small you could jump to "the next sector over" and reach the moon, there would be many times more sectors. That is completely against my point.

Obviously this suggestion has become moot, much as predicted. Oh well, maybe someday.

- Vadtec

It's not really moot. Everything is too slow for space in VO, and shouldn't have speed limits to begin with if you want to be realistic.

I personally find it funny that I own a handgun that has a higher muzzle velocity than the "railguns" in VO. :)

How about they just increase all ship speeds 300% for one 24 hour period to make things interesting?

@arf: Ha! I hadn't thought of that. My handgun has a higher muzzle velocity than the "railguns" in VO as well. So does my 7.62 rifle. LOL.

Speed limits I'm not as concerned about, though I do agree with you that in space they are a human made limitation. And you have to admit...the idea of flying into a roid at several thousand m/s and splatting yourself is quite amusing.

@greenwall: While it would be entertaining, it serves little purpose, other than the above mentioned splatting.

Does the game ever actually state that it's using SI units? For all we know m/s is Monkeys per Salsa. Of course, building sizes sort of disrupt that thought.

And Arf has the right idea. We can warp across the system in seconds, and most of space is empty. Therefor we don't need high speeds, we need precise, reliable, and safe warp technology. You can only fit so many sprinkles on a cake, even a cake the size of a fighter jet.

As for weapon velocity - if it's so fast you can't see it coming, it's no fun to dodge. Despite common misconception, VO is Dodgeball in Space, not Space-Quake.

@Pizzasgood: I'd love to see VO implement mass and it's effect on vehicle movement using anything other than S/I...especially monkeys per salsa.

Space being empty doesn't negate the desire to go faster either...

- Vadtec

P.S. Space-Quake would get boring really fast...

Its a game... granted its a game where a bow or air pistol has comparable or better speed than most weapons, the ships are agonizingly slow and the two warring nations are content to have identical weapons (barring a very few ships)...

Just enjoy it and try to suspend disbelief.

You all got it wrong.. the ships are actually MASSIVe.. and its MILEs per second....

X^D

Actually... maybe in 3500 years the swedish had great influence and their MIL's became the common form of measurement (mil = 10km)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian/Swedish_mil

@redotter: Just because I'm curious...where does it say m/s is actually supposed to mean mi/s? Using standard S/I units of course?

90 mi/s is 324,000 mph, which would be much more respectable. Me personally, I think its meters per second, because distances in VO seem to be measured in (kilo)meters.

Well.. you know how things go over time... V's become U's... (http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/80000) and other abbreviations, slang... like roflmao, rtfm....

Mi's became m's over a few dozen decades because meters were so insignificant and not used anymore.....

why not just make up a new unit ... and name it something with M... and then that is equivilant to what ever speed you'd like it to represent and leave the physics as is... just saying. You are just ASSUMING m means meters... I don't think it is carved in stone that it is infact meters... just like galactic trade standard has little bearing on our current alphabet.. maybe the icon being used just LOOKS like an m? But it means distance /per time.

(Actually I was just trolling... I'm 99.99999999% sure its meters, but if it makes you feel better you can believe they're miles :P )

I'm fairly certain it is Monkeys per Salsa.