Thrusters

[RmJ]

So I gotta question about thrusters in their naked nature.


BIG question....


Do thrusters influence direction or not? Say if the thruster is pointing forward it pushes backwards, left pushes right, right pushes left.



Grand mystery to me is the actual influences thrusters have in the game engine. No one seems to give me a straight answer.



Discussie? Si si si

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[Friday]

An interesting way to test the effect of a thruster, would be to reorient it so it points in a different direction.

Otherwise, the simple answer is YES.

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[Zukeenee]

There are a few ships out there on which the thrusters don't point directly backwards. Due to the model of the ships, some of them point at a slight angle downwards or upwards. However, on those ships, thrusting will still send you straight ahead, and won't slowly pitch you up or down.

So no, I don't think that thruster direction has anything to do with which way your ship gets thrusted.

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[RmJ]

That would be a great solution if I had time to fiddle.


Idea I'd like to construct for the imagination is a box that has 1 engine and 5 thrusters (6 sides to one 3d box).


Each thruster influences direction powered by a single interchangeable (for expansion) power pool (supply) creating the dictation of right, left, forward, back, up, down.

Speed is relative to time given the proper mass and linear drag will result in it's variables speeds.




So strafing with enough energy to supply 1.2seconds of thrust gives you a speed of 100 m/s give or take. And a quick recharge would secure a bases of control that will enable the pilot to dodge effectively.


This of course are only rough estimates and such the practical uses of this would be on smaller crafts.



edit: Zukeenee deflates the entire reason for questioning further ,__, BUT would there be a way to modify the principles of thrusters to give them bare weight and influence of direction?

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[Friday]

The problem is activation - how can the game distinguish between one thruster and another?

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[RmJ]

Each one is named differently.

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[Hielor]

Each one is named differently.

Would you model them as guns, then? There's just one "Thrust" keymapping...

[RmJ]

Would be interesting to have them model individuality certainly wouldn't make it any more complicated than "Thrust" keymapping. However assigning more than one command to one map in relation to the one thruster or two would be something of great dynamics in ship control. Would offer enhanced abilities.

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[ProwlerPC]

Lets forgoe thrusters and delve into warping space relative to your position. In other words. Compressing space ahead of you and expanding space behind you (relative to your position, keep that in mind). I believe in this instance certain natural laws like time dilation as well as inertia can be circumvented.


:mellow:

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[Friday]

Problem is, even with different names and multiple hardpoints - getting the game engine to recognise them as different, and simply firing them all at once when you press the tab key...

I mean, if you wanted to make a hypothetical ship that operated purely on thrusters?

make the default engine speed ZERO. That way you can only get around using thrusters;)

Also, if you were able to make the side thrusters and reverse thrust deplete the total thruster percentage - then you could have the effect you are looking for.

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