Flight mechanics

[eyecue]

I would heavily suggest not using a flight mechanic similar to elite dangerous and no mans sky and hopefully something way more engaging and fun like everspace.

If anyone has other flight games in mind that would make a good mechanic to have for this game please comment.

[Ripper]

Per the latest Kickstarter update, the behavior of your ship will be largely dependent upon how you build it.

 

Thrusters push on constructs

 

Where you place them matters.

 

And as long as the control unit accepts keyboard, mouse and a variety of analog inputs for joysticks, pedals, throttles, etc. Then you can control it however you like.

 

As far as engines go. They have:

"Adjusters" - per JC maneuvering Thrusters

Atmospheric engines

Space engines

Aero/space engines

FTL engines - for in system travel

 

And Stargates to jump between systems.

[wizardoftrash]

As the main focus for the game is building, flight mechanics will take 2nd fiddle most likely. We might see some cool stuff post-launch however, since the addition of Construct vs Construct pvp would make ship building change pretty dramatically.

 

The most exciting aspects of flying a ship will probably come from Scripting. Players may be able to script complex maneuvers and keybind them, so your barrel rolls and bucket spins that would require engines and adjusters to be turned on and off at specific times could be executed quite easily (after the painstaking process of writing the needed scripts, and building a ship that can execute the scripts). We will find some ship designs can be built for specific stunts, possibly even different ship configuration archetypes that perform specific sets of maneuvers.

[Ripper]

I think your mileage will vary with those scripts.

 

I'm betting they're dependent upon the placement of the thrusters.  So using the same script with two different ships will most likely result in two different results.

[Hotwingz]

I think your mileage will vary with those scripts.

 

I'm betting they're dependent upon the placement of the thrusters. So using the same script with two different ships will most likely result in two different results.

I think so too.

If the mass is even slightly different I expect that to influence the scripted maneuver.

[wizardoftrash]

I think so too.

If the mass is even slightly different I expect that to influence the scripted maneuver.

Precisely. We may even see some "design standards" emerge for different ship classes, so that players that have built scripts for one ship, will still operate for a ship of the same class (same mass, equivalent thruster placement, different design).

[eyecue]

But what about how ships react to outer space. Will there be drag? i know there is no drag in space realistically but some space battling games like to have a little drag as it's something we humans understand and is second nature to most especially motorists.

[Phroshy]

They promised realistic(ish) ship physics, I don't think there will be drag in space. Plus JC is still holding fast to the idea that space travel with early tech and without stargates should take days to get to different star systems, so I imagine it will be possible to just point your nose at your destination, boost up and then coast there with idle engines (and being offline). Since planets are currently not planned to move and I imagine they'll do that classic cheat of having no gravity in space, you wouldn't have to do any calculations to get the right trajectory either; just point, boost and wait.

 

I haven't played Everspace, what exactly is your grief with Elite: Dangerous? I do expect we'll get a limit to movement speed if it's about that, unlimited relative speed is just really difficult to handle, especially in a multiplayer game. I know it's not impossible, I believe Infinity: Battlescape has effectively no limit, but I wouldn't expect Novaquark to go to the lengths to get similar results in Dual Universe.

[Hotwingz]

Thats brave Phroshy, turning on the boosters and coast away. While being offline...brave.

[Ripper]

NQ has already indicated that the stargate drone will take "weeks" to get to a new system.

 

I suspect you're going to be waiting more than a few days, but there's nothing to keep you from doing it. 

 

Then again, everything is subject to change before release

[Phroshy]

Thats brave Phroshy, turning on the boosters and coast away. While being offline...brave.

 

Well, what's the worst that could happen? Running into another ship in interstellar space doesn't seem hugely likely (especially if you deliberately steer slightly off-course and do a last day correction towards the destination, just to be sure), and since Novaquark aren't too fond of collision damage, stray asteroids wouldn't be a big deal either, other than slowing you down and throwing the ship off course. If interstellar bodies are even a thing in the game.

 

You would certainly want to check back daily if everything is still working as intended, but otherwise it doesn't seem so dangerous to me.

[Hotwingz]

You would certainly want to check back daily if everything is still working as intended, but otherwise it doesn't seem so dangerous to me.

Yea, the chances of encountering pirates in interstellar space do seem very slim. You are right but you wont see me doing it.

 

I would advice you to bring plenty of supplies if you are going for it. You wouldnt want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere.

[Velenka]

They seem to indicate that yes, there will be newtonian mechanics implemented with dynamic constructs. So, for anyone who's played Space Engineers, this will be all too familiar. In fact, NQ is taking it a step further. Where KSWH ignored Newton's 2nd law for rotation, NQ won't. This will make it even more challenging but more rewarding too. I can't wait to try my hand at some ship design.

[eyecue]

But what about how ships react to outer space. Will there be drag? i know there is no drag in space realistically but some space battling games like to have a little drag as it's something we humans understand and is second nature to most especially motorists.

Its about maneuverability of the ships, a small fighter ship in elite dangerous has some of the worse turning speeds, acceleration and deceleration in nearly all games I've played, so bad it makes most want to avoid combat altogether and doing so is a shame because it's a core part of the games

[eyecue]

Well, what's the worst that could happen? Running into another ship in interstellar space doesn't seem hugely likely (especially if you deliberately steer slightly off-course and do a last day correction towards the destination, just to be sure), and since Novaquark aren't too fond of collision damage, stray asteroids wouldn't be a big deal either, other than slowing you down and throwing the ship off course. If interstellar bodies are even a thing in the game.

 

You would certainly want to check back daily if everything is still working as intended, but otherwise it doesn't seem so dangerous to me.

If space pirates were to just sail around and only mob who they see, yeah i'd say it'd be super slim to see pirates but scanners and other drones and maybe even small installations on remote planets for long range scanning could pick up ships that may be transporting goods and plenty of time to intercept. Someone did say some travels may take a long time to traverse, it might be easy to plot intercepting courses