Outer space and how it's messed up

[Retired_samurai38]

Now don't get me wrong, Dual Universe looks absolutely outstanding! But........ there is a problem. When I was watching the ten minute DU gameplay video, when JC lands on the space station, there was a problem. Because space does not have gravity, the spaceship and the player should be floating all over the place. Of course everybody knows that the game is not mechanically realistic, and to them it seems okay. Actually, this is a major problem. If space in DU has gravity, there is only ONE way to land on a space station. Somehow, walking on the space station is possible. But it seems that if you built a space ship upside down compared to another spaceship in outer space, you would be walking on the ceiling in the upside down ship. That means there is only one specific direction that a spaceship could be built in space. If this is happening, then DU space doesn't work. Of course this is the only gameplay released, so I could be proved wrong. But until more gameplay is released to the public, I have the impression that if JC had jumped off the landing platform on the space station, he would be falling. Though, this is a strange concept because if every planet's gravity pulled towards the core, then how does my theory of space gravity make sense? Then again, how does walking in a space station make sense? Shouldn't you be floating? Can anybody explain to me what's going on?

[Lights]

gravity generating blocks i would assume.

[Zamarus]

Space doesn't have gravity per say, it's possible that the space station has it 

[DarkTemplar]

gravity generating blocks i would assume.

Thats pretty much all there is to say. Other than magnetic boots/locking clamps.

[Lights]

gravity blocks would be very simple to create and have easy mechanics, but boots would be easier to understand, only problem i see with boots is a 90 degree angle and how to go from walking lets say on 0 elevation to 90 elevation right away. (sorry if that doesnt make sense XD)

 

Thats pretty much all there is to say. Other than magnetic boots/locking clamps.

[Pang_Dread]

A wizard did it. Seriously though like mentioned above I'm sure there will be mechanics and explanations for how things will work.  Way too early at this point I think to get very worried about how its like in a Pre-Alpha build.

[Begogian]

Now don't get me wrong, Dual Universe looks absolutely outstanding! But........ there is a problem. When I was watching the ten minute DU gameplay video, when JC lands on the space station, there was a problem. Because space does not have gravity, the spaceship and the player should be floating all over the place. Of course everybody knows that the game is not mechanically realistic, and to them it seems okay. Actually, this is a major problem. If space in DU has gravity, there is only ONE way to land on a space station. Somehow, walking on the space station is possible. But it seems that if you built a space ship upside down compared to another spaceship in outer space, you would be walking on the ceiling in the upside down ship. That means there is only one specific direction that a spaceship could be built in space. If this is happening, then DU space doesn't work. Of course this is the only gameplay released, so I could be proved wrong. But until more gameplay is released to the public, I have the impression that if JC had jumped off the landing platform on the space station, he would be falling. Though, this is a strange concept because if every planet's gravity pulled towards the core, then how does my theory of space gravity make sense? Then again, how does walking in a space station make sense? Shouldn't you be floating? Can anybody explain to me what's going on?

 

To pick at some of your points. I think this "gravitational block" everyone is mentioning is probably built into the CU, not a separate mechanics which makes it very realistic. The main component holding the voxels together and creating this construct is also controlling its personal gravity.

 

Also, in space, there is no up. It is one of the biggest controversies over space, which way is up. Up is a relative term we use which in reality means; "away from our core/center of gravity on the rock we live upon." There is no defined up or down in space. It is all relative to where you are looking because we as humans have simplified it to this system so, no, he wouldn't be falling, he would be floating away from the center point of the ship.

 

Because this is a futuristic style game (most of the tools and mechanics don't exist today), the fact that our species in this time has now figured out how to control gravity and build ships that have gravity makes sense. If not this, then our species has mastered the art of magnetic pull, which allows our ships and boots and tools and so on to "stick" to the larger ship. Though anything built on the ground doesn't have this feature so this would rule out any form of "magnetic tethering." On planets, you can't build a tower and walk vertically up the the tower but you can walk "up/away from the construct's center" when in space so I would guess the CU is using a form of future gravitational technology that applies to the construct and objects that come in contact with it. 

 

Let me know if I made any mistakes but I think I covered everything.

[Lethys]

To pick at some of your points. I think this "gravitational block" everyone is mentioning is probably built into the CU, not a separate mechanics which makes it very realistic. The main component holding the voxels together and creating this construct is also controlling its personal gravity.

 

Also, in space, there is no up. It is one of the biggest controversies over space, which way is up. Up is a relative term we use which in reality means; "away from our core/center of gravity on the rock we live upon." There is no defined up or down in space. It is all relative to where you are looking because we as humans have simplified it to this system so, no, he wouldn't be falling, he would be floating away from the center point of the ship.

 

Because this is a futuristic style game (most of the tools and mechanics don't exist today), the fact that our species in this time has now figured out how to control gravity and build ships that have gravity makes sense. If not this, then our species has mastered the art of magnetic pull, which allows our ships and boots and tools and so on to "stick" to the larger ship. Though anything built on the ground doesn't have this feature so this would rule out any form of "magnetic tethering." On planets, you can't build a tower and walk vertically up the the tower but you can walk "up/away from the construct's center" when in space so I would guess the CU is using a form of future gravitational technology that applies to the construct and objects that come in contact with it.

 

Let me know if I made any mistakes but I think I covered everything.

I'd argue with that control element in ships (and space stations) which tells the ship where the front/back/up/down is so that the basic lua can be generated for controls. Use that on a station and bam!

[Lights]

oh yeah they did say ship constructs required that element. so that could essentially sove which way is up down issue. makes sense.

[Begogian]

I was pointing more towards his talk of realism. Obviously in-game they have created their own up/down/left/right, probably based around the way they designed the world. Imagine a large box containing the game and the space. There is a coded up/down/left/right that is pre-determined, but again, I was talking about his talk of real space in the real world.

[Lethys]

I was pointing more towards his talk of realism. Obviously in-game they have created their own up/down/left/right, probably based around the way they designed the world. Imagine a large box containing the game and the space. There is a coded up/down/left/right that is pre-determined, but again, I was talking about his talk of real space in the real world.

Yeah ofc you're right there - hard to tell in space

[elDunco]

I'm guessing the Dynamic Core Unit dictates the gravity flow for a specific construct.

[Begogian]

I'm guessing the Dynamic Core Unit dictates the gravity flow for a specific construct.

 

Thats what it seems to narrow down to.

[Retired_samurai38]

I just remembered the first step to building a spaceship is building a core. I think that depending on what direction the core is facing when it's built will determine where the ship's gravity is pulled.

[Semproser]

Ok just gonna inject some science here:

In real life, space absolutely "has gravity". Gravitational fields are in fact, huge. You've probably been thrown off by the concepts of Earth satellites appearing to have weightlessness while in orbit, and games that employ the same phallusy. People in satellites appear weightless because of the orbit they are in, not because Earth's gravitational pull is no longer present. Its the fact they are zooming around the earth at 17,000 miles per hour that fights the force of gravity exactly with centripetal force. If the forces weren't cancelled exactly, the satellite wouldn't be in orbit. 
So for example, if you build an extremely large tower from the ground with a platform at the top at the same height as a satellite in orbit (low earth orbit), you would be able to stand on it just fine, you wouldn't float away. At those distances the affect of Earth's gravity would be very similar to as on the ground. 

 

So for the sake of decent gameplay, most games don't implement true gravity, otherwise you'd spend the entire game constantly fighting gravity (orbit in real life is extremely difficult), and turning your ship so you're not stuck to the wrong walls all the time (most just use the "gravity generator" mechanic meaning gravity is just down on whatever vessel, cancelling any other body's gravity)

Now the space station in that video was seemingly above the same point on the planet, meaning either it was in geostationary orbit, or the dev's aren't implementing a true gravity system (same as almost every game there is), and the space station was just sitting in some sort of "orbit zone" outside the planet's "pull zone". 
That and gravity blocks. If it were in geostationary orbit, you should still experience the "weightlessness" without gravity control tech. 

[Shynras]

From my understanding gravity has been reworked since the last dev update (video) where they show a ship orbiting. Probably there was a huge volume at that time surrounding the planet with costant gravity as a placeholder, while now should get lower depending on distance. Mistery solved.

[Ripper]

Hey Shyrnras,

 

Mind if I ask where you got your information?

[BliitzTheFox]

Wait, he didn't land on it though in one video he just flew next to it, in the other where they are walking it is either gravity generators or magnetic boots

[Shynras]

Hey Shyrnras,

 

Mind if I ask where you got your information?

First of all DU is a space game with multiple planets. This means that there are many "sources" of gravity. This necessarely means that a "gravity zone" has dimensions and is not unlimited. So you can set a range. So there'll be a no gravity zone between planets. This already counters the op arguments. The reason he can walk on the station probably has to do with the station being very close to the planet, and as you should know, planet sizes (and consequently gravity ranges) and planet distances are not the ones you see in the videos (actual planets are smaller and distances are shorter for testing purposes). 

 

In the March dev video JC said they improved physics (they were working on it already a few months back), and he showed orbiting to us, that is something I guess they achieved recently (otherwise why would they show it now?), so I assumed they may have changed something regarding gravity. Regarding the fact that gravity is costant or depends on range, I dunno, it was just an assumption. Keep in mind though, that: 1)It shouldn't be hard to implement, nor should be a problem for the servers, 2)Orbiting is something that kinda requires a low gravity environment (or you'd need a ridicolous speed,  or something else), 3)The game physics and immersion seems pretty good, I really doubt the game will have just costant gravity on each planet, it would be kinda wierd. It's just something that I think is safe to assume.

 

Then to add, if you're interested, I think I've read somewhere (someone asked it when they released the asteroid video) that even asteroids will have gravity, but that ofc will be not strong as planet gravity. 

[Ripper]

And I was hoping you had an inside track on something

[Shynras]

And I was hoping you had an inside track on something

Nope. Anyway, to add to that, if you watch the january dev update, JC says that atmosferic thrusters have their speed changing on altitude. Speed is a stat, a number, like weight, so you could even create a costant gravity zone with construct weight that changes on altitude, to simulate gravity that changes on altitude. So there's really no technical constrain or reasons for that not to be added imo