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Incentives for using center of lift/thrust


Nayropux

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On discord yesterday I asked where I can see center of lift/thrust, and learned something disappointing: it doesn't exist. Apparently all thrust and lift is generated, by default, at the center of mass and you can opt in to these elements producing torque. Essentially, by default you are opted out of basic physics in order to make ship building easier. This makes as much sense as allowing people to opt out of air resistance or gravity, but I do understand why it was done: making a workable ship should be somewhat simple, and these concepts can trip people up.

 

There are two issues with this however:

1. Why is torque disabled by default, but the inertial matrix is exposed and used for rotation commands? These mechanics are of a similar difficulty, so it does not make sense to me to have one and not the other. Especially with how strong adjustors are, forcing people to opt into torque should not be too arduous, considering the default lua can just balance the torque with adjustors, and if you have a massively unbalanced craft you can just paste adjustors everywhere.

2. There is no incentive for opting into physics, for people who want the added challenge. Deciding to opt into torque is all downsides with no benefit.

 

It's the second issue I want to focus on with this post. Assuming that torque will not be forced on by default in order to make naive ship building viable, there needs be a real incentive for ship designers to opt into torque. This can take the form of bonuses to thrust/lift, drag, and/or fuel efficiency when all engines/airfoils have torque enabled. This lets ship designers who want to sell ship designs to opt into the extra difficulty of designing a ship with these elements, and they are rewarded with a more effective design. I think this would be a reasonable compromise between allowing easy ship building, and allowing people who want to take on the extra difficulty a way to differentiate their designs.

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  • 5 months later...
On 10/2/2020 at 6:56 PM, Nayropux said:

not make sense to me to have one and not the other. Especially with how strong adjustors are, forcing people to opt into torque should not be too arduous, considering the default lua can just balance the torque with adjustors, and if you have a massively unbalanced craft you can just paste adjustors everywhere.

2. There is no incentive for opting into physics, for people who want the added challenge. Deciding to opt into torque is all downsides with no benefit.

i still find documentation from Engines Torque of DU and Lua :S

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