Space Combat

(realistic simulator)

Came across this on another board, thought you might like to take a look at it.

http://www.x-plane.c...paceCombat.html

Quote

I often watch Star Wars, Star Trek, and Babylon 5 and wonder how those spaceships really should handle.
Could the X-Wing really manuever like that?
Need the Imperial Star Destroyers really be so LUMBERING?
What would it be like to fly a Star Fury?
How should a vessel of a given mass, size, and thruster power REALLY handle?

Enter Space Combat, a space simulator where all of the laws of physics are accurately applied to
your vehichle.

You enter the spaceship mass, size, and thruster and engine powers and locations and see
how the resulting ship handles... with the physics being accurate.

Take the ship though gates projected on a HUD, or asteroids or comets to test your manueverability
and flying skills.

Later he says "Inexperienced space pilots end up running back and forth like a yo-yo, always overshooting..."
Hah. Within thirty seconds of entering the sim, I was pasted to the hull by several hundred Gs. And I wasn't even going anywhere yet!

This post has been edited by Artanis : 07 July 2006 - 11:20 PM

I just started spinning uncontrollably...

Same. I was goin left and down. No clue why. I'm gonna keep checking around the files and stuff to see if I can figgure it out.

It's the turn method. On the default ship, there are attitude rockets on the nose and rear, like the shuttle.

Clicking opens the square that lets you set levels for them, and also closes the square, but doesn't turn them off. I don't know how to turn them off, some always have tiny amounts of thrust on them when I try.

Also, I haven't found a way to counter thrust correctly, which is why I keep spinning uncontrollably.

So far I can accelerate, and I can spin like a top in three directions.

I have the hang of manuvering, just that the sensitivity in game for my joystick is way too high. That and for some reason the Z-twist is the turn, not the rotate, of the ship. I move the stick to the left and it starts spinning counter-clockwise. Not what I'm used to in other space games. Also, clicking does nothing in mine, other than play a sound. And as of now the only way I can quit is the old Alt-F4 trick. Is there another way, or is that something on the click-menu? I do realize this in not your creation, but you did introduce it and hopfully can answer atleast a few of my questions.

sorry, the clicking only opens the manuever box near the center of the screen. It only makes a sound outside that region.

Don't have a joystick, so I can't check that.

As for quitting, and settings, there's a menu bar at the top that autohides. It appears when you put the mouse at the top of the screen.

I'm getting the hang of just about everything except manuevering. I can target things, shoot, accelerate to 0.5c, crash into a planet...

edit: Of course this isn't what you're used to in other space games. Other space sim games have physics tweaked a bit so anyone can grab a joystick and fly around shooting things.

This post has been edited by Artanis : 08 July 2006 - 02:15 PM

I figgured most of this out just after I posted.

Quote

Of course this isn't what you're used to in other space games. Other space sim games have physics tweaked a bit so anyone can grab a joystick and fly around shooting things.

I was reffering to the Z-Twist being the heading as opposed to rotation, and the Y-Axis being the Rotation as opposed to rotation. I still dont find any manuver box.

@wonderboy, on Jul 8 2006, 06:02 PM, said in Space Combat:

I figgured most of this out just after I posted. I was reffering to the Z-Twist being the heading as opposed to rotation, and the Y-Axis being the Rotation as opposed to rotation. I still dont find any manuver box.

I don't know, then... I'm going to chalk it up to you using a joystick. Maybe try unplugging it? But you sound like you're having better control with it... I keep turning into an interstellar top.

ToLazyToMakeAnAccount showed me this, once. It was funny. He then used the regular X-Plane to make a plane that would shoot into space in less than a second. That wasn't too good for the pilot.

I believe you need a joystick or some other game pad for this program. I have managed to configure it and it gives me relativly no problem. It still pulls to one direction because I can't set the dead zone properly. It works great though.

@Fnoigy: I set the thrust to some insaine number of kN(killanewtons?) so high infact, that I went from perfactly still to around 90,000+ meters per second. Who here thinks that pilot is now a gellatinous puddle of pink goo? If I had bigger fuel tanks to where I dident burn all of it up instantly, It would have been a hell of a ride

(Edit): I just beat my old record. Try 1.95X10^7 or 19,500,000 m/s. All in one frame :evilgrin:

This post has been edited by WonderBoy : 09 July 2006 - 03:22 AM

@wonderboy, on Jul 9 2006, 12:36 AM, said in Space Combat:

I believe you need a joystick or some other game pad for this program.

Nah. You can play it with a mouse, but it's a bit of a pain. The controls are far too touchy (the control box ought to be at least doubled in size), and I hate only having rotational control on two axes (particularly when they're the Y- and Z-axes. I want X-axis control!). Other than that, a bit more information about current location and motion vectors would be nice, but not absolutely essential.

In-game, I think I've gotten the hang of stopping spins- now I just need to work out how to aim spins. Interesting game, despite the control difficulties.

Edwards

I can't try this now, but if the controls are too touchy couldn't you set your ship to have huge mass and weak thrusters? Especially weak rotational thrusters, if those are the ones giving you problems. Making the ship large and mounting those thrusters close to its center of mass so they have short lever arms should help too.

And remember: gyroscopic precession dictates that if you're spinning fast enough, a torque that would change the axis of rotation actual changes it through a "delay" of 90 degrees forward with the spin—not the direction of the applied force. You can explain it through right-hand-rule torque and angular momentum vectors, or you can just accept that's the way things are. If you've ever ridden a motorcycle you know what I'm talking about: press left to go left, press right to go right.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 10 July 2006 - 01:24 PM

For clarity, when discussing flight sims you should use the correct terms.

YAW is your ship's rotation on the Y axis; "left" and "right" relative to the pilot.

PITCH is your ship's rotation on the X axis; "up" and "down" relative to the pilot.

ROLL is your ship's rotation on the Z axis, the nose-to-tail axis.