If everything inside Elite is too scale, does that mean ships are really moving FTL?

[FoxTwo]

Hmm I dunno why it seems to me everyone is harping on "how does FTL work in ED" instead of "how did FD program ED such that the ships we fly moves faster than the speed of light".

In a computer program, the programmers make up the rules. If I tell the computer my ship can fly faster than light, it does. Math has no speed limit

 

[OrLoK]

Hello there

lightspeed wouldnt really "happen" and all those laws that apply that stop us theoretically doing this and that arnt actually "there".

Please, you are going to have a huge mindwrong...be safe!

Rgds

LoK

 

[Vithigar]

Physical laws don't apply to computer code, I don't know why you seem to be under the impression that they do.

 

[Frank]

Forgive me, but I'm beginning to think this is a troll post.

You sir have just received 1 internet point.

This is the most fun thread I've seen in a while

I really would like to hear FD's official line on this, and if we are endangering our computers by having them perform algorithms that break the laws of physics.

 

[DimGook]

Don't think about FTL too much either it might make your brain break the light speed barrier, acquire infinite mass and suck us all into a black hole.

*Frysquint*

 

[Slacker]

No not a troll post. It's a genuine (if somewhat crazy / naive) question.



Ok - I'm clearly focusing too much on the 1:1 scale deal...as it seems to have no bearing on anything in regards to speed. Hypothetically though, what would happen if Frontier made a galaxy that is 1000000000000000000000000 times larger than the real one (assuming we had processing power capable of that)...would we still be able to move at any speed we desire? I'm starting to realise at this point that distance / size has nothing to do with it at all...

When a computer models a point in 3D space it just holds them as three co-ordinates.. x, y znd z - then in the next memory area you could hold a second point with it's own x, y, z coordinates. They aren't n billion bytes apart in the memory. Then the section of code that draws things looks at those two memory areas and draws them with respect to a third tri-coordinate we call the camera (which in Elite corresponds to the view out your windshield). This gives the illusion of any space you wish.

As far as the computer is concerned those numbers could represent millimeters or a trillion miles.

Obviously this is a very simplistic explanation of how computers hold 3D objects with a position but I hope you get the idea.

 

[Spy227X]

Thanks to the discovery of handwaveium, the energy produce with hydrogen allows for a bibble to be formed in a pocket dimension just touching normal space time, this bubble is shaped such that what we consider normal space time flows around it, plunging the contained entity in the desired direction that to an outside perspective would seem to be FTL.

+1 Rep sir, nice reply

 

[SE-Apocalypse]

So if everything in the game is modelled to scale...and ships are travelling faster than light...does that mean the information inside the game which represents our ships, is actually breaking current laws of physics and moving beyond the light barrier?





EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm asking how this is achieved in code (i.e. in the game), I'm not asking about the science or lore of it... . What i want to know is, how is it even possible for something virtual to move faster than light?

It just virtual space, you are not bound to physical rules, you just increment numbers faster or slower. Nothing is moving at all, because it just a mathematical model of space.

 

[Sexconker]

Except you can't compress space faster than the speed of light.
Compressing 2 linear light seconds space to 1 linear light second would take longer than 1 second.
Anything compressing that space then acts as a gravity well for anything trying to traverse it.

 

[tricky]

Has anyone considered the fact that FD may have solved a way to do quantum memory encryption and quantum processing on a regular PC? This would allow them to run this whole game in 32k of memory and the rest of the bloat is taken up by Windows sub-standard coding.

 

[Rall]

Light spots (Laser pointers etc) and cast shadows can move faster the light - true story.

The FDev FTL super engine must be harniessing this power to move our ships FTL.

[video=youtube;20GyC5ysyqU]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20GyC5ysyqU[/video]

 

[Helvellyn]

At the risk of sounding offensive (apologies if it does) it's the sort of question that's either very stupid or very clever.

On a simple level it's no different from if it was a board game and you moved a token on the board from "Leesti" to "Zaonce", with a little line saying they're 8 or 9 ly apart (I've not checked so please don't nitpick that one!). On the other hand you could probably start off all sorts of philosophical questions about the nature of simulations.

Anyway I find the idea of interstellar travel in a Star Trek / Star Wars / Elite universe being physically impossible really rather depressing, so it's best ignored if possible

 

[Major Lag]

This seems like a troll thread but I'll bite. If you play a fantasy game like say WoW and someone cast a magic spell do you think the computer is actually performing magic? I mean its actually on the screen right?

Yes the game is simulating ships going FTL just like Wow is simulating magic, all it is are numbers being manipulated in memory by the CPU/GPU and rendered to your monitor.

Here you can do it yourself, write down on a sheet of paper the position and direction of your spaceship give it a speed greater than C, now wait a few seconds and write down the new position of the ship based on the the speed you gave it, congrats you just simulated an FTL space ship. That is all the computer is doing, crunching numbers very quickly. It could be FTL ship position or magic fireball position, both break the laws of physics as we know them.

To all those that say Elite ships aren't actually going FTL and are folding space or some other explanation, sorry they are still going FTL. You can wrap it in interesting semantics like "Traveling without moving" or something but in the end it's violating special relativity since information and matter are exceeding C no matter how it achieved.

 

[Rall]

It just virtual space, you are not bound to physical rules, you just increment numbers faster or slower. Nothing is moving at all, because it just a mathematical model of space.

Well the electrons are moving around inside the circuit boards, incidentally at the speed of light.

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At the risk of sounding offensive (apologies if it does) it's the sort of question that's either very stupid or very clever.

It's more a question based on the lack of understanding about mathematical modelling and the physical way computers work. I ask similarly "stupid" questions about mechanical engineering - particularly automobile maintenance.

 

[Rhaedas]

The virtual ships and virtual planets and virtual space inside the computer aren't real. For example, you could have the code make one of the ships just disappear. Not blow up or dock, but just be gone. Does this mean that physical law has been broken and matter has been destroyed? Of course not. Might have been a serious question initially, but it's gotten silly.

 

[NettiWelho]

Well the electrons are moving around inside the circuit boards, incidentally at the speed of light.

Actually signals travel at sublight speeds in physical mediums.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velocity_factor