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

Obsidian Ant

Obsidian Ant
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?

:eek::eek::eek:

:p


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... :D. What i want to know is, how is it even possible for something virtual to move faster than light? :p
 
Last edited:

Vandaahl

Vandaahl
Well, not really. The idea is that space is shortened up to a degree that makes it feel like you are moving FTL. Should be possible, as space and time are both relative.


I think...
 

Vim

V
Well, it is a space fantasy game... So yeah, conventional laws and limits of out current physical understanding are broken left and right for the sake of better gameplay, made possible by "the future" and stuff.

The future wouldn't really be nearly as much fun otherwise.
 

blacky75

blacky75
imagine it would be a real sim, where folding space isn't possible... 400 billions star sytems around, and we wouldn't have time to leave even the first !!! :D
 

Dr Zachary Smith

Dr Zachary Smith
The formula for speed and distance is rudimentary to the cpu although we do have gravitational factors too, cpu can do it in fractions of a second to work out say from the sun to earth at the speed of light takes about 8 minutes but working out the sum isn't the same as travelling the distance in game, however depending on your ships trajectory and velocity the sum is constantly changing so the cpu is constantly working to correct the distance :)
 

Obsidian Ant

Obsidian Ant
Vim said:
Well, it is a space fantasy game... So yeah, conventional laws and limits of out current physical understanding are broken left and right for the sake of better gameplay, made possible by "the future" and stuff.

The future wouldn't really be nearly as much fun otherwise.
Click to expand...

No, no, no...I'm not talking about the future!!! :) I'm talking about the here and now...

Inside the game - our virtual ships are moving faster than the speed of light - right in the here and now today! So as our in-game galaxy is to scale - have our virtual game ships literally broken the light barrier?! If so - how have Frontier achieved this?!
 

King Hrothgar

K
Direct faster than light travel would violate relativity but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Space itself can be bent, compressed and expanded. As such, you could theoretically travel faster than light without even moving as far as relativity is concerned. Sort of a strange concept and hard to explain I suppose. The best one I've seen is with a sheet of paper. The shortest distance between two points on it is not a straight line on the surface of the paper but instead folding the paper onto itself so the two points are on top of each other. This does not violate any known laws of physics and some experimental evidence of precisely this type of event has been found in labs around the world.
 

Obsidian Ant

Obsidian Ant
Dr Zachary Smith said:
The formula for speed and distance is rudimentary to the cpu although we do have gravitational factors too, cpu can do it in fractions of a second to work out say from the sun to earth at the speed of light takes about 8 minutes but working out the sum isn't the same as travelling the distance in game, however depending on your ships trajectory and velocity the sum is constantly changing so the cpu is constantly working to correct the distance :)
Click to expand...

This makes me dizzy. Whilst the CPU is working out the time it takes to travel from the Sun to the Earth - it in-game distance is still 92,960,000 miles. So the CPU knows via the game code that it takes ~8mins for light to travel this distance. But if the CPU is accelerating our ships beyond this speed, so we can do it in seconds, and if that distance is still 92,960,000 miles - then surely our virtual ships are moving faster than light? If so - how is the game achieving this?
 

Dr Zachary Smith

Dr Zachary Smith
King Hrothgar said:
Direct faster than light travel would violate relativity but that doesn't mean it can't be done. Space itself can be bent, compressed and expanded. As such, you could theoretically travel faster than light without even moving as far as relativity is concerned. Sort of a strange concept and hard to explain I suppose. The best one I've seen is with a sheet of paper. The shortest distance between two points on it is not a straight line on the surface of the paper but instead folding the paper onto itself so the two points are on top of each other. This does not violate any known laws of physics and some experimental evidence of precisely this type of event has been found in labs around the world.
Click to expand...


That's some Bob Lazar gear right there :)

we just need that unknown element unobtanium to create enough power to bend gravity and time :)
 

Dr Roly

Dr Roly
Computer games are generally pretty good at modelling the physically impossible. They have done so for years.
 

Obsidian Ant

Obsidian Ant
vonDutch said:
No, thats impossible :)

Think of it this way; compressing space (and everything in it) by a factor of 2, would be the same as going twice as fast.
Click to expand...

Is that what is happening though? If I am moving at 30km/s in supercruise and another player is moving at 100c are we in different sized playing areas whilst simultaneously in the same playing area?

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Dr Roly said:
Computer games are generally pretty good at modelling the physically impossible. They have done so for years.
Click to expand...

Yes. I'd love to know how Frontier have actually achieved this one though! :)
 

Vandaahl

Vandaahl
Dr Roly said:
Computer games are generally pretty good at modelling the physically impossible. They have done so for years.
Click to expand...

Games - or virtual realities - are actually great tools to visualize abstractions. Dunno if you played Bioshock Infinite, but I think they did a great job in describing a multiverse :)

Granite said:
...are we in different sized playing areas whilst simultaneously in the same playing area?
Click to expand...

Yes, and no. We are in different frames of reference :)

I'm having my third Duvel, so stop trying to make the world turn faster then it already does :D
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom