The Galaxy just got a little less realistic :/

So now what is the benefit of using FAOFF no. We don't have top speed anymore, boost tactic just recently died. Are they forcing us to not use at all?

It's pretty damn good using FAOFF in combat combined with thruster use. You'll still get (afaik) boost top speed (more than with FAON) as we've now come accustomed to, so will be able to boost away the same when interdicted as usual. That's not been changed, just the lateral thrust 'exploit'.

OP - think that it's a tad melodramatic to say that science has died and kids today will grow up thinking that Newts law has changed. If I'd paid attention to Indiana Jones films and Asterix when I was a kid, I'd expect my current profession to be all whips, chinos, Aztec temples with traps and Gauls swigging magic potions and carrying menhirs. It's more like Dig-Dug.
 
I believe the opposite to be true OP.

I think games like ED arouse in the minds of many players a curiosity about the science (or lack thereof) behind the game, as does movies, TV shows, books etc, despite their inaccuracies. They may not be entirely educational, but they can be inspirational.
 
So now what is the benefit of using FAOFF no. We don't have top speed anymore, boost tactic just recently died. Are they forcing us to not use at all?

It still gives advantages in battle if you know how and I just love using it to look around while traveling in a set direction. I love it. I always use it when approaching stations when I am not aligned with the slot. Drifting sideways and lining up.
It hasn't been recently nerfed. They accidentally added some unexpected behaviour in the 1.3 beta and are reversing it back to normal 1.1 / 1.2 model.
 
Having played full true Newtonian space sims in many forms over the years, including Frontier, iWar, Orbiter - I can tell you one thing.

ED would be relegated to a niche product and a commercial failure. High velocity full newtonian combat isn't fun to learn, and without velocity caps, it's no fun at all - throw limited DeltaV in there and it's a plain nightmare.
 
ID War 2 was an amazing game. Nothing quite like it before or since. The combat was realistic, yet very engaging. You could joust or circle, or chase, just like in ED but the FA off was really off. It seemed simplistic and was easy to learn because FA was only there to help, not hinder. It also seemed arcade-like at first until you learned the mechanics which could be quite deep. Apparently much deeper than the first game, and a bit more deep than ED. The nav panel was pretty interesting as well, if a bit clunky. The only downside to that game imo is that the graphics are quite dated now. A 14 year old game. But it still hasn't been surpassed for realistic and FUN combat. Very intense and engaging with one of the best pirate mechanics I've seen in a game. Subsystem targeting was pretty good too especially on cargo haulers. In fact it feels like ED has borrowed quite a bit from that game, but left the auto docking as optional, and FA as far more intrusive.

I-War was great, and critically acclaimed. But it was a commercial failure, and the developer Particle Systems went bankrupt.
 
I-War was great, and critically acclaimed. But it was a commercial failure, and the developer Particle Systems went bankrupt.

Greatness is never recognized in its time. People are short sighted an get caught up on technicalities and conventional thinking, and the necessities of the day. I think that ED has some visionary greatness to it, and it also makes concessions to the needs of the common gamer just to pay the bills and keep the lights running. They've definitely made it easier for the next generation of game developers to create more serious simulations. Perhaps the audience will have become more educated and older and will demand even more realism from their games. Who can say? It's like trying to figure out which contemporary music will be remembered 200 years from now.
 
Greatness is never recognized in its time. People are short sighted an get caught up on technicalities and conventional thinking, and the necessities of the day. I think that ED has some visionary greatness to it, and it also makes concessions to the needs of the common gamer just to pay the bills and keep the lights running. They've definitely made it easier for the next generation of game developers to create more serious simulations. Perhaps the audience will have become more educated and older and will demand even more realism from their games. Who can say? It's like trying to figure out which contemporary music will be remembered 200 years from now.

KSP does a good job of making realism accessible, since it's been so successful we may see an realistic indy space combat sim as a result. A truly realistic space combat sim would play more like Harpoon than I-War though, mind you I'd be all over that myself - that sound like my perfect game.

I do actually like the approach ED took though, it is well balance and a lot of fun. It's not realistic, but it's plausible enough to not really matter for me.
 
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