Game Discussions What I find most annoying with space games.

I was watching a video about the current status of Star Citizen the other day and I noticed something that does seem to be an issue with space games in general.

I was watching 2 online players hovering in the air about 20 metres from the ground in their ships and rotating the ship etc. It looks rubbish and doesn't seem at all realistic. They were doing barrel roles without the ship crashing back down to the ground and the ship just looked like a texture moving on the screen x and y.

I think the same thing sort of happens in Elite and I do feel there needs to be more detail focused on this so the ships don't look like an asset being viewed in a 3D Modelling studio.

I'm guessing these ships have engines that keep them stable but turning 360 degrees 20 metres from the ground and turning upside down seems a bit odd to me.

I get it when they are in Space it might behave like this but not just above a planet surface.
 
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This wasn't a complaint as such, just something that I feel doesn't seem very good in Space games generally.
 
Reason for Flight assist off in the demonstration being Flight Assist automatically applies thrust to make the ship hover, so if the ship is hovering at 20m, FA will keep it at 20m and as the ship pitch rotates the thrusters being used by FA also rotate.

You know you can post complaints about DC flight machanics on the SC forums? Probably more senisble.

Reread the Openign Post, he is commenting on something present in both games, I've answered with an explanation about elite's inner workings relevant to the OP, you replied with sarcasm as is becoming your new usual.
 
Try Space Engineers. If you flip upside-down without up-facing thrusters, you'll find yourself in a bit of a pickle unless you have enough room during your free-fall to correct your orientation.
 

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Hm, that problem doesn't exist in ELITE, unless you're in a light Ship and/or over some low-G Moon.

In ELITE, try to rotate your Ship 2000m over Achenar 3 and see what happens :D

(the only gamey thing is the minimum 5m/sec guaranteed vertical Thruster performance, regardless of actual Thruster capabilities - but that allows to land on any Planet in any Ship, which likely wouldn't be possible otherwise)
 
As stated go and try that at a high G world! FD have engineered the ships such that your normal 'hovering' thrusters are strong enough for those high G worlds, but tilt the ship on its side (let alone upside down!!) and watch how quickly the ground comes up to meet you! Basic rule: when on high G keep the ship upright and level!
 
Here is kind of what I'm talking about. As much as that's probably fun to do, it just seems well...wrong.

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If the thrust available is strong enough to negate any gravity involved and still perform the maneuver, then the gravity may as well not be there from the craft's perspective.
 
I guess I'm just being picky. Thanks for the input all.
I think you are missing the point. It is actually completely realistic assuming that your ship has strong enough thrusters and a computer advanced enough to compensate for gravitation through application of those thrusters with flight assist on. Alternatively just being on a low-G planet/moon gravity is going to play much less of a role and the motion is still completely viable. Even if I fly exclusively FA off normally, I would not try these maneuvers in FA off on a high-G planet in Elite.
 
Evochron games always had the best flight model, you could actually stall and fall down when flying on planets if you flew below a certain speed.
 
Evochron games always had the best flight model, you could actually stall and fall down when flying on planets if you flew below a certain speed.

Whether stalling should be an issue or not depends on how the flight model is constructed. Stalling is only an issue in an atmospheric environment if flight is based on the upwards force generated by the aerodynamics of the wings. If there is no atmosphere, like on landable planets in ED, or if the flight model is purely based on thrusters, like the ED flight model, then the craft should not stall.
 
Well I'm no rocket scientist so I suppose it must be possible for a Boeing 747 to levitate 10 metres from the surface of a low gravity planet. It is the year 3000 something.
 
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