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Thread: Would Newtonian physics work in SWG space?
Rhu wrote:
No, newtonian physics wouldn't work in space.
Why? Because it isn't Star Wars-y. People thinking of Star Wars as some sort of science fiction epic are nuts. Unless all space in the galaxy far far away is filled with some sort of gas, every movie took liberties with the physics of space flight. Remember the opening starfighter scene in the most recent film? There's someatmospheric-ish drag onthe wings carrying those buzz droids off.
Star Wars is a fantasy with science fiction window dressings. The laws of physics as we know them do not apply in George Lucas's world.
LuckyB wrote:
i use too play a game called tachyon that had pretty realistic space physics, you could hold down a button to continue in a straight line and then free track the target with the nose of your ship, was pretty cool.
That was a good game. You could slip and really pull off some great tricks to keep your nose on target. There have been a few games that allow for "slip" that really set themselves apart from the run of the mill space sims. It adds a level of combat tactics that no normal flight sim can add.
!
As for sounds in space....it's not really an absolute vaccum...so if the sound was REALLY REALLY loud (ie: as star exploding), I'm pretty sure you'd be able to hear it.
The way I visualise how "sound" is heard in space is the energy created by one spaceship interferes with the matter of the other ship and that causes the sound.
Sound transferance my not happen because the molecules required to transmit the sound are far and few in between, however, energy in the form of photons or radiation can freely travel through the vaccum. So the a blaster going through space emits some form of energy at is travels the vaccum. Those photons impacting on the hull of another ship can cause the the matter of the hull to vibrate thus causing sound...hence the blaster sounds.
Message Edited by Slysix on 09-16-2005 06:47 PM
while space isnt a vacum there still isnt enough to conduct sound waves thru, and as for there being newtonian like physics in the JTL beta no there wasn't, I played it and there was nothing like it 
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and I have to agree babalon 5, space:above and beyond, and battlestar galatica have done great improvements in how sci-fi space battles are shown. And I hope this shows both movie producers and game developers that the public would love to see more like this.
when JTL was still in beta I accually posted on the beta tester forum that the devs should look at a pc space shooter called freelancer for insparation on how to do the space fights, this is one of the best space shooters out there IMO.
I played beta too and to tell you the truth. Holding true to physics really kind of blew for most of us flight sim vetrans. LOL Had a heck of a time getting used to the slingshot effect dog fights. Just came back to SWG to take a break from EQ2 for a while and I love the space combat physics. The AI on the Tier 2 and 3 enemies seems a little easy, but it might get harder as I level up.
This type of physics I guess you could say holds true to Lucas's space fight vision. (Taken directly from real WW2 footage)
You can see sliding in the game still, in a much more muted form. The devs ultimately reduced it when uproar from the beta community got too high. I remember owning a Kihrax at the time - I could quite literally fly tight circles around anything simply by turning at full speed.
And that, boys and girls, was the closest JTL ever really got to newtonian physics.
Cmon, it's Star Wars physics! >_>