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Original post by Mayrel Who says I can afford gravity generating carpets? :) I only know one way to make a gravity generating carpet, and that's by making it a really really really deep pile carpet.

Hehe, exactly, so I still have to find some cool idea. Maybe gravity showers ? :)
Or simply hardcore zero-g spaceships... mmmh :-/

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Interesting point with the laser. Obviously, scanning lasers don't occur naturally, so anyone with a couple of coherent light detectors on their hull would immediately know where you were.

Yes, unless I burn their optic... with that same scanning laser, in fact.
Well, maybe not systematically, but I am sure you have heard of lasers used to "blind" opticals. Same idea here. No need to blow up your enemy if you render him blind and deaf...

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Also note that daylight and sunlight aren't quite the same thing. Most of what I see when I'm outside isn't directly lit by the sun, but by diffuse sunlight. Such is the fate of those that live in Britain.

LMAO ! You are talking to a guy living in Donegal, man. The only place I know of where you can be drenched because of the rain pouring on you, while being blowdried by gusts of winds AND blinded by the sun shining straight in your face... [grin]

But to stick to the subject, I do like the idea of little beacons being deployed to illuminate an area. They could surely be used for other things, too.
Mines maybe? "Surely, nobody would be as stupid as to make mines that are as visible as lighthouses?"

If your going hardcore, you should also keep in mind that astronaughts have a serious problem with bone loss and weakened immune systems with prolonged periods of exposure to Zero-G. But then again, instead of gravity carpeting you could go into the value bin and design portions of the ship that use centrifugal force to produce artificial gravity.

On another note, a light beacon has a nice ring to it. :D
It could be modified to work like a Torpedo. It would be fired like normal ordinance, and when it reaches its targeted area, explodes in a bright flash illuminating nearby objects. This has many uses, such as range-finding, blinding enemy sensors, or used as an element of surprise to 'spook' the enemy while firing other forms of ordinance.

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Original post by ahw Yes, unless I burn their optic... with that same scanning laser, in fact. Well, maybe not systematically, but I am sure you have heard of lasers used to "blind" opticals. Same idea here. No need to blow up your enemy if you render him blind and deaf...

Suppose you're walking along and somebody sticks a sword in your eye. You might not know where they are, but you'd sure as hell know they were somewhere. Active scanning and stealth do not mix. Destructive anti-passive-scanning and stealth even less so.

some more asteroid pics from nexus

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Original post by Gyrthok If your going hardcore, you should also keep in mind that astronaughts have a serious problem with bone loss and weakened immune systems with prolonged periods of exposure to Zero-G. But then again, instead of gravity carpeting you could go into the value bin and design portions of the ship that use centrifugal force to produce artificial gravity.

I didn't really think about how I was going to portray that, I might just make a cylinder shape stick out of the ships, I'm not going to have it spinning tho, thats going to screw up my collision detection :)

Also what do you think about having the ships textures consisting of alot of tile shapes, eg squares or triangles, or some polygonal shape?

You don't neccessarily have to design a moving object to simulate it, centrifugal chambers can be of varying sizes, and be incorporated inside the ship, (or at the very least have a layer of hull overtop of it that doesn't move to protect it) so a static object works. ;D

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Also what do you think about having the ships textures consisting of alot of tile shapes, eg squares or triangles, or some polygonal shape?

What do you mean exactly? The textures wraped over the frame? or the shape of the frame itself?

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Original post by johnnyBravo I didn't really think about how I was going to portray that, I might just make a cylinder shape stick out of the ships, I'm not going to have it spinning tho, thats going to screw up my collision detection :)

Spinning cylinders won't mess up collision detection, although they will mess up collision response, if you're planning to have physically realistic modelling.

If you try and mimic the visuals of something like 2001: A space oddysey, or even Appollo 13, where the starkness of the light and the lack of gravity is used to great effect to make space seem really damm cold, I would have nothing but awe for the game.

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Original post by Gyrthok You don't neccessarily have to design a moving object to simulate it, centrifugal chambers can be of varying sizes, and be incorporated inside the ship, (or at the very least have a layer of hull overtop of it that doesn't move to protect it) so a static object works. ;D Quote: Also what do you think about having the ships textures consisting of alot of tile shapes, eg squares or triangles, or some polygonal shape? What do you mean exactly? The textures wraped over the frame? or the shape of the frame itself?

yes, but im now thinking maybe voxels, thats if i can even pull that off actually, id have to play with them for a lil while to get the hang of em

but so far i'm just getting the basic framework in, eg a ship a moon and stars.

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Original post by DAN200 If you try and mimic the visuals of something like 2001: A space oddysey, or even Appollo 13, where the starkness of the light and the lack of gravity is used to great effect to make space seem really damm cold, I would have nothing but awe for the game.

Well the graphics so far are going to be pretty basic, very basic per vertex lighting etc.

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Original post by Mayrel Suppose you're walking along and somebody sticks a sword in your eye. You might not know where they are, but you'd sure as hell know they were somewhere. Active scanning and stealth do not mix. Destructive anti-passive-scanning and stealth even less so.

LOL, yeah, high energy concentrated beams of light isn't exactly passive scanning indeed. Again, it's all about tactical choice. Offer the player the options and let them decide what to do.
I really loved the sequence in _Das Boot_ where everything is turned off and the sailors are even whispering just in case the enemy could hear that, and the only sound is the increasingly loud beep of the sonar... aaaaah, how I love that movie :-D

On another note, since we were mentioning being exposed to vacuum earlier on (and maybe I should have started a "hard science sci-fi" thread, but what the heck), I always wondered about the problem of being exposed to almost-zero K temperature... surely that would be more damaging than the lack of pressure, no?

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Gyrthok serious problem with bone loss and weakened immune systems with prolonged periods of exposure to Zero-G

Indeed, I see two solutions there:
the simple one would be that technology/zero-g medicine would be advanced enough to provide help combating those symptoms.

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But then again, instead of gravity carpeting you could go into the value bin and design portions of the ship that use centrifugal force to produce artificial gravity.

Exactly. For instance, what about sleeping quarters that rotates fast enough to provide one-g while you are sleeping?
No need to make the whole ship a rotating cylinder. Simply have portions of the ship rotate to provide the bodies a respite from the lack of gravity.

The other solution would be that after living long enough in zero-g, and with help from genetic science, mutants would evolve, whose bodies would be adapted to the lack of gravity.
This would have some really interesting social problems associated to it, a bit like the mutants in Total Recall that evolved because of the lack of protection from radiations.
(i.e. mutants are not mindless monsters, but a product of society)

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On another note, a light beacon has a nice ring to it.

I was thinking why not turn them into "mapping" drones, or something. Send a swarm of light emitting, loud beeping drones around your ship to establish a perimeter, map the surroundings and, as a side effect serve as decoy.
Wouldn't be very discreet stuff, but you wouldn't deploy them when you are trying to hide, rather when you have decided to settle for a little while. Maybe they could have a stealth mode where they are more like a mobile minefield around you, serving as first line of defense, of sorts.

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johnnyBravo I didn't really think about how I was going to portray that, I might just make a cylinder shape stick out of the ships,

Well, the reason I like to think about those little details is because it allows for more rational, consistant design. It's like the whole thing about the engines on the Enterprise being so far from the center: if they explode, they are less likely to damage the hull and the main areas of the ship than if they were stuck to the main part of the hull. It looks less cool, but it makes more sense. Then again, if you start thinking like that, the best shape for a spaceship is something like a sphere, for optimal use of space...

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Also what do you think about having the ships textures consisting of alot of tile shapes, eg squares or triangles, or some polygonal shape?

If you look at textures used in spaceships, you'll see that they usually use lots of squares partially overlapping at times. It's a simple trick to make it look like riveted panels stuck together. The kind of things you would see on a ship. If you use a regular grid type of texture, it's more correct, but it tends to be a bit more boring, less eye pleasing, hence the overlap that you'll find most of the time.
IMO, the most important thing is to use rather regular textures, but have several ones for various portions of the ship.

What kind of basic shape you use (hex, triangles, squares) can affect the perceptions that the player has of the species owning the ship, much like the lines of the ship give a different "feeling". How much overlapping/irregularity you give to your texture is a matter of personal taste, and trial and error. Adding rust effect, blast impacts and other forms of aging can add an interesting feel to your ships and is rather easy to achieve if you know your paint software.

(I had a tutorial thread about how to make textures very easily in the Visual Arts forum, if you want to see what I am on about)

BTW, I still think those asteroids fields look fantastic :)

Those arn't my asteriods btw :)

Overlapping tiles sounds good actually

Anyway, the crew quarters will only stickout a little, and the reason I'm not doing spherical ships, is, maybe one day I intend to let people land on moons that may have atmospheres. So the ships would be slightly aero dynamic.

Also what do you think about having the ships powerplant combined with the ships engine. eg some kind of reactor engine, that you can balance between fuel usesage, power output and thrust.

I'm not going to have any of those "warp" drives, you just have to point in that direction and fire your engine. Which ofcourse would be quite hard and dangerous to do manually, so id put in an auto pilot that can avoid debris etc. and get you to your destination the best way.

Keep in mind this is all still ideas, I haven't got this far,

I was thinking about having these sections for the ship:
*cockpit
*crew quaters
*cargo bay
*reactor/engine room

and maybe let the player customise these, eg larger crew quarters, allows more crew, which allows quicker repairs or extra engine boosts.

And then with:
*lasers
*spotlights
*sensors
*maneurve thrusters
*cameras

etc and any other accessories.

So these could be manually be placed on the outside of the ship by the player and could be destroyed by enemies.

The cameras would be your view, as i'm not puttin in windows, I don't think they are realistic enough.

The maneurve thrusters would be used to rotate your ship etc, and maybe I would let the player map them to a joystick, and depending where you placed these thrusters, it would decide on how well your ship could move, eg if you put lots of them on the nose of your ship, you might spin in circles.

All these accessories would take up energy, so it would be quite stupid to cover your entire ship in accessories.


About missiles, I thought maybe if there was a governing body at the time, they would be illegal, but still accessible. I think they would all be nukes which would make them quite dangerous if one went off too close to you.