Newbie and Physics questions

[ToxicFrog]

OK, I've been a long-time BC3K'er, but I only just got BCM a few weeks ago, and I already have some questions.

First of all (and I apologize if this has already been asked), how do intruders board your CC? Do they spacewalk over, or use the transporter? And if it's the latter, why can't you send marines to board enemy ships?

Also, concerning the physics, do the ships carry some sort of inertial dampener? Otherwise, the ship should accellerate as long as the engines are on and keep moving when they are off (except in atmosphere, of course). An ID seems necessary to keep my crew from becoming paste when my CC pulls an accelleration of 8 km/s, but I don't see why it should limit the ship's top speed.

And lastly, why do STS missiles have shorter ranges than ATS/STA? Typically (for space engagements), ship velocities are in tens of km/s, weapon ranges in thousands of km, and missile ranges in tens or hundreds of thousands. Even assuming smaller numbers, however, a space-based missile should have a MUCH longer range than a panet-based missile of the same weight - either that, or we can assume that the engines have been massively stripped down and thus it should carry an insanely more lethal payload. If the engines are stripped to give it the same range in space AND the payload is the same, then it should be smaller and thus you should be able to cram more than one into a launch tube. Closing to 75-50km before you can launch effectively is knife-fight range for a space engagement.

[Epsilon 5]

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how do intruders board your CC?

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They use the transporter yes. You can't prevent it.

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And if it's the latter, why can't you send marines to board enemy ships?

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Not yet, but this will be in BCG

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Also, concerning the physics, do the ships carry some sort of inertial dampener? Otherwise, the ship should accellerate as long as the engines are on and keep moving when they are off (except in atmosphere, of course). An ID seems necessary to keep my crew from becoming paste when my CC pulls an accelleration of 8 km/s, but I don't see why it should limit the ship's top speed.

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We could suppose they game does have inertial dampeners that work along with artificial gravity. As for the top speed - it was chosen to be so. In any game no speed limit would probably end up killing the game.

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And lastly, why do STS missiles have shorter ranges than ATS/STA? (etc etc etc)

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You must be confusing missile lock range with burn time. a missile that can lock at 55km will not miss its target becasue it moved away.

As for the range/speed issue the physics have been chosen to be different that waht you seeminly hope for. It would too hard to play with ships buzzing around at such speeds. Ever tried fighting fighter in a fighter? Gives me a headache (but then you could blame the insane turn rate )

50km is a decent range for the average missile, given the time it will take to reach the target in a head-on situation.

Your "typically" reference must have to do with other games, and even then, I would like to know what game out there offers capital ship (or even fighter battles) with ships going in the tens of thousands of km per second!

[Raven]

He isn't referring to other games, I've never heard of a game that has anything approaching realistic engagement ranges, rather novels and such not where there arenÔÇÖt limits like collision detection and the need to keep the interest of action oriented gamers that want to blow shit up, and want to blow it up NOW!

I'm currently working on a mod for Starshatter that has engagement ranges around 1,000 klicks for cruisers, but combat goes much slower then most people would enjoy (as in 6 minutes for a torpedo to reach it's target, though smaller ships with shorter ranges tend to engage faster).

However I have no need to try to make money off of this, so I don't really care if lots of other people find it fun, SC on the other hand has to make a marketable game. He already has a very small niche audience, and reducing the number of people who could enjoy BCM probably isn't a good idea. Considering these restrains SC has done an admirable job of making a game that is more realistic then most you find out there and a lot of fun to play.

[IceCold]

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We could suppose they game does have inertial dampeners that work along with artificial gravity. As for the top speed - it was chosen to be so. In any game no speed limit would probably end up killing the game.

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Ever played independence war (the first)? This game employs the most accurate physics model I have ever seen in a game and ranks as one of my personal favorites. BCM is not a simulator but rather an experience where the gameplay is more important than realism.

[ToxicFrog]

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You must be confusing missile lock range with burn time.

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Possibly...the appendix lists "Maximum Launch Range", and that is what I go by. Even if that's just aquiry range, though, how is it that I can lock onto a building 85km away, through driving rain and using groundscanner radar, while a Starchild can only aquire targets at 55km, even using a sensor system that detects everything within a light year and with no weather, gravity, or atmosphere to interfere.

I'm not really objecting, I just want to know the rationale behind this structure.

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

Even if that's just aquiry range, though, how is it that I can lock onto a building 85km away, through driving rain and using groundscanner radar, while a Starchild can only aquire targets at 55km, even using a sensor system that detects everything within a light year and with no weather, gravity, or atmosphere to interfere.

I'm not really objecting, I just want to know the rationale behind this structure.

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I don't think you know what lock means. There is a difference between the Tacscan/Nid radar range and the missile's own radar seeker.

Seeing a target at 85KM away doesn't mean you can ever fire a missile at it unless the currently armed missile's radar can lock on it. The longest range ATS missile is the Hyperdyne (85KM) - and it won't lock on any target outside this range.

You do not get a missile lock unless....ah heck, read p17 of the manual.

There are NO STS missiles which can lock on a target at any range outside 55km (that would be the Starchild).

And even then, the missile's radar has to keep painting the target (thats what its acquisition time is for) for specific period of time in order to get a lock.

There are no atmospheric interferences in radar operation. This is a space sim, not a flight sim.

[ToxicFrog]

Sorry, I should have clarified what I said. I have read the manual and appendix, but I probably shouldn't have written my question while half asleep. What I meant to say is: "Why is it that a Hyperdyne can aquire a target at 85km while a Starchild needs to be within 55km, despite the fact that the Starchild (presumably) has fewer things to interfere with it (atmosphere, gravity)?"

My personal theory is that the guys who load the missiles are removing the advanced guidance/lock packages and selling them on the side

[Wolferz]

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Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

Sorry, I should have clarified what I said. I have read the manual and appendix, but I probably shouldn't have written my question while half asleep. What I meant to say is: "Why is it that a Hyperdyne can aquire a target at 85km while a Starchild needs to be within 55km, despite the fact that the Starchild (presumably) has fewer things to interfere with it (atmosphere, gravity)?"

My personal theory is that the guys who load the missiles are removing the advanced guidance/lock packages and selling them on the side

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It's that damned Resnig again!!!

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

"Why is it that a Hyperdyne can aquire a target at 85km while a Starchild needs to be within 55km, despite the fact that the Starchild (presumably) has fewer things to interfere with it (atmosphere, gravity)?"

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Because a Hyperdyne is an ATS weapon with a better guidance model than the Starchild.

[ToxicFrog]

Time to wake up the RE...

"Hey! Lanix! I want you to figure out how to modify a Hyperdyne l/g package for mounting on a Starchild!"

Now this is going to nag at me for months...it doesn't detract from the game at all, but unexplained phenomena just bug the proverbial hell out of me.

[ToxicFrog]

OK, last question before I go off and die some more:

Can you rename your ship after you start, or do you need to create a new character? There doesn't seem to be a playmod option for it, and hex editing the save files broke them - probably a checksum failure or something of the kind.

[Epsilon 5]

Umm, no.

[Supreme Cmdr]

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Originally posted by ToxicFrog:

and hex editing the save files broke them - probably a checksum failure or something of the kind.

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heh, they're MD5 encrypted

[ToxicFrog]

Hmm...I was able to find my character name and ship name in cleartext, but BCM refused to acknowledge them after I altered them. Oh well, I need to make a new character for 1.0.08RC32 anyway

I've said it before, but not here, so I'll say it again: This game is uber.