Need For Speed

[sdvaer1]

Do the atmospheric velocity limitations need some recalibration?

When operating in atmosphere, your ship seems very slow. This becomes more noticeable as you travel closer to the surface. I'm aware that a "space craft" is designed to fly in space, but humans have already developed means of traveling in both mediums and this is supposed to be in the future.

As an estimate, I would contend that my ship begins to burn up, do to atmospheric friction, while traveling at a mere 300mph. The reality is that a real space craft re-enters Earth's atmosphere at around 18,000mph.

Let's fly faster!

[DaveK]

You may notice that the Space Shuttle does several thousand miles and hour in space (no friction) and a few hundred miles an hour near the ground. Between the two it looks like a firework streaking across the sky!! You can fly at 3000 in the atmosphere and 9000 in space - not a lot of difference really.

[Marvin]

The SR-71, at altitude (80,000 ft), can do about 2,200 mph (Mach 3.3). To reach that speed without warping the frame, its panels have gaps which allow the metal to expand under friction. Ergo, on the ground, the plane leaks fuel. Granted, the ships in EL generate shielding which should prevent warping of the outer surface at even higher speeds ... but not any where near 18,000 mph. Besides, if you could go that fast, then so could the AI. Making combat nearly impossible ... a situation where the best you could expect would be a series of extremely high speed passes. How much fun would there be in that?

[Nigel_Strange]

The thing about Evochron is that everything is scaled a certain way to make for the best experience for most players. The planets are the size that is navigable (negotiable) that was reached through a lot of trials, with a lot of players, to a point where most players felt that the planets were big enough to seem real, but small enough that you did not need to spend hours in real life traveling around them.

Speeds are similarly controlled by aesthetics, as are distances, etc. You get the idea.

So, there is a set-point at which re-entry should get hot because that is what we expect when you re-enter an atmosphere, and that set point is about 3K. I think the idea here is that if re-entry burn-speed was set higher, like 9K, then most of us would never "feel" it, and so re-entry would not seem as real.

[matchbox2022]

it would be nice to see the speed limits changed to accommodate some higher speeds and maybe more flight like characteristics at planets, like being able to pull hard turns with afterburner and due to lift, able to do so unlike in space. Some graphic effects like clouds forming around the craft at various locations would be cool too when doing higher speeds (5000+) or high G turns.... and maybe burnups could occur at closer to 7000
Just some thoughts.

[Marvin]

Some graphic effects like clouds forming around the craft....

Contrails?