Planetary Physics

[Ethaninja]

Hey guys

I was just wondering, would there be any chance of better planetary physics in the near future? I'm going 1k speed, but i seem to be going slower then a WWII Fighter Plane

Also, can only one person be docked at a planetary station at one time? I was playing with my bro and he and I would start colliding and going all Wile E. Coyote. Is there something we are supposed to be doing?

-Cheers

[Vice]

I was just wondering, would there be any chance of better planetary physics in the near future? I'm going 1k speed, but i seem to be going slower then a WWII Fighter Plane

The term 'better' is too subjective. Your description indicates that, in your opinion, your ship is moving too slow relative to the size of the planets (ie the planets are too large and you want to speed up the process of flying into them). That is one side of the debate on relative speed and size of planets. Others think the planets are too small and want them much larger, taking a lot longer to descend into their atmospheres and land at cities... essentially making you travel even slower in atmospheres (perhaps like a WWI fighter plane rather than a WWII fighter plane). So with some on one side of the issue, some on the other, and many in the middle who think the size and relative travel speed is just about right (taking about 3-4 minutes to descend to a city at max cruise), it's probably pretty good where it is. That being said, consider this:

You can significantly speed up the process of descending into and flying through atmospheres by boosting power to your shield system, then modulating the afterburner to maintain higher speeds. As long as you don't fly too fast, you can maintain a pretty rapid speed all the way to the city, cutting the descent time significantly. There's even a jump drive trick some players have figured out that allows them to jump directly onto the docking pad from space, but that takes a lot of practice

Also, can only one person be docked at a planetary station at one time? I was playing with my bro and he and I would start colliding and going all Wile E. Coyote. Is there something we are supposed to be doing?

Take turns (have the other player just land on the ground next to the city for a while until it's their turn), or if one of the players wants to work on their ship, they can enter the shipyard while the other player is trading or searching for contracts.

[Edited on 2-12-2010 by Vice]

[Nigel_Strange]

The speed is strange issue. It seems to be non-linear. At 4000, it seems to take about 4 seconds to go 1K, which means 4000 = 250.

The planet size and descent time is OK, really. The only weird things are how the thrusters turn on in order to simulate turbulence.

The best way to approach planet atmospheres is to head toward the planet and, before you enter the atmosphere, turn your nose up so that your forward velocity is as close to zero as possible. When you hit the atmosphere, you'll immediately slow down, so there won't be much, if any, burning off of the shields. I find this method to be much safer, if less exciting, than jumping directly into the atmosphere, which includes some element of risk.

[Marvin]

Also, it takes far less time to circumnavigate a planet in EL than it does in real life ... unless you happen to be flying an SR-71 cruising at 120,000 feet. And, while you're waiting your turn to dock on a planet, whip out the ol' tractor beam and do a bit of surface mining. By the time it's your turn to dock, you'll have a small fortune to sell.