Rotational momentum

[Fossaman]

It seems to me that one of the least realistic sections of the game is the turning system. I'd like to throw out a few ideas for improving it.

1: Give each ship a 'rotational thrust' instead of simply a 'time to turn' value. Your actual turning speed would be based on the amount of cargo you're carrying. I would keep the automatic cancellation of rotation, though.

2: When hit by a weapon that includes momentum damage, calculate the point of impact as it is when determining which armor segment is hit. Add in a calculation for the distance from the ship's center of mass, and impart a certain amount of rotational thrust based on the ship's mass. Any thrust above the ship's ability to counter it will show up as a turning. Simply adding that to the current momentum effects would probably work.

3: You would be able to purchase upgrades for your turning thrusters, similar (or possibly combined with) drive upgrades. If combined, having a wider variety of options for turning vs. speed would be interesting.

And yes, this is because George is upping the number of facings.

[dvlenk6]

...1: Give each ship a 'rotational thrust' instead of simply a 'time to turn' value. Your actual turning speed would be based on the amount of cargo you're carrying. I would keep the automatic cancellation of rotation, though...

Weren't there complaints about having turning speed linked to armor weight?
Wouldn't there be complaints about having it linked to cargo weight too?

[Fossaman]

Yeah, and I was one of the ones doing the complaining. Besides, it still is, it's just more subtle. Take a sapphire or wolfen, load it with cargo, and try and and turn. It's quite obvious, especially if you've filled a cargo upgrade up also.

But you'll notice I suggested being able to upgrade turning thrust also? As long as you can do that, it becomes a minor annoyance instead of a major one.

[Stormhawk]

I may be wrong, but it seems like turn speed is already linked with cargo. I was playing with the Wolfen and when I had lots of cargo my ship was turning like the freighter.

[Fossaman]

It is. I'm just wanting a slightly more precise and moddable system.

[dvlenk6]

I see, Fossa.
I agree that any aspect of the playership that allows for more customization is good. Adds more role-playing elements to the game, which I'd like to see more and more of as development goes on.

[(name here)]

I hope this isn't major enough to require a thruster upgrade for most ships, as i already have a shortage of slots on most run throughs

[Fossaman]

I believe George has already coded in variable device slot usage; patch spiders, for instance, don't use any. You can set turning thrusters the same way, or at half a slot, or whatever. It's still workable.