RE: Vector movement

On Tue, 2 Jun 1998, Ground Zero Games wrote:

> I find this surprising. At all the demos we've run, we've never had
more
> than a tiny number of players (of all ages, from 8 or so upwards) that
have
> had any problem with grasping the move and order systems within a
couple of
> turns at the most.

Actually, writing legal orders was the difficult part, perhaps because 
that's the part you're doing alone.

> I'm going to regret asking this (and if it gets too lengthy we may
have to
> take it to private email for the sake of the other list members'
bandwidth
> and sanity), but I'd be interested to hear your (simplified?)
reasoning on
> this, 

Very simply put: 

>From the realism standpoint: Instant acceleration and instant turning.
Spin is not retained. Inability to thrust and turn at the same time (and
get the realistic result).

>From gameplay viewpoint: Cheap turning for slow behemoths. As you may 
recall, I hated even the vanilla system's "spin for free at full stop", 
I fear this is one step worse.

I am going to give it a try though.

> and how you would improve on it while retaining playability?	:)

As I promised, I'm thinking about that one. I think I can manage at
least 
a semi-playable version with precalculated results tabulated.

> Agreed, which is why we feel the current vector system is close enough
for
> the right sort of "feel" without simply becoming a piece of unpleasant
> maths homework....

It's rather good, I'll give you that, and I can't name a (non-computer)
game that does it better. I just can't help the nagging feeling that it 
isn't quite right.

To summarize: It doesn't feel like playing Asteroids. 

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