[FT] [OT?] Has anyone considered...

....doing full 3D FT on a computer? The weapon ranges and stuff all give
themselves to easy 3D. Firing arcs might be a pain. You'd have to
"encase"
your ship in a polygon (12 sider?) and decide which weapons can fire
through
which arcs. Maybe a 12 sider would be good because you could just
multiply
the arcs x2 (6-->12). You'd have to reassign them obviously, but you
ought
to be able to come close. The vector rules ought to more or less work,
though we'd need to have a different syntax to imply thrust up/down. 

Each ship would obviously need a 3D position and velocity and some
concept
of facing (to assess firing arcs). You'd also need some 3D models (but
I've
seen some awesome wireframe models). 

It's a pity that someone couldn't negotiate for a copy of the Homeworld
engine and we could use some FT models. I'd want to re-write the "rules"
for
weapons and screens such that they would be conformant to FT-ish rules,
and
it would be neat to have status displays that look roughly like
shipsheets.
But all of this does sound within the realm of possibility on today's
systems. 

In short, other than time and money, there isn't any good reason we
can't do
3D FT. Of course, time and money are both often good reasons... *grin*	

... and I'm sure we've got a purist or two who'll point out that it is a
miniatures game.

But it would be kind of an interesting computer project. The neat thing
is
you could set it up to run real-time over a network, or turn based
driven by
email. Then you could actually play PBeMs in a 3D environment using
almost
familiar commands and weapons. 

....Just my daydreaming 0.02.....

------------------------------------------
Thomas R. S. Barclay
Voice: (613) 722-3232 ext 349
e-mail: tomb@bitheads.com

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GCS/GE d? s-:+ a? C+++(+)$ UL*U+++(--)
P>+++ L+ !E W++$>+++ N++ o+ K- w+++(++)
O+@ M-- V-- PS+ PE+ Y+(Y--) PGP- t* 5++
X- R++(R*) tv b+++>++++ DI+++ D++>D+++ 
G-- e* h* r y?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
------------------------------------------