Re: Newbie Question

On Wed, 14 February 2001, "Fent, Lee" wrote:

> When you decide your course
> movements, is your turning point effected by the thrust that is used
for
> acceleration?  For example, say you have a Course of 12 and Velocity
of 5,
> and you decide to use 3 points of thrust to accel and 1 point to turn
to
> port.  Do you move 4" then turn, or do you move 3" and then next round
your
> velocity is 8".  Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I didn't find
it
> anywhere in FT2.

Here's what you do. You plot your orders including speed changes, then
you add last turn's speed to the increase (or decrease) in speed you had
ordered for this turn. This is your new speed. You must move this
distance in the turn. 

When it's time to move the ships, you do this. You look at the number of
points you ordered the ship to turn. You do half those points of turns,
rounded down, before moving the ship. You move the ship half it's
movement distance. You then do half the points for turns, rounded up.
You then move your ship the rest of its movement.

Example: you have a ship with a Thrust rating of 6. It can do a maximum
of three points of movement in a turn (half of 6). Last turn's speed is
6.

You make this order: S3 + 3. This is Starboard (right) turn for 3
points, and an increase in speed of 3. Your speed this turn will be 9"
(last turn's speed of 6 plus an increase of 3 this turn).

Now, it's time to move the ship. First, you make half the turn, rounded
down. 3 divided in half is 1.5, rounded down to 1. So, you make a 1
point turn to the right. 

You then move half your distance. Your speed is 9", so you move 4.5". 

You have to finish your turn at the half way point. You ordered a 3
point turn, but did 1 point at the beginning. Now you do a 2 point turn
to the right. Finally, you move the ship the rest of its movement
distance (another 4.5").

That's it. 

Ummm... unless I've got the rounding part backwards... If so, I'm sure
I'll hear about it.

Allan Goodall - agoodall@canada.com
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