[GZG] Painfully Realistic Vector Movement

On Sun, Jan 17, 2010 at 07:40:56PM -0500, Robert Mayberry wrote:

>I would love to see a reaction-drive tweak
>for FT that is compatible with AV:T / THS physics

What the hell, I only need to get up for work tomorrow...

Painfully Realistic Vector Movement for Full Thrust

The vector movement system, while it is more true to the real world than
cinematic movement, still fails to be an accurate representation of
Newtonian motion. This system takes longer to play, and is not
recommended for large battles, but does provide that last drop of
accuracy; it works on the basis that acceleration is applied constantly
throughout the entire turn's movement, so while a ship can still change
its speed by up to its MD rating it won't immediately move the full
distance that that might imply.

You will need one marker per ship ("marker-1"), as with standard vector
movement, and one spare marker ("marker-2"). Plot movement as in that
system, but when it comes to moving the ship follow this procedure:

* Place marker-1 at the ship's current position.

* Work out where the ship will arrive without manoeuvreing, given its
  drift speed and direction; place the ship miniature at that position.

* Place marker-2 at the ship's new position, then take it through the
  current turn's movement orders (as in standard vector movement).

* Find the half-way point between the ship and marker-2. Move the ship
  there (and turn it to match the final facing of marker-2).

* Measure the distance and direction from marker-1 to marker-2; these
  are the drift speed and direction values for next turn's movement.

* Remove the markers, then place marker-1 next to the ship to indicate
  drift direction as with standard vector movement.

Note that since this halves the distance by which ships can displace
themselves from their predicted position you should probably halve SM
lock-on ranges and such like again from their vector values. Haven't
tested that.

If the table gets crowded, you can record drift direction as well as
speed on a piece of paper; I do this for standard vector too.

Roger
_______________________________________________
Gzg-l mailing list
Gzg-l@mail.csua.berkeley.edu
http://mail.csua.berkeley.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/gzg-l