Pushing the envelope

Physics class was a long time ago, but I'm rather certain your motion potential is still determined by applied force, otherwise anything would be able to achieve FTL. But, getting back to the original intention of this post, there's plenty of potential left to explore without taking away from the fun factor.

Sorry about the double post but:

The limit here is due to the force required to increase velocity at near c speeds. as you approach the limit the mass of the vessel increases, due to the kinetic energy being so large as to introduce a non-negligible mass, the closer to c, the larger the mass and thus the greater the force needed to accelerate. eventually a limit is set by the engine power (and fuel reserves). However, this limit is still around the 0.9c or above mark. At v=c the mass becomes infinite (and other entertaining time dilation and relativistic effects take hold too!)
 
A couple years ago, there was a little program called Space Combat (from the creator of X-Plane) which featured purely Newtonian physics, realistic lasers, and some form of star trek styled torpedoes. You could even build your own vessels to your own specifications. I re-created a few Wing Commander ships, just to see how they'd fly.

Combat was a joke. If you were moving fast enough to close on your opponent, then you *might* catch a brief glimpse of them before you either shot past or collided (no collisions in this game, though). Slowing down was a joke. Maneuvering was a joke. Shooting your opponent was a joke. The only way for the game to be any fun was to build huge capships with tons of lasers, and either fly one against one, or fly a fighter-bomber against one.

I just checked, and I don't think they offer that program any more.
 
Combat was a joke.

I agree with everyone that a pure Newtonian setup would suck, I'd be more interested in keeping the atmospheric flight system with the ability to perform more than just a Shelton Slide for all fighters, some obviously would be much better at it than others. Later I'll hit up the guys over on the FS2 forums and see how feasible this would be.
 
Yes, flying MANTIS is a bitch, but I doubt how "newtonian" that is, since you are not attracted to larger space bodies. But mantis is playable, and can be finished.

But all in all, it's supposed to be a fun game experience, flying around in a "perfect" Jet flight sim is also a lot less fun and rewarding then playing strike commander. The Lucasarts sims and the Ocean's sims allow this gameplay-wise.

The realistic WW1/WW2 flight models are all "fun" to fly though.
 
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