Trajectory: Elite 2 to OOlite

[SMAKDY]

Hey there!

It is so nice to see that elite has been resurrected in a much more updated engine like OpenGL. This made my week being in the hospital while my wife is recovering from her kidney/pancreas transplant.

My father, brother and myself used to play Elite 2: Frontier constantly when I was very young. The game was extremely complex but that did not bother us. In fact my brother being the younger one was far more into the game than I was at the time.

I wanted to ask a question that has been bugging me all week though since it seems like a huge break from the original games.

Why is trajectory not constant in this game? When I throttle down, the ship apparently comes to a full stop and this is further confirmed by the fact that the HUD does not a have a second set of cross-hairs to show which direction the ship is moving while not providing any thrust. This is a space simulation is it not? Mimicking the physics of space flight seems like a pretty important goal of a space sim, Plus, it was a feature in Elite and I am under the impression that remakes typically try to mirror the basic mechanics of said game.

Anyways, I am not bitching or complaining I just wanted to ask the question since it seems like there is such a vibrant and active community supporting this remake.

-Commander SMAKDY

[Cody]

Hi and welcome aboard... Oolite does not use 'Newtonian' physics (just as the original Elite did not), unlike Frontier.
Oolite is more of a space game, rather than a space-sim.

[SMAKDY]

Understood. Yeah after I posted the topic and awaited for it to be approved I did some perusing of the results on Google for Frontier Elite 2 remakes and found pioneer and infinity in the works. There is another one out but, it looks like crap and I would have to do all those Himem86 modifications to my Win7 system to partake in it. So, that is off the table for the time being since I do not want to do that to my desktop.

Pioneer looks like the closest thing to a finished product in regards to FE2 remakes. Infinity looks way way better but I have had my eye on that for a couple years now because of its similarities to EVE and even though the dev is making progress he is a one man army it would seem and is probably never going to get it off the ground =(

Thanks for the response, I did not realize that newtonian physics was not included in the first game. It was just slightly before my time hehe

[Shipbuilder]

Hi SMAKDY and welcome to the forum.

As El Viejo says Oolite is a reworking of the original Elite which did not use Newtonian style flight (Frontier Elite 2 that you are thinking of did however use Newtonian flight).

Everyone has there own view on this but I was lucky enough to play both as I was growing up and certainly found the style of flight used in Elite, (and recreated in Oolite), to be much better with regard to the game play.

[SMAKDY]

Me and my brother used to land and dock ships manually in FE2 =)

I fall into the newtonian category as you may well have already guessed. It has been one of my major gripes with EVE in my years playing that.

[Cody]

If you're a Frontier freak, then Pioneer is for you... though it's still in alpha phase. See the Pioneer sub-forum here.

[Smivs]

Hi SMAKDY, and welcome.
As somebody who only played the original Elite 'back in the day', and now Oolite, I've never played an iteration with Newtonian mechanics, so I can't really comment on the relative merits. What I would say, though, is that the best bit of Elite/Oolite is the ability to enjoy some close-contact dog-fighting, something I understand just doesn't work with Newtonian physics.
It's a case of whatever floats your boat, I guess.

[SMAKDY]

it actually did work out pretty well in dogfights because I could cut power to the engines and use the maneuvering thrusters as a means of aiming the forward laser. this means the entire ship acted as a turret if need be. This is something that can be extremely beneficial if your target overshoots and has to whip back around to get a shot or vice versa.

I look forward to giving that pioneer alpha a test when I get home!

It is very refreshing to see that y'all are so active on your boards!

[Geraldine]

Hi SMAKDY

Firstly, welcome to the Oolite board and yes as you have found out Oolite does not use Newtonian Physics. Pioneer does and even has a little "outpost" on this forum here https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8415

I have also recently updated Pioneer's ModDB page with Alpha 25 here,

http://www.moddb.com/games/pioneer

Also, you should drop by my little thread on the PC Gamer forum as it has handy links to the other Elite re-make First Encounters Elite III, known as FFE3D as well as lots of other goodies .

http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12778

This is being worked on again by it's Russian devs, details here http://spacesimcentral.com/forum/topic/ ... t-or-dead/

I have to be honest though and say I love all the re-makes both Newtonian and non-Newtonian

Finally, I hope your wife makes a speedy recovery

[NigelJK]

Speaking of the Newtonian environment. Does any one know what happened to 'Black Angel'. This was 'fully' NP and missions were promised for later.

http://www.retrogames.co.uk/more/on/details/012161

[Tichy]

Thanks to this thread, I'm now playing pioneer ... and I find it amazing.
I play oolite for the fun of trading and fighting. Exploring the galaxy with pioneer is fascinating.
Now, with oolite and pioneer, my social life is over!

[commanderxairon]

Me and my brother used to land and dock ships manually in FE2 =)

I fall into the newtonian category as you may well have already guessed. It has been one of my major gripes with EVE in my years playing that.

LAND? i wish we could do that in Oolite.. o.o

[JazHaz]

Me and my brother used to land and dock ships manually in FE2 =)

I fall into the newtonian category as you may well have already guessed. It has been one of my major gripes with EVE in my years playing that.

LAND? i wish we could do that in Oolite.. o.o

We can. Check out the [wiki]Planetfall OXP[/wiki].

[Commander McLane]

Me and my brother used to land and dock ships manually in FE2 =)

I fall into the newtonian category as you may well have already guessed. It has been one of my major gripes with EVE in my years playing that.

LAND? i wish we could do that in Oolite.. o.o

We can. Check out the [wiki]Planetfall OXP[/wiki].

We can't. Planets are off-limits to interstellar space ships. If you want to visit a planet, you have to book a flight on a shuttle from the main station (it's not very expensive; and depending on which planets you visit, you can try to win your fare back in a hoopy casino ).