[Destraex]

I love wing commander but the things below - especailly in the movie irk me
I actually enjoyed the movie but cringed at the lead actor especially maniac and all of the "ww2 movie" effects.
The space effects were very good especailly the explosions for the day.

a) Being quiet in space avoids detection and pinging....ww2 in space
b) dive bombers making a screaming noise - I know, most sci-fi have external sounds
c) instantaneous turning\no drift... always facing forwards no matter what you do with the fighter in a zero G. No need for counter thrusters (retro thrusters) or at least control of them.

P.S. are the novels for wing commander as good as say Honor Harrington?

[KeldorKatarn]

c) instantaneous turning\no drift... always facing forwards no matter what you do with the fighter in a zero G. No need for counter thrusters (retro thrusters) or at least control of them.

That last one is not exactly true. You see the fighters move along their z-axis several times for example. Like when Angel and Blair are detected by the ConCom.

However, the physics in that movie were extremely bad yes. Not that other sci fi is physically correct, but at least it feels "possible", a chance that the WC Movie missed. Anyway, the movie is controversial anyway, so...

P.S. are the novels for wing commander as good as say Honor Harrington?

Most of the novels are incredibly good in my opition. The novel to WC4 strays a little tooo much from the original story of the game, but the rest (in chronological order):

Action Stations
Freedom Flight
End Run (<- the best IMO)
Fleet Action
Heart of the Tiger (also doesn't stick 100% to the game, but is still fun to read)
False Colors

Those are a must if you are a WC fan
End Run and especially Fleet Action are also a must to read to understand what's going on in Wc3 and also here in WC Saga, since Fleet Action is about the Battle of Earth!

[Destraex]

now the novels sound very good.
Can you tell me what age group they are written for? For instance I have read a fair few Star Wars novels but most feel very teen oriented.
I mean timothy zahn novels at least feel complicated enough to be written for adults (which most teens will understand anyway)
I guess for me its like Quake VS operation flashpoint only in novel form

BTW its been a long time since I played the games but most did not seem to allow the player to use retro thrusters to correct headings as their was not need. The ships seemed to magically act like they could turn with no mass

[gevatter Lars]

If you want to play with newtan physik I would recommend playing "B5 I found her" or I-War. Most spacesim games are more like planes in space and not very orianted on real world physics.

Also to fire your thrusters for every direction manualy would be quite anoying...except you want to stop very fast. Else give the pilot a stick for direction and one for set the thrust level of his thrusters and let the anboard computer translate the movement of the stick into when what thruster needs to be activated.

Gamewise it could be made that ships keep a little bit of their momentum before turning..resulting into a semi-realsitic flying style but for games I think that is the best/most you should do for keeping the fun. Else you would do a simulator..in that case I would recommend becomming an astronaut/cosmonaut ^_^

[Destraex]

lol I played "ive found her" and thought it was great.... just limited by the starfury flyable only really...not much to look forward to if you know what I mean

[gevatter Lars]

I thought it was ...well difficulte. It was a complete different way to fly then what I am used to but still fun.
I think they even where doing a second part aren't they? Haven't checked the website for ages. Anyway I don't have time to play anything lately.