[IceFire]

Now, before we start, no "its a game" replies.
Shouldn't the fighters, which tend to be more aerodynamic, move faster in the nebula, as the engines have something to push on, not just newtons law?  Also, the capships should be slowed down from the drag, as they are anything but aerodynamic.

A nebula shouldn't be dense enough to cause a significant increase in friction/drag.  The nebula we have in the game isn't really representative of a real nebula either.  But really...the answer you don't want to hear is the right one.  It IS a game and the fact that the ships stop when you cut the throttle and the fact that the nebula conditions are not realistic makes further discussion sort of moot in my view.  If we examine this as a gameplay mechanic...sure I guess we could do it so that speeds are reduced for everything across the board...but I don't see this as making a huge difference.  Capital ships are already slow as can be and fighters zip around at speeds that are relatively close.  There are better gameplay mechanics for the nebula and Volition already included most of them...the reduced visibility/sensor range and EMP lightning are good examples.

[Woolie Wool]

Now, before we start, no "its a game" replies.
Shouldn't the fighters, which tend to be more aerodynamic, move faster in the nebula, as the engines have something to push on, not just newtons law?  Also, the capships should be slowed down from the drag, as they are anything but aerodynamic.

Realistically, if the nebula were as dense as shown in FS2, it would collapse into a star. The FS2 nebulae are many, many orders of magnitude denser than real nebulae. The extreme density of the nebulae and the lightning are more characteristic of a gas giant atmosphere, and you'd have to go down quite a ways for it to be like that. Hope your fighter has air conditioning, because it's hot down there.

[Kazan]

the nebulae in the game are 10-20 orders of magnitude more dense than real nebulae (except in small specific regions where a star is soon [in galatic time] to form)

[jdjtcagle]

There is a star in the Fs2 nebula could definitely be a (unintentional) connection?

[Kosh]

Speaking of nebula's, how accurate are the Freelancer nebula's?

[Jeff Vader]

Speaking of nebula's, how accurate are the Freelancer nebula's?

I think pretty much as accurate as my knowledge on quantum mechanics. If you google any of the names of the nebulas (like Edge Nebula, Crow Nebula and Walker Nebula), you only find Freelancer related sites. Wikipedia doesn't give anything on those exact names.

[Flipside]

Freelancers nebulas are excellent as an in-game feature, but to be honest, they are less real than FS2 nebula, you 'might' get little localised pockets of gas like that, but 'little' in astronomical terms is several AU's in size, not about 20km

[Flipside]

Look at it this way, why do you think all the inner planet are rock and metal, and all the outer planets are gas and water? It's to do with mass, everything is spinning, and the lighter materials end up on the outside. When a nebula, particuarly a Supernova-generated one is formed, much of that lighter material can actually be travelling too fast to be pulled back

Actually, the solar wind from the young sun blew all the lighter elements away.  The gas giants are too far away to be affected like that.

Nope, it's to do with the spin of the young proto-star, coupled with the rotation of the Galaxy that threw the material around, not the Solar Wind, since the Solar System was starting to form before the Sun had become properly active, so there was no Solar Wind to move it. Trust me, Gravity had far far more impact on the formation of the Solar System than a stream of ionised gases from a newly fused star.

[Retsof]

Look at it this way, why do you think all the inner planet are rock and metal, and all the outer planets are gas and water? It's to do with mass, everything is spinning, and the lighter materials end up on the outside. When a nebula, particuarly a Supernova-generated one is formed, much of that lighter material can actually be travelling too fast to be pulled back

Actually, the solar wind from the young sun blew all the lighter elements away.  The gas giants are too far away to be affected like that.

Nope, it's to do with the spin of the young proto-star, coupled with the rotation of the Galaxy that threw the material around, not the Solar Wind, since the Solar System was starting to form before the Sun had become properly active, so there was no Solar Wind to move it. Trust me, Gravity had far far more impact on the formation of the Solar System than a stream of ionised gases from a newly fused star.

But think, centrifugal force and acceleration affect things as though there is gravity puling them out.  Think of that carnaval ride where you can sit on the walls.  The air doesn't get sucked to the edges before you do.  Similarly, the heavy elements would end up on the outside if spin was the only factor.

[Flipside]

Gravity doesn't work like that, however, remember, we all think about the Earth pulling us 'down' as being Gravity, and forget that we are, in fact, also pulling the Earth a tiny fraction 'up'. It's the same with particulate matter, it's not just a question of force pushing them outwards, it's also the force pulling them back in, and larger, higher mass material is easier for gravity to attract than light molecules such as Hydrogen will tend to sit out in the further edges of the Solar System because the Suns gravity isn't strong enough to pull them back in, and because their own minute gravity is not sufficient to prevent them from reaching an 'escape velocity' for want to a better word. So Hydrogen atoms are more prevalent in the outer half of the Solar System, not all of it escapes, but Jupiter contains massive amount of light materials such as Hydrogen, Nitrogen and Carbon, whereas the heavier compounds such a Silicon and Metallic compounds are far more prevalent in the inner system, after all, if it worked like centrifugal force, then Jupiter would have, for example, a rock outer layer and a gas core, when, in fact, the opposite is true.

[Retsof]

  He actually beat me in a physics debate.  ... Guess I'll get rid of my "science nerd" sign.  Dang... *goes to read a physics book*

[Flipside]

LOL Ironically enough, I was only reading up on it a few days ago, because I was actually discussing it with someone, so I sort of had an advantage

[Wanderer]

I would have kinda said that gravity was not the only factor... more like combination of gravity and heat eg. volatility of molecules (snow line)...

[Flipside]

Yep, there is a lot more involved with what actually causes the creation of the planets themselves, but their constituent materials were mostly put in their orbital planes by the effects of gravity.