[ShadowGorrath]

Might not be a good title, but how much do we know in real life about the universe, that can proove FreeSpace as totally impossible?

Ship speed: as not to need to resuply so often, and due to subspace, it isn't needed very high.

FTL travel: there is this thing called wormholes here, being researched. But who's to say that something like subspace can't exist ?

Shivans and Vasudans: it's impossible to find any life outside our Solar system with out current tech... And compared to them too. Who's to say that they DON'T or DO exist? We may never know.

Etc.

Might have played too much FS2 for starting this kind of topic, but what the heck. Post your opinions wheter you think that something like FS2 is possible in real life.

P.S. If I get flamed, I'm removing this post and pretending this never happened.   

[Reprobator]

About subspace , didn't the us army told that they're working on it for the next 10/20 years to come?
i use to read news about this one or two years ago , they told they could travel to mars within 3/4 hours instead of 9 mounth with conventional propulsion...
about speed of ship in freespace , actually rocket and shuttle travel really faster than 80 m/s , they're too slow to be realistic in freespace but i guess fighting with a bullet speed would be far too much difficult to play 

[Stormkeeper]

Beam weapons would take a hell of a longer time to be realised, and reverse engineering alien technology wouldn't be so damn easy or fast either.

[griffon67]

if we were to fight at bullet speed, shouldn't we have invented an AI program who could fight for us ?
a one you would control like in the RTS games ? no more pilots dying, only drones.

[ShadowGorrath]

AI can be reprogrammed and turned against very easily. Even worse if you take over what controls it, then your whole force would turn against you.

And as I said about the engine speed- they're so low because there's no need of higher fusion engine speed, because of subspace. And it's so low not only because of subspace, but because they are fusion drives, and thus you would need to resuply all ships very often. It's inefficient that way. Or maybe the speed in-FS-universe is like the one we have in our current spaceshuttles.

[jr2]

Engine speed?  The subspace drive has the unfortunate side-effect of always being partially 'online', and creates drag through the grip it maintains in subspace.  *shrugs*  Works, right?  xD  But that wouldn't explain why you couldn't go super-fast if your subspace drive got damaged.

[Snail]

And as I said about the engine speed- they're so low because there's no need of higher fusion engine speed, because of subspace. And it's so low not only because of subspace, but because they are fusion drives, and thus you would need to resuply all ships very often. It's inefficient that way. Or maybe the speed in-FS-universe is like the one we have in our current spaceshuttles.

IMO that's a bad explanation... I am under the impression that the speeds are relative to the sector, and that you are actually travelling at a million miles a second at some random speed, but all the things in the sector are all moving at the same constant speed, so relative to each other they are travelling at the speeds given in game. Then, using a bit of imagination, everything makes sense!

[ShadowGorrath]

Would be hard to fight at all at that kind of speed. But would make sense.

[jdjtcagle]

FreeSpace < Real Life

[Stormkeeper]

FreeSpace > Real Life.

[ShadowGorrath]

I should probably change the topic title, as the real question I was going for is: Would something like FS be possible in RL ?

[General Battuta]

And as I said about the engine speed- they're so low because there's no need of higher fusion engine speed, because of subspace. And it's so low not only because of subspace, but because they are fusion drives, and thus you would need to resuply all ships very often. It's inefficient that way. Or maybe the speed in-FS-universe is like the one we have in our current spaceshuttles.

IMO that's a bad explanation... I am under the impression that the speeds are relative to the sector, and that you are actually travelling at a million miles a second at some random speed, but all the things in the sector are all moving at the same constant speed, so relative to each other they are travelling at the speeds given in game. Then, using a bit of imagination, everything makes sense!

Okay, wait. You are aware that this is the way everything works in real life, right? We call them inertial reference frames.

It doesn't change anything about Freespace to say that, because that's just the way reality is. Speed measurements are always taken relative to an arbitrary reference frame.

[jdjtcagle]

I should probably change the topic title, as the real question I was going for is: Would something like FS be possible in RL ?

no I think it's fine, I was just kidding

[Snail]

Okay, wait. You are aware that this is the way everything works in real life, right? We call them inertial reference frames.

It doesn't change anything about Freespace to say that, because that's just the way reality is. Speed measurements are always taken relative to an arbitrary reference frame.

Yes, I do. But I was just spewing some random stuff that makes some kind of sense in a FreeSpace context. But I just think that game mechanics aren't reliable. Anyway.

[General Battuta]

Okay, then I agree with you wholeheartedly. Which I find myself doing a lot. You're a sensible dude, Snail.

[Gamma_Draconis]

Don't forget about the explosives. According to the techroom, Fury/Tempest dumbfire missiles have the firepower of an atomic bomb... If that's how much firepower a Fighter can bunch, just imagine one of them doing a strafe on a planet's surface. Hell, I can't even imagine the damage caused by bombs if detonated on the surface.

[blowfish]

The problem with the speed system is that even if you are measuring speed relative to an inertial reference frame, you should be able to accelerate infinitely relative to that frame - there is no speed cap (until you run out of fuel ).  But FS's physics are not intended to simulate real physics (AKA Newtonian Physics).

[Colonol Dekker]

*SNIP*
Shivans and Vasudans: it's impossible to find any life outside our Solar system with out current tech... And compared to them too. Who's to say that they DON'T or DO exist? We may never know.
*SNIP*

Shrodingers cat.....

[Unknown Target]

I'm going to brain anyone who says "well it's not realistic because there's no sound in space! lololololol!". That always comes up in these discussions.

That is all.

[ShadowGorrath]

You kinda can have sound. If you're shooting, or something impacts your ship's hull.

And if you want to see almost real newtonian in-game, try HomePlanet. It's very realistic ( ammo, fuel, types of flight cruise and glide, really strong missiles, etc ). It's much harder than FS, as you need skills, but controls in general are similar.