Quality Space Combat
I recently started watching Babylon 5 for the first time, since my housemate has it on DVD. I appreciated how the producers occasionally made a few concessions to the scientific realities of zero-gravity vacuum, when they felt it didn't detract too much from the corny space-opera melodrama they were aiming for. How nice of them.
The fact that they considered their relatively lax standard to be so rigorous, reminded me how much I loved the PC computer game Independence War, a capital ship combat simulator. It depicted the most plausible combat spacecraft I've ever seen. (One of these days I intend to scratchbuild a model Dreadnaught class corvette.) The sequel, Edge of Chaos, was not quite as good in that regard. What I loved about this game's setting was the incredible level of painstaking justifications for the social/historical/technological detail. As a result it's the only space combat game that doesn't play as if you're riding an underwater torpedo. The depth of combat strategy was sublime.
This page describes their method of pseudo-FTL. The "capsule drive" method would not break the light barrier because, technically, there would be no "travel" involved. It is important to understand that this is not science, not even at the edge of current physics theory. The dependency on real-world Lagrange points is a brilliant plot device for stories-- much better than the wormholes in Star Trek or B5.
Unlike Star Trek or B5's technobabble, the science in Independence War is so thoroughly researched that the capsule drive and linear displacement drive are the only things far-fetched enough that they have to cheat on the science a little. Their science consultant, who has a PHD in physics, explains fictional twenty-third century physics so thoughtfully and comprehensively on their Yabb discussion board that it's easy to forget we have no inkling of a hint from physics to expect capsule drive and linear displacement to ever be real, and lots of good reason from what is already known about physics, to expect it to never happen.
Of course he acknowledges when he's cheating on the science of it, but for much of the other technology depicted in the setting, it's just a matter of time for waiting for the engineering to catch up with twentieth century physics. Take molecular manufacturing for instance, known as nanotechnology. That's a different thing: we know it's within the laws of physical possibility. We're just waiting for inventors to figure out how to do it.
Comments
fallenhero143 on Oct. 19, 2004 4:26 PM
If you liked Independence War, then you would have LOVED the Babylon 5 Combat Simulator that Sierra was developing... but axed. I played an early alpha and it was pretty smooth. Most importantly, it had 100% full Newtonian movement. Of course that was a downside as a game. It was seriously possible to pretend it was your regular flightsim and thrust continuously... then find yourself 100km from where you needed to be and have 20 minutes or more of full-burn delta-v to just turn your ship around.
But jamming the Star Fury's thrusters to one side and spinning around to blast the raider trying to tail you... that was awesome. Shooting out missiles on intercept courses was good too... reminded me of firing torpedoes in 688 Attack Sub. They'd fly for a minute or two on the course you set, and if you aimed well and computed a good intercept, they'd get within proximity range and use their onboard thrusters to home in and detonate.
Sierra still hasn't gotten off my crap-list fot killing that game. Did I mention it looked incredibly cool too? The had the CG models and textures from the show to use as sources.
Grrrr. Sierra blows.
matt-arnold on Oct. 19, 2004 5:00 PM
No question, real Newtonian physics is difficult to fly unassisted. The 3D grid that I.W. superimposed on space, and the target-focused third-person computer projection, really made it possible. Even then though, I like to switch back and forth to "fly-by-wire" mode.
matt-arnold on Oct. 20, 2004 10:31 AM
P.S. You sound like you appreciate Independence War as well. What did you think of the idea to scratchbuild a scale model of the Dreadnaught? A cool idea or what?
cosette-valjean on Oct. 20, 2004 11:22 AM — B5
I enjoyed watching this space opera. I can't wait to find out how Dalin(sp???) gets hair. Hee-hee.
I've always thought making that model would be really nifty... :-)
samurai-jkm on Oct. 22, 2004 1:33 PM — Speaking of great Sci-Fi space operas...
Did you happen to see Farscape : The Peacekeeper Wars?
I thought it was really well done. Since D'Argo died at the end of it I have a feeling that they are done with the show. Pity, since it was an excellent show and featured the magic of Jim Henson's workshop. With all the shows now a days primarily using the technologies of computer graphics to create all their special effects, it's a breath of fresh air to see some traditional work with puppetry and makeup. Many times it looks more realistic in the end result.
Does anybody know what they plan to do with the show? Bring it back or dump it?
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