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Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 8:33 am
by DarkHorse
Image

Sure am glad I don't come here often... :P
If I'd known that Descent was entirely based around a bug, I wouldn't ever have bothered.

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 11:10 am
by WarAdvocat
Thereby proving that you didn't bother to read the thread.

Skimmer.

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 12:49 pm
by Krom
WarAdvocat wrote:Thereby proving that you didn't bother to read the thread.

Skimmer.
Missing something, Skimmer + Noob. /me thinks.

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 2:05 pm
by Duper
It's NOT a BUG.
Tricording was based on a correct physics formula. The result was Unexpected as these are gaming programers and no Physisisisist. o_0 anyways.

If you really are that offended by all this, I URGE you to e-mail Matt T. at Volition (the pres of Volition and co-founder of Parallax) and voice your concerns/questions to him. He seems to be very personable.

Posted: Sat May 28, 2005 4:55 pm
by Sirius
...he may have been in the community longer than you have.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 4:12 am
by TheCope
Sirius wrote:...he may have been in the community longer than you have.
Which is an accomplishment that may get you laid with the chip toothed pull tab saleswoman.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 8:17 am
by Sirius
Something like that. Except DH is kinda misogynistic.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 12:56 pm
by Ferno
cut the crap.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 2:09 pm
by Krom
Are we having fun yet? :P I think this thread is lost.

Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 2:17 pm
by Duper
Sirius wrote:...he may have been in the community longer than you have.
not by much. Probably HERE, but I've been playing descent and was on the Interplay boards A good deal before the D2 demo was out.

but enough chest beating. :P
btw, the FIRST thing that my friend taught me when he introduced to descent was tricording. He gave a level called C.O.D. (Circle of Death by Thumb from "Levels of the World") and told me to practice in there.

yuck .. That and we played via modem in the "Hunting Halls".

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:29 am
by Sirius
Heh, no problem Duper, you weren't the one making newbie comments.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 1:55 am
by Sirius
Although I should note, it would be completely physically correct if the ship looked something like this:

Image

Since it obviously doesn't, well, who knows. Really, sliding, backward movement and vertical turning should be impossible as well (except with the Magnum for vertical turning). But hey, realism was never Descent's strong suit anyway.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 2:40 am
by Duper
no it wasn't. :) That curiously looks like the Lunar lander's vector thrusters.
...now why would that be??? :roll: :wink:

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 4:54 am
by Sirius
Yeah, it doesn't look like much. I considered the idea of tacking them on somehow to the D2 ship, but dismissed the idea as it would take too long.

Nonetheless... I -think- if you were clever enough, it would be possible to make a ship that could believably do most of what the Descent one can without looking hideous. Some creativity, though.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 3:12 pm
by Duper
hmm.. intersting that you should say that. I was watching Star Trek Movie 1 (I'm so glad they dind't do out of order episodes like some OTHER Sci-Fri melodramas.;))

anyways.. the jet pack that Kirk dawns to chase after Spock is that way. There are small jets in it that are very unobtrusive. Nice clean design. Go take a look, if you think you can handle some bad dialogue and retro. ;)

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 9:15 pm
by Testiculese
The lack of thrusters was explained at one time. Something about directional antigrav.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 9:59 pm
by Duper
I posted on this very ting on the first page of this thread:
Duper wrote:1) The Pyro is a vehicle that utilizes anti-gravity. How do we know this? In both D1 and D2, you visit various planetoids that have gravity, and we aren't draggin our butts on the ground so I think anti-grav is a reasonable assumption. Also in D3, you get an "AntiGrav" failure warning (as your ship is blowing up) when you are using cockpit mode.

2) This is a game that in theory uses very high tech stuff. Case and point. .. you can hold an unlimited number of hostages ..er.. somewhere..
2a)the ship utilizes upgrade technology, that is to say it can use weapons and equipment it finds along the way. Dravis Specifically mentions this in the D1 briefing.
2b) Bots can materialize from pure energy at specified centers. (wtf is up with that anyways.. o_0)
2c) self contained jump point tech. (Compact warp core technology)
2d) something like 30 missles (more if you have an ammo pack in D2)
It's just a game. Not and actual space sim. It's Sci-Fi. I don't think anyone reading Hienlin ever questioned the stuff he used in his stories or any other Sci-fi writer for that matter; except maybe "Ring World".. which was mostly the premiss of the story anyways.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 10:31 pm
by Sirius
Yeah, which does fly. (Excuse the pun.) Doesn't explain the presence of engines in the first place, unless they're actually futuristic massively riced-up exhausts for the engine or something.

Nonetheless, working the whole justification for trichording into antigrav systems is quite a lot more difficult. It could be argued that it isn't even a directional system...

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 10:41 pm
by Testiculese
It could be argued, 'cause it was just a convienient coverup for NOT putting huge thrusters all over the ship.

Posted: Mon May 30, 2005 11:24 pm
by Duper
That has been done here too. :roll:

Lets give it a rest ok? It just a game.. i mean really.

But given the conscience of the DBB, it's much better to beat the hell outta an otherwise common sense issue.

Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 1:55 am
by Sirius
Yeah, it's just I see a lot of justifications floating around that only work for certain implementations that otherwise don't... that's not the only one...

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 4:59 am
by Diedel
Tri-chording requires a moderate amount of practise and skill, and it is not too far from the general game mechanics of Descent, so I wouldn't put it in a line with script hacks of other games.

Imo it should be left in. Or better: Add a switch/game variable allowing the server to turn it on or off. I'm always for letting ppl have the freedom of choice (as long as it makes sense).

And then ... leave out that pseudo tech stuff. It's a game, and it's all about game play. You wouldn't want to "play" a serious 0-G space navigation game with a serious damage model, believe me. ;)

Posted: Wed Jun 01, 2005 7:44 am
by Sirius
Lander? Absolutely. (no, not the 'I would' kind)