ScrumbleShip is the most accurate space combat simulation devised to date. Gather resources, construct a capital ship out of individual blocks, then pilot it with AI or human help against other players.
GeneralVonDoom's Battle
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GeneralVonDoom has made us a battle mockup! I think it looks really swell.
Those red/green lines can't be lasers, as you can see them from this angle - Perhaps they're pulsed plasma weapons?
Cheers,
-Dirk
Plasma weapons can't function in space. Maybe they could be particle beams?
Real cool-looking game though, there are very few games that give a realistic interpretation of space combat. :D
Why can't plasma weapons function in space? Too much heat bled off to the void?
No, it's that plasma is essentially like a gas, in that it wants to equalise it's internal pressure with the external pressure, meaning it would expand almost instantly into a diffuse cloud of nothingness.
The heat wouldn't bleed off very fast, because there's nothing to conduct the heat away. Things would actually stay hot for hours or days, slowly giving it off in the form of radiation.
You're absolutely right that a gas - especially one as energetic as plasma - would rapidly expand. However, the rate of cooling is also affected by the surface area-to-volume ratio. Something with as tiny a volume-to-surface area ratio as a plasma particle would lose heat much more rapidly than a larger, monolithic object. So there are two problems with uncontained plasma in space: first the rapid expansion, which would also lead to rapid heat loss. Bummer for plasma fans.
That's actually a pretty good point!
I was just trying to suggest something that'd look like that... I'm afraid there really isn't anything. Most beam weapons feasible in space wouldn't waste energy throwing it out the sides like that.
Still, it's incredibly traditional in visual sci-fi - I'd love SOMETHING to look like that, as a nod to Star Trek/Star Wars/etc.
Cheers,
-Dirk
Remember Dirk.
ScrumbleShip has three main mottos that we try to follow:
Be true to Reality
Be true to Science Fiction
Be Fun
Every gameplay decision is weighed against each one of these, and ideally shouldn't be implemented unless it matches two out of the three.
This would apply to 2 of those 3 and im sure you can guess which 2 ^^.
Nothing stopping you from using a strong magnetic field to make a beam of plasma. Compared to other weapons it would very short range, but could be like a cutting beam. Would be nice for fusion reactor powered ships, they could just shunt drive plasma to the cannon. Far few hard sci-fi books that have this. Range is the big downside.
Wow that's sweet! It's making me drool over the future Scrumblecombat. Pitching our own creations in realistic combat (or trade, or mining, or whatever) based on the laws of fun and physics is going to be an unparalleled blast. :)
Well Im glad you all like it! I basically wanted to imagine what a space battle in Scrumbleship would perhaps look like and this is what I came up with, this isn't at all realistic, I wanted to make the scene look EPIC! with explosions and colourful weapon discharges, Ive even drawn a second with just one battlecruiser.
Well in StarDrive there are Plasmaweapons...
Freaking Flamethrowers haha :D only short range :P