Capital Ship Shield Module - BUG ???

[Lancefighter]

In theory as the outside observer you wouldnt have to deal with time dilation at all - thats all for the crews to deal with. Then again, youd also in theory have to deal with light-lag in communications....

[BobTheJanitor]

Well, you see, the command stations provide tachyon-based FTL communications across local planetary systems, which is in turn linked into a galaxy wide comm-station communication grid. Which explains why ships go slower on planets without a friendly command station. It's communication lag. Anyone buying this? No? Well, it was worth a try.

I like to amuse myself with trying to come up with technobabble explanations for gameplay conventions, but even I can't figure out how to reasonably explain a speed limit. Closest I can think of is starting with the assumption that every ship travels at greater than c, and the amount that they are able to exceed that limit based on their own sci-fi magic engines is what we see reflected as their max speed. But then I hit on the fact that every battleground is only as wide as a few planets, tops, so any ship traveling even at 1/2 c would zip past in seconds. And then I give up and go shoot the AI some more. 

[Lancefighter]

Human planets have reduced dust and debris as a result of the Clean Space Act of 2174 (by about 4x), thus pilots can go twice as fast and not worry about friction. Astro trains tend to increase the levels of dust and generally pollute, but they move resources efficiently enough for the AI to overlook this.

[Shrugging Khan]

Yea, you can make up stuff like "we can't mount enough radiation and meteorite shielding to go faster than 0.7c without blowing up", but then you'd have everything with a much narrower range of maximum velocity but much wider variance in acceleration, etc.  And then there's all the silliness brought about trying to get around (or incorporate) time dilation.

That explanation wouldn't even work unless the game offered some kind of self-damaging afterburner. Because even if you get irradiated and you risk running into rocks, wouldn't you still try to go faster if there was a missile behind you?

[BobTheJanitor]

That explanation wouldn't even work unless the game offered some kind of self-damaging afterburner. Because even if you get irradiated and you risk running into rocks, wouldn't you still try to go faster if there was a missile behind you?

Well known flaw in all spaceships is the lack of rear-view mirrors.

[x4000]

That explanation wouldn't even work unless the game offered some kind of self-damaging afterburner. Because even if you get irradiated and you risk running into rocks, wouldn't you still try to go faster if there was a missile behind you?

Well known flaw in all spaceships is the lack of rear-view mirrors.

The newer ones have that vehicle backup cameras, but it's just no substitute.  Sometimes you back right over a missile without even seeing it!

[zebramatt]

Now that's just silly. They have sensors for that sort of thing! You know the sort. They go, "Beep. Beep. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep-beep-beep-beep-bee-bee-bee-be-be-be-b-b-b-b-b-b-b-eeeeeeeeeeeee-CRUNCH-KABLAMMO."

Invaluable, those are.

[BobTheJanitor]

Ah you must be referring to the new and improved reverse spire mini-rams. Backing over a command station near you soon!

[Red Spot]

Big composite/reactive armor rearbumper will take care of those. May not look great, but a constant 'beep' isnt apreciated by the ladies

[BobTheJanitor]

a constant 'beep' isnt apreciated by the ladies

Unless they're AI ladies. In that case, try the pickup line, "Hey baby, do you come here and annihilate the human vermin often?"

[x4000]

a constant 'beep' isnt apreciated by the ladies

Unless they're AI ladies. In that case, try the pickup line, "Hey baby, do you come here and annihilate the human vermin often?"

That's good, but I guess I'm old fashioned.  I like the straightforward "Would you like to go out and blow up some planets tonight?  We could even mess up some aliens on the way back, if you want."

[Red Spot]

It wont work on all of them, but sometimes this one gets you lucky: "hey baby, I have a mark 3 nuke for you hidden near some dark moon".