In reality, there is (almost) no force to reduce speed in space.

It was quite unituitive to me in the beginning that when I boost the spaceship, it works lke a car on earth rather than a spaceship. I’d have liked the spaceship to continue to gain speed when either the boost was applied or you continue to throttle the engine. They could have kept a fuel limit to keep the speed in check.

What are your thoughts on this? Would you have liked this to be more based in reality or prefer the familiar car based speed/acceleration that’s in the game?

  • KiranWells
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    -310 months ago

    I think the behavior could actually make sense with real physics, as the vehicle might be designed to mimic what the driver expects rather than real physics. For example, my car often shuts off the engine when I am not accelerating because it is a hybrid. So, if I don’t press the gas pedal, it wouldn’t really make sense for it to move. However, it is designed to artificially engage the engine when none of the pedals are pressed to more closely mimic the behavior of non-hybrid cars.

    If most pilots are used to the behavior if a vehicle in atmosphere, a space ship might be designed to mimic that behavior (through weak reverse thrusters or something else) to make it easier for pilots to get used to.

      • stankmut
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        -110 months ago

        Starship designers assumed that you want to slow down when you let off the throttle, much like today’s One Pedal mode in electric cars. Otherwise you would’ve engaged cruise control if you wanted to keep the same speed.

        • KiranWells
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          010 months ago

          Exactly; the idea is familiarity, not efficiency. To be fair, this argument doesn’t make sense for all situations, so it is possible I misunderstood what the original post was talking about specifically.