Wouldn't it be great if someone made a game with the realism of DCS but-

[Frakin Toasters]

But with some kind of sci-fi aircraft. Did anyone ever play G-Police? A sim-level study with ultra-real physics would make that a very exciting game if you ask me. Kind of like a jet-chopper.

[Slippery Pete]

I've always thought 'space sims' or sci-fi sims' were kind of an oxymoron. It's a little hard to make a simulator about something that doesn't exist.

[Safari Ken]

I've always thought 'space sims' or sci-fi sims' were kind of an oxymoron. It's a little hard to make a simulator about something that doesn't exist.

 

A little hard, yes, but not impossible. Here's a free one that should be authentic enough for you: http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

[EtherealN]

http://x-plane.com/SpaceCombat.html

 

A really nice one by Austin Meyer that lets you easily build your own spaceships and see how they would handle. The name "space combat" is a bit of a misnomer really - the interesting thing about it in my opinion is to test out designs and find how radically different everything becomes when you remove air resistance and gravity...

[Safari Ken]

I like X-Plane. I've never tried his "Space Combat" link, but flying the Mars planes in that thin Mars air is a hoot! I understand that NASA is actually using the sim to help design real-life Mars flyers...

[EtherealN]

You should try it out. It's got the same basic spacecraft design kit as you have for aircraft in standard X-Plane - but "Space Combat" is free software. :)

 

Just like the Mars stuff it basically came out of Mr. Meyer one day thinking "I wonder how that would really fly" and then realizing that he had a fully fledged physics engine already. So for this one he tweaked it a bit and stripped out the things that don't matter anymore (like air friction, aerodynamic lifts and stuff, and gravity) and then tested a few designs. :)

 

EDIT: Though of course, it really shouldn't be thought of as anywhere near DCS fidelity. It probably is as good with things like calculating momentum and so on, but it doesn't go into the detail of simulating various subsystems. When you slap an engine onto it the simulator basically just assumes that it will work on a specific set of thrust and weight parameters. While it would be interesting to have a DCS-level simulation of spacecraft it becomes pretty difficult to do that for aircraft that doesn't exist, because it already becomes very very theoretical.

 

But oh gods how I would love a simulation of the good old Orca from C&C Tiberian Dawn. :D

 

EDIT#2: There's nothing impossible in simulating something that doesn't exist. In fact, simulating the theoretical is one of the more important steps in designing new aircraft, and in new aircraft they will make pilot's eye sims as well. I remember it mentioned that the first man to fly the Gripen prototype had something in the style of thousands of hours in a Gripen simulator before the prototype was even completed...

Edited April 26, 2009 by EtherealN

[Safari Ken]

The avionics fidelity of X-Plane might be kinda generic, but what that sim does really well is atmosphere modeling. Also, size-wise, it's gotta be a record for a base installation, at 72gb for X-Plane 9. :P Of course, my FSX install has ballooned up to close to 100gb now, with all that MegaScenery and other goodies.

 

I'm a big fan of Orbiter, that sim I linked to in my first post. It's ridiculously detailed. It uses known methods for interplanetary flight, so in real time it WILL take months to get to some places. Its time compression goes up over 100,000x, however (but where's the fun in that?).

 

From time to time I'll set up a dedicated computer and run Orbiter 24/7, and make a Earth -> Moon -> Mars trip, or Mars -> Jupiter -> Europa, that sort of thing. Most of the spacecraft designs are theoretical of course, but realistic designs, and the math and everything is very, very hi-fi. I assume. I'm not a physics degree-holder. All I can tell you is that you WILL feel like a mathematical genius doing a planetary transfer, even if the systems are doing the actual calculations for you. It gives me awe-struck respect for the people who actually do these things in real life. Oh, and the sim is gorgeous, too. Orbiting over anywhere is a magnificent sight!

[EtherealN]

I'm gonna have to get that and give it a test ride. I remember when they first announced it being worked on ages ago, but kinda forgot about it. Thanks for linking it. :)

[Safari Ken]

It's a very obscure game (did I just say game?), so I like to spread the word whenever I see an opportunity. :cheer3nc: It's fun to know other people playing (did I just say playing?) at the same time you are, so you can compare notes about your various endeavors.

 

It's probably got the steepest learning curve of all time, as well, so I make sure to give that warning. Luckily, there are lots of tutorials online. It has a small but very devoted community. I have to go back to those tutorials pretty much every time I re-install. :book:

[deadsmell]

Yo Frakin toasters, I used to play G-police, and yes I thought it was the shiznack back then. I loved that game, but I think there was only a few of us that even played it.

 

Yeah i would love to see a good chopper sim where you fly for say L.A.P.D. and you just respond to calls for helicopter support, just lighting up suspects, following them, while they evade by car, or on foot etc. I think that would be great. I dont even need to shoot anything per say, I would like to see a game that emphasizes controling the aircraft under high stress situations, with say ultra cool environments that keep it interesting, by constantly dodging over and under all kinds of cool stuff.

 

Frankly I still cant believe that in this day and age that we havent been given,... finally.... for once,.... after all the years...... and B.S games,..... a good, and I mean real good Star Wars fighter game, where we get the full shabam Death Star flying in all the nooks and crannys, and laser fire and all that. Call me crazy, but id still like to see that done right.

[EtherealN]

Not really police stuff, but I always felt that Search And Rescue 4 was a pretty competent helo sim, and very interesting in that you're flying a SAR chopper and not the normal computer theme of combat. All the fun stuff with winching people up and down and so on is in there.

 

It's really old now though, but occassionally you find it in bargain bins in a combo pack with the sibling product Vietnam Medevac, which unfortunately was a horribly bad implementation.

[Frakin Toasters]

Yeah i've played Orbiter, not really what i meant though. you're confusing space with sci-fi, they aren't naturally always brothers.

 

Think of some kool vtol jet helicopter, like something from battlefield 2142, but that designers have intricately detailed right down to having the entire physics model believable, if it were to exist in reality. It would take a lot of imagination to have a fully functioning dashboard, and a model of systems that it probably has, like hydraulics for tilting the hover engines. You could have a lot of make-believe quirks in the bird, that would make it a sim, even it it isn't actually simulating a real aircraft.

 

I appreciate you guy's input, thanks. I still need to try x-plane.

 

Oh and deadsmell, i agree about the LAPD idea, that would be quite nifty.

[coder1024]

http://www.3000ad.com/

[Frakin Toasters]

3000AD are a shockingly awful production company that release shoddy half-finished titles using same content from previous titles under new names. I'm well aware of the Battlecruiser series. I used to really like it back when such a degree of dodgy game creation could be tolerated, but Mr. Smart never delivered after many promises to the communities, even in the new age of refinement. You can do very little on those games. I would definitely not classify them as simulators.

[Total]

http://egosoft.com

 

The X-Series is about as good as it it gets in that genre.

 

Another one to watch is Infinity: Quest For Earth

[EtherealN]

Much as I love the X series, there really isn't much in the way of even an attempt at realism in it...

 

I'm still holding out hopes for Mr. Braben to get his hairy rear end in line and start finishing Elite 4. Now THAT would be a wet dream. I still occassionally play my copy of Frontier: Elite II. :D

[Total]

You DO know that there is a version of the original Elite available for PC right?

 

God, I remember sitting there for hours on in at my Commodore 64 looking for that blasted invisible ship!!!

 

I never did find it btw lol

[Safari Ken]

Elite was a great game! I played on my Apple //e. :)

 

I forgot all about the X series! X3 is a fantastic game; one of my favorite space games ever, for sure.

[Total]

Yeah, I really need to getbackinto X3: Terran Conflict. It's the last of the series ya know. The Grande Finale basically. No more X after this :(

[Mugenjin]

but the egosoft guys will prolly make some other space-scifi-sim, which just doesn't belong to the X-Series/universe.

 

(atleast that's what I hope for ^^)

[joey45]

im not a big space combat person, I like my gravity....

 

stall turns an all.

[EtherealN]

You DO know that there is a version of the original Elite available for PC right?

 

Yeah, but in my opinion Frontier was the height of the series. It refined Elite to such a beautiful mix between true-to-life newtonian physics and good gameplay. (First Encounters on the other hand always seemed to be just a re-hash of Frontier, and aside from the added graphics seemed pretty much pointless.)

 

Elite 1 always felt a bit too arcade for me. (Though I like the fact that a pre-release version had millions of galaxies in it. Since they were procedurally generated through a fibbonachi sequence that was where the limit was, but apparently one of the publishing guys though that it was "rediculous". :P )

[Total]

Frontier did rock indeed :)

 

hehehe:

 

Ah, the good ole days lol

 

This chap did a pretty good job of recreating that intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlCjwWabM2c

[Frakin Toasters]

Oh yeah, i have a bunch of the X series games, they are very fun, but definitely not realistic.