Add maneuvering thrusters as an alternative to gyroscopes
Submitted
This could improve ship designs, save internal space, and add more realism to the game.
Something like what Kerbal has:
Thrusters specifically designed for maneuvering makes much more sense than slapping 6 thrusters and a gyro on something.
I like this feedback
For context: Kerbal maneuvering thrusters apply a force at their location, so they apply more torque the farther they are from the center of mass (CoM) and also act as regular thrusters that accelerate the ship.
Rotating a long ship using gyroscopes is like trying to spin a merry-go-around from its center pole. You apply a lot of torque, but it barely starts moving. Archimedes walks by, throws the gyroscope a bewildered look, and just pushes from the side as the merry-go-around swiftly starts turning. A lesson learnt about leverage.
A couple of questions:
A) Yes, it is just realistic and the "regular" thrusters will compensate and stop the ship anyways when dampeners are on.
B) No. All existing thrusters apply force to the CoM in an effort to make the game accessible. Maneuvering thrusters should just apply torque, no linear forces.
A) New block. Extra work for the artists. Probably only H2 thrusters at first.
B) Toggle on existing blocks. Might provoke the question why it is either/or: "Why can my thruster set to 'maneuvering' not help at all in acceleration when it is otherwise idling?" Which leads to ...
A) Yes. This leads to thruster code having to make the non-trivial decision whether to prioritize helping with rotation or linear acceleration (which can be opposite to each other), and in case of solution 1.B, would mean the physics of thrusters would change on the fly from applying only torque to applying only linear force. So it is more plausible with solution 1.A.
B) No, let's not open that can of worms. Works best with solution 2.A as players can then easily tell a maneuvering thruster from a linear thruster.
For context: Kerbal maneuvering thrusters apply a force at their location, so they apply more torque the farther they are from the center of mass (CoM) and also act as regular thrusters that accelerate the ship.
Rotating a long ship using gyroscopes is like trying to spin a merry-go-around from its center pole. You apply a lot of torque, but it barely starts moving. Archimedes walks by, throws the gyroscope a bewildered look, and just pushes from the side as the merry-go-around swiftly starts turning. A lesson learnt about leverage.
A couple of questions:
A) Yes, it is just realistic and the "regular" thrusters will compensate and stop the ship anyways when dampeners are on.
B) No. All existing thrusters apply force to the CoM in an effort to make the game accessible. Maneuvering thrusters should just apply torque, no linear forces.
A) New block. Extra work for the artists. Probably only H2 thrusters at first.
B) Toggle on existing blocks. Might provoke the question why it is either/or: "Why can my thruster set to 'maneuvering' not help at all in acceleration when it is otherwise idling?" Which leads to ...
A) Yes. This leads to thruster code having to make the non-trivial decision whether to prioritize helping with rotation or linear acceleration (which can be opposite to each other), and in case of solution 1.B, would mean the physics of thrusters would change on the fly from applying only torque to applying only linear force. So it is more plausible with solution 1.A.
B) No, let's not open that can of worms. Works best with solution 2.A as players can then easily tell a maneuvering thruster from a linear thruster.
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