Engine size

Tusc · Post by **Tusc** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:28 pm

I have been reading a lot of the different guides and tutorials, and in one of them, it says that engine size does not effect acceleration, only top speed. And here http://www.junholt.se/evoschool/index.htm it says that the larger engines effect the amount of increase to a ship's base speed.

Please tell me that this is not the case, as top speed in IDS mode is beyond useless, and top speed in inertial mode can be achieved no matter what engine you have attached.

The engines stats say that thrust is increased, so therefore acceleration should be increased. I certainly hope that this is the way it is, or I see absolutely no reason to put anything more than the class 1 engine on anyything.

Post by **DaveK** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:44 pm

From post: 128249, Topic: tid=8752, author=Tusc wrote:I have been reading a lot of the different guides and tutorials, and in one of them, it says that engine size does not effect acceleration, only top speed. And here http://www.junholt.se/evoschool/index.htm it says that the larger engines effect the amount of increase to a ship's base speed.

Please tell me that this is not the case, as top speed in IDS mode is beyond useless, and top speed in inertial mode can be achieved no matter what engine you have attached.

The engines stats say that thrust is increased, so therefore acceleration should be increased. I certainly hope that this is the way it is, or I see absolutely no reason to put anything more than the class 1 engine on anyything.

If Class 1 x5 (from IDS multiplier) is enough for you then don't waste construction points on a bigger engine - they were created before the IDS multiplier was "invented"

Welcome to the game and to the forum!

Dingo · Post by **Dingo** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:47 pm

As Dave said, speed was real consideration before the IDS multiplier, but that has been negated by a large margin now, so just figure out what you want your top speed to be then go with what works.

Tusc · Post by **Tusc** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 8:54 pm

I don't get how thrust does not translate to acceleration. I thought this game was supposed to have marginally realistic physics.

In combat, you are mostly in inertial mode pounding the afterburner anyway. So what purpose does a bigger engine have if not faster acceleration?

The slowest ship in the game can do 1310 in IDS mode (x5) with a class 1 engine. So okay, you might want a bit more than that, but more often than not I'm using IDS mode to slow down coming out of inertial mode anyway.

Tusc · Post by **Tusc** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:10 pm

Didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk. And I guess it certainly frees up assembly points to use elsewhere. Just put me down for voting for a change to the way this works.

Dingo · Post by **Dingo** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:14 pm

From post: 128255, Topic: tid=8752, author=Tusc wrote:Didn't mean to come off sounding like a jerk. And I guess it certainly frees up assembly points to use elsewhere. Just put me down for voting for a change to the way this works.

No problems with stating your opinion. This has been said before by others as well. Not every game design decision will please everybody, and if enough people say something, Vice will definitely take note. He may not change it, but it gets some attention.

I for one would welcome different acceleration rates base don engine class, though its not high on my list.

Angitherias · Post by **Angitherias** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:22 pm

So engines are only responsible for acceleration in IDS mode? They don't affect shield strength or anything else?

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 11:25 pm

From post: 128279, Topic: tid=8752, author=Angitherias wrote:So engines are only responsible for acceleration in IDS mode? They don't affect shield strength or anything else?

They can use up energy some times in Afterburner mode that you will not have for weapons or shields in combat!;)

Angitherias · Post by **Angitherias** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:08 am

Wouldn't I have more energy available with larger engines?

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:17 am

They will use up more energy!....

:P

tsuki · Post by **tsuki** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:51 am

Well, you're completely correct tusc - as the second law of dynamics states: acceleration equals to the force applied to an object divided by it's mass. By this definition, acceleration should be proportional to engine's thrust. Unfortunately, that also means, that there is no top speed (well, actually there would be a top speed which would be limited by your fuel tank's capacity), but that would result in some gameplay imbalance (or so I have heard).

As for the implementation: engine thrust doesn't increase acceleration, only the top speed.

[Edited on 2-2-2012 by tsuki]