Flight Engine : TEP Specs
Details about the flight engine which will allow your ship to travel in and between stellar systems.
The TEP flight system will be completely inertial, similar to Frontier First Encounters and Frontier: Elite 2. There will be no 'inertial' combat as demonstrated in TIE Fighter and the original Elite. 'Inertial' combat has been done well many times before and we strive to be a little different.
Flight in systems will be based on standard inertial flight, albeit with large accelerations. The may be an option for 'jump-drives' as in the early Elite for smaller ships. This is a current vote topic for TEP members.
Your ship has full 6 degrees of freedom control (movement on 3 axis and rotation about them). Although this might sound rather complicated, most normal ship control will be done with just a few of these. For instance, TIE Fighter allows rotation about the y and z axis only and provides an adequate system. The player will be able to choose from user-defined control setups or produce his/her own.
Intersystem flight (moving between stellar systems) will be achieve via hyperspace. Wormholes will provide fixed routes between systems but will be used sparingly, as major plot devices or to 'secret areas'.
Since travel will be realistically modelled, it may take several days to travel between distance planets, for example. In addition there are other occasions where waiting for a day would be preferrable. Therefore the rate at which time passes will be adjustable during TEP.
1 second -> 1 second/ 1 minute/ 10 minutes/ 1 hour/ 1 day
With suitable equipment spacecraft will be able to land on most planets and moons. Those with no surface as such for example gas giants will not be suitable for landfall.
In addition, there will be a variety of space stations and bases with which your ship can dock. Some large capital ships will act as space stations and allow smaller ships to ride within them. Specially modified standard ships will be able to dock in hard space. This will require suitable equipment.
Intrasystem navigation is a tricky affair for all but the most experienced pilots. The autopilot controls the engines and basically gets you from A-B. The autopilot is an optional part of equipment.
Combat can be tricky for novice pilots. An enterprising Federal corporation has produced an autopilot which allows your ship to fight by itself. Great if your aim is a little shaky but bear in mind that these pieces of equipment don't come close to a half decent pilot.
The Flend
Last modified: Sat Oct 3 11:18:04 BST 1998