The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

in UQM without many turning jets you can find your self drifting around and not able to stop easily. whilst attempting to create my own space game i have come across a question that i cant find an answer to:

what is the term for "drifting" around in space?

for those of you that dont know what im on about:

in space there are no forces acting on a ship(unless your close to a plannet) therefore if i move i wont stop id just drift.

thanks in advanced

Well, speed is relative. But I've seen "adrift" when refering to a ship in such a situation.

hmm could be that... ill ask my science teacher. :)

I think 'adrift' implies that you are disabled and have no means to navigate (like the Tobermoon).

If you are intentionally drifting, I would use something like 'coasting'.

Isn't having trouble changing vector called inertia? (pardon my spelling)

Yes. Also, your spelling is fine.

There was an old game called "Space Rogue" that actually implemented this as a form of movement.  You could toggle your ship between "Cruise Flight" and "Newtonian Flight".  The difference was that in CF mode, your speed was fixed, and your ship would automatically make the necessary adjustments to your course when you turned to a new heading. In NF mode, your speed could be affected by gravity wells, and if you changed your ship's heading you would have to re-accelerate to actualy change course.   Here's some links for the game and documentation if anyone wants to take a peek at the mechanics in action.  (When I say old, it's an Amiga 500 vintage title but it's still pretty fun.)

Space Rogue (http://www.the-underdogs.info/game.php?id=1018) - Home of the Underdogs

Replacement Docs (http://www.replacementdocs.com/search.php) - Just type Space Rogue in the search field

thank you very much *happy campers* (i couldn't resist to use that somewhere)

Commodore 64 title, year 1989

Inertia is the cause for having trouble changing vector, but inertia itself is more of a scientific thing having to do with the laws of physics and how much force it takes to move something.

You should take a look at:
Newton's laws of motion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion)
Momentum (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momentum)
And my physics engine (http://sourceforge.net/projects/physics2d).