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[Yoink]

I remember that Noctis game... Should really find it and play it again. Maybe actually work out how to LAND...

[Gabeux]

I read them saying about using robots (telepresence) while you wait to reach your destination.
However I'm curious how they'll handle stuff like that, or if they'll say that in 2020 or so we would already have engines designed for space-flight which makes the travel time much shorter (like 30 minutes max to reach the moon? I got used to waiting times on Shores of Hazeron).

Really curious on how the gameplay will be (:

[Koja]

Oh man.

The terrible secret of space... Player controlled robots with toolboxes. All of humanity is threatened.

[Tilla]

Oh man.

The terrible secret of space... Player controlled robots with toolboxes. All of humanity is threatened.

Do you have stairs in your house?

[Leonon]

Do you have stairs in your house?

That won't help they can fly now.

[Nistenf]

What's bugging me though, is...

The game, however, will continue onto the Moon, Mars, the Asteroid Belt, and possibly even further. You will build robots, start and maintain colonies, fly spaceships, run EVA missions, and more. Basically, it's Astronauts. IN SPACE!

Are NASA really expecting their average player to be able to grasp things like Hohmann Transfer?
And, what about the 2(?) weeks it takes to get to the moon? Or even the 6 months it takes to get to Mars?
Will they speed up time for that transition or will they just skip it all together?

They could automate things like orbital maneuvers while at the same time explaining them for the people who are really interested, a Hohmann Transfer isn't THAT complicated, at least the basic principles are.
It's three days to the Moon, but it could be boring to wait that much time while doing nothing. I just hope they don't do things like warp drives and such

[Fayrik]

They could automate things like orbital maneuvers while at the same time explaining them for the people who are really interested, a Hohmann Transfer isn't THAT complicated, at least the basic principles are.
It's three days to the Moon, but it could be boring to wait that much time while doing nothing. I just hope they don't do things like warp drives and such

Hohmann Transfer isn't that complicated. Well, at least, mathematically(/Geometrically?) it isn't. But trying to explain it to someone who's only half interested (if you're lucky) without actually speaking to them in person... Could be a bit tougher.
Though, automating orbital manoeuvres is... I suppose a perfectly fine thing to do... But, to me that feels like having control of an aeroplane and literally only getting to taxi it onto the runway before the autopilot kicks in.
...But that's not nearly as bad as the thought of a warp drive.

Oh man.

The terrible secret of space... Player controlled robots with toolboxes. All of humanity is threatened.

Do you have stairs in your house?

That won't help they can fly now.

Aeiou.

[Orb]

According to that quote from one of the developers or something...

They will be using fission-plasma engines.

but holds one large untested ship a sort of plasma-nuclear hybrid

I've never heard the term, but I'm going to guess a fission reactor starts things up and then it goes into fusion, like a hydrogen bomb.

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

[x2yzh9]

According to that quote from one of the developers or something...

They will be using fission-plasma engines.

but holds one large untested ship a sort of plasma-nuclear hybrid

I've never heard the term, but I'm going to guess a fission reactor starts things up and then it goes into fusion, like a hydrogen bomb.

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Awesome.

[Fayrik]

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Not so sure.
Maybe I'm wrong - and I think I could be...
But performing a Hohmann Transfer is pretty delicate, both in angle and velocity. Sure, you'd have better acceleration and range... But if you go faster than you need to, chances are you're going to miss your target.

...And... Fusion? Really? I thought there where laws against that sort of thing.

[olemars]

According to that quote from one of the developers or something...

They will be using fission-plasma engines.

but holds one large untested ship a sort of plasma-nuclear hybrid

I've never heard the term, but I'm going to guess a fission reactor starts things up and then it goes into fusion, like a hydrogen bomb.

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Sounds a bit like the VASIMR engine that's pretty much ready for prime time if desired.

[magellan]

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Not so sure.
Maybe I'm wrong - and I think I could be...
But performing a Hohmann Transfer is pretty delicate, both in angle and velocity. Sure, you'd have better acceleration and range... But if you go faster than you need to, chances are you're going to miss your target.

Thats why you propably will calculate it in advance, and maybe even use more advanced equipment to do so, than a sliderule. (maybe one of those new fangled calculating machines, I hear so much about, can do it)

[sluissa]

According to that quote from one of the developers or something...

They will be using fission-plasma engines.

but holds one large untested ship a sort of plasma-nuclear hybrid

I've never heard the term, but I'm going to guess a fission reactor starts things up and then it goes into fusion, like a hydrogen bomb.

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Sounds a bit like the VASIMR engine that's pretty much ready for prime time if desired.

Could also potentially be one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_ion_thruster

However, those tend to be pretty slow compared to chemical rockets or things like the VASMIR.

[Orb]

According to that quote from one of the developers or something...

They will be using fission-plasma engines.

but holds one large untested ship a sort of plasma-nuclear hybrid

I've never heard the term, but I'm going to guess a fission reactor starts things up and then it goes into fusion, like a hydrogen bomb.

Which means travel time will be considerably faster. At least reletively.

Sounds a bit like the VASIMR engine that's pretty much ready for prime time if desired.

Could also potentially be one of these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrostatic_ion_thruster

However, those tend to be pretty slow compared to chemical rockets or things like the VASMIR.

Reading up on both(I already knew somewhat about the Ion Thruster), the VASMIR is more likely since it specifically mentions it uses fission technology. Also, IIRC, the Ion Thruster has a low thrust but is highly efficient. This doesn't make it useful for quick travel, which is needed considering the supplies they have to carry to keep the astronaughts alive.

Other applications for VASIMR such as the rapid transportation of people to Mars would require a very high power, low mass energy source, such as a nuclear reactor (see nuclear electric rocket). NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that VASIMR technology could be the breakthrough technology that would reduce the travel time on a Mars mission from months to days.

[inteuniso]

This really could use a bump. Frankly, it looks like quite the promising game, and it simply isn't getting the publicity it needs. You could say it's the fault of the developers, and of NASA for not saying anything about it, but I don't want to see taxpayer dollars wasted on development of what could be the greatest non-WoW clone MMO out there.*

I'm not just excited about this game because it'll have an accurate depiction of the solar system. I'm not just excited because it will have realistic near-future space travel. I'm not just excited that it will allow you to play astronaut-chemist, doing experiments in SPAAAACCCEEEE!

I'm excited because it's going to be given to schools, and that it's meant to get young kids into science, to realize that yes, it's cool to be a physicist, and that you'll go into space as a physicist, and accomplish stuff a lawyer never would.

I might be overly optimistic. I might be getting overly hyped up, much as I have over previous games. I might even be doing something that makes me look ridiculously stupid. I don't care. I've found a game that, if it successfully completes it's goals after release, will inspire the youth to go into space, to go where no men have gone before (unless we're descended from ancient astronauts), to make sure that humanity survives and prospers for centuries to come.

tl;dr I expect this game to save humanity.

*I am slightly exaggerating