An apology, I think.

[caelin]

The slot thing is neat, very 2001, but really there should just be a large circular openning. No engineer would design an entry port like that, especially for ships that often barely fit.

Maybe not, but a shipwright will definitely make one that just fits through any given portal/lane to maximize cargo capacity. The Panama Canal is a great example of this.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

OK, as an engineer (OK, really just a designer), I need to throw in my 2 cents.

The thing about a big round opening is that the distance the force field would need to span would be about 4-5 times as wide, with a lot larger total area as well. This would probably be much weaker in the middle, but no guarantees about that. So I think the rectangular slot works as a good design. But who says it needs to rotate with the station? It could be stationary.

But the whole concept of force fields and and atmosphere inside the station is ridiculous. There should be a vacuum inside the station (as well as unoccupied areas of ships, like cargo holds and hard point housings). That goes for the hangers, too. You can use a docking tube and/or airlocks to enter the occupied areas of ships and stations. Otherwise you can walk around in your vac suit. Since we have shields, I could see a slot shield to keep debris out, but also armored blast doors.

And to keep everything moving smoothly, there would need to be traffic control. With the bullshit cargo scanners, that would make smuggling much more difficult, but since there really wouldn't be cargo scanners, smugglers could rely on hidden compartments or falsified manifests and take their chances.

Basically, think Babylon 5 - they got it right.

[AJStoner]

Like in space, any object that is set in motion stays in motion until an equal and opposite force is applied to it to stop its trajectory and if I am not mistaken, the speed increases over time. Presuming that what I just said is correct, then how come weapons have a 3 km range?

If they gave infinite range to the weapons, then you could conceivably shoot yourself with a stray shot you fired six months earlier. It would be a hideous mess and the processing power needed to keep track of it would be a nightmare.

Also, while real physics ship movement would be interesting it would be next to impossible to play the game if you constantly had to accelerate and decelerate effectively in combat or reach a station without crashing into it at insane speeds.

[AJStoner]

As to the power requirements of the force field protecting the internal atmosphere:

A) The science here is arbitrary so who is to say? They could make it however they wanted.

B) The opening isn't that big when you compare it to the total surface area of a large ship like an Anaconda and they have pitifully small reactors compared to what you could fit on a station.

[Black Rose]

All valid points guys which only proves my point. "Don't try to rationalize a work of fiction"

The Door should be larger or round because it would be easier to get in an out. Its realistic that none of the constraints on players affect NPCs, but its unrealistic to make some game mechanics simpler because of reality?

[LionWalker]

FD tries to find a balance between a boring true space sim and game that is fun to play. In general, speaking for myself, they are quite successful at it.
Hey, who said there will be no sacrifices?

[Black Rose]

OK, as an engineer (OK, really just a designer), I need to throw in my 2 cents.

The thing about a big round opening is that the distance the force field would need to span would be about 4-5 times as wide, with a lot larger total area as well. This would probably be much weaker in the middle, but no guarantees about that. So I think the rectangular slot works as a good design. But who says it needs to rotate with the station? It could be stationary.

But the whole concept of force fields and and atmosphere inside the station is ridiculous. There should be a vacuum inside the station (as well as unoccupied areas of ships, like cargo holds and hard point housings). That goes for the hangers, too. You can use a docking tube and/or airlocks to enter the occupied areas of ships and stations. Otherwise you can walk around in your vac suit. Since we have shields, I could see a slot shield to keep debris out, but also armored blast doors.

And to keep everything moving smoothly, there would need to be traffic control. With the bullshit cargo scanners, that would make smuggling much more difficult, but since there really wouldn't be cargo scanners, smugglers could rely on hidden compartments or falsified manifests and take their chances.

Basically, think Babylon 5 - they got it right.

Now that makes allot of sense. We just need to see if FD can move from the simulator with light RP to a full blown immersive world that happens to also be a simulator.

[Nethaufer]

<snip>
Like in space, any object that is set in motion stays in motion until an equal and opposite force is applied to it to stop its trajectory and if I am not mistaken, the speed increases over time....

This is the thing that bugs me, when you take out a ships power plant that's travelling a something like 100km/s why the hell does it suddenly stop, but I don't even with full reverse thrust, the number of ships I run into when their power plant goes down...

Not only that, if you turn off your engines with FA on, you'll come to a full stop, including the retrothrusters firing or whatever other thrusters need to fire to stop you.

[Cannibal Holiday]

The slot design protects the landing bays from attack.

It would be consistent with the lore of Powerplay.