Cy-Kill Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 This is a really interesting read, check it out after the jump: I had a discussion recently with friends about the various depictions of space combat in science fiction movies, TV shows, and books. We have the fighter-plane engagements of Star Wars, the subdued, two-dimensional naval combat in Star Trek, the Newtonian planes of Battlestar Galactica, the staggeringly furious energy exchanges of the combat wasps in Peter Hamilton's books, and the use of antimatter rocket engines themselves as weapons in other sci-fi. But suppose we get out there, go terraform Mars, and the Martian colonists actually revolt. Or suppose we encounter hostile aliens. How would space combat actually go?First, let me point out something that Ender's Game got right and something it got wrong. What it got right is the essentially three-dimensional nature of space combat, and how that would be fundamentally different from land, sea, and air combat. In principle, yes, your enemy could come at you from any direction at all. In practice, though, the Buggers are going to do no such thing. At least, not until someone invents an FTL drive, and we can actually pop our battle fleets into existence anywhere near our enemies. The marauding space fleets are going to be governed by orbit dynamics ? not just of their own ships in orbit around planets and suns, but those planets' orbits. For the same reason that we have Space Shuttle launch delays, we'll be able to tell exactly what trajectories our enemies could take between planets: the launch window. At any given point in time, there are only so many routes from here to Mars that will leave our imperialist forces enough fuel and energy to put down the colonists' revolt. So, it would actually make sense to build space defense platforms in certain orbits, to point high-power radar-reflection surveillance satellites at certain empty reaches of space, or even to mine parts of the void. It also means that strategy is not as hopeless when we finally get to the Bugger homeworld: the enemy ships will be concentrated into certain orbits, leaving some avenues of attack guarded and some open. (Of course, once our ships maneuver towards those unguarded orbits, they will be easily observed ? and potentially countered.) http://josephshoer.com/blog/?p=377 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It always cracks me up when Hollywood does space battle scenes and adds explosion sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob.derosa Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It depends how strong the engines on your spacecraft. Crren launch windows are based on the minimum useage of fuel. If you have a almost infinite source of power (read star trek :p) then you wouldn't care to minimise fuel usage, you'd just go whenever suited you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lamminium Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 It always cracks me up when Hollywood does space battle scenes and adds explosion sounds. Would be awkward to have 10 seconds of silence for the audience otherwise. :p rofl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Decryptor Veteran Posted December 22, 2009 Veteran Share Posted December 22, 2009 It always cracks me up when Hollywood does space battle scenes and adds explosion sounds. I like the laser weapon beams with a set length. Or how smaller ships move faster than larger ships. Or how they don't get lighting right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 The argument of working in a 3d space against a 2d space: While you are right - I think people will struggle to think in a 3d space, and will still work on 2d planes for a while... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted December 22, 2009 Member Share Posted December 22, 2009 It just wouldn't be as entertaining if they portrayed it correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frylock86 Posted December 22, 2009 Share Posted December 22, 2009 It just wouldn't be as entertaining if they portrayed it correctly. Battlestar Galactica had it pretty darn close. To me, BSG was the greatest thing to happen to TV since the advent of color. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_dandy_ Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Would be awkward to have 10 seconds of silence for the audience otherwise. :p It worked well enough on Firefly. Can't remember whether they dumbed it down in the movie though, but I distinctly remember space scenes with no sound--apart from music--during the show... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Veteran Posted December 23, 2009 Veteran Share Posted December 23, 2009 Babylon 5 got it right. No explosions, just dramatic music cues. No huge fireballs, either. (No oxygen to erupt other than in the ship.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diabolii Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Babylon 5 got it right. No explosions, just dramatic music cues. No huge fireballs, either. (No oxygen to erupt other than in the ship.) now that you mention it, they were more accurate than most Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric Veteran Posted December 23, 2009 Veteran Share Posted December 23, 2009 now that you mention it, they were more accurate than most Yeah, it was pretty cool... The ships just broke apart. B5 was a rarity of quality. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 The argument of working in a 3d space against a 2d space: While you are right - I think people will struggle to think in a 3d space, and will still work on 2d planes for a while... hopefully with the advent of 3d cinema, this will change... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dick Montage Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 3D cinema only is 3D to a limit. It's basically 2D with a few levels of depth, it's not like you can look up and see a different angle... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Growled Member Posted December 23, 2009 Member Share Posted December 23, 2009 Babylon 5 got it right. No explosions, just dramatic music cues. No huge fireballs, either. (No oxygen to erupt other than in the ship.) I had forgotten about that. B5 was a great show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 3D cinema only is 3D to a limit. It's basically 2D with a few levels of depth, it's not like you can look up and see a different angle... its still better than 2d with no depth, tho.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
what Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It always cracks me up when Hollywood does space battle scenes and adds explosion sounds. I like the laser weapon beams with a set length.Or how smaller ships move faster than larger ships. Or how they don't get lighting right. Thank god sci-fi films aren't made by you two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Ender's Game is an awesome book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy-Kill Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 Ender's Game is an awesome book. And, they've been talking about making it into a movie since the 1980s or 1990s, I don't remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrikedOut Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 It always makes me smile when ships come out of FTL on a perfect horizontal plane to the ship that was there in the first place. Thats another thing the new BSG got right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AltecXP Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 And, they've been talking about making it into a movie since the 1980s or 1990s, I don't remember. I don't think that any movie can really do that book justice, it can be GOOD, but not as good as it should be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carmatic Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Thank god sci-fi films aren't made by you two. well some people like their fiction abit more plausible, you know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThisSiteHasLostItsCharm Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 Battlestar Galactica had it pretty darn close. To me, BSG was the greatest thing to happen to TV since the advent of color. battles were alright it's just the rest of the show that wasn't that great, though I still prefer the battles in good old star trek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FloatingFatMan Posted December 23, 2009 Share Posted December 23, 2009 battles were alright it's just the rest of the show that wasn't that great, though I still prefer the battles in good old star trek. What, you mean Kirk going 5 rounds with some muscle bound alien, then beating him to a pulp at the last minute, and then boning the episode's token cute chick in a micro-mini skirt? Yeah, I loved that too! :rofl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cy-Kill Posted December 23, 2009 Author Share Posted December 23, 2009 I don't think that any movie can really do that book justice, it can be GOOD, but not as good as it should be. I know that, you know that, they however, don't know that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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