Highways between gates, how to make good animations?

[NeonSturm]

At 13:50 for example


X-Rebirth did it!
What do you think about the concept to enter/leave a highway between gates everywhere you want?

They also figured out a good way to make hyper-space fights possible with the 3x3 tubes in which you can travel.


This 3x3 tunnel field could have destination- names/coordinates displayed in them and split somewhere in the middle.


How to shape them?

1. Add checkpoints with a go-through axis (=orientation) and a position.
2. Make bezier curves between those - their normals are pointing in a direction to the destination, mirrowed on their go-through axis.
   
3. Also render/use them in sectors which they cross (register a reference to the lane or it's end points in the sector-metadata)

For those who don't know what Bézier curves are:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C3%A9zier_curve
​

 

[AdmiralGialAckbar00]

This actually isn't a bad idea, not at all! Having "highways" in hyperspace might make things easier when jumping so then a ship can be aligned with one of these highways.

 

[psteiner]

Beautiful...

 

[NeonSturm]

Basically I suggested a visual path before watching the X-Rebirth videos. It would only have been a short step to get a suggestion to enter these tunnes.

And the 3x3 grid is no longer in use since Update 2.0 of X-Rebirth.
They didn't want the "get behind a faster ship and fly faster with it" minigame.

But I think it adds a nice mechanic to intercepting in hyperspace if you need less power traveling in somebody's wake/wash (=the trailing water or space waves on ships).
Thus we wouldn't even just copy a game :D

 

[AdmiralGialAckbar00]

My question would be what are the sizes of these lanes (how thick), and where would they be located in a sector? Also, how many highways will there be for each dimension in one sector? I'd like to see your input @NeonSturm .

 

[NeonSturm]

I think gates should be able to let you pass through and continue on your jurney.

For each Gate there could exist 1 or 2 lanes (one way) or 1..2 loops through the gate.


Apporaching Gates:

+-—-—-—-—-—-+-—-—-—-—-—-+-—-—|—|—-—-+-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - | O O O O O | X X X X X | - - - - - |
| - O O O - | O O O O O | X O O O X | - O O O - |
| - O P O - | O O P O O | X O P O X | - O P O - |
| - O O O - | O O O O O | X O O O X | - O O O - |
| - - - - - | O O O O O | X X X X X | - - - - - |
+-—-—-—-—-—-+-—-—-—-—-—-+-—-—|—|—-—-+-—-—-—-—-—-+
1 node before the gate
X = spit out (at the gate)
Ships are positioned relative to P.​

EITHER a gate could possibly have 2 destinations and be destination of 2 others OR special nodes (maybe 2x2 mini gates?) could be able to fork or merge lanes.
(( not required, but definitvely fun if it is possible ))

Example of a verticale split and horizontale merge:
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-++-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - O O O - - - || - - - O O O - - - |
| - - - O 1 O - - - || - - - O 2 O - - - |
| - - - O O O - - - || - - - O O O - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - |
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-++-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - | Mid = new lanes
| - O O O O O O O - | 1 old left lane centre
| - O 1 O 3 O 2 O - | 2 old right lane centre
| - O O O O O O O - | 3 new lane center (after x|y +|- 2 when passing this node)
| - - - - - - - - - | before loading new interactive entities.
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - |
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - |
— - X X O O O X X - — Gate = spit out those who are left/right
| - X X O 3 O X X - |
— - X X O O O X X - — Peoples should have at least 5-10 seconds after the merge
| - - - - - - - - - | to get to the mid positions
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - - - - - - - |
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - |
| - - - O O O - - - |
| - - - O 4 O - - - | Top+Bottom 2 = new lanes
| - - - O O O - - - | 3 = relative position of the gate-lane
| - - - O 3 O - - - | 4 = centre of the new lane
| - - - O O O - - - | 5 = centre of a new lane
| - - - O 5 O - - - | Peoples should have at least 5-10 seconds after the spit-out
| - - - O O O - - - | to leave the mid row
| - - - - - - - - - |
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-++-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | Maybe the display could show somewhere:
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | +-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| - - - O O O - - - || - - - O O O - - - | | . Lane "Name" . . . . . . . . . | DIR =
| - - - O 1 O - - - || - - - O 2 O - - - | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | Left, Right
| - - - O O O - - - || - - - O O O - - - | | . Current Destination : x y z . | OR Top, Bottom
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | | . . . DIR Destination : x y z . |
| - - - - - - - - - || - - - - - - - - - | | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
+-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-++-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+ +-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-+​

 

[Lecic]

No. There'd be gates highways everywhere, and I don't like the idea either.

I don't see why everyone wants hyperspace/slip space tubes to enter.

 

[Byamarro]

But this cool effect near gates could be implemented :P

 

[starhaiden]

there could be a second universe in starmade that will have resources that regenerate but it costs a lot of power to stay to in it depending on the size of the ship