Falling Frontier - Space RTS with Aurora-like attention to detail and warfare?

[TMaekler (OP)]

We'll have to see if the game will be as complex as we expect from Aurora. But it looks promising:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1280190/Falling_Frontier/

A review can be found here:

[Stormtrooper]

civilization with FTL drive invented

limited to one solar system

pick one

As much as it looks so cool, one solar system is a deal breaker for me. Come on, FTL drive and yet nobody seems to do interstellar travel.

[kingflute]

As much as it looks so cool, one solar system is a deal breaker for me. Come on, FTL drive and yet nobody seems to do interstellar travel.

FTL does not always mean interstellar.
How much fuel is required per unit of distance?
How accurate is your drive at light year distances?

[Stormtrooper]

This is just a matter of engineering. Having FTL drive and not going interstellar is like using a transatlantic ship to cross a local river and go back. The idea of a game containing FTL drive but no interstellar exploration seems so bizarre and wrong to me, that's all.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

This is just a matter of engineering. Having FTL drive and not going interstellar is like using a transatlantic ship to cross a local river and go back. The idea of a game containing FTL drive but no interstellar exploration seems so bizarre and wrong to me, that's all.

I dunno. If your FTL is "2x lightspeed," interstellar exploration will be a thing but a true interstellar civ probably won't be. Not when every trip is several years.

And, similarly, no engineering can resolve a problem along the lines of "fuel consumption scales with the cube of the distance traveled" when combined with "every jump places major stresses on the hardware."

Like, yes that's an engineering challenge. But that doesn't mean there is a commercially viable solution.

[Malorn]

This is just a matter of engineering. Having FTL drive and not going interstellar is like using a transatlantic ship to cross a local river and go back. The idea of a game containing FTL drive but no interstellar exploration seems so bizarre and wrong to me, that's all.

I dunno. If your FTL is "2x lightspeed," interstellar exploration will be a thing but a true interstellar civ probably won't be. Not when every trip is several years.

And, similarly, no engineering can resolve a problem along the lines of "fuel consumption scales with the cube of the distance traveled" when combined with "every jump places major stresses on the hardware."

Like, yes that's an engineering challenge. But that doesn't mean there is a commercially viable solution.

To use a historical example. Getting to the Americas from Europe was an 'engineering challenge' since roughly the time of the Phoenicians. And yet it took another ~3000 years before it was a 'common thing' to any extent. Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it is something that is actually feasible. Have to side with Meowth on this one.

[RougeNPS]

civilization with FTL drive invented

limited to one solar system

pick one

As much as it looks so cool, one solar system is a deal breaker for me. Come on, FTL drive and yet nobody seems to do interstellar travel.

Do you know how big solar systems actually are? Also, in the function of the game, FTL is used to make intrasystem jumps, like LPs in Aurora.

[Stormtrooper]

I'll answer your question with a question: do you know how big interstellar distances are? I didn't try to do exact calculations to check if it mimics the scale properly, but as a schema just for proving the concept I believe my comparsion between crossing some small river and ocean is good enough.

[Squigles]

I'll answer your question with a question: do you know how big interstellar distances are? I didn't try to do exact calculations to check if it mimics the scale properly, but as a schema just for proving the concept I believe my comparsion between crossing some small river and ocean is good enough.

Well, the nearest solar system to our own is about 269k AU. That’s about the distance of traveling to Pluto 6,800 times. Closest Atlantic crossing is 1,600 miles, when scaled to the other proportion it would be a river approximately 1200 feet across.

In other words, making the closestinterstellar trip possible with a vessel capable of making FTL travel to Pluto in 3 hours (roughly double the speed of light) would take about 2 and a half years, and would be the equivalent for terrestrial purposes of suggesting a small primitive river vessel make a transatlantic voyage.

[RougeNPS]

I believe Squigles explains it better than i could.

[Jorgen_CAB]

I'll answer your question with a question: do you know how big interstellar distances are? I didn't try to do exact calculations to check if it mimics the scale properly, but as a schema just for proving the concept I believe my comparsion between crossing some small river and ocean is good enough.

If they need allot of fuel and have trouble mining it in order to just provide for jump capability within the star system there is no viable reason to start expanding outside the solar system. At least not until that technology have been refined other than through scientific curiosity, something I don't think the game actually cover and need to cover as that is not part of the story.

I could probably make up 100 things that would force a civilisation to using FTL drives within their own solar system only.

Saying that it is just an engineering issue means you have some deep understanding of the lore and science of that setting, do you?!?   

[RougeNPS]

I'll answer your question with a question: do you know how big interstellar distances are? I didn't try to do exact calculations to check if it mimics the scale properly, but as a schema just for proving the concept I believe my comparsion between crossing some small river and ocean is good enough.

If they need allot of fuel and have trouble mining it in order to just provide for jump capability within the star system there is no viable reason to start expanding outside the solar system. At least not until that technology have been refined other than through scientific curiosity, something I don't think the game actually cover and need to cover as that is not part of the story.

I could probably make up 100 things that would force a civilisation to using FTL drives within their own solar system only.

Saying that it is just an engineering issue means you have some deep understanding of the lore and science of that setting, do you?!?

I mean...its taking inspiration from the Expanse...

[QuakeIV]

I also agree that FTL does not necessarily imply interstellar travel.  I like the Pluto analogy, I low balled it (furthest distance between earth and pluto) and got 5500 times the distance, in any case that is a fairly big difference in capability.

[Gabrote42]

I found this from PartyElite. I am very excited. I don't think FTL implies interstellar civilizations. I mean, there were some really quick motorboats which were way quicker than sails and such but they were super fuel inefficient and overheated easily. No way you are getting to India with that.

[TheTalkingMeowth]

Game seems cool, though I'm disappointed by the scale fail. As with most space games, ships are waaay too big relative to planets and planets are way too big relative to the spaces between them. I get that this results in more interesting tactical options, but it's hard to claim attention to detail as a selling point when you have ships playing hide and seek in the asteroid belt. Nasa doesn't even check the path of its spacecraft before chucking them through the belt it's so empty.

Aurora and EVE Online are the only games I'm aware of that get the scale right.