Nebula

[MR_7]

One question really, what will the nebulas be like in Excalibur. Will they be like the cloud effect in bridge commander or diiferent.

The reason i ask is because after seeing the physics video, i thought that it would be good to do this with tiny particles that make up a nebula. Maybe its a bit extreme, but i think it would give a nice effect of a ship cutting through a nebula.

But your the experts, im sure you've got it sorted anyway

Thanks 

[Mark]

be patient guys, some things you just nee to wait for and see with your own eyes

[MR_7]

Well can i ask How good will it look

[joecool280]

Fantastic onviously, judging from the great work the team has done so far!

[Zach]

Believe me you guys - when you see our Nebulae, you will crap yourselves.

[Ryan]

The most recent HF would appear to imply that nebulas will indeed consist of a bunch of particles.  Or, perhaps, could I have misunderstood you, Mark?

[John]

Nah you pretty much got it right.   With regards to the physics, think along the lines Coulomb's law.  However simulating that for an entire nebula could be pretty costly so we will probably only use it in scripts where ships intersect them.

[MR_7]

Well that answers my question, And now i cannot wait to see them. Nice and colourful im hoping.

[Mark]

Well can i ask How good will it look

Do you need to ask? 

The most recent HF would appear to imply that nebulas will indeed consist of a bunch of particles.  Or, perhaps, could I have misunderstood you, Mark?

You didnt misunderstand, but you did kinda miss the point. We can describe the technology in great detail (theres more we havent told you), but if we did that it would remove the anticipation and kinda ruin the suprise of what we have in store for you.

[Callum]

I don't know if it's too early to ask this but when you're passing through a nebula, since it will affect the ships course because of particle interaction with the hull, will there be any sort of rumbling/shaking when on interior view mode? And if density is a variable, the denser the nebula means the more resistance encountered meaning more power needed and more hull friction.. basically, the denser the nebula, the 'heavier' the rumble effect?

[Mark]

intertial dampeners should remove any rumbling really, maybe if we have a subsystem for that we can do some nice effects if the inertial dampeners are offline, but normally that shouldnt happen

[Ryan]

You didnt misunderstand, but you did kinda miss the point. We can describe the technology in great detail (theres more we havent told you), but if we did that it would remove the anticipation and kinda ruin the suprise of what we have in store for you.

I apologize.  It was not my intent to undermine your efforts.  As a technically-minded person, I tend to try to break down the technical workings of something (this is somewhat exagerated with Excalibur because of the unprecidented dev/community interaction) and I can get carried away at times.  I was happy to hear you comment on nebula effects and I can't wait to see what you guys have done.

[MR_7]

Do you need to ask? 

Yeah i believe it is the point of a forum  , and if you guys think it looks good then its going to really shock me

[szekeres2008]

Believe me you guys - when you see our Nebulae, you will crap yourselves.

Can't wait

[Zer]

Nah you pretty much got it right.   With regards to the physics, think along the lines Coulomb's law.  However simulating that for an entire nebula could be pretty costly so we will probably only use it in scripts where ships intersect them.

You could use a sort of LOD system where the areas closer to the ship are done in particles or even volumetric fog while the farther areas from the ships are handled using sprites and texture work much like in Bridge Commander.