Set planet gravity to r² ?

[space_artist_4real]

So I was wondering if it was possible to orbit a planet in space engineers (speed of light mod enabled, duh). I made myself a complete methodology to try and achieve a simple, round orbit around the Earth-like planet, then applied it, perfected it, made it so it achieved such a level of precision that it would prove without a doubt if it was possible. Here's my methodology (completely optional, you don't have to read it) and how it completely failed every time :

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I pin-pointed the center of the planet with a GPS coordinate, done my math with the radial acceleration formula ( a = v² / r ) to calculate the required speed (v) to stay in a circular orbit at a certain distance from the center (r) with a certain acceleration (a).

The way I tried to get in orbit was to place my ship at the chosen height from the center, calculate the precise acceleration of the ship to know from where I start accelerating to achieve the calculated speed at the initial coordinate, I even placed the telescope mod below the ship so the "under" direction points at the center of the planet (hence an arrow pointing forward is tangent to the gravity), reversed to the exact distance away from the chosen coordinate, accelerated forward and, when I reached the tangent GPS coordinate, turned the reactors off. I should be in orbit from this point on.

Everything goes well the first 15 seconds (the altitude changes very little) but after that I see the distance from the GPS point at the center of the planet changing (getting higher or lower) and my speed starting to increase or freefall, confirming I'm getting closer or away from the planet.

After a third of an orbit, I am:

a) Crashing in the planet
b) Drifting through gravity-less space

And that seemed to happen randomly so I (F5 + shift) tested more and my conclusions are that with *strictly* more speed than required, i always get lost in outer space. However, [F5 + long sigh] with *strictly* less speed i always crashe in the ground [F5 + rage].

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I then posted that in a forum and someone told me the gravitational pull from planets is proportional to radius^7, wich means that orbits are impossible unless it's *perfectly* round... then someone said that it was possible to edit the gravitation of a planet in the files to make it r² but that made the gravitational effect distance would be around 1200 km (something with a 1 and a 2 and a few zeros :p ).

I asked what could I do to make that happen but I never got an answer... I am terrible with computing and can't understand coding for crap so if anyone knows what file, what parameters to change and just what to do to get a r² gravity (I'd prefer a larger action radius) then please tell me.

Thank you for your help :)

[SpetS]

you can try, but it is really hard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVVfUz2NQ9g

or, you can use waypoints and/or scripts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arzz7uRHhoI

[Jaeger]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Due to game engine limitations, the maximum stable velocity in the game is 100m/s. This is insufficient to orbit any of the planets in the game.

did you read the guys post. hes using a mod that increases speed dramatically

[space_artist_4real]

Originally posted by SpetS:

you can try, but it is really hard
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVVfUz2NQ9g

or, you can use waypoints and/or scripts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arzz7uRHhoI

No way to change the planet files???

So far none of this helps me, I want a real orbit, not something artificial like the script thing.

[space_artist_4real]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by johnny:

did you read the guys post. hes using a mod that increases speed dramatically

Speed mods don't work in the current build. So, no. You cannot orbit a planet in Space Engineers. Unless you use the waypoint workaround that SpetS posted. But that doesn't require any of the math OP posted.

What, speed mods don't work? wat?????

[space_artist_4real]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by space_artist_4real:

What, speed mods don't work? wat?????

The new multi-threaded physics currently doesn't work with any of the speed mods or with manual editing of the config files. Things become uncontrollable and disintegrate.

Once Keen gets the MTP dialed in, they may be able to increase the default speed limit.

Is this likely to happen? And I didn't experience anything disintgrating at high speeds so am I ok for this?

[space_artist_4real]

The real question is: how to set planet gravity to r² in files?

[Jota]

How did you find the coordinate of the planet's center?

[space_artist_4real]

Originally posted by José Paulo (FaD):

How did you find the coordinate of the planet's center?

I put multiple gps points while walking on different ice lakes around the planet and got to spectator to the place where the distance to these surface points is equal (lakes are always at the same height). I then spawned my character using [Crtl + Space bar] then set a GPS coordinate there. Warning: you will get blind there, light is broke a.f. it's unbelievable, I have a pic of it on my account you'll recognize it it's 95% white.

[Jota]

Originally posted by space_artist_4real:

Originally posted by José Paulo (FaD):

How did you find the coordinate of the planet's center?

I put multiple gps points while walking on different ice lakes around the planet and got to spectator to the place where the distance to these surface points is equal (lakes are always at the same height). I then spawned my character using [Crtl + Space bar] then set a GPS coordinate there. Warning: you will get blind there, light is broke a.f. it's unbelievable, I have a pic of it on my account you'll recognize it it's 95% white.

Interesting, I just wanted to be sure it was correct, which it looks to be.

[IndustrialDonut]

Originally posted by space_artist_4real:

The real question is: how to set planet gravity to r² in files?

I too want to know how to do this!! The two BIGGEST things that I have problems with in Space Engineers fundamentally are: that I can't separately invert my Y-axis control for ships and for my player, AND THAT PLANETS HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL FIELD SO DENSE IT MAKES ALEX JONES LOOK REASONABLE.

I would really love to see a more gradual fall off of gravity with its effects being felt farther out by a much larger radius exactly as you say so that we can orbit it properly!!

[Lander1]

Honestly If you are that into the realism of orbital mechanics I'd suggest either playing KSP or NASA's Shuttle simulator.

SE Planets aren't actually planets, but overglorified Asteroids with a spherical Grav Gen effect at their centre.

Most of the physics required for orbits of any kind don't even exist in SE, everything is stationary. The planets do not rotate, nor do they orbit the sun, nor does their moons... there are no Lagrange points, etc, etc...

Also... free-falling around a planet is akin to a slingshot manouver more than it is to an orbiting satellite, Orbiting Satellites don't free fall around the planet but maintain a strict flight pattern, and their service life is often governed by the ammount of propellant they carry to maintain this flight path. Without propellant to maintain their orbits they will crash into the planet or be lost to space.

[space_artist_4real]

Originally posted by Lander1:

Honestly If you are that into the realism of orbital mechanics I'd suggest either playing KSP or NASA's Shuttle simulator.

SE Planets aren't actually planets, but overglorified Asteroids with a spherical Grav Gen effect at their centre.

Most of the physics required for orbits of any kind don't even exist in SE, everything is stationary. The planets do not rotate, nor do they orbit the sun, nor does their moons... there are no Lagrange points, etc, etc...

Also... free-falling around a planet is akin to a slingshot manouver more than it is to an orbiting satellite, Orbiting Satellites don't free fall around the planet but maintain a strict flight pattern, and their service life is often governed by the ammount of propellant they carry to maintain this flight path. Without propellant to maintain their orbits they will crash into the planet or be lost to space.

You know, it woudl be a damn shame if it stayed like that!

S.E. has soooooooo much potential and all of it goes to waste? Why? And orbits are stable, they do not require propellant to maintain when reached... satellites have propellant to get away from debris and to prevent atmosphere from slowing them down when close to Earth... orbits are fundamentally stable...

Bro, do you even science???

[Lander1]

You just contradicted yourself with the "except to" part of your sentence, but since you asked...
http://www.braeunig.us/space/orbmech.htm

Orbiter Space Flight Simulator 2016 Edition
http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

[IndustrialDonut]

Originally posted by space_artist_4real:

Originally posted by Lander1:

Honestly If you are that into the realism of orbital mechanics I'd suggest either playing KSP or NASA's Shuttle simulator.

SE Planets aren't actually planets, but overglorified Asteroids with a spherical Grav Gen effect at their centre.

Most of the physics required for orbits of any kind don't even exist in SE, everything is stationary. The planets do not rotate, nor do they orbit the sun, nor does their moons... there are no Lagrange points, etc, etc...

Also... free-falling around a planet is akin to a slingshot manouver more than it is to an orbiting satellite, Orbiting Satellites don't free fall around the planet but maintain a strict flight pattern, and their service life is often governed by the ammount of propellant they carry to maintain this flight path. Without propellant to maintain their orbits they will crash into the planet or be lost to space.

You know, it woudl be a damn shame if it stayed like that!

S.E. has soooooooo much potential and all of it goes to waste? Why? And orbits are stable, they do not require propellant to maintain when reached... satellites have propellant to get away from debris and to prevent atmosphere from slowing them down when close to Earth... orbits are fundamentally stable...

Bro, do you even science???

Yeah he obviously doesn't know, much about physics lol, orbits by nature are very stable and do not require thrust to maintain, the only force involved after reaching orbital velocity is that of gravity to continuously redirect your velocity in a manner to which you do not fly away from the planet, but around and around and around it at a constant speed given that it's a circular orbit.

[Lander1]

Do orbits decay?
Atmospheric drag at orbital altitude is caused by frequent collisions of gas molecules with the satellite. It is the major cause of orbital decay for satellites in low Earth orbit. It results in the reduction in the altitude of a satellite's orbit.
Orbital decay - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay