Space Engineers

Space Engineers

Aerodynamic Physics
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Dec 13, 2015 @ 8:40pm
Advanced Lift
So I added an advanced lift simulation, type /drag-advlift on while in game to enable.

Let me know what you think.

BTW type /drag-center while in a cockpit to get a good idea how off balance you are as far as the calculations are concerned. They are basic but they measure the area infront and behind your center of mass and determine what kind of drift to apply. It also means that if it goes really out of wack you can enter an uncontrolled spin. Loose a wing and fun things right?
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Showing 1-15 of 17 comments
ScratchedWinter Dec 14, 2015 @ 8:18am 
Wow, so I was using a fairly stable hoverbike (unmodded) at 150 mps, level flight in thick atmosphere. After enabling this feature, it became wuite unstable without an auto horizon prog running. I will do some more testing with the Raptor soon, but it seemed about right for such a blunt nosed object.
ScratchedWinter Dec 14, 2015 @ 8:24am 
Out of curiosity, does this mean we can design our craft without the wing mod and still get lift from aerodynamic shapes?
ScratchedWinter Dec 14, 2015 @ 9:59am 
Just btested my main aircraft with the advanced settings, it seemed very good. It failed to break 300mps with atmospheric thrusters alone, which may make sense. Despite its aerodynamic appearance, I have it heavily laden. I am making a video series, I will feature this mod and link you some of the results.
LowBitLovecraft Dec 15, 2015 @ 5:33am 
Maybe if I was playing with a flight stick or something where I could maintain pressure on the pitch/roll I'd have a better time handling an offset craft; but right now once I hit those high speeds my plane (unless it's perfectly aligned) feels broken.

But when something does break, like when a wing comes off, Advanced Lift is an awesome feature because my plane actually feels broken. I really like that.

If my plane's center of gravity had some leeway and it didn't need to be balanced on the head of a pin before the tilting kicks in, I think I'd have a lot more fun with this feature.

Also, on an aircraft that relies on multi-directional thrusters and inertial dampening, advanced lift feels like it doesn't belong. Granted, this is a game where thrusters ignore torque and gyroscopes make ships spin like tops, so the logic is kind of fuzzy here, but if I had the ability to disable/weaken Advanced Lift whenever I was piloting a craft with active, functional inertial dampening, I would.
balink Dec 15, 2015 @ 3:13pm 
There have been some discussions about a mod that would fix most of those physics problems in space engineers and allow thrusters to exert a force in the right place on the ship, but until Keen actually updates their github it's basically impossible to proceed. I feel like the advanced drag features will make /a lot/ more sense with that mod, also letting us counter the drag forces with thrusters and/or gyroscopes.
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Dec 15, 2015 @ 3:14pm 
There is some leeway built in. And your stated reasons is why its defaulted off. Its a lot of pain for a regular player, but if you are really into building balanced aircraft its a neat feature.

I can turn it on if dampening is off, that is a possibility. Like an 'auto' setting.
Last edited by DraygoKorvan; Dec 15, 2015 @ 3:15pm
ScratchedWinter Dec 15, 2015 @ 4:22pm 
Is there any way we can have this data output to a screen, with some information regarding what is happening with our craft and the script? Knowing the angle of attack would be helpful, given there is no velocity vector indicator on the HUD. I have tried re entry again at around 500 m/s, keeping what I thought was a good angle for aerobraking. Was the angle off, or is it not possible to break without damage at that velocity?
Engi Dec 23, 2015 @ 6:25pm 
I just tried this feature for the first time. When i get the center it is 000, which is strange as I did not attempt to balance the aircraft yet, maybe I just got lucky. But I still have this strong pitch down once I get up to higher speeds. If my understanding is correct that the center of lift will apply a moment to the center of mass if it is not at the exact same point then a center of lift behind the center of mass would cause a pitch down to occure. is that right?
Engi Dec 23, 2015 @ 6:39pm 
I did the /drag-center on a bunch of my ships and they all say 000...
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Dec 23, 2015 @ 7:51pm 
Interesting. Sounds like the reporting is off a bit. If the center of lift is behind your center of mass that should afford stability. If it is in front/above/to the side that should cause instability.

I want to find a way to better visually represent it.
Last edited by DraygoKorvan; Dec 23, 2015 @ 7:51pm
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Dec 29, 2015 @ 10:05pm 
Made some adjustments, more to come. Added markers to the game so you can easily see where both your center of mass and center of lift are now. /drag-center to turn on.
Has anyone tested this mod for compatability (or rather, working physics) with the Aerodynamics mod blocks?
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Jan 7, 2016 @ 8:24pm 
KC ran both mods. Should work :)
dominicawb Mar 13, 2016 @ 8:23pm 
Adv-lift works decently for me, the fighter I designed feels relatively stable, pitching slightly down when loaded with dive bombs and slightly up without them. However I did notice some unexplainable bumpy moments when turning, and weird resistance to changing direction.

Also noticed that around 500m/s and above (Around the time my fighter starts getting critically hot), the ability to maintain momentum when changing direction severly degrades, is this intentional?
DraygoKorvan  [developer] Mar 13, 2016 @ 8:28pm 
Yes, That speed is above Mach 1 almost Mach 2.
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