Vector Movement Plotter

[redner]

I think this is a good time to release my Vector Movement Plotter Java program. It's still a small program which can be easily extended, forked, and/or rewritten (code-wise or language-wise). Also, it's a good time to show my limited knowledge of 2D Newtonian physics.

 

Anyway, I've always been looking for a good Newtonian-base board/tabletop/miniature game system. The closest one is Attack Vector: Tactical by Ad Astra Games. Unfortunately, my mind can't handle 3D. So for 2D, I like Magestic Twelve Games' Starmada. It's a good system, but their "Newtonian" rule system feels like a redefinition. IE, it's not Newton's math I'm dealing with, but it's Magestic Twelve's "math". AV:T can be played in 2D. I was inclined to computer-ize it, but I'd also be dealing with their own version of Newton.

 

So, I blew off the dust from my college Physics textbook and proceeded to write my Vector Movement Plotter Java program. The program basically generates a location point(expressed in meters), a directional facing, and speed for every seconds for a ship to follow. In the /VecMov02/dist directory, there's the VecMov02.jar file. You should be able to double-click on it to make it run.

 

When you start the program, you'll see eight (8) veriables: Facing, Location, RSpeed, RDirection, Acceleration, Rotation, Seconds, and Scale.

 

Facing: This is where the nose of a ship is pointing to. And it's expressed in degrees (0 to 359).

 

Location: X and Y coordination of a ship.

 

RSpeed: This is the resultant speed which a ship is travelling. This value should never be negative since RDirection takes care of that.

 

RDirection: This is the resultant direction which a ship is travelling. It's expressed in degrees (0 to 359).

 

Acceleration: This is based on the Facing variable. It is assumed that "thrust" is generated from the ship's aft. BTW, I could have used real thrust, but that would involved the mass of a ship. Anyway, the end product of thrust is acceleration.

 

Rotation: This is where I didn't apply Newton physics. I didn't want to deal with spin inertia. So I use the Asteroid math; the ship just spins to the number of degrees set per second.

 

Seconds: This is where players define how many location points they want generated per turn/segment/round.

 

Scale: This variable re-calculates a ship's location for your convenience when you're dealing with miniatures or cardboard cut-outs on the table.

 

Finally, let me say somethings about the variables, Acceleration and Rotation. These variable can be looked at as cost to a thrust and/or maneuver rating currency. With a fixed amount of "money", you can allocate them to Acceleration and/or Rotation in a 1-to-1 basis. But, you don't have to do that. You can make it a rule that one (1) thrust point gets you 4 degrees of Rotations every turn/segment/round. Just have fun with it.

 

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PS

I used JDK 7 with NetBeans 7.0.1 in Linux Mint.

[redner]

Re: Vector Movement Plotter

 

Damn! Found a bug. Find the line that says, "Facing += Rotation". Just below it, add the statement, "Facing %= 360".

 

sorry

[Pizza Man]

Re: Vector Movement Plotter

 

What's the Vector, Victor?

[redner]

Re: Vector Movement Plotter

 

Here's a fork of the program. It should help you "sculpt" a ship's maneuver in a turn. BTW, you may need to download and install the new Java.

 

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