i posted this at Fp3 some time ago, but i thought it'd be something to note anyway.

Long story short... the doppler effect works in Freelancer. Proven easily by a beam mod of any sort, keeping the sound, and going into an engine kill drift from cruise or faster. Fire constatnly forward, then slowly turn around and hear the pitch drop.

Because i'm in a hurry, the doppler effect, if you don't know it, is when a wave's frequency increases because the source of the waves is moving.
Too complicated for ya?
Okay, think about it this way. You are standing on the side of a striaght length of an F1 racing track. A car is speeding towards you, and then it zips past you, and continues down the track. When it is still approaching you, the engine is sending out sound waves at a certain frequency. However, the car approaches you, so the waves that are heading in your direction are closer together, creating a higher frequency. Higher sound wave frequency means higher pitch or tone. Then, when the car passes you, the wave source (engine) is moving away from you, so each wave is slower than the one before it. Thus the frequency is low, and creates a lower tone.

Thats what makes the cars go eeerrrrrooooommmmmm..... () from high to low, no matter where you are.

anyway, the reason this is quite interesting in Ferelancer is that this theorem relies on the position of moving sound waves. And since it works in the game, means that each instant that makes a sound, those waves actually travel in the game. So there are actual sound waves flying about when you play.

Just a note..