But kilo is used for metric measurement, not imperial. A kilomile? LOL

I think its kilometre still since it is the future and the metric system is the way to go!

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Actually I think Locutus is on to something here.

I just did some empirical testing with planet Junyo in the Shi***u system. The planet stats list the diameter as 5280 km. I placed a waypoint to the exact opposite side of the planet from the docking ring and flew there and just entered the atmosphere. Now my distance to the docking ring was 3.0 K. So 1.0 M is actually 1780 m. Actaully it is more because I didn't take the atmosphere into account.

I just had a new idea after looking at some unit conversion charts. A nautical mile is 1852 m so it would be very close to the 1780 m measurment I got. If this is the unit used in the game the atmosphere would be 138 km thick. Does that sound right to anyone?

I think that's not how it works. When i'm 1M away from a derelict vessel for example, the nose of my ship actually touches the other ship. That would be one hell of a nose if it were 1780 meters long (not to mention the size of the ship and pilot)

Face it: the sizes and distances are in no way accurate nor are they meant to be. All the systems are very small compared to real solar systems. The planets are really tiny (no matter what's written in their descriptions). Manhatten for example wouldn't even pass as a planetoid (bigger brothers of asteroids) in the real universe. Again: Freelancer space does in no way represent real sizes or distances. The way it is just serves gameplay and graphical purpuses and does it well.

if you want to get a real feel for sizes and distances in real space then i recommend Celestia. It will put things in perspective for you and is great fun too.

Special note to 666heretic: if you should read this: that's what was meant when people said that the Freelancer universe is "cartoonish", because it's just not even close to reality. But that's fine and fun.

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"In all likelihood you're going to die out there. We're all going to die out there, but none of us needs to be reminded of that fact. So you die, you never existed." - Lt. Cmdr. 'Angel' Devereaux

Edited by - Lev Arris on 08-03-2003 01:31:00

You are correct that the distances between ships and other small objects seem to be meters and kilometers. But the nautical mile theory still seems to hold for planet sizes. I just tried it with two more planets. It would appear the planets in the game are 1/1852 of their actual size. And the distances between planets and stars (and the size of stars) is another issue altogether

well if you want a real accurate distance/time simulator join NASA and hope they put you in a simulator . but i agree with that last statement made...
Phoenix out


From this celestial bough all but one did fall into the pitiless fires of reach.
A soldier’s ignominy to have dreamt while his brothers bled. But oh, for the rest of us his shame was our salvation.

what I forgot to mention in the original is that I tested it also with the manhattan sun.

I was 8.75K away from it when I touched the corona.
If that was in kilometres I would nearly be Inside it.


Lord Darth Locutus-

--Embodiment of the Sith--

If all you have to fear is fear itself, then be very afraid of me

-shrug-

Who knows what type of measurement and distane systems they will use a milennia from now ( or would taht be a kiloyear? )

Infinity is only moments away...

Haha, I TRIED pretending that M meant mile and K meant kilomile for a while. But let's just accept the fact that Freelancer's scales and distances are vastly inaccurate. Even if it meant kilomile, the distance between, say, Pittsburgh and Manhattan is what, like 60K? 60 thousand miles? That's less than half the average distance at which the moon orbits the Earth. Even if it did mean kilomile, the distances are still terribly out of whack. Live with it.

I think they did it like that partly because it looks so cool to be able to see all those planets on screen at once. If it were more realistic, even the closest planet would be a speck on the horizon.

and seriously, considering the 80m/s speed, the 200m/s afterburner, and 300m/s cruise, and considering also that the tradelanes are near to 3000m/s, thats talking 80, 200, 300 and 3000 miles per second.... and yes, how is it then that you can see these things at a distance of say 1000 miles....
and the atmospehere is about 22 miles thick, (35 km) so 138 might be possible for manhattan but that may be rather high

also, nautical miles refers to sea, so why u might use it in space would boggle me

the moon orbits the earth at a distance of 375.000 KM (kilometre)
so what you're saying is incorrect

Lord Darth Locutus-

--Embodiment of the Sith--

If all you have to fear is fear itself, then be very afraid of me