Flying speed

CMEast · September 2002

<div class="IPBDescription">Or limits of</div>As flying isnt the same as walking and you dont have a set speed, does that mean you can accelerate indefinitely? If a map was created in the shape of a large loop could you keep getting faster and faster until you break the ingame sound barrier and get a blue screen?
Does gliding slow you down?
Can you maintain your falling speed?
I presume you can fly straight down, is there some kind of turning circle or could you just flick your mouse up and break out of the dive and into a flat(ish) glide straight away?
Is it possible to do loop the loops? Barrel roles? etc

I can just imagine squadrons of lerks flying in formation accross a specially built lerk map, maybe with streams of coloured smoke coming from their... feet.

(one day someone will get fed up of my questions).

coil · September 2002

Go look <a href="http://www.natural-selection.org/cgi-bin/ikonboard/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=1;t=4906;st=30" target="_blank">here</a>.

For answers not in that thread:
Flapping your wings always pushes you up in terms of gravity, not with respect to your current view. So if you look straight down and flap your wings, you'll still move up. Fancy aerial tricks aren't possible.

humbaba · September 2002

Very Good questions.
No, you cannot accelerate indefinitely, there is an upper limit. This limit can be raised by taking certain upgrades.
Gliding holds the speep or slows it down slightly (its hard to tell).
If you cease to fly, you begin to fall. This speed accelerates. If you dont open your wings soon enough, you can hit the ground and take fallign damage.
You cant really fly down, but . . to exectue a swoop or dive, just stop jumping, and use intermittent jump key presses to control your descent. Then, at the last minute, start hitting that jump key like no other and you should level off. Hope this was informative. It is hard to describe the feeling of flying the lerk, but suffice to say, it is easily one of the most addictive things to do in NS. And you know a mods got stuff going for it when its fun merely to MOVE AROUND.

EDIT: Bah! me and coil seem to always hit the same threads at about the same time.

CMEast · September 2002

Just wondering, when you do flap while falling you slow down a bit rather than going straight up right?

So if your falling at a speed of -20 (numbers plucked at random) and you flap your wings your speed goes to -15, you flap again and it changes to -10 and after a few more times it goes -5, 0, 5, 10 etc

Or are the physics more complicated than that?

Or more simple than that with the first one braking your fall entirely (highly doubtful).

I hope its something like the first example because that adds the need to think more when moving.

Ta for the quick response btw

humbaba · September 2002

Similar to the first one. It seems to progress faster at a more exponential rate rather than a linear rate. I dont know the formula though . .so I cant back that up. Alas . .a secret that will forever remain in the hands of Flay.

JasonBostwick · September 2002

Something I'm wondering.. I'll assume that while flying as a lerk, you'd be in first person and never switch to third, right?

I just think it would be VERY cool to switch to third person in the air to see yourself glide through corridors and hive rooms.

Of course, this might not make much sense, as you would still need to be in first person to be aiming weapons midair. I should really think out these ideas before I put them down, I think I've been running around too much in 3rd person briefcase mode in SI.

CMEast · September 2002

I dont think there is 3rd person mode for any of the aliens

Zcaliber · September 2002

From the sounds of it... Playing as a Lerk is like being a guy with a lance on a lying ostrich! =D

Mmmmm.... Old games....

Legionnaired · September 2002

Acelleration is 32 ft/second/second, when falling...

Soo, your speeds increases by 32 for every second you fall... hang on, lemme graph this...

The equation for the falling rate in normal gravity=:

Height=16(TIME)^2+16(TIME)+0

I hope I'm not wrong, I hate being wrong.

JasonBostwick · September 2002

I'm aware of this, Easty, I just think it might be a neat idea in some circumstances. Might not work out as well as it does on paper though, but I'd like to see it tried, you know?

Scythe · September 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Zcaliber @ Sep. 07 2002,04:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">From the sounds of it... Playing as a Lerk is like being a guy with a lance on a lying ostrich! =D

Mmmmm.... Old games....</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Emu Joust?

There were a lot of comparisons drawn from NS' flying model and that of Emu Joust.

--Scythe--
the_only_scythe@subdimension.com

P.S. MS Word has never heard of the word "emu".

CMEast · September 2002

fair enough boz, but I think youd lose some of the speed if you went outside. I always prefer to be inside (cept on flight sims and racing games, both are too open to need 1st person perspective)

Darkness · September 2002

hmmm the flying skill for the lerk have to be selected? and does a lerk instakill a marine when he swoops and bites him in the ear? i wouldnt enjoy having to do the swooping like 3-4 times on 1 marine to get him down

humbaba · September 2002

Flying is done by using the "jump" key, so you can do it while using a weapon such as spike shooter or Bite. The bite is potent, but the Lerk is quite small and its pretty hard to make a controlled swoop and still hit a moving marine. It's a skill which takes developing. For the first few times I flew, I couldnt hit anything. I'd fly up, look down, let go of jump and free fall. At the last second, I'd start to swoop and fly right into a wall and bite it. Then, i'd promptly be shot. Once you master the flyer though (which I still cant claim, as I miss my mark sometimes in aerial firefights, though I can usually hit ground targets), the flyer is easily one of the most deadly classes. Theres little thats more satisfying then flying above a squad of marines, dropping a spore cloud. They then scatter. You swoop back around and tear apart the individuals. Hey, if you dont get all of em, odds are 1 or 2 will stand and shoot. Standing in a spore cloud means death.
So to answer your questions.
There is no need to select a "flying skill"
It takes a few bites to get a marine, but it can get pretty close to insta kill if you get accurate and fast enough to do it while gliding.

D_6969 · September 2002

So I'm gathering that it is hard to fly unless you are in an area that is pretty big and open.

Mouse · September 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (humbaba @ Sep. 08 2002,02:27)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It takes a few bites to get a marine, but it can get pretty close to insta kill if you get accurate and fast enough to do it while gliding.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
So, does that mean that the bite attack gets stronger the faster you go?

CMEast · September 2002

That is such a good idea mouse, because it would mean that the better you are at flying, the better you are at attacking.

Slycaster · September 2002

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td><b>Quote</b> (Mouse @ Sep. 07 2002,17:23)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">So, does that mean that the bite attack gets stronger the faster you go?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Currently no, but everything is subject to change.

Flying speed

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