Combat Turning Arcs - Good or Bad?
StarControl Forums
As an offshoot to the combat camera discussion, I posed the idea that having a free analog 360° turning arc in SCR changes the nature of combat. A free analog turning arc means that your ship turns smoothly rather than turning in jumps.
In my opinion, this has a larger effect on combat than any camera angle modification.
Is it a good change, or is it a bad change? I am uncertain.
Background:
The original game limited the firing arcs to 22.5° or 16-points. This meant that your ship only turned in 22.5° increments. This was a limitation of the sprite-based engine because it couldn't handle true 3D turning. Each position of the ship needed a different sprite.
http://spritedatabase.net/files/pc/1672/Sprite/SC2_EarthlingCruiser.png
(Some ship weapons, such as the Orz cannon, had 5.6° / 64-point firing arcs, and I believe this was achieved by overlaying the cannon sprite over the ship sprite.)
Why it matters - Long Range Sniping:
Long-range non-homing direct-fire weapons were difficult to aim with a 16-point turning arc. You had a smaller window of when you could fire since you couldn't fire between points in the arc. Skilled players were able to get past this limitation and became masters of deflection shooting. (It was very rewarding to score a sniping hit.)
If the turning arc were smoother, the difficulty of making these long-ranged shots would diminish. I could track an enemy ship better and have more opportunities to fire and hit.
Why it matters - Close Range Piloting:
Short-ranged non-homing direct-fire weapons also had a limitation that could be exploited by ships like the Supox Blade and Arilou Skiff. You could use these ships to navigate between the firing points of the enemy ships and score hits without being hit by the enemy. A Blade vs Avatar Awesome AI battle was interesting to watch. The AI was great at placing the Blade between the turning points of the Avatar, making it impossible for the Blade to be hit by the Avatar's main laser. (If the zap-sats were still alive, the Avatar would always win. If the zap-sats were destroyed, the Supox would frequently win.)
If the turning arc were smoother, a good pilot would have more trouble in short-ranged battles. The Blade could never dance between the Avatar's turning arcs and would die very quickly to the Avatar's direct-fire laser. (In order to compensate, the Blade would need to be tweaked to make it strafe faster than the Avatar's turning speed in order to stay ahead of the Avatar's laser.)
