This sci-fi RTS gameplay trailer is so good it sparked an argument about realistic deep-space combat on Reddit
Hardcore sci-fi RTS Falling Frontier released a gameplay new trailer today showcasing ship-to-ship combat over the gas giant Saturn, and it's so impressive that it's got people on Reddit arguing about the realism of its depictions of combat between capital ship moving at relativistic speeds.
The trailer reveals the Hano class destroyer, portrayed in a dramatic two-on-one battle that I found utterly hypnotic: «Cinematic» is a word that gets used a lot in the videogame space—probably overused—but I think it absolutely applies here. The detailed graphics, background chatter, slow-motion pyrotechnics, and subtle music and sound effects combine to great effect, and by the midway point of the battle I was pulling hard for the Martian Task Force—a strong reaction that I don't generally experience while watching promotional trailers.
The video inspired reactions of a different sort over on the PC Gaming subreddit, after one user pointed out that the PDCs—"point defense cannon," which is basically a Phalanx CIWS by way of The Expanse—appeared to be «super ineffective.»
«More confusing to me was the inaccuracy of the cannon fire,» another redditor replied. «You'd think with the vessels moving relatively slowly on predictable trajectories that a ballistic round with advanced computer targeting wouldn't wiff quite so often. If the ships moved more erratically I'd understand.»
A third then weighed in to note that «realism» isn't really desirable in a videogame.
«Ships would be fractions of light seconds apart dueling with lasers and maybe kinetics under maximum G forces,» they wrote. «They would also be ugly, tube-looking things. They would have massive radiators. You wouldn’t hear anything. You wouldn’t be able to see both ships on
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