"Explosions in space..." Topic

After getting bit by the x-wing bug pretty hard thoughts turn to battle reports and photos showing the fighters being destroyed. Question is, what would the explosions look like in space. Presuming cos of the energy bursting out the bits would look like something shattering and flames and smoke would be at a minimum. But really have no idea. Is it TOO geeky to want to make something like will look right. And if not – how?

Rich J

We'll have to conduct some experiments!

Four things spring to my mind.

Number 1: Inertia – all the material thrown off needs to keep moving in the direction it was traveling when the explosion occurred, no neat balls.

Number 2: No Air – so there won't be so much smoke and flame. What's going to oxidize will oxidize pretty quick, then stuff just flies apart.

Number 3: Directional Light – here in the atmo we have light moving in all directions, all the time. In space you're either far from a star and there's no light, or you're near a star and *all* the light comes from one direction. Not that you'll ever have this on your gaming table, but it would affect how you see an explosion.

Number 4: Evocative is better than Accurate: All proportions of minis and all good paint jobs are distorted so that they look right. It's more important that the look is convincing and exciting than that it accurately portrays an explosion. An accurate explosion that confuses people or just looks weird does not add to the game.

Anybody got a youtube link?

For "realism" in this context, wouldn't the Star Wars films be your best resource? Granted, most of the effects weren't necessarily "accurate" from a scientific standpoint, but then neither were the craft we're using for the game.

I say use Lucas' take on space explosions as your guide.

I agree with rebmarine. It is the Star Wars universe so go with what Lucas has depicted.

I am way off the charts on this one. I am using Flame and smoke markers (similar to what you see on WWI aircraft in many a game) to indicate a critical hit. YES I know there would be no flame markers in space, but hey I am working on a Storm Trooper and Ewok Zombie game, so realism is not high on the agenda. If one wanted to nitpick all the flying around would be completely different than in the movies.

VR
James Mattes

Somewhere on this board I posted a thread with fan-made explosion markers you can print and slap on the table when a target goes "boom." Accurate? No. 3D? No. But they did have neat images of X-wings, TIEs, Y-wings, etc. breaking apart in glorious full-color destruction.

Also on that thread there are images of one guy's home-made shattered fighter craft (he made molds of the actual figs, cast copies, and mangled the copies into twisted and shredded chunks of fighter). A bit involved, but impressive.

An interesting approach might be to take those cheap LED lights, wire one into a stand with a battery in the base, and then surround the thing with a very loose ball of poly fill. You could also stick bits of "debris" onto the fibers. I haven't done this, but with the light behind it all it might create a worthwhile effect.

I'll confess that in my case, the most I've done is slap the last damage card on top of the ship, explosion side up.

Operation Newsreel was a series of nuclear tests in space: YouTube link

Haven't seen anything just yet on something scale such as "one-man snub fighters."

Cool guys. Food for thought.

The explosion would expand as a ball and move along the flight line of the fighter until it "burns" out.The debris field would be a teardrop shape expanding along the flight path.

Check the following website under the section "Space War" for more information:

link

Cool

Real life as seen in the movies is the best way to go ~,~