Having previously defended steam cannon physics from comments originating on Reddit that they are 'nerfed', I have reluctantly come around to the conclusion that they currently have so many issues that it simply isn't worth designing new steam-powered machines. As an illustration, see this video:
[video=youtube;neDPoeJPxzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neDPoeJPxzI&feature=youtu.be[/video]
This bizarre behaviour makes designing anything steam-powered (except by direct impulse) an exercise in fighting against the bugs, rather than engineering. Not fun. And then there is the odd 'scramjet' behaviour seen when steam cannons get above a certain speed. Fun to exploit if you want to create a rocket, but a damn nuisance if it occurs accidentally in a device supposed to use steam in a more plausible manner. To my mind, such erratic and counter-intuitive behaviour seriously detracts from the potential that Besiege has offered since the V 0.2 update. We now have the opportunity to build complex designs - but anything steam powered is going to be so hit-and-miss in regards to its performance that it isn't going to be worth the effort. Accordingly, I have to suggest that the developers need to take a long hard look at the physics of steam (and water) modelling, and decide whether they want to include something which is so wildly erratic. To my mind, at the root of Besiege should be an attempt to model 'proper' physics - simplified certainly, and with some hand-waving magic as far as say where the water/steam is actually coming from, but plausible in as much as it can be - and anything which introduces random unintended behaviour at the physics emulation level runs counter to what Besiege is trying to be. Whether the developers want to describe the current behaviour as 'a bug' or not is up to them - but it has to be seen as a net negative, and needs further attention.
[video=youtube;neDPoeJPxzI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neDPoeJPxzI&feature=youtu.be[/video]
This bizarre behaviour makes designing anything steam-powered (except by direct impulse) an exercise in fighting against the bugs, rather than engineering. Not fun. And then there is the odd 'scramjet' behaviour seen when steam cannons get above a certain speed. Fun to exploit if you want to create a rocket, but a damn nuisance if it occurs accidentally in a device supposed to use steam in a more plausible manner. To my mind, such erratic and counter-intuitive behaviour seriously detracts from the potential that Besiege has offered since the V 0.2 update. We now have the opportunity to build complex designs - but anything steam powered is going to be so hit-and-miss in regards to its performance that it isn't going to be worth the effort. Accordingly, I have to suggest that the developers need to take a long hard look at the physics of steam (and water) modelling, and decide whether they want to include something which is so wildly erratic. To my mind, at the root of Besiege should be an attempt to model 'proper' physics - simplified certainly, and with some hand-waving magic as far as say where the water/steam is actually coming from, but plausible in as much as it can be - and anything which introduces random unintended behaviour at the physics emulation level runs counter to what Besiege is trying to be. Whether the developers want to describe the current behaviour as 'a bug' or not is up to them - but it has to be seen as a net negative, and needs further attention.
