Mag Strip Elements - Ideas

[Mark Of Insanity]

I want to hear your thoughts and ideas for what could be implemented with the new mag-strip system. After all, there are things than can be done that reach far beyond the obvious rollercoaster elements. As should/will be pretty apparent, there are tons of possible elements.

This topic's not here to debate whether or not Mag-strips should be a prominent feature in future Wipeouts, but I'm assuming that it's staying and used appropriately and not needlessly. Just some cool ideas for what insane things we can do with mag strips that would be really great fun to fly through.

I've got one at the moment... from a straight section, the track makes a 180 inline twist, and then goes into a half loop propelled by many speed pads to keep it going fast enough to make it through the element... once it reaches the crest of the hill it dips back town to the ground smoothly, parallel to the direction it came into but in the opposite direction. Either the magstrips let go just before the top of the hill along with some boost pads to allow for some awesome barrel rolling fun and massive air time, or, for a more streamlined experience, carries on until it reaches the altitude that it was at when the element started, albiet pointing the other way. I should sketch up some examples of what I mean for both cases... but either way, I think that this would be a really fun way of doing a total 180 without a hairpin.

PS. As a thought, how about putting Citta Nuova back in... but with a Mag lock covering all those bloody diving bits... might be fun, not sure though.

[q_dmc12]

YES! One could incorperate aircraft combat maneuvers:hyper, I would love to see something like a rollaway where you climb on a 1/4 pipe and at the very top you descend somewhat similar to another 1/4 pipe but you either turn to left or to the right as well while descending....I believe that is a rollaway though I may be wrong.:sonar

EDIT: yes like this (http://www.flightsimbooks.com/jfs/page104.php); Also, some thing like a high yo-yo (http://www.flightsimbooks.com/jfs/page100.php) followed by an inverted vertical half-loop (http://www.flightsimbooks.com/jfs/page82.php). Just thought of another, a rollaway followed by a vertical half-loop.

Good topic Insanity, this really sparked my interest!!:+

[Dr. Angryman]

Hmmmm.... I was thinking that it'd be cool if the track went down (or up) a waterfall, making gentle turns (or twists) down (or up) the waterfall. I think it'd be a neat idea if done correctly....

[Flashback Jack]

Mmm, flying up and down the sides of buildings, a la Minority Report.

- F

[adelheid]

90 degree roll > corkscrew > vertical climb > half loop over and down through the corkscrew > erm...... stuff.....

[supersocks]

These came to mind when I thought about disadvantages and advantages of not using mag-strips in certain parts of track. Since this is WipEout FUTURE section, I'm assuming two things about mag strips:

1. Possible to have only certain part or side of track covered. -> real pulling energy physics required since it can catch craft in midair.

http://www.omamoka.com/stuff/bumps_half_magstrip_arrows.jpg

2. Barrel rolls straighten craft to normal position rather than always doing 360 degree.

http://www.omamoka.com/stuff/split_barrelroll_jump_arrows.jpg


(What I'm trying to demonstrate here is how ridiculous and unnecessary mag-strips are)

[RJ O'Connell]

I personally don't think Mag-Strips are ridiculous.

Wipeout tracks will not renew, they'll always be replaced at every installment. Eventually there will be so much that the track designers can come up with without them, that all ideas will be exhausted and we will have to have the corkscrews, loops, etc.

The only other way to do that would of course be to lock the craft on to the track...and some of our Fusion players know how that ended up.

My logic is assumption 2 does straighten the craft. But I have also yet to see a track section where there is a 90-degree horizontal loop that ramps off onto a completely flat, level section. I'd like to see Assumption 1 in some form...that would put a new twist in the racing.

My suggestion would take off on that - the Mag Strip would shift in those humps from left side, to right side, back to left...:D

[Medusa]

Supersocks, I don't think the magstrips are ridiculous, but I agree 100% that they are unnecessary. Good diagram. But, going back through the wipeouts, there are many things which are unnecessary (barrel rolls, disruptor bolts, force walls, even pits...)...

But like M of Insanity said, this thread is for ideas to insanely implement mag-strips...insanity! Right up my alley.

I'd love to see a mag-strip steeply spiralled down into an inactive volcano (heck it's a video game, make it active, lol) with the mag-strip ending too soon so that you either nose-up and airbrake, or destroy your ship from the sheer force of pounding into the suddenly horizontal track. If you survive, you go through the side of the volcano and presto! Sunlight.
No speed pads on the strip, no weapon pads, just a spiral so intensely steep it takes all your focus to conquer it. Theory being that without the mag-strip the ships would simply fall straight down to the bottom of the volcanic chasm.

[Mark Of Insanity]

That's a great (and insane) idea Medusa!

Perhaps near the end of the downward steep there should be banners overhead saying "Pull up"... (as if an advertisement but really a warning.)
Or maybe not.
But it's still an awesome idea!

[q_dmc12]

You people are crazy...but it sounds better than my boring combat maneuvers:p

[Rapier Racer]

Nah Mag Strips aren't ridiculous and unnecessary in my opinion, they add an extra twist to the game I think it would be fun to be racing someone almost side by side they are the on the normal track and you are stuck on the wall.

[Mark Of Insanity]

Uhm, I have one. And note that it would be impossible to navigate without Mag-Strips.

Remember Chenghou Project, with the bend that banks the wrong way? (Awesome track btw)
Say if you bank it loads, stretch it out a lot... if you can see what I'm getting at? So, it's banked over 90' right, while turning left and really pulling the magstrips to the limits.

Which gives me another idea.

You know the boring old loops... teardrop shaped standard issue loops...
What happens if you race on the outside of the loop rather than the inside?
Not much, but it would still be a lot more exciting than the obvious loop element!

[Dr. Angryman]

On XG3, they had a loop that corkscrewed upward with the loop. You know, the one on Oceania. Since WipEout craft don't slow down while going uphill, I think it'd be quite exciting! ;)

[Mad-Ice]

Yeah Mark Of Insanity I really like your idea. I am currently busy with Chenghou Project to beat all the TT records and it is a very difficult curve, the one that is banked the wrong way. It is challenging though and rewarding when I do an almost perfect curve without losing speed. But this is almost not possible I think with the phisics of Pure, so your idea might solve this problem while still having the design and on top keeping your speed and a new rush.:rock

[Riccardo Raccis]

Already posted somewhere else, but can't find the topic anymore:

Idea #1: a sphere entirely made of magstrip. Like a giant ball of whool, hollow on the inside, with the track being the 2-3 external layers of said ball, made a loop, and ships racing on the inside of the huge sphere.

Idea #2: Moebius strip. Good for Eliminator!

Idea #3: a track folding itself multiple times over a certain section, coming from different angles, so that you'd have this section with ships on the bottom of the track, and on the ceiling, and on the side walls. (hooray for missiles)

Idea #4: a track bisecting at a certain point, and then fusing again, thusly creating a big hole in the track (think Sinucit from Pure, but bigger). And a loooong double magstrip section going vertical through the hole, with one course going down and the other going up, to be encountered later in the race.

[supersocks]

Since WipEout craft don't slow down while going uphill

I don't want to be a nitpicker but since when?

[Dr. Angryman]

I mean not dramatically, like in XG3. The bike takes one turn upward and you are in for the slowest, most boring part of the race (unless you're in the higher speed classes, that is ;)).

[Chill]

corkscrews, loops, etc.

The only other way to do that would of course be to lock the craft on to the track.

Not necessarilly, I don't make games, but I'm guessing that at some point we will be able to go through all kinds of loops and weird stuff while keeping the floating physics... the craft would simply have it's own force of density and weight, as the track would have it's own force of gravity...

[Mark Of Insanity]

Half Pipes! Wooooooo!

Or something to that effect...

Maybe a full pipe! But then there is a risk of the dreaded words 'F-Zero clone'
- which Wipeout is definately not! (Not that I have anything against F-Zero... )

And then... you're driving along... and it splits... kind of like on Sincuit (Except it's not after turning).

But instead, of what happens there, they rotate along their Z Axis so that they are both parallel at going straight, but in opposite directions to each other. Then watch in awe as they weave about each other. They both go in towards the centre, and then part 1 smoothly glides down vertically (still at a 90 degree bank) and part 2 smoothly glides up vertically (still at a 90 degree bank) to weave and interlock, between each other respectively... and then smooth out to join again.

If you saw what was in my mind just then...

And a final one...
It splits during a long straight and the two parts of track turn back to back and then perform a full elliptical, regular loop... while spinning along the track's Z Axis, so that it is doing an inline twist while looping... back to back... after the loop the tracks return to one.
Tell me that you don't need Mag-Locks for that one!

[Chill]

LOL...

Howabout surface and gravitational pull cusomability??

[Mark Of Insanity]

If you mean on the mag-lock sections, that would be pretty awesomaterated.
I like the ones posted by Riccardo Raccis, except that the Moebius Strip would be hard to do as just a normal Moebius Strip... perhaps with a normal track that twists 180 as it comes back home (to the start/finish line), extending the track until it comes back the second time. Could be really awesome... kind of like a mirrored track built into the original.

Just two here now, 1. Inverted corkscrews. Imagine a series of corkscrews that start by turning down and right (or left)... now imagine racing on the *outside* of the track. Okay, I guess I've milked that idea already.

2. Inverted Hairpins! Simply, before entering a hairpin, it turns 180 and performs it upside down. That's all there is to it.

I know, I have no more inspiration.

Except...

An idea I just had now. :D xD :P

Repulsor Strips. Kind of like Mag Strips, but they push you away from the track rather than against. 'That sounds like a load of crap' I hear you say! Well, yes, maybe for normal track sections. Just thinking, a section of track where a wide track disconnects into a large jump. When you come down again, there are small track pieces dotted around. So, short bits of track, and lots of them scattered below. When you land on them, they give you a small bounce to allow you to get back on to the main track. Obviously, this could be quite outlandish... But decrease the size of the jump and we have this quite cool little section that hones skills off track as well as on track.

I guess that's not really Mag-Lock related. But where else would I put it anyway? (Don't answer that ;) )

Aha, one more idea.

Track spilts... but not back to back as before, but front to front, so the track edges are connected and it would look like a narrow square tunnel to the unknowing eye. But within that, there is a darker, gritter atmosphere, and the track performs a few normal track sections before returning. The idea that you can see your opponents properly, and all of your weapons can affect them somehow (even if its only because a turn is coming up), but they're not moving pylons that get in the way. A competitive edge would be there. Mag-Strips of course, for stopping the racers from crashing into the track above them.

[Lance]

Since the anti-grav field of a Wipeout ship is strong enough to hold it off the ground and even to counteract the forces generated by diving closer to the track and then pulling back upwards [since it's clear from the ship designs that the aerodynamic lift they're capable of generating is inadequate to do that], then why are magstrips or repulsor strips even needed. The ship's anti-grav could probably be controlled in both strength and direction, so all the necessary forces to follow the track could be generated within the ship itself, yes?

[q_dmc12]

You are talking about gravity-wave technology, anyway, then you'd end up with WipEout FuSion.:p

[Task]

The ship's anti-grav could probably be controlled in both strength and direction, so all the necessary forces to follow the track could be generated within the ship itself, yes?Nah, I don't think that's the kind of AG technology we're talking about here. That's the kind of AG they have in Firefly/Serenity, I don't think Belmondo's version is quite so "powerful".

I'm pretty sure that the Belmodo AG is not a "gravity canceller" (since the idea is preposterous instead of merely silly) or an inertialess drive like you're describing, but simply a device that generates a downward force that exactly cancels out Fg for the craft it's installed in when that craft is a specific distance (say, 1m) off the ground. Kind of like a ground-effect vehicle, but without all the messy whooshing air bits. So when your craft is farther from the ground than that, the Fb (Force of Belmondo!) is less than Fg, hence you return to the surface. But when you approach the surface (less than that 1m gap) than Fb > Fg and you've got your repelling-from-the-ground effect. It would take a much larger device (and craft, like a spaceship) to increase that distance value, and a much smaller craft probably wouldn't be large enough to house the device, hence all AG craft being roughly the same size. The benefit here is that you no longer have to rely on friction to move your vehicle, all your "thrust" can be used to move the vehicle around, giving you an optimized solution to the mass transit problem.

Getting back to topic, this means that you can't fly an outside loop, you'll just fly off the track, there's nothing holding you there. Hence the need for something like a mag-strip. If you want to pull off anything crazy like an outside loop. 8 )

[q_dmc12]

exactly..

[Chill]

Nice... the forgotten theory is brought back up, thanx a lot task!!

[rdmx]

I think the main idea behind mag-strips was...

"Hey Colin, how awesome would it be if we had loops and people flying on the ceiling..."
"We did, in Fusion, and it failed horribly..."
"What if we have strips which attach craft to the track like in Fusion? The rest of the track can have normal physics..."
"Rob... genius!"

[lunar]

I like your theory, Task, certainly the best I`ve heard to explain why it is that when AG ships go up they don`t just keep going up, if they really have "beaten" gravity. It also explains the existence of some of these hover-buses we see around the tracks, though not perhaps the smaller ones.

But then Insertcoin probably hit the nail on the head too :D It`s only a game. ;)

[Lance]

Mass transit solution: nope. Any application of power that has to be on just to hold support the vehicle is using more power than a wheeled vehicle that just sits there without having to do any work to hold itself up. Constant energy drain just for that. Bad for environment.

Inertialess drive: not what I was describing at all. Gravity and momentum are separate forces. I was just talking about an anti-grav system that reacts against the gravity emanating from mass whether the planet or the track.


Nah, I don't think that's the kind of AG technology we're talking about here. That's the kind of AG they have in Firefly/Serenity, I don't think Belmondo's version is quite so "powerful".

I'm pretty sure that the Belmodo AG is not a "gravity canceller" (since the idea is preposterous instead of merely silly) or an inertialess drive like you're describing, but simply a device that generates a downward force that exactly cancels out Fg for the craft it's installed in when that craft is a specific distance (say, 1m) off the ground. Kind of like a ground-effect vehicle, but without all the messy whooshing air bits. So when your craft is farther from the ground than that, the Fb (Force of Belmondo!) is less than Fg, hence you return to the surface. But when you approach the surface (less than that 1m gap) than Fb > Fg and you've got your repelling-from-the-ground effect. It would take a much larger device (and craft, like a spaceship) to increase that distance value, and a much smaller craft probably wouldn't be large enough to house the device, hence all AG craft being roughly the same size. The benefit here is that you no longer have to rely on friction to move your vehicle, all your "thrust" can be used to move the vehicle around, giving you an optimized solution to the mass transit problem.

Getting back to topic, this means that you can't fly an outside loop, you'll just fly off the track, there's nothing holding you there. Hence the need for something like a mag-strip. If you want to pull off anything crazy like an outside loop. 8 )

[Chill]

Well... it could still be possible for the craft to use the planet's natural atmosphere itself, constantly staying afloat... And it may not be so bad for the environment if it's built for pollution control, like the fuil-celled engine for example...

[adelheid]

Re Pollution:
We already have thrusters that produce no pollution, they're on the Space Shuttle, all that "smoke" you see is nothing more than steam.
I think that in 200 years time (is that right?) they will have made such things better, and more plentiful.

Either that or they all run on cold-fusion batteries or something....

[Mark Of Insanity]

It's the future, we can assume any problems that stand in our way have been solved. ;)
As far as we've seen, Anti-Gravity craft are clean. BUT, I guess they could produce a colourless gas and we wouldn't notice.

[adelheid]

That would depend on how much energy is in the escaping gas, don't forget that zonking great big flame that comes out of the shuttles nozzle is nothing but water vapour.

Personally I dont understand how a mag-strip and an AG-engine would work together, surely they would fight each other?

[Task]

Mass transit solution: nope. Any application of power that has to be on just to hold support the vehicle is using more power than a wheeled vehicle that just sits there without having to do any work to hold itself up. Constant energy drain just for that. Bad for environment.... Like the way that an idling bus is using energy to go nowhere? Indeed bad, but obviously far from a showstopper.
Belmondo AG, in the very first game manual, is almost defined as being a mass transit solution. That was the primary application of the technology, to replace the predominant fossil fuel powered vehicle. Racing was the final footnote at the bottom of all that, an afterthought!
I get the impression that the AG field might be expensive to start up, but once you've got it going a couple of AA batteries will run it for a couple days.
This is all non-existent technology of course, but that's what I read out of the mythology.


Inertialess drive: not what I was describing at all. Gravity and momentum are separate forces. I was just talking about an anti-grav system that reacts against the gravity emanating from mass whether the planet or the track.But if you had enough control over the strength and direction of the Fb the ship was exerting to follow an arbitrary track to a degree that a mag-strip would be unnecessary, then you'd have the effect of being able to maneuver around as if you had no inertia. The technology inside the craft certainly isn't an inertialess drive, but to an outside observer it would look like one. And I really don't get the impression that that's the way the Belmondo AG works. That's what I was trying to say.

[Lance]

If you had no inertia, you would have no mass. Very little power would be required to accelerate the vehicle in any direction, but the ships dO have mass, a lot of it, and it takes power to move that mass. Wipeout style anti-gravity seems to be a reverse gravity that counteracts the attraction of gravity with much of the same effect as a reaction jet aimed at the average center of the gravitational field would. It does not cancel mass, it only counteracts gravity.

That whole inertialess drive thing arose from two things, an attempt to explain the seemingly impossibly rapid direction changes of at least one observation of what appeared to be a ''flying saucer'' back in the late 40s or the 50s, and from the old Star Trek show in which the crew, under 'ordinary' circumstances of operation, never were seen to react to the acceleration of the ship. This was all about keeping the occupants of the ship from showing the effects of acceleration on the TV screen all the time. Much easier on the actors. Some logical people had written to the show's producers to point out that the crew would be crushed by the accelerations, and the inertialess 'drive' [an inertia damping field] is the half-baked attempt to provide the fans with a sorta-believable answer.

Of course all of this stuff is fictional, but IMO it's good to attempt to keep a system internally consistent in the logic of its supposed means of operation, and consistent with what we currently know about physics and what is possible and what may or may not be possible.

[adelheid]

I love nerd fights :D

[q_dmc12]

Three words: Anti- (http://www.npl.washington.edu/av/altvw14.html)mass (http://www.cyber-north.com/ufo/ufodesign.html) Field (http://www.ezau.com/latest/articles/062.shtml) Generator (http://uk.msnusers.com/JourneyIntoSpace/antimassfieldtheory.msnw) ;) <-- click the last one

[adelheid]

Would any of this theoretical anti-mass/inertia stuff have any affect on the G-forces traditionally experienced by a pilot?

[q_dmc12]

NoThe message you have entered is too short. Please lengthen it to at least 5 characters. >_<

[adelheid]

So despite all of this theoretical gubbins a pilot would still need to be built like Sveta Kirovski?

[q_dmc12]

Oh sorry, I didn't understand your question till now - yes, it would. No mass-field - no inertia - no G-forces.:D

[adelheid]

That's cool, that gives me some hope :D
But (sorry) according to certain parts from the manuals and character backgrounds suggest that the pilots have to deal with some serious G-forces so surely that is a moot argument, or was it a "If I was going to do it" argument?

[q_dmc12]

weeell, nobody said that the mass-field would have to be negated totally (a 5 Ton ship with a small AMF generator weighing only 1.5 Tons), that could explain the bouncy effect.

[adelheid]

And you still have some fun forces to deal with, but not crushing ones.... nice.

Has abyone ever done the maths to see what kind of forces the pilots endure?

[Lance]

Would any of this theoretical anti-mass/inertia stuff have any affect on the G-forces traditionally experienced by a pilot?

Yes. In the case of an inertia damping field, the G-forces on crew would be reduced or eliminated.


edit: oops. I shoulda read the last page. :g

[RJ O'Connell]

Has anyone ever done the maths to see what kind of forces the pilots endure?
Wipeout Fusion had a list of these CMGFL Ratings which measures the maximum sustainable G-Force that a pilot could take, and apparently that determined what team a pilot would race for. i.e. since Myima Tsarong had the highest rating, somewhere in the area of 15 G, she was a natural fit to race for Piranha, which was a team that had sick overall speed and maneuverability. The lowest, I think, is about 9-10 G from a pilot on the lower-tier teams like Feisar, Of-Over, or G-Tech.

And this probably explains why races are so short in the Wipeout games, from a logical standpoint not related to gameplay - maxing 10 Gs over and over again in repetition, by some point, will kill you.

[adelheid]

10-15 G's!?
(0_0)


Early experiments showed that untrained humans were able to tolerate 17 g eyeballs-in (compared to 12 g eyeballs-out) for several minutes without loss of consciousness or apparent long-term harm.

Pilots in the Red Bull Air Race commonly exceed 10 g for seconds during turns, occasionally surpassing 12 g.

Formula One drivers usually experience 5 g while braking, 2 g while accelerating, and 4 g while cornering. Every Formula One car has an ADR (Accident Data Recovery) device installed, which records speed and g-force. According to the FIA Robert Kubica of BMW Sauber experienced 75 g during his 2007 Montreal GP crash.
From Wiki'.

But this is the best part:


Strongest g-forces survived by humans

Voluntarily: Colonel John Stapp in 1954 sustained 46.2 g [1] in a rocket sled, while conducting research on the effects of human deceleration. See Martin Voshell (2004), 'High Acceleration and the Human Body'.

Involuntarily: Formula One racing car driver David Purley survived an estimated 179.8 g in 1977 when he decelerated from 173 km/h (108 mph) to 0 in a distance of 66 cm (26 inches) after his throttle got stuck wide open and he hit a wall.[2]

[q_dmc12]

:o....ouch

[Chill]

WOWZEREENIES!!!! :o

If Wipeout crafts have their own atmosphere, thus atmosphere being able to controlled, G-forces could be adjusted within the cockpit (having it's own atmosphere)... thus still making Wipeout possible... ;) But who knows anywayz...

[adelheid]

Well today pilots combat the black out problem by wearing a special suit that stops the blood from draining from your head, but the rest they have to just suck up.
___________

This is a 75G accident, so double the rsults to get an idea of what the 180G crash was like:

http://dailycarvideos.com/2007/06/10/f1-montreal-kubica-crash/

[RJ O'Connell]

I remember seeing the Kubica accident live. Scary stuff, that's certainly a fatality, or at least serious injury, if that were to happen in the 1990s before the mandation of head restraint systems, long asphalt run-offs (not present in this scenario), etc.

But back to G-forces, I certainly wonder what kind of forces are exerted while a ship is destroyed at speed. Certainly getting hit by a missile or quake would not be too pleasant.

[adelheid]

The quake would definitely give the pilot severe whiplash as the ship is forced to roll over the brow of the hill.

[Chill]

If the atmosphere, not trying to sound like an echoe, but, anyway... if the atmosphere in the cockpit can counter-act with these times somewhat, mabye the force could be lessend?? I never thought of the Quake as a very realistic weapon anyway, it wouldn't be an the real tournament, I think it just adds gameplay... ;)

[adelheid]

I don't think the atmosphere in the cockpit would offer much protection from shocks and impacts, after all air is air, I think it far more likely that they simply have very, very superior flight-suits.

[Chill]

Mabye if a similar invisible AG shield surrounding the craft can also surround the cockpit in multiple layers, that could help obsorb shock a lot... ;)

[adelheid]

It would go some way towards explaining why the cockpit always survives.

[Fascia]

as previously mentioned, I don't believe the G-forces experianced by pilots are anything extra ordinary, and a specialised suit could easly help adjust the blood pressure in the body and keep it even.

The reason sustained G-forces cause people to faint or be sick is due to the blood pressure in the brain being unevenly distributed.

Of course wipeout pilots experiance G-forces either on their front, back or sides. Modern fighter pilots experiance the majority of the 'extreme' G-forces when pulling up or down (Yawing is too slow). what this means is that if the pilot pulls up sharp all the blood in his body is pushed towards his feet, this can put extra strain on the heart as it pumps blood to the brain, and cause fainting, or, if sustained long enough, brain damage. You rarely hear about pilots pulling down extremely hard, this is because the G-forces cause blood to push into the brain, which can cause deadly brain damage at even relatively low G-forces. Infact, the F-22 has to have inhibitors in its system to prevent the pilot from pulling down too fast, if these inhibitors wern't inplace it's possible the pilot could actualy cause their eyeballs to burst from blood pressure. Nice.

But yeah, back to wipeout. The kinds G-forces experianced by pilots in wipeout are among the most friendly. While I don't doubt that pilots go through rigorous training, and wear body suits to help distribute blood pressure (Like modern pilots do too), there would be no need for cockpit shielding, Anti-gravity devices or the like.

There is of course the issue of quakes causing whiplash and crashes causing fatal G-forces.
G-Forces of 100 and above are easly survivable in a well designed cockpit that ensures the head and spine stay rigid with the seat, via a head brace and seatbelt, that's how F-1 drivers more often than not survive devistating crashes.

there's also been the issue of anti-gravity in this topic, I've noticed alot of you discussing technology mostly found in science fiction like negative gravity, etc, however the most likely and, judging by the way the the craft moves around, is a system similar to modern harrier jump jets. a set of invisible jet engines under the craft, or 100's even 1000's of tiny air compressors that fire out air, such propultion technologies would only be effective with a solid ground underneath. There's also the idea that the track and craft could use maglev, magnetic levitation, and while there's obviously plenty of evidence in the fiction around wipeout to discredit this, mag lev is perhaps the most plausable explanation, the bottom of the craft is negatively charged, the track is negatively charged, they only repell at close quaters due to the inverse square law, and can easly ensure the craft rarely makes contact with the track.

Infact, such a magnetive levitation would be possible even with todays technology, albiet incredibly expensive (Any billionair pilots willing to contribute? :D). Magnetic levitation keeps the craft in air, conventional jet engines keep act as thrust.

The weapon systems on the otherhand, belong squarely in the realm of science fiction. energy weapons and shielding are still little more than star trek.

[omega329]

sorry for being picky,:paperbag but i think magnetism works on an inverse cube law

[adelheid]

I have to nipick too: Energy weapons are a reality.
There are lasers that can knock sattelites out of the sky, lazers mounted on planes to deal with tanks (however I will admit that the mountis is experimental) and there is even a device best described as the Shock Rifle from Unreal Tournament. It's even capable of doing the Shock Combo.

Energy Shielding is a load of honk though.

[rdmx]

It's even capable of doing the Shock Combo.
Now thats just insane :dizzy I wonder whether its purple too...

[CR4SH3D]

anyone have a link to that shockrifle?

back on topic though, how about a loop full of speed pads that corkscrews and the track stops so you speed up it, flip around, then get flung forward into the air and catch the magstrip on the other side? (that sounds confusing i know :P sorry)

[Fascia]

This is WipEout, not sonic the hedgehog.

[Chill]

Lol... some pipes to fly through would be nice...

[RJ O'Connell]

^ F-Zero X/GX and Kinetica already cornered that market.

[Chill]

So... I really don't like the suction of the mag-strip, I'd rather have it go away all together, sorry...

[P52Smith]

I'd like the idea of the track spltting into 4 narrow lanes which you enter randomly (ie. 2 per lane) which then split apart, cover the same distance and face a 'volcano' style structure from four 'sides', then you fly up said structure and into an internal tube which bends around a lot, then speed pads appear perpendicular to your direction of travel to push you away from the approaching wall and the track unfolds and the mag-strip stops just before a jump which spits you back on the starting grid, kind of like Sinucit's jump but steeper, much steeper as in / steep (that slash represents a line, not a slash)

Fun, fun, fun

[Lance]

Have you been playing Killer Loop? :D

[P52Smith]

Nope, never heard of it.



Another idea would be a huge corkscrew upwards then dive straight down. Then the track pulls up so you are upside-down, 180 degree flip upright and a return again to the grid in a similar manner to my last suggestion!
What do you think?