The current model allows for some people to ram and receive little or no damage while the other player got killed.
No it doesn't.
It allows the other player to fly away undamaged
only if he managed to evade the collision on his end.
It's simple really... Don't fly into the other guy; and if it looks like he's going to fly into you get out of his way. It's the exact same strategy you'd have to use in RL.
I can't believe how much discussion there is on something that can be almost completely avoided by paying attention to your surroundings, that's modeled completely adequately for 99.9999999% of player-to-player confrontations, isn't due to anything other than the time it takes data to move from one player to another, is by far the lesser of many evils when it comes to potential "fixes" for internet lag, is the fix that most approximates RL, and is the fix that most improves game-play by forcing players to try to avoid bumping into each other.
Its worth repeating-
Don't fly into the other guy; and if it looks like he's going to fly into you get out of his way. It's the exact same strategy you'd have to use in RL.
If you fail at those ultra-basic requirements, you'll take damage every time. If you succeed, you won't ever take collision damage.
Please tell me people didn't actually create an account and pay for a "realistic-as-possible" game where they're surprised they need to do that, and where there are penalties for failing to do that?
Restructuring the collision model around the fact that in exceedingly rare instances a GV could possibly take damage from a collision that he
saw, while a plane could fly away unscathed by the collision he
didn't see makes about as much sense as... well... I guess I can't think of anything that makes sense on such a small scale. Never mind.
Sure, occasionally you'll take damage that you can't avoid and that isn't your fault. But in reality, if you're experiencing a collision more than once in every 40 or so hours of game-play I'd argue that you aren't paying close enough attention to your surroundings. Look out the windows! That's what they're there for!
One more time-
Don't fly into the other guy; and if it looks like he's going to fly into you get out of his way. It's the exact same strategy you'd have to use in RL.
Skuzzy- Until technology advances to the point where data can be transmitted across the world and back instantaneously (does that mean it would have to travel at twice-instantaneous speed??) I think you've got the collision model right! But, just to help folks out maybe you should have a logon message pop up saying something along the lines of "Try not to bump into the bad guys, or let the bad guys bump into you!". Maybe it could be in 72-font, and maybe even blink?
