Dear shipmates,

Just a quick progress update on the ongoing work for adding NPC particles:

Now the physics takes into account that NPC particles inhabit a non-inertial frame, i.e. the ship's mesh. When a ship is subject to accelerations - e.g. by moving, rolling, or plummeting - these accelerations are felt by particles as apparent forces.

More in detail, when a particle is in contact with a solid interface of the mesh, such as a floor or a wall, tangential accelerations are transferred to it by means of friction forces, while normal accelerations are experienced by the particle as pushes against it. This is how in non-inertial frames resting particles gain the velocity of the mesh that surrounds them - as when objects in the real world gain (absolute) velocity by standing still on the floor of a moving ship.

And while a particle may be considered motionless when seen from the point of view of the mesh, it would in reality be considered as moving when seen from the player's absolute point of view.

With this nice piece of physics done, I can now move on to attacking the next intricate task: extending the simulation from particles to dipoles. Who can guess why?

Stay tuned.