Dynamics: Velocity, Forces, and Knockback (+ Interactive simulation!)

[3GOD]

Any ideas on how you're going to figure out each character's "Drift"? I'm very interested in these numbers since they probably best quantify "aerial control" more so than my aerial top speed list did.

 

[PK-ow!]

Well, you are launched with a certain launch force which is applied for only one frame, so you can think of it as setting your speed to your max launch speed. Then each frame your launch speed, which is kept separate from your total speed, is decreased by a bit because of the knockback resistance force. Once your launch speed is zero, the knockback resistance force stops being applied. Your fall speed is having an effect this whole time, but once your launch speed is zero, it's the only thing having an effect, so as you said, you "drop like a stone".

It doesn't make any sense in real life physics, but it's just how it is in the game.

If I may, I think the disconnect can be traced to the fact that the knockback resistance force is constant.

In the real world, the force of friction is what opposes your motion, but it itself is proportional to your velocity, which is decreasing. It also applies along the same vector as your motion, unlike the Fr, which applies along a single axis throughout the whole motion (the axis of the original launch).

Just so I have this right, the direction of the original launch takes into account DI, right?

Also, this whole thread is #$%& win. The Smash Lab was a great idea.

 

[Kashakunaki]

I would like to point out that the interactive model provided along side the discussion of knockback and its properties is broken or no longer works.