Projectile Formula

[Vindicator209]

I'm creating a weird "tanks" game in which the users have a bird's eye view of the battle plane(straight down), I've included angle and power to determine where the player's shots would "land", however I don't know how to calculate the distance of the shot.

Being a bird's eye view, I don't need to draw out tracers or arches, but I just need to know how to use angle & power to determine the distance from the "tank"...My 8th grade knowledge of math isn't getting me far either.

Can anyone help me?

This probably is in the wrong section... sorry... but it is an autoit game, if that's worth anything...

[PsaltyDS]

I'm creating a weird "tanks" game in which the users have a bird's eye view of the battle plane(straight down), I've included angle and power to determine where the player's shots would "land", however I don't know how to calculate the distance of the shot.

Being a bird's eye view, I don't need to draw out tracers or arches, but I just need to know how to use angle & power to determine the distance from the "tank"...My 8th grade knowledge of math isn't getting me far either.

Can anyone help me?

This probably is in the wrong section... sorry... but it is an autoit game, if that's worth anything...

Ballistic formulas, including examples of usage: hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu

[Nahuel]

It's not really that easy if you don't know anything about physics/maths. You can't determine the distance that the projectile traveled if you don't have a coordinate system, initial speed (Vertical and horizontal or vectorial values), initial angle,initial height, etc. A projectile describes a parabolic(?) trajectory which can be divided in two: vertical (constant speed) and horizontal (variable speed).

This would be the formula if you neglect air resistance:

d=((v.cosA)/g).{v.sinA+[(v.sinA)^2 + 2.g.y]^(1/2)}

(don't get scared by that, should be simple with autoit with a good use of parenthesis and having all the needed info)

Where:

d: distance (in meters if you take g in m/s^2)

v: initial speed (in m/s, if you take g in m/s^2)

A: initial angle (radians or degrees)

g: gravitational acceleration (here we take 9.81 m/s^2)

y: initial height (in meters if you take g in m/s^2)

here's a drawing i made for this situation:

If your projectile will be launched from the ground (y=0 initial height equal 0) then the formula is a lot simpler:

d=[(v^2)/g].sin(2.A)

like this:

Assuming that your "tank" is at (0,0) in your coordinate system, you can use this last formula to make things easier.

-edit-

Damn PsaltyDS Took me quite a while to do that... you could tell I was bored.

Edited March 23, 2008 by Nahuel