The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim: Dragon Movement Economy

[Visitator]

I don't want this thread to be misconstrued as a complaint. I am simply pointing out that when I watched the demo played at E3 the dragons fought within the footage seemed to turn at sharp angles and follow lines of movement instead of flying in a natural curve. I saw this in three major cases in the video.

1. When the dragon dives into the fray between Dovahkiin and the giant it picks up said giant and lets him go at a great height to fall to his death. If you however watch the dragon’s flight it angles sharply upwards just after the dragon is dropped.
2. When the frost dragon arrives it attempts to dodge a fire based dragon shout from the player. While the maneuver looked fluent to me and believable right after it starts to circle on a path that looks almost like it stays in the exact same position, but its body is dragged through the air like a doll on a circular path.
3. Only moments after that the frost dragon does a strafing run over the tower the character is on and about a hundred yards out on its strafe it makes a ridiculous 90 degree angle turn in the air to come back at you.

[ApplePowerPC]

The sharp turns are almost undoubtedly the result of a lower animation frame rate as the dragon exceeds the most detailed Level of Detail draw. Dragons themselves are drawn at extreme distances, we can see one perched up on the Bleak Falls Barrow at the very beginning of the E3 demos, so Dragons themselves have to LOD out just like the landscape, and that includes reducing the processor time given to the creature as it gets farther away.

[MacIntel]

Taking in their size and the fact they have the power to lift an 11 foot giant into the air I personally think the dragons should look more like Michael Moore running track. Imagine a diabetes ridden bertha in a Walmart go-go shop-ee cart holding construction paper feathers trying to make altitude. Their wings are needed to get them off the ground and steer. So in conclusion yes magic helps they but it does not rule out physics altogether. That would not be cool at all. I vote they leave it the way it is.

[Common]

Valid opinions guys, but I still hold that when Bethesda says that they have assigned a whole team to dragons to make them appear real to the player I think that flight should be one of the most dominant cases of study for these beasts of legend. I am not saying that they did a terrible job, far the opposite they have done fantastically on them and have up until launch to kink out the rest of the small problems. I just don't like the super tight angles; it rebels against my sense of proper flight/movement. And as for the magic argument. Even in Elderscrolls lore Akatosh was asked about how dragons breathe fire and ended up answering by saying that they did it the same way they flew though their bodies were not designed for flight.

[desilva]

It’s not unbelievable that it could do a dive and climb in a "V" since it is magic and has wings, so I am guessing it probably pretty good at controlling its thrust. Also re watching the dragon fight I am actually really impressed with the level of detail and accuracy. The dragon has moveable wings so doesn't need to bank its body quite as sharply as a plane does. It can bank its wings independent of its body since they are appendages. Really impressive to see that. They would also be able to control lift much more accurately since they can vary the angle of attack and bank independently on each wing, not to mention they can shift their center of gravity in a turn.

[RyanInt]

I would like to end on the point that even though they have magic on their side this does not allow them to just ignore physics in general. By your argument they could have no wings and fly upside down with straws for ears (Yes I know this is silly. Just pointing out that you would find this implausible even with magic). So that is why I believe that they should not bank or turn in super sharp angles. Though I thank you guys for your criticism and the lack of trolling and overt hatred. Signing off for the night.

[AZUL]

It's a giant; flying, magical, armor-plated, fire-breathing, and hyper-intelligent, killing machine, and you have to slay it. If the flight path is a little rough in the retail release, well, let’s just say I probably won’t notice because my character will be running away. Not an F-16 but a Harrier close assault jet can they just blast the side thrust engines to re level themselves out for all we know dragons can use some levitation power shout to make them more maneuverable but we may never know because it’s a fantasy game and dragons don't exist so you really can't put logic to it.