Programming a smooth change of thrust from current velocity vector to a target vector

Question

TL;dr: \"I am not sure how to calculate a smooth transition of thrust between one vector and another.\"

I am programming a simple game where an enemy chases after the pl

Answer 1

One simple way (not proper physics) is to calculate your enemy's "desired velocity" and then adjust enemy's currently velocity towards that, minding whatever limits on top, or minimum speed it has.

For instance, in a little 2d game I wrote (http://wordwarvi.sourceforge.net) there are "heat seeking missiles." It looks pretty weird if the missiles stop in midair to turn around. So what I did was as follows: I calculate a "desired velocity" which is towards the player. This is just done by "similar triangles". I find the distance to the player in X, and in Y, and whichver is greater, I make the "desired (x or y) velocity be the maximum possible, and then scale the other one to fit the "similar triangle." Note, that's just the "desired velocity," not the current velocity. I take the current velocity and adjust it slowly (by a little bit per frame) towards the "desired" velocity (though the desired velocity is recalculated per frame as well,) mindimg minimums on vx and vy to keep them from stopping mid-air.

Dumb algorithm, but it works ok (nobody's complained that they are too easy, too hard, or too unrealistic.)

Edit: on re-reading the question, my answer is probably not what you're after.