Sync velocity

[mmyesrice]

An extremely useful feature would be the ability to damp your velocity relative to another moving body or construct in order to dock or land more easily. I don't know if this is already implemented or planned, but if not I would really like to have something like this. It would be very useful if there was a huge starship, for example, and little fighters flying around with it, but it was moving. Landing on a runway, for instance, becomes quite tricky if you are moving at different speeds.

[Lethys]

An extremely useful feature would be the ability to damp your velocity relative to another moving body or construct in order to dock or land more easily. I don't know if this is already implemented or planned, but if not I would really like to have something like this. It would be very useful if there was a huge starship, for example, and little fighters flying around with it, but it was moving. Landing on a runway, for instance, becomes quite tricky if you are moving at different speeds.

There are no orbits and escape velocities like in KSP, so no need for that. A pilot has to learn the most simple maneuvers and to me, matching a speed is something very easy.

[mrjacobean]

There are no orbits and escape velocities like in KSP, so no need for that. A pilot has to learn the most simple maneuvers and to me, matching a speed is something very easy.

Wouldn't match speed just be press button on radial menu?

[mmyesrice]

Wouldn't match speed just be press button on radial menu?

 

That's what I was thinking about.

[Anaximander]

Wouldn't match speed just be press button on radial menu?

That sounds like a job for those spiffy Lua scripts, no?

[Lethys]

That sounds like a job for those spiffy Lua scripts, no?

Either that or, well, just learn how to fly properly

[mmyesrice]

That sounds like a job for those spiffy Lua scripts, no?

 

Good point, it might be a good idea to have players code special docking ships. Although it might get difficult if you think about it.

[Anaximander]

Good point, it might be a good idea to have players code special docking ships. Although it might get difficult if you think about it.

It's not difficult. The only thing a ship would need is a landing pad (a proper one). Then just aim at a pad and your ship autopilots itself towards it, matching the pads speed and velocity, dictated by the ship it is on - if it's moving at all, carriers are not the most agile of ships out there and star-fighters are agile and fast.

[Anaximander]

Either that or, well, just learn how to fly properly

Fly properly?

 

Ain't nobody got time for that! 

[mmyesrice]

I think that all of us could fly properly or make LUA scripts (actually not all of us for the latter but still), but it would be a lot easier to just have a sync velocity command and it would not be hard to program into ships. It would not be unrealistic to allow them to damp to anything because everything is relative, and they can damp to zero velocity if I am not mistaken. In fact, it would be unrealistic not to have relative damping.

[mmyesrice]

Plus, it would be cool to have all the little ships flying next to the big ship at the same speed after they jump through a stargate or something.

[Anaximander]

I think that all of us could fly properly or make LUA scripts (actually not all of us for the latter but still), but it would be a lot easier to just have a sync velocity command and it would not be hard to program into ships. It would not be unrealistic to allow them to damp to anything because everything is relative, and they can damp to zero velocity if I am not mistaken. In fact, it would be unrealistic not to have relative damping.

The problem with "sync velocity" pre-made command on a radial menu, means that every ship, ever built, will have tthe same amount of thrustes, the same propulsion dynamic configuration and the such.

 

That's NOT the case. You may have a ship with only forward propulsion set up in a diamond configuration, with your ship yawing by reducing propulsion to one of your thrusters.

 

I may have one, powerful forward propulsion and a hecktonne of maneuvering thrusters on my ship. You can't have one, radial menu button, for two totally different thruster configurations. That's why Lua scripts exist in the first place, to make certain your ship behaves as you want, given how you've built it.

 

And the best part, you would not have to tie said auto-pilot landing mode to a radial menu choice, it would bey keydound through the Lua scripts themselves.

 

Shift + V = Auto-landing maneuver, given that you got a landing pad in your reticule (if you fly a single-seater star-fighter). If it's a larger ship, like a frigate, landing inside a carrier, then simply make the scripts detect a landing pad that's "free", meaning it has nothing on it, then land your frigate on the landing pad by adjusting the scripts to keep the bottom facing the landing pad and slowly close and touch down.

 

Leave the radial menu for things that are actually uniformal, like "show info" on a person, or "start conversation" or "trade". Auto-pilots, are always subject to the vehicle in question. Those things - like "trade" - are not, thus they can be fit into a radial menu.

[Lethys]

Plus, it would be cool to have all the little ships flying next to the big ship at the same speed after they jump through a stargate or something.

A jump is different than flying around because those ships exit at the same time (if that's even allowed).

 

In free space however you can kick your ftl engine wherever you want, fast ships which are built for speed will be faster than fat ass capitals (inertia). To me it makes perfect sense that the fat cats need longer than fighters.

 

DU is meant to be easy to learn but very hard to master. Following that, only very good and experienced pilots who want to fly as a mob will be able to stay in formation

[Anaximander]

Plus, it would be cool to have all the little ships flying next to the big ship at the same speed after they jump through a stargate or something.

That's called alignment, and is still tied to the Lua scripts auto-pilots. And as I mentioned above, you can't have ONE alignment, for ships that could have vastly different propulsion setups.

 

That's why Lua scripts exist, as I mentioned. For auto-pilots like that, so a navy can have its own tactics, revolving around certain kesystroke formations - which can be done via Lua.

[ATMLVE]

I disagree, I think a button is too hand-holdy. You can't expect the game to do everything for you. If you want to dock with a ship while moving, you're going to have to figure out how to do it yourself. It's not 100% necessary, just convenient, which is why I feel it's better left as something you have to figure out. My personal opinion of course!

 

Edit: holy crap, three posts popped up while I was typing this. That's a new record.

[Kurock]

I think we will have this, but not pre-made. Players will make this auto-speed sync feature for some ships or take it further and make auto landing and parking.

[yamamushi]

Great ideas banana :-)

 

While I agree that this is something that should be handled by LUA, not a built-in thing, don't let the disagreements dissuade you from posting here on the forums :-)

 

You just have to start thinking about things in DU from a different point of view, rather than "what should the developers give us?" you should look at it like "what features need to be in place for me (or someone else) to build something I want?". Or rather, "what tools do I need to build the thing I want?". 

 

It takes a while, but once you start to see things from the angle of "this is a game for building things", you'll have a whole new outlook on ways to improve on what we already know about the game.