...figure out what all those lines and circles are.
So, I've been exploring a bit and as I have been trying to find hidden planets and suns, I have been wondering if the orbit circles, spheres, etc could help me figure out where things might be located.
Pretty quickly I came to realize that I have no idea what all these lines mean. Sure, the orbits seem obvious enough. But what, for instance, is the enormous orbit that a star indicates? Certainly not the star's path through the galaxy. The path of the star around the its center of rotation in a binary system? If so, why have I found the second star in the system well outside the displayed orbit of the first?
Secondly, what are all the orbits around the individual planets that disappear as you approach them? I thought these would be the Emergency Drop from SC radius, but they fade out as you get closer and the real Drop radius is actually quite close. Are these just for perspective or do they serve another purpose?
Lastly, I've been trying to figure out why some orbits seem to bend as you approach. Is it just the FOV of the cockpit that skews the appearance? A bug?
On a completely separate note, isn't it interesting that you can enter a system and somehow not have any idea about how many planets are in the system? Isn't the current method of detecting planets by detecting the subtle influence of the planets on the stars orbits from hundreds or millions of light years away? Just an observation that I thought was interesting.
Some cool stuff in that video. I had never heard of the curving approach...good idea.
So, the gravity well circles are just to show you the point where you begin to slow in SC due to the planet's mass and your computer compensating so you don't overshoot.
I have read a few user guides but not that manual. I'll need to take a look! Thanks!
So, does anyone know why the orbits appear to bend or of any way to divine the location of a second star from the displayed path of the one you get dropped out in front of?
Some cool stuff in that video. I had never heard of the curving approach...good idea. So, does anyone know why the orbits appear to bend or of any way to divine the location of a second star from the displayed path of the one you get dropped out in front of?
Can't wait to see what Beta 3 brings!
Beach, come on in....the plasma is fine!
Deacon
Seems like they're probably drawn using splines, and the massive scale combined with no depth cues just makes them look weird. I'm pretty sure I read a recent developer post claiming the current lines were just a first pass debugging implementation and hadn't gone through the art department yet. Just some shading to give indications of depth and other features (occlusion would be nice) will probably help a lot if and when they come.
As for the star orbits, clearly they're supposed to be binaries but I too have tried to find whatever object a star was apparently orbiting with no success. Of course, given that it was something like 20,000ls in diameter and may possibly have been highly eccentric, it could easily be missed (I only ever tried with the default d-scanner, which I think has a range of about 200ls or so).
Also, and this could a part of it, I get the feeling that it does not deal with complex orbits in a way you might expect. For instance, there was a system with two roughly equally massed planets very closely orbiting one another and then the two together around a star. When I "discovered" the first of the two planets (by proximity), ED drew its orbit around the star, but then when I discovered the second as well, that disappeared and it only drew their orbits around each other.
I'd come to the same conclusion as Aero about the orbits looking a bit odd at very shallow angles. I don't think the expanding blue circles are anything other than an indication that you're approaching whatever's in the middle of your HUD.
That video above was recorded before the 'ETA' was added to the locked target. I've found the best way of adjusting your speed is to keep the ETA at around 0:07 on approach. It's possible to approach with an ETA of 0:06 but that obviously increases the risk of overshooting if you don't anticipate slowing down when necessary.
If you do see the 'slow down' indication and don't react immediately there's no way you'll stop in time. Rather than slamming the throttle to zero in the vain hope that you will slow down, I've found the best way to avoid a missed approach is to reduce throttle slightly, but pitch the nose down and enter an orbit around the destination while your speed reduces. Like it says in the video, TrackIR helps immensely when doing this, as does a cockpit with good upward visibility. It's very easy in the Cobra, but much more difficult in the Hauler.
I had wondered about the binaries, both planets and suns. It seemed that you would see a corkscrew type orbit, from some perspectives, from a binary planet or star that would give you a telltale sign where the other body might be. No biggie either way, was just curious.
I generally use the "pitch down" maneuver to avoid overshoot as the older version of this manual suggested and it seems to work just fine. I do admit to being kind of confused as to why the ship sometimes seems to surge when approaching a planet turning a perfectly controlled approach into a breakneck arrival.
If you pass close to a planet or star, your speed will be affected by its gravity. Once you pass the nearest point and the distance from it starts increasing again, you accelerate.
For supercruising, I usually just use full throttle until I'm 200 ls out, then cut down to 3/4 (or wherever the blue zone is). This is simple and works most all of the time. If I'm coming from really, really far, so that I'm going several hundred times the speed of light I cut down to 3/4 a bit earlier, maybe 400 or 500 ls out.
I usually use the curved approach, starting above the ecliptic and coming in from a pole, dipping just inside the orbit of the station or whatever, but since beta 2 where you drop out of SC at 8km instead of 20km, I don't necessarily bother if I happen to be approaching from the correct side of the planet to begin with.
With beta 3 supposedly making interdictions more interesting and not just dice rolls, I'd guess strategies might change some and minimizing time in supercruise and maintaining maximum velocity for as long as possible will be more important.
I'm looking forward, hopefully, to interdictions being exciting superluminal chases, weaving around planets and stars, rather than just random events. If they do it right (and I guess we'll see tonight), it could make trading a lot more exciting.
