Additional/Simplified Flight Control Options

Valiant70 · May 30, 2018

This is based on a control scheme I've seen in an old open-source game, which in turn was based somewhat on the old Elite and Privateer games. This allows stick-and-throttle style controls to work within a Newtonian physics environment like Starmade, while allowing the pilot to take over and fly manually (as we do now) if desired.

This shall be termed the "flight computer" or FC for short. While engaged, the flight computer replaces the manual flight controls. Instead of firing the ship's thrusters with the keyboard, the pilot can adjust a "target speed" up and down with W and S (or other keys), and then simply turn the direction he or she wants to fly. The flight computer automatically fires the thrusters until the ship is going the target speed in the direction of the ship's nose.

At any time, the pilot can tap a key to deactivate the FC and return to manual control. It's there for convenience, not to take control away from the pilot. A lot of old time players may rarely use the FC, but making it available to new players may make the game more approachable.

Agame3 · Jun 1, 2018

Well, this system exists, but you must first fit it to your ship, it's not a default part of the cockpit. It's called clock-push-pulse engine and it does exactly what you suggested. It also can be turned on or off by means of an activator that can be in your hot-bar if you like it.

Unfortunately, it uses its own propulsion modules, not the ship thrusters. IDK why thrusters are immune to logic of any kind. Maybe because they are just as old as the game itself and are becoming obsolete in many regards (like thrust per thruster mass or thrust per energy used, incompatibility with logic, absence of a computer for the modules, scaling down with numbers when in real all engines have a better efficiency the bigger they are and so on) ?

Nosajimiki · Jun 1, 2018

Agame3 said:
scaling down with numbers when in real all engines have a better efficiency the bigger they are and so on) ?

Not exactly, materials tend to have less structural integrity at larger scales. It's why you can make a model airplane out of balsa and cellophane, but larger aircraft need to be made from aluminum alloys. A small engine can proportionally burn hotter, and exert more force on itself than bigger ones. That said, model airplane engines tend to be much less complex and therefore not as efficient as the engine in an F-22, but that is because it would be pointlessly complicated to engineer that complex of a motor for a child's toy, not because they are somehow incapable of being as powerful.

Once you get past a certain scale, the number of optimisations you can put into an engine stop increasing and you are just left with material quality fall-off.

Valiant70 · Jun 1, 2018

Agame3 said:
Well, this system exists, but you must first fit it to your ship, it's not a default part of the cockpit. It's called clock-push-pulse engine and it does exactly what you suggested. It also can be turned on or off by means of an activator that can be in your hot-bar if you like it.

This is a very crude system, and is not easier to use than the default controls. The purpose of this suggestion is to be easier to use, particularly for new players.

Agame3 · Jun 1, 2018

Well, then push pulse becomes obsolete entirely. I used to use it (with a 1 Hz clock and 2 computers, one of them connected to a Not) for going to distant spaces over night, while AFK. With your idea all may do the same, no logic required. Without shields and without logic to stop the engines once nobody is on the bridge, some may die horribly.

This used to be a system you can make once you know what you are doing, not for beginners. But, you are right, let them die, if they want to travel far and do not even know how to compute the needed shields for passing by NPC enemy stations because they did not even met one before journeying AFK. To each his own.

Edit: The only purpose for the existence of the "inertial dampeners" that slow down slowly to a halt any ship when nobody pushes "W" is to make said ship recoverable after a sudden disconnect mid-flight or after a wrong press of "R".

Nosajimiki · Jun 1, 2018

Agame3 said:
Well, then push pulse becomes obsolete entirely. I used to use it (with a 1 Hz clock and 2 computers, one of them connected to a Not) for going to distant spaces over night, while AFK. With your idea all may do the same, no logic required. Without shields and without logic to stop the engines once nobody is on the bridge, some may die horribly.

This used to be a system you can make once you know what you are doing, not for beginners. But, you are right, let them die, if they want to travel far and do not even know how to compute the needed shields for passing by NPC enemy stations because they did not even met one before journeying AFK. To each his own.

Edit: The only purpose for the existence of the "inertial dampeners" that slow down slowly to a halt any ship when nobody pushes "W" is to make said ship recoverable after a sudden disconnect mid-flight or after a wrong press of "R".

Note that there is a setting under thrust that enables dampeners only when you exit your ship for this purpose. If they are set up like this you will continue at max speed w/o holding anything down. His suggestion is to say, I want to go at 80% speed such that his ship will accelerate until it gets there.

The real problem I think is Starmade default acceleration is awful. It takes many ships nearly minute just to get up to speed. I think a better acceleration and lower max speeds kinda like you see on Briere would actually address this issue and make this suggestion a moot point.

Valiant70 · Jun 1, 2018

Nosajimiki said:
The real problem I think is Starmade default acceleration is awful. It takes many ships nearly minute just to get up to speed.

These are very large ships are they not?

Nosajimiki · Jun 1, 2018

Valiant70 said:
These are very large ships are they not?

nope, even a basic 5-10k miner takes a very long time to speed up and slow down IMO. Frankly, I think the size curve is off more than anything. Fighters and Titans feel right, but frigates, miners, destroyers, and everything else in the middlish weight classes feel way too slow to accelerate.

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Additional/Simplified Flight Control Options

Valiant70

That crazy cyborg

Agame3

Nosajimiki

Valiant70

That crazy cyborg

Agame3

Nosajimiki

Valiant70

That crazy cyborg

Nosajimiki