Proposal Discussion Elite: Dangerous is a "fly by wire" flight sim?!

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Ok. I just learned that flying in Elite: Dangerous is going to be based on traditional fly by wire "gravitational" aerial combat mechanics, and not, like in the earlier Elite titles, where you would disengage main engines during combat and "skate" around your target using thrusters. Is this true?!

It doesn't make any sense to me. Whats the point of flying weightless in space, if you can't turn your ship on its axis and thrust steer in your desired direction, just like in the previous games?

I really don't want a flight sim in space. I thought we were getting a space "sim" with flight mechanics like in the previous games...

Please, someone tell me what is what... Wot wot..
 
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Zieman

Zieman
Globusdiablo said:
Ok. I just learned that flying in Elite: Dangerous is going to be based on traditional fly by wire "gravitational" aerial combat mechanics, and not, like in the earlier Elite titles, where you would disengage main engines during combat and "skate" around your target using thrusters. Is this true?!

It doesn't make any sense to me. Whats the point of flying weigthless in space, if you can't turn your ship on its axis and thrust steer in your desired direction, just like in the previous games?

I really don't want a flight sim in space. I thought we were getting a space "sim" with flight mechanics like in the previous games...

Please, someone tell me what is what... Wot wot..
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You can turn the Flight Assist off.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Zieman said:
You can turn the Flight Assist off.
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Yep. But an Alpha player told me that thrusters weren't enough to actually steer your craft. So you had to engage your bogey with main drive and thrusters engaged in a more typical "flight sim" fashion...
 

huwthomas

huwthomas
Globusdiablo said:
Ok. I just learned that flying in Elite: Dangerous is going to be based on traditional fly by wire "gravitational" aerial combat mechanics, and not, like in the earlier Elite titles, where you would disengage main engines during combat and "skate" around your target using thrusters.
Click to expand...

Not with the original Elite, you couldn't :p
 

Zieman

Zieman
Globusdiablo said:
Yep. But an Alpha player told me that thrusters weren't enough to actually steer your craft. So you had to engage your bogey with main drive and thrusters engaged in a more typical "flight sim" fashion...
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Well, you have the main thrusters, retro thrusters, vertical thrusters and side thrusters. With these you can move any direction you want.

Side thrusters seem to be the weakest, so circle-strafing with yaw results in a quite large, uneven circle & slow acceleration - I guess the Alpha player you refer to is talking about this... To change velocity (in this context direction of your speed), roll/pitch & main thrusters are your best bet. Vertical thrusters aid there too. You might want to search for FA OFF or FAOFF videos to see what I try to explain, some people seem to be very good with it.

That said, to me having Flight Assist on feels intuitive (coming from ELITE rather than FE2/FFE) and occasional moments of FA off gives more tricks in maneuvering (or more ways to crash :).

Globusdiablo said:
So are you guys in the alpha, and are you happy with the flying mechanics?
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Yes.
 
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GMcA

GMcA
Globusdiablo said:
So are you guys in the alpha, and are you happy with the flying mechanics?
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Sorry to hear about your clearance issues, soon brother!

Well I'm happy with it. :)

I've an alpha playlist on my Youtube channel, with lots of hours of uploaded stream footage, all unedited but if you sit through enough of it, i'm sure you will find some time when I'm messing around with Flight assist on and off...if you see me spinning wildly out of control it's a good bet flight assist is off. :p
 

alchemy42

A
In short turning FAOff allows you to point your ship in a different direction than you are going. Allowing you to strafe your opponent if you (unlike me) know what your doing.

Lateral and vertical thrusters also allow you to move differently than just in the direction your ship is pointing.

I don't think the flight model is fully baked yet, it's still being tweaked.

I'm good with the flight model as it stands, I know others have critiques.
 

Ayo

Ayo
The flight mechanics are designed for dogfighting like in the original rather than skating around each other like Frontier because that's what the designers feel gives a better gameplay experience. I'm afraid this won't be a realistic space sim. Ships have top speeds (rather than top acceleration), ships travel in the direction you point them (unless you turn the magical flight assist off), ships slow down if you stop accelerating (unless you turn the magical flight assist off). I have no idea how getting into orbit around a planet/moon/star will work with a speed limit (or what the speed is being measured relative to). It won't make much sense, but hopefully it will be enjoyable.
 

Globusdiablo

Globusdiablo
Ayo said:
The flight mechanics are designed for dogfighting like in the original rather than skating around each other like Frontier because that's what the designers feel gives a better gameplay experience. I'm afraid this won't be a realistic space sim. Ships have top speeds (rather than top acceleration), ships travel in the direction you point them (unless you turn the magical flight assist off), ships slow down if you stop accelerating (unless you turn the magical flight assist off). I have no idea how getting into orbit around a planet/moon/star will work with a speed limit (or what the speed is being measured relative to). It won't make much sense, but hopefully it will be enjoyable.
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Hey Ayo. Thanks for the intel. This was exactly what I was worried about...
Are you in the alpha, and are you happy with it. From what you wrote, I'm guessing you'r not, but maybe you would like to elaborate?
 
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