Overshooting while Approaching Planets and Stations

Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric
 
Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric

Yeah, overshooting can easily happen in physics if you fail to burn retros soon enough or for long enough.
 
Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric

Sure. Go 100 km/h (65 mph for the metrically challenged) in your car and try to stop when you are 20 m away from a red traffic light. You will get a very clear real-life demonstration on how overshooting works.

In short: too fast to stop in time, overshoot.
 
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This is all linked to gravity wells. As I'm sure you've noticed closer to objects your max speed is lower as is your acceleration. Part of the lore is the frame shift drive bubble being affected by local gravitational objects.

When leaving a gravitational field you slowly pick up speed exponentially as acceleration increases with distance from object. Similar happens in reverse but as you are entering a gravity field the deceleration is exponential meaning if you put yourself in a situation where you are several times over the "natural" speed for the distance to the object you are in an irrecoverable state and will overshoot.

The simple answer is what everyone else has said, keep to 75% throttle or 6-8 seconds to target.
 
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Yes the "demi-realistic background to overshooting" is gravity. When you approach a station you get caught in the gravity well of the nearest large celestial object. When you get the skilz you will be able to use it to your advantage to lose pirates that are tailing you amongst other things.
 
Any time you are 'full throttling' for more than a couple of minutes; take a look at what speed you are traveling. Normally it is 'stupid times' the speed of light. That means in Greek, stupid time 186,000 miles per second. Each second and every second.

The game slows you down, on its own. Using the blue band on the speed indicator, will also slow you down, over the half way point. Getting past two thirds the way there, cut speed number to 10% of the distance number and you can't go wrong.

The reason for over shooting, is realistic, we just find it hard to comprehend, the speeds and distances involved.
 
Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric

keep the needle on the speed dial thing on the right of the scanner just starting in the blue zone . as you approach the planet , station , the number below the ls number will lower to around 7 .... it will do this , no need to loose a key over something like this . Itll stop over shooting . Plus you can go and make a cup of tea while you safely arrive at the target .
 
keep the needle on the speed dial thing on the right of the scanner just starting in the blue zone . as you approach the planet , station , the number below the ls number will lower to around 7 .... it will do this , no need to loose a key over something like this . Itll stop over shooting . Plus you can go and make a cup of tea while you safely arrive at the target .
Yes. A grand idea. Go and make a cup of tea; why not walk the dog as well? You are only, mission wise, Open play wise; at one of the most dangerous places in the game. Approaching the stations.
 
Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric

This is an ignorant question borne of a refusal to consider game mechanics might actually be complex in nature, and not simplistically and poorly implemented.

The mechanics of supercruise in relation to gravitational bodies has been discussed to death on these forums, as well as the TL/DR basics of "How To Supercruise" tutorials. Instead of thinly veiled insults at game mechanics you clearly don't understand and have refused to take the initiative to learn yourself, try a 10 second forum search instead - you just might learn something.
 
Is there any at least demi-realistic background to overshooting, e.g. in physics or rocket science? Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?

Cheers, Eric

As far as I'm aware it's used to distract players from the fact that supercruise travel is essentially an on rails experience.

Your max speed increases steadily until you hit the halfway mark to your destination and decreases steadily after you pass it, regardless of where you set your throttle. Your input only matters once you've hit around 2000-4000 Ls to your destination, and then you're just making tiny throttle adjustments to keep your velocity at 12-15% of your remaining distance (which would make your ETA clock read 7s).
 
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This is an ignorant question borne of a refusal to consider game mechanics might actually be complex in nature, and not simplistically and poorly implemented.

The mechanics of supercruise in relation to gravitational bodies has been discussed to death on these forums, as well as the TL/DR basics of "How To Supercruise" tutorials. Instead of thinly veiled insults at game mechanics you clearly don't understand and have refused to take the initiative to learn yourself, try a 10 second forum search instead - you just might learn something.

Well I see the white knights are at it again.

Since you apparently view any criticism of the game as an "insult" and seem to be under the impression that the game is both internally consistent and has a well-developed background that supports the game mechanics, why don't you explain a few of the other game mechanics that make zero sense and have no background explanation whatsoever?

Don't answer them all at once, I expect you'll need a few minutes to compose yourself after all the "insults" I'm about to throw at the game.

Why isn't there an autopilot function for supercruise flight?
Why can we only use an autolanding feature for planetary landings when recalling a ship?
Why are there maximum speeds in space?
Why are the yaw thrusters disproportionately weaker than other maneuvering thrusters?
Why don't our NPC crew have escape pods?
Why is the SRV repaired instantly when it boards the ship but isn't refuelled?
Why aren't elemental materials available for purchase as commodities?
Why does cargo load and unload instantly?
Why does our escape pod return instantly to the nearest station with zero chance of failure upon ship destruction?

I can keep going but I'll see how you do with these ones first.

Protip: Maybe next time you can consider being more polite to posters who ask legitimate questions about arbitrary and frustrating game mechanics that are poorly implemented in the game.
 
Overshooting is best utilized when stations have very large orbits and to avoid interdiction. If you see your comms show the same old "I found you first, surprised you made it this far, look at all those tasty cargoes" Instead of getting interdicted over and over. Spot the yellow square set full throttle and aim for the station as fast as you can.

Once you overshoot go 1/4 throttle after pitching up all the way the annoying npc will have little chance to interdict you. Aim for station at 3/4 throttle and watch the tasty cargoes npc zip all over the map at impossible speeds but cant get you in time.
 
Well I see the white knights are at it again.

Since you apparently view any criticism of the game as an "insult" and seem to be under the impression that the game is both internally consistent and has a well-developed background that supports the game mechanics, why don't you explain a few of the other game mechanics that make zero sense and have no background explanation whatsoever?

Don't answer them all at once, I expect you'll need a few minutes to compose yourself after all the "insults" I'm about to throw at the game.

Why isn't there an autopilot function for supercruise flight?
Why can we only use an autolanding feature for planetary landings when recalling a ship?
Why are there maximum speeds in space?
Why are the yaw thrusters disproportionately weaker than other maneuvering thrusters?
Why don't our NPC crew have escape pods?
Why is the SRV repaired instantly when it boards the ship but isn't refuelled?
Why aren't elemental materials available for purchase as commodities?
Why does cargo load and unload instantly?
Why does our escape pod return instantly to the nearest station with zero chance of failure upon ship destruction?

I can keep going but I'll see how you do with these ones first.

Protip: Maybe next time you can consider being more polite to posters who ask legitimate questions about arbitrary and frustrating game mechanics that are poorly implemented in the game.

If you read "Or was it invented only to annoy people like so many other "features" of this game?" as a fair and legitimate question, I disagree. I see only tone suggestive of a desire to take jabs at ED, not an honest question.

I'm as critical of aspects of the game as anyone, but the OP is not conducive to reasonable discussion and does not suggest a willingness to discuss the mechanic - only use it as a means to complain, without considering whether that complaint is borne of ignorance of the complexities of what may actually be a decent mechanic.

As far as the rest of your post, most of this has also been discussed and explained by FDEV and the community. Simple example is "Why are the yaw thrusters disproportionately weaker than other maneuvering thrusters?" Try searching yourself, and you'll see this is actually a very well thought out mechanic that has been explained in detail by the Devs and increases combat complexity. It has even been brought up in relation to SC's flight mechanics of an example of how these kinds of limitations greatly increase the enjoyability of combat. Your dislike of it is just due to ignorance, as if you had read the reasons why it was implemented you'd realize how much it increases the skill cap, viability of tactics and complexity of combat, without which combat would have been reduced to "spinning turret mode" as it was described by FDEV.
 
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