You V The Weekend: This time it's not Tj's fault... for once!

[Bran Tse Mallory]

Welcome CMDR's

We've made it to another Friday!!! Congratulations Everyone. Right time to get right down to business but as we begin I'd like to thank forum CMDR Andy Son of Bob for inspiring today's thread... So blame him for everything that follows!
Not TJ this time? Shocking isn't it!


A poll!

Alas it's not one of those that you can just cast a vote and wonder off to do more interesting things, oh no, this is one of those where you have to type 'stuff'... I just know I'm going to get that as a reply... Well whats it about this week?

Flight Assist and how do you use it?

FAoff Appears to have three main levels of use by CMDR's as I see it:

1. The CMDR who is never going to touch it - If this is you then why, whats stopping you?
2. The combat user who uses it for turning faster - Is this really a thing and do you use it all the time?
3. The dedicated FAoff CMDR - How long have you been flying this way and which ship feel the best with FAoff?

Which group would you say you fall into? Perhaps you have a different use for it that's not listed, in which case tell us about it.

Now you don't get away with just responding to the poll, far to easy. This weeks poll comes with a challenge

Your mission CMDR's should you be stupi.. Choose to accept it is to take off from a rotating station and land at a planetary base with FAoff used while in normal flight. You can choose any location to do this in. No video or screen shots required but do please tell us all about it so we can have a good laug... So we can try to do as well!
Don't worry, I'm still learning how to do this and it's not as easy as it sounds but great fun and a real challenge!


Time to tell us what you'll be up to this weekend?

Pirates - What are you going to be robbing this weekend?
Traders - See above, don't carry any of those.
Bounty Hunters - Whats the biggest bounty you've ever had and did one of your own collect it?
Miners - Time to get your rocks polished and sorted, anything in particular your after from the rings?
Explorers - Have you ever considered a 1,000 LY course done via Eco jumping?
PvPer's - Why not have a King of the Hill event, held above a planetary station, lasts for 1 hour after which no other ships may jump in, last ship is the winner?
Mods - Do you get time off at the weekend? If so do you deserve it?

Right, before I get banned or abused by you know who and his 'little helpers' it's over to you CMDR's. Remember to keep it clean and as always have fun, it is Friday after all!

Fly Safe CMDR's
o7


Me? Oh, I'll be jumping from star to star as I continue to Eco jump to Sag A from Jaques, I've still got 6,000 LY to go so possibly another month of jumping to look forward to but I amuse myself with scanning silly looking planets and attempting to land on them with FAoff. I used to find normal flight not that different from being in SC, it was making the game feel a bit odd so I made the jump and I can't see myself going back. Yes it's made progress a lot harder but it really has bought the game back to life for me. It's not everyone's cup of tea but I enjoy it.

 

[Truesilver]

I am a PvP duellist. I toggle Flight Assist on and off regularly as shown for example at the start of this recent video:


[video=youtube_share;LUlWQUfOdro]https://youtu.be/LUlWQUfOdro[/video]


There's a caption mentioning this at 0:51 and a little more discussion in the guide to which the vid relates, although FA-off isn't the main focus of it.

 

[Alec Turner]

Welcome CMDR's

We've made it to another Friday!!! Congratulations Everyone. Right time to get right down to business but as we begin I'd like to thank forum CMDR Andy Son of Bob for inspiring today's thread... So blame him for everything that follows!
Not TJ this time? Shocking isn't it!


A poll!

Alas it's not one of those that you can just cast a vote and wonder off to do more interesting things, oh no, this is one of those where you have to type 'stuff'... I just know I'm going to get that as a reply... Well whats it about this week?

Flight Assist and how do you use it?

FAoff Appears to have three main levels of use by CMDR's as I see it:

1. The CMDR who is never going to touch it - If this is you then why, whats stopping you?
2. The combat user who uses it for turning faster - Is this really a thing and do you use it all the time?
3. The dedicated FAoff CMDR - How long have you been flying this way and which ship feel the best with FAoff?

Which group would you say you fall into? Perhaps you have a different use for it that's not listed, in which case tell us about it.

Now you don't get away with just responding to the poll, far to easy. This weeks poll comes with a challenge

Your mission CMDR's should you be stupi.. Choose to accept it is to take off from a rotating station and land at a planetary base with FAoff used while in normal flight. You can choose any location to do this in. No video or screen shots required but do please tell us all about it so we can have a good laug... So we can try to do as well!
Don't worry, I'm still learning how to do this and it's not as easy as it sounds but great fun and a real challenge!

Like it - I'm up for that challenge. Re: how I currently use FA Off ... I'm in camp number 2 in that I turn it off occasionally in order to perform specific manoeuvres, specifically turning faster I suppose. The recent Buckyball Advanced Options race awarded bonus time for entering and exiting through the mail slot backwards. By far the easiest way to do this was to fly towards the slot, turn FA Off and flip the ship over. Witness my results!

[video=youtube_share;uVCD14Eag58]https://youtu.be/uVCD14Eag58[/video]

If I get the time I'll be tackling your FA Off challenge over the weekend. Will probably try it sober this time!

 

[the100thmonkey]

[video=youtube_share;YPXpnBao48g]https://youtu.be/YPXpnBao48g[/video]

I got a nice pad assignment that made docking simpler.

I use FA-off about 95% of the time. I only really turn it on in conflict zones as I'm always carrying massacre missions in them and want to do them as quickly as possible.

 

[Winterwalker]

Can't capture a video for you unfortunately but best description of what I use FA-off for is .. crashing?
Excuse is; I fly mouse and keyboard, underpowered computer and need all the flight assitance help I can get!

Aside from running delivery missions, as a break from mining, am checking through the bees (marking queens, in anticipation of breeding some extras this summer) this weekend. They all seem to have come through winter OK, though whether pollen counts as a rare commodity I'll let you decide. I suppose I could use some this time to engineer some mead, honey wine but I suspect the Guardian Aliens probably have a hive mind too, so it's a character study and beekeeper advice still applies .. "if you see me running, try to keep up!"

 

[StiTch]

The FA Off user type 2 that you describe should only really be a gateway to type 3.

So I'd really argue that you should have level 2 as "uses it situationally in combat" and 3 being "uses FA Off constantly, even if it works against the pilot" (only more concise).

Of course there will be some pilots that stick to FA Off boost turns indiscriminately for life, but I'd call that bad flying and not a type of technique.

Oh look at that, EVERYONE is a critic!

But yeah - if using FA Off for boost turns only because it makes you turn faster, you are probably doing it wrong most of the time. It's actually an exceptional move to pull in a bigger ship but it is important to learn why FA Off is different overall, and why the FA Off boost flip doesn't just make you turn faster but also prevents you from following a nice curve around and behind your enemy. So what it really does is makes you turn quickly to face them, but usually a km or two away from them and face tanking them - this is why it's an exceptional tool in a bigger ship; it forces the face tanking that you will come out better in. For smaller ships you may get them in sights several seconds faster than they will acquire you...but you're still several hundred meters out and now have to resort to evasion tanking.

Of course, this doesn't stop the boost turn being a rite of passage for many combat-focused players starting to develop their skills further, but in most cases they'll take advantage of what they perceive as faster turning and still can't actively control the ship in FA Off for more than a few seconds at a time. I spent a small amount of time in this stage and immediately moved on when I sold the Asp (ships with poor inertia control are difficult to learn FA Off in) and got in my iCourier.

A "true" situational user of FA Off will have their own preferences, but a GUIDELINE for when to use it basically as follows:

- FA Off when you want to prevent your forward thrust dominating your movement (better known as drift fighting)
- FA Off when you want to accelerate in any direction faster
- FA On when you want to decelerate faster

[/Monologue]

 

[Surprised Brony]

I use FA-OFF in combat on occasion. Sometimes, I use it for quicker docking maneuvers too. Mostly, I use it to achieve stable orbit around planets. Playing with gravity is fun. :3

I hope to do more of that alongside some exploratory activities. (Nearly Elite now)

Seriously, get a fast ship and play with gravity. It's great.

 

[Stealthie]

Regarding FA Off, I suppose I fall into the 2nd category but minus the word "combat".
I just tend to use FA Off for routinely pointing my ship where I want to go next.

FWIW, I think doing that is a handy way to get used to FA Off if you don't use it often.
Start off by making the conscious decision to switch off FA so you can turn and face a planet or ship you want to target then turn it back on again when you need to.
Once that becomes routine, you'll find yourself leaving it off for longer and longer and getting more ambitious with what you use it for.

As for what I'm doing this weekend, I'm trying to get back to the bubble so I can swap ships and hook up with a couple of mates who want to go and play with Ram Tah's ancient ruins before 2.3 drops.
My dilemma is that I haven't actually started that mission myself yet and I want to give myself more time to play with that stuff so I'll probably just be along for the ride rather than to make much money for myself.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

Well, i fall in to group 2, but i did have a bash at 3 for a while.

Docking was a complete fail. Combat was a bit... ugh, hectic? Lol
Didn't help that i was in my Anaconda, in its first ever CZ, when I've never tried using FA off full time before!

I didn't die though. Lost shields for the first time ever in my Anaconda. Lol

As for the weekend, it's a usual work weekend for me. So no ED.

Which is good i guess, because i hear the server's crap out all the time on weekends. Lol

 

[CMDR Zadian Lichtfrost]

I travelled about 10 Klys jumping to the closest system plotting the course manually. I think that counts as "have you considered traveling 1 Kly in economic".

I don't use FA-off, but have try it every now and then. Still see almost no advantage for me flying a small ship with fixed weapons. I do use all 6 axises in flight with FA-on.

Plan for the weekend: Some nice food and beer on Saturday, Friday night probably some … oh, wait you probably meant in-game. I will try to stop an outbreak while increasing the influence of an other faction and flying a spaceship.

 

[Gunnet]

I don't fly full FA off (excluding the occasional full FA off docking just for fun), but I use it very regularly both in and out of combat. There's the faster turning of course, but I also tend to use it whenever it's beneficial to not be aligned with your vector, such as during parts of (un)docking and in asteroid fields. I didn't use it nearly as much out of combat before starting to spend most of my time in a Cutter, so I guess flying something which turns slowly and has a distinct bias towards main engine thrust helped the habit develop.

This weekend I will be fighting in the combat zones of Gandii as part of the current CGs. It's also doubling as combat testing and familiarisation with my newly built FAS. It's going great so far, I've never flown a hull tank before and it's a nice change of pace. I'm also using FA off a lot less in combat with the new FAS than I do in my Cutter, since they're radically different ships in terms of what kind of positioning I'm trying to achieve.

I've toyed with removing the scoop from my exploraconda and loading her up with fuel tanks for an economy plotting run to Colonia via each basecamp. But haven't actually gotten around to doing it yet.

It's too late at night and I've had too much whiskey for the planetary FA off challenge to be a good idea, but I will take a crack at it tomorrow and post results

 

[goemon]

This time it's not Tj's fault... for once!

/closing for both of trolling and spreading lies.

@OP your threads have been amusing till now, but this one crosses a line.

___

FA-off: i do full FAOFF sessions in between. fun!

weekend: i promised my daughter to take her out, to cook dinners, take her out to the theater and cinema, and to some cafes and bars (as she can't join her boyfriend for hollidays, because of several family festivities the next week and weekend). no elite for me. well, I'll survive...

 

[Bran Tse Mallory]

/closing for both of trolling and spreading lies.

@OP your threads have been amusing till now, but this one crosses a line.

It had to happen... Eventually!

 

[VR Murgle]

Landing at a station with FAOff is one of the first things I did in game. The station blew me up shortly after, this is when I started to seriously comtemplate getting a Steam refund. I decided to give the game one more chance and hooked up my xbox360 controller to see if I could actually fly my ship that way. I wasn't until I hooked up my first HOTAS and looked at all the keybindings I found out there even was such a thing as FAOff...


Edit: Oh and these days I use FAOff for quick turns in combat (Although I still forget it exist half of the time...)

Edit2: I couldn't fly FAOff for longer than a few seconds without hitting something.

 

[[VR] Deggial]

I'm category '2+'.

I regularly use FA-OFF in combat (PvE only, if possible; I suck at PvP). But I also love to slide-drift towards the slot or "pre-turn" when landing on outposts. Drifting in asteroid belts while waiting for new prey is also fun.

In general, I really enjoy the action of regularly changing the flight mode over constantly active FA-OFF.

The weekend: I'll abstain from ED and conquer the world in Civ6. Mostly in order to increase my appetite for 2.3.

 

[DocPossible]

I toggle FA off in combat in sluggish ships like the FGS. It never feels much quicker than FA but decoupling direction of travel from the direction I'm pointing in is useful sometimes. I also use it a lot when approaching outposts for precisely the same reason.

As for the weekend - off to see in the inlaws, so it's Beer Assist ON.

 

[kmwmtd]

I definitely fit into the first category - never (probably) going to use it. Reason: sky ... ground ... sky ... ground ... sky ... ground ... death

To explain, it's a bit like my ten pin bowling technique. I bowl the ball pretty much straight down the lane, and I do pretty well using that method, but I know that if I want to improve, I'll need to learn to curve the ball. That will mean tens or hundreds of games of terrible scores as I curve the ball too little and it goes into the gutter, or too much and it misses the important pins.

In short, the benefit of "gitting gud" doesn't justify the cost.

As for my weekend, chipping away at the vast distance between me and the bubble, when I get breaks from moving belongings from storage to the new house.

 

[Theodrid]

Given continued and persistent Bran fiddling TJ can FA off.

...<walks away whistling innocently>

 

[IndigoWyrd]

FAOff.. I get accused of FA'ing Off all the time.. oh, wait, you meant Flight Assist... I'm a solid 2.
I use it for maneuverability and "tricks" all the time. I've done some just flying around FAOff, but I just don't care for it.
I liken it to the power steering in my car - it's there, so I use it. I've driven vehicles that do not have power steering. I would not choose to not have it if it were available.

The Weekend - There's only one thing for it - a trip to the Alien Ruins. It's the last weekend before the 10th and pending missions get snipped, so best to take advantage of it!
Should I get through them all before the weekbegin, then it's off to somewhere for a bit of war profiteering before 2.3 drops.

 

[CMDR Cosmic Spacehead]

I also forgot to mention, when i was looking for the new alien ruins sites, i used to boost to 550m/s, point my nose down 45°, and shut off the thrusters and basically orbit the planet completely hands free. Frim time to time, I did need to keep flipping my engines back on readjust my pitch to prevent my losing or gaining too much altitude.
It's a very lazy way to scour a planet for ruins.




Shame it was the wrong planet.