Question about Supercruise

[FreeburnSage]

I'm new-ish to this game, and this has probably been stated before somewhere, but I couldn't find it, so bear with me.

Just a simple question about the mechanics of supercruise. I've noticed that when I'm out away from celestial bodies, I can slow down from 20-30c to 30km/s in a matter of about 6-9 seconds or so. Yet when I'm near a celestial body, or even looking at one (i.e. closing the distance to a port), my supercruise "brakes" stop working as well. It just takes much too long to slow down. It's as if my "brakes" got broken by looking at the planet. I've thought this might have to due with gravitational pulls and whatnot, but this starts happening at even 50+ light seconds away, and at a very dramatic rate. It's quite irritating, because it leads to me overshooting or slowing down too early.

Also, yes, I've tried keeping my throttle in the blue "auto-speed" area. It overshoots my target 9 times out of 10 if I'm more than about 300 light seconds away. Any tips?

 

[Ackemi]

Amount of mass close to your ship causes acceleration/deceleration and lowers top speed. Closer it is the more the effect.

You will get used to when to really put on the brakes! Don't believe that speed in the blue stuff- it's only a recommended speed setting...

Sometimes the best way to get from point A to point B isn't in a straight line!




Added: I'm mostly newish too so this might be bunk.

 

[Enride]

I'm new-ish to this game, and this has probably been stated before somewhere, but I couldn't find it, so bear with me.

Just a simple question about the mechanics of supercruise. I've noticed that when I'm out away from celestial bodies, I can slow down from 20-30c to 30km/s in a matter of about 6-9 seconds or so. Yet when I'm near a celestial body, or even looking at one (i.e. closing the distance to a port), my supercruise "brakes" stop working as well. It just takes much too long to slow down. It's as if my "brakes" got broken by looking at the planet. I've thought this might have to due with gravitational pulls and whatnot, but this starts happening at even 50+ light seconds away, and at a very dramatic rate. It's quite irritating, because it leads to me overshooting or slowing down too early.

Also, yes, I've tried keeping my throttle in the blue "auto-speed" area. It overshoots my target 9 times out of 10 if I'm more than about 300 light seconds away. Any tips?

Im not sure myself how or why supercruise work the way it does, but from a Lore standpoint is has to do with the mass of celestial bodies affecting the frameshift drive.
Not only do you slow down slower, but you also accelerate slower the closer you are to mass.

When I start getting close to my destination, and the FSD start sounding almost overstrained, I try to keep my "time-to-target" at about 10 seconds.
This usually works for me to make sure I dont overshoot, but instead leads to a somewhat slower approach depending on how late one dares to start the slowdown.

 

[FreeburnSage]

Amount of mass close to your ship causes acceleration/deceleration and lowers top speed. Closer it is the more the effect.

You will get used to when to really put on the brakes! Don't believe that speed in the blue stuff- it's only a recommended speed setting...

Sometimes the best way to get from point A to point B isn't in a straight line!




Added: I'm mostly newish too so this might be bunk.

Yeah, I've gotten used to maneuvering and everything, and I've actually got when the brake down, it just kinda concerns me as to why this happens. I mean, I understand the top speed lowering near planetary bodies and whatnot, because of gravity and whatnot, but why should slowing down be hampered in the way it is?

It quite possibly could be a bug, but it was like this in Beta 2, and it's still like this, and feels very intentional for whatever reason. It's fine if it is, I'm not really complaining about it, I'm just curious as to why it happens.

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is has to do with the mass of celestial bodies affecting the frameshift drive.
Not only do you slow down slower, but you also accelerate slower the closer you are to mass.

Oh, alright. So it's just a technical bug and systems working weirdly. That makes enough sense, then. Thanks for the info!

 

[CrazedHatter]

One piece of advice I can offer is embrace the overshoot - I tend to dive down and do a spiral in to a station to bleed off speed and make my approach less predictable in the event someone is waiting to try and interdict - one other thing I have found works well is ducking between whatever body the station is orbiting and the station so that I come out of super cruise facing the station entrance by and large.

 

[Larrow]

One way i like to use is to not worry to much about your speed being above the blue area, although full gauge will make the next bit difficult so somewhere in between.
Approach the local system in an arc and line yourself up to approach the station with it being on the far side of the local celestial object.
Approach fast and fly close enough to the celestial body that it turns blue on your radar (I believe this represent being caught heavily in its gravitational pull), as you pass the celestial object and start to pull away from it you will see your speed plummet as you are trying to break free of its pull and you can level yourself out around the blue area on the throttle.
Depending on two things, 1: distance from body to station and 2: size and pull from the body, it should leave you very close and at a decent approach speed ready to drop out.

Now it does take some skill to judge body size versus gravitational speed reduction versus distance remaining to station but when you get it right, man what a rush. Just awesomely more interactive than approaching @ 75% throttle.

 

[IndianaGeoff]

CH I am similar. I head in at high speed and once I see the eliptic, I rotate and dive so that when I pull back up, I have a clear shot to the base and I have bled off some speed.

 

[Tiamat]

Also, yes, I've tried keeping my throttle in the blue "auto-speed" area. It overshoots my target 9 times out of 10 if I'm more than about 300 light seconds away. Any tips?

Keep your throttle in the lower half of the blue zone and you will almost completely eliminate overshoots. Near the top you will get there faster though so if I am doing a timed delivery mission I will start at the top of the blue zone and slowly throttle down to the bottom as I get close to my destination.

 

[Squashie]

Well I would agree with celestial bodies slowing you down, BUT!
When you drop out of a hyper jump and you are right next to the sun, you have absolutely no problem speeding up and sowing down in an instant.

I feel like it should be re adjusted to feel more consistent across the board. I would love to have that feeling of you trying to stop that momentum. But as it sits, it just feels disconnected, like a forced mini game in a sense.

 

[Sounder Deeps]

ok i'm no expert but our frame shift drives apparently compress space in front of us and snaps it back to normal behind us which let's our relatively tiny thrusters on these tiny ships with tiny fuel tanks to go zoom very far.

So, why can't you slow down as quickly when caught in a gravity well? Because your FSD and the gravity well is "pulling" you forward. If you approach too fast you'll get sucked in. If that happens you need to swing out from the source a sec or two then swing back to your destination at or below 75%. 75% will keep you from over shooting. Start at around 09 secs from destination.

You can use this to slingshot at pretty fun speeds not normally achievable in a grav well. So you can quickly catch up to someone on the far side of a planet, when skirting or 75%-ing through would take ages. Whipping across empty space, choosing target and then banking in to a planet way too fast and hurtling past to gain that bit of space is fun. To bad you don't keep that speed

Remember the closer in to a body you go the slower you go, so for orbital stations remember to come in perpendicular to the celestial so it doesn't take ages. You can pop in some full speed in tiny bursts if the destination is really close and/or surrounded by a busy system and your FSD is grinding.

Spiralling is your friend.

Basic stuff but it might help. Hard to explain I'm no science dude.

 

[Zalifer]

Supercruise tip 1

7 Seconds to destination, I find, is a good target for "braking". When I see my ETA hit 7 seconds, I snap my throttle back. If ETA hits 8 from going too slow, I throttle up. If it hits 6, I throttle down. Near the end of your deceleration you may be able to lower the ETA to under 7 seconds without leaving the blue speed area for a safe destination drop.

Supercruise tip 2

Planets are really boring, and don't want anyone else to have fun. That's why they slow your high speed ship down so much. If your destination is on the far side of a planet, you can often make better time by swerving to avoid the planet, rather than cutting across it. I will often use the orbit path of the station I want to land at as the area to avoid, by not going closer than that.

 

[Larrow]

You can use this to slingshot at pretty fun speeds not normally achievable in a grav well. So you can quickly catch up to someone on the far side of a planet, when skirting or 75%-ing through would take ages. Whipping across empty space, choosing target and then banking in to a planet way too fast and hurtling past to gain that bit of space is fun. To bad you don't keep that speed

I spent quite alot of time in B2 trying to get slingshots off of planets and experimenting to see if could get fast travel times to distance stations but as you mention, it does not matter how much you use a gravity well to increase your speed you always end up losing it all, shame. I suppose its the same as why we have a max 500m/s in normal space to account for MP and network sync.

 

[Squashie]

Ok Super Cruise is very frustrating now. Not only does it not obey laws of physics, it is frustratingly random. Coming closer to an object head on should increase speed. Going away from object should decrease speed. (This is if real physics are applied) In ED it should be consistent to be able to master it. (NOT EASY mind you. Consistent).
Currently it feels like a forced mini game.

 

[777Driver]

Ok Super Cruise is very frustrating now. Not only does it not obey laws of physics, it is frustratingly random. Coming closer to an object head on should increase speed. Going away from object should decrease speed. (This is if real physics are applied) In ED it should be consistent to be able to master it. (NOT EASY mind you. Consistent).
Currently it feels like a forced mini game.

It's not random, you just need to learn how it works.

 

[Squashie]

Exactly. And the way it works now is not very good. It can be much better. NOT EASIER. Just better.

 

[777Driver]

Exactly. And the way it works now is not very good. It can be much better. NOT EASIER. Just better.

I really don't see what issue you have with it, I'm cruising back and forth between cargo destinations all day, the mechanics are predictable and simple with 75% cruise control enabled. I guess we all fly different approaches so our experiences differ.

I engage SC, then immediately tell Voice attack to set cruise control (Must be EXACTLY 75% to work correctly) From that points onwards I can take my hand of my throttle right up to dropping out of SC. Can't see how that is 'not any good' Don't try to manually set 75% set up a key bind on your throttle or use VA

 

[Squashie]

I really don't see what issue you have with it, I'm cruising back and forth between cargo destinations all day, the mechanics are predictable and simple with 75% cruise control enabled. I guess we all fly different approaches so our experiences differ.

I engage SC, then immediately tell Voice attack to set cruise control (Must be EXACTLY 75% to work correctly) From that points onwards I can take my hand of my throttle right up to dropping out of SC. Can't see how that is 'not any good' Don't try to manually set 75% set up a key bind on your throttle or use VA

My problem is it's not consistent or natural. I would expect to speed up when I am approaching a star, i would expect to not have very much affect approaching a planet. I wouldn't expect slowing down when I am next to a star as if it is spilling slow glue around it, why does my speed limit decrease when I approach a planet and not a star.
There is a much better and iuntuitive way of doing it. Just because it's OK as is, does not mean it what it should be.

 

[Yabba Addict]

Don't see any problem, it's stated that SC doesn't run so well near gravity wells, so thrust is affected in all directions. Braking isn't as good as well as accelerating. The reasoning may be that SC is based on anti grav tech (pulling this bit outa my ass), and so other gravity wells interfere with it. Doesn't matter really, that's the mechanics of the game.
As for there being a better and more intuitive way, well better is a matter of opinion and more intuitive means easier, right?

 

[Binky]

Supercruise seems to be based on the Alcubierre drive which would allow FTL travel by warping the space around it (rather than pushing the ship through space very fast) and massive bodies also warp space around them, so its reasonable to assume that gravity strength affects the drives efficiency.

The FSD's acceleration is affected by gravity wells and slowing down is acceleration, just opposite the direction of motion. It would make sense that slowing down is also less efficient around gravity wells.

An added bonus of basing the SC on the Alcubierre drive is that there's none of the odd effects of relativistic speeds, like all of the light ahead of you turning into gamma rays and melting your face, arriving at Beagle 2 Landing to make a delivery 47 days before you accepted the mission etc.

 

[FaolGlas]

The 75% thing I am sure works, but I like to stay engaged so I "ride the 6" on the way in - max thrust til I get to about 9 seconds, then ease off and try to keep it on 6 or 7 seconds to destination with the throttle on the joystick (wouldn't be able to do that with keyboard controls) until the speed goes into the blue on the left indicator, then full throttle again as it never leaves the blue due to the slowing from gravity.