There are three settings in ED relating to frame shift drive activation (not counting the new SCO feature):
If you have a key bound to "hyperspace jump" then it will activate said jump if you have another system targeted (else it does nothing).
The "toggle frame shift drive" button is a kind of combination of both: If you have targeted another system then it will act like "hyperspace jump", else it will act like "supercruise".
For some odd reason, however, only one of those has a default keyboard bind, the "toggle frame shift drive" (by default bound to J). The other two don't have default keyboard binds.
Why is that a problem? Well, because it greatly confuses beginner players (and, in fact, some even more experienced players). That's because of that dual nature, where its meaning changes depending on whether you have targeted another system or not. If you want to drop out of supercruise, or jump to supercruise, you first need to untarget that other system.
And how do you do that? Well, that's where another problem kicks in: If you are in supercruise you can (a bit indirectly) untarget the other system by pressing T. However, if you are in normal space pressing T does nothing (if there's nothing in front of you to target). In other words, the other system will not become untargeted, and J will still not jump to supercruise.
It's actually not at all clear, if you are in normal space, how exactly you are supposed to untarget the other system in order to make J just jump to supercruise. You have to jump through several hoops to do that. Completely unnecessary hoops.
Sure, you can (and really should!) go to the settings menu and set up a key binding for that "supercruise" setting, which just toggles supercruise (ie. doesn't attempt to jump to another system even if one is targeted). However, in fuel rats rescues in particular this sometimes causes problems because there's no default binding, and sometimes we need a client to jump to supercruise, and if they have another system targeted, it becomes complicated to have them jump through those hoops to try to do so.
It would be so much easier and simpler if the "supercruise" setting was by default bound to some key. It would be so much easier to just instruct a client "press (whatever key) to jump to supercruise". I'm sure it will overall help beginners. (Yes, you can go to the settings and add that binding yourself, but not many beginners realize that, or even know what the "supercruise" setting is supposed to do.)
Note that it actually is bound by default to a button combo if using a game controller (both in PC and consoles). Indeed, with a game controller you have separate default button bindings for "toggle FSD" and "supercruise". There's no reason why there couldn't be default keyboard bindings for both as well.
- "Supercruise"
- "Hyperspace jump"
- "Toggle frame shift drive"
If you have a key bound to "hyperspace jump" then it will activate said jump if you have another system targeted (else it does nothing).
The "toggle frame shift drive" button is a kind of combination of both: If you have targeted another system then it will act like "hyperspace jump", else it will act like "supercruise".
For some odd reason, however, only one of those has a default keyboard bind, the "toggle frame shift drive" (by default bound to J). The other two don't have default keyboard binds.
Why is that a problem? Well, because it greatly confuses beginner players (and, in fact, some even more experienced players). That's because of that dual nature, where its meaning changes depending on whether you have targeted another system or not. If you want to drop out of supercruise, or jump to supercruise, you first need to untarget that other system.
And how do you do that? Well, that's where another problem kicks in: If you are in supercruise you can (a bit indirectly) untarget the other system by pressing T. However, if you are in normal space pressing T does nothing (if there's nothing in front of you to target). In other words, the other system will not become untargeted, and J will still not jump to supercruise.
It's actually not at all clear, if you are in normal space, how exactly you are supposed to untarget the other system in order to make J just jump to supercruise. You have to jump through several hoops to do that. Completely unnecessary hoops.
Sure, you can (and really should!) go to the settings menu and set up a key binding for that "supercruise" setting, which just toggles supercruise (ie. doesn't attempt to jump to another system even if one is targeted). However, in fuel rats rescues in particular this sometimes causes problems because there's no default binding, and sometimes we need a client to jump to supercruise, and if they have another system targeted, it becomes complicated to have them jump through those hoops to try to do so.
It would be so much easier and simpler if the "supercruise" setting was by default bound to some key. It would be so much easier to just instruct a client "press (whatever key) to jump to supercruise". I'm sure it will overall help beginners. (Yes, you can go to the settings and add that binding yourself, but not many beginners realize that, or even know what the "supercruise" setting is supposed to do.)
Note that it actually is bound by default to a button combo if using a game controller (both in PC and consoles). Indeed, with a game controller you have separate default button bindings for "toggle FSD" and "supercruise". There's no reason why there couldn't be default keyboard bindings for both as well.