Before i throw this game away......

[wrmiller]

Remember it? That game was the reason I bought my first X35 - the original one that both plugged into your gameport and between your keyboard and PC to generate keystrokes, before USB input devices were a thing

Bought my first Thrustmaster for that game back when the inventor was still making them in his garage. Remember the potato shaped throttle with all the red buttons?

And I went to the Los Angles computer show that month to buy extra memory and a math coprocessor for my 386. Just to play that game. My friend was absolutely certain that I had lost my mind...

 

[wrmiller]

Remember it? I still have the CD ROM somewhere!

I still play it occasionally. With the upgraded terrain tiles of course.

 

[Globusdiablo]

Are there any one of you who actually had problems landing tha craft on a landing pad.
I've been trying to get, sigh, the sidewinder from station into deep space, no problem there, finding my destination, also after a few tries, no problem, getting to a station works only with lock, sadly I tried this without lock several times until i figured that out.
In the eighties i played also Elite, and the landing was then a terrible thing, mastering it with analog joysticks, but now it seems the technique has not improved. Come on, this is almost 4 decades ago, and we still use this stupid not automated control to land? and if time runs out, the fines are bigger than your wallet. !!!!!!

Seriously, if this does not improve, because i am no robot, then i return this<Ahem> game!

Thrusters are your friend. Angle you ship and thrust down. But yes, have to steer on 3 angles takes some getting use to. But stick with it. It gets better. Before you know it, it's second nature.

 

[Para Handy]

I'm sure there is a landing tutorial.

Give it ten goes.

Still cannot land?

Sell the game. Save yourself the misery to come.

Actually the "docking tutorial" is actually a full journey from one hangar to a pad on a station in a nearby system. It is stupid. The docking tutorial should just be docking then people can rinse and repeat to get the hang of it. The current one takes too long to encourage repeating and sees docking inside a station not on an outpost, where most people seem to have difficulty.

 

[Lightspeed]

I don't think the OP ever came back, did he? Well, hopefully other commanders have managed to get home safely as a result of this post.

 

[EISENHORN01]

I know it sounds daft but are you facing the right way? I lost my head trying to dock when I first started playing, for the life of me I couldn't work out why I wasn't landing the ship everything was lined up (or so I thought) but it just wasn't happening, I'd got to a similar point your at and was thinking screw this if landings is this hard the game can taking a long walk off a short pier. Then I suddenly realised there was an arrow and my orientation was totally wrong the rest is history and 1000 hrs in. Though as a disclaimer I use the DC when ever possible, especially in the cutter, when your on the clock for a cg or trucking it helps a lot, il plot my return jump while I do the dance of death with the toaster rack.

 

[UnhappyDev]

I think he threw the game away...

 

[zuadao]

theres allways the option to wait for space legs. then you dont even have to leave the stn and can work as a bartender. easy money man.

 

[Nilt]

I seem to be going the other way.

My landings started out great, but these days I appear to be using the landing pad as a brake.

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? I thought that's why they gave us shields!

 

[shadragon]

I have around 1k hours into the game now and I still manage to bump off the pad because my landing gear is not leveled enough...

...and sometimes not even down. Derp!

 

[WR3ND]

1) Fly over the landing pad

2) Stop

3) press down.

[hehe] Right. I never had any problem with it at all, but then I'm familiar with sims and the like. Just making sure my controls were set to my liking was the main thing for me to sort out. I never use stock controls for this sort of game. Using a game controller, I set it up sort of similar to a hobby model aircraft radio and then use the D-pad for up, down, left, right thrust.

 

[Han Zulu]

Are there any one of you who actually had problems landing tha craft on a landing pad.
I've been trying to get, sigh, the sidewinder from station into deep space, no problem there, finding my destination, also after a few tries, no problem, getting to a station works only with lock, sadly I tried this without lock several times until i figured that out.
In the eighties i played also Elite, and the landing was then a terrible thing, mastering it with analog joysticks, but now it seems the technique has not improved. Come on, this is almost 4 decades ago, and we still use this stupid not automated control to land? and if time runs out, the fines are bigger than your wallet. !!!!!!

Seriously, if this does not improve, because i am no robot, then i return this<Ahem> game!

LOL! That's what I felt too when I first tried Elite. I put it down, but then my son suggested to get a HOTAS (the one I recommend is Thrustmasters to begin with, they have one that's low as $60 or something), and after a tried playing with this better setup, I was sold. This game is great, but it's extremely challenging to start with keyboard/mouse or console controllers.

When it comes to automatic landing, there is a module you can get at some stations to install in your ship. It's good to start with, but with time (and skill) you will eventually get rid of it and use the slot for something more useful in your ship.

 

[Han Zulu]

Originally, I had difficulties landing also. There's a tutorial which might help you practice.

There is an automatic docking computer available in outfitting, but not all stations have it in stock. Unfortunately, it does require a slot in the cargo bay, but I almost always use a docking computer (not because I can't land, but because it's a whole lot more convenient).

Sometimes it's nice just to go to the station and request docking and just let it take care of itself. I wish it could take a ship out of dock as well. Some stations with busy traffic can be quite annoying to leave.

 

[Han Zulu]

Learning how not to land is part of the fun, OP.

Relish this time.

xD So true.

I still remember how much trouble I had getting the Anaconda through the mail slot. "Scrreeeeeeeeeeeetchh......." Phew... didn't get stuck this time. Did it with no-pip to make sure I didn't go to fast. Now. Sometimes I go 4 pip and mostly not even think of it.

Perhaps the OP if flying with FA OFF without knowing, otherwise landing is a simple process and most enjoy it there has even been a few fun comps to see who can do it the fastest.

Oh that's a good point. It happened to me in the beginning as well. Accidentally turned off assist and didn't even understand what it was or why the ' ship was flying everywhere.

 

[Commander Debic]

Also ensure auto rotation is switched on as once you get inside it can be difficult if the Station is rotating around you.

 

[ravenstar68]

Also ensure auto rotation is switched on as once you get inside it can be difficult if the Station is rotating around you.

A good tip to be sure.

I do think the OP is not coming back but I wanted to give my honest thoughts.

Back when I was a new pilot, some of the landing steps weren't very intuitive, and also it was difficult to find which key did what. Like many I took my first trips without reading the manual. Certainly some of the things like making sure your ship was facing the right way were important. Doe anyone else remember the annoying bug with the smaller spaceports where the pads were back to front, so you had to land facing the wrong way. That said touching down in a sidewinder is usually fairly easy so long as you hit the middle of the pad.

In fact when I started I never even used the thrusters, now I use them a lot.

I still make the odd mistake, only yesterday I was about to enter the letterbox and I got the trespass warning as I'd forgotten to request docking first. Fortunately I was in a position where I could leave quickly before the timer expired

Tim

 

[lenna]

Are there any one of you who actually had problems landing tha craft on a landing pad.

Try practicing with the "Tutorials", there can be a bit of a knack to landing/docking but IMO it is way easier than the original Elite or X-BTF.

I have used both keyboard and mouse and three different HOTAS solutions (Saitek X-52, Thrustmaster HOTAS X, and Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog) and once you have set up the controls to suit your own flying style things feel ALOT better with the HOTAS solutions regardless of which one you use.

 

[Han Zulu]

I still make the odd mistake, only yesterday I was about to enter the letterbox and I got the trespass warning as I'd forgotten to request docking first. Fortunately I was in a position where I could leave quickly before the timer expired

Tim

Done that a million times.

It's very scary when you're flying a cutter or beluga and forget. They're not so fast in stop-and-reverse, so it's a little nerve wrecking.

 

[Tarman]

Done that a million times.

It's very scary when you're flying a cutter or beluga and forget. They're not so fast in stop-and-reverse, so it's a little nerve wrecking.

One of the best non-combat uses for hi-end thrusters; Emergency Backpedal.

 

[ChiefRedCloud]

Post deleted ...

Chief