Newcomer / Intro Couldn't Catch a Snail

[keasy]

I don't know where I'm going wrong.

I have a Viper with mid range multi cannons, burst lasers, top end shield generator, top end power source and distributors. I also have a decent enough Interdictor but I can't use it.


I've gotten lucky a few times but everything I scan from Sidewinders to cobras to Eagles just outruns me when I'm behind them. I don't just mean when they're approaching a gravity well and being sling-shotted etc, I mean in standard space in a straight line.

I even bought better thrusters in case this was the problem and then a decent FSD.

Can anyone advise ?

Thx

Keas

 

[the100thmonkey]

The arrow keys on the keyboard control your power distribution. The up arrow puts more energy to your engines, left arrow to shield and right arrow to weapons. Down arrow balances distribution again. Hit up arrow twice to put max power to engines. Very few ships will be able to outrun you now.

In suipercruise, it's all about acceleration curves. The acceleration performance is the same across all ships, so whoever gets on the curve first will open up or close the gap. Instead of hanging out at the suyn, where all ships will just accelerate away towards their destination, try hanging out more than halfway between the sun and a planet with an orbital station. All the ships will be decelerating, which will mean you can accelerate towards them, For best results, hang out near the planet where the ships are at their slowest, but not too close so that they drop out of SC before you can target them.

 

[Slovakia]

Interdiction do not work when:
-distance between ships is increasing
-distance is higher than maximum range of your FSD interdictor module (depends on quality of module, 20-100Ls)
-you are not in position behind targeted ship (look at picture of targeted ship to the left of your radar)

 

[ellay]

The arrow keys on the keyboard control your power distribution. The up arrow puts more energy to your engines, left arrow to shield and right arrow to weapons. Down arrow balances distribution again. Hit up arrow twice to put max power to engines. Very few ships will be able to outrun you now.
[/U] b

This. I have them on my joystick hat-switch to make it easier to prioritise power between shields, engines and weapons during combat

 

[Kalius]

I don't just mean when they're approaching a gravity well and being sling-shotted etc

I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH! I had no idea it had sling-shotting... The amount of detail and physics in this game blows my mind. So if I drop out of hyperspace, instead of pulling away from the sun towards my destination, I could sling-shot around the sun to go faster?

 

[huwthomas]

Max pips to engines and use boost as often as you can.

Put the remaining pips to whatever needs charging up at the time.

 

[Undecided]

I LOVE THIS GAME SO MUCH! I had no idea it had sling-shotting... The amount of detail and physics in this game blows my mind. So if I drop out of hyperspace, instead of pulling away from the sun towards my destination, I could sling-shot around the sun to go faster?

You can't use the sphere of influence of an object to increase your speed, only decrease it.

Your not experiencing gravity per se in supercruise, what's happening is the gravity of the nearby bodies interferes with the FSD in some unspecified way, reducing the maximum sustainable speed of the ship in supercruise. There is no gravitational attraction in the game at this time.

As for the OP:

The reason they are outrunning you in a straight line is that they are heading away from the nearest celestial body which is increasing their maximum speed. If you are chasing them from behind you are closer to said body and have a lower maximum speed than your target. As all ships have the same acceleration, you will not be able to catch them until they approach their destination and are forced to decelerate from the gravitational influence the the astronomical object they are approaching.

If you want to catch someone you have to quickly interdict them as they are accelerating, before they are out of range, or wait until the target is decelerating as they approach an astronomical object.