Newcomer / Intro Dropping too close?

[Chappyski]

I keep trying to jump to a resource extraction site, which is 0.25ls away, but each time I jump into hypercruise, it immediately drops me and says "dropping too close" Yet, I'm not close enough to get there by normal flight, unless I want to wait 12 hours to get there.

I have tried jumping away with it behind me, but when I try again, I still get the same thing happen, whats wrong?

 

[Winterwalker]

What's happening is the gravity of the planet (rings) is forcing you out of supercruise.

I read this message as "dropping" (too close!) - too close to the rings, as you approach the resource site. First, fly direct away from the rings (vertically up, and away from the planet). Hopefully this will get you into supercruise. Once you're away and cruising, re-approach the site from above (or below), keeping your distance from the planet, and from the rings until the last minute. You're looking for the blue "safe disengage" alert which locks the target and will drop you in the right place.

(SC is a warp drive and engines are less able to create a warp near large objects. This "mass locks" you, near stations and large ships so you can't even get started and will slow you down as you fly near planets (that red "slow down" message is not an instruction; warp engines are fighting against a gravity source and in the end you get an overspeed). In dropping, too close, your drive fails and the collapsing warp field can (if you're going too fast) cause hull damage. Take your time on approach.)

Good luck.

 

[Chappyski]

thanks, rather than start a new topic, I have another question.

When I'm in supercruise and it says slow down, I immediately cut the throttle, but nothing happens at all even though I had plenty of time to slow down and in fact it often speeds up

Is this a bug? as I have to pass by it and realign to it again ive even tried putting throttle in reverse immediately but it speeds up instead

 

[Winterwalker]

It's an odd message (not an instruction to) slow down, probably should say "overspeed".
The warp created by frameshift drive is crossing a gravity field. Engines over-compensate, to stop the warp from collapsing and probably the gravity of the planet has a pulling effect too.

When you see the slow down message, put your throttle low in the blue zone and turn away from the planet. Once you've regained control of speed you can get back on original course/heading/direction.

If you're getting a slow down message a lot, you're trying to head directly to the planet too straight, and too fast each time. On the main HUD you can see both distance to and time to target. If you keep "time to target" as (no less than) 00:07 seconds you should avoid overshooting.

Spoiler

There are also two sliders on the left of screen. Ideal is to bring those down together, so you're at a safe speed when you reach a safe distance to drop. Trying to drop out of SC when speed is too high will cause G forces that would destroy your ship and probably pop your eyeballs too.

 

[Para Handy]

When I'm in supercruise and it says slow down, I immediately cut the throttle, but nothing happens at all even though I had plenty of time to slow down and in fact it often speeds up

Is this a bug? as I have to pass by it and realign to it again ive even tried putting throttle in reverse immediately but it speeds up instead

If it says Slow Down when you are on approach to a destination, it is usually already too late - you are going to overshoot and the drive will overspeed. You can avoid this either by never letting the time to go indicator (below the distance on the HUD target graphic) fall below 0:06 or by setting a key binding to give you 75% throttle (in the options / controls menu). The 75% key binding acts like an auto-throttle and never lets the time to go indicator fall below 0:06 - It is something I wish I had learned about / implemented when I first started.

Also you will occasionally see "SLOW DOWN" as you supercruise through a system even though you are nowhere near your destination. I believe this is due to passing asteroid belts, certainly it is due to some sort of gravity field being encountered en-route.

Lastly - there is no reverse in supercruise, there is not even a stop, the minimum speed ( zero throttle) is 30k/s, something to remember when you are admiring the view / scanning / scooping.

 

[Mysturji]

1. Try approaching the RES without getting too close to the planet before you get there. e.g. at a 90 degree angle to the rings

2. When a SC destination is selected, the HUD shows the distance to target and the "time to target (at current speed)". This "time to target" is virtually useless as an ETA, as your speed is usually changing in SC, but if you drop your throttle to the blue zone (3/4 throttle) before the "time to target" goes below 6 seconds, you won't overshoot.

 

[Firestarter]

When in super cruise and you have a destination selected the speed is automatically controlled for you by an autopilot. At first you speed up and then you slow down as you approach the destination. This speed curve is calculated to leave you at a safe speed to disengage super cruise when you have arrived at your destination but it also assumes that you set 75% throttle.

If at any time during the above speed curve the autopilot thinks that you are too far above its planned speed then it will say, 'slow down.'

Since you are probably traveling with 100% throttle it doesn't take much to push your speed above the comfort zone of your autopilot. So the pull of gravity or sling-shot effect from a nearby planet will result in, 'slow down.'

Until you get close to your destination you can ignore the, 'slow down,' message.

Get to about 7 seconds of arrival and hit the 75% throttle that your autopilot wants and it will safely decelerate you to your destination.

Wait until 4 seconds to arrival and you'll get, 'slow down,' but by that time it will be too late and you'll probably over shoot.

Hope that explanation is not too much.

Overall the, 'slow down,' message is a bit redundant. It warns you when you don't need it and then comes in too late when you do need it.

 

[Alex Brentnall]

This may help. Please excuse the terrible paint skills

Black line is the asteroid ring. Red lines are the area exclusion zone. Inside this your FSD won't work since the mass of the rings locks you in there.
Brown circle is the RES where you want to be.

What you are doing is in purple, going out then heading straight for it and getting caught each time. What you want to do is circle around like the orange line so you approach directly above or below. Takes quite a few tries to get right, even us experienced folk mess it up occasionally

 

[X-Terminator]

This....

Also you will occasionally see "SLOW DOWN" as you supercruise through a system even though you are nowhere near your destination. I believe this is due to passing asteroid belts, certainly it is due to some sort of gravity field being encountered en-route.

 

[kastaldi]

When near your target and waiting to drop, 6 seconds is the sweet spot, you won't miss.

 

[Sapient6]

thanks, rather than start a new topic, I have another question.

When I'm in supercruise and it says slow down, I immediately cut the throttle, but nothing happens at all even though I had plenty of time to slow down and in fact it often speeds up

Is this a bug? as I have to pass by it and realign to it again ive even tried putting throttle in reverse immediately but it speeds up instead

Looks like you've already got your answers but I want to make a clarification:

You don't speed up.

1. The FSD is fighting against a gravity well so the engines will start revving up, so there's a sound piece that can give you the impression that you speed up.

2. In SC the speed bar to the right of the sensor screen displays your speed relative to your current theoretical max speed. You see the bar shoot up rather quickly, which along with the revving engines, adds more weight to the impression that you are speeding up, but what has actually just happened is the gravity well has begun to drastically decrease your theoretical max speed but your ship is slowing down and a much slower rate... so the bar fills up.

3. If that's your destination that is impeding your FSD, then you're already going too fast to stop in time and you're going to overshoot... and the overshooting is the final nail in the coffin as far as your perception of the situation is concerned.

There are veteran players around that will swear up and down that you speed up. Just watch your numerical speed next time. It never climbs in this scenario, only falls.