Horizons Enemy ship won't crash on planet surface with power plant down

[MikeMart]

Hi there,


A quick question or remark... I tried to fry some ships' power plants above planet surface but and they won't come down and crash...they stay floating around like if there wasn't any gravity (in this case 0,9 G). Their thrusters aren't funcionning so I don't understand. On the other hand if I blow them up, the wreck will eventually crash on the planet surface. I know I'm a maniac but I wanted to see ships explode on the planet surface after killing their power plant


Is it me or is this some kind of bug?


Thanks guys!


Mike o7

 

[Bobbydylan]

That's a bit of a mishap. Physics don't apply to NPC ships?

 

[DragoonKnight]

A power plant at 0% still produces 50% power. That is enough for their thrusters to still work. Try disabling their thrusters.

 

[GG7]

Hi there,


A quick question or remark... I tried to fry some ships' power plants above planet surface but and they won't come down and crash...they stay floating around like if there wasn't any gravity (in this case 0,9 G). Their thrusters aren't funcionning so I don't understand. On the other hand if I blow them up, the wreck will eventually crash on the planet surface. I know I'm a maniac but I wanted to see ships explode on the planet surface after killing their power plant


Is it me or is this some kind of bug?


Thanks guys!


Mike o7

If the ship is high enough it will simply ORBIT the planet vs crashing into it. You have to be fairly low in altitude to get the results you are expecting.

 

[Loskene]

If the ship is high enough it will simply ORBIT the planet vs crashing into it. You have to be fairly low in altitude to get the results you are expecting.

Have they ever confirmed this though? At what altitude does your ship go from being in a powered hover to a stable circular orbit?
Given that you can actually put your ship manually into orbit of a low mass world by flying fast enough at the horizon and turning FA off, I think it would be noticeable if our ship ever did this automatically.

 

[Bobbydylan]

If the ship is high enough it will simply ORBIT the planet vs crashing into it. You have to be fairly low in altitude to get the results you are expecting.

Um, no, not really. It'd only be in "orbit" if it's lateral velocity was significantly higher than the gravitational pull of the planet below. Otherwise it'd just fall to the planet. In fact, when you enter a USS in low "orbit" you'll often see the debris and canisters in free-fall towards the surface.

 

[dementia]

If the ship is high enough it will simply ORBIT the planet vs crashing into it. You have to be fairly low in altitude to get the results you are expecting.

It is not about the altitude but more the angular velocity. If it is too low (which it would be when not in SC) then your ship and theirs should be pulled into the gravity well towards the centre of mass. Only if you or the NPC were outside the strong gravity field would you be relatively safe (1/D^2 rule) which for a planet the size of Earth say is actually quite far out. Certainly being as close as say the ISS would not be enough (they experience 99% of the G felt on the ground - their apparent 'weightlessness' is due to angular velocity counteracting the gravity pull similar in nature to what you'd experience in a free fall situation inside a box). You'd need to be many many time further away before the rate of inward velocity was so slow it would take a long long time.

 

[MikeMart]

A power plant at 0% still produces 50% power. That is enough for their thrusters to still work. Try disabling their thrusters.

I wasn't too sure about this. I used the debug camera to see if the thrusters were on but I didn't see nothing.... it's not a matter of orbit....We were only 4km above ground and the HUD displayed a 0,9G gravity force.


I'll try disabling thrusters on the enemy ship or on my own ship and see if it falls

 

[GG7]

Have they ever confirmed this though? At what altitude does your ship go from being in a powered hover to a stable circular orbit?
Given that you can actually put your ship manually into orbit of a low mass world by flying fast enough at the horizon and turning FA off, I think it would be noticeable if our ship ever did this automatically.

I base it on personal experience. The combat encounters I have had with NPC ships below 4.00km have always ended up on the surface. Depending on the angle of the explosion and direction of the ship debris, it can arrive there quickly or take a rather long time.

I have NEVER had a destroyed ship's debris fall onto the surface above 4.00km.

 

[SharkBiscuit]

I wasn't too sure about this. I used the debug camera to see if the thrusters were on but I didn't see nothing.... it's not a matter of orbit....We were only 4km above ground and the HUD displayed a 0,9G gravity force.


I'll try disabling thrusters on the enemy ship or on my own ship and see if it falls

Targeting there Drive(s) definitely works. if you can manage that without them exploding outright, they will tumble on the ground and probably POP. Then land and pick up the loot. I've done it before.

Hardest thing is avoiding killing them outright before they hit ground. So i think best vs bigger ships.

 

[Paineframe]

Disabling a ship's PP doesn't COMPLETELY kill the thrusters; a ship with its thrusters disabled can't manually maneuver, but the automatic flight-assist functions still work. For example, if you disable a ship's PP out in deep space, they'll slow to a complete stop, but if you destroy their thrusters they'll keep on drifting forever. Destroying the PP locks out their flight controls but the flight assist still works to slow them down, while if you destroy their thrusters the flight assist doesn't work and it'll keep drifting forever. I imagine it'd be the same above a planet - if you knocked out their thrusters, they'd fall to the ground, but if you just knock out the PP, their flight assist still works to keep them floating.